'Tis the Season!

I'm a catalog addict.  I love looking through catalogs.  I approach them with the knowledge that I'm not really going to buy anything but it's fun to look at the pics.  By the way, I think I could definitely be a catalog model (barring Victoria's Secret or course).  My favorite catalogs are Nordstroms (glamorous), Title Nine (sporty), and J.Jill (granola).  This is a particularly wonderful time of year for catalogs.  L.L.Bean, Land's End and Eddie Bauer are some great winter catalogs.  I always want to buy all of the cozy, warm jackets except for the ones with faux fur lining the hood--I'm a little old for all that fanfare. 

Then there are the seasonal catalogs, even Honey Baked Ham has one!  Needless to say, I'm not a big fan of that one.  Nor am I a fan of encyclopedic catalogs like JCPenney.  Hey, if I'm going to slip a disk picking up the catalog, that's a bad sign.  No offense to Mr. Penney, who is also a previous employer of mine.  Let me tell you, telemarketing for JCPenney during the holiday season is a zoo!!  People really do order those monogrammed Christmas stockings f.y.i.  In fact, I've been thinking about ordering some this year.  I think I want to start a Najah Christmas tradition of giving everyone their own stocking filled with little gifts and treats, but I digress.

When I want to go catalog slumming it's either Coldwater Creek, Chico's or Pier 1 (shout out to another previous employer).  Sorry, but furniture just doesn't do it for me unless it's IKEA or Pottery Barn.  Looking through a catalog is both eye candy and a way to take a mental time-out.  I know some people that even have catalogs in their bathrooms.  Okay, "some people" is me.  There is also a medical journal in there if that makes you feel any better.  In short, during this season of pure gluttony I will be occasionally retreating into an endless stream of catalogs for some mental debauchery.  Wish me luck.  

Tears of Joy

I couldn't stop crying last night.  From the moment I heard about Pennsylvania through the moment when I saw Barack walk onto that stage in Chicago with his family I could not stop tearing up.  I thought to myself, "You are the freakin' president of the United States of America!!  You are one of the most powerful men in the world!  You did it!  You did it!""  I used about a million tissues and thought I was sure to wake my sleeping nephews in the next room with my nose-blowing antics.  Oprah was crying, Jesse Jackson was crying, I was crying, how in the world did those CNN reporters keep a dry eye?!  Yet another reason I am not in broadcast journalism.  I would be the reporter with the handkerchief.   

Oh the beautiful irony of having a Black man in the White House!  In a needless proprietary argument, we did build it.  All of those who fought for this right, who were beaten, and mobbed, and killed, and brutalized, and turned away from the voting booths--this moment is for them.  Jesse Jackson lived through it.  He was there when Martin Luther King was shot to death for being a champion of civil rights in this country.  That octogenarian that Obama talked about in his acceptance speech has seen black men rise from being 3/5 of a man to becoming president.  The audacity of hope, indeed.  

I have faith in the American people again.  I have faith in democracy.  I have faith in the American dream and in the beauty of this amazing country.  May God continue to bless us in the days to come.  I was watching CNN interview a black soldier in Afghanistan and I think he said it perfectly when he stated, "This election proves that all men really are created equal and I am proud to be a part of a nation whose people believes that is still true." 

Absentee

I'm really nervous.  I filled out the application for an absentee ballot since I am now in North Carolina but I haven't heard or received anything.  Maybe nervous is an understatement, I am seriously freaking out!!  This morning I read about a couple that is flying from India to vote because they did not receive their absentee ballots, either.  We're talking over 9,000 miles and $5,000 to vote in this election.  I do believe this election to be the most important and historical election of my life and I would be completely bereft if my absentee ballot never arrived.  

The whole idea of not voting is appalling to me.  Maybe I should drive back to Utah to vote.  I mean, people really did fly from India--not Indiana, INDIA!  Heaven knows with the gas prices it would probably cost the same to fly to Utah than to drive.  I am faced with a conundrum.  What do I do?!  I'm manic!  I am a freakin' Obama campaign volunteer.  I have to vote. I'll have to get on the horn tomorrow and find out what needs to be done.  I'm on a mission.  Where is James Bond when you need him, or Tom Cruise, or I'd even settle for Maxwell Smart at this point.