#3017 a lengthy recap with lots of photos of trees and coffees

We have a lot to catch up on, don't we? 

This might be a longish post, but let's just roll with it. Let's start with Dec 11, a Thursday, and the last work day for me of my career at Granite. I did actually do a little bit of work that day, then there was a retirement luncheon. Food was catered from Cafe Rio (my choice), and all my work pals were gathered round the conference room table. There were gifts and tears and words and hugs and it was really nice. Afterward, there were photos. Here's one:

my work peeps!

The next few days, Friday through Sunday, were kind of a blur. MT and T came home on Thursday night and stayed for the weekend. MT went back to Pocatello on Sunday morning, and T stayed here because he was taking care of the dogs while I went to California to visit Mom and Lizzie. 

I arrived in Southern California on Monday afternoon. We went out for dinner, then to the house to chat and chill. Every day Lizzie and I went out for a walk and coffee. She picked easy trails for me, which was kind of her. I really like the urban hill trails in the area where they live. The trails we walked on were all part of parks, but they still feel a little wild. The weather was good, in my opinion. We had some foggy mornings that gave good vibes. After the walk and coffee, we went home to hang out, then in the later afternoon, we go somewhere for late lunch/early dinner. 

On Tuesday we went for a walk at Laguna Lake park. It was a foggy morning, and one of my favorite things about the trail was the part where all the trees were decorated! A family who lives along the trail had decorated about a dozen (or more) trees with baubles and it was so sweet. I think if you double click on the photo, it will fill your screen with the image so you can see the decorations.

Laguna Lake Park trail

We went for coffee at a cute place in Fullerton called Lulu Coffee. The bagel with cream cheese and salami was delicious and the cappuccino was good, too.

at Lulu Coffee in Fullerton

That evening we went to Old World Village in Huntington Beach. We had dinner at the Old World Biergarten. I had schnitzel and cheesy spaetzel and it tasty. A fun thing was that there was a Christmas Market onsite that day, so we wandered around in there. It was nicely decorated, and there weren't too many people, so it was good.

in the Christmas market

The next day was Wednesday, my mama's birthday! Lizzie and I started the day with an easy walk at Creek Park. 

it was still fall in Southern California

For coffee, we went to a favorite place, Civitas (no photo) and took it to go along with a chocolate croissant for Mama. Around noon, we drove to San Juan Capistrano, about a 45 minute drive from their house. We had lunch in a cute restaurant called Sundried Tomato Bistro.

birthday lunch!

After lunch we crossed the street to walk around the mission. It was a beautiful day, and the grounds were all decorated for Christmas. If I remember right, the lighting ceremony was going to be the next evening. We didn't come back for that, but we sure enjoyed strolling around. A nice lady took our picture.

awww!

The light that afternoon was amazing, and we were happy to be together.

ussie with perfect lighting

We stopped at another restaurant, Bloom, for coffee and dessert before we headed back home. The drive down only took 45 minutes, but it was at least double that going back north. That's how it goes, I guess.

On Thursday morning, Lizzie and I walked at Clark Park. It was a lovely morning, and everything was so green, it looked like spring.

a blooming meadow on the Clark Park trail

For coffee, we went to Enchanted, a coffee shop in La Mirada. I had one of the seasonal drinks, a maple latte that was really good, and the biggest, most Nutella-stuffed croissant I've ever seen. I couldn't eat the whole thing in one sitting. The place was busy and the vibe was not relaxing, but the coffee and croissant were top notch.

coffee and croissant at Enchanted

That night we went to Il Gatto in La Habra. It is an Italian trattoria that is completely gorgeous. We didn't get the table we wanted, but the food was good and the wine was excellent. I'd be glad to go back to this place anytime. I didn't take pics of the food. We ordered from the happy hour menu, so we had a variety of delicious snacks that were really filling! The hostess did take our photo by their pretty Christmas tree.

we are full of Italian food

On Friday morning, Lizzie and I went another park in Fullerton, I think, to an area she called Lost Trail. We walked through a softball complex to a series of dirt trails. There weren't many people on this trail, so it was really quiet and nice. There was an amazing tree just off the trail.

I loved this cool tree!

