Before I get all holiday-ish, though, let me recap last weekend, which was largely good. Since my doctor's been wanting me to take a fasting blood test to check my cholesterol, on Saturday morning I went to a nearby hospital to do so. The good news is that the wait was short, and the woman was a pro--I didn't even feel the needle go in. The bad news is that, presumably due to not eating at a reasonable hour, I got a killer migraine that afternoon. (Lesson learned: next time, bring a granola bar and start eating on the way back to the car.) The only good news about that is that it blew through pretty quickly: at noon it hurt, at 1:00 I wanted to die, at 1:30 I got in bed and slept until after 3:00, then woke to feel much better. So although it was quite unpleasant, it only spoiled a few hours, not my whole day. And since I had plans with friends in the evening, I was very glad of that.
I had also planned to do a little shopping in the afternoon, and though I didn't have time for all the stops, I was able to get into Davis Square, a fun area in Cambridge, to do a little Christmas shopping in some of the quirky stores there. I found a few things in Magpie, and in Davis Squared, so that was good.
After that, I went to pick up one friend and drive to join the other two. My cell phone plan with Verizon allows for a new phone every two years, and I had asked a tech-expert friend if she would come to the store with me, to translate and advise as necessary. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to get a smartphone, since the idea of paying another $30 a month for the data really doesn't appeal (I'm sure I'd enjoy having one, but I'll put it off as long as possible. I don't even have unlimited texting on my phone! My bill is about $42 a month, so adding $30 is a big jump). I thought I'd get another
I pointed out that what I don't like about my phone is that the battery doesn't hold a charge as long as it used to, which I don't consider a good sign, but apparently if it lasts longer than a day, that's considered good these days? I don't know, I guess that makes sense with a smartphone, but with mine I don't like it. Still, I can get a new battery for about $30, which beats the $130 for the upgrade all hollow.
So for all that, I walked out as I had come in, phone-wise, except that I got to look at my friend's Nexus 7 while we were waiting, and I think I'll get one of those. It's a tablet, not a phone, and it uses wi-fi, so there's no monthly charge; though wi-fi isn't everywhere, it's a lot of places (standing in the Verizon store, she had a signal from the Panera across the parking lot). She loves hers, and recommended it as a good tablet, which I believe will fill a lot of the smartphone's appeal for me. Plus, it's light enough to carry around with me, which the baby laptop/netbook I have really isn't. That's great for travel, but not for carrying every day. I'll watch for sales leading up to Christmas, anyway, and we'll see.
From the phone store, we went to dinner (Bamboo, it was really good, and it's never crazy crowded, even on a Saturday night) and caught up, which was very nice. After dinner, two of us went on to a little more shopping, since there was a Paper Source store conveniently nearby, and I wanted to go there to try to replace something that I've found very handy. See, I always have a to-do list and often a grocery list and/or other shopping lists, coupons, etc, which used to get lost or banged around in my purse, and that was bugging me.
So last year, when I ordered shoes from DSW and the box had paperwork in this sturdy little envelope, I kept it to corral all the loose papers. It's just big enough to easily fit a piece of 8.5x11 paper folder in quarters, and I've just found it smooths my day-to-day organization. But of course, after a year and a half of banging around the purse, it is itself getting ratty, despite the tape I've put around the edges, so I wanted to find something similar, around the same size, sturdier than just a regular envelope. I asked the woman at Paper Source, and she looked very thoughtful, and said she had something in a different size, or there might be another option. I'm guessing she deals with a lot of people who have Very Specific Requirements about just how their invitations or whatever must be, because this is her idea of a different size.
Once that quest was satisfied, my friend and I had a blast wandering around the store, which in addition to paper goods, cards, and the like, had a really wide variety of other items: seasonal, kids, quirky. Like this:
In fact, I got a couple of other things for myself earlier, too, at Davis Squared (I'm always finding things for myself when Christmas shopping, it's perilous). It's this funny thing
Then, if you know me at all well, you'll understand that I had to get this magnet.
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