I Love California

One of my favorite holiday traditions is to go to the Nutcracker Ballet.  Sadly, our years in El Paso, Texas did not offer many cultural opportunities.  We enjoyed the LA Ballet's Nutcracker production Saturday night.  I love the music and the dancing was incredible.  I will say that the Cincinnati Ballet's version is my favorite and they use a live orchestra that makes all the difference.

I love living in California.  It gives us the opportunity to go for a walk on the beach on a crisp Sunday afternoon.  The weather was perfect and the view was amazing.

Laguna Beach

One of the other great benefits of living somewhere exciting like California is that everyone makes it their vacation spot.  We were happy to have Emily and Dave come and visit us for the weekend!

My Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot

Waiting in line for my number and my cool T-shirt.

The guy didn't believe me when I told him my age.  Thanks Mom and Dad for my youthful grace.

This was the 2nd Annual Claremont Turkey Trot.  It is a 5k run on Thanksgiving Day.  It was cold and standing outside for an hour before I ran was a little tricky to keep my muscles warm.  I have wanted to run in a competitive race for years and finally bit the bullet.  I'm so glad I did, it was the perfect way to start the day!

Paul was there to cheer me on.

My friend Amy even braved the cold just to see me cross the finish line.

I was a little pooped but really relieved and proud that I had finished the race.  Just wait till next year!

The Latest Installment

Paul and I made a last second decision to join the ranks of Twilight fans for the latest movie New Moon last night.  I enjoyed the books but thought that the first movie was awful.  The dizzying camera spins while Edward and Bella gazed into each others eyes endlessly was too over the top for me.  Needless to say, my expectations for the second movie were low.  Paul and I were pleasantly surprised with New Moon.  It had enough action to keep us entertained and the big box office budget didn't hurt a bit.  I hope the movie does well, I'm interested to see if it broke all of the box office records as predicted.

Friends

One of my friends was in town last weekend.  It was great to see her and spend some "girl time" together.  The hours passed so quickly, I am always amazed that good friends can simply pick up where they left off.  Thank you to all of my friends, you know who you are, you make my life blessed.

Lively Lobster

Harley decided to be a lobster for Halloween this year.  He was adorable and loves to have clothes on.  You would think he would fight it and try to get it off but he prances around like the king of the party.

The Mighty Ducks

Paul and I went to an Anaheim Ducks game on Friday for our first outing to a NHL game.  The Honda Center where they play was amazing and the Ducks won the game 7-2 against the Vancouver Canucks.  We were surprised by how many Canadian fans were there!  It was a chilly but fun evening and we're glad they were able to pull off a win.

Life Is Full Of Change

After being a long time overdue I have finally started working again.  I took a job as a speech pathologist at a high school.  It is a new and exciting change for me as I have focused my career in the medical field.  I was surprised my first day when they handed me a list of 70 students and said "good luck".  I though for sure that by October 21st they would have a schedule set up.  Not quite the case as they have had the position open since the summer.  Life has been busy trying to brush the cobwebs off of my school age child therapy skills but I am confident that I will have the hang of it shortly.  I am happy to be back at work and trying to adjust to 3 hours of unscheduled time at night instead of my entire day.