This is fun, especially for those who enjoy LOTR. I am Nevethiriel.

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas? I sure hope you all did. Christmas was lovely for me, and I got just about everything I asked for. Here are some of the nice gifts I received:

DVD player, CD player for my truck, Beauty and the Beast Special Edition DVD, Lilo and Stitch DVD, Austin Powers in Goldmember DVD, Ice Age DVD, Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, a few sweaters from the GAP, giftcards from the GAP, Blockbuster, and Victoria's Secret, lots of yummy treats from Peterbrook Chocolate, and a very pretty jewelry box, necklace, and bracelet.

I think I made out pretty well, don't you agree? I was happy with everything, and I enjoyed the giving part as well. I gave my mom a watch from Chico's, and my little cousins got a few shirts and toys. For Cookie, I bought him The Boon Dock Saints on DVD, a Nirvana record (Bleach) from Hot Topic, and a Stitch stuffed animal from the Disney Store. He seemed like he really liked everything I got him.

Yesterday morning my mom and I went to my Granny and Papa's house, like we do every year. After we got there, my aunt Francie, uncle Doug, and cousins Maddie, Natalie, and Patrick arrived. We had a great time. It was so fun watching the kids open their presents. They are growing up so fast! Sometimes I can't believe it.

After the presents were opened, we ate Christmas dinner, and then my cousins and I played with their toys. First, Maddie and I helped Patrick play his Spongebob computer game, and that was just adorable. Then Natalie and I played with her Spray FX, which is and art set that uses airbrushing. It was actually kind of fun. We airbrushed a picture of a fish. Later that afternoon, Natalie and I felt like watching Spirit. By the end of the movie, everyone was in there watching with us. It was very cute to watch a cartoon movie with the whole family. What fun.

After the movie, I called Cookie. The plan was to meet at my house, then we would ride together to his house, and I would finally meet his parents! Well, when he got to my house, I asked him if he wanted to open presents here or at his house, and he told me that his parents decided they didn't want anyone over. What the heck? It's so strange, why wouldn't they want to meet me? I'm always asking him if I can come to his house, and when I'm going to meet his parents, and there is always some lame excuse. Weird.

After we opened presents, Cookie and I went to Rob's house. We had a nice time over there. There was Cookie, me, Rob, Brendan, Megan (who is in town from Penn State), Casey, and some other guy who's name I don't remember (well, no one even introduced me to him, so that's probably why I don't remember). I used to be intimidated by Megan (because of the whole thing that happened with Brendan), but last night the two of us had a little chat when the boys went outside to have a smoke (ew ew ew), and she is quite lovely. I really like her. She da bomb. Although, I am still a little unsure of Casey. She is gorgeous (and the former Miss Madarin from 2 years ago), and I think Cookie likes her. He seemed more excited about the Chinese throwing star that she got him than he was about ALL THREE of my gifts. Go figure. Grrr.

We left Rob's house around 9:45 p.m. After Cookie dropped me off, my mom and I watched Gone with the Wind. I love that movie. "I won't think about it today... I'll think about it tomorrow." Love that line.

Before I went to sleep last night, I realized that I hadn't checked my schedule for the rest of this week, so I had to wake up semi-early today and call to see when I worked. My alarm went off at 8:00 a.m., but I kept hitting the snooze button until about 8:45 a.m., and that was when I called Target. The receptionist (who was really rude by the way) told me that I had to come in at 9:00 a.m.! It normally takes me an hour to get ready (mostly because of all my hair), but I got ready in ten minutes today, and wasn't even late to work. Ohhh yeah.

I work with the most idiotic people. Okay, Target's return policy is basically "no reciept, no return," but if the Guest has payed with either a credit card, debit card, or check, we can look up their receipt, but obviously we cannot do that if they payed in cash. If there is no way of looking up a receipt, then the Guest must do an item-for-item even exchange for something from the same department. We can't even give a store credit - it's not allowed! Well, we have certain people (ahem... Silvia... cough... Rebecca... ahem... Carol...)who are unaware of this, and give store credits to people who are supposed to be doing even exchanges. I don't want to say anything to them, because it's not like I'm higher in rank than they are (although I have been there about a year longer than ANY of them), and I don't want to sound like I'm reprimanding them.

There are also certain Cashier Supervisors who don't back me up when I tell a Guest the policy, they just tell me to go ahead and give them a store credit, which in turn makes me look stupid to the Guest, like I don't know the store policy. This has influenced me to write a letter. Two letters, to be exact. The first letter will be to my store manager, Ashley Petzold, who also happens to be my idol. She is gorgeous, extremely nice, and a wonderful manager. Hopefully she will say something to these people. My second letter will be to Don Loman, the district manager of our store. He is a very nice guy, and is always willing to listen to someone who has a suggestion on how to make his stores better, so he sure as heck better respond to my letter. Perhaps this will get me a promotion or a raise... muahahaha.

I got off work at 1:00 p.m. today, which was nice after working a 10 hour shift on Monday. I cleaned my room, put away all my new things, and attempted to hook up my DVD player. That didn't go over too well, but hopefully we will figure it out soon. I think it messed up because I have a really old TV, and the DVD player doesn't work well with such an old TV model. Oh, well. We'll get it sooner or later.

All I ate today was a piece of chocolate cake and some Peterbrook chocolate. I'm starving for some REAL food. My mom and Brian are making some chicken and green beans right now, and I can't wait to eat! Urgh... speaking of all this food, I really need to go on a diet, and actually stick to it this time. Starting in January, I'm going to try to do Weight Watchers. My Granny has been doing it for a few months, and she has lost about 40 pounds (she looks amazing)! Hopefully I will have enough will power to do it, and lose at least 20 pounds. Then I will be happy. I would also like to join a gym, Cory Everson's to be exact. It is quite pricy there, but it is a very nice gym. My friend Megan works in the daycare there, and she tells me all about the cycling, yoga, and even Tae Bo classes! I absolutely LOVE doing Tae Bo, and I think it would be a blast to do it with a big group. I really need to firm up, too. I want some muscle definition. I just won't be happy with myself until I look like Britney Spears... well, I'm sure I'll never look quite that good, but it's a nice thought.