The Big 4-0

Recipe For The Perfect 40th Birthday Party

Mix the following ingredients together along with

liberal amounts of music and laughter. Enjoy

A 40 Year Old and His Lovely Wife

Food

Kitchen Staff

Friends

Family

Embarrassing Pictures

(Almost) White Christmas

We woke up this morning to a Winter Wonderland. Everything is clean and beautiful, the ice and snow sparkle in the sunlight. It's a lovely sight to see, but I won't be sad when it melts and goes away. It's fun for a day, but not for everyday. There's a reason I live in California.

Look Who's Forty

Steve has a philosophy that after you're 18 the only birthday's worth celebrating are the one's that end in five or zero. Forty ends in zero, so it's time to celebrate. In all the years I've known Steve he has never let me throw him a birthday party, I can't believe he agreed to it this year. I'm glad he wants to celebrate, I certainly do. If there was ever a birthday worth celebrating, this is it.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

It will look a lot more like Christmas

as soon as I get all of this on the tree

Thanks For Giving

I'm a pretty lucky girl, life is good and I've got lots to be thankful for.

Some things I'm thankful for this year -

that these folks came to visit

these boys

cousins

these girls

being this girls favorite aunt

Let's Talk Turkey

Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. With no presents, costumes,(dressing up like Pilgrims and Indians? Please.) or chocolate, it just really didn't do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a nice meal and a day spent with family, but Thanksgiving has never had me jumping up and down in anticipation. This year I think my Grinch heart must have grown three sizes, because I loved every moment of Thanksgiving. The reason for this change of heart? My sister Sabrina and (part of) her family came to spend the holiday with us. Just the fact that they made the trip out here was enough for me to proclaim Thanksgiving a success, but the actual dinner itself was wonderful. I have always thought that Thanksgiving was a great deal of work for a meal that is quickly over. This year I learned that the joy of the meal is only partially in the eating of it, there is also a great deal of enjoyment to be found in the preparation and cooking. Is that because cooking is so much fun? Not really, it's more about the time spent together in the kitchen talking, laughing, creating, problem solving, (Sabrina rolled out perfect pie crust despite the fact that I don't own a rolling pin. That's impressive) and sharing the experience. I loved watching my sister cook and learning all the things she taught me. She didn't make creating a meal look effortless, she made it look worthwhile. All around, Thanksgiving was a revelation this year, a very delicious revelation.

*All pictures are courtesy of my 6 year old niece, Brigitta. Aren't they amazing? To keep her entertained while we were cooking I gave her my camera and she took pictures of anything and everything.

The Pursuit

Something making me happy right now? Jamie Cullum's new album, The Pursuit. Years ago when I heard his rendition of Cole Porter's I Get A Kick Out Of You, I knew that I would love Jamie forever. His music has been the soundtrack to my life for the last few years, I adore everything he does. I've seen him in concert a couple of times, he's an amazing performer. Honestly, is there anything better than jazz?

concert in Oakland, 2006