Online shopping is my new favorite past time.

... which is why I'm sitting in a coffee shop (believe it or not, Kay and I have found a real WINNER in Massapequa: Massapequa Perk) browsing Bloomingdales.com to get some Christmas shopping done. We'll see if I actually like any of this stuff when I open the boxes. You're all getting this stuff as gifts either way, so be forewarned. Ugly, torn, smells like cats? Oh well. Go exchange it ;-)

I'm going to shamelessly steal from the blog of a friend who is infinitely more stylish than me, but here are my (her) three rules of shopping:

1. Can I think of three occasions when I will wear this?
2. Would I have bought this sale item at full price?
3. If something feels tight in the dressing room, it will feel tighter outside of the dressing room.

Also, when in doubt, buy shoes, but that one's obvious (speaking of shoes, just got some sweet Franco Sarto brown and green plaid oxfords). The only problem with rule #1 is I concoct fabulous and completely ridiculous occasions for me to wear my hot new item... "This would be perfect if I end up at a swanky club for an invite-only fashion week party if I meet someone who invites me while I'm hanging outside of Bryant park staring at celebs from 100 yards away. Okay, so that's 1. Let's think of 2 more..." Right. Keep dreaming.

Time to finish my overdue library book (one of them). Extremely excited for Harry Potter tonight... even if it is only the first half of the last book. I am fully prepared - over the past week I've watched the entire movie series (wonder why I'm so behind on my work?). I leave you with a photo of the handsomest couple at Aunt J's Thanksgiving shindig, a view from my desk at work at sunrise (because I'm usually there at sunrise), and a firefighter boat spotted whilst running on the west side highway.

Things to do while waiting for the maintenance guy.

1. accounting homework
2. eat oatmeal
3. watch Wizard of Oz
4. remember how awful Wizard of Oz is
5. drink black tea
6. blog.

I'm up to #6. This week has been uneventful, yet oddly fun. I had a half-day on Tuesday because I was inadvertently terminated at work. Basically, my name was kicked out of the system and I could not log on or do anything, so I got a paid day off. I'll take it!

A colleague from London was in the office... it's been great to reminisce. It was great catching up with her and now I'm even more excited for my pending holiday to London. My manager asked me if I'm seeing anyone lately, to which I replied, "Nope. Real men live in London."

I'm now attending graduate lectures for my accounting class instead of undergrad. My prof, who is absolutely fantastic, teaches both and suggested I informally shift to the MBA class... great in theory, but I will probably be almost an hour late for each lecture since I'll be coming straight from work and my Thursday nights are shot. Oh well. It's such a different dynamic in the grad class... it's easier to learn when everyone around me is concentrating and genuinely trying to learn the material, rather than just waiting for class to end. Maybe I'll be taking this same grad class with the same prof in a few years!

This weekend is Kay's birthday so we are all going out tomorrow night. Then lunch with Aunt and Uncle J on Sunday. Should be a good time! But I positively cannot wait until Thanksgiving. Since last year's cranberry chutney did not work out ("it would be cruel to force someone to eat that" says Mom right before she emphatically dumps it in the trash), I'm going to try something a bit simpler... cookies. If I screw them up, I give up. Chinese take-out for life.

That's all for now. And also, I graduate in less than a month. Weird.

Tonight my pulse beats to the electric snake cleaning my shower drain (and also the adorable old man who won't stop talking to me about his 40-year career as Stuy Town handy-man).