Well, I lied about the magazines. Part of cleaning up the back room involves getting rid of magazines, and how can you get rid of magazines without reading them first? But I am happy to report that most of the magazines are dealt with, and I've managed to accumulate only one new one (a fancy-schmancy lifestyle magazine for zillionaires) in the meantime. Must be a record. And the back room, although not up to white-glove standards, is looking much better than it did a week ago. Most of the other long-delayed projects are close to being caught up, despite an unexpected trip over the weekend.

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I got to jet over to Maui on Friday for Kevin's company Christmas party (which I found out about on Thursday morning -- hence the term "unexpected"). The sum of what I knew about this party was this: it would be held at the very wealthy boss's house, outdoors, and there would be food and alcohol.

I get so nervous going to parties where I don't know many people. I suck at making small talk face to face with people I don't know, and I'm always overly self-conscious and worried about what other people think. So, I agonized for hours on Thursday night about what to wear, and what to pack in case what I ended up wearing was somehow wrong and needed to be amended. Which it was. I figured simple and classic would be good, so I decided on a white sleeveless linen blouse and a dark gray long but fitted skirt, with black sandals. Easy to dress down with a quick change to shorts, and easy to dress up by changing the blouse to a sparkly black tank.

As the cab drops us off, a T-shirted and athletic-shorted guy comes out of the gate. I am, based on this first impression, decidedly overdressed. The guy looks trustworthy, so I ask him point-blank if he thinks I'm overdressed for this party. He looks me over, and says, "Maybe a little." So I went into the cottage and exchanged the skirt for navy linen shorts. Then we proceeded back to the house where most of the other women were in dresses, and form-fitting, sparkly dresses at that. Oh well. I guess I should learn to trust my instincts a little more often. That, and learn to not ask guys anything at all about appropriate dress, because they just don't get it.

Anyway, the party was fun, despite the dressing dilemma. The food was good, the margaritas were great, and there was a decent DJ who got most everyone dancing at one point or another. I met some nice people. Some of the younger crowd ended up fully dressed in the pool and the hot tub. It went on until 4 a.m., although we bailed out around midnight. I never did get to meet the very wealthy boss, who was gone by the time we got there, and who returned after we had left.

I flew back Saturday afternoon after a great breakfast at Lahaina Coolers (our usual dining place when in Lahaina).

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The rest of the weekend was nice, too. I spent late Saturday afternoon at the beach and rented a couple of candyfluff movies for Saturday night. I puttered around the house on Sunday morning, then took a very long walk in the afternoon, with stops to return the movies, go to the antiques & collectibles show and the Pacific Handcrafters Guild fair, take some pictures of the holiday decorations downtown, and wander around the Honolulu Academy of Arts. The photos are being developed as I write this, so I should have them up by the weekend, barring an extreme fit of laziness. (Always possible, but I'm working on that.)

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The last manini bits of the Christmas shopping got done after work yesterday, so I spent the evening wrapping while watching "Return to Me" with David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. What a sob-fest that was! Great movie, but my eyes are still puffy 14 hours later. Of course, I'm a terrible crybaby, and I marvel at the women in the movies who can just let one little tear slowly fall from the corner of one eye, without their eyes turning all read and their upper and lower eyelids bloating beyond all recognition and the other fun crying symptoms I have to deal with.

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I tried a new glaze at ceramics last week, and I'm anxious to see how it fired. I hope the pieces will be out of the glaze kiln when I get there tonight.
- posted by Lori @ 4:13:00 PM | permanent link | |