mini-vacation=good for the soul

this weekend, my dear friend karen and i shall embark on a much-needed mini-vacation. karen and i and our dear friend erin lived in the same suite on the 4th floor of johnson tower at skidmore my sophomore year. now erin is married to her high school sweetheart ed, and they have a beautiful two year old daughter named emma and they all live up in massachusetts and we are going to visit. it is so strange to think of us all grown (!) up, but here we are. erin with her baby (and one on the way)- and her career and her jazz musician husband. cate (another friend we're picking up along the way to mass.) is a frigging lawyer who lives on the upper east side. karen's one dissertation away from her PhD, for crying out loud! and then there's me, with ink in my cuticles and paint in my hair. we haven't all been together in ages and ages. and there will be plenty of wine and plenty of chocolate. yeah, we're gonna have fun.

karen and i went shopping for miss emma tonight- it is so freaking interesting to shop for kids. we hit target and borders and we prowled every aisle. there is a lotta weird stuff out there. dolls called BRatz who are slutty, for one. and even a junior version for little little kids. we re not getting our junior miss any of that crap. erin said emma's very into the little mermaid and dora the explorer right now so we got her a very cool soft talking ariel doll, and then karen found this amazing kid-size cushy chair in this soft camel-colored micro-suede with a dora decal on it- ever so perfect for miss girl's new bedroom! and then we got her an eric carle book and an olivia one too. and then we came home and used my ranger daubers to stamp polka-dots in girly colors on kraft paper, and then we wrapped up all her presents and piled them up and it was just so satisfying. i cannot wait to give them to her.

so now i'm packing (what exactly is appropriate attire for a Little Christmas party?) and prepping and lil and chaz definitely know something's up and so they're both super-clingy wildkittens today. and i wanted to take a photo of emma's presents stacked up and karen's hands stamping the paper and charlies, playing in the pile of pink ribbon we were pawing through to find the right one to use on emma's books, but i can't because i can't find my camera. but then it doesn't matter because blogger is sucking right now and not letting me upload pictures anyway, so there.