hunger games, etc.

I should have accomplished way more than I did today, but it all worked out - I may not be entirely ready to get on the plane to Germany Wednesday afternoon, but at least I had fun procrastinating. I didn't get up particularly early (as expected, since I didn't go to bed until after two a.m. last night), and when I did get up, I took my time showering, eating breakfast, etc. I also needed to make a list of groceries to procure at Whole Foods, and it's unsurprising that I put off the trip to the grocery store since I expected it to be a zoo. It wasn't quite as terrible as I thought it would be, but it was still annoyingly crowded, etc., etc., etc. (this post is starting off even more slowly than usual, apologies).

When I got home from the store, I mixed up a marinade for some chicken, then went to my room and talked to my mother for well over an hour. I had to take a break then to put some tomatoes in the oven, but I spent another chunk of time talking to my father, thus meeting my weekly phone quota. After the phone calls, I got sucked into watching a bit more of the Harry Potter marathon going on (I'd watched some 'Prisoner of Azkaban' earlier, and then got pulled into 'Goblet of Fire') before suddenly realizing that our guests were going to arrive momentarily and that I should really get cracking with the food.

The dinner guests were the inaugural meeting of a book club that I just formed; I purposefully kept it extremely small, so don't be offended if you aren't part of book club. And it was a complete success - Terry, Lauren (aka Subz), Vidya (aka Chandlord), Katrina and I all read the first book of the 'Hunger Games' trilogy to discuss tonight. As it turns out, all of us but Chandlord had read the final two books as well, but we managed to confine our conversation mostly to the first book, and it was all good. We targeted our discussion toward an 'airing of grievances' around problems we had with the book, which seemed like a good way to go since for the most part we all enjoyed it, and a gush-fest about how great it was would have gotten boring quick.

Then again, splitting three bottles of wine meant that boredom was impossible, and the group was a v. good mix. We also ate some chicken (marinated earlier in this post, if you were paying attention), my favorite caprese salad w/tomatoes (roasted earlier) and mozzarella, Terry's penne pasta with cheese and tomatoes, and some various accoutrements, and everyone seemed to have a grand old time. But, as it's a work morning tomorrow (for everyone but me - I have high hopes of writing, but I don't have to wake up at six a.m. to do it), people left around 10:30 with grand plans for the next meeting post-Germany. And now, I shall go to bed too - three nights from now, I'll be on a plane somewhere near the Atlantic, and I should get some sleep so that I can complete my massive to-do list before then. Goodnight!