Holiday highlights, the finale

Spouse & I remarked to each other that this was probably 1 of the best holiday seasons we can remember.  We never felt stressed, and everything just seemed to fall into place.

We got our tree up, our interior decorating done, and our exterior lighting all done before our tree trimming party.  (That has not always been the case.)  Our tree trimming party was fun, as always.  We attended the town Christmas parade which wasn't rained out as it has been in some recent years.  While our holiday shopping got off to a slow start, all ordered items arrived on time so I could wrap them without feeling rushed.  I got to attend the town's Christmas home tour for the 1st time ever.  I spent the good part of a day baking cakes, brownies, and breakfast casseroles to take with us.  We enjoyed our annual pizza and hippie roll luncheon with our dear friends Kerry, Hugh, Kelly, Carl, Lisa, Alex, Kim, and Danny.  We had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant followed by cookies at the home of our old buddies Ron & James, along with Mike & Clark.  We had a lovely visit/lunch with my cousin Nez and her husband Steve.  We saw most of the family on Christmas eve and/or Christmas day.  Once we returned home we debriefed with our friends Steven & Thad over dinner.  We went to a lovely post-Christmas party at Marty & John's home. We did a lot, saw a lot, and ate a lot; pretty much the perfect holiday season!

Here are a few photos of some of our special/unusual tree ornaments:

Purchased in Palm Springs Oct 2018

1 of 2 clear snowflakes purchased at the Dollar store several years ago, and a Paris ornament from 2003

Large, silver snowflake from Joey & Glenn

Lenox sleigh from my friend Dawn

Eiffel Tower purchased in Paris Dec 2003

Translucent chicken from our friend Megan 15+ years ago, Lenox bear from Dawn, and clear rainbow swirl ball from Calvin

Another clear rainbow swirl ball from Calvin, and Chihuahua from Dawn

Blue glass ball with white swirl from Calvin

 Here are some of our interior holiday decorations:

Although not visible in this photo, the snow-covered trees have glitter on them and were found inside our very 1st home together in 1996.  I adore them and suspect they're pretty old.

The reindeer were from my cousin Nez, the snowman was from our friend Clara.  The old school ceramic tree is actually not old; we bought it at the QVC clearance store about 5 years ago.

Red truck pillows purchased about 3 years ago

Red truck floor mat purchased this fall

Red truck wall hanging purchased 2 years ago

Without any knowledge of our red truck decor Spouse's sister gave us this red truck cookie jar which coordinates perfectly

 And last but not least...

Marvin & Walter in their Christmas bow ties on Daddy's lap on Christmas day

I hope all of you had a great holiday season.

Fins and friends

On Sat there was the gay car club's annual car show in town, and I happened to have the day off.  Steven & Thad and Spouse & I met up with Joe P to look at the beautiful cars on display.  (Big Ella was not one of them, since I don't belong to this Washingon DC-based car club.)

The car show seems to have less and less participation each year.  I'm not sure if its because of 'politics' within the club, or the cost of the weekend's show/banquet/awards, or what but it seemed like only about 40 cars.  The year Big Ella was in it the show had over 100.

But we did see my friend Bill with his Chrysler Newport and our friends Marty & John with their 1958 and 1959 Edsels, so that was nice.  And we took these cute photos.

Steven & Thad

Spouse & me

Later that night after I performed in the Legends show, I met up with Spouse, Steven & Thad at a local nightspot where several of the folks from the car show were hanging out, and I got to talk more with some of them.

New Years Eve

As we've done the last couple years, we went to Dos Locos for New Years Eve.  We love the food there, the owners are always so great to us, and you can order off the regular menu rather than having to buy a 'New Years Eve dinner package'.  

We arrived at 9:30 and stayed until about 12:15.  We had a great time!

Spouse & me

Mike, Joe P, and Steven

Joe P, Steven, Marty, John

Yours truly

 

Dos Locos really decorated for the night!

John

Spouse, Marty, Joe Dos, me

New Years Eve

Tonight we are meeting friends at Dos Locos for a late dinner (9:00).  This will be our 3rd year in a row spending New Year's Eve there.  Unlike many restaurants that have special menus, a live band, and 'free' champagne toast for $100 per person, we like being able to order off the regular menu (at regular prices) and ringing in the new year with a champagne toast, noise makers, party hats, and good friends.  This year it will be Steven & Thad and Marty & John joining us.
 

Thanks to Sean for this adorable photo!

Here is a re-post of what I believe to be a helpful observation regarding new year's resolutions.  Enjoy!

