tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

I love my new stitch markers.

Christmas came and went rather quickly, didn’t it? I still can’t believe it’s almost 2009. Anyway, we did have a fabulous Christmas. I tried to video The Opening of the Presents, but one of us is shy and kept scooting out of range. I managed to snap a few photos, at least.

And the first stocking stuffer opened:

And then I was too excited to open presents to bother with taking photos. Suffice to say, we each made a good haul! Every year Aaron manages to find perfect poetry books for me. I love that he knows me so well that even though he doesn’t read poetry, he knows how much I love it and he even knows what kind I love.  He also got me a new burr grinder which makes short work of grinding espresso! And an ipod to replace my broken one, and a bunch of other things I won’t bore you with.

I got him a new flash for his camera and a snowboard and bindings, and other random stuff.

I pointed out to him that now he and I both have a white Arbor board with black Flow bindings – now all we need is matching jackets and we’ll be set! Hehehehe. He wasn’t overly thrilled with that.

Later in the day we went over to Aaron’s dad’s house for lunch and more presents.

And then it was over. Just like that.

It’s not blocked yet, and I still need to sew in the zipper, but my cardigan is otherwise complete. I even crocheted the edging:

Brainless Blonde Host: Smoked Paprika? How’s that different from regular paprika?

Guest Chef: Well, it’s got a nice smokey flavor.

I feel smarter already…

For my birthday this year, we took a trip to Houston to visit my sister. She surprised me with some presents when we got there, and took me out for a mani/pedi to prep me for my birthday dinner that night. She had to accompany Martin to his company’s Christmas party, so she got us a gift certificate to La Vista, which was awesome. Everything we had was delicious – and we saw lots of things we wanted to try on our next trip!

Here they are dressed up for their party:

Saturday we were up early to head out to the lake. They just built a house on a lake, and it was amazing. It looked like an Italian villa.

I fell in love with the kitchen. Here’s one half – I didn’t get a good pic of the other half:

Then there was the fireplace:

And of course, the view of the lake:

Unfortunately they are having a drought, so the lake is very low. But I’m sure when we come out in the summer it will be ready for us!

It was so nice sitting on the deck, reading and drinking wine. Perfect.

We had some amazing pizza from a little place 5 minutes from their house Saturday night. The jalapenos have such a good flavor down there – so much better than we get up here. I even liked the black olives, which I normally loathe. Maybe everything tastes better in Texas?!

Sunday we didn’t do too much except hit the outlets. We had to buy a duffel bag so we could get it all home. But I haven’t really gone clothes shopping in a long time, so it was overdue. We could have spent many more hours and many more small fortunes there but we managed to exercise some self control.

Sunday night we went out to dinner to celebrate Krista and Martin’s anniversary, a day early. We went to the Liberty Bistro, which was amazing as well. I can still taste my chai creme brulee….mmmmm.

We had to get up early on Monday to get back to Houston for Martin to get to work and for us to catch our flight.

All in all it was a great weekend. It was nice to be able to spend my birthday with family, and to check out their new house, and to eat so many fabulous meals.

Ah, we had such a good weekend. Kim rolled in on Friday, beating me home. Aaron and Misty kept her company until I got there.

We got caught up over some Beaujoulais, and then we had dinner at Rio Grande. Man, I love that place. We had dessert at home – I made cookies since I knew we would need something to go with the chocolate wine I was determined to crack open.

And oh man, was that wine good (Noche by Cooper). Heaven in a glass. Yum.

We finally called it a night since we had a big day at the spa on Saturday.

I actually took Illy for a run in the morning, and then we hit Tranquility. I got a haircut and a massage, and Kim got a massage and a manicure. It was totally relaxing. I really should make that more of a weekly thing…

Anyway, after the spa Kim showed me how to spin yarn. She was very good at it. I was not.

It was pretty cool to watch all that batting turn into yarn. She’s quite crafty, that Kim.

It also snowed! Just a dusting, but we were excited.

Saturday night was the big dinner out at Bellissimo. It’s become a birthday tradition for us. I’m happy that Kim loved it, although the second bottle of wine might have helped I will have to go back sometime soon though, since they were out of my favorite dish. The lamb was a delicious back up choice, however. And Kim’s tiramisu was phenomenal. So, so good.

Sunday we didn’t do much but recover, and Kim headed out in the morning. She is the first guest to sign our new guestbook, and I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend!Thanks for coming, Kim!

We also met up with Pat and Kelly for dinner, so it was a friend-filled weekend – my favorite kind! We hung out at Red Robin for two and a half hours; we were having so much fun we had no idea we were there that long! And they brought me a birthday gift of wine. Friends for life!

Kim is coming into town this weekend, and I am so excited. We have our weekend fully planned out. She’ll arrive Friday and I assume there will be lots of chatting and catching up, and hopefully she’ll show off her new Wheel (She makes her own yarn!).

I plan on breaking open the Noche chocolate wine I picked up recently. It’s decadent and delicious and I can’t wait! I don’t know what we’ll do for dinner – Carraba’s is our tradition but we’re doing Italian on Saturday. Maybe I’ll make something? Maybe Thai? Maybe pizza?

Saturday is the big day. We are going to the spa. I’m getting a haircut and a massage and she’s getting a spa pedicure and a massage. The timing works out so we can both have Nicole for the massage – and she’s the only one worth going to.

After that pampering, we are going to dinner at our (Aaron’s and mine, not Kim’s and mine…) favorite restaurant, Bellissimo. I already know what I’m ordering. Ah, I can’t wait.

It’s a bit lavish, but it is sort of my birthday celebration, albeit a weekend early. And I think it’s necessary to celebrate having really, really good friends.

I’m excited for her to see the changes we’ve made to the house, too. I painted her room and her bathroom and hopefully by the time she gets here we will have installed the new towel rack as well. The foyer has been painted and a bunch of crap has been put into our new storage unit. That will probably be a less noticeable change, since it was all sort of stuffed under the stairs and piled in corners in the basement, and I typically don’t let guests into the basement. Unless they are Aaron’s friends playing video games, and at that point they’re too transfixed by the steering wheels and gas pedal and 32″ tv than the mounds of junk hovering nearby.

And our Christmas tree is up!

I really can’t wait for this weekend!