An interesting thing to me about the trail is that it went to the Brea Dam, which is interesting because it doesn't dam anything. Lizzie wanted to go up a trail above the dam, but I didn't really want to, so she was kind and cut me some slack. It was a cool area, and I liked the walk a lot.

For coffee, we went to Golden State Roasting Company in Placentia. The seating areas were large, and the exposed brick was pretty. It wasn't exactly cozy, but it was nice. The coffee was good - I had a peppermint mocha along with a breakfast sandwich. Nothing special about the sammy, but it hit the spot.

peppermint mocha at Golden State Roasting Co.

Later that afternoon, we had late lunch/early dinner at Zumaya's in Whittier. I didn't take a pic of my meal, but I had carnitas tacos and they were really good. The meat was tender and flavorful, and the tortillas were amazing. They may have been made from masa; they were sort of chewy and soft and mmmm. So good! After the meal, we drove over to a Mexican bakery to get a coffee and a dessert to take home. The dude told me there was coffee in that mocha, but it was so smooth and chocolatey, I didn't taste coffee at all. We also went to a nearby store called Pour le Bain. I have been in the store before and it smells so good and has pretty things. Then we took an ussie with a giant Santa.

this Santa is BIG!

The next day Lizzie and I did our traditional Saturday walk around La Mirada Regional Park before hitting the Farmer's Market for pastry and stickers, then picking up coffee from Starbucks. We stayed home the rest of the day. Mom cooked canalones and we drank a bottle of cava to celebrate my retirement, Mom's birthday, and just being together.  

On Sunday we didn't go for a walk, but we did go back to Civitas for coffee and pastry to go. Then I had to pack and get on the plane to come home. 

The highlights of this past week were getting a live Christmas tree, this cute Norfolk pine...

our Christmas tree

...going to the Christmas breakfast at the country club with my work friends, then taking my final walk of the year through Red Butte Garden (the Garden is closed from Dec 24 - Jan 1)...

no snow to be seen

...taking a drive down Michigan Ave to admire the thousands of lights on the sycamore trees...

magical Michigan Ave

 

...and celebrating Christmas at home with my menfolk.

Happy Christmas from MT, me, and T!

The bummer part is that I've had a cold since Christmas Eve. It's still hanging on, but I do feel better today.

So, yeah, this is a long post, and if you've made it this far, thanks and nice going! It's just a little snippet of my exciting life LOL

I don't have much on the agenda for next week. Of course, Wednesday is New Year's Eve followed by New Year's Day. I'll be surprised if we make it to midnight on Wednesday, but we'll try! I think my main activity will be figuring out how to spend my days productively since I won't be working anymore. I've cut myself some slack this month since I've been on vacation and it's the holidays, but I know myself well enough to know that I must have some kind of structure planned or I will default to scrolling through Instagram and playing games on my phone. I have a list (surprise!) of things I want to do daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly, so I'll use that to shape my days. I'm excited to see what's next.

xo

 

#3016 cheers!

Wishing you a very happy Christmas Eve. Now I will follow an Icelandic tradition which I read about on social media so I know it must be true. I am going to read a new book I picked up from the library and eat some chocolate. 

I'll be back with a real post on Sunday. 

Cheers!

#3015 getting in the Christmas mood

Last night I asked MT if he wanted to go see a street near our house that is always on the MUST SEE CHRISTMAS STREETS in the Salt Lake Valley. It's right in Magna, and the street is called Miracle Cove. Since I found out about it a couple of years ago, I've wanted to see it, and I finally made it happen last night. It's a cul de sac, and every yard in the neighborhood is fully decorated. It's amazing. People do walk around, but most just drive really slowly which is what we did, so all of these photos I took from inside the truck.

I liked this street so much I drove around it again tonight with T. He liked it well enough, although he said it was weird because there's no snow. I don't mind that there's no snow. It will come soon enough.

That's all for now. It's amazing that I've had all day to write here, but I saved it for the end of the day when I'm tired and ready for bed. It's a habit I will be glad to break. 

