Another Christmas has come and gone, leaving only New Years Eve as the final big huzzah before we finally hunker back down into our regular hum-drum lives, forgetting all that lovely holiday buzz of candy canes, carols, and peace on earth good will to men. I suppose I should profer a report of my Christmas comings and goings, but no worries, it shouldn’t take me too long.

Christmas was purposefully lackadaisical this year because we were all just so tired. We planned it that way, and thankfully so, because it turned out that more than half of us in attendance were quite ill. I, however, am still skirting the colds and general ailments that have been running rampant through my relatives. Wish me luck; I can’t afford to get sick now.

The anticipated morning arrived and… we slept in. Well, at least Steven and I did. We followed orders to not wake anyone up until at least ten in the morning. I woke up naturally around 9:45am and was planning to wait around a while, maybe go back to sleep, but then I heard noises downstairs. Out I went and found that Mom and Dad had been up since nine. Cheaters. We decided to wake Steve and get down to the business of opening presents.

I only asked for a few things this year. I can’t remember if I’ve already mentioned this, so I’ll mention it again: I wished for, first and foremost, a sapphire. I know that sounds like a lot, but it wasn’t really. See, I’ve owned a very lovely platinum ring for a very long time. I bought it when I was fourteen when I was dragged into a jewelry store in Tucson by my Mother. The store was closing and while Mom shopped seriously, a salesgirl and I played around. Platinum is my all-time favorite jewelry metal, so I focused on that case. Inside I found the most beautiful ring I had ever seen: it had a substantial platinum band, a whole carat total weight of diamonds lining the two sides of the ring that flanked the center stone, arranged beautifully into rows of rounds then baguettes. To top all of that off, the diamonds were VVS1s – that means they’re nearly flawless, and worth a fortune. Just for fun, the salesgirl and I figured out how much the ring would cost with all the close-out discounts. Turned out that the ring cost less than the worth of the platinum alone. I later found out that the ring is worth around $10,000. Needless to say, I didn’t even pay a substantial fraction of that.

The only problem with the ring was that it had no center stone. It was just what’s called a semi-mount – a ring all prepared for the gemstone of your choice. I didn’t mind, I wanted it anyway. It was worth it simply because it was a great investment. Unfortunately, though, it has sat in its little silver box all alone for nearly five years. I’ve never been able to wear it because I couldn’t afford to buy a center stone for it. Hence why I asked for a sapphire for Christmas.

I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted. All I could come up with was a list of four DVDs. So, I said that if it was alright, I’d like to combine my Christmas wish list with my wish list for my upcoming 19th birthday, and with all that saved up present power, I wanted a simple sapphire to go in my ring so I can finally wear it. I picked out a beautiful cornflower blue (medium blue – considered the best, most sparkly color) antique cushion cut sapphire, 1.23c. I wasn’t sure if I’d get it, but I thought it was worth a shot.

Once we all started sorting through the presents under the tree on Christmas morning I knew I had gotten my sapphire. Why? Because I had under a dozen presents to unwrap. For once, a small quantity of presents was a very good thing. Sure enough, after unwrapping three DVDs (the fourth was a St. Nick’s Day present), I got my sapphire. My ring is now at a jeweler so the sapphire can be set. It should be ready for me to pick up by Wednesday, just in time for a New Years Eve party.

So I’m extremely well pleased. I got exactly what I wished for. I got the four movies – “Gilda“, “Sunset Boulevard“, “How to Marry a Millionaire“, and “Let’s Make Love“. (I’d like to clarify that last one – it’s perfectly innocent, just a cute little musical from 1960 starring Marilyn Monroe and Yves Montaud. Everyone always thinks it sounds so risque. Honest, it’s just a goofy musical!) 🙂 I’ve watched all of those movies, except for Sunset Boulevard. I got interrupted halfway through. Anyway, I’d recommend seeing all of them, each for a different reason. Suffice it to say, they’re all lovely.

Later on in the day, Kevin, Jen, Max, and Jen’s parents – Connie and Brian – showed up to join the party and to unwrap even more presents. Connie and Brian got us a present that has made me very happy indeed – a crate of Dominion Root Beer, and the entire Indiana Jones set on DVD. Mmm, good stuff! 🙂 Kevin and Jen bought my family a group gift – a nice mini fridge for the basement, which is something my parents have been meaning to buy for ages.

So, that’s what I got for Christmas. Sorry, that took a bit longer than I expected. I got all into that story about the platinum ring… Yay! I’m so excited! A moment four/five years in the making: I finally get to wear that ring! Hoorah! Naturally, it’ll be going on my right hand. I had originally intended to save it for my engagement ring whenever that would happen, since it’s just so pretty and it was so reasonable. Seemed like a reasonable thing to do. But psh, who needs a man when you can have a ring like that without ’em? 🙂 Hehe, I’m only kidding. Sort of. Besides, when I end up getting engaged, I want a special ring, one that is uniquely connected to that, you know? Anyway, not like I have to worry about that any time soon, right? I’m not really expecting a casanova to just fall out of the sky and land (safely, of course) right in front of me.

