The Uncancery Future

Two moths since that last post, huh? We've been so busy, in the eloquent words of David Wooderson, 'L-I-V-I-N.'

I do intend to keep writing here, but for now I think the best update is more photo-centric.

My mom has a new portrait commission. He's a fox.

Harvested the Brussels Sprouts! Official Plant Friend Update to come.

Nieces & their Mama at Freestone during our first NorCal visit of the year.

Mark's birthday meant scratch bbq sauce.

Mark and Steve take over pizza duty.

Visiting friends at the Chula Vista Nature Center.

Peony season.

The little & big of the new exhibit at the World Famous San Diego Zoo.

Visit number two to NorCal included Santa Rosa pool time, Bodega,

and the Mission in San Francisco.

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.

Transportation

Well, it's pretty much done. The vortex (now just a lower-case item) has been tamed. Over about a day and a half I plodded along in my methodical, tortoisey fashion. Don't knock it - I found at least two hundred dollars worth of gift certificates.

Mark worked a week of nights and then went straight to a week of regular (long) days, so I was solo but fine. And then on Tuesday, at four o'clock, Mark swept in. Several hours before I'd hoped. And within an hour, we were done. It was beautiful. It may seem anticlimactic, but wait until I get to go back to the Container Store to organize my art and craft supplies. THAT will be something. But not yet. So, next?

We were talking and planning the other day and are possibly going to be going out of town at least once in four out of five months. A lot of which includes seeking out more winter, and not for recreational purposes. Just planning that makes me think we're already a little bit batty. And I can see us, right around the corner, in an unrecognizable airport, acting out this scene from Overheard In New York:

Woman #1: These moving sidewalks are for the birds!
Woman #2: What?
Woman #1: The moving sidewalks are for the birds!
Woman #2: What birds?

And then after that? I think Kristin has actually made me want to sew the velvet curtains I want for our living room.

Petaluma

We just got back from a fantastic week in Northern California. The weather was so great my toes only went numb once. And to be fair I'd gotten a little wild and pulled the flip flops out. Oops.

The light down here is so beautiful today that I'm remembering the day we spent in Petaluma (est. 1858). Petaluma seems to be the town that everyone's a little bit in love with, and I am no exception. I took a few photographs there that I like more than many I've taken in years. Like this, outside the knitting store:



And then we spotted this, just two doors down from the bar advertizing Liquor to Go.



And though I did not learn to knit or chisel marble, I'm hoping today will be a little more creative than my average Monday.