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

A Rant From My Soapbox

All the hoop-la about the release of the new Twilight movie is impossible to escape. Everyone is swooning about the whole thing. Except for me, big surprise.

For a booklover it’s painful to hear people extol the virtues of The Twilight Saga. When someone says they’re the best books ever written it physically pains me. (I could write a book about all the things that are wrong/disturbing about Twilight, but this website says everything for me) I heard a girl boast that she’d read Twilight 26 times. To me, that’s 25 times too many. (possibly 26) Read something else! The world is full of far better books than anything Stephenie Meyer could ever write. Have I read the books? Yes. Do I regret reading them? No. Twilight has become part of the cultural lexicon, I'm glad I read them so I understand what all the fuss is about. Having said that, I would never recommend these books to anyone. Go ahead and read them if you must, but remember they aren't the only books in the world. When you're done put them down and move on to something better.

Success?

How do you measure success?

When you have a football season where you lose more games than you win, you have to examine your definition of success. Dane's team did not have a winning season, but Dane had a tremendous year. He took on two new positions (center and kicker) and learned new skills, he worked hard and showed a great deal of maturity, dedication, and even when the score was 30-0 he never gave up. Along the way he made some friends and had some fun. Sometimes success is more than just what's on the scoreboard.