There's a lot I could type about here (and I'm oh so tempted to just type about hanging with Cats at Parties
Today I started my day with a visit to the Buy Nothing Day Free Market to get things started. On the way I had to answer the phone twice on the walk (I probably should have been wearing my conductive touchscreen gloves rather than my non-touchscreen sensitive gloves beneath my mittens, to make it quicker to answer the phone, but I suppose that would be for another day). Other than my fingers getting really cold on those moments, I did have a good couple hours at the market before I took Sarah to the Yelp Shops Local event (complete with a visit with SANTA!) as my guest! She and I enjoyed some yummy waffles and orange juice (there were mimosas too, but whatever) and tried some of this rum horchata which was a bit strong for me but delicious! There were some pretty cute kids there and Santa had a great sense of humor. We did visit David's Tea on the Yelp Shops Local route, and then to Spasation where we each donated money to the Ronald McDonald House and received paraffin wax hand treatments and chair massages (which were wonderful!).
And then we visited the Royal Bison! Craft sale. It was pretty nifty, though insanely crowded as per the usual. We found this awesome crafting booth where we decorated postcards to be sent to random other people (mine is going to a person named Jennifer, for example), which was super fun and unexpected! For the first time I finally bought some Moonshine Donuts, but they had already sold out of the almond earl grey ones, so my 4-packs were lacking in one flavour. Still it was a good dessert later on! I spent the evening hanging with cats and dogs plus Sarah and Tim and it was wonderful (we had salad, pasta, tea, and the donuts, all of which was delicious) and it was just great to relax with friends and have a good time. I ought to relax with just a friend or two (and sometimes a pet or more) more often. It's pretty awesome. It was a really full day, of course but a wonderful Saturday including some shopping (I didn't really find much that I absolutely needed/wanted for myself or others, but it wasn't overwhelming or anything), arts and crafts, yummy food, holiday fun, and friends, all of which was wonderful! Sure there was a little bit of stress from the volunteering end of things (as is par for the course) but nothing unsurmountable or out of the ordinary really. And you know what? It was a good balance to do some good for others (free market, donating money etc.), and spoiling ourselves with good food/experiences etc.