#2928 three things: Christmas week edition

 

1. A quick trip to La Mirada. Mamacita's birthday was the 17th, and I like to try to spend that day with her, but I was late this year. Since I took the week of Christmas off from work, I went to visit her this past weekend. MT and I left SLC around 1:00 pm on Friday the 20th, spent the night in Mesquite, NV, then drove into the LA area on Saturday, arriving at Mom and Lizzie's house around 2:30 pm. I don't care for that particular drive. The stretch of road from Las Vegas to Barstow is just not scenic. It's the edge of the Mojave Desert, and it's desolate. Plus there's a lot of traffic. Anyway, I was really glad to see my mama and my sister, even though Mama was not her perky self. MT did a few honey-do items around the house, Lizzie, MT and I went on a nice little nature walk, and we had a tasty dinner at Belmont Brewing Co in Long Beach. I wish we could have stayed longer, although I was glad to be there even for a short time.

2. A visit with a friend. We left La Mirada on Monday around noon and drove to Cedar City, UT. The map program says it's about a six hour drive, but it took around eight hours plus an extra hour when you go east. In the morning, on Christmas Eve, we went to see a former co-worker of mine, Nancy, and her husband Tom, that live in the area. Nancy invited us to their home and I was delighted to see her! They are both retired now and living their best life in a super cute and cozy house they built about eight years ago. They have horses and dogs and they both seem so happy. It's pretty unusual for me to seek out people, (hi, I'm an introvert), and I almost didn't do it, but I am glad I did. It was a nice visit.

3.Being at home. We got back to SLC around 2:30 in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. We had to stop at the grocery store so we'd have things to eat on Christmas. That night, we had fettuccine (a tradition I picked up from the movie The Holiday) and fudge. The fudge is a new addition to the Christmas Eve tradition. I read about an Icelandic or Finish tradition of getting a new book and having chocolate on Christmas Eve. I didn't get a new book, but I did read and eat fudge. 

Christmas Day was very mellow. It was just the three of us, and the dogs, of course. We opened gifts in the morning, then I started cooking. We had a pretty simple meal: ham, cheesy potatoes, and salad along with rolls. It was just what we wanted. For dessert, we had brownie sundaes which MT has declared is our dessert of choice and what we shall have from now on for our holiday dessert.  We watched sports, then Hallmark Christmas movies on Netflix, and everything was quite wonderful.

Enjoy the rest of the week!

 

#2873 weekend wrap-up

First, happy Christmas, if you celebrate the holiday. I understand that at it's core, it is a Christian holiday - it is right there in the name - but being a not-so-religious person, I gloss over that part and get straight to the giving of gifts, feasting, and being with loved ones. May your day be merry and bright, and may Santa bring you all the things you want.

You know, Christmas happens every December 25, and I know it, and as a planner addict, I see it, but somehow, the holiday totally snuck up on my this year. It was here before I really knew it was happening. It is surely a function of being out of town on the first and third weekends of December, and chilling without a thought in my head on that second weekend. This weekend has been a flurry of shopping for MT and T, and finishing up for Mama and Lizzie. Those sweet women will have nothing under the tree from me tomorrow. I am not proud or happy about my delinquency. 

On Friday afternoon, I got off work a little early, so I decided to take my end-of-the-year walk through Red Butte Garden. It was such a nice day. I wore joggers and a sweatshirt and felt very comfortable. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and there was only a bit of snow on some of the north-facing slopes. Here are a few pics:

Ghost pine

Wild grasses and the frozen pond

The small waterfall

The remains of a flowering plant, red berries, and Red Butte Peak

The Garden is closed today through January 1. It has become a tradition for me to walk around the Garden at the end of the year. It felt good to walk around, clear my head, and prepare for the holiday. It is such a wonderful place! I'm so thankful for it.

Yesterday MT and I shopped from about 1:30 - 7:00, with a nice break for lunch. We had fun looking around at stuff and buying gifts for our loved ones. MT took T out later in the evening, and I went back out to get something for MT and to do the grocery shopping. It was a long day, but I'm glad I went to the grocery store last night.

Today, MT and I went out again. We went up to Park City to the outlet mall. It wasn't as busy as I thought it might be. We just took a couple of hours to zip up there and back down to the valley. I'm glad I went. I bought myself a new outfit at Eddie Bauer. Maybe I'll put it in a gift back and say it is from Sandy Claus. LOL

This evening, I made fettuccine - a tradition I picked up from the movie The Holiday.

We gobbled it down, and I proceeded to get a little tipsy on wine and Christmas cheer (Bailey's Irish Cream on the rocks.) I wrapped gifts by stuffing them in gift bags with lots of frothy tissue paper, and now here I am, telling you all about it.

