i am soooo spoiled.

spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. my girlfriend spoiled me. my friends spoiled me. my parents definitely spoiled me. take a sniff -- i smell rotten. well, actually, i smell like lemon grass and sandalwood. but that's just a recent shower at work. really, i'm spoiled.

you should see the gifts i got from loved ones. you read what Cory got me. that was pretty spoiling. my parents heaped on the gifts while i was home. super cool Giants jacket (complete with World Series patch), shiny chrome toaster, ridiculously over-priced but awfully beautiful watering can, digital tire pressure gauge ... yup, spoiled. and then Dennis, the man with the $3000 beaver-lined coat, somehow found an arc lamp at a garage sale for me for Christmas. i've wanted one for years but they've been unattainable either because of price or availability. but Dennis spoiled me. sure, it was free to him (who gives away Eames-era furniture for free??) but it still has the same spoiling power on me.

i have to say again, though, that i appreciated the time with my peoples much more than any of the consumables. from ice skating with the kids of family friends, to seeing my dad's new office, to a Dickens-era Christmas Eve dinner complete with carollers and a visit from a rather sarcastic Santa, to a fun and mellow Christmas Day, to seeing Lord of the Rings with my family, to coming home to a travel-weary but especially beautiful Corinne whom i'd missed so much, to a birthday dinner at Roy's for Dennis with all his friends, to drinks at Martuni's with just the four of us, to lying on the couch with my girl and a football game until hunger got the better of us. i swear, those things have spoiled me the most.