another tree is up!

Saturday night we decorated a tree. 

Van's tree this time (though, technically, both trees we have up are Van's trees).  The tree at Van's house.  We'd got it set up earlier in the week, and Saturday night, the ornaments went on.  And you know?  For all that I am glad that we didn't put up a tree with a lot of ornaments at the condo, I am so glad we got to do the one at Van's.  After a handful of years together, we've come to know at least some of the ornaments now.

I poured us all Last Words,

and in among sips,

we got the tree underway.  Of course there was rocket ship Santa! 

There was the CU Buffaloes ornament in honour of Van's alma mater. 

There were vegetables,

so there was an eggplant. 

That paired nicely on the tree with a pair of briefs, and that was met with mirth when I share it on Instagram.  There was Olive - hooray! 

There were bears. 

And, in the end, there was a lovely tree.

We'll get to enjoy both trees this holiday season, and I, for one, am thrilled and delighted!

the things you see on your morning walk

Critters!  Critters poking above a fence in South Pasadena, checking out the walkers-by.

This is fun and delightful.  Come on, look at those animal heads, the signage, the narratives!  Thank you to the people who put these up.  I have no doubt a lot of people have wandered past and had a smile from seeing this.

Saturday morning routine

The holiday party last night was not an especially boozy one, happily enough.  Yes, we had wine, and yes, we were fine this morning.  So we did what we do on Saturdays and headed to Amara for breakfast.  All of our usual items this morning:  arepa for me; breakfast croissant for Conrad; two oatmilk lattes, one of them decaf. 

It was a lovely, sunny morning, and - best of all - we really had nothing that we had to get done today.  Oh, I went for a massage, but that hardly counts.  Kind of an ideal Saturday morning!

pretty lights

I thought I might have a goodly bunch of photos from Conrad's holiday party last night, but no, none.  I didn't take any photos at all.  It was a nice night - we had the entirety of Entre Nous to ourselves.  I tied for fourth in the trivia quiz and narrowly missed out on a prize.  The wines were good and the food was fine.  We were home not so very late.  But no photos, sorry, save for one, and not at the party itself.  On our walk to the restaurant, we passed through the One Colorado Plaza and paused to admire how they had decorated the trees.  Pretty lights, for sure.

More from the weekend to come!

strike a pose

Ah, the vanity is real, but the holiday bunny sweater is cute, or so I think!

A series of short posts this week, I know.  The weekend will be busy, though, starting with Conrad's holiday party tonight!

yeah, no

I made it back to the pool, and that is about all we can say.

songs of the year (41-50)

You got through the first ten posted, so here's the next batch.  Numbers 41-50 of the songs I was most into this year.  Enjoy!

41.  Mercy (feat. Jacob Lusk) - The Blessed Madonna

42.  Decline & Fall - Manic Street Preachers

43.  Honesty - Nelly Furtado

44.  Too Good to be True - Kacey Musgraves

45.  Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled) - Lady Blackbird

46.  The Picture - Elbow

47.  Where Do We Go Now? (Music from Lil Nas X: Long Live Montero) - Lil Nas X

48.  Midnight Ride - Orville Peck, Kylie Minogue & Diplo

49.  Preach (feat. Ron Carroll) - Hot Since 82

50.  No Gravity - Zedd & Bava

 

June Gloom?

Wait, what month is this?  May Grey?  June Gloom?  What is going on in Pasadena?  Is that City Hall somewhere in there?

It did look autumnal this morning on our walk, I admit. 

And it seemed confined to Pasadena and the SGV - on my drive to work I quickly drove out of the socked in conditions and into clear blue skies and sunshine.  How funny.

Oh, hey Conrad!

Tuesday night at home

Friends, the cards are done.  We tallied a hair over 100 of them, and the last 32 will go in the mail tomorrow morning when we go out for a morning walk.  Nice!

