Christmas

So here's my belated Christmas post:

My winter break from work started out fun. December 20, 21, and 22 I spent with food poisoning. That was fun. I'd rather not think about it now...

The Saturday before Christmas we packed up the car with our luggage, presents for family, and the pup and headed up to my parents' place for the holiday. Along the way on Highway 50 before Echo Summit we stopped to give Ayla her first taste of snow. I think she hated it. All her toes were splayed out to keep her balance on the slippery hard pack, and she was very unimpressed when Chris lifted her over the burm and put her in the snow. She shivered so hard! We felt bad and she wouldn't do her business, so we packed back in to the car and got on our way. Dobermans aren't built for cold weather, especially princesses!

Ayla walked into my parents' house like she owned the place, which she pretty much did. She followed my dad around like his little shadow and play bowed for him all the time; she really enjoyed playing with Clayton; and she got lots of love from my mom. And Ayla absolutely loves hanging out with Phantom and watching what he does. He's a great influence. :)

Chris' dad, Don, came up on Christmas morning. Ayla didn't quite know what to think of him, I doubt she's ever met anyone so tall. We all opened some really nice gifts (thanks, Clay - I wear my new gloves every day!). We had some great appetizers during the day and played the Monopoly Here & Now Edition. All the pieces, properties, etc., are updated to current times and players can make side deals, and it was a blast. I was this close to beating Don, but in the end he prevailed. Beginner's luck I say! :)

Then we cooked a wonderful Christmas dinner. My dad fried a turkey in the backyard and everyone gathered to watch the lowering of the bird into the oil and the later removal of said bird. It was really quick, tasted great, and who can resist the danger of boiling oil and an open flame in the backyard? We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and salad. For dessert, we had pumpkin cheesecake and apple pie. Yummy!

We all left the next day. When Chris and I got home, Gretel let us know how upset she was to be left over Christmas and meowed all night! But she was happy to have us home and became the snuggle-bug she usually is.

We spent the rest of our break on another home-improvement blitz. I painted the bathroom and a wall in the kitchen. We installed a new bathroom light that we picked up at Costco which matches our bathroom decor quite nicely. We cleaned out a bunch of stuff and got everything organized. We bought a new entertainment center and put it together, painted it, and made our living room nice. I'm sure there's more we did, but its all a blur now!

The first week back at work was pretty busy for both of us, and Ayla is getting re-settled with our usual schedule. The weather was rainy and cold during the week, but its beautiful now. This weekend has been great so far. I've sold a couple things on Craig's List that we no longer needed, and extra money is always good. And Chris and I kicked a@! just now playing Gears of War on XBox Live against Clay and my dad. Love you Dad, don't take it too hard! :)

Anyway, more of the same expected for tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great holiday season and Chris and I send out our best wishes for a spectacular New Year!

Todays fun:

Making the dog wear clothes. She wasn't too impressed at first, but the with the smallest distraction completely forgot she was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and a belt. Silly girl!

I've made some major progress on my thesis - yes, I'm still writing that blasted thing. My motivation has been seriously lacking on it, but I've done pretty much all the writing for my first paper. Now I'm working on style, format, and flow. The second paper (its a two-paper thesis) has been mostly completed since Winter Quarter '06. I have just a little more to flesh out and its done. So, in January I'll be contacting the department head and getting that darn thesis submitted. Yippeeee!

We'll be heading to my parents' place in Nevada for Christmas. In anticipation, Chris did a trial run of making a prime rib for dinner tonight, a la Tyler Florence: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35329,00.html. It was really tasty, but not quite what we wanted to Christmas dinner. Back to the drawing board.

I hope all our friends and family, and their friends and family, have a wonderful Holiday Season!

Rest In Peace

My sweet Tulie-cat.

Your time here was much too brief.

I hope you knew how much you were loved, and that you found happiness in the time we shared.

Turkey Day

Due to inclement weather, Chris and I decided to stay home for Thanksgiving. That didn't stop us from making an entire Thanksgiving Dinner for the two of us though! We had an 11-pound turkey that we rubbed an herb butter all over and injected with melted butter with copious amount of garlic, and stuffed with the usual aromatics (orange, onion, garlic, lemon). We also had Stovetop Stuffing and cranberry sauce from the can - a couple guilty pleasures - and mashed potatoes with gravy. For dessert I made a pumpkin pie and a cherry crumble. Needless to say, we had lots of leftovers. I put four dishes of turkey enchiladas in the freezer, and we had turkey sandwhiches for days. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Horses and Wine

It was a great day - I got to meet Stef's Aunt Pam and we went horseback riding and wine tasting at Garrod Farms in Saratoga. Our trail ride took us through the Cooper-Garrod Vineyards and the Open Space Preserve on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. My horse, Whiz, became a bit antsy about 3/4 of the way through the ride. Apparently she knew home was just over the ridge and wanted to get there soon, and gave me a hard time keeping her in the line. But it was a lot of fun and I haven't been riding in ages. Think I could keep a horse on the patio without the HOA knowing?

After the ride we went to the tasting room where we tried seven of their wines. My favorite was the George's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, named for the founder and winemaker of the vineyard. Then we headed back out of the mountains, in Pam's convertable with the top down to enjoy the beautiful day.

We met neat people, did cool things, and laughed till our cheeks hurt. In fact, you haven't had a great day unless your cheeks are sore - and with horseback riding I guess that would include both sets.

Dessert

Check this out - Nutro Natural Choice, the same company that makes the kibble we feed Ayla, now makes desserts for dogs! If you can't read it, there are four flavors: Berry Cobbler, Carrot Cake, Pumpkin Crumble, and Apple Torte.

Ayla tried the Apple Torte over the weekend. My verdict: Looks like cat food, smells like apples. Ayla seemed to like it though. And at less than 100 calories per can, as it so proudly states on the front, she can eat her dessert and still keep her girlish figure!

I think we'll save the pumpkin one for Thanksgiving...

Quiet Weekend

Its been a rather quiet weekend. On Friday Ayla and I found a neat place to hike that's really near home: the Las Trampas Wilderness in San Ramon. There are many many trails, picnic sites, and its shared with horses so there's lots of road pies for Ayla to sniff. Unfortunately it had been raining prior to our exploring, so there was too much mud to go far. In fact, we were headed up the Elderberry Trail and I accumulated literally inches of mud on the soles of my shoes, so we had to turn around. I'm looking forward to doing lots of hiking there when the trails dry out a bit!

Otherwise we've been doing the usual - good food, playing with the pup and the cats, enjoying our condo, and keeping happy. I'm off to find some new recipes to try out. Cheers!