I am being an extaordinarily Bad secret Santa this year. For a number of reasons, my giftee will not be receiving giftage until January, I am afraid. But! The good news is that this means there is more time for the random accumulation of 'ooh I bet Giftee would like that I'll put it in' type oddments. So. Apologies, but it will be there soon!

The grind should be gritty, resembling beach sand: pleasant to walk on, but not too powdery. More Santa Cruz than Carmel.

brenda m, I thought you were kidding. Good lord. I mean, I like a well brewed cuppa, but that's pretty over the top.

Thanks Santa Polter-cow! Soon I will be listening to the tunes of Rah-Rah Riot while reading one of my favorite authors, Neil Stephenson, "Anthem."

Yay! I'm glad you didn't already have either one.

Good lord. I mean, I like a well brewed cuppa, but that's pretty over the top.

To be fair, they gave me a latte because I was buying a number of bags of beans. I didn't really want it because I had to catch a bus. I was ready to be unimpressed, but it was gone before I reached the stop a half a block away. As Agent Cooper would say, that was a "damn fine cup of coffee".

Happy holidays, everyone! Maybe next year I'll get it together enough to do Secret Santa again, but I always love reading about people's gifts to each other.

My year in review: In a word, awesome. I looked back at the 2008 thread to see what I said about that year, and it looks like I never posted in it. So before I get to 2009 I'll just mention that in late 2008 I met and began dating my boyfriend, Mark. This time last year, it was all very new and I didn't know where it was going; now, a year later, we're not only still together, but we've been living together in Nashville since August. The move has been difficult in some ways -- making new friends is hard! -- but I'm enjoying living in Nashville and getting to explore the city, and living with Mark is the best adventure I've ever had.

Speaking of adventures, we've also gotten to do some travelling this year, most notably to Istanbul in May (pictures are here). We also spent a weekend on the Cape with my parents in June and several days in Paris with Mark's family over Thanksgiving.

Finally, now that I've shared this news with my family, I'm thrilled to share it with my Buffista family too: We're getting married!

WOOOHOOO!!

Best Wishes, Kate!

Yay, Kate!!

Kate, that's so exciting and wonderful!

Thanks, y'all! I'm so, so happy. And slightly daunted at the prospect of planning a wedding, but mostly just very, very happy.

I'll share a picture of the ring when I manage to take a good one, but it was my grandmother's engagement ring, and it's very simple and beautiful.