worth it

holidays, home for the

christmas dinner was at our house this year! and really, it went over really smoothly. we had peppers and sausage (brought by anthony's parents), a braised paprika chicken dish, green bean salad, asparagus, salad, and a vegetarian stuffing. everything was delicious except for.. well... the paprika dish. it was good, just kind of bland. we'd made it a number of times previously and it thickened up beautifully! insanely delicious and eat-able! but this time, it didn't really thicken, which was sad. oh well. there's always another year!





since my younger brother has to work on christmas eve and christmas day, we actually got together and celebrated early on the 23rd. it was kind of fabulous to have a house full of family, and surprisingly stress-free! i have high hopes for future celebrations.

afterwards, our family friend, jesse, came by on his way down from oklahoma and spent the night with us. he (and we) were exhausted. we stayed up, talked, relaxed and then zonked out completely.

♥

cold mornings

on the way to work yesterday

christmas came early!!

TA DAAAAA!!





anthony knew i'd be PISSED if i had to sweep the entire house before we host the holidays at our house. i'm looking forward to playing w/ my new toy!!

smells divine

i love heading home and eating a delicious meal made by my dad. my new goal is to learn a new dish each time i come down. so far, i can make sour cabbage, pan-fried fish and hot & sour soup (other than the obvious and easy steamed veggies with garlic and little soy or oyster sauce).



here he's making breakfast noodle soup with baby bok choy, fish balls and steamed dumplings.

foggy skies and heads

this was the fog that greeted me early saturday morning on sanibel island - it was cold and quiet and lovely. it made me wish i could just traipse around taking damp photos on my own. *sigh*

it had cleared up beautifully by the afternoon - a gorgeous day for a wedding.