Erm... hi.

One would figure that I'd be enjoying all the busy time I've been having these past two days... well, I'm not.

Today was suppose to be a day of rest after the whole Warped Tour experience; bruises and scratches aside, I had to worry about the mass of debris in my lungs preventing me from breathing well. But mom's sister-in-law came in from Canada for a conference and we had to go treat her and a couple of her friends out onto the town.

Just... one slight problem. That's the five of us family, plus the in-law and the three friends she's packing. Sis and I opted to just go shopping in the Forum for a few good hours while they dined at the Top of the World on the Stratosphere.

Now, shopping at the Forum was right up my alley at that moment. I still had to buy Matt's birthday gift, and what better place to get one than at these hihg-end shoppes? There were plenty of things to be given at the Museum Company but either I had already given something like it, it would be something left completely untouched, or it was too pricey. This is Matt, afterall. He gives the worst gifts despite the wealth he amasses.

First order of business was eating lunch. Expensive eateries throughout the mall were ruled out since we only had so much money to spend, so we ended up eating at Virgin Megastore Cafe. The guy serving us was rather-on-the-extremely-cute side so my day began to get better. After getting my poppyseed bagel and green jasmine iced-tea, he asked me where I worked in the mall. I was mute for a second or two before telling him that I didn't work in the mall. He nodded and gave me an appraising look before going about his duties.

I can understand why he thought that. Today I had been wearing a black polo-shirt with khakis, my Swatch, black nail polish, and some nice black dress shoes (I dressed to dine elsewhere before plans were changed). I tried dragging sis into one of the more posh stores like Emporio Armani or Gucci just so that we could act like snobs with money, but she didn't wear anything remotely resembling designer wear... unless you're thinking Anne Sui.

Spoils from the Forum are: the CD "Morimur" (a dissection of the encoded meanings in the violin solos written by Bach to mourn the death of his wife), a necklace and a bracelet. Funny thing about the last two items... I got them at the Endangered Species store. The same store that sold the same necklace to a former boyfriend a few years ago. I just happened to be browsing the necklace selection when I realized that the designs I saw before me were exactly the same. So, now I have a small bracelet version of the necklace as well as an alternate necklace with ruby-red beads instead of black ones.

After the parents met up with sis and I again (and we greeted our guests) we learned that two of the guests backed out at the last moment. So there was enough room now for all seven of us to fit into the van... but the parents (and guests) wanted to watch a dinner show. I wasn't up to it, and neither was sis.

We got dropped off at the Venetian. Spent most of the time going through the Canal Shoppes listening to the performers play (namely this violin, flute, and accordian trio) and still searching for a suitable gift for Matt.

But before departing to the shoppes we went over to the Guggenheim Heritage Museum to look at the collection. The man behind the ticket counter was extremely cute so I was acting like a complete idiot. ("That will be $16" "Okay, here... wait, that's a twenty." "But it's still $16. This is a $10." "Oh! I'm sorry, not having a very good day today." "Eh, neither am I.") The collection of modern painters they had was... not to my taste. I tend more towards photo-realism and baroque chiaroscuro; the paintings exhibited were mainly impressionist, bordering on abstract. I enjoyed the quite solitude though.

The masque shoppe was still quite expensive, so I didn't get to buy anything from there. However, I was very tempted to buy some Venetian stationary complete with a wax seal... but that's going a bit overly-romantic. Then I contemplated it as a possible gift... before I realized that he'd never use it.

One of the performers was a man who sang italian arias while accompanying himself on his accordian. While sis and I watched him, there were these two guys cuddling up next to eachother. One had the camera out and filming while the other had his arm wrapped around his. It would've been a cute sight if both hadn't decided to wear extremely short shorts and unbuttoned their shirts one button past the acceptable norm.

At some point we witnessed this newly wed couple board the white and gold gondola with much applause from the people surrounding. Then, at the mid-section of the canals, they passed by another pair of newly-weds riding one of the regular gondolas. I thought it was funny.

Then there was this uber-cute guy working the counter of this golf apparel shop. We came in with the hope of finally finding a suitable gift, but instead we found ourselves gawking at this man for a good five minutes. He was Michael Weatherly incarnate... although not quite the status of Fallen Angel, but still pretty up there. Half of the time he seemed bored and sis got into too much eye contact with him for her own good.

We eventually met up with the elders, had a bite to eat at this Asian restaurant place, dropped off the guests, went to Walgreens where dad used his connections (read: patients) to open up the photo-department and get our prints out of Warped Tour, and now I am home.

I'm exhausted, tired, in need of a good face washing, and I still haven't gotten a present yet.