19.12.05

Weekend Wrap-Up

What an extremely busy weekend!

I traveled home early on Thursday to avoid getting caught in DC in any ice storm. Once again the weather reports were exaggerated to stimulate ratings and we got little more than a heavy rain storm. Friday was killer at work. 5 hours devoted to conference calls alone. I almost lost my voice and my patience on several occasions.

On Saturday I went on a shopping spree. I bought a new laptop bag since the one I had was looking in very sad shape. I also got a new running suit since M. warned me that sporting attire can be a lot pricier in Germany and I needed a new one.

Then I went on the big pharmaceutical stock-up mission. I found out you can no longer buy Sudafed without it being logged by Big Brother. The stores are also limiting how much you can buy in a 24 hour period. Too many people cooking up their own stash of drugs at home apparently. Chances are I'll never take more than a couple of the Sudafed I bought. Maybe I'll sell it on eBay.

I have all the contact lens cleaner, deodorant, toothpaste, dental floss, etc. that I can use in the next 6-9 months. My father has been oddly fixated on the reported peanut butter scarcity in Europe. I think he's asked me three times this weekend if I'm going to get some peanut butter to bring. I never really liked peanut butter except very occasionally a peanut butter cup, peanut butter ice cream or peanut butter cookies.

Saturday night my parents and I went out for a fantastic steak dinner and then to the Nutcracker. I treated them to an outstanding bottle of Cobos Malbec wine to accompany the absolutely perfect steaks we were served. Then onto the ballet...

Apparently no one told us but we bought tickets to the Red Neck showing (not that there's anything wrong with Red Necks). First of all, it was staged in a converted basketball dome. No big deal except they actually had all the concession stands open. People were eating hot dogs and nachos throughout the performance. Also, they felt free to let out a good whoop and a holler whenever someone did anything impressive. I can honestly say I've never been to a ballet littered with catcalls and whistling throughout. The big tip off should have been the promotional give away at the door. No, not a Nutcracker bobblehead. It was little Nutcracker Christmas tree ornament. It's kind of sad what they have to do these days to get people to come to the ballet and support this art but on the other side, it worked and there was a decent turnout.

The rest of the weekend I spent finalizing. I finalized the clothes and shoes that I want to bring to Germany/Switzerland but still need to finalize how I am getting them there. I finalized the Christmas cookie list (more to come on this one later). I have nearly finalized Christmas Eve dinner, which I am hosting too. The theme is 'appetizers'. We are having a roast on Christmas so I thought it would be fun to have a variety of appetizers for dinner on Christmas Eve without having to worry about spoiling a big meal afterwards.

So with that, I have a 6:15 AM flight tomorrow morning to start of the week and I better go get some shut-eye!
Posted from East Hampton, CT

1 comment:

lobstah said...

I still can't stop laughing about the "Red Neck Ballet"...but you're right, this is the probably the only to get Americans to enjoy "culture."