Tonight I walked into the Coop, resigned to two more sleepless nights until I'm finally free of the grip the Twilight Saga has on me, only to discover they don't have it in paperback yet.

(Twilight may be like a drug to me, but it's not a drug for which I'm willing to pay $24.99 plus sales tax.)

The left me with a free evening. Since my mom wasn't going to be home until 9, I had the house to myself. It was a perfect evening for cooking.

In San Francisco, I cooked dinner several nights a week. Since I've moved back here, I've baked a fair amount, but I've only cooked a couple of times. I didn't realize how much I missed being in the kitchen, listening to music, chopping and stirring and tasting.

It was good to do it again.

So.

So. I have started reading the Twilight books.

I have been completely sucked in.

It's a little terrible. I started last week, and I'm already halfway through Eclipse.

I was avoiding them so well! But then. . .

Oh well. If all goes according to plan, I should be done with Breaking Dawn by the end of the week, and then I can start reading books that engage my brain* again.

*Which is not to say Twilight et al do not engage my brain. But, well, they kind of don't. They're still pretty fun, though. Like junk food. But books.

Here is what I love:

telling the same stories over and over again

drinking much too much two-buck chuck

laughing harder than I have in quite some time

forcing everyone to listen to my new favorite song

spontaneous dance parties

my friends

Today and tomorrow I am grateful for:

kind strangers.

friends who would get teeny tiny tattoos with me.

my awesome, completely unexpected (and maybe undeserved) job.

parents who taught me that the most fun part of thanksgiving is taking in as many strays as we can find.

a sister who, no matter how much we fight, wants me to meet her at the finish line of her road race so we can walk home together.

Man, people are awesome, no?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was a Bad Day.

It's okay, though. I spent twenty-five dollars on magazines, and now I'm going to go get into bed and read them.

Tomorrow will be better.

This much I know is true.

I am not naturally a people-pleaser.

I'm not meek, not in the least, and most of the time, I'm too obsessed with how awkward I feel to worry about giving others what they want.

The one exception to this rule? Cookies. At the first job I ever had, I baked cookies so my coworkers would like me, and much to my surprise, it worked. I did it again last year, and I even started accepting requests. Now that I know everyone at my new job well enough that it's not awkward anymore, I can bring cookies into work again. I like it. Especially on Mondays.

Mondays are hard. Cookies help.

Honest Scrap

Last week, Anna tagged me as an Honest Scrap!

Thanks, Anna! (You should all read her blog- it's so cute, and makes me think that maybe grad school isn't so scary, after all.)

Anyway, Honest Scraps tell you ten honest things about themselves. I talk about myself so much already, I tend to avoid these things, but I love Anna's blog and I was touched that she tagged me (nobody had ever been tagged me before, then she and Rhianne went and did it within 24 hours of each other!), so here goes:

1. I am a crier. I cry when I'm sad, but mostly, I cry when I'm angry. Whenever I argue with someone, before I can get my point across, I usually burst into tears. The loud, dramatic, ugly kind. I'm not sure why, but I think it has something to do with the fact that. . .

2. I'm not very articulate. It takes me forever to get to the point, and I usually don't realize exactly what I'm trying to say until a couple sentences in. When I write, I can fix it with editing, but when I talk, it's just awkward.

3. I can be really shy. I have a loud voice and I shout a lot, so people don't believe me, but I developed those habits in part to cover up the fact that I just didn't know what to say or how to talk to new people. It's gotten lots better as I've gotten older, but it still comes out every now and then.

4. I secretly worry that I'm really, really stupid.

5. I am one of the more melodramatic individuals you'll meet. I feel all my feelings in a big way. Sometimes, I feel bad about it. Sometimes, I like that about myself.

I know that's only five, but it's late and I need to get to bed. I'm not going to tag anybody (I'm shy about stuff like that), but please, do play along. It's fun to be an honest scrap!