Graffiti, Lights, Love and Sugar

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The month of December is an absolute blur. I finished school later than normal and with the craziness of work, I am not sure what holiday time I really got to enjoy. However, here are a few highlights:

Snow Day! Very few things raise your spirits like waking up in the morning and seeing that the federal government has closed down. I was slightly bitter since I was expected to work, but I absolutely did the bare minimum in the a.m. and then (on one day) when the snow had ceased for the day, Shannon and I went to The Container Store, Anthropologie and I did a few phone calls along the way.

Cookie Decorating. Shannon and I made an array of sugar cookies and had a few friends over to decorate and watch Home Alone. It is always interesting to see what creative minds come up with ... and how much candy can fit on one little cookie!

Secret Santa Debacle. I'm all about spreading Christmas cheer (and singing loud so all can hear) but sadly not too many people in the office were. To their defense our (not very good at her job) HR person didn't explain it well and people hadn't done it before so got overwhelmed and opted out. There were a handful of us that did commit to doing it but because of the snow days she first postponed the day it started, and then because someone gave their gift anyway she canceled it! All of us were confused by such a reaction and asked if we could still do it since we'd bought our gifts. Apparently out of the 6 or so of us that did it two (the HR person being one of them) didn't do it. So there were two that gave gifts but didn't receive?! I can't tell you how asinine it was. Bitter feelings from and toward the HR person spilled over into our staff Christmas party when she did nothing but plan the location. Thus, officially nominating ourselves to the Fun Committee a few of us organized a ski ball competition and used in-house Starbucks gift cards as the prizes. It made things a bit more lively so hopefully everyone had fun. They let us out early so I used the time to go to the temple before rush hour hit, it was a great way to cap off the end of school and pre-Christmas break.

Beach Prep.  I talked Shannon and my parents into going to the Dominican Republic for New Years (wahoo!) and as pre-planning had it, Shannon and I scoured Nordstrom Rack for summer sandals and clearance price sun dresses to get us in the mood.

Date Night. Mukarram and I discovered the Angelika Theater and for our Friday night date night we grabbed some dinner in the area and wandered around before our movie started. Merrifield is definitely an up-and-coming place with a Mom's Market (see photo above), an Anthropologie, a specialty tea shop, a specialty oil/vinegar shop and a ton of other boutique places I'll never be able to afford. The  night wasn't too cold so it was wonderful to walk around hand-in-hand before I sunk mine into a bowl of specialty popcorn!

Christmas Shopping. Because Mukarram wasn't coming home with me, I didn't let him out of my sight until I got on the plane to go to N.C. (which part of me regretted was TOO SOON!) Saturday morning we went to our favorite brunch spot, Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ), for brunch then headed out to the Leesburg outlets so I could get the gift I was focused on getting him, he could let me pick something and in general we could get a few things on sale and stuff for other people. One of the best stops was Williams Sonoma, where he bought a pressure cooker and a few cooking items, I bought part of Shannon's gift (we decided instead of Christmas pressies we would put together 2014 Prep Packages), the 12 Days of Christmas plates and a tagine! I then made us go to Tumi and as luck would have it the light briefcase I knew he had been eyeing (and the focus of what I wanted to get him) had ONE left in the store and it was on sale!! I was SO excited and glad we didn't wait any longer to come to the store. Then it was time to hunt for me .. and for some reason I was in a really weird emotional state. We went to go buy me a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and I couldn't decide between two kinds. I really liked one, he and the sales lady liked another and I felt so pressured I started to cry!  Just to give me some space we walked to Coach, where he bought me a fordable beach bag and a small clutch, both 75% off with an extra 20% -- love D.C. outlets! I was really coveting a fur vest they had, but it was either too big or too small. I let it go, and committed to my hunt for a nice silver fox fur stole. Finally I steeled my nerves, we walked back to the sunglasses shop and I got the pair he really liked on me; it is the pair he would have picked so I will always think of him. All spent, we loaded up the car and headed home to a nice evening of kabobs, a movie and snuggling before I headed out the next morning (insert sad face).