Nice is exactly what tonight was.  The last of the Thanksgiving leftovers.  A Last Word each

while the leftovers were reheating.  Sitting by the tree,

watching Young Sheldon, writing cards, listening to Christmas music, doing some travel planning.  Good time.

I'm clearly writing this Tuesday night for posting on Wednesday.  It may be time for bed here.  May the midweek be as easy as the early week has been so far!

Monday evening at Van's

Quiet nights are good nights to have.  Right?  Right!

It was a quiet night last night.  I was over at Van's, keeping company with the Little Girl, getting nose kisses and other love from her. 

I noshed a little on some TJ's blue cheese potato chips,

which I hadn't seen before and which proved divisive (I liked them, Van made a face when he tried them), then made a basic dinner of pasta with tomato sauce and sausage.  We watched an episode of a holiday baking competition show, a holiday rom-com that was rather meh, and a 2018 BBC Duran Duran documentary.  And that was it.  An easy night.  No Christmas card writing - I'll get back to that tonight and finish by end of the week - no major cooking for me.  I have to say, it was pretty darn welcome!

6:48 AM

A bit of a later start for me this morning, and a shorter walk in order to get done and get home and get to work in a timely manner.  But, ah, that sunrise!

We're due for warmer weather this weekend, and I, for one, hate that.  I miss proper winters.

it's Christmas at work as well!

It's not just the holiday season at home.  Last week, the little elves (or, perhaps, hobbits?) at work decorated a door that leads to a storage space under the main staircase as part of the holiday door decorating contest on campus.  Cute!

Meanwhile, on my own desk in my office....

songs of the year (51-60)

I don't think Allison or Chris or Van or anyone else with whom I talk music follows this blog, so there are no surprises to spoil.  I haven't posted this here before, but why not - musings are part of this blog, supposedly. 

For years now I've been pulling together a ranked list at the end of the year of the songs released that year that I like.  Later on, I'll add more songs to the list - it's inevitable that I will hear a 2024 release in a subsequent year and love it, so I add it retroactively.  Some years are lean years, and I struggle to make it to 30.  This year there was a lot that I liked and returned to, so 60 it is.  I'll post the list in segments through the month, but to kick off the posts and ring in December, here are numbers 51-60.

51.  Forget - Yotto, AVIRA & ALSO ASTIR

52.  Life - Jamie xx & Robyn

53.  Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan

54.  I Missed You Too - Giolì & Assia

55.  I Hope You Know - Sofia Carson

56.  Darkest Lullaby - Kasabian

57.  The Golden Years - Joshua Bassett

58.  Happy Mistake - Lady Gaga

59.  mr useless - Shygirl & SG Lewis

60.  Britpop - A. G. Cook

Check them out as you like.  I hope you find something new and enjoyable.

The tree is up! The tree is up!

Is it only Saturday?  Is it still Saturday?  This long weekend has me confused and confounded - no sense of routine, seemingly non-stop in the kitchen.  But come on, it's worth it.  I mean, look....

Leftovers turned into mashed potato soup (garnished with caviar - Natasha came over, and we like to give her that treat when we can).

Leftovers turned into turkey pot pie.

Giving myself a pat on the back for using up leftovers so well.  And my gosh, is there a lot more in the fridge.  We'll do what we can with it.  Tomorrow, though, I swear that it is microwaving things only.  I have cooked enough this past week.

Enough complaining.  We had a nice evening.  Van showed up wearing his Christmas fox tshirt, and that inspired me to put on a fleecy Christmas bunny sweatshirt. 

The table was set simply but nicely. 

And, best of all, we have a tree. 

Yes, that is a tree, a modernish tree that Van bought for his former place in Rancho Mirage and that we now keep in storage here.  We decided to go with that this year.  I'm happy we did.  Oh, I will love seeing all the ornaments in a future year, but for this year, a much simpler and easier Christmas in terms of decor.

14 more cards done today.  I should do more before bed, but I think I won't.  Yaaawwwwn.  I'm a little fatigued, I confess.  Happy long weekend - I hope you all have trees up by now!