A common New Years Eve custom (in the US at least) is to make New Years resolutions.  Many people find New Year's resolutions to be worthless, since most are not resolutions at all, but rather, wishful intentions that are forgotten within a week. Here are the top 10 most frequent New Year's resolutions:

1. Diet
2. Quit smoking
3. Exercise
4. Quit drinking
5. Quit procrastinating
6. Save money
7. Go to church
8. Wake up early
9. Quit cursing
10. Read the newspaper

I, on the other hand, like to make a few resolutions each year that I really work to achieve. For any chance at success one's resolutions must be realistic and measurable.  How else will you know for sure that you've accomplished them?

"Diet" is not a good resolution because there is no way to measure it.  If you loose 1 lb have you accomplished your resolution?  Technically, perhaps but "Loose 15 lbs" is a better resolution because its realistic and measurable.   

"Stop procrastinating" is not a good resolution, as there is no real way to measure whether or not you've done this.  Being more specific such as "do laundry every Sunday" or "clean the fridge on the 1st of each month" are examples of how you will stop procrastinating that you can measure.

"Save money" is not specific enough.  If you want to have $5K more in your savings account, make that your resolution.  If you want to go to Hawaii on vacation and you think it will cost you $5K, your resolution should be "Save $5K for Hawaii vacation".

One year my resolution was to entertain on a regular basis. Spouse & I picked a weekend in every month and invited friends over for dinner both Fri and Sat nights. The dinners were often simple but we had a LOT of fun. 

Another year my resolution was to sort, throw away, organize and file several bags/boxes of paperwork (ie: bank statements, paystubs, real estate documents, insurance documents, etc.) before April 15 when tax filings were due. What a relief it was to finally accomplish this!

So while you wait for the clock to strike midnight tonight and you ring in the new year with a toast, give some thought to a few realistic, measurable, new years resolutions and then work to accomplish them.

Happy New Year!

Tree trimming/birthday party

Yesterday Spouse & I hosted our tree trimming/birthday party.  It was a lot of fun!

We had set up and lit the tree in advance, and had all the boxes of ornaments out and ready.  20 of our friends came over about 4pm and some of us began hanging the ornaments.  (Several just came for the food and social aspect.)  About an hour later the tree was done and it looked beautiful.

We used to trim the tree ourselves until just a few years ago.  With all those ornaments it took a long time with just the 2 of us, especially since Spouse would always lose interest after 15 minutes, leaving me to finish the tree.  After the 1st time we had a tree trimming party I realized that in addition to the tree getting decorated quicker, it also looks different each year.  With other people hanging the ornaments in different places, different ornaments are 'highlighted' each year due to their location.  I love it!

Once the tree was done we ate dinner.  Spouse made ziti with Italian sausage and homemade meatballs, salad, and garlic bread.  Along with it we had wine, soda, tea, and Prosecco with St Germain.  We served this at our wedding reception and it was a big hit again last night.  I have a feeling this will become our signature celebration drink.  Since my birthday was on Fri, we celebrated it on Sun along with the tree trimming. 

After dinner our friend Tim brought a homemade version of Jeopardy, with categories like "Honey Boo Boo" and "Holiday Movies".  At 1st I thought it was going to be lame, but it was actually quite fun.  Tim did a terrific job writing the questions/answers and creating the Jeopardy board.

Afterward we had birthday cake and cupcakes.

It was a great party and everyone had fun!

There comes a time

Last night we went to the fabulous Miss Coco Peru perform her latest show "There comes a time..." at the Blue Moon. Miraculously I was able to get Spouse off the sofa to come with me and we met Steven & Thad there.

I always look forward to seeing Coco perform because its always hilariously funny, smart, and fresh. She never recycles old stories or material from previous shows as some comedians do. This is my 5th time seeing her perform at the Blue Moon. Read about last year's show here.

I was really surprised when she walked onto stage with a new, short hairstyle! I'd only ever seen her with her classic Flip. But the new hairdo was just a part of her act and not a permanent change. In fact, after the show she came out to greet guests and have her photo taken wearing her classic Flip which suits her so well. Many thanks to my friend Marty who took this photo with his phone and emailed it to me!

One of the funnier bits in her routine was her dislike of skinny White gay men who behave like sassy Black women, doing diagonal 'snaps' and saying things like "Girrrrrlllllll" and "No she di'nt". Its not nearly as funny reading it as it was when Coco was telling it.

That's the thing about Coco: she isn't just a drag queen, or a comedienne, or a storyteller, or a singer. She's ALL those things... she's a real entertainer. Everyone in the audience was thoroughly entertained last night, I'm sure of it.

