on giving thanks

it is the friday before thanksgiving. i am at work. there is something wrong with this picture. i am pretty sure that trying to focus on anything work related when thanksgiving is on the horizon is a pretty futile mission, because all i can think about is a 4 day weekend, the delicious bourbon apple pie i plan to bake, and lounging around with my family while my body deals with all the tryptophan i intend to load it up with. since next week will be a short work week, i'm also pretty sure it will be a small miracle to get me to accomplish anything, but apparently other people around here don't think that the whole world needs to stop for an entire week just so i can eat 19 pounds of turkey. i haven't even eaten any turkey today and my eyelids feel like i have weights attached to them, so how i am going to make it through next wednesday is beyond me. i just wish that all the stores hadn't totally overlooked thanksgiving and gone straight into the christmas hoopla - i've never entirely understood why this happens every year. the day after halloween has apparently become the day when stores indulge themselves in a christmas free-for-all, and the second the witches and goblins come down, the christmas trees and jolly elves go up in their place. i hope all the pilgrims and cornacopia decorations that get relegated to the bottom shelf aren't too upset about this (because i know i would be), but i guess the tacky holiday decorations/useless crap you don't need industries feel like christmas is a bigger money maker than poor old thanksgiving. hello, does the president PARDON anyone at christmastime? no. does the city of new york shut itself down to parade 45 foot inflatable cartoon characters down the street on christmas? NO. do sales the day after christmas inspire people to camp out in front of department stores at ungodly hours just so that they can save a few bucks on a flat screen tv? NO. so why all this rush to get to christmas? i mean, i flippin LOVE me some christmas, but i love thanksgiving, too, so i just don't get why we are always in such a rush to blow through a perfectly lovely holiday (so what if it's really just an excuse to eat more in one sitting than one should consume in a week??) to get to the next one. chill out, people. the year will be over in about 5 minutes anyway, so slow your asses down and let me enjoy it while it lasts. because god knows once new year's has come and gone, i will actually have to start getting some work done, and we all know how much of a good time THAT is.

there's no place like home...

there are few things on this earth that excite me as much as a short work week. however, having a short work week because i am taking off on thursday for the MOTHERLAND (that is new orleans to those of you who may not know) is just about the greatest thing on earth. ever. last time i was down was back in march, when i went to do some volunteer work, and while i did get some time to love up on my favorite city on earth, i did actually have work to do during the day, so i didn't get to spend as much time making googly eyes at nola as i would have liked to. NOT SO THIS TIME. i figured that since 2010 has been a bit rough on me, i totally deserve a trip back home to recharge my batteries, see my best friend, catch some kickass live music, and maybe even drink a daiquiri (or four). seriously, just the wafting smell of popeyes when you land at msy airport makes my heart smile, and i have been known to cry tears of joy just standing in the sun on the steps of st. louis cathedral and listening to the beautiful concert of sound that the french quarter makes on a daily basis. you know that feeling that you get when you are with someone who just gets why you are the way you are and you don't ever have to explain yourself or apolgize for seeing things the way you see them? they just feel like home, in every sense of the word, and that is how new orleans feels to me, even though my sarsgaard (don't ask) of a cousin insists that i never actually LIVED in new orleans (which is ridiculous, because NEITHER DID HE since gretna technically is not new orleans). being in new orleans just makes me feel more like me than i ever feel anywhere else, including DC. actually, i also feel this way about florence, but i see much less of florence than i do of lady nola. (hmm, that would make an awesome stage name, but that is a digression of what i'm talking about and i think maybe lady gaga owns the rights to "lady" anything nowadays which is sad cause i always wanted a title with "lady" in front...) ANYWAY, the point is that i am going home and i am freakin excited. i am going to bring my tennis shoes and run all over the french quarter and down st. charles so that i can then eat fried catfish and drink 1200 calorie slushy drinks (mmmm, white russian daiquiris!!!) and not feel all that terribly awful about it. i am going to spend time with my best friend and laugh at all the stupid things we used to do back in grade school and i am going to hold her son and marvel at the fact that this girl that used to play in the woods with me after school is now someone's mother and he in fact seems to be a pretty normal and happy child despite the fact that she is a nut job. i am going to fill my ears with all the live music i can get and i am going to stop and listen to all the amazing street performers in the quarter (i will not, however, even so much as stop to look at all the mimes because they can smell my fear of them and they prey on me because of this). i am going to go home and soak up every bit of that place that i can, and i am not going to think about work, or anything going on in my life except for the poboy that is in front of me. except my dog. i might think about him. he likes crawfish, and he is a lazy bum, so i know he would fit right in in nola. so. two more work days and i am off to restore my sanity in the craziest city in the world. i. can't. wait.