squeak

~*~Random post~*~

It has been a busy and quite hectic holiday season. Even more so than usual for me...if that is even possible.
My grandmother was unable to host Christmas at her house this year because she is having her kitchen remodeled. So the responsibility was instead passed on to me. Note to future homeowners: If you do not enjoy hosting family dinners, look for a house with little to no dining room space.

As you may know from reading some of my previous blog posts, I do have some experience at hosting large family dinners. Christmas was to be no exception and I had to plan a formal, sit-down dinner for sixteen people.
Yes, sixteen.

It did not go quite as smoothly as Thanksgiving or some of my past dinners. But then, this was my first time doing Christmas and because of gift exchanging, family traditions, and whatnot...you end up dealing with more time constraints. Dinner was, regrettably, late. Though my family did not seem to mind, my perfectionist self was very displeased. I can only strive to do it better next time.

My table decor and place settings were not as elaborate as I had hoped for. But time simply had gotten away from me. I ended up making more simplistic name tags than the ones I used for Thanksgiving.


In case you are wondering....this is what my dining room looks like with sixteen people seated. (I wish I had gotten a better angle, or you'd be able to see a few of my cousins that are missing in the photo.)


Here is a quick picture I snapped of the front of the living room where my tree is set up.

(It is still up too! My boyfriend is incredibly nostalgic and getting him to part with the tree is one of the most difficult tasks I face each year.)

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For Christmas this year, I ended up buying John (my boyfriend) a pet snake. To be honest...I wasn't even sure he would want a pet snake. I knew that he seemed to really be keen on snakes but, other than his small collection of Beanie Baby snakes, I had never seen him hold one. I wasn't sure if it would be something he would want or if he would prefer to love snakes....errr...from afar.
Turns out, he really loved the snake! He was completely surprised and just head-over-heels for it. He named the snake Mr. Hiss.
Mr. Hiss is a baby Rosy Boa, by the way. I once had a King Snake when I was a child and I have to admit, Mr. Hiss is a lot more calm and docile than my old one.
He is pretty cute too:


Here is his little set-up:


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Now for New Year's Eve we ended up not making plans until...well....that very day! Thankfully, I didn't have to host the party. I just had to show up!
John and I picked up Vanessa and went over to a friend's house.

Now Vanessa and I are always the life of the party. When there is fun to be had, we get CRRRRAAAAZZYY!!!

(yes, we are indeed knitting)

I also had to post this pic because it is the first shot I have of Vanessa where she isn't doing something crazy. She is just sort of smiling for the camera.


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In recent news! (Hope you guys are still hanging in there! Sorry...it's a long post.)

A friend of mine was just made an official SG today. She seemed to be on the fence about joining for awhile and then Radeo and a bunch of other SG's at Philly ComicCon encouraged her to sign up. She submitted a set to Member Review shortly after and now she is up on the site! Yay!
Go check out my friend Smurfasaur in her first official set Pink Nouveau. (I like how the name of the set is somewhat equivocal.)



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I apologize for ending on a sad note...but it wouldn't feel right for me not to mention it.

I'm sure that some of you already know but a friend of mine and of Suicide Girls in general has passed away.
Some of you who have been on SG for awhile may know him as theringleader...some of you who were closer to him know him as Kevin.
He ran the X-Sanguin/ZDN Party and booth at San Diego Comic Con every year. In fact, without his generosity, Suicide Girls would not have had the pleasure of attending and playing a prominent role each year at SDCC.

I did not know him as well as some of you but I can honestly say that he was one of the first (if not the absolute first) people to really make me feel welcome in the SG booth at Comic Con. I had attended Comic Con for a few years before deciding to help out in the Suicide Girl's booth. Although I was not new to the site, I was new to working conventions and having actual human contact with the other girls. The other girls already knew each other so well and I resorted to being my normal quiet, shy self. Kevin would always make the effort to talk to me....if I didn't have a chair, he would always lend me a knee...and he always appreciated my little quirks (like my love for tracking money on WheresGeorge). We had a lot of private jokes together and I looked forward to seeing him every year.

I'm going to miss him a lot. Truth be told, I'm kind of glad I decided not to go to Comic Con this year. It would be weird not seeing him there.



<3O~