Coco travels so look at her schedule and go see her!!

Weekend highlights

After the previous weekend being a complete FAIL, thank goodness this past weekend was the exact opposite!

I worked on Sat. I had an appointment to show 2 homes to a couple at 11am who are planning to move here in a year or so when they retire, but may want to buy before then to have a beach house for weekends and summer vacations. Then I had an appointment to show 6 homes to a couple who are renting. They really liked the home I showed them in the neighborhood where they are currently renting and decided to write an offer! I told my buyers the house already had an offer on it but it was still going back and forth with both parties trying to agree on a final sale price. I suggested that if they really wanted the house, they should offer the full list price or something very close to it in order to get the seller to stop negotiating on the 1st offer. They heeded my advice and offered full list price and the seller accepted/ratified the offer! My 1st sale!!! I tried to contain my excitement since I didn't want my couple to know I'd only been selling real estate for about a month. Needless to say Spouse was VERY happy.

That evening we met Steven & Thad, 1 of the Bobs, and Joe P at the Pickled Pig Pub for dinner. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich. Afterward I dropped off Spouse at home and went to the Blue Moon to watch the 1st night of Legends show. My fellow cast mates did a fantastic job! The celebrities being impersonated were Aretha Franklin, Little Richard, and Boy George. The place was absolutely packed (with a line down the block to get it), but somehow I managed to run into several friends, 1 of which was Jeff a guy from my real estate school. I also saw Greg & Gerry and Marty & John whom I know from when we lived in VA. After the Legends show I hung out for a while and talked, then headed home.

Sun I worked in the office all day, then darted home to help Spouse get ready for our Memorial Day weekend cookout. We'd cleaned and gotten organized ahead of time so it didn't take much to get everything set up. 9 friends were able to make it and we had a great time eating and visiting on the screened porch. It was warm but not hot or humid so it was comfortable being outside.

Today (Memorial Day) I was off so Spouse & I went to beach where we met Steven & Thad, 1 of the Bobs, Joe P, Robin and her friend Bill. It was really hot for Memorial Day (low 90s) but it felt great to sit on the beach for the 1st time this season and enjoy the day off. Later that evening we met up with them again for dinner at the Long Neck Diner.

It was a TERRIFIC weekend!!

Friday fragments

Welcome to Friday fragments, my weekly recap of topics too big to forget, yet too small to be their own post.

My friend and frequent blog contributor Jared sent me this funny photo: Is it descriptive of the shape or taste? Oh my...

I'm happy to report that my leg pain has subsided for the most part. I think wearing shoes with orthotics all week has really helped. I also noticed that getting up from my chair several times and walking through the house has also helped. Hopefully I won't have anymore issues with this.

A Facebook friend posted this photo which made me laugh out loud! Such dedication!

I recently discovered 'natural' peanut butter and I love it! No sugar, no salt, no ingredients I can't spell or pronounce; just crushed peanuts. I love the taste and prefer not having those other unnecessary ingredients.

Jared sent me this poignant political quip:

Spouse continues his success on Weight Watchers. In week 10 he lost another 5 lbs, bringing his cumulative weight loss to 43 lbs. And he's not starving himself either. We also continue to eat dinner out, but now he makes smaller, healthier choices. I'm so proud of him!

A friend sent me this, which although a little cold, made me laugh out loud. Sometimes people just need to be told to shut up and move on!

Last night we had dinner with our friends John & Marty at Striper Bites. Spouse, Marty and I all had the blackened tuna over penne with fennel cream and tomatoes. Dee-lish!! John had the Asian tuna with noodles. They had not been here since the garage/bath/closet addition and the expansion of the screened porch so they were anxious to check out these updates. We had a great time together, and then decided to go to karaoke! Now THAT'S my idea of a Thurs night.

The remnants of hurricane Earl passed by here today, although you'd never have known it. We had a slight sprinkle of rain and a gentle breeze, despite the recommendations to batten down the hatches. This is Labor Day weekend, a 3-day weekend here in the US, and I am excited! Although we do not have friends staying with us this weekend, the weather is supposed to be fantastic so I am hoping for 3 great beach days.

Here's wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Crush du Jour: Matthew Herrick

Fun and fabulous 4th

Despite the fact that we did not have company this 4th of July weekend, we had a great time and enjoyed it a lot.

Spouse & I were off Fri so we went to the beach for a few hours. We set up camp with our friend Tim and his friend/weekend house guest Kevin. It was a lovely day, and we saw several other friends taking advantage of it on the beach, too.

