Time to Start Planning for the Holidays??

It doesn't seem like it's been a month since I last posted, but timestamps don't lie. I completed my last assignment for my last class and my two week break flew by, and I already submitted my first assignment for my current class yesterday. It is basically a repeat assignment, so I just modified my last paper. Technically I am not supposed to do that, but since this is my dissertation topic, it's difficult to write a brand new paper. I think my next assignment is a PowerPoint that I have to present to my professor orally. I am not looking forward to that. I hate oral presentations. But I will do what I have to do. This class ends right at the end of the year, which means I'll have submitted my last assignment right before we take our cruise on January 2^nd.

I can't believe that the holidays are right around the corner. I need to figure out what I am going to do for Thanksgiving. Since we are vegetarian/vegan, a traditional turkey is not on the menu. I was looking to buy a tofurky, but by the time I had it shipped to me, it would have cost nearly $100, so I will have to start looking around on the internet to see what other vegans do for Thanksgiving. I know there are a lot of options. I haven't even started thinking about Christmas yet. I think part of the reason for that is because it just doesn't feel like winter is coming. Right now it is 72° and I have my back door open, while it snowed in Omaha last night. Everything is still green and flowery, which is not very Christmasy. I'm not complaining, though. I do not miss the snow and cold at all!! At any rate, though, I probably ought to start planning when I'll put my tree up and where I will put it. The spot I had it in last year is unavailable this year, so I might just put it out on my screened in porch. I won't really be able to see it out there, though, so I don't know...

April and I are taking a mother/daughter trip to New Orleans on Friday. We will leave early on Friday, spend Friday night and come home late on Saturday. So far all we have planned is a trip to a body piercing shop and a ghost tour. I'm not super excited about the tour, but April enjoys things like that, so I'll go for her. When we were in Omaha in July, we went to the piercing shop we used to go to when we lived there. It is an Association of Professional Piercers (APP) member shop, which means they use specific cleaning methods that help prevent infection in new piercings. I got my nose and helix pierced, and April got two dermal piercing on her chest. APP members are tough to find. The nearest one to where I love now is in Slidell, Louisiana, and I was going to make a trip there just to get pierced, but then I decided that a trip to NO with April might be fun, and there are two APP member shops there. I made an appointment at the one that seems the least scary, lol. I am planning to get my left daith and tragus pierced and April wants a faux industrial. I'll post pictures below.

The first one is what April wants to get done, and second picture shows what I eventually want my left ear to look like. I already have two lobe piercings and the helix. I probably won't do the third lobe, but I do like the two forward helix piercings, so I may do that in a year after the daith and tragus heal up really well. I'd also like to get a rook piercing on my right ear, so that ear will look something like this when I am finished:

I already have the conch piercing, which is the hoop right above the lobe piercings. I've had it done for nearly 9 years and I love it. I am going to get a prettier hoop or a stud put in it when I go to the piercer. I have a plain silver one like in the picture, and I am ready for something nicer. Good jewelry is expensive, but since it's well healed and I will likely wear the new jewelry forever, I don't mind spending a bit for it. Merry Christmas (and happy birthday) to me!

Well, that is about all for now. I hope you all have a great week!