rue-madame's Diaryland Diary

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Dec. 25th through 30th wrap-up

I�m back and trying to get a handle on the Christmas fallout. There is a gigantor pile of laundry in my room, tons of handwash hanging in the bathroom, nothing in the fridge, mounting bills, a stack of thank you cards, a lingering champagne headache.

December 25th

Pretty good. Drove over to Hilary�s, drank chai, ate donuts, opened presents. Later, we saw �Catch Me If You Can� which was really entertaining. I mean, Steven Spielberg totally irritates, and there is the requisite, maudlin �lost child looking for a father figure� crap, but it was good nevertheless. Leonardo sure does look cute. And bonus: our friend Clarissa was an extra and there�s a scene where you can clearly see her and delight in her adorable blue stewardess outfit. Oh, how I love the Sixties.

Presents: 8

new thick yoga mat, a Lucky Stack deck of cards with cool Tim Biskup illustrations, caramel tea and little elephant-shaped sugar cubes to go with it, a sparkly barrette, a groovy vintage book of Lourdes and cathedrals, a faux Mod t-shirt will little Quadropheniac pins on it, a book about the Beatles.

December 26th

Drove to SF. Traffic between Camarillo and Santa Barbara sucked on the 101, and we didn�t make it to Santa Cruz (where Terence�s parents live) until after 6 pm. Once there, we sat in the living room with the television on the entire time. Terence�s parents were fairly sauced (though in their minds, I�m sure they felt �normal�) and his grandmother kept dozing off in her Laz-E-Boy. Very depressing. Finally made it to the Bay Area around 9:15 pm. My mother insisted we eat dinner, and then proceeded to stuff us with roast, gratin dauphinois, broccoli and cheese.

Presents: 2

$25 cash from Terence�s grandmother, and a $50 gift certificate to Athleta.com from his parents.

December 27th

Went downtown to finish up Christmas shopping. Wandered around for a few hours, then decided to splurge at Caf� Bastille for lunch. I really love that restaurant. It truly is like being in France. I was wearing my Michelin knit-cap when we walked in, and the owner said to me, �Oh, I have the same one!� and pulled up his sleeve to reveal a running Bibendum on his forearm. Pretty cool. There was a French mom and her two sons behind us, and the kids were so fucking cute and polite and maman-this and s�il-te-plait-Maman-that, it nearly killed me with adorableness. Later on during the shopping expedition, I bought some trend-o-rama jeans at Levi�s, and redeemed two Sephora gift certificates. As soon as I got back to my parents� house, I felt guilty about the jeans purchase, and decided to return them. I have no business buying myself a gift when I can barely buy gifts for other people, or more importantly, barely afford my own rent. That evening, Terence and I had drinks at Orbit Room with Ed my former studio mate and his girlfriend. Alberta the Cocktail WonderGirl was there and she made me the most delicious concoction dubbed The Emma Peeler. It was pink, had curls of lemon zest and cucumber floating in it, and tasted sweet and refreshing. The evening was ruined by a giant group of tall afterwork office party kind of people. It bums me out to be surrounded by High Five White Boys and The Women Who Love Them. However, I had had two drinks so I endured.

Presents: 3

a lip brush, some hair elastics, little bath fizzies for my sisters, a Nars lipstick in Cabaret.

December 28th

My mother made me open a Christmas gift before the family get-together because she was worried that I would hate it and wouldn�t have time for an exchange. I should state here that for the last few years, I have placed a moratorium on my mother�s purchase of clothing for me or other non-essential items, without express written permission from me. This is why the List was invented, right? She hates shopping for most of the things that I like (books and cds mostly) so she always tries to throw something in and see if she can stick the landing. It rarely works. Anyway, she bought me some clothing for yoga and of the three items, I only hated one. So on December 28th, I went to Fillmore Street and exchanged the tights for some cropped pants. And I made $1.09 on the transaction, woo. I also went to the new MAC store and bought some things for my sisters, and made the mistake of trying on a lipstick that I immediately loved more than the Nars one I had just acquired. Dammit! Terence and I then went back to my parents� house to drop everything off and my mother insisted I keep the $1.09 and show her the Levi�s. As soon as I put them on, she wanted to buy them and wrap them for me. Then she handed me a hundred dollar bill and declared $40 to be for my pants, and the remaining $60 to be for a new pair for Terence. �I hate those jeans of yours, Terence! They�re horrible. Go get some new pants.� Later, I took Cabaret back to Sephora and got a credit, then ran over to Macy�s to buy Underworld, my new favorite MAC color. In the evening, we drove to Alameda to have dinner with one of Terence�s brothers. We exchanged gifts with him and his wife and their kids. Back at my parents� house, Terence and I indulged in some Tylenol PM. Man oh man, that shit knocks you out, Momma Said Knock You Out style.

Presents: 2

book light, and sushi-making kit (definitely a re-gift according to Terence.)

December 29th

My sisters came over, and we had a big family brunch with sausages, penne with bolognese sauce and salad. I hadn�t seen them in forever, and it was really fun hanging out with them, and with my sister�s husband, and my favorite nephew of all time. Unwrapping gifts was entertaining because we went from youngest to oldest with an exception for my parents who claim to be 27 and 29. We had apple pie and coffee and armagnac and played Bop-It and Catch-Phrase and it was hilarious. I was practically having an asthma attack from all the laughter. Eventually, everyone went their separate ways, and Terence and I went over to Doug�s for sake and pot-roast. I bookmarked my diary for him, then got reprimanded for calling him "Doug." He doesn't like his fake, diaryland name. I'm waiting for a suggestion from him now.

Presents: 12 or 13

trend-o-rama jeans, The Secret History by Donna Tartt (I know! I can't believe I've never read it either!,) Summerland. the kids' book by Michael Chabon, a cd by Coralie Cl�ment, a cd by Katerine, an eyeliner brush, a book about Art Deco, yoga clothes, a blue boatneck t-shirt, Catch-Phrase, little bowl and a matching pitcher, and two kinds of cookies baked by my younger sister who is a Baking Whiz.

December 30th

Drove back to Los Angeles, and made another pitstop in Santa Cruz to visit Terence�s parents and grandmother. It definitely helps to see them before cocktail hour; they�re talkative and sober and the whole scene is not nearly as sad. At lunch, Terence requested water instead of beer, and his father looked bummed because he didn�t have an excuse to have a drink. It took us hours upon hours to get back to LA. The rain and generally crap weather created bad traffic. We had to stop in Santa Barbara for sustenance, and ended up spending $20 of Terence�s pants money on dinner. When we got home, we collapsed into bed and slept for 12 hours.

To be continued...

4:38 p.m. - 2003-01-02

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