This break has been amazing…simply incredible. This is due in part largely to the fact that most of my interactions have been with adults–or at least people eighteen and up. Except for Christmas Day where I watched Josh’s six nieces and nephews annihilate their presents under the tree, my holiday break has been kid free. Oh sure it was cute holding the babies and admiring their little outfits but the second one of them started hacking and slobbering I almost dropped him like a hot potato, (not on MY lap buddy, it’s MY time, MY damn vacation). I even opted out of an extra day with Josh’s kin for an afternoon of Chinese food and shopping with my (fully grown) siblings and parents.
I also reached: The Zone. With Christmas money in hand I attacked the stores the day after Christmas.I generally adore shopping, let me loose in Nordstrom’s Rack all day; I enjoy hunting down the perfect item or stumbling across a really rich find at Ross. But at some point I just start feeling numb and headachy…I can’t differentiate between colors and accents and everything starts looking the same. At one point I just wanted to BUY something so I foolishly ended up at Ross an hour before they closed with my sister. I bought a weird sweater shrug that had instructions on how to untangle it and put it on attached to the tag. And then I committed a huge sin: I bought jeans that were a little too small with the theory that I might lose some weight to make them comfortable (and therefore wearable). I even told myself, “Hey, they have a little spandex in them so they’ll be nice and stretchy.” What a crock of shit, I can’t believe I went down that lane of thought. I returned both items two days later.
I usually approach shopping with my imagination: Ah! That shirt would go well with my black clogs and blue jeans. Hmm? Would I really wear that skirt? Could I get away with wearing it with black pants? But when I reach The Zone my imagination is shot and I start thinking ridiculous things like: Well, do I really NEED any more clothes? Suddenly, I start fantasizing about learning to sew–of course! I’ll just MAKE all the things I want. Images of sewing on my own lacey accents to t-shirts and learning how to silk screen dance around in my head. None of this merits a worthy outcome. Occasionally I’ll pull out my sewing kit and attach some beads to a lifeless button down or rifle through my scrap drawer for inspiration that never comes.
I’ve also developed a passion for designer jeans, along with the rest of America; This holiday season you’ll find me in the dressing room devouring several pairs of premium denim with accents on the back pockets. Of course there is the issue of price, because most these pants cost $100 and up. At some point I’ll earn that amount in jewelry income or receive a gift from a parent and I’ll immediately tell myself: NOW, go buy a pair of AG jeans for $130 right now! So I get there and I’m holding the jeans in my hands and I start thinking…wait, I think overstock.com has these, or maybe I should go back to the Rack and see if they have them for $77 instead of $128. Or wait! I’ll just buy them in Portland the next time I’m there because Oregon has no sales tax (although I’ve banned myself from the Portland Nordstrom Rack because for some reason I always end up crying when I’m there–blame it on the poor lighting and bad floor plan). Anyway, I end up not able to bring myself to lay the cash down for a single pair of jeans. And then there I am at a party talking to Tonja and ogling her Seven jeans and grilling her about how much she loves them and how they’ve become her favorite item of clothing.
Anyway, Christmas was really great. On Christmas Eve we went to a Children’s Mass at five o’clock and then came home for a dinner of pirogies (a Polish tradition) and spaghetti with lobster. This was the first time in five years that I didn’t have to board a plane hoping my presents made it in one piece inside my suitcase. We went all out, Josh and me. My Dad received the most gigantic toy robot, a Robosapien. Everyone got clothes in huge clothing boxes. My siblings received multiple presents from me. Everything was wrapped and adorned with multiple bows with no fear of anything being seriously squashed! It was a blast. Josh bought me an espresso machine…I seriously upgraded from the sad little Mr. Coffee Espresso Maker to a full on stainless steel pump driven monster that is now gleaming on my kitchen counter.
I’ve been lying around a lot…reading books, taking naps, forgetting my current job. Occasionally a glimmer of my life as a kindergarten teacher will sneak up on me and I’ll have an attack of conscious: Crap, I have to write reports! My life will start getting busy again! The leisure of taking a ballet class at 10:00 am will be gone!