Broke and Broken

So, Friday night, the weather outside was frightful.

And though I was lacking a delightful fire in the hearth, I was bound and determined to stay in and enjoy the warmth of my electric heat and catch up on some blogs.

With my husband running off to grab some take-out, and with our dear friend's baby, whom we were watching, snoozing in the other room, I grabbed my fleece blanket, a mug of herbal tea, and decided to catch up on my online reading.

With lap-desk in place, I reached for our trusty old - and I do mean old - lap-top, and this happened:

Oh yes. It fell right into two solid pieces.

Truth be told, I expected this to happen. Heck, I'm surprise it's hung in there for this long.

But it still doesn't make things easy.

Especially right now, when I'm spent a small fortune on Christmas gifts, and when we have a fairly pricey two-week trip planned to see both our respective families, of which we are leaving for in three days.

Oh, joy.

So, here I sit, blogging from the lap-top that is chained to our office, as it can't be moved, for fear it never actually connect and charge from it's power cord again. Seriously, moving this thing a 1/4 of a centimeter sets it off - dead-as-d00rnail off - for weeks.

Luckily, it's the holidays, and if anyone understands, it's you all.

Heck, blogging time is hard to come by even with a working laptop.

So, I'll be posting this week, but briefly. (I know. Figures it takes a technological breakdown for me to learn brevity.)

And then, while on vacation, we'll be buying a new computer, God willing.

Something that hasn't been with me since college and which can, we hope, actually serve as a laptop. And by that I mean, actually charge upon connecting to it's a power cord thingie.

Oh, and also make my husband happy, with lots of ram and gigs and speed and sleek design and ease, which his stupid wife will hopefully not be able to break.

I have very high priorities when it comes to technology, can't you tell?

Be back tomorrow for something brief! Happy Tuesday everyone!

***
The irony of all this? Our Internet has been out for three weeks, through no fault of our own. Our cable company is basically the spawn of Satan. Anyways, finally, they got their act together, and we were no longer required to use our cell phones as hotspots to access the Internet. They fixed everything Friday night. Less than an hour before my laptop broke.

Figures.

It's a Christmas miracle

Just when I thought he was beyond hope...

Just when I imagined he'd never get there...

Just when I'd all but given up on my dream...

The husband purchased me Vera Bradley all on his very own.

Because, believe it or not, I unwrapped this little beauty on Christmas morning, courtesy of my dearly beloved!
The man bought me his very first Vera Bradley.

And it only took me two years of dropping hints to get him to do it.

Apparently, weeks before Christmas, he had the bravery to walk into one of those amazingly chicky stores - aptly and honestly named Simply Gorgeous, if you can believe it - and bought me a brand-new, calypso blue, Vera Bradley Laptop Portfolio bag.

He didn't even know that I had had a Facebook conversation with a dear bloggy friend of mine, Sam, which basically went something like this (and by "basically," I totally mean I've taken creative liberties to summarize our 30-minute Vera Bradley love-fest, which culminated with us sharing our mutual excitement over the fact that we heard rumors that Vera's making dog collars):

Sam: You mean, he's never bought you even a single piece of Vera? That's my husband's safe bet! His go-to gift! Does he know what he's missing out on?
Me: No, not ever. Not even so much as a key chain. I don't think he even knows where to get it. To be fair, I'm not even sure he knows it exists. I think he thinks it's a word I throw around, much like "pretty." You know, like, 'Look at this pretty bag,' but instead, I'm all, 'Look at this Vera bag,' and on the inside, he's all, 'Is Vera Spanish for pretty?'"

Sam, you'll be glad to hear that I was, in fact, wrong.

Apparently, he does know Vera exists (and that the Spanish word for "pretty" is, in fact, "bonita.")

And, oh, my laptop and I are so, so glad.

Still, the man couldn't stop there.

He did not want to be out done.

He just couldn't leave well enough alone.

Because the second gift I unwrapped on Christmas morning?

Muy bonita, no?

***

I hope you all and your families had a wonderful Christmas! We're still celebrating the season around here, as my entire family has the week off. So my blog presence will still be sporadic until next week. Hopefully I can post a few more funny family photos, etc., as we make our last memories of 2009 this week!

Happy Monday, everyone!