Quick Getaway

We took advantage of the long holiday weekend and took a quick trip to California.  It was  a picture perfect weekend. Warm weather, sparkling water and views of Catalina and the snowcapped mountains.  

We had no specific plans for our trip other than to spend time with a few good friends (and their hairless cats!)  K loves hairless cats and always begs for one for several weeks after we spend time with these cuties.  They really are so sweet and always snuggling to stay to warm.  

Our weekend evolved into a girls weekend.  Shopping at Fashion Island, lots of eating, manicures and pedicures with an ocean view at Crystal Cove, a basketball game and more eating.  Another highlight for K was a trip to B Candy.  Love their new ice cream!

Mama the hairless cat

Hanging out on our friend's deck and watching the surfers

Sunset view from another friend's house-imagine this every evening!

B Candy-such a cute store

Old Friends

The most enjoyable part of our holiday was getting together with all of our Atlanta friends. We had a few parties which was a great way to see lots of people. I was having so much fun I didn't even take any pictures. I did take pictures one day when K and Olivia went skating. They were so happy to see each other-the pictures speak for themselves.

Totally unrelated but so typical of Atlanta I spotted this hawk in our neighbor's tree.  There were actually two of them (unusual) but by the time I got my camera the other one flew off.  The next day I was walking Luna and a hawk swooped down and grabbed a squirrel right in front of us.  I have seen this happen before but it always sends chills up my spine.

Got a quick picture before our New Year's Day party started.  I have been spending too much time on Pinterest.  I have seen those cups of celery and carrots pinned by many people-they were the hit of the party.

I made this chocolate tart for a dinner party for old friends.  Delicious and so easy.

The Ultimate Gift

One of my cousin's children was in a tragic car accident.  After the accident Shauna's brain stem had massive swelling and my cousin (Heidi) made the difficult decision to take sweet Shauna off of life support and donate her organs.  Heidi said that she felt that the donation of Shauna's heart was the ultimate Christmas gift.  Heidi has been amazing and the epitome of grace through out this terrible experience.  Shauna was 16 years old, an ice skater, a gifted violinist and wanted to go to Stanford.  This video was of her skating when she was younger.

Christmas Catch Up

I tried to take some pictures of the amazing Christmas lights at Highland Park Village but I realized that I really needed my tripod. We went to a self serve dog bath place and got Luna spruced up for the holidays-K and her friend really had fun. And now we are in Atlanta-going to lots of parties and really enjoying being home!

Tubing Texas Style

Until this past Monday (when we had a dusting of snow) the weather had been crazy warm here.  We were still able to get some tubing in.  Indoor tubing.  What a concept!  The hotel that had the indoor tubing also had a amazing ice sculptures.  They bring sculptors from China and this year there was a Merry Madagascar theme.  They provide coats for the ice sculpture area.  It was really cold!

Notice K's red nose and coat provided by the hotel.

Christmas Bert

I hadn't planned to get a tree this year since we are going to be in Atlanta for Christmas but I saw this cute little tree at Whole Foods and decided that our grim little town home needed some cheer.  Bert is happy because he can drink the water from the tree.  And I am happy because there is not a tree skirt that he can use as his liter box.  Love the little nativity set on our mantle that I bought when we were in San Miguel.

SMA

I had planned to stay in Dallas for Thanksgiving but in early November my sweet friend Kathryn called from the Dallas airport on her way to San Miguel de Allende and suggested we visit SMA over Thanksgiving.   I thought it over for a couple of minutes after we got off the phone and jumped on the internet and was able to get reservations.  Sometime I think that the most fun thing about a trip is planning the trip.  However,  I always love a spur of the moment trip.  It was a perfect Thanksgiving and birthday.

K settled right into our hotel room

These treats greeted us upon arrival

The light in the morning was amazing

K and John at the pool-K is the most sensible of the group, staying out of the sun

Kathryn

Our group before Thanksgiving dinner

View from Luna, the rooftop restaurant

K having roomservice instead of going out to eat with the adults

These guys rode by while I was waiting for Kathryn to answer her door

Beautiful views

Beautiful, hidden courtyards all over the city

I loved the architecture of our hotel