The Den

Once again, its been way too long since I've written anything in the ol' blog. Its so much easier to think about writing something here than to actually do it. So, here's a bit of an update with some of whats been going on with me since October, and a little bit into the future.

As I mentioned in the last post back in October, Jeremiah's back from Spain for a while & it's been great to spend time with him again, and I'll miss him when he flies back to Barcelona at the end of February.  I've also spent some time with other friends here and there, including an evening of Ratatouille with Natalie, Drew, Kenneth, and Sophia. Sophia was only a newborn when the movie was released in theaters, so they never got to see it. So now that the DVD is out, I invited them over one evening to have dinner and watch it. For dinner I made, among other things, 'Confit Byaldi ' , the interpretation of ratatouille presented in the movie, created by Thomas Keller, chef of the French Laundry. It's a fun dish, and I'm sure I'll make it again for more friends.

This year I had both Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with my good friends Wendy and Sarah, and various other friends of theirs. Since Wendy's a foodie extraordinaire, you can be sure the meals were memorable!   I also cooked dinner for coworkers Bethany and Dan on Boxing day. I think more small dinner parties are in my future, I haven't been doing enough of them lately.

Now the holidays are over, finally.  While the Thanksgiving to New Year period always has its fun points with good friends, Its also often less-than-relaxing and I'm usually relieved when its over. Of course life is always full of ups and downs, but the holidays seem to enhance the effects. But once they're over it's a new calendar year, which always marks a kind of fresh start. The solstice has passed so the days are starting to get longer. Spring is just a matter of weeks away. Possibilities abound.   

For all the friends & fun, this year's the holidays were a bit less fun than usual, so their passing is quite welcome. The lessening of enjoyment was headed up by the fact that I had a chest cold (or something) for a solid seven weeks! *cough cough*  Several of my coworkers had the same affliction, and even friends in other parts of the country. It's cleared up now, but it lasted way to long.

So now that we're into 2008, I find myself on hold, not quite yet experiencing the breath of fresh air that January usually brings. That's because on the 22nd I'll be flying to Orlando, Florida to spend a solid week at "The Happiest Place On Earth", Walt Disney World Resorts, with 12 other people from my family and my mom's boyfriend's family.

Uhhh.. right...not my first choice of location for a week off work. I'm mostly going as a gift to my mom, who's arranging the whole thing with package deals etc. But my hesitation is pretty obvious. I know that there will be some very enjoyable moments there - mostly seeing my 5 year old niece experience it for the first few days, and also seeing family I don't get to see very often.  But I'm sure that by the end of a week, I'll be MORE than ready to come home.

Once I'm back from Florida, that's when I'm pretty sure I'll feel the welcoming of 2008. But while I'm trapped in the Magic Kingdom, I'll be online and probably blogging a bit when I'm there, so you'll be able to chat me up or read about the experience.

Oh, and on a final note, just a  heads up - I've got a new domain name for The Den!  I'll post another blog entry about it soon with more details and explanation, but for now you can already start using it by bookmarking http://notlost.org/ instead of qt1r.org.

Happy New Year!