Another Christmas Song

“Another Christmas Song” by Steven Colbert

Greetings all! I am tardy, as usual, but, what else is new? You all know my feelings on “catch up” entries, but it seems to be all I write! I’m actually processing this entry in word because I’m on a flight to Seattle with no wifi. Ahh, the luxuries we adjust to!

Needless to say, my time at home and in the DC were well spent and immensely enjoyed. The trip started out with my mildly amusing run through JFK and only got better. I left Syracuse that afternoon and Mom and I enjoyed our ride home in balmy 19 F weather. Needless to say, I was a popsicle. I snapped this with my blackberry on the ride home.



Balmy, no?
The days before Christmas were spent shopping, baking, cooking, layering my clothes, visiting, and being a PY barfly with some old friends. Owing to the time change from PST to EST, I was easily able to be a terrible night owl. I was alert until 2 am every night! This is both expected and humorously ironic considering that I literally have to prop my eyes open to stay up past 1030 pm! 4 am used to be a regular event for me, but evidently I’m becoming an old woman.

Christmas Eve…Mom and I spent the day prepping for Christmas day. In the evening, we went up to my cousin Miranda and Gavin’s house to visit for a while. My mom ended up teaching Miranda, and me, how to make a roux to make macaroni and cheese. I make MEAN mac and cheese, but I do so by layering! I don’t make mac and cheese too terribly often anymore, but I am now going to quest for great tasting roux based mac and cheese that is high protein, lower carb, and with a reasonable amount of fat. Watching my Mom cook was always one of my underground favorites, and I learned most of my basics from her, especially with regard to baking. Did you know the North family owned and ran a real bagel shop? I learned a great deal while making bagels with the family! After we left Miranda’s, we went to church with the Folts family at the Bluff Point Methodist Church, where my Mom and her siblings went as young children. I’m not methodist, maybe not even Christian, so, most of the service was lost on me, but it as nice to be with my mom and extended family at an event steeped in tradition and love. We ended up partying with the Folts clan for a while (we took short ribs…we North’s make MEAN shortribs, too! Which sadly, those of us that have been surgically altered (2/3) cannot enjoy!) and I returned home to wrapping and then sleeping…waiting for Santa! Here we are on Christmas eve, at Miranda’s!



Christmas day was very nice. My mom, dad, and I got up and ate our traditional breakfast….sausage gravy over English muffins. It is FREAKING AMAZING. We opened presents! Santa was good to me! He brought me a Wii and Wii fit, some gift cards to buy CLOTHES THAT FIT!, a heart rate monitor, some slippers, and a very cute and monogrammed purple suitcase. I seriously love my purple suitcase…it’s perfect! Do you think I could smuggle one of these dogs back to California in it? ☺ My mom's cat, Holly, loved me too! She would definitely fit in the suitcase!







I haven’t tried out the Wii, but I will let you all know it is! Christmas afternoon, the Spence family came over for abundant food and cheer. It is always nice to catch up with them, and due to geography, it doesn’t happen frequently enough! I snapped a photo of my beautiful dessert table, which was plentiful! Luckily, it was plentiful enough for me to share with the Robideau’s! ☺



Christmas was very nice. My paternal grandparents and uncle, who normally join us, were unable to join us, and their presence was definitely missed! We certainly had enough food to give them…but they were celebrating in Florida with my Dad’s sister. Christmas day menu did not include a sit down mean, only grazing. Mom and I made stuffed mushrooms, ribs, fruit breads, shrimp, ….I can’t even remember! I wasn’t feeling great on Christmas eve or Christmas day, so I did not do a whole lot of eating. And when I did eat, it was chocolate based! In any case, it was a day filled with fun, food, and alcohol (Fox Run 2007 Cab Franc-Lemberger, if you were wondering). At the end of the day, the dogs looked like this…and the humans weren’t too far behind!


In the days following the holiday, I went shopping with my cousin Miranda and met me Aunt Vick (her mom) and her brothers for breakfast. Aren’t we cute?



