Have I mentioned how much I adore my friends?

Last night: Christine and Brian's party. Always good. Wayne was apparently trying to fling one of their neighbors at me, but I was semi-clueless. He seemed a nice guy, but when Wayne let me know he was pimping me, I sort of froze up. Silly Wayne.

Christine gave me gorgeous table linens. Brian Bilcer made my little geek heart go pitter-pat by giving me the mega-cool special spiffy extended DVD version of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. Joy. Thank you, Brian. You rock. It's always good to know someone's got my back, geek-wise.

Tonight: Holiday sleepover at Angie and Jordan's. Christmas videos, hot chocolate, the works. And, as none of us are driving, I'm bringing the peppermint schnappes to add to the cocoa (for those who are not pregnant or breast feeding).

Tomorrow: Clean, decorate, work on my editing project, quilt, cure cancer... oh who the hell am I kidding. All LOTR, all day, baby!

Gah. Lost post. Stupid slipping key command finger things.

I'm trade show girl at the moment -- thank you, Jane. You can read what I've written here by searching on my name. Some of this radiology stuff is seriously cool. (Some, alas, is not. Woe is me for giving up caffeine all those years ago...)

Perks of trade shows: Occasional cool giveaways (a Belgian company gave out little boxes of chocolate with its press kit). A press card. Free meals (I even got a business dinner with Jane last night at the Weber Grill reastaurant. Thank you again, Jane.). Cool people. Big flashy booth things. Clips. Getting paid.

Not-so-great-things: Actually getting up at the same time everyone else does. Sore feet (not for me -- I'm Press Conference Girl, and therefore only go between the news room and the press conference room.) Press conferences that do not, in fact, have anything even remotely resembling news. Being surrounded by people talking medicalese. Not actually seeing the outdoors -- or even a window -- for 8 hours at a time. Having to smile and look pretty -- or at least professional -- when I'd much rather snarl and look surly.

The getting paid part still wins, though.

Have I mentioned that Jane rocks? Thank you, Jane.

Wendy is the bestest housemate in the whole world. She shoveled. Huzzah!

I'm back. Thanksgiving was great, my nephew is, in fact, the cutest Baby EVER, I'm more than halfway through Don Quixote, and life in general is good. I'll post pics later. Now, however, I must fulfill my sacred duty and bake like there's no tomorrow. This year: Various biscotti, pebbernodder (of course), various truffles and possibly sugar cookies. We'll see. Plus maybe creme de menthe squares for the locals -- I don't think they'd ship well.

To the kitchen!