Now I am going to crawl in bed. The good thing about not having a little kid is that we all sleep in on Christmas morning. MT and I are planning to have some pancakes and eggs for breakfast. For our main meal, we will have ham and side dishes of sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, rolls and salad. For dessert: cheesecake. One of Marty's clients works at Honeybaked Ham during the holidays, and for the past few years, she has given him a gift card there, so Christmas dinner is super easy. Everything but the sweet potatoes comes from Honeybaked. I am grateful for her generosity. I have ham dishes planned for just about every night next week. I'm okay with that!

It's nearly midnight here. I wish you peace, love, and joy. 

xoxo

 

#2813 musical Monday Christmas edition

I love Christmas music. I confess I *potentially* listened to Christmas tunes before Thanksgiving this year. I was ready for it! Apple Music has a glorious selection of holiday music spanning every genre you can think of, I think, except maybe rap. I have listened to so many different playlists in the past month, everything from classical music to R & B to crooners to new pop Christmas songs to the classics. It's all good for me. Harry Connick Jr has a new Christmas album out this year as does Alicia Keyes. I've listened to both of those albums a couple of times. 

The new album that has my attention, though, is called A Family Christmas by Andrea Bocelli and his children Matteo and Virginia. I listened to it the other day while I was driving to the office, and the music touched every one of my feelings. It's just really lovely. When the three of them sing together, it's like hearing a trio of Italian angels. 

I was going to post the video of them singing “Feliz Navidad” but I guess it is just on Apple Music, and I couldn’t figure out how to share it here. There is a 30 minute video (that I haven’t watched yet) in which I imagine they are singing their faces off. I’ll be watching that soon. It is available on You Tube.

If you have a chance, and you are at all interested, I recommend giving the album a listen. It’s nice.

#2812 Saturday with Sandy

Oh, hi! I did a few things today. The first thing I did was take my car to the Xpress Lube to get the oil changed. It's a good thing, too, because one of the things they check is the windshield wipers, and mine needed to be replaced. More snow is on the way, and I'll be glad to have new wiper blades. 

A fun thing about being at the Xpress Lube: the Morocco/Portugal World Cup match was playing on the TV there, and I noticed one of the workers came in to ring up a customer and he stole a glance at the TV. There was no score at the time, then Morocco scored a goal. When it was my turn to pay, another employee was taking care of me checked the score, and told me that the employee who had peeked at the score earlier was from Morocco. He has only been in the U.S. for about a year. He was really excited about the match, but also very nervous because Morocco has never made it to the quarterfinals before, I think. When the Moroccan employee came back into the lobby, his co-worker told him to check the score. He whipped his head around, saw the score was 1 - 0 Morocco, and he got so pumped! I think he would have hollered if there weren't other people in the waiting area. It was fun to see how happy he was - I'm sure he was thrilled when the game was over and Morocco advanced to the semi-finals. 

When my car was done being serviced, I came home to finish reading the pages for the book club meeting. The book is good, but I kept dozing off. It was just so cozy on the couch with the dogs and my blanket. I did finish the reading; we just discussed the first half of the book today. Our group often speculates on whodunits and red herrings on these thriller books. (We are reading A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham.) Since our meetings are on Twitter, I had the France/England World Cup match on TV. It was a good match. France won. 

With soccer finished for the day, and the book club meeting over, it was time for Christmas shopping. I went to some cute local shops first, then to a couple of chain stores. I think I am mostly done shopping for the women. I'll shop for the menfolk this week. I don't have a bit more leeway on their deadline since I don't have to ship packages to them. 

Tonight, MT and I got burgers from Five Guys, then we watched the movie Ticket to Paradise starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney. It's streaming on Peacock. I'm quite glad I didn't pay to see it in the theater. It really wasn't good. Yes, I smiled on occasion, but blech overall.  

