New and Improved Photo!

I'm off beta now! And to celebrate, i have linked a new photo. Woohoo! This one is from this year, as opposed to from the year 2003. Sheesh. Has it really been that long since I journeyed to France toute seulle (all alone)? It's too bad that this new image makes my eyes look funny when the photo is shrunk. Ah well.

I suppose i have some updating to do. Christmas was wonderful. daN and i stayed in Friendship at the Bogs' empty house taking care of fluffy. Q joined us for one of the nights, and it was delightful. Being a 25 minute drive from any of our relatives really worked out for us. It took care of all the disadvantages of all other previous Christmases in Maine: 1. Privacy; 2. Familiar sleeping arrangments; 3. No one felt (this time) like they got unfairly less time with us than anyone else. We saw people when we went to visit them, and other than that, we were able to chill out, rest, do yoga to our hearts' content, take walks down to the ocean, and actually feel like we were having some "time off." It was pure bliss. And because of that, we enjoyed the actual time with our families more. Go figure.

The schedule went like this:
Friday, December 22, drive up from Boston to Maine in the pouring rain, right after our oven was (finally) fixed (YAY!).

Saturday, December 23 at 9:00am was daN's Dad's Christmastime Brunch, and we had a lovely time. No gift-opening -- just visiting. And it was really nice to just visit with people. There were lots of interesting tasty dishes like a corn souffle, and things of that ilk. Around 2:00pm, we drove to Rockland to Second-Read it (now rebranded as Rock City Coffee officially!) gave some hugs to owners and staff there, said hi to some regulars who were waiting in line, and said hello to a fellow former member of the Midcoast Children's Theatre with whom i did 42nd Street in 1997. She was a lot shorter then, and i much heavier, but we finally recognized each other. Then daN and i wrapped up some last-minute Christmas shopping (two gifts that we knew we couldn't purchase anywhere BUT Rockland, so we weren't just procrastinating. Don't be so quick to judge!), did some grocery shopping, and drove back to Friendship. Q and Sadie were there when we arrived, so we did yoga and watched a really shitty Bond movie on the Spike Channel -- Diamonds Are Forever. It really was rotten. I fell asleep partway through.

December 24th: wasted most of the morning. Yoga again, slept kind of late, wrapped the aforementioned last minute gifts, went for a walk down to the ocean. When daN and i left to do family stuff, Q did too, thus ended Q time at Bogland (:( ). We went to my Nana and Aunt Kimmie's house in Rockland to commence further Christmas celebrations. Christmas Eve with me Mum's side of the family is always special to me. We also got to see my very cool cousin Asa and my hillarious and awesome Uncle Danda (Anthony) and his partner Chris who both live in Minneapolis. It was so much fun. I always have a blast. It was really great to see how proud we all are of each other, and what interesting folks were in the room. I loved it. We eventually said our goodbyes, and daN and i are vaguely thinking about going out to visit Chris and Anthony in Minneapolis in March.

December 25th: Christmas day! We wake up sort of early, get in some yoga, and drive to Nate and Tara's new house (one of daN's brother and sisters-in-law) for Christmas dinner there. Of course, no one else was around when we got there at 11:00, so we played Guitar Hero 2 on the Play Station 2, and i didn't do so terribly! I'm thinking i might pick up guitar lessons at some point in my life. Eventually, everyone else arrived, and food (including green bean casserole...mmmm....) and good conversation commenced. So did good presents! In the late afternoon, people departed. daN and i drove to Gardiner at Dad's digs (he is now living in the house that Grammy lived in -- a great old turn of the century house that needs some visual updating, but it's beautiful and in good condition). My brother, and Dad's girlfriend and business partner Jeanne and their daughter Yulia were all there. It was a delight! Dad griped a lot about cooking in a kitchen that he wasn't terribly familiar with yet, but he made an absolutely delicious dinner. He likes the non-traditional stuff. He made penne pasta with spinach and porcini mushrooms and a portabello broth, some kind of steak tenderloin, shrimp with a lemon-roasted red pepper sauce, and some apples-and-potatos au gratin. Lots of red wine.

Overall: I was happy. I love all the different facets of my and daN's families. I just had a wonderful time with all of them, in the quirks. As i get older, i've learned how to enjoy people's difficult patches, laugh things off, and honestly be able to enjoy their company. What a great thing to have up my sleeve.

On presents: as an adult, presents are not the highlight of the Christmas season. I love the trees, the music, the lights, and the special-ness of having a different kind of warm atmosphere in cold weather (though it was disturbingly warm in the 40's and 50's the whole time we were up). However, we both got some really great things this year! Among them were some fabulous new knives that have already taken off small bits of my right hand, a knife sharpener, and a cutting board; a wonderful librarian card catalogue style CD case; some wonderful coffee and Ayurvedic tea, Amy Sedaris' new book I like you: Hospitality under the Influence, a some great gift certificates, Debbie-home spun wool yarn, a new towel set, and a painting done by my extraordinarily talented water color artist grandmother. It's unusual and remarkable that we don't end up with something that isn't enjoyable or useful in some major way.

Well, anyway, we've been home since Tuesday night, and we've basically wasted the past few days. I worked on Thursday and had Friday off. I'm really excited to take the daN-drawn-specially-for-me-piece-of-artwork into my office today. I actually cried when i opened it (it was his Christmas present to me). And, my presents to daN went over very well, too! Wicked Tickets, for us, a pair of slippers, and this GREAT game called "Settlers of Katan." We played it the other night, and i LOVE it!

Anyway, that's enough of an update for now. I am going to finish my granola, take a shower, and somehow get started on the rest of my day. I was thinking about going to LLBean in Burlington and getting a smaller vest, doing yoga, and somehow visiting a couple friends before they go out to celebrate New Year's in style.

Happy end of 2006. It's certainly been a big year for me and daN: i got my yoga teacher's certificate, he got a full time teaching job, and i became a fully fledged yoga teacher, and a better student for it. Through all that self-actualizing, i also became a better office professional and got a better office job. Things have been good. My uncle has good advice: "Be good at whatever you're doing at the time." It will matter, and you'll learn about yourself, at the same time providing direction. Happy New Year.