It's still Christmas...

I got this sweater: We gave a young boy a tongue in cheek bib...

And had some Christmas ham. Presents were exchanged in a wild,anarchic fashion... Then we went in the hot tub, which I'm hoping turns into a Lavezzi holiday tradition! Now I'm blogging and Gabe and Mia, my sis-in-law, are playing Call of Duty, while my father-in-law looks on.

Leading up to today, I have been sad about not being with my gal pals at any time this season. But today was such a whirlwind I didn't really have time to be sad. Yay, Christmas. I hope your day was as good and peaceful as mine.

Apples and Things

Gabe and I had some people over on Friday and it was way fun. We played Apples to Apples and just sat around and chatted and it was very cool. I can't wait to do it again! But that's not surprising. If I like it, why not have more as soon as I possibly can?

So I'm going to invite people over again on Saturday, if it's not too soon for every one. Hopefully my sister-in-law will be here and we can get her to play too. The more the merrier and all that. It's so nice to be making friends in this area.

Now, not that I'm dying to get away from the AA people here, but there's something to be said about just sitting around, playing a game and being with people who would normally mix. Unfortunately most of the AA's I've bonded with in Atascadero are more religious than me. And I'm sure that is on my mind more than it is on theirs, but I feel a little uncomfortable around it sometimes. I'm working on that.

On a sad note, my boss is planning a move to Utah in the next few months. That's too bad because I think she's really cool, and we work really well together. So hopefully the new supervisor will live up to my expectations or I will have to ask for a transfer, or quit. Neither of which I'd like! Here's a picture of my awesome boss, from Halloween time:

We are just about always having as much fun as she is in that picture.

Gabe totally supports my feelings about the Starbucks situation, which is nice. He gets that this job is a happy thing for me, and I have just come from a situation where going to work felt like a chore and made me really unhappy. So I know he's got my back and we'd work something else out if this whole coffee thing fell through.

I have a friend who just moved to Montreal for work (from Burbank OMG culture shock much?) and she sends these amazing emails detailing her experiences there. I wish she'd get a camera and send some pictures out, and that she'd get a blog so I could turn you guys on to her story. It's really way more interesting than mine, that's for sure!


That's right Jackie! I'm calling you out in front of the whole blogosphere. Ha!



And, finally, here's a picture of me and some of my co-worker wishing every one a happy holiday season.

Winter-y things

It's been cold here. "Duh," my husband says. "It's December," he says. Well, okay but I still have never woken up to this before:

That's frost. On my lawn. It's probably on my lawn a lot, but I leave before there's light to see it by. I keep telling Gabe how cold it is, which explains his response (see above). What else do you say after the 50th time some one remarks about how cold it is?

I can't help it, when I go outside my brain refuses to function except to mention that, Wow, it's cold. And then it just pops out of my mouth to whomever is closest. Sometimes it's just me, and then I say it to myself.

Gabe and I hung Christmas lights in our front hall. They look really great there. I'm going to see how long he'll let me keep them up. Probably at least til the new year.

Merry Merry

I took some pictures from my balcony during sunset that I thought were pretty cool. The path of the sun is very noticeable from my living room, we have been able to observe how the earth's tilt affects the way the sun moves across our sky. Right now the sun is setting behind the trees in our front lawn, as opposed to all summer where it sank into the north.

Also, in news more exciting than the sunset: we got a Christmas tree! Woo hoo. We decided to pick two colors and went with blue and gold. It wasn't until I was done shopping for ornaments that I remembered -yes- those are the Rams' colors. I don't know why I didn't realize that before... but any ways I think our tree is beautiful. And seeing as I haven't had a tree in years, I am really stoked. We decorated it together which was very sweet. There are presents under it and everything. Plus it twinkles in a very merry way.

Good Morning!

Getting more and more excited for Christmas, although I am trying to soak it all in. It's not necessarily the day of the 25th that's so exciting as much as the whole spirit of Christmas that (hopefully) hangs around for the days leading up to it. In that light, I am listening to Christmas music that I adore, and wearing little Christmas earrings to work every day.

My shopping is almost done so I'm not all stressed out about that. I usually do pretty good in that area. This year for Gabe I got him a couple small things I think he needs/will like and I'm leaving it at that. It's so hard because the past couple of years I've been trying to top myself over and over, but I'm just setting the bar too high. It's supposed to be the thought that counts.

Speaking of all this Christmas cheer, I got my feelings hurt for the first time at work yesterday. A woman came in and was SO. RUDE. Usually I just laugh it off later but for some reason she did it the right way- making me feel like a piece of trash. I hope that it relieved some pressure off of her, whatever was bugging her yesterday. Really, I was shocked at how awful I felt, so I hope that it helped her out in some way. Otherwise it was just wasted meanness!

My mom's boyfriend is in town, he got a job at the power plant (he's an electrician). I guess it pays pretty well and stuff, but I'm hoping this is just the first in a string of things that gets them to move up here. I would like my mom close. And if she could get my brother to come with her, that would be the COOLEST.

Well that's all for now, I'll try and keep you posted on our holidays this year. I hope you're enjoying the spirit of Christmas where ever you are!