Today's IG prompt was BRINGS ME JOY. This is going to sound super-goofy, but shopping at Trader Joe's brings me joy. I went to the store yesterday during my lunch break. The Christmas specialty items are fun. I enjoy watching the other shoppers load their carts with boxes of panettones (one woman got about a dozen), peppermint Joe-Joe's, and anything gingerbread. There are so many types of chocolates and cookies. seasonal cheeses and meats and random stuff. It's awesome! I bought a porchetta roast that I am excited to cook tomorrow. I bought a few things to give as Christmas gifts, which sounds strange, maybe, but I don't think it is. I got a Kringle, my favorite one of the year, with the original almond filling. I got cookies, Jingle Jangle, chips and dip, and a five cheese Greek pastry. You know what else I like about Trader Joe's? The crew is so nice. I don't know if I have ever been there when I haven't had a friendly exchange with the checker. It's just so freaking pleasant, even when it's super busy, as it is during the holidays. 

Oh yeah, I also got my annual wreath for the front door. It makes me happy every time.

I hope you are having a good weekend. Stay safe and have fun!

 

#2658 weekend wrap-up

How was your Christmas weekend? Ours was quiet and pleasant. I have been off work since Thursday, well, mid-Wednesday afternoon, actually, so it has been a long, awesome weekend. I'll recap:

On Thursday, I had physical therapy in the morning. Lance, my physical therapist, told me in no uncertain terms not to do anything "stupid" with my shoulder, like reaching backward for things or trying to straighten it too much. (I *might* have mentioned that I have been experimenting a little.) He assured me that the shoulder is pretty messed up and that if I didn't follow the regimen he has me on, strengthening the muscles around the shoulder would be a wasted effort. Yikes. I've been careful with it for months now, and I will continue to be extra-thoughtful and careful for the foreseeable future.

After PT, I went to the testing facility. I'm still negative. T is still positive. He took an at-home test on Christmas day. He doesn't have a fever or coughing, but he is extremely fatigued. I bet he is awake about five to eight hours a day, if that. I worry that he is getting dehydrated, so the minute he wakes up, I am plying him with water, milk, and juice. I also make sure he is eating real food, not just snacks. If he is snacking, I think it is just string cheese, because that's what he has in the frig in his room. 

Back to the recap:

On Friday, MT and I took the dogs to the dog park. The place was pretty muddy, and there was a big, deep puddle (belly high on the dogs) on one side of the park that Mac and Harley absolutely loved splashing around in. Harley is white, and she was a visible muddy mess. Mac was muddy, too, but her fur is black, so you couldn't see how dirty she was. When we got home, we had no choice but to give Harley a bath. She is a docile bather. She just stands there while you wash her with the hand-held shower. Mac, on the other hand, would not even go into the bathroom and did all manner of evasive maneuvers to avoid bathing. Instead, I used Harley's wet towel to clean Mac, then used waterless shampoo, and finished by brushing her out. Both of them were clean enough for us. 

That night, I made fettuccine aglio e olio with shrimp for our Christmas Eve dinner. I have been making fettuccine for Christmas Eve for a couple of years now. My favorite Christmas movie, The Holiday, is what started it. Then, of course, I had to watch The Holiday. I turned off all the lights, except the tree, and sat there smiling the whole time. MT watched it with me. It was great. 

Saturday was Christmas Day.  We actually had to wake T up to open gifts with us. We all wore masks, sat far apart from each other, and had a window open. There were no hugs or kisses for T, sadly, but I was glad he was there. He went back up to bed when the unwrapping was done. I feel bad for him. This Virus is pretty unpleasant.

I spent the afternoon doing a little cooking. I only made a couple of side dishes: cheesy potatoes and Ruth's Chris sweet potato casserole. We had Honeybaked ham, along with green salad, and dinner rolls. It was all really good, and there is plenty of leftovers, which is really nice. In fact, on Sunday (today), I haven't cooked anything. We heated up what we wanted and everyone was happy. 

This morning, I slept in. Actually, I woke up early and fed the dogs, then went back to bed. Lizzie gave me a three-month subscription to Atlas Coffee Club, so this morning I made a pot of my first month's shipment. The coffee is from Ethiopia, and it is delicious! It was pure decadence to sit on my couch under the weighted blanket, sip coffee, and read a good book. In fact, today I let myself be as relaxed and lazy as I wanted to be. This afternoon, I napped on the afore-mentioned couch beneath that weighted blanket for at least hour or so. It was divine! 

I didn't leave my house at all today. It has been cloudy, cold, snowy, sunny and unpleasantly cold, then cloudy and snowy again. There isn't much snow on the ground, but it is uninviting. Even Mac didn't want to spend a lot of time outside. 

