I lace my Chucks, I walk the aisle.

Can I just say I hate how early it gets dark??? And it's still only November! I honestly feel like it's getting darker earlier this year than I've ever noticed before. I probably feel like this every year, and then forget about it during the long days of summer, only to be shocked by the fact by the time winter (well, it's actually still fall) rolls around.

I had a fairly low key weekend. On Friday, I got a little Christmas tree for myself and plus far too many ornaments (some of which I returned). When I first got the tree, Rilo seemed hell bent on knocking it over, but I think she's habituated to its presence, and it's no longer at risk (knock on wood).

I splurged on a bunch of ornaments from Pier 1 (man, how I love Pier 1). My second favourite (my favourite being a red bird; a Christmas tree isn't proper without a bird, I believe), is the dill pickle ornament. I've seen these before in Christmas stores, and always thought they were hilariously random. Anyway, I bought one just to make myself laugh, and researched the significance of the pickle ornament. Turns out there is some sort of tradition where you hide the pickle ornament on the tree, and the first kid to find it gets an extra present.

Here's a picture of Rilo looking saintly in front of my tree. Can you find the pickle ornament?



On Saturday, as I was on my way to return some superfluous ornaments, my beloved iPod died. It was three years old, and got a lot of use, and I think I had been anticipating its death. It's been replaced with a super-cute purple nano that has *almost* enough space for my music library. This has caused me to do a little bit of house-cleaning so that the songs I don't love are not on my iPod. As a result, I'm finding shuffling much more fun.

Speaking of music, I think I'm in the dreaded musical rut. I've just been listening to old stuff, and haven't come across anything new in like, oh I dunno, a month. I want to stumble across a new amazing band or album or something dammit! A little help?