"found amongst a herd of dust bunnies"

Look there folks, another pistachio sighting! Josh found this one in the spray paint section at Lowe's.

Because lists are easier.

On my holiday vacation I...

Ate plenty of Mexican food, both at restaurants and at home.

Finished all of my Christmas shopping.

Made fudge and helped my mom make biscochitos (cookies) and rolls.

Watched a ton of "That 70s Show" with Ryan.

Pet Jackson the dog.

Walked up and down Canyon Road on Christmas Eve with my dad to see the farolitos, luminarias, and carolers. It was freezing, but we stayed bundled up. And we didn't fall on the ice or slushy snow.

Ate scones on Christmas morning. I love scones.

Visited with all of my dad's side of the family on Christmas day. We enjoyed a delicious meal, hung out, and played games.

Watched all seven episodes of the HBO miniseries "John Adams." Also watched all of the bonus material.

Walked around downtown in 22 degree weather.

Saw Maureen McGovern in concert.

Co-substitute taught with Ryan for the youth Sunday school class at church.

Got a cold.

Received wonderful new slippers for Christmas from my parents, which I am currently wearing.

hittin' the slopes

I flew home to Santa Fe on Saturday for the holidays, and today my brother Ryan took me skiing! (I skied, he snow-boarded.) I haven't been skiing in many many years. In the fifth and sixth grades they offered a program at school for students to go skiing and have lessons four times a year, and I did that. I really enjoyed it, but I didn't enjoy the green hand-me-down snow pants I had to wear. They totally clashed with my purple jacket and black and hot pink gloves. Of course those black and hot pink gloves didn't really go with my lime green jacket this time either, but I've gotten a little better at not worrying about such things.

I was nervous about skiing again, but luckily on our first ride up the chairlift I sat next to a ski patrol man, and I asked him to give me a crash course to refresh my memory. He kindly obliged. He said as much as he could and hollered "good luck!" as I headed down the mountain. It was pretty scary. It was especially scary because Ryan tried to make me go down medium slopes first thing, but I refused and yelled at him and headed down the easy slope on my own. By the end of our day, however, I went down a few mediums. And I only fell three times.


Me after I'd finally steadied myself while Ryan got his boots ready.


Takin' a break.


Bonding on the chairlift.

mascota muerta

Today I received a letter in the mail from my little ten-year-old friend in Honduras named Javier. The letter is in Spanish but includes a typed translation at the bottom. The translation isn't stellar, but I'm going to share it with you anyway, because it's too good not to.

After the "dear [Me!]" and date, it reads:

"A blessing pours you lots of blessings. We are happy that you and your family are well. I have a [the translator missed a word -mascota-] that called Scooby and our cat died he got electrocuted on cable on the roof of the house, and we went to throw it because it smelled bad, but thanks God we bought another one and we named it Peluche. It is very playful in my younger sister was very happy with the cat when she played with it. My mom took the cat away from her because it made her sneeze and developed an allergy. She was taken to the doctor and she got an ointment so she could heal. She used it, then the itching and the blisters removed. After this she wasn't given the cat again because she could get her allergy again. How are you and your family? What kind of animals do you have there? Do you have a car?"

The end. He drew a nice picture on the back of a house and a Christmas tree with an elf and sled in the front yard and the word "Felicida" at the top, complete with gold glitter.

The problem with street parking...

...is that in a torrential rain, LIKE THE ONE HAPPENING OUTSIDE, you have to wade through a river to get from your car onto the sidewalk. And if it's dark, LIKE IT ALSO IS OUTSIDE, you won't see the huge puddles on the sidewalk either.

consolation prize

Today I won a brand new iPod nano. (Which, by the way, must not be super brand new because it's the short fat kind and I didn't even realize those are out of date.) There was a drawing at work for the seventeen of us who completed a professional development program about web 2.0, and my name was drawn. You might think this means I have excellent luck, but the iPod doesn't really compare to the depressingly unlucky news I received yesterday.

this and that

I'm sorry I'm slacking on my blogging lately. I just don't seem to have much to say, or I'm too lazy to say it. Instead I'll leave a short list of random things.

1. I'm making another mosaic. It's fun. I hope it comes out okay. I'll post a picture in January (after I give it away as a Christmas present). I have also cut myself twice so far and drawn blood on my finger due to tiny glass shards.

2. The other day I came home and there was a package sitting in the hall. I looked at the label to see if it was for me but alas, it was not. However, it did say "Pistachio"-something-or-other on the return label!

3. I'm interested in the concepts of Advent Conspiracy. I'd read about it online and then I learned the church I sort-of-usually attend is using it as its advent series. I was disappointed in today's sermon though because of a lack of practical how-to ideas.

4. Speaking of advent, I'm still not quite in the holiday spirit. Maybe that's because I don't have any decorations in my apartment and I have barely started my Christmas shopping. (Notice how #4 is sort of the opposite of what I want out of #3. Ugh.)

5. This weekend Josh visited and we walked to the Commercial Taphouse and had dinner at Akida. I hadn't been to those places in a long time and I was super excited to go because having them close by (walkable even!) was one of the perks I looked forward to by moving to his neighborhood. They did not disappoint.