i saw that maria ordered some things from sephora. i just placed an order myself. click below to browse sephora (ok, i just wanted the image on my page because it's so beautiful! i love snowflakes! and snow!).

hmm, i must confess that i've been rather profligate with my spending lately. sadly, this seems to be a recurring phenomenon during the holiday season. within the past 10 days, i've bought myself a digital camera ($50 off at amazon), a lipstick (club monaco "glaze," the infamous monica lewinsky sheer plum hue), an eyeshadow quad (from hard candy, in "old skool" -- something i've wanted for months. used $25 sephora.com gift certificate), trish mcevoy eyeshadow brush #23 ($20 ibeauty.com coupon), trish brush cleaner, 2 pairs of shoes (at 40% off, plus i had a $10 coupon so i paid $53 for both!), two cashmere scarves (one intended as a gift, but we'll see... hehe) and today, a wool coat with removable faux fur collar. eek!

not much to say these days. last night jocelyn and i made dinner for ken and his roommate roger. they brought over a bottle of chardonnay, a set of 4 wine glasses, and the new 10th anniversary version of taboo. jocelyn made potstickers as an appetizer, and i made dinner, which consisted of italian baked chicken (chicken cutlets topped with mozzarella and a slice of tomato, served on chopped creamed spinach), sauteed vegetables, and crusty sourdough bread. i also baked apple-cinnamon cake for dessert, in a 9-inch springform pan. i've always wanted a springform pan, so this cake was a good excuse to buy one. fyi, springforms are pans that can be separated into two pieces so that you can remove the sides of the pan and leave the cake upright (instead of having to invert the cake to remove it from a traditional pan). these pans are what cheesecakes are usually baked in.

the new taboo is hard! the timer also seems to be shorter. the game is updated for the millennium, with words like "website," "de-bug," "bill bradley," and even "gingko biloba" (an herbal supplement). sheesh. it was really fun, although jocelyn and i lost to ken and roger (but it was a close game!). next time, i think i'll try mindtrap or cranium. board games are a fun way to spend an evening, now that we're advancing in our years... haha.

have a great weekend!

clara@rescomp.stanford.edu