matt

My 3 day weekend is over, but my 5 day weekend is beginning tonight! It's such a weird feeling because I feel like I should be depressed since today is my first day back at work after the weekend, but then again tomorrow I'm off for the rest of the week for Christmas so I'm quite conflicted.

After work today, Marissa and I are driving up to Georgia to spend the weekend with her family. They will have a Christmas party at some point (I think Saturday). As I'm sure you're all well aware, my birthday is on Friday so I'm sure we'll go out to dinner. My pick will have to be El Ranchero since it's my favorite Mexican restaurant. Aside from that, I think we'll exchange Christmas presents on Christmas morning and possibly go to Christmas mass tomorrow night. Should be a nice weekend relaxing up there.

Yesterday my folks and sisters came into town for the day. They had a stopover in Port Canaveral on their cruise so we "celebrated" Hanukkah by doing a few things. First we drove to Orlando and I had a quick falafel lunch and then we went to Disney. My mom and sisters got manicures and pedicures while me and my dad went to Epcot for a few hours. My dad was so hellbent on going to Epcot and getting some German food that he bought a one day ticket for about $80 and only spent like 3 hours in the park. He was happy, so that's what mattered. Afterwards we went to Citricos at the Grand Floridian for dinner. I picked Citricos since my family is a fan of up-scale dining and I hit a home run with that pick since they were raving about it the rest of the night. Afterwards I drove them back to Cape Canaveral and dropped them off.

For Marissa and I's Hanukkah gift, my folks are chipping into buy us a 42" LCD tv. The issue is we couldn't buy it yesterday since we had no room in the car so we decided to buy it online. The problem with that is the stupid web site refuses to let me pick the TV up despite the fact there's like 20 TVs at the store. I can't just go to the store to buy it because I don't have my folks' credit card. I'm contemplating just going there and giving them the sob story and hope they'll take it but I doubt it. The reason I want to buy it today is I'm worried this particular deal won't be available when we return from Georgia. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Why is there a light in the fridge but no light in the freezer? Why wouldn't I need a light to see things in the freezer? I'm fairly certain it's dark in there too.

Song of the Day: The LeeVees - How Do You Spell Channukkahh?

This weekend is a little longer for me since I'm off from work on Monday for Hanukkah and it will be a nice weekend I'm sure. My folks and sisters will be down on Monday to celebrate. I made dinner plans for Citricos, since my family is big on pretentious restaurants to eat at so I picked this one and we'll see how they like it. As for Hanukkah itself, which I think starts on Sunday night, I'm going to make latkes!

Today at work we started out with cookies and egg nog. The owner brought brandy to have with it and it was a nice touch. I had only had rum with my eggnog but I did enjoy it. Too bad I couldn't have had a few more drinks to help pass the time. For lunch today we're going to Olive Garden for a holiday lunch and then an early dismissal, so to speak. Speaking of early dismissal, I'm kind of bummed because back in Connecticut a major snow storm is coming through and my old job at UNH closed at noon today and I generally miss huge winter storms. There's something about being hunkered down at home and having soup while the snow falls that makes me feel like a kid again. I definitely miss it, although the fact I can wear shorts right now does also have it's advantages.

Song of the Day: The LeeVees - Latke Clan (Live)

It's Friday!! I'm excited not just because it's the end of the work week but because after work today, there will be nothing between me and my cruise on Sunday! I'm excited to start my week long vacation. I've taken all of next week off from work for the cruise and for some post-cruise fun at Disney. I'm really looking forward to this cruise, a lot more so than my honeymoon cruise if only because the wedding was what I was focused on with that last cruise. Weather should be nice for the cruise and I think we're going to have a genuinely good time and this will be Marissa's first Disney cruise so I'm excited to show her everything on the ship.

Today at work we had some people from L.A. Fitness come in and talk to us about gym membership. They are having an open house tomorrow so I'd like to go there with Marissa for a workout since we it's our workout day anyway and their gym is way better than our dumb apartment complex gym. If we sign up is going to depend on how much, if any, work will be covering for the registration costs. I'd like to join a gym, but money is very tight so it's hard to say if we can afford it or not. While I'd much rather work out at a real gym, I'll settle for our crappy apartment gym since the price is free. While the L.A. Fitness people were here, they took our percentage of body fat and BMI and evidently I have 15% body fat (which is fine for my height and weight and age) but my BMI is off by like 2 or 3 points.

Since it is December and Hanukkah is right around the corner, here is a live version of one of my favorite songs by the LeeVees. Definietly listen for the part where the mom comes up to sing her part.

Song of the Day: The LeeVee's - At the timeshare (Live)

I'm sure this is jinxing myself, but I'm proud to say that I'm in the best shape of my life, physically. Over the past few months, I've been regularly at the gym exercising and I'm at the point where I'm not afraid to put on any clothes I own for fear of me not fitting in it. I used to really hate having clothes in my closet that I knew I liked but honestly could not fit into anymore. Thanks to my determination, I've been able to drop a little weight and when I put clothes on in the morning, the thought of "Will I fit into that?" doesn't go through my head and quite honestly it's a great feeling. I motivated myself to work out shortly after we moved down to Florida for a number of reasons but I've gotten to the point now that I'm doing it for myself. Sure, I like looking good for Marissa and impressing others but after all these months of going to the gym, I still motivate myself to go because I want to keep myself in the shape I'm in and I'm really proud of that.

Speaking of me, with it now being December, this means it's officially "The Month of Matt".. This is the best month of the year because so much of this month revolves around me. First and foremost, my birthday is this month and then of course you have Hanukkah where more love and kindness come my way. Besides, it's not like someone else of infinite fame was born this month with some sort of holiday to celebrate it.

Tonight I'm going to Epcot with Marissa, Glenn and Erin to see Candlelight Processional. We got uber-VIP seats from Disney and it ought to be an enjoyable experience to see. I've seen the show before but these seats allow us to see the show without waiting on line with a million other people and I know Marissa really likes it so it's all good. The one thing I don't like is at the end when some song plays and everyone stands up. I know it's a Christian thing so I don't know if it's wrong or whatever. Any who, should be a good time.

Song of the Day: The LeeVees - Latke Clan