So, what else is going on. I’m now knee-deep in preparations for a New Years Eve dance that I’ll be attending. My church is organizing a big dance for single members who are between the ages of 18 and 31, so I thought I’d go. It’s better than sitting at home doing nothing, and hey, I get a cool dress out of it. Mom has been working like mad to make this dress for me. I’ve been dreaming about having a dress like that for some time now, especially considering it was created by one of my all-time favorite designers – Edith Head. As you’ll see on that website, Veronica Lake wore it in the 1942 film, “This Gun for Hire.” I haven’t seen the movie, I just happened to come across a picture of that dress one day and just fell in love with it. Mostly I like it because Edith Head’s designs from that decade seem to be perfectly designed to fit my frame, which makes me really happy. So far, that dress is the most flattering thing I’ve ever worn. I can’t wait till it’s all done. All of the pieces are cut out for the final dress, and provided all goes well, it should be done tomorrow. We’ve made about a million and one dummy dresses to make sure everything’s working out well. I think it’ll be gorgeous. I decided to have it made out of a lovely, luxurious soft gold silk charmeuse. To give you an idea of just how luxurious that fabric is, typically it’s around $45-$60 a yard. But, since I know where to shop, I got it for only $7.00 a yard! I was so pleased. I bought it when I was in San Francisco back in October. I’ve been on dying to make something out of it ever since.

So I’ll be all decked out for New Years and everything will hopefully go swimmingly. Only problem is, I’m really nervous about driving all that way and back that late at night. It’s not going to be in the best of neighborhoods. Nothing really horrible mind, just uneasy. I used to live down there and promptly moved when I found out that there were regular drug deals near the church building. I went there last week to say goodbye to some missionaries I knew a few months ago who were heading home, and just trying to get there was horrifying. I saw a really bad accident a few blocks from the church. Of course, it shouldn’t have been as bad as it was, but sure enough one of the drivers was in a new Toyota Camry. I didn’t see the actual accident, but I pulled up just in time to see the cars come to a stop and the door of the Camry open, and a woman tumble halfway out of her car. It was horrible to watch, mostly because it was proof of everything I’ve been trying to tell my parents about Asian cars; the poor woman’s legs were pinned underneath the crumpled steering column. A simple accident was magnified by the fact that Asian cars simply aren’t meant for American roads. They couldn’t have hit going any faster than 25/30mph because they were the last cars to go through a turn at an intersection that was already moving pretty slowly. And yet, there she was, her shoulders pressed against the tarmac, her body twisted at a disturbing angle.

I finally had to stop looking. It was just bothering me too much. Just as I turned away, I saw a small boy – probably only seven or so – get out of the other car that was in the accident, an SUV, and he started sobbing about how sorry he was. I’m sure it wasn’t really his fault – the roads were wet, I’m guessing based on the angles of where the cars end up that one of them had hydroplaned. And yet that poor kid was convinced he’d done something wrong.

All of it has led me to one conclusion: BMWs may be more expensive, but I am never driving anything else. After seeing that woman laying on the road that way, I’m convinced that those insurance reports I’ve read were correct: you hit an Asian car on a corner, and suddenly it’s an accordian. Unfortunately, most American cars are the same way because they try so desperately to cut corners in order to cut back on production costs. And they don’t have to bother to fix any of these problems because the government doesn’t test corner impacts, so they can get away with it. It’s comforting to know that BMW, as a company, independantly decided to pull out all the stops and make those cars as safe as possible. I mean, for goodness sake, after looking at the steel cross-beams under the hood of the Z4, I’m convinced that woman wouldn’t have been trapped had she been in a BMW. Funny, they’re a company that actually cares about the person who’s buying their product. Maybe that’s why they tend to be the only non-upper-end car manufacturer who don’t need to add all sorts of sales incentives in order to sell their cars; they don’t have to, because the customers keep coming back for more. So what if their sedans are $8k or so more than your typical Asian or American car. I think saving my legs, at the very least, is worth a slightly higher car payment.

Ugh, I wish I could just forget that whole accident.

Anyway, happy stuff! I get to go to the Washington Auto Show next week with Stephen! Hurrah! And, guess what else! I’ve finished all the assignments Debbie Sams from First Star gave for me to do before our meeting on the 6th! I’m so happy. I redesigned their website (redesigned it three-fold, actually – I wanted to give her options), I came up with the perfect proactive venture for their charity, I’ve developed a great fundraising plan, and I’ve even figured out the perfect way to pair the Daily Prophet with them. Now I just hope she likes it all. 🙂 Or at least parts of it, parts would be fine. Since I have so much time left before the meeting, I think I’m going to come up with some more website designs for them. I bet they’d like that.

My head hurts again and I’m out of pain medication. I got that other prescription, but I haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet. It’s bothering me. *sigh* They’ve been really bad this week. Keeping me up late. Ah well, maybe that’s how I got so much work done, so I should quit complaining. 🙂

I’m on a kick to learn something new, but I’m having a really hard time remembering stuff, so I’ve decided to get my brain warmed up again I’m going to try to read through the US Army Survival Guide. I was watching Due South and I realized that I could use a good refresher course on how to survive out in the wild. I don’t know when I’ll need these skills, but then again, that’s the point; you just never know. So, if I can get through this book and remember a good portion of it, maybe I’ll finally move on to automechanics. I’ve been meaning to do that for ages but just haven’t gotten around to it. It’s about time, I say.

That’s it for me for now. Now that Christmas is done with I’m hoping I’ll get back into the daily blogging routine so hopefully the entries won’t have to be this incredibly long every day. 🙂