Back to work tomorrow, but there are only four work days this week! Friday is a holiday, as is the following Monday. What I am looking forward to is doing my yearly unravel (thanks, Susannah Conway!), reading, and watching the Utes play in the Rose Bowl on Saturday afternoon. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Here are some photos for your enjoyment:

Harley's dirty legs

MMMM...malasadas!

T on Christmas day

I got a hat with a pom-pom! I want to wear it all the time.

Clean Harley snuggles with her human

#2657 a new toy and things it takes me a week to think about

Today my work group/team had our annual Christmas breakfast followed by a gift game. Everything was fun and nice. Here’s what I got to take home:

Two boxes of K-cups!

Brews a pot OR single cup!

It is a Keurig Duo, so it will brew a pot of coffee OR do a single cup from a K-cup. It is really more coffee maker than I need, and it’s pretty good sized, but I think I kinda like it. The woman who opened this gift absolutely did NOT want it, so when it came to be my turn to pick a gift, I was happy to take it from her and she was happy to get a chance at another gift. I hope she got something she wanted. I lost track of who ended up with what along the way. 

Since the thing is big, I ended up doing a bunch of rearranging in my kitchen so it could have a home on the counter, so that was a bonus good thing that came out of it. I then also had to clean out some cupboard space for the K-cups. I felt I then owed it to myself to enjoy a cup of coffee after all that work. It was good. I tried the Green Mountain breakfast blend. It was mellow and tasty. I didn’t get much of a caffeine jolt from it, so that was nice. For me, it was a nice, warm way to end my day.

Here’s a story for you:

A woman I know said that she is giving up coffee. As someone who is getting more into coffee, I wondered why this woman was getting out of it, so I asked her. She told me that she likes bold, rich, flavorful coffee, but with lots of cream and sugar. I could not resist saying at the time, “Oh, so it’s really the cream and sugar you want to drop, so you have to give up coffee?” Of course she said yes, because, you know,  that’s the truth. 

It’s been about a week since I had that conversation, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I have finally come up with a snarky comparison.  I could say that I am giving up lettuce. I like leafy, green, crunchy romaine lettuce, but with creamy dressing and cheese. Therefore, I must give up lettuce. Same concept, right?

I mean, there are ways to drink coffee without cream and sugar, just like I could eat lettuce without creamy dressing and cheese, for example. It’s all about the changes you are willing to make for something you like. Maybe this woman doesn’t really like coffee; she said she doesn’t drink if for the caffeine, but for the flavor. Last I heard, she was switching to tea. I wish her the best. I don’t care what she drinks. I just thought her explanation was hilarious.

#2644 Saturday with Sandy

MT decided to go to Idaho to see his family this morning, so I’ve been on my own with the puppers today. The first order of business was getting a nice coffee from Starbucks to enjoy while I read a book. After breakfast, I took some time to write in my journal and to set some goals for December. It was nice to take the quiet time and plan the month a little bit.

After that, it was time to start shopping! I wanted to get gifts to give to the person I drew for Secret Santa at work. It feels like Secret Santa shopping is a good warm up for family shopping. I mean, I like my Secret Santa person, and most of the stuff I bought were snacks and fun stuff. It helps me to remember that even when I’m buying gifts for people I really love, the best thing I can do is buy things that I think they will like, and if they don’t, that’s on them, isn’t it?

My next stop was at Lowes to get Christmas trees! This year I decided to get two small live Norfolk pines, one for the front room and one for the TV room. I put white lights on the tree in the front room, and I want to put multi-color twinkle lights on the tree in the TV room, but I don’t have any. Guess I’ll be back at Target for a minute tomorrow.

Tonight I watched the movie tick…tick…BOOM! I really liked it a lot. There were several times that I cried, and you know what? My little Mac was very concerned about my tears. She jumped up next to me and snuggled her face into my neck. She can be so sweet.

I was thinking about picking up my book when the movie was over, but I started flipping through the channels and saw that Bend it Like Beckham was on. I totally love the movie, so I had to go ahead and watch it. 

Such a good day!

#2487 an Apple Christmas for our family

Happy Day After Christmas! Did Santa bring you everything you wanted?