The garage finally called at 4:00 to say they had gotten the dash pad back onto Big Ella, although it was not painted, so I picked her up a few minutes later. What a relief to get her back before the parade! Later that evening we drove her to dinner with 'the usual suspects' plus 2 new 'suspects'.
Sat morning Spouse went to the personal trainer and I dropped Big Ella off at the detail shop up the street. I showered, put together Saturday's addition update post, and caught up on a few blogs while Spouse showered.

Then we walked to the art show/sale, which was very nice. I wanted to buy a gorgeous watercolor of a male nude, but Spouse was not nearly as 'into it', so I acquiesced. We walked home, had lunch on the screened porch, and I made 2 pans of corn casserole for the parade-watching party at Mike & Steve's. (I told you I make this for every potluck, BBQ, picnic, cook-out, or other miscellaneous party. Everyone loves it.)

The detail shop called to say Big Ella was done, so we brought her home, then walked to the canal for the boat parade. Folks decorate their boats of all sizes with red/white/blue stuff and sail down the canal. We got there a little late so we only caught the last few minutes of it, but it was cute. While there we ran into a new couple, Paul & Michael from NJ, who recently bought a house around the corner from us. We talked with them and their weekend house guests for awhile, then walked back home.

Then we carried our pans of corn casserole over to Mike & Steve's for the parade-watching party. Their front porch faces the parade route, so they have a cook-out in their lovely landscaped back yard followed by parade-watching on the front porch. Doo Dah fans anxiously await the start of the parade! What is a Doo Dah parade? Click here.

Just after 5:00 I snuck out to walk back home to meet up with John & Marty for the parade. I left Spouse with the camera and instructions not to shake the camera while taking pictures like he did last year. The special instructions must have worked, as this year's photos turned out much better! (Click to enlarge all photos.)

The statue of Liberty comes to town!

A beautiful old Buick.

My friend Chris' Chevy Bel Air. Love that 2-tone green paint!

Below is our neighbor Georgia in the tiara and giant sunglasses.

We jokingly referred to her as 'Miss Compost Heap 2009'.

Parade watchers nervously anticipating Big Ella's arrival.

A beautiful Model A or Model T, I forget which.

This was Big Ella's very 1st parade!

You recall that Spouse is taking the photos, and may be wondering who is in the passenger seat. My friends Marty & John brought their friend Bob with them to the parade. Just as the parade was about to step off, Bob hopped in the car with me so I would have someone to talk to, which was very nice. The funny thing was, Spouse did not know Bob, nor did he know Marty & John were bringing a friend, so as we passed by Spouse thought "Who is that riding in Big Ella with my husband?" When I realized this I got a good laugh out of it!

Another funny thing was that Bob and I were dressed identically: the exact same shirt and shorts. His hair and skin tone are also much like mine, and we are probably very close in age. I heard a parade spectator say "Look at those twins in the Cadillac", which nearly made me cry with laughter!

Big Ella was a big hit in the Doo Dah parade. I lost count of how many men and women complimented her along the parade route. One man who looked to be in his 60s said "That's when they made cars out of metal and steel", which gave me a chuckle.

Directly behind Big Ella was Eddie the Edsel, driven by Marty & John.

Eddie was 'born' in 1959 like Big Ella, and they are very similar colors.

Eddie received lots of compliments from the parade watchers too. Edsels were only made from 1958-1960.

After the parade ended I parked Big Ella at home and walked back to Mike & Steve's house to have dessert and visit some more. Then we walked home, fed Jordan, and took her for a walk.

Then we grabbed our beach chairs and walked to the beach for the fireworks. The town does not put on an official fireworks display, but instead, residents bring their own fireworks and set them off at the water's edge. The weather couldn't have been nicer as we sat for an hour watching multiple fireworks displays up and down the beach. It was fantastic! It was nearly 10:00 when we decided it was time to go home, but the fireworks were still going on. We walked home, washed up, and watched TV for a little while before going to bed.

If you count how many times the words "walk" and "walked" appear above you may understand why I was exhausted on Sun! I must have walked several miles throughout the day. So after meeting Rick & Nick for brunch, Spouse & I decided to follow our 'Doo Dah' day with a 'do nothing' day. We watched TV, he napped, I read blogs, and just relaxed.

Then at 7:00 we met our friends Bryan, Jason, Mark, and Tim for dinner at M. Gallucio, a lovely little Italian place nearby. We enjoyed a tasty dinner and fun conversation.

It was a fun and fabulous 4th.

Crush du Jour: David Fumero