browser-window-shopping the day away...

The pot-luck dinner last night went pretty great-- the food was all fabulous, there were 2 curry dishes that inspired me to learn how to make curry at home. The fortune cookies seemed to go over well with everyone, too. =) We were having such a good time, in fact, that I didn't keep track of the time and had a mini panic attack when I realized I'd missed what I thought was the last tram back out to the park & ride where my car was. Luckily there were some night trams still running, and I was able to catch one of those and got home safe and sound.

I was then woken up this morning by Zach calling. The call was unfortunately a bit staticky and it was hard to understand him sometimes, but when you realize that he was calling from China to Switzerland you kinda become amazed again at the ease of cross-continental communication these days and can't really complain. All this travel he's been doing continues to pay off, it seems, as he got automatically upgraded to business class on his flight from Paris to Shanghai. He said the city is a bit of a trip, since on the one hand it feels pretty run-down and dirty, but also you walk through the mall and see all these western store brands all over the place-- I think he found a Best Buy to go buy plug adapters. And then there's the whole not being able to talk to the cab drivers thing, instead pointing to a piece of paper that's been given to you with characters written on it. Randomly enough, I know a woman that lives in Shanghai, I met her while going through the Montessori teacher training and then we worked at the same school for a short time before her husband got transferred to China, so he might get to get together with her sometime during this week. Kind of amazing having connections with people in all these random parts of the world.

Today as I was fiddling around on the internet I decided to go check Etsy.com, a website I'd seen mentioned quite a few times lately on various blogs. And, um, yeah, I'm in love. It's an online market where people can sell their handmade goods, and there's just oodles and oodles of absolutely adorable and beautiful things for sale. I bought gifts for both my mom and mother-in-law, and also found a seller or 2 that are based in Europe so I'm debating putting in orders for a couple gorgeous pieces of jewelry that for once would not cost an arm and a leg to ship here. I think I'll be stopping by there more often when in need of gifts to give... or fun things to buy for myself. ; )

Speaking of, I looked up today to find Sierra curled up under the tree, pretending to be a Christmas present:

Adorable, no? =P Well, other than the annoyed look on her face at my picture-taking having disturbed her peaceful slumber.