A Sugar Cream Pie New Year

Where were you 10 years ago? What were the decade's top songs/artists/albums? 2009's best music: Vote Now! Not going to lie, I got very tired of seeing these types of polls and articles pop up in my inbox and on my Twtitter feed. So here's mine.

2009: Fine as a Swine
-I traveled to Las Vegas for the first time (!)
-I took over Jack and Jill magazine (!)
-I reached a quarter of a century and have had various small quarter life crises (...!...?)
-I came to terms with the term "broke" and made some lifestyle changes such as canceling cable and cutting shopping (not !)
-I visited camp under the guise of a work trip and got my flight paid for (!!!) hey I did write an article on my fave place in the world for the mag
-My dog was banned from my parents' house (not !)
-I fell into more new music than I could have ever have dreamed of (!!!!!!)
-I decided to one day open a bakery in North Carolina with Bette and have a prostitution business on the side (!!!!) (anyone interested in a "cherry pie" aka a tall blonde with big tatas and a midget on the side?)

-I celebrated the two year anniversary of my return to Indianapolis (not !)

My New Year's resolutions are as follows: put $100 into my savings account every month as car payments have ended, pawn off baked goods on unsuspecting coworkers in an attempt to lose weight, have formulated a move to North Carolina plan by the end of the year.

In 2010, more specifically Jan 12, Vampire Weekend comes out with their second album! You can listen here until then. I've got a couple more listens before I comment on it, but so far, so musically nice on the ears!

In 2009 I also made a sugar cream pie. Here's how that story goes.

Merry Chrismakah

"Well, are you coming?" asks the conductor.
"Where?"
"Why to the North Pole of course! This is the Polar Express!"

Every Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember my dad read The Polar Express to me and my brother before we went to bed. Then we'd put out cookies for Santa and a carrot for his reindeer, and we'd crawl into bed. I have the entire book memorized and I adore it. I love all of the illustrations, though my favorite has to be the one where all of the children are drinking hot chocolate in the train car. The colors are so rich and warm that I feel like, even though they all jumped onto a strange train with a strange man, they are perfectly safe. One year when we woke up on Christmas morning, I found a worn bell that looked suspiciously like a sleigh bell on Santa's cookie plate. My parents said they had no idea where it came from, but their best guess was that Santa had left it for me. I treasured it.

These days my parents continue The Polar Express tradition at the store. They have the book, a portable DVD player with the movie, and a little basket of bells sitting on a table near the door. With each bell they have written this message, "Our wish is that this bell will always ring for those who listen. That the sweet sound reminds us of the true miracles of the holiday season, be they of this world or not" along with this quote from the end of book,

At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them. Even Sarah found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound. 
Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all those who truly believe.

I don't believe in Santa Claus anymore, but I have that sleigh bell that was left on our cookie plate years ago. It's hanging on the doorknob of my apartment door. More than Santa though, I still believe in that magic and the miracles of this time of year. Maybe that's why I can still hear my bell ring.

Tonight I'm having dinner with my family and Adam's family. Then I'm going to go home and read my own copy of The Polar Express that Bette gave me two Christmases ago (which was one of the best gifts I have ever received). I don't expect Santa or any make-believe magic like that; only the same safe feeling that I have when I look at that one picture in the book, and the magic of stopping to listen and hearing the bell ring. I hope you guys (the few of you who may read this!) have a happy holiday too!

All things holiday

Thanksgiving is officially two weeks away. This means I can officially start getting excited about the holidays.

I plan to:
~decorate my apartment in a classy but excessive manner
~bake pie pie pie
~have a cookie extravaganza in which all of my friends will get cookies
~receive the 12 days of cookies newsletter from Food Network again this year
~have a holiday tea party at work
~wear my candy cane knee highs
~make a holidays playlist on itunes and listen to it at work
~dress my dog up like an elf

My friends and I plan to (and these were discussed last night at the Rosebuds and Megafaun show):
~have a secret santa
~have a holiday party....erm many holiday parties
~festive martinis and cider and eggnog

Oh, Megafaun? They are excellent. Check 'em out. Here, let me just help you out. They're from Raleigh/Durham!