Still Kickin'

Hi all,

I just thought I'd put up a quick note to say I'm still alive + kickin' here... Been trying to be as escapist as possible in the States, but have not had much success.

We're on our final leg of our whistle-stop tour of friends & family. Had a whirlwind of a few days staying with Greg & Kaity in NYC the weekend before Christmas, and I made it to 30 at a way-too-crowded bar but got to see many of my favorite people! Also made the rounds of sick moms (and dads) and babies, and managed to avoid all forms of creeping crud ourselves, surprisingly enough. Then we went to NH for several family Chritsmas parties and weather that varied from 20F on the day of our arrival to 60F on the day of our departure. Had a nice time being home, hanging with Mom & Dad, and seeing the extended fam (including Ms. Dolfe, naturally). Ate well and drank way too much; a typical trip to NH!

As an aside... we got a really nice camera from my parents for Christmas, so when we get back I'll put up a collection of very random pictures we've been taking as we experiment with slightly more advanced (or at least higher quality) photography.

Now we're in California and are enjoying some time to ourselves... we went golfing yesterday in Long Beach, and on Friday we're heading to Santa Barbara to visit wineries and golf, hopefully without too bad of a hangover. No specific plans for New Year's Eve, other than to bid good riddance to an extraordinarily stressful year and to wish big and think happy thoughts for the one to come.

Back to trying to escape... Happy New Year!!