Look, we have a banister! 

Simply haaaaavving a wonderful Christmas Time!

Okay, so I have to go to work for three days after Christmas and before New Year's, but the office is quiet, and I don't feel overwhelmed with work, which is always a good thing.

Christmas in our little household was just marvelous.

The kitties had a blast playing with the stockings, wrapped presents, ribbons, each other. Claudia and Marley chased each other around, before settling in for a long winter's nap in the living room with us as we opened presents. I think Marley even snored!

We all got just the perfect gifts.

Daddy found me a great "car kit for girls" that has jumper cables, gloves, a tire pressure gauge, rags, and lots of other nifty, helpful items. It even matches my car- gray and blue :).

Mommy discovered the perfect jammies - for those of you who got the Christmas card with the kitty on it - it's that same pattern! I now have Marley jammies!!

Mommy also discovered her creative side, and that pink jewelry box full of love will look perfect in my room.

Mommy cried over Pete's Dragon. Daddy started to tell the story of how Miles Davis started his first band after he opened up his very own record album version of "The Birth of the cool."

It was just "wunnerful."

JJ loves her new leash. Bailey ate some goodies. Timmy is already cashing in on his "trips inside."

I hope that you and yours had as fabulous a Christmas as we did!!

p.s. Ocean's 12 and Meet the Fockers were quite enjoyable, thank you very much! :)

Ahhhh...my little Tinka now has over 200 miles on her! That's what I get for driving!!

Oh well, she went over a hundred on a visit to Miss Irenie, and that is SOOO much better than just quietly moving over that milestone on the way to work.

Can I just say that I have never had a car with less than 50,000 miles on it? I'm not complaining, of course. Cami the Camry and Tori the Taurus were both lovely and wonderful cars, and I had them each for over four years. They did their job...Cami took what must have been a dozen AOII's up from a volunteer event below Shattuck aaaallllll the way back up to the house. Thank goodness for station wagons! Tori took me to and from L.A. and contributed to the multi-hour Berkeley commutes - Tori was also the family car before she passed on to me to make room for Moses, my dad's Altima (who has since been replaced by Miles, the Ford Explorer)

All that said, wow, what a feeling! I never thought that I'd be able to afford a brand spanking new car at this point in my life, but I was, and I'm so grateful to my parents for letting me remain at our humble abode and for getting me through Cal so that I'd have the brains to hold on to a decent job :). Also, they taught me AWESOME haggling skills. So, I thank you.

Now, who wants to go for a ride?

Bye bye Torie the Taurus....

Hello Tinka!

Okay.

Take a breath.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Do not panic.

Buying a car may be necessary, but it is not cause for alarm.

Quite simply, when the repairs are more than the car is worth, it's time for a new car! Who has $1,000 lying around every othe week? Not me! $300 a month? Sure! I'll pay for a car...but 2 grand on a regular basis to fix a dying vehicle. No. Not a good idea.

So sorry for the delay in posting. Blogger must have been doing some upgrades, because I haven't been able to get on in two days.

Okay, so Wednesday was okay. Yes, okay. I shall use that word a lot. It wasn't horrible. It was okay. There was nothing wrong with the guy - and I have his e-mail should anyone else be interested in contacting him (although then I'd feel like a pimp, so never mind), but he's not right for me. Actually, that's a lot better than I can say about some of my past dating experiences. So, all things considered, okay is great!

After this experience, though, I think I finally have it through my thick, thick, can't wear one-size-fits-all hats, stubborn head, that I have to "let go and let God." This helping myself mess hasn't seemed to work. I truly believe that there is someone out there right now for whom God is preparing me and whom God is preparing for me. That's what I believe. This time for real. I promise. You can all smack me upside the head if I try to do or say otherwise.

Thank you.

Surprise! 

Vroom Vroom 

Chocolate and the City 

I promise to TRY to put the pictures from Saturday on the next blog. I promise. I promise. I promise. - Hey, I did it! Look above! The program, "Hello!" seems to work :).

Thank you ALL for a lovely evening of talking, laughing, eating, and laughing some more. I'm still all warm and fuzzy inside :)

Ghirardelli Square was the perfect place to meet, even if it did mean forming some slightly hysterical memories of San Francisco Driving Adventures.

Something for folks to keep in mind:

1) Pine Street is ONE way
a) Do not take directions from people who do not EVER drive in San Francisco. I love you, Jessica, but from now on, we trust Yahoo Maps!

2) Market and Mission are not friendly to turning vehicles.

3) Two door vehicles are not ideal when having to pick friends up at street corners..

4) Embarcadero will get you there...eventually :)

5) Ice cream sundaes make everything okay!

Hurray for birthdays! Hurray for friends! Now...onto the holidays!

p.s. yes, I promise, on Wednesday, I will give you all an update on "things."

p.p.s. Thank you, Mama, for bringing me back from the brink - you're good at things like that!

A much better day today with many questions asked, some answered and some just put aside for now. Patience is key in this kind of delicate situation :)

Just another place to announce:

My celebration has moved to Ghiradelli in SF at 7:45! :) Looking forward to partaking of an earthquake...mmmm....