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 :)

RBR Day of fun!

Our little buddy Ruby turned 3 this month so we took her out for her special day of celebration.  When you're 3, it's pretty simple - McDonalds (or, as she calls it "Old McDonalds") and the playground.  Easy Peasy to be fun aunt and uncle at this age :)

We had a blast, she has such a fun little personality and it was such a special day.  Enjoy!

This photo makes me laugh because Norm (their notoriously...ahem...grumpy kitty) looks like he's about to eat our faces off.  Or maybe he's just peevish he wasn't invited.

 Happy faces.

 oops.

 Nailed it!

ROW the prosciutto chicken edition

 New recipe for you from People (where else) - this was a HUGE hit and holy cow, the perfect blend of creamy salty deliciousness.  Proscuitto? Yes.  Melted goat cheese?  Yes, please.  Garlic/shallot goodness? Why, thanks so very much.

This was a super easy recipe and the picky food critic in the house kept raving about it and has asked for it again...clearly a winner!  Enjoy!

 

Girls getaway!

Clearly I'm far behind, this getaway weekend happened at the beginning of November, but better late than never.  My girls and I "ran away" to Palm Desert a few weeks ago and it was so needed/wanted and we had such a blast.  We hit up the outlet malls on the way home and made a huge dent in our Christmas shopping early, so proud, so proud.

Clearly we were busy doing...well...a lot of relaxing, spa time and shopping, because we didn't even take any photos other than these...but I still love a few to remember our great weekend.  Love my girls!

I'm a blog slacker....and here's a brief update for ya!

I've realized I'm very spotty with my blogging lately, but there you have it.  Thank you to all of my loyal viewers - I promise I haven't given up on my blog world if you haven't - I've just been so dang busy lately, which is such a good thing!  Work is going wonderfully and I'm so profoundly grateful for my return to therapy and working.  I love the private practice setting where I'm currently practicing and I'm also really enjoying supervising the 3 interns.  I have my first university class scheduled in over a year coming up in a few months and I'm so eager to return! My sweet Robbie is of course so incredibly supportive of my slow return to work and has been great cheering me on.

Physically, slowly I'm getting better and better.  I had a really bad vertigo setback a month ago but when I went to the otoneurologist and got on the dreaded spinny chair, luckily there were no eye movements (nystagmus) so therefore they determined it was just a nerve damage flare-up and not an actual vertigo where crystals had become dislodged again.  So, no chair ride for me, whew!  Still, it was a mystery why this flare up occurred which was so frustrating, and it was a really tough setback, but I still dutifully did my physically therapy exercises daily, and was trying to maintain the positive mindfulness I'd learned throughout this time to not go "catastrophic" with my thoughts, and slowly over the last month I've gotten better.

As always with my health updates I like to end with a funny, and this bath montage cracked me up and reminded me of when Galileo was smaller (and more spry), all we'd have to do was say "do you want a bath?" and his little ears and tail would droop but he'd dutifully tromp right upstairs to the bathtub and jump in.  HILARIOUS.  Not so much with these guys, I love the Chow and the one completely holding himself up - hahahaha!

The Progressive(ley debachery) cocktail party

Last weekend our 'sac had a progressive cocktail party where several houses, ours included, participated by hosting everybody for a cocktail and appetizer.  The point was to go from house to house, drinking and eating until the last person dropped.  Wowza.  We had an absolute blast, and I have to say I'm grateful we were smack dab in the middle at 9pm because it got U-G-L-Y!  Hilariously ugly and the first rule of block parties is we don't air other people's dirty laundry later.  Here's two nice clean shots of us being nice and respectable early on in the evening in two of our neighbor's homes.  Good times, and I have I mentioned how much I love my neighbors???

My adorable cousin Val

A few weeks back my sweet cousin Val from Colorado visited with her college buddy Olivia.  We had such a blast with those two and really enjoyed hanging out with two such hilarious and smart ladies.  In fact, we had so much fun, I don't think I want to give any context to any of the pics so they're even more random and hilarious.  Please to enjoy the hilarity: