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For someone who went to art school (my undergraduate degree is a BFA) I have little decorative flair. But here are my attempts at holiday decorations.  This is that top shelf that temporarily held the plants.

I considered getting a tree.  There’s even a spot for it now that I had to get rid of my beloved ficus.  And I thought, ‘The cats are what?  Seven and eight years old?  They’re not kittens anymore.  Maybe they won’t have to climb the tree and break every last bulb.  Maybe?  Right??’  Yeah, no tree.

So more bulbs to put around the apartment. I don’t think this shot is capturing the color and prettiness of these bulbs. Maybe I’ll try again. Below are the lights that I strung on my amoire instead of a tree.

And man are we tired. But all the big jobs are out of the way, and today is mostly fun stuff.

The one job I’m looking forward to is organizing my photographs.  I’m not going to do photo albums, that’s just too much work.  But I’m going to identify people, and maybe organize everything into envelops, ie, “9/11 friends,” “Echo friends,” “family,” and then put them all in one box. Right now they’re spread all over the place.

If I come across anything particularly good (or whatever) I will scan them and put them up.

Happy day!  I’ll probably have music on in the background, but I kinda wish there were holiday shows on tv to serve as background noise.

Here is a shot of the inside of my refrigerator, which is usually even emptier than this.  Notice the egg nog!  Aside from all the cheese and bread I consume, I’m a seriously healthy eater. Today I’ve got kale, carrots, broccoli, olive paste for broccoli dipping, cottage cheese for protein, and ground flax seed to mix with the vanilla soy milk (together it tastes like a milkshake).  The Half & Half (organic) for my coffee is another indulgence.

One of the things I’ll do when I’m finished cleaning is place a Fresh Direct order which will include pumpkin pie.  I may not have mentioned, but when I finish cleaning I give myself all sorts of rewards.

I did better this time, I was less nervous.  I slowed down, looked people in the eye more as I spoke.  So yeah.  Better.  I don’t suck completely today. (For those that don’t know, I recently starting volunteering as a tour guide for the Word Trade Center site.)  Here’s a picture of the site from within the Winter Garden.

I tried to go through my closet in a ruthlessly effective make-Tim-Gunn-Proud way, but I was not terribly successful. I’ll have to make another pass. But I did manage to pack up some clothes I haven’t worn in years and clothes that no longer fit. These will go to the church thrift shop down the street. Fine. Except for two dresses. First, this one. I bought it for my last book launch party. Although it’s hard to tell in this shot, it’s really very lovely. It’s an Agnes B. and was way out of my budget, but I treated myself. I wrote a book!  

I got to wear it ONCE. I’m glad someone else will get to have it, but still! ONCE!

Plus, the thrift shop very reasonably wants everything to be clean, and this is a hand wash dress.  I had to hand wash it!! Today I will have to iron it!! Okay, fine.

But there’s a second dress.  This one I can’t part with, even though I haven’t had an occasion to wear it in years.  I’ve also owned it for years, so really, no dress lasts forever, what do I want?  

It’s just that it’s the most flattering dress I have ever owned.  I wear it and I think I’m the prettiest girl in the room wherever I am. That’s a great feeling (and it doesn’t matter if it isn’t technically true). The dress is exactly like the white halter Marilyn Monroe wears in all those pictures of her above the subway grating, except it’s black.  I don’t know anything about sewing, but I’m taking it to a tailor and asking them if there’s anything to be done.