Christmas Eve 2016

I went to Dad & Ma's for our annual Christmas Eve family get-together last night.

Dad & I watched the 2nd half of the Patriots' destruction of the Jets. I had some pepperoni, cheese and crackers. Kevin's clan arrived. Sarah's clan arrived (minus Hayden, who had popped in earlier). Then we ate dinner (I had meatballs with mushrooms & gravy, dinner rolls, and mac & cheese - very low-key) and watched more football.

The girls all loved the art supplies (high-quality drawing pads and colored pencils/art pencils). Jared & Drew liked the Hot Wheels, and Ma was thrilled with the Blue Moon glasses. Plus: Dad is psyched for the Celtics game on January 18th.

I lucked out (as usual), with the following:

From Kevin's family: $15 in scratch tickets.
From Sarah's family: $25 Amazon GC (gift card).

From Dad & Ma:

• A 3-pack of Strathmore paper pads (sketch/newsprint/drawing).
• $15 Starbucks GC.
• $25 Barnes & Noble GC.
• $50 Master Card GC.
• Two "Life is Good" brand tee shirts (see images below).
• A brown tweed & leather Red Sox cap (see below).
• A pound of Starbucks Christmas Blend ground coffee.
• A 19 oz tub of soft peppermint candy.
• A pair of GreenLife frying pans.
• A box of wooden matches and a giant Yankee Candle (Christmas Wreath scent).

They always take care of their 4 kids, I am lucky to be one of them!

3 Days Off.1

The morning was quiet.

In the afternoon/evening:

1. Bought beer (Long Trail).
2. Snagged a steak & cheese from Town House Pizza.
3. Dropped off Hayden's b'day gift ($25 to Applebee's) at his workplace.
4. Went to the lake from 6 - 8.
5. Hung out with Ma & Dad until 11 pm.

OH Yeah

The mailman was good to me today, having dropped off two great things:

1) My two tickets to the 09/15 Lush show at Royale Boston.

2) My order from L.L.Bean: a grey 'slightly fitted' henley and a blue heather 'unshrinkable' t-shirt. I bought them with the gift card Dad & Ma gave me for Christmas. They went right into the wash, and will be in heavy rotation.

Day Off

Today (Friday) was another decent day off. I didn't have any concrete plans except a workout, and my day went like this:

• I slept in until 11:30 am, and then watched last night's "The Blacklist".
• I worked out from 3:00 to 4:00, and then had a salad for 'lunch'.
• I broke out my guitar and tuned it.

• I bought two shirts from L.L.Bean with the $50 gift card Dad & Ma gave me for Christmas.
• I food shopped at 9:00 pm.
• I watched the season finale of "Undateable Live" as I broke in my Lakai shoes some more (ouch, they are tight on my right foot).
• I dragged out some indie comics to reread.
• I discovered that Miranda Lee Richards released a new album today! I hope she comes to Boston.

Busy Day Off

Today has been full of events and acquisitions:

• Jason called to set up a time for me to visit him & his family in California, and it is going to be a long weekend wrapped around Patriots' Day circa February 15th. Sweet!
• I got an e-mail about a live show featuring Best Coast and Wavves for February 20th, and I snagged two tickets.
• I used the remaining $22 & change on my Amazon gift card to help buy a new Norelco razor, and the first book in James S A Corey's "The Expanse" series.
• I went food shopping.
• I watched the first six episodes of "The Expanse" on SyFy (taped them all and waited for a free day).
• I went to Michael's to use my $25 gift card from Dad & Ma. I got the items seen in the image below (filling in some color gaps in my Prismacolor pencil & Pigma Micron pen sets).
• I worked out from 9 to 10 pm.