Christmas is finally over!

We finished our last Christmas celebration on Saturday.

Several years ago, we switched to having The Husband's family Christmas get-together in January. This schedule allows the adult nieces and nephew to have celebrations in December with their immediate family, in-laws and friends.

The adults do not exchange gifts. But we had plenty of presents for the grand nieces and nephews to open!

It was somewhat of a free for all!

The youngest had some unwrapping help.

Creative use of a bow.

This is our newest grand nephew, Saylor, being entertained by Cousin Char.

And here is my sweet niece Tracy, enjoying my Mom's Macaroni Salad. She is teaching her sweet daughter, Lucye Jane, to love it also!

We had a great weekend with the family. What did you do this weekend?

2013 New Year's Resolution

I don't do New Year's resolutions.

2013, however, is different.

I've returned to the dreaded Corporate World.

Did I not tell you?

Bad blogger!

I resumed work on October 30, 2012.

Three+ years after I retired.

My primary 2013 New Year's Resolution is to go to work every day,

with a smile on my face and a positive attitude.

I took an unexplained sabbatical from my blog beginning October 25, 2012.

Wait a minute, perhaps it was that pesky new job 

that interrupted my blogging mojo?

My secondary 2013 New Year's Resolution is to blog again.

I plan to once again post stories about the random bits and pieces of our life.

Draft posts documenting the final stops of our
2012 Western Road Trip are waiting to be finalized. 

I will complete those posts as I have time, energy and motivation.

Finishing them will satisfy my Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

(You have OCD, like me, don't you?)

Do you have a 2013 resolution?

Squeee!

The face of a 7 year old

upon realizing her parents' birthday present to her

is a ticket to see Justin Beiber in concert.

She was speechless.

Then she went "SQUEEEEEEEE!"

Happy birthday sweet little niece!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Princess Leia offering to help carve.

Boneless leg of lamb.

Potatoes roasted in lamb drippings.

Brown gravy made with a wee bit of red wine.

Peas and mushrooms sauted in butter and garlic.

Picture a ceaser salad to start and a chocolate cake to finish.

Princess Leia, Trixie, Chelsea and the elves were

banished to the stairwell during dinner.

The Sister, the B-i-L and my babies!

(Okay, they are her babies.)

The Husband, me and the nieces!

Christmas Eve with family, priceless.

I hope yours was merry and bright!

Word Verification Turned Off

Spam e-mails have slowed down, so I turned word verification off.

Now, if I would just write a post you readers could easily comment!

Word Verification Turned On

I apologize in advance to the folks who comment on my blog about having to turn word verification on.

I'm being inundated with spam comments. It started a couple of weeks ago.

I'll leave word verfication on for a couple of weeks and then remove it. Fingers crossed the spammers will have moved on and leave me alone!

I hope you continue to comment, even though it will be a pain for a couple of weeks!

Road Trip #2 - 2012 - Day 20

Tuesday, September 4 - San Franscisco to Cambria, CA

Beginning odometer: 45,081

Guess what? This was my birthday. Yes, I'm 39 again!

We packed our bags and went for a hearty breakfast at Mel's Drive In before checking out of the hotel.

As we drove out of the neighborhood, we spotted this house. I could live there. Oh yes, I could!

We were following the directions on our GPS to get us to Pacific Coast Highway 101. I took this photo, because it was kind of nerve wracking seeing where the road ran out and all that blue was ocean. Take a left! Take a left!

I have always wanted to drive the Pacific Coast Highway and what better day to do that than on my birthday? The views are staggeringly beautiful all along the drive. We did not take many pictures, because we could never capture the beauty of the coast.

What did we see on our drive? We saw:

Big trucks loaded with brussell sprouts fresh from the fields.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse  We didn't stop. Next time, for sure, we will!

A small animal crossing the road that we had no earthly idea what it was. My first thought was a baby coyote, but The Husband disagreed. It was not a domesticated animal, whatever it was!

We took the 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach. The neighborhoods were gorgeous. The houses were magnificent. The scenery breathtaking. You could almost smell the money it must take to live there!

Here we are at one of the scenic overlooks. Part of the a golf course is over The Husband's left shoulder.

Not a sign we see in Oklahoma.

We, being good tourists, stopped and took photos at The Lone Cypress.

Completing the 17 Mile Drive took us into the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea. We drove around looking for Clint Eastwood and his empty chair, but didn't find them so we left.

As we headed down the highway, I was excited to see an area where stiles were being used to allow access to the beach. Using a stile over a fence, prevents the land owners worry that someone would forget to close a gate and possibly allow livestock to escape.

Shortly after we saw the stiles, we saw a mixed herd of elk and cattle. It was very strange to see elk amongst the cattle!

We drove into Cambria, CA and found a lovely room at the Blue Dolphin Inn.

We had a great, late dinner at Madeline's Restaurant.

All in all, it was a perfect birthday!

Ending odometer: 45,322
Miles driven: 241