I'm feeling very grumpy today. I don't know what the deal is. The whole Christmas thing gets to me. I mean, I love the singing and the jolliness and the good will and all that, but I really despise the whole gift giving thing. I wish we could all just get together and play scrabble and drink eggnog in front of the fire and call it good. Why do we have to spend all this money buying each other stuff we don't really want anyway? It almost seems like a competition--who will give the best gifts this year? I, for one, would be perfectly happy receiving no gifts. I'm not a big fan of stuff anyway.

I almost asked Lolo yesterday if we could just forego Christmas gifts, but I didn't do it. He says he hasn't started his Christmas shopping yet. Maybe I should just ask before it's too late and he's bought me something. I want to be able to give gifts just when I feel like giving gifts. I don't think I'm overly stingey, I just hate being forced into it.

Ok, ok, enough complaining about shopping. So yesterday I went hiking with Buzz and Lolo and another pharmacist who is friends with those two and works in our hospital's outpatient pharmacies. We hiked up Mt. Si, which is a mountain that's about 20 miles from the city and is about 4100 feet high. It's about an 8-mile hike round trip, so it's really a fairly nice hike and incredibly conveniently located. I did it once before at the beginning of August but it was so foggy that day that I couldn't see anything. This time the weather was beautiful. Yes, there was snow and ice on the trail but it was still pretty ok. Yes, I did have one little incident of slipping and falling flat on my ass, but the only person who actually saw that happen was Lolo. The whole situation with me and Lolo having to pretend not to be too interested in each other (to hide our relationship from Buzz) wasn't nearly as awkward as I expected, so hooray for that. Anyway, here's a picture I took near the top of Mt. Si as we were starting our descent. In the foreground is Buzz with the other guy disappearing down the trail and in the background is Mt. Rainier.

After the hike I had about an hour to get ready before I took Lolo out for a birthday dinner. Shock of shocks--I actually wore a skirt. I feel like a kindergarten teacher whenever I wear a dress. Oh well, anyway, I took him to Palisade, which is a pretty fancy restaurant out on the Elliott Bay Marina. I'd seen it once before when I got lost while going for a jog and then one of the pharmacists at work recommended it to me so I finally decided to go. I had intended on getting there in time for their "first seating" promo, but I was late (for once it wasn't Lolo's fault) and we missed the cutoff time. That pretty much doubled the cost of dinner right there. Now I know I'm sounding all miserly again, but hooiee, I've never payed so much for dinner before in my life. It wasn't the best food I've ever eaten, but man, it was a beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous view (even in the dark), and the waiters were very attentive and I absolutely loved being there with Lolo.