all that's past is prologue...

I don't think I've ever taken the time (in my adult life at least) to sit and watch the inauguration. There's certainly never been one like this. Though my daughter is napping through it, I am so insanely proud and happy that this moment is happening, and that this is the first president that she will remember.

So these are the things currently taking up brain space in my world: - preparing for Beatrix's heart surgery — day surgery, how crazy is that? — tomorrow - refinancing the house (4.625%, down from 6.125%, worth it even with the fees) - finishing off the last two rooms that desperately need it in the house (den and front bedroom) - potentially buying a new refrigerator and dishwasher - researching/finding/affording a new car seat for Beatrix before she outgrows the bucket - some bad family health news - calendar-year end taxes for Nautilus and all my clients - starting a new bookkeeping gig that will be challenging but also fun - a preservation trip to Mankato that needs some advance research - generally keeping up with everything else — friends, family, house, work, etc.

Here's what I don't understand... If election law and vote counting is indeed as badly tainted as Coleman asserts, if the system as we have it can't be relied upon to discern the actual winning candidate... Isn't it the SAME system under which he has won before, and then shouldn't we be re-examining those results as well? (maybe he never really was legitimately St. Paul's mayor — we can only hope!)

Friday night we had a very generous babysitting offer from the amazing Beth/Lucy combo, and so got to go out to Barrio with our friends Eric and Christy. What a fantastic place — absolutely delicious, foodie-worthy Mexican food, and of course good tequila and tequila-related beverages such as margaritas. Also fantastic atmosphere and people-watching, though the hipster-quotient in Minnesota is a little mitigated by the extensive outerwear people need to wear in weather this cold. Makes me want to register with Yelp! or some other online review site so I can rave about what a great experience it was — though admittedly, that may well have been the company as much as or more so than the restaurant. An evening out we sorely needed. In New Years' resolution-news, we hosted a wonderful white elephant party last night. I think everyone had a good time and a fun gift. Looking forward to more of that soon.

I've never been one for New Year's resolutions, but this year I am going to try. Even though I fell asleep at 11 last night and was the New Year's Eve Loser. I was up with Beatrix a lot in the very early hours of 2009 — does that count? Anyway, my one resolution for 2009 is to enjoy living in our house a lot more (I suppose in preparation for the eventual move). That encompasses a lot of things, from enjoying the time spent playing in the living room with Beatrix, to getting small things fixed and big rooms finished, to keeping the house neater, to entertaining more at home. I hope it's a resolution I can keep.