I Guess This Is My Holiday Letter

Or really, it's far more informative than any holiday letter I'd send. And I never sent any holiday letters anyway. Interesting. So while this has been a pretty crap year for me, it's been a year of unprecedented Jess access for you! Is that a good thing? Well. As much as I'm pining for '09 I've got a little more to fill you in on before it's over. And one more apology for not posting in so long. Oops.

Two weeks ago I had a set of very opposite doctors' appointments. The first was my dermy, Dr. Ld. That awesome acne that I've had since May or June is still hanging around despite one antibiotic and a slew of topicals. Lucky for me it's winter now and I don't have to debate too long before dressing. Anyway I thought I'd give dermy another shot at making me less uncomfortable. Not so much luck. I encountered that oh so familiar frustration with dermatology. Lots of shrugging by Dr. Ld. Sympathetic shrugging, and the suggestion that things would probably settle down in time. I did get a jar of goo that's so strong my face was peeling 5 days after I stopped using it. Yow. And he did offer to do some hormone testing, blood tests, that would basically just confirm that I'm out of whack right now without offering much treatment suggestion. So after I said no, thank you, we shook hands and agreed to meet again in February. He left, and I burst into tears. Ridculous. I am scared of poking around too much, terrified of more abnormal test results, even if it's just wacky hormones that I already knew about.

That said, I will do the test in February if I'm still looking like a teenager in the worst way.

My second appointment was with my radiation Oncologyst, Dr. W. He's in the same place I had my radiation treatments. As I was waiting for him, I got to see some of my favorite of his staff. And then a woman came out from the treatment area and said to the front office girls, "I don't know what I ever did with myself without you guys!" I think she was only about 10% kiding. Dr. W was lovely as usual. He did a full exam and then told me to call if anything came up, that he'd always be available, but that he didn't expect to see me in his office again. "WHAT?" I said. "This is my last appointment?!" And he said, "Yep. Happy Hanukkah!"

After he left the office I did a Snoopy dance.
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Remember that new baby in the family? Last week we went up to see her and her new biggest fans, Mom, Dad, Big Sister, & Grandparents. Think she was very cute?

Oh, just a little bit. Everyone else looked marvelous as well. Except Zara is 3, so she moves a little fast for me to prove it with my camera.

A rare non-blurry snap. We did have a great early Hanukkah, thanks to our crack latke team.

We took several beautiful jaunts to Sonoma, Occidental, and Freestone.




Holiday plans for us are: Hanukkah every night at home, Christmas Eve with my parents and Christmas Day there for me while Mark tends the people at work. We have small plans for New Years Eve, and I'll try to grab a few photos of it all. If I'm not in touch as much as I'd like, I wish you the happiest holidays and a wonderful, healthy New Year.

Making Christmas

After last year's gingerbread disaster, I didn't even try to be creative for the holidays. Then, I ended up with an army of undecorated spice soldiers, only about 6 of which were finished and gifted. And poor Kristin, they weren't even her kind of cookie. They made for great snacks in Cancun, anyway. But a funny thing happened this year. One minute I'm just wrapping presents, the next I'm surrounded by a cloud of snipped recyclables. This is what happened.



You can't accuse Trader Joe's of not being festive. Then, on Christmas, I found myself on the couch at 1 a.m. with an upholstery needle and some green yarn, embroidering a stocking for Mark without a hoop. Nutso. Christmas morning, mom was pouting for one of her own, so the madness continues.

Making thigs seems to just be happening, but since I just turned 30, there are a few goals I'd like to get out there. I may be talking about them here from time to time.

Run. I've got this nasty hill next to my home. I'm thinking I could make it up there without the serious pain it gives me now.

Shoot. Somehow I've ended up with my little dream camera, a Nikon D40x. Now I just have to learn how to use it.

Re-use. Yeah, we put all our junk mail in the blue bin. Pretty much everything that can goes in there. But it's still a lot of waste. Just look at all the stuff that comes home with me every Month with my maintenance prescriptions. The shoe for reference is very average sized.



So I'm thinking about trying to use some of the things we normally recycle immediately. I've gotten a start with the Christmas wrapping and some decorations, but there are a few tricks still up my sleeve.

The Shore

We're really feeling the season in San Diego, and it's not because of a profusion of lights. It's certainly not the weather. Nope, it's the quiet. Pacific Beach is a madhouse during pretty much every other season of the year. No parking, squealing and half-naked coeds, their detritus everywhere. It can get to be a bit much. But at Christmastime, ahh, you can breathe here. Mark and I went down to the beach yesterday for a little last minute shopping and a walk along the boardwalk. Both activities were so relaxing. Last minute shopping?? Yes, it was a breeze. The only tension involved Mark trying to get me to contain my over the top gift giving addiction.

And just as we were finishing our walk (it was so quiet we didn't even see Slo-Mo), we saw the one other true sign that it's a holiday in San Diego. Pauly Shore, walking his big fluffy dog, near Crystal Pier.


* I didn't take this photo - Thanks Austin Chron - but I like the orange shirt.

Merry Christmas to all.