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What a holiday-filled week it’s been! Rick and I went shopping for our Thanksgiving dinner supplies on Monday. He allowed me to take this picture of him in a Santa hat:

(I also have a picture of him in a leprechaun hat from St. Patrick’s day a few years ago. Am thinking of collecting pictures of Rick in strange hats.)

For Thanksgiving dinner, I planned to cook the turkey, stuffing and gravy from scratch and go with pre-prepared for rolls, mashed potatoes (the frozen ones from TJ’s are pretty good), sweet potatoes (microwave-in-bag), creamed corn, cranberry sauce (again, thank you TJ’s), pumpkin pie and whipped cream. The stuffing started out promising. Fresh marjoram, thyme and sage with minced and sauteed onions and celery. Sandwhich bread cut into 1/2-inch cubes and toasted in the oven. I put it in a casserole dish to bak during the last hour of turkey-cooking time. But the turkey took an extra hour to cook and I had beer and a headache and … it ended up burned. D’oh!

The gravy, which was to be made from drippings that cooked in the bottom of the pan with coarsely-chopping onions, celery and carrots, turned out fine. Even though I burned the veggies by not adding enough chicken broth in the first hour. While I napped on the couch, overwhelmed by all the burning, Rick supervised the last hour of turkey-cooking and turned out a juicy, well-roasted bird. Thank goodness. And then I burned the rolls in the toaster oven. Double d’oh!

Not too bad for a first on-our-own Thanksgiving, though. I had back-up stuffing in a box in the cupboard. And there were still rolls left over that I have managed to not-burn everytime we have leftovers.

I used the rest of the weekend to start on Christmas. Rick helped me put up LED Christmas lights from Costco:

View the rest of my Holidays 2008 pictures here.

And, I also got the jump on addressing and signing all my Christmas cards. Only have to get a few more Christmas presents and I can relax and enjoy the season. Woohoo!

After my amazing Hawaii vacation and catching the flu, I spent this weekend putting my ducks in a row and getting back into the swing of things. I unpacked, did massive amounts of laundry, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the living room and gave Pixel a bath. Rick and I spent time together, catching up on TV and getting breakfast at the local golf course clubhouse.

Now I’m working on catching up on mail that piled up during my vacation and organizing all my projects and tasks. That would have seemed overwhelming just a couple weeks ago but I’m finding that vacation was a much-needed rest for my brain and body. I have a lot of work to do but I’m not freaking out about it anymore, no longer paralyzed at the thought of everything I have to do. All in all, I’m feeling confident and fairly serene.

Of course, we’ll see how well I’ll be able to hold on to that feeling in the coming days

2007 has been such a great year. I accomplished projects that seemed insurmountable at their beginning and life has definitely changed for the better.

A year ago saw Rick and me standing in Mom’s driveway, surrounded by a massive pile of junk and frantically calling Cathy for advice on how to deal with it. Cathy very kindly came over to help direct Operation Empty-the-Garage. A few weekends later the 10′x10′x20′ garage that had been packed to the ceiling was almost completely empty. The rest of the house and yard followed suit over the next few months.

Finally, the house and practice were listed for sale. And I was finally able to start moving my life to the Central Coast, where Rick had moved a year ago. The apartment search took longer than I thought but I found a charming loft in Los Osos and moved in in August. I left my in-house designer position at j2 Global to pursue a freelance career. I got rid of that piece-of-junk VW Jetta and picked up my super-reliable Honda Fit. Pixel is healthy and happy to be away from the day-to-day awfulness that is Hollywood. We both enjoy our visits to LA, though. (Pixel and Murphy are now good buddies and the Fit’s up to 11,000 miles already!)

Now to plan  2008. What seemingly-insurmountable goals will I complete this year? I still have about 10 hours to figure that out…

Happy New Year, everybody!

More pictures of Tina and Joey’s visit on Flickr

A couple of friends from my old job came to visit a few weekends back. Tina and Joey showed up with bags from Trader Joe’s in tow. Best house guests ever! Although Pixel started out being very unfriendly he soon warmed up and was soon following the guests wherever they went, hoping for more peanut butter treats.

Rick and I took Tina and Joey for some light hiking in Montaña de Oro state park Saturday morning. In the afternoon we visited Tobin James, Eberle and Frank Ross out on the 46E for some wine tasting. Sunday morning we went for breakfast at the golf course clubhouse and then they were back to LA. We all had a fabulous time!

(You can check out pictures from that weekend by clicking the photo above.)

Finally, something to hide the yucky stains left on the carpet by the previous tenant. I was so lucky that it fit in to my color scheme!

Pixel and I had our first class at Petsmart’s Beginner training today. Since we missed the first session we had a half-hour one-on-one session with Nicole, our trainer, before the regular class. We talked about Pixel’s peculiarities (fearful, nervous, territorial) and I learned the Look-at-me command to get his attention.

Then, in the general class, we learned Sit and Loose-leash-walking — where you walk with the dog and then suddenly change direction any time he tries to get ahead of you. I was dizzy from all the spinning in the first five minutes but by the end of it he seemed to be getting the idea.

Pixel had a belly full of treats and needed a major nap by the end of it all. I feel pretty confident that we can learn some valuable things by the end of this 8-week course. And you can’t beat the price tag (only $109).

My friend, Jon, from Pasadena was traveling to visit his sister in Santa Cruz and stopped at my place last Thursday in time for dinner with me and Rick.

Trader Joe’s to the rescue! We had veggie samosas as an appetizer while I cooked up some chicken (for us omnivores) and cauliflower (for Jon, the vegetarian) with Marsala simmer sauce for a tasty Indian treat. Brown rice bowls, steamed broccoli and toasty Naan rounded out the menu for the night. And for dessert there was Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. (Tip: TJ’s sells Ben and Jerry’s by the QUART.)

We watched Survivor and then some Jon Stewart on the TiVo and then I made up the futon for Jon. (He said the innerspring mattress was quite comfy in case anyone else is interested in visiting…) Coffee in the morning and he was on his way up the coast.

Pixel did not like this visitor at all at first but by morning they were buddies. All in all, a fun little visit. I look forward to getting more LA peeps up here

• Along with a slight disc problem between Pixel’s thoracic and lumbar spine, x-rays have found a calcium deposit on his cervical spine (sound familiar?) that is causing the majority of his pain. Rest (no running, jumping or stairs), NSAIDs and a halter instead of collar were prescribed.
• The massive flea infestation in my bedroom left behind by the previous tenant (and her three cats) is successfully being treated by my landlord’s hired exterminator. (Thank you, Landlord!)
• Have purchased an excellent vacuum (Sears Kenmore Progressive Bagless Upright with Intelli-Clean system) to help combat the fleas. Seems to be working so far.
• DirecTV is scheduled for Sunday. Hopefully will have the NFL Sunday Ticket fully functional for next weekend’s games.
• Also am on the lookout for a nice used TV on SLO’s craigslist. Football will be no fun viewed on my 12″ screen from 1986.
• Will be in LA this week to finish emptying Mom’s house (escrow closes soon, yay!).
• Picked up a used washer and dryer from craigslist for $350. $100 for delivery and another $30 for hoses and things. (I installed it myself!) After drying 3 loads the dryer’s not heating up anymore. Service appointment scheduled for Friday. Am hoping it’s not more than $200 to fix or else I’ll feel like an idiot for not buying new.
• Car broke down AGAIN a week ago. Got it fixed (thank god I bought that extended warranty) but then the engine light came on again the next day. Am ready to take a sledgehammer to the damn thing. Will probably trade it in for Honda Fit instead. Once I get the engine light off.