holiday revelry and sofa melodrama

who needs a couch? not me, apparently ... while i've safely returned to vermont following the giving and receiving of christmas joy, i am still smarting from a few moments of frustration and discontent.

but i'll discuss shortly. i will say now that i have an hour and seven minutes until i find out if i'll be visiting new york in march - one of the gifts for my mother is for my father and i to try to score tickets to "the producers" with nathan lane and matthew broderick. so i'm trying to score tickets for the march 18 production. keep fingers crossed ...

christmas was grand. my family thoroughly enjoyed my gifts and seemed genuinely shocked to receive them, which brought me great joy. my father was most excited, i believe. there's a gentleman who comes into the store every morning - delightful older gentleman who carves absolutely gorgeous birds and sells them ... my father has always wanted one, but since they are quite expensive, he never asked the gentleman to make him one ... my mother, brother and i pooled together and asked the gentleman to make one, which he did. it's gorgeous - an american widgeon duck about 16 inches long ... it looks lifelike, covered with blue and grey feathers ... my father was in shock.

for my mother, i tried to remedy a situation from a decade earlier. when i was 12 or so, a moment of clumsiness resulted in a broken water pitcher my mother had been given by her grandmother. confessing my klutziness was one of the hardest things i've ever done - and it was the first time i ever saw my mother cry.

so this year, i went to the blue plate and painted a pitcher for her. and in it, i placed a note explaining why i decided to do it and explained that it wasn't an antique like the original had been, but it was an antique in training (in 100 years, it will be!). she almost cried when she read it. i was glowing with delight.

despite the fact that i was looking forward to the giving more than the receiving, i was given wonderful gifts. a quick rundown of some of the highlights: old albums and album frames from my brother (and a gift certificate to newbury, which was used today for rilo kiley's "take offs and landings" and matthew jay's "draw"), the "two towers" extended dvd, clothing, music (my mother heeded my observation about the quality of the "love, actually" soundtrack and bought it for me), the "have you scene it?" dvd game, a vespa (more shortly), bedding, books and, my favorite gift, a quill pen and inkpot set.

first the vespa. it had been a running joke in my family all year that, considering all the crap i've received from my jobs this year, i need a vespa (think rocco's disgruntled employees on "the restaurant"). so when i saw that i had a gift labeled "to vickie, from rocco," i laughed and said, "well, it's obviously too small for a vespa." i figured it was kitchen stuff for the apartment. i open it to see a toy vespa and a blonde girl with a vespa helmet. my parents started cracking up and i laughed so hard i cried. it was perfect.

but the quill was wonderful. a few years ago, my mother made a comment about how she would buy me a quill when i was a real writer. i completely forgot about it until yesterday, when i unwrapped the set. and she looked at me, as i gazed down at it, and said, "i told you i'd get it for you when you were a writer, and here you are."

perfect.

spent the day watching "lotr" and drooling over orlando in the extra footage, then went and visited my great uncle in the hospital in lynn. after visiting family today and lunch from baja fresh (which is no chipotle, but i was so excited to see something even remotely resembling it, i practically ran to the counter), we went to drop my brother off at his apartment and, i thought, pick up my couch.

which leads us to the couch debacle. shortly before leaving, my brother made a comment about how he would like to keep the couch. which led my parents to saying he could keep it. which left me down a couch - not to mention down a couch that i absolutely love.

i overreacted, i admit, but frankly, i was pissed. i bought the damn thing and it was time for it to come home. my brother currently has it in his bedroom because his apartment already has three others - meanwhile my living room currently has two chairs and desperately needs something to spread out and relax on. and i was getting grief for getting upset about the whole thing.

which led me to the realization that i just generally envy my brother right now. i've always said i want to live in boston. he lives just outside boston and goes to school in the city. i want a roommate. he has four. i want my couch. he has it - plus too others. add a few other little things and it's just clear that my brother's life seems pretty damn cool, while i'm trying to find a place back in vermont, hoping hoping hoping for a full-time reporting job and whatnot.

as we left his apartment and hit the highway, i cast a longing look back at the familiar, much-loved skyline and wished i could hop out of the car and live my days there ...

but nevertheless. gotta work my way to it. and, now, i have to find myself something that will work as a couch.

grr.

and, to top it all off, i finally stopped by the remy zero site to see what the guys have been up to. i'm probably the last to know, but i finally learn that my dear remy zero is no more.

*tear*

i'll be playing "villa elaine" tomorrow in remembrance.

but i can end my rants on a good note. i've heard a lot lately about rilo kiley and decided to pick up an album at newbury, as i said earlier (and, i should note, i was so happy to see averi sold there ... i heart newbury). the album will take a prominent place in my music collection ... i'm loving it. my san diego-longing soul was being run through the ringer as i repeated "pictures of success" over and over on my drive home this evening, as i listened to jenny sing, "they say california is a recipe for a black hole and i say i've got my best shoes on and i'm ready to go ..." as she repeated "i'm ready to go" time and time again, i was singing along at the top of my lungs and ready to hop on a plane and head to the sunshine, palm trees and pacific.

i want to go on a vacation in the coming months. i know i'm going to go to d.c. soon, one way or the other. but part of me really wants to get to the left coast - finally. anyone up for playing the role of potential traveling companion?

i'm ready to go ...