La Vida Bonita

Can you believe this was me less than a week ago? Here's the link to Pueblo Bonito.

Iguana del Sol

Timeshare!

It looks like we're likely to return here soon, as my parents just bought at Pueblo Bonito Emerald Bay. It's a gorgeous place -- we're going swimming there now. I'll add the link in later.
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Buenos Dias

Para probar. . . que tengas un buen dia desde la ciudad de Mazatlan. :-)
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Happy Thanksgiving

J had school today and I didn't so I did a bunch of errands and then made it down to the Hall of Justice to watch a trial (fun for me -- a lawyer thing, I guess). Also got to see some friends this afternoon and evening. We're off to Mazatlan now. I'll try to get some good pictures to post when we get back.

The Game

I hear Harvard beat Yale in triple overtime making this the first time in the Game's history that Harvard has won five years in a row. They're apparently cracking down on the tailgating (read *alcohol*) for the first time in history as well.

Decompression Mode

As I have mentioned, it's been a rough and tumble time the past few weeks. J's friend A is sleeping over tonight so I am decompressing by sneaking pork rinds and caffeine free diet coke when they're not looking so I won't have to share. . . am also plotting my next crafting project.

Woo-wee, partay-on!

Holiday Blackout

My colleagues at work and I sometimes have a good time over lunch in the Staff Room by picking over my love life. It can be pretty hilarious, and I definitely fan the flames. About two years ago, *they* asked whether I had gone out again with this one guy (can't remember his name right now for the life of me) and I told them that no, I had blown him off by telling him it was my *HOLIDAY BLACKOUT* period, which meant I only did family things. Needless to say, I have gotten a lot of crap for that one, though honestly, it does get especially busy for me as a family gal about this time.

Zero Degrees Of Separation

That's what it feels like lately, which is partly why I haven't been blogging. I've also been really busy, especially at work. I guess I've so intimately involved with people lately, from parent conferences to things in my personal life, I feel I can't write much. Could be that I'm just paranoid. ;) We'll see if I feel I can open up later this weekend, perhaps taking a look into the bigger world.

Normally at this time of year, I am getting ready to cook a huge Thanksgiving dinner. It's been about a decade of bird-roasting so I consider myself an expert. I usually do all the trimmings and dessert as well, though my mom helps with the brussel sprouts and chestnut dish and the autumn pudding. This year will be different because we're heading to Mazatlan. I might just have to make some of those fixin's for myself before we go so I won't feel like I'm missing anything.

Play On!

It was a relief to have Friday off from work last week, though I ended up going in anyway to catch up on stuff that had been accumulating. J had school, so I drove the carpool, dropped the kids off, and headed to Starbucks with all the other parents -- always a good time in the business of raising kids -- before spending a couple of hours in my classroom.

J's team did the big, end of the season soccer tournament this weekend, which meant playing four games over the two days. They had won the regular season (10-0-0), but ended up second in the tournament, losing to the bully team that they had beaten (for the second time) just the day before. Why they had to play the same team twice in a tournament I do not understand! J was not too bummed -- she had fun and loved getting a big trophy.

I saw my cousin(s) read in Berkeley Saturday afternoon and had dinner with them afterwards. Here's a report.

In the midst of all this, I managed to crochet a scarf and was able to talk on the phone with a very interesting new person S who I (finally) met at my friend's 40th birthday party about three weeks ago. Let's just say that at least on paper, this guy is a total winner with a background and values similar to mine.

The weather was nice today so I swum (outside) while J was in dance class. The weekends should be calmer from now on since soccer is over. J will play more in the spring and may do basketball again this winter.

On Torture

The subject has been coming up in the news for a while now. Let's just hope Prof. Yoo's definition of torture is not what is now accepted for good law.

Game Face

A lot has been going on lately. What an exciting time -- so much seems to be happening in my life I can barely blog! Here's to making the most of things. ;-)
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Grape Harvest

Our friends the P family make their own (red) wine for personal consumption. We were invited yesterday morning to help harvest the vineyard:

Here are some of the grapes ready to be put into the press to be made into grape juice or "musk":

There were about 15 families present so it did not take long to get every bunch off the vine. The hosts served coffee and donuts for breakfast and some older vintages with lunch after the harvest was done.

Midnight At the Oasis

I was a bigger winner at Casino Night yesterday evening. [This is not a real camel, fyi.] My date T spent most of the time playing craps. I stayed with him for a while towards the end basically placing the same bets (since I didn't know what I was doing) and together we won over 200 raffle tickets. T decided we needed to go for the 148-piece tool kit so he put all our tickets into that box, and of course, with those odds, I won. Here's a picture of my prize:

H offered me $50 for it, but I said "NO WAY!"

Also, the theme was not "Night At the Casbah" as I had previously written, but "Midnight At the Oasis" (as above). It was a great time!

The Baskets

Here are the baskets my mom did for the silent auction at Casino Night. Still not sure how much they went for.

Night At the Casbah

That's the theme for J's school's Casino Night this coming Saturday night. My mom did J's class's silent auction project with the kids. It was a beaded basket adorned with shrinky-dink picture charms made by each student. I'm not sure my description does it much justice and had hoped to get a picture to post here. At any rate, the project came out really cute and I'm wondering how much it will bring in for the school.