SLOW DOWN CALM DOWN DON'T WORRY DON'T HURRY TRUST THE PROCESS.

I know.  I'm listening Alexandra Stoddard, I'm listening.  But man alive this wait is about to drive me crazy.   I realize that time flies.  The holidays are already running past me with cheetah feet.  I love Christmas, so I'd love to slow that part down.  And I don't want to rush past restaurant week.  I LOVE restaurant week.  I'm a fat kid.  Lock it up.

As the temperature falls below freezing, I keep reminding myself that in two months I will be in Tahiti.  Sun shinin on my face...mmmm Tahiti - land of the really good vanilla beans.  Since I'm not all that stressed, I'm going to make the three days that I am there a working holiday as opposed to a vacation.  I imagine there is plenty to do around those parts, so I will spend some of it on a community service project.  I need to contact my Rotary friends and see if they can't help connect me with someone there.  To do list #1.  I also need to get my Visa in line but I've got to go to my doctor in AR to get him to sign some forms.  (To do #2) Forms forms forms!  That's okay - VERY small price to pay.  Number three on my to do list - get Mrs. Fraser's pecan pie recipe from Thanksgiving.  I didn't love it before I had hers - now I dream of it.  She does good work.  It is my mailman's Christmas present, as he loves pecan pie.  The flaky and delicious crust is already made and in my freezer.  Golden.

At tutoring last week, my favorite tutee Sha'Quan got suspended!  Let me just tell you - he is an angel.  So sweet, so smart, and he shows quite a bit of promise.  It was his birthday so I took him some too delicious snickerdoodle cookies to celebrate - only to find out that he couldn't come to our session for fighting :(   I have been worried about him all week!  Alex has me watch the show called Lock Up sometimes so I keep associating any punishment with prison.  It's weird and makes no sense, I know.  

Restaurant Week was just announced in DC.  To those of you who are unfamiliar, restaurant week is a time when too expensive restaurants come down on their price a bit and offer customers a set menu.  This is helpful for me for two reasons.  1) I don't like making dinner decisions from a large menu.  It's stressful. I wish all servers would just serve me their favorite dish without asking me.  2) I don't like paying a week's worth of scrill for said dinner, especially if I don't pick well.  I love food, I am an addict...so this is a happy time of year for me.  Post Thanksgiving and trip to New Orleans (cajun food is a sprinkle of sugar from heaven), I should be steering clear.  Carpe diem I say!

When I am not thinking about dinner, I return to where my mind should be - work.  On Wednesday, the first bill I have ever worked on from start to finish, The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Enhancement Act, goes to markup.  This is big time!  In one fell swoop, the Commerce Committee will decide if a year's worth of work was effective or if it was just wheel spinnin.  I have a bit of "here's my baby, treat her right" pride in this bill, but I think I learned quite a bit about the process - no matter what happens.  Think good thoughts for me and all of those who put mass amounts of their time into it pretty please!  

Christmas Presents - They are purchased and in the process of being made.  I embarked on a pinterest challenge for some of my best friends...let me tell you.  What they say is easy ain't easy!  I spent about 3 hours working on one of the gifts last night and am about halfway done.  I will put up a picture after I finish - hopefully the "here's what it was supposed to look like" and the "here is how it turned out" will be at least recognizably similar...we will see!  To get even further into the Christmas spirit, the very wonderful Alexander Fraser is taking me to see The #ilovetheholidaysandilovemerica