last week.

the busiest week of all time happened to be last week- what with finals (thank goodness this semester is finally over) and birthdays and shopping and wrapping and work. but despite all that chris and i were able to tear ourselves away to give blood... you know, spreading that holiday cheer. the san diego blood bank is a pretty cool place to be at- the staff is friendly, and it's a pretty positive atmosphere. this was actually the first time after a year that i was able to give- i had been deferred for twelve months because of a scaler poke accident at work... since that counts as an "accidental needle stick" i had to wait a year to make sure i didn't have something like AIDS or hepatitis C or whatever. needless to say- i'm clean and healthy, and able to give blood again. which is exciting, because i love giving blood, and now i can go every 8 weeks again like i used to.

a little history: giving blood was actually one of the first things chris and i did together, back when we hardly knew eachother. i had known that chris was scared of needles, and so i thought it would be funny to invite him to my appointment to give blood (mean? yes i know. what a way to set the stage for our relationship). chris accompanied me, gave blood, and survived; and so it has been a tradition for us ever since to donate together.

anyway, giving blood is always easier for chris than it is for me... even though i like it much more than he does. i happen to be cursed with tiny veins- and i always get the same response every time the nurses tighten the cuff and feel around for them: "wow... did you drink enough fluids today??" to which i always respond "yeeees, i havent been making trips to the bathroom every 15 minutes for the past 24 hours for no reason". and then they do the poke and pray, and half the time they have to wiggle the needle around in order to get it wedged in the vein right, because not only are my veins tiny, but they roll too. poor nurses. i'm a flebotomist's nightmare.

chris, on the other hand, has veins the size of pipes in super mario. watching the needle just glide right into his big, bulging veins while i'm still hosting a stick-fest at my arm is rather humiliating. and not only does he start off easy, but he can fill up the bag in about five minutes too... it takes me twice as long! i guess some people just have natural talent.

after we gave blood this last time chris was "tired" and i was downright woozy... since this was the case we went and saw lights on pepper drive- we drove of course. these were the only pictures i could muster the strength to snap:

my personal favorite (of course).

jack & sally with zero, decorating a tree. coolest ever.

... and chris trying to mimic the sadistic expression on this pumpkin's face. he gets points for effort.