I am just bursting with joy

I am just bursting with joy! Mike's mom told him yesterday that we didn't need to sleep over at her house Christmas Eve (as he's done for the past 15 years) and that maybe it was time for the little bird to fly the nest and start his own Christmas morning traditions with his new bride-to-be. YAAAAYYYY!!! I feel like this is a HUGE step in the right direction for us!

The previous plan was to spend an entire 30 hours straight with his family, sleeping over at his mom's house Christmas Eve and driving over to his dad's in the afternoon of Christmas Day. Now the plan is to arrive at Mike's mom's house this afternoon, exchange gifts with his Mom and Sister, leave Mike's mom's house tonight whenever we feel like it, sleep in our own bed, do our own gift exchange in the morning, and make it over to Mike's Dad's house in the afternoon for dinner! It will be so lovely to have a break between the two events, as well as to start our own traditions and start making our own memories as a soon-to-be married couple. :-)

I will have to take lots of pictures tomorrow when we unwrap gifts. Mike's mom makes her famous Dolly Parton Cinnamon Rolls every Christmas morning (aptly named for the large, rotund size of the rolls) and she's pre-made some for us to take home with us before we leave her house Xmas Eve. That's really sweet of her! And I hobbled into Trader Joe's last night and picked up 2 individual sized Broccoli & Cheese Quiches to have with the cinnamon rolls. Yum-wah! Over 400 calories each (yikes), but hell, I'll be good for the rest of the year.

My knee is feeling a little better. I was feeling the effects of cabin fever last night, as I hadn't left the house since Thursday evening, so the Trader Joe's trip was both refreshing and a little painful. I wrapped up my knee in an Ace bandage for stability, but I don't know if it really mattered. I was feeling ok for a while, but after the first 3 aisles I was starting to feel it. I came home and had to ice it again. It's like 2 steps forward, 1 step back, you know? I'm so punny. :-)

Right next to TJ's is a CB2 (Crate & Barrel's more youthful and hip store) and I saw these cute plates in my wedding color (Tiffany blue) so I bought 2 of the largest ones for using as serving platters. I am just obsessed with that color now that I know I'm using it in my wedding - everywhere I go I spot it and gravitate towards it, like a moth to a hot Tiffany blue flame! Yowza!

A most excellent 60s-style educational video as political trope. Here the tripped-out, balloon-high cartoon nirvana melds well with far-flung but close-hitting ridicule of the pinstriped emperor.
Don't be fooled like I was till half through: this is topical, not a vintage conceit.

It's getting to be that time of year

It's getting to be that time of year--you know, black friday, evening creeps up faster, stores desperately adding garlands with red bows above the thanksgiving display. And, yup, i'm starting to get a bit uppity about the things i receive without just deserve. Another way of thinking about this, and probably the more stylish way that a proper blog post, seo optimized, would have begun, is that this is a recommended reading list--- and some of it is even relevant to this blog! let's start there, then devolve.
World Changing: A User's Guide for the 21st Century.
A user's guide for the 21st century? Well, I plan to use that century, i better have this guide. and that's the best reason i can think of to beg loved ones for this book/recommend it. But I also have this additional reason, which follows.
This quote exemplifies one way in which political economics is emerging in the public mind. Local production is slowly taking hold (right beside the slow eating phenomenon that's sweeping the nation, but still). Take it or leave it, by your own system of logical justice--- but when you do, (hopefully) you'll take into consideration both the potential costs of production and transport, as well as a valuation of the convenience of access to foreign and out-of-season products. Maybe you'll also think of the human actors, the job created for those harvesting for foreign consumers willing to pay a higher price. Or, the local family farmers who can't compete with the allure of bananas in January at Safeway. That, kids, is political economics (so don't ask me again).

Oh yeah, here's that quote I've been referencing, from the new book by World Changing, called 'World Changing' (hmm):
In the middle of Denver, in the middle of December, you can walk into most any supermarket and buy a ripe mango. This has been true long enough that almost nobody stops to think of the remarkable distance that mango traveled or of the tree it fell from, which is probably enjoying a balmy tropical day on the other side of the planet. Proponents of eating local food balk at the ubiquitous midwinter mango. Why? Because they think about the baggage that mango flew in with.