The three of us had a very Apple Christmas. All of us got new iPhones. T and I had the SE models - those came out between iPhone 5 and iPhone 6, so like six or seven iPhones ago. We were definitely due for an upgrade. MT had an iPhone 8, but the screen was cracked and smashed beyond use. The smash part just happened earlier this week, but the point is that we were all ready and eager for a new phone. We all got iPhone 11 in different colors. T was the most successful at switching the data from his old phone to the new one. Both MT and I spent time on the phone with Apple Support. I think we are mostly good now. The 11 is soooo much bigger than the SE. It won't be fitting in my pocket. The good part is that I can see it very well. LOL

T and I also got the new AirPod Pros. They are little speakers for your ears. This new product has a noise cancelling feature, which is cool. Both T and I were asking each other to talk to test out the feature. It is effective. 

MT gave me an iPad Pro along with a magic keyboard. I couldn't believe it! Last year I mentioned that it would be fun to have an iPad, but we talked ourselves out of it. I guess since we didn't go anywhere or do anything this year, he felt like it would be a fun gift. I'm quite excited about it and a little overwhelmed. That feeling will surely pass quickly, but for now I don't exactly know what I'll use it for. Like I said, though, I'll probably figure out dozens of uses for it in the months to come.

It was a mellow day at our house. T had to work from 1:00 to about 7:30. I put stuff away, spent time setting up my phone with Apple Support, then made our dinner. The menu: rib eye steak, Caesar salad, and lobster mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was a thing of beauty and a divine taste sensation. So cheesy! So creamy! The recipe made a giant pan. We'll be eating mac and cheese for a few days, and none of us are sad about that. Here's a pic:

I didn't really use lobster. I used langostino which is more like a crab, but I didn't hear any complaints. MT called it baby lobster or fish balls. T just ate them and smiled the whole time. The meat is sweet, tender and still a little firm. Delicious. Everything tastes good when it's smothered with cheese and cream, amiright?

The day after Christmas is such a letdown. You have all this anticipation for Christmas: the gifts, the food, hanging out with family, and then BOUF! it's over. When I took Mac out for a walk this morning, we passed Henry the St. Bernard and his humans and all the humans felt the post-Christmas let-down. Well, at least I have another week of hanging out at home. I've got two books to finish by Thursday to reach my reading goal this year. It'll be close, but I feel like I can do it, that is, if I'm not too distracted by my new Apple toys. 

Enjoy the weekend! More words on Monday!

#2471 Christmas decorations, Christmas movies, Christmas music, Christmas cards...Christmas

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it is officially Christmas season and I'm here for it!

While I was cooking today I listened to some music. It was fun when Christmas songs came on. I wasn't listening to a Christmas-specific playlist; I think the playlist was called Joy. It was a good one! I like Christmas music. 

One of the songs, Last Christmas, reminded me of a movie that came out last year of the same name. I haven't seen the movie, but I added it to my watch list for the weekend. I actually watched the last hour of one of my most favorite movies, The Holiday. I like Christmas movies. 

When I took Mac for a walk around the neighborhood tonight, I was delighted by the decorated houses. Many houses had their Christmas trees up. There are quite a few houses with outdoor decorations. I got some ideas for my own porch while we strolled. I like to put out our Christmas decorations, but this year I am a little wary because my dog is a savage. I don't know if we'll put up our regular tree. I'm going to look for an alternative tomorrow. I like Christmas decorations.

Tomorrow I'm going to write Christmas cards to my family and friends. I love to send out Christmas cards. Taking a few minutes to think about my loved ones while I write their names on a card feels special to me, and I do cherish the ritual of writing the cards.

Tonight I am thankful for the joy of the Christmas season. I hope you all feel it too. 

#2305 that day-after-Christmas feeling

We drove back from Idaho last night and when we got home we had a second Christmas, or at least a second round of opening gifts! There was limited space in the car, so we left some of our gifts to each other and the box from my mom and sister here to open when we got home. T was happy because he had lots more packages to open.

There was also a wee Christmas miracle: Osi laid down on the dog bed I'd bought for her. We've had it for a few days and I'd never seen her lay on it until last night. She calmly walked through the bags, wrapping paper, and boxes, got on the bed, turned in a circle and promptly fell asleep. She was there all night, too. I had to wake her up this morning to get her to go outside.

