Before the New Year commences, I have to recognize a very important event…

Happy birthday, Josie! It’s hard to believe I’ve had my sweet-but-feisty Kitty-mon for 15 years! (Case in point: She wouldn’t stay still as I tried to take this photo with my phone’s camera. Ha.)

Here’s to many more! >^..^<

The end-of-the-year/start-of-a-new-year rush continues!

• My mom (and my brother) sent me beautiful, colorful and decidedly non-holiday flowers for my birthday. :)
• Thanks to everyone for all of the birthday wishes. (I was a little surprised by the volume of messages and emails!)

• Work never seems to slow down. The last couple weeks have been devoted to year-end craziness, combined with planning and trying to get a jump on the next year.

• Round 2 of my year-end, sale-driven music binge. This batch included the latest from Ayumi Hamasaki and the KinKi Kids, plus yet another backlist V6 single because I crave B-sides. ♫

• The “no snow” rituals I’ve been performing since September worked their magic, and while I didn’t get to go back to Florida, I did have a snow-free Christmas. (I’m not entirely kidding…)
• This year, Mom decided to feed my NCIS addiction… by getting me everything that’s already on DVD. She doesn’t do online shopping, so I’m in awe she managed to track down all the seasons locally. This is one among many reasons she rocks.

• Merry Christmas!
• And a Happy Holidays to everyone no matter what you celebrate!

Another crazy-busy week, but it was accompanied by new music. In addition to a couple outstanding pre-orders, I snagged a copy of Kou Shibasaki’s most recent LP, via a fall clearance sale, along with another single I discovered on YouTube. ♪

The last couple months have been something!

You can see some of the projects behind the most recent “Alison non-work communications blackout” on the workplace’s site. (The rest won’t be public until sometime in 2012.)

So, honestly, just how busy have things been? See the scarf-in-progress in the photo above? I started it in mid-October and just finished it this weekend… along with a K-drama that also took entirely too long to finish. ;-)

Hope everyone out there is having a great weekend!

I always seem to follow a month of frequent posting with a drought, don’t I?

Work’s been busy, and I’ll be able to share at least some of these projects in the next few weeks. Hopefully. ;-)

In the meantime, in between all of this working, I attempted to find a new pair of snow boots but ended up purchasing them online. My copy of Tsuyoshi Domoto’s Nippon album arrived. (I think DoTs has been listening to his share of Pink Floyd, which is cool because I love Pink Floyd.) And I also picked up the sole copy of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds that could be found in the local Tar-jay. (If you enjoyed the last Oasis CD, you’ll like this, too.) ♫

Have a treat-filled Halloween! :D

Busy, busy. (What else is new? ;P)

The annual, semi-permanent temperature drop took place, and the ceiling for the daily high is now in the sixties. I know it’s about 10 degrees warmer than it usually is — and we’re lucky to have this rather than the messy snow and blackouts the Northeast has already received — but I’m not ready for six-plus months of winter weather.

In the positive column, tomorrow is a candy and sweets holiday!

I was spoiled earlier this week when a very kind soul treated both my boss and me to red velvet cake. This weekend, I picked up some Halloween sugar cookies.

I jokingly call these cookies “cavity cookies” because the crunchy frosting always leaves me feeling as if I need to brush my teeth ASAP after eating one. They’re festive, aren’t they? ★

I love the Internet and international shipping.

V6 is one of my favorite groups. (Anime fans: This is the same V6 that did the Inuyasha opening song “Change the World.” It’s a good song, but if that’s your only exposure to V6, I feel bad…  It’s not one of their great songs, and they have several full albums’ worth of great songs over the course of 15+ years.)

They just wrapped up their “Sexy. Honey. Bunny!” tour. Inexplicably, despite the tour’s name, the mascot for it was a panda. Random but cute.

So when the opportunity to order tour stuff presented itself, the lure of the panda ear-buds was too much. (Not entirely kidding.)

I loved the photography and art direction for their last studio album and hoped there would be some cool pics because there were rumors they made a trip to Las Vegas to do the photo shoots. This program turned out to be more of a book, and it totally delivered with lots of arty shots featuring the band in the desert and along the Vegas strip.

As a bonus, the person who picked up the goods for me also tossed in a streamer from the confetti drop that took place during the show.

Now the long, long wait for the concert DVDs begins! ♫

There are times I feel as if I’m still in school. Each fall, I end up buying a ton of office supplies. Also, every fall, I go looking for new shoes.

The footwear pickings have been a bit slim over the last few years.

I don’t like platforms. I’m not tall, so I tend to avoid flats unless I’m wearing skirts or shorts. And when I have found cute boots, etc., their heels either aren’t high enough or are too spiky.

Finally(!), I found some oxfords with a 3.5-inch heel and in the correct cognac-brown color. I had to order them from the Macy’s online site — only the black and twig-brown versions are available locally — but it is soooo worth it. ★

P.S. Yesterday was my five-year anniversary at the workplace. Wow. ^_^

A few days after the last photo, I took this one. The tree’s leaves are little more orange, and the sky is still pretty blue. As of today (Sunday), all of the leaves have fallen to the ground and have been blown away by the lawn service.

The last week has been a bit up and down. My right hand started giving me problems around Wednesday, so I had to switch to a mini touch pad, instead of a mouse. I’m still getting used to it, but it seems to be working! ❦