Miranda and I are good shoppers…and we got lots of bargains! I also did a little mini wine tour on Seneca Lake, which, as it happens, terminated in a great brew pub in Watkins Glen, (insert name), with Brett and Travis. I do like beer, and would like to make some of my own sometime. The night ended up in Lloyds, one of PYs watering holes, wth some additional friends and catching up. Here’s Trav keeping it classy….because Lloyds wouldn’t allow us to pay a cork charge and drink the 2007 Merlot from Fox Run. (Which was hands down one of the best wines I have had in a long time….this is especially funny if any of you know my usual feelings on merlot!)


On the 30th, I hopped on a plane to Washington, DC, to visit that area. I stayed in Frederick with my BFF Jen for most of the time, but satellite visits were abundant to visit other loved ones in the area. This entry is lengthy, so I’m going to quickly give you a few photo highlights:

Here is the Dom and Red Baron I cooked up:-) Happy New Year!



And here is my delayed flight board at Dulles. There were gale force winds that forced them to only run one runway. This resulted in my reasonable getting back to Livermore time of 1030pm being totally blown out of the water for the actual time of 0100. C’est la vie.



I’m hoping to get a few visits in this winter (San Diego, Seattle, maybe DC if someone sends me a flight deal), learning to ride my bike, run the Chinese New Year 5k, read more books for leisure, take classes at my gym (Zumba, Tai Chi, Yoga), do well at school, among assorted other things I cannot mention in a public forum! For those of you keeping tabs, I’m down 125 lbs. I’m charging forward!

Currently on a flight to Seattle to celebrate Anna Banana’s birthday, along with her havenese Pow and Oscar! So far the plan includes hot yoga, dinner at her favorite restaurant, and nothing else. I’m excited to try hot yoga…I might not make it.

Miss you guys! Happy New Year!

Cheers
Catrina


PS- I don’t know if any of you read about JR, but I saw she and her amazing family twice over my vacation and she is doing leaps better. She is a lucky girl. I am still thinking of her and praying for her, just she has a lot of people cheering for her, and she knows it. Her mom said she should be released next week, hopefully. Love you, JR!

California Girls

"California Girls" by The Beach Boys


Shalom all, greetings!

Actually, right now, I'm sitting in my Mom's office while she has a meeting. Yes, I am in Syracuse, NY!! Rockin'! She won't let me go visit JR with her car *ahem*, so, I'm doing a bit of homework. See?



I look pretty sloppy, like I haven't slept in 24+ and she's introducing me to all of her coworkers. I'm sure that's a great first impression! ;-)

So, yep, took off from Oakland last night around 11:15 pm PST. Was originally going to spend a few days in NYC with Alison, but I decided just to come home direct from NY. the flight from OAK was delayed....so I ended up literally sprinting to JFK to get to my connecting flight with all of my luggage. I was late and overweight (what else is new lol) with my bag, so I had to pay the guy off in wine at the ticketing counter. It worked like a charm, my bag was first off in Syracuse. As far as plans while I am in Penn Yan? I PLAN ON SEEING ALL OF YOU! And trying to stay warm (it was 3 F this AM. THREE. That's all.)

A good friend of mine, JR (she's standing next to me in Gilroy), was in a pretty serious car wreck last week. I planned on seeing her anyway, but I will definitely be seeing her more than once now! For any of you on facebook, you can check this out. I have been thinking of JR and her family a lot this week, and praying! I'm pretty sure the lord is probably sick of hearing me say "Please help JR get better...ya gotta!" I think things are going fairly well (knock on wood), but I will continue to pray and try to get up to Roch to see JR ASAP! She's my girl and one of my favorites. She's one of those rare people that has so much joie de vive that it just spills over on you and makes you happy as well. She, and her family, are fantastic to be around!

Other than visiting JR and Christmas, I have no specific plans. So, get at me! I wanna do some drinking and some socializing...and I want to stay out of this cold!!! Maybe I am turning into a California girl after all...at least with respect to the weather!

Cheers!

Editorial Rant: The Holidays

I'm considered, by some I know, to be a scrooge. I don't want to hear Christmas music before December 20th. I don't think decorating my apartment, where I won't spend the holiday, is needed. I don't have anything plastic and large and Santa or Rudolph looking. Christmas carols in November? Vomit. Walmarts holiday section? Looks like Santa's puke. I am just NOT into the shiny plastic parts of Christmas. If you are, I'm glad for you. If everyone in the world were like me, they would never play "Baby It's Cold Outside" on the radio or no one would decorate their houses.

