Tacky Fugly Holiday Goodness

Our friends/neighbors Mike and Olivia had an ugly sweater party and we totally cheated and busted out our Santa Pimp and his Ho Ho Ho costumes instead of sweaters.  But hey, they were huge hits so it was a good call!  It was such a fun night...everyone definitely brought their A-game with their costumes.  Please to enjoy the fugly:

 Don't worry, it's a fake ciggy.  :)

My precious Paigey

My dear friend Paige has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.  While we're grieving this diagnosis and so upset for our friend for the path she has to go down and the struggles she will have to face, we're also both so incredibly proud of her for all of her strength, positivity and grace during this time.  Her story is hers to tell but I will just say she means the world to us and think of her daily.  If you are lucky enough to know her, or even if you aren't, please keep her in her daily thoughts and prayers as she navigates this new challenge. 

This is such a precious video - her son Carter's tae kwon do class has been so gracious in acknowledging her cancer diagnosis and gifting her with some money to help with medical bills.  I wanted to share (with Paige's permission) because it's so inspiring.

So, with this video I wanted to post a fun pic of Paige to accompany this post, and I ended up going through all the photos we've taken together over the years - all the parties, trips we've taken, holidays, etc, and I had so much fun laughing about some of our shenanigans.  I had such a hard time just choosing one that I figured...damnit, it's MY blog after all, I can post a random sampling and so there! 

I've known Paigey a long time and I honestly thank God for such a tremendously fun friend...she totally knows how to make me laugh and be crazy with me, but is also such a genuine and lovely partner, travel buddy and confidant.  Love you girlfriend!!

Our yard didn't get the memo...

That it's December.  Clearly.

We're back, baby!!!

Over Thanksgiving we went to our friends Holly and Pat's cabin in Mammoth - they were so generous in offering it to us since we had no plans...and it ended up being such a fabulous holiday!  We took Galileo on the road trip and he was such a trooper on the long drive, settling in and getting cozy in his bed.

 Sweet face.

The cabin was so cozy, we spent so much of our time there playing games, pool and just snuggling and reading - it was such a peaceful and lovely week.

 We became "those people" and had to buy G a puffy coat since it was so dang cold - he's never worn a sweater or coat before but it was so chilly and we figured his old guy arthritis couldn't hang with the cold without some protection.  I expected he'd go limp once we put it on (like he does when we torture him with Halloween costumes) but he seemed to love his puffy coat - he proudly strutted around with it and got all excited every time we broke it out.

One night we hit up the Mammoth Village tree lighting ceremony, snuggled next to a firepit and enjoyed some cocktails.

Another day we hunt out with the local wildlife, mobbed Wholly (taking out some kids Castanza-style in the process) and funny enough, ran into a high school friend of mine!

We also checked out gorgeous June lake:

 

But most importantly WE WENT SKIING!!!!! I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to ski again, honestly, with all of my chronic dizziness, but I'd missed it so much and was so determined to try.  After all, so much of our mantra is "it's better to feel like crap and do something rather than feel like crap and sit at home, eh?", so I really wanted to at least get up there and see if I could do it.  And guess what?  I could!!!  I took my meds and was able to ski literally all day and I was so incredibly happy.  I was certainly cautious but I was ridiculously happy - Robbie said I had a huge grin on my face anytime he saw me...and that's how I felt...just so profoundly grateful to have that experience again.  What an amazing day!  Here's a few shots we took, and then of course we had to do the pro shots when we saw the resort photographer:

And by far, this is my favorite series.  The photographer had me dog-pile Rob but then I went rogue....please to enjoy :)