In case you want to brighten your weekend, check out this fabulous group of SF authors raising money for charity: [link]

Too awesome.

The house is decorated, cake made, drinks bought, and we are ready for Sammy's party. Oh! I just now realized that I didn't buy him a present. Oops, but he'll never know. I buy him stff all the time. The only thig left is toy clean up but that will wait until bed time. Hosting parties makes me nervous but I feel okay for this one.

I've done stuff today, but it's all been sedentary--haircut, work, bills, etc.

Fitbit is not happy with me today.

Got what I planned to do accomplished today, although not completely in the way I intended. The Target run was fine, but I ended up ordering my replacement walking shoes for Easy Spirit's website, since the store I visited didn't have my size.(Since these are the same style of shoes I usually wear, I don't really have to worry about trying them on.)

~ma for Devi, Sara.

I fed the dog, finished up the gear move, but got all enthusiastic about it again and laid down a couple more tracks. Oops. When something's more fun than a bath...

Anyway, it's all working again in the permanent location, including the new element of the SO's monitors. After a little flurry of remembering what order to turn things on in.

So yeah, bath, dinner, admin. The mix stems might have to wait until tomorrow.

Thanks, -t. It was, despite being beyond capacity, really really nice. She's so old! We're so old....

She was saying she feels dumb and turgid and misses school because she lacks camaraderie and mental challenges. I told her that it was perfectly normal to miss that about university, and it's really hard to replace, but that if she ever wanted to get neck deep in a debate about anything the internet was waiting for her. And no, she can't have the shoulder-bumping full press of people you get on a campus, but you can still get emotional interactions and support.

Which...cue Safe Harbor From Ann Arbor (kinda dicey because it's her aunt I was fleeing, but that was skimmed past), and she was really captivated by y'all, as far as I got. Her big sister is very right-here-and-now in-front-of-me sort of a person--I don't think she'd ever really get caught up on the internet, but Megan's eyes lit up when I told her about Allyson's futon, and Kat's kids, and Jilli's clothes, etc.

Which is sweet--they think I'm weird as all fuck because I don't get rewards where they do, but Megan totally got this.

And, dear lord--shopping. Her sister needed Rodeo Drive. So we went past actual malls and shit, to go into stores I only drive past. Last time she got me into a Saks, I left with a Cole Haan leather jacket, and so the Choos aren't a huge surprise (well, other than that they exist--I thought he was straight up 4 inch heels). It was a deliberate frippery on my part, because I have not bought myself a gift yet, and she's trying to convince me that saving $300 is important.

Uh, no? Because these are easily twice as expensive as any other pair of shoes I've ever owned. It's the money spent, not the money saved, dearie.

She saved well over a grand, because she ended up with five pairs of (pretty impressive) heels, but clearly my exasperation at my shoe collection is not something she'd ever understand. My red-soled shoes are knockoffs (bought when I didn't know that Louboutins existed--I just needed a really subtle red accent for an all black getup), but she had that exact pair of Loubs (they say that?) in beige, and now she has them in black too.

Her quest for a dress for the inauguration ball was fruitless, but I did end up poking at clothes I had no business touching, because EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS for that dress? I...it was really pretty, but no. She wouldn't spent that much either, to be clear, but she was looking for sales in stores that sold dresses like that as if was no thing. In fact, I need to look up some of the brands...these were in the running for Meg to get for her new bride, for instance--they looked great, and they looked like they'd be insanely comfortable, but...and look at the loafers--I finally felt like I was getting it--the "what" that is the rich person's tell. They just looked like shoes I couldn't afford in a way that I'd never be able to discern a mega-expensive pair of jeans. And the other light bulb store was Michael Kors--I can't find the outfits I was looking at there--they had some leather and wool dresses that were remarkable, and in general just great silhouettes, so that was all wildly depressing. The Guccis etc at some point became white noise.

But--I can't be mad. I'm not willing to work three jobs to be able to buy that sort of stuff, or put in the level of effort it took Megan to get where she is right now. Doesn't mean I don't feel pangs of jealousy, though.

Ah yes -- like the time I thought I'd check out the "Bridge" lines at a department store -- turns out, they are the bridge between normal expensive and CRAZY expensive. So yeah, no. That shit was real nice.

It sounds like a great visit, though.

I finally have double-cranberry muffins in the oven.

Also, I'm watching Criminal Minds, and it's real funny to see Parker scared on a roof ledge, with Dawn holding the gun.

was I with you that day, Jesse? Lord & Taylor?

I'm sure it was L&T, but think I was alone? But also maybe!

The real problem with me looking at really expensive things is it makes the $500 dress store by me seem more reasonable.