Jan. 1: IDCEAYWTPFriday on Saturday

Yesterday was too busy and fun for me to pause—even for a moment—to blog. LOVE those days. Here, for your reading pleasure, is IDCEAYWTPFriday: The Day Late Version.

• See how I scared you a little with that image over on the right? I made you think I was going to show you something NOT SAFE FOR WORK, but I’m not. I just wanted to entice you a little. Evil.
• One of my new year’s resolutions is not to lie on my blog anymore.
• (Ha!)
• Yesterday was full of many good things. I’m going to tell you about them.
• First, I got a text from Sunshine that made me worry less. Not a lot less, just a little, but it was still good.
• I met up with Sherilee, who came to Portland for a few hours. We did some shopping and lunched at Gustav’s. Most importantly, we got caught up on all the busy-ness of each other’s lives. Sherilee is one amazing woman, and such a good friend.
• I got a nap. I loves me my naps.
• Dawn sent over some yummy little cheesy goodness—delicious!
• The Castañedas joined us for our New Year’s Eve celebration. We played Pictureka and poker, and drank and ate many things. Just before midnight we found Dick Clark on the TV (oh, how painful it is to watch that man—somebody, please, stick a fork in him) and toasted champagne. I think our kids might have kissed each other. It’s a little foggy, but it was fun to ring in the new year with such delightful people.
• Dina and Jenn K stopped by while on rounds of the neighborhood and tried unsuccessfully to hide their public drunkenness. Thanks for the champagne, girls!
• I’m very excited about several new books. Get ready for another sub-bulleted list.
• Earth (The Book), by Jon Stewart and a bunch of other very funny people. If you liked America (The Book), you’ll like this one too. Just don’t be like Tina and open the book to that one page. (Trust me—you’ll know it when you see it.) Thanks to the Nienhuises for this very fun gift.
• The Crying Tree, by Naseem Rakha. Here’s a video trailer. Although I usually avoid books in which a child dies, I like the idea of the forgiveness aspect of the story. I became familiar with Rakha when I joined her Facebook group “Women Going to Hell,” which is for the women who did not support the choice of Sarah Palin as a VP candidate a few years back. (Palin famously announced in a 2008 speech that “there’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support women.'” In other words, ‘if you don’t support my candidacy, watch out.’ Yikes, right?) Victor gave me this book for Christmas.
• The Next Queen of Heaven, by Gregory Maguire. This is something a little different from the author of the Wicked series and numerous other re-spun fairy tales. I hope it’s as good as it sounds.
• “Hopalong Asshat”? Really? How perfect is that nickname for a certain someone we know? Veeeeery perfect.   Thanks, Cristina. I shall use it frequently.
• I got my hair cut the other day. It was getting a little shaggy around the edges. I’m letting the top grow and just getting the ends trimmed, and it’s actually attaining a style. Still, I look forward to not needing a barber anymore, and maybe even graduating from my very practical Janet Reno comb to something normal people (non-former attorney generals) use.
• Today we’re taking down our Christmas décor. This is always my least favorite part of the holidays. It’s not the task of boxing everything up that I hate so much as seeing it all go away for 11 months. Bummer.
• I ran across this quote today and I think it’s a lovely wish for the new year:

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make art - write or draw or build or sing or live only as you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” (Neil Gaiman)

Gotta go. Things to do. Happy new year!!