Doin' the Happy Dance, Feelin' the love...

So...I just got back from turning in my last two papers, both of which were written so well, that if Nobel prizes were awarded for essays on Literature, I would have tied with myself. Okay, maybe not that good, but they were pretty darn good. The more important thing is that I am all done for the rest of the semester. And this happens every year, the due dates, the stress and then the epiphany. It hits me every year while turning in the last assignment: It's Christmas! I love it! The Christmas trees, the lights, the cookies, the silly santa hats, the way the trees sparkle when they're covered in ice! I love it all! (I think I'm loving it more this year since I don't have a pile of hand-knit deadlines for relatives expecting knitted presents!) I'm going home in 6 DAYS! As much as I'm going to miss the flatmates and English friends, I'm really excited to go home and see my parents and the cat...and I'm even a little excited to see my baby bro. I wonder if he's grown anymore since I've been away...

So I was talking to my friend Emma (who is American with an English name) and she is also flying out on the 14th (Sunday) and was saying how she has three suitcases to get back and she wasn't sure how she was going to do it. So I volunteered because I only have 1 bag and then she's like, oh, btw, my flight is 4 hours before yours. Poop. But- I have a plan. I'm going to get her and her bags to Heathrow, make sure she gets all checked in, then I'm going to check my bag, hop back on the tube and go get myself a nice, pre-flight non-airport lunch in London. Okay, it won't be that nice, but it will certainly be on the way to Loop yarns! That's right...I'm rewarding myself for getting to the airport with a trip to as many yarns stores I can fit in the 3 hours before I have to take the tube back to Heathrow and hop in line for security, with a bit of a secret. Heathrow has banned knitting/crocheting tools of all sorts, no matter their composition, but I don't think they'd take my bag of new yarn away. Especially if they can't find my sock dpns (they'll be in my shelf bra!) Get on the flight, read my new Sookie Stackhouse books and once we're in the air, get my knit on. I'd love to have turned a heel by the time I get to Chicago, but that might not happen, especially if they turn the lights off again. I am loading a few movies on my laptop this week to help with boredom (so far I have Fight Club and Romeo and Juliet- a nice balance of Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and my boy, Leo) and right now I'm just so friggin' excited to come home!

That's about it...have made minimal sock progress as all weekend was spent in bed with the flu or in front of the laptop writing about different versions of Cinderella. Hopefully there will be a nice big post Wednesday with all my baking pics, a couple recipes and pictures from the Christmas party! Yay!