My alarm went off so early this morning! I had to go to work, you see, and it was tough. There were eleven of us in the building and we all had about enough work to get us through half the day. I decided to send everyone home at 2:00. Actually, nine of us went home at 2:00. Two of the people were ill and left at noon.  We'll try again tomorrow.Yeah, we could have had the days off, but none of us wanted to use vacation. It's all good.

When I got home this afternoon I cleaned up my room. I had laundry to fold and put away and lovely, wonderful gifts to admire again and find space for. I got some fun things. MT gave me a bunch of nail polish. What's funny about it is that although I really love nail polish, I rarely have polish on my fingernails. I find I don't sit still long enough for it to dry and look nice.I find great pleasure in having a box full of pretty polishes though. MT also got me a Donovan Mitchell jersey. Mitchell plays for my beloved Jazz, of course. I've never had a jersey before, so I was surprised and delighted. It is certainly something I wouldn't have bought for myself, which makes it extra cool. The bummer is that it is a ladies slim fit size and I'm not exactly slim. When I tried it on, it sort of felt like a sausage. I'll return it for a larger size. If I had been thinking, I would have taken it to the Fanzz store this afternoon so I could wear it to the game tonight. But I didn't. It's okay. There will be time.

T gave me his traditional nutcracker. He's been giving me a nutcracker every year since he was four years old. Yeah, I have 17 of them and I love them all. This year I didn't put them all out on display because truthfully I didn't have the space. I think I've got a dozen of them scattered around. What makes them extra awesome is that for the past few years, T has put forth the effort to go to the store and get it himself.

Mom and Lizzie were kind and generous and thoughtful with their gifts, as always. It really was a wonderful Christmas!

The fun continues tonight as we got tickets to the Jazz game, as I mentioned, from work! An extra cool thing is that I was able to get four tickets, so one of T's friends is coming with us. The game has a late 8:30 start. That's kinda hard considering I'm still tired from my late night yesterday, but I will persevere. Go Jazz!

First though, the final discussion of the book The Haunting of Hill House for #EkpesBookClub. Oof, I did not like this book. One of the guys in the club recommended it. I've come to the conclusion that even though I like the fellow who suggested it, he and I have very different tastes in books. I didn't care for another book that he suggested either. I wonder what we'll read next. Ekpe usually will pick something pretty quickly after we finish a book. He is now playing and traveling around China, though, so maybe he'll want to take a break. I'll find out soon!

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year. I've already got a big ol' list of resolutions :) I'll be doing one of my favorite new year traditions over the next week as I unravel 2019 and dream about 2020.

#2304 from me to you

#2303 Christmas Eve

My darling dog paced the length of the hotel room all night yesterday, making sleep a difficult proposition. I got up to take her out at 10:30, 2:30, and 5:30.  I gave her CBD oil to try to get her to calm down, but it didn't work. . I managed to get her up on the bed for a couple of hours and that was the best stretch of sleep I had. The good news is that she is walking just fine.

Because of all that up and down all night, I have felt a bit out of sorts today. The three of us (MT, T and I) went out for breakfast, then we came up to Linda's house for awhile. We left Osi here and the three of us went to see the new Jumanji movie. I wanted something funny and easy and popcorn-worthy and it ticked all those boxes. I was entertained, and so were MT and T.

After the movie we came back to Linda's house. T and I both took a nap. T's nap was much longer than my nap. Linda made a couple of soups: chili and corn chowder. Tracy made a yummy salad and there was big old shrimp too. There were eight of us hanging out tonight. It was a nice mellow evening with nice food and family.

I've been reading a book, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. I don't love it. The scary parts are good, but all the rest is a slog for me.  It is a book club selection and our final discussion on the book is Thursday. I've got about 70 pages to go.

I'm hopeful that I'll be able to get some sleep tonight, but I have my doubts. Osi is having epileptic twitches, not seizures, but she's clearly uncomfortable. I wish I could turn off my "dog mom" hearing and just sleep through, but I can't.

Tomorrow will be a big fun day.  I think Linda is expecting 20 people for dinner tomorrow. The Christmas meal is more of a buffet style than a sit-down meal, so it's casual and fun. Since I have to work on Thursday, we'll be leaving tomorrow evening.

Have a good night! Sweet dreams! Hope Santa leaves lots of good toys at your house!