But I am NOT a Scrooge. What I like to excel at is gift giving and trying to go out of my way to do nice things for people. I love picking out thoughtful and useful gifts for people. I like to make their lives richer and more pleasant or help them out by making things easier. As many of you know, I have many many people that I love and care about, and I try to tell them as frequently as possible, not just during the holidays. I try to be good to people and care about them and give love willing and often. That's what the season is all about, for me. It's an opportunity to cherish your loved ones and show them how much you care (and pay a TON for airline travel! woohoo!).

Part of "being good to people" is being good to ALL people. This is sometimes a challenge for me...I don't know many people who it is NOT a challenge for. But what bothers me most about the holidays...here it is...is how SURLY and MEAN people get. I was walking in Walmart yesterday and every other person I passed was scowling. A deep scowl. The CHRISTMAS scowl. It was the same way at the mall. And at Old Navy. Lots of Christmas scowling. I get it. There's extra stress. You have 10 million extra things to do. You have family around or coming that you may or may not care for. Sometimes the holidays SUCK.

But, is that any reason to take it out on those around you...specifically store clerks? For example, I went to the store the night before Thanksgiving Eve day to get fruit for the fruit salad. I was chilling in the canned foods isle, looking for canned pineapple. There was a man who worked for Safeway trying to help a woman. Their exchange went something like this:
Man: how can I help you?
Woman: I need some of that stuff. For dinner. You know? It comes in the turkey...you add water....don't you know what I'm talking about?
Man: What sort of stuff, ma'am? (She was a ma'am, trust me.)
Woman: You know, it has celery, and onions, and bread crumbs, and spices...
Man: Oh, stuffing. Well, if you want to make it, the onion and celery are over in produce, and right here--
Woman: *up in this dude's face* Did you not hear me? Are you stupid? I want the kind you add water too!
Man: *blank stare, possible tears*
Woman: Well, can't you help me? YOU'RE USELESS!!
Me: Ma'am, the bagged stuffing is right there on the end of the isle. (Literally, 5 feet away.)
Woman: God, these people are incompetent! I want to talk to your manager! *huff huff huff*

I honestly had no idea she meant bagged stuffing until the near end. The gentleman was NOT a native of the US, so his thanksgiving experiences were probably limited. But she tore into him like he had just stolen her last dollar! Dude! I wanted to like run in front of the guy and be like "Back up lady, or I will lay you out!" but, I resisted, she may have killed me.

This happens most frequently during the holidays and it REALLY bothers me. It totally misses the point of the holidays! Love, joy, comfort...none of the above when I see so much mean-ness going on out there!

To try to make up for the mean-ness, I'm going to try to be extra good to service folks. My cousin Miranda, when she was out here last October, taught me a very valuable lesson: be NICE, EXTRA NICE, to those that help you out with things you buy...you will be rewarded. And it is totally true! Not only are their monetary benefits, but I feel much better about myself when I make other people happy. Who doesn't?

So, that's what I'll try to do. Be good to people everywhere (regardless of how horrible they've been to me in the past!) and stay cool with service people, no matter how frustrating the situation.

Breakfast at Tiffany's

So Christmas has come and gone. I feel like I haven't sat down for about two weeks now. I haven't really had much of an opportunity to rest, let alone worry about my visa and all other things I really should be worrying about. My wake up call came in the form of a five piece lugguage set left for me by Santa, and I suddenly remembered that I was shipping off in not too long.

So, I've started a to-do list of sorts for my travel to and within Australia. I've decided that the thing I would most like to do at my first stop (NYC) is go to Tiffany's. Will I buy anything? Probably not. Will I enjoy myself? Most definitely. I've also decided the I would like to see the original Starbucks in Seattle, but I don't know of much else in Seattle. I know of nothing in Boulder, but I'm sure SMS will have PLENTY to show me.

With regard to Sydney, I'm allowing my favorite Mel to take me where she pleases. We've gotten plenty of recs from Peter and his wife lately, and all of their talk has me incredibly excited! I'd like to see the Opera House from the Harbor at night. I would like to go through ridiculous amounts of film. :-)

Any suggestions for my travels? Do let me know...I love seeing new things!

Cheers!