This is my nephew Riley. I took this picture on my birthday, which is the day after his. (He’s two years old now, holy crap!) For his birthday, his daycare provider gave him a Red Sox ball and bat, which he then used to walk down the hall like it was a cane while chanting, “Auntie! Auntie! Auntie!” (Yes, I was on a cane while I was visiting last month, due to the meniscus surgery I’d had two weeks earlier.) Sadly only his dad was a witness to this, and he did not take video. I adore him, of course.
Yesterday my friend Jane and I took our friend’s dog Ernie up to Idyllwild to see snow. It’s a two-hour drive (a little less if you drive like Jane) and sits atop a mountain at an elevation of 6200 feet–a perfect day trip. It was a gorgeous day in the high-50s/low-60s, and yet we still managed to find snow in the state forest above the town, where kids were sledding, adventure groups were hiking further up the mountain, and trucks were slip-sliding in the parking lot. (Google is not helping me find the name of the park–I thought it began with an “H”, but all I can find is reference to the Mount San Jacinto State Park.) Maintaining my marvelous record, I even managed to fall on my ass while trying to take the least slippery route down the hill back to the car. We lunched at the Red Kettle in “downtown” Idyllwild and did some random driving around the area before heading back down the windy road to the city.
Walking back to the car along the slick road
View of nearby outcropping
Check out the flip-flops hanging out of Jane’s back pocket
Jane photographing Ernie
Good dog
Always on the alert
Ernie checking out the snow
Ernie the puggle, rocking his leather hoodie
Blue sky, perfect day
Downtown Idyllwild
A horsehead, at a thrift shop. Its tag says “prop from The Godfather”.
2012, like any year, had its ups and downs, and its own fair share of new experiences. Here’s my list of my top ten nine favorite new experiences of the year:
1. Becoming a Fairy Godmother That’s me, second from the left.
I’ve never been anyone’s godmother before (possibly due to lack of any religious affiliation or even belief?), so I’m very honored that my first official godmother title is for my nephew Riley. Of course, due to the aforementioned lack of religious anything, I prefer to think of is as a Fairy Godmother position, which fortunately suits my sister just fine. 🙂
So it turns out I’m not ready for a Kindle. I’ve been carrying around the Kindle from the office with a bunch of books loaded on it, and I NEVER TAKE IT OUT. And that’s with four plane trips in the past month. So, no Kindle for me yet.
Nye's - Polish karaoke piano bar in Minneapolis (on Hennepin)
ION, I’ve been a traveling FIEND. Houston (wedding!), Dallas (nephew is permanently my nephew!), Minneapolis (zombie bars and Polish karaoke piano bars!), I’ve been to them all in the past month, and I’ll be heading to Vegas before the month is out. I am SO OVER traveling, yo. I miss my couch. Where I happen to sitting at this very moment, with a cat attached to my side.
On the plus side, I’ve been making new friends, from lots of places–L.A., northern Cali, Texas, D.C. and even Sweden. Hopefully Facebook will help me maintain and possibly grow these new acquaintances into more permanent fixtures, ’cause they’re all pretty awesome.
Dao, Moppety, Katie and me, on the dance 'floor' at 'stina's wedding
My knitting has been mainly scarves lately–quick, easy, and lightweight, so I can carry them around with me. Maybe I’ll post more on them later.
Saw the supermoon last night, and it was very impressive. No pictures, though, since my moon pictures always come out fuzzy, so I didn’t even try this time.
Saw the Avengers yesterday–so!awesome! Awesome enough to merit a second theater viewing, possibly even in 3D. (I hate 3D–headache inducing and generally not worth the extra $$. Might make an exception in this case, though.)
Let’s see, what else? Work is work. I need to practice more at pool before the tournament. I really need to do some grocery shopping. Oh, and my weight is out of control. Must!Move!More!
In July, I took out my bike a few times, hung out with friends, bbq’ed on my new grill, got busy at work, and generally settled in to my awesome apartment that I still love.
In August, I got super busy at work (thanks to Pacific Standard Time!), celebrated a birthday (the towel one), started my own little poker group, and spent a few days in Dallas VISITING MY BRAND NEW NEPHEW who is awesome and wonderful and will rule the world.
In September, I BOUGHT ALL THE THINGS for my nephew (and not-yet-born niece), launched most of my work projects, got my hair cut, had a bunch o’doctor appointments (kidney stones are still there *sigh*), started on ADD meds, joined a pool league (Wednesday nights!), spent a small fortune on a new pool cue, and took an auto repair class for women at Santa Monica College with Michelle (awesome class, I highly recommend it!).
This month, I shall be going home for a week to spend even more time with my totally awesome nephew, and, as all the gods are my witness, I shall lose some weight off my enormous posterior. No really, I saw a full-body reflection today, and it was NOT PRETTY.
I’ve also been reading a lot of The Bloggess, and if you haven’t discovered her yet, you should hie thyself over there ’cause she’s hysterically awesome. Start with this post if you don’t believe me.
