christmas is all around us, come on and let it snow

I had a lovely day, even if I didn't get any writing done. I was out of bed by nine, showered by ten, and out the door by noon. In the interim, I had to spend some quality time talking to my brother, since we were attempting to coordinate our Christmas shopping; I turned him on to the beauty of Google Docs and Spreadsheets, which allowed us to take notes and brainstorm with real-time updates, and has given us a central location to store what we're buying, who's responsible for what, and what we've spent. Yes, I'm a dork, but you knew that already.

I made my way down to Union Square, where I parked in the garage that only charges $6 for Sunday parking (miracle of miracles, and I shan't publicly blog the address because I want it to stay a secret). I did get some Christmas shopping done, but I bought stuff for myself as well -- particularly at Sephora, where I spent all of the fabulously generous giftcard that Ritu sent me, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the cashier. I also stopped at a couple of stores in the mall and had a late lunch at Andale. On my way back to my car, I attempted to go to Crate and Barrel, but the place was a madhouse and my bags threatened to knock over the delicate glass displays, so I left emptyhanded. That plus the fact that I didn't want to venture out of the city this weekend in search of a Target means that I still have quite a bit to take care of, and v. little time to do it before going home for Christmas next weekend!

Anyway, I stopped by Vidya's to say hi after shopping, and we agreed to rendezvous for dinner later. So I came home, unloaded my purchases, and talked to my parents before returning to her place to pick her up. We went to the Korean soft tofu place in the Richmond that Adit and I tried and failed to go to a couple of weeks ago; this time, the service was fast, and I got to savor my delicious soup even if I couldn't bring myself to try to pry apart and eat the whole shrimp in front of Vidya. We had a v. good conversation, and decided to continue it over takeout desserts from Citizen Cake + a viewing of "Love Actually" at my apartment. I still adore that movie, even if the storylines are all ridiculous, and so it was a lovely way to spend a couple of hours. Then, I took Vidya home and returned to my abode, and now it's time for bed!