last night I went to a coworker's holiday party. not only was I the only girl there without blonde hair, but April and I were the only ones not wearing sneakers. this was quite the preppy, square crowd. I was really glad I brought April along with me (can't leave the missus alone on a Sunday night!), especially after we got drunk and stood in a corner talking loudly, cracking jokes to each other, and laughing. the best was when April almost shouted out, "our drug dealer used to make us clothes all the time!" she caught herself after "our druh--," told me quitely what she almost yelled, and then we laughed ourselves silly. the rest of the party perked up after several plastic cups of wine and a savage round of Taboo, and then April and I sat around with a few other people and discussed things like sticky rat traps and Saturday Night Live. after leaving the party, April and I stopped off at a neighborhood bar. we were two of 12 people in the bar. one of the fellow drinkers is a cashier at our grocery store and was with another man and two lady friends. that made me a little uncomfortable, for some reason. right before we finished our beers, a guy approached our table, scribbled his name and phone number on a scrap of paper, handed it to April, and said, "ok?" she said, "ok." and he left. this too made me uncomfortable. soon after, we went home.

this morning in the shower, I was happy to see rust-colored water cascading down the drain as my shampoo coaxed some of the dark dye out of my hair. I forgot to consider that my new hair would doubtless provoke myriad "OOHHH!!!" comments at work, so I mentally prepared an answer for the various comments that could arise. I got thumbs up all around, weirdly enough. one of the directors in my department asked me if it was my natural color. so I guess that's a good sign. next hurdle: the museum, tomorrow. the guard who's there every time I signs in and who greets me with the same, "heeyyyy!" every time and who notices whenever I cut or alter my hair in any way will most certainly have words for me.

during work I stuffed myself full of cookies and loved every minute of it. first, Amy brought me a box of cookies her husband had made and had specifically sent for me. then another coworker brought in cookies that she had leftover from the other coworker's holiday party last night. it was sugary deliciousness all around.

after work today I decided to go on the hunt for a grab bag present that I needed to secure before our department's holiday party on Saturday. this grab bag thing has happened every year since I've worked there. the first year we had a $10 limit and I found this weird, small brass-colored metal votive lamp with monkeys as the base and a perforated shade. although I found it totally tacky and hilarious, it was the hit item of the party and everyone fought over it. then for last year's party, somehow, I found an even better item: a foot-tall pewter-colored statuette of a lasso-swinging cowboy riding a rearing horse. it was awesome and again became the object of everyone's desire, much to my delight. this year the limit has been upped to $15, and although that cowboy is basically impossible to top, I found something that's at least around the same level. it's an 18-inch-tall glazed plaster statue of an owl. it's glazed in a pale yellow hue and has green accents and also has large white flowers painted on the back of its head and back. its wings are detailed with cut glass in alternating hues of pale green and pale yellow. and on its belly is a broken glass illustration of more white flowers. and then, to top it all off, it has kelly green glass eyes. that's the kicker. I can't wait till it's unwrapped Saturday night.

bedtime for me now. I go home in 10 days!!!