Happy New Year

 In a little over an hour it will be 2024.  A brand new year is starting. For me it will include gaining a new husband and a new name and more than doubling the size of my family.  And it is a really nice family as I discovered this past week.  My FF and I cruised for the past week in the western Caribbean with his son, daughter-in-law, their three children, and her brother and spouse, The nine of us had a really good time getting to know each other. During the days we went our separate ways on shore excursions, or swimming, or whatever other pleasures the ship, the Sky Princess, had to offer.  But each evening the nine of us gathered for dinner together in one of the large dining rooms, and had time to reminisce and laugh; never cruel laughter, just fun, and tell a little of our history.  I really appreciate easy joyful conversation and we had plenty of that.  Hooray for new beginnings. 

bon voyage...

 "So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good-bye." If that doesn't get you singing, I don't know what will.  So, having said good bye and knowing that we are leaving for our cruise early tomorrow morning, I must close for now and go finish packing.  I will be back, with pictures, just about New Year's Day."  I hope you all have a blessed and joy filled holiday season.

packing light

 I started packing today for our Caribbean cruise.  We leave very early Friday morning and didn't want to wait until the last minute to pack.  So far so good.  I have folded a lot of clothes and it appears that most of them will fit into my suitcase, probably.  Side note here, my FF is wonderful in one more way, he packs his own suitcase.  Which is a good thing, packing one suitcase is enough for me, but I am packing light.  Light weight clothes that is, but sadly lots of them.  Evidently this cruise involves two formal evenings, and five smart casual dress evenings.  What is smart casual anyway?  I suspect they're thinking of something a little classier than jeans and a tee-shirt.  I imagine that what I wear to go exploring a Mayan ruin or zip lining or even going down in a submarine won't really qualify as 'smart casual.'  On the other hand, no matter if I end up the best dressed woman in the place (not likely) or the worst dressed (also probably not likely) I will be enjoying undoubtedly delicious food in the company of my new soon-to-be family.  And, I hear, there is also a casino on the ship.  So, one way or another, we will be having a good time.  Excuse me now, I must go finish packing.

and not so serious...

 I realize that this may not seem as important as getting a marriage license or signing a prenup but, you will probably agree that pre-nuptial shoe shopping is a necessity.  Today I went to Roberts Shoes because I needed two new pairs of shoes; black patent for the cruise and beige patent for the wedding.  Knowing full well that eleven narrows are not the easiest size shoes to find, I allowed myself to be led to the area where they had Trotters on display.  While the clerk was finding shoes in my size (she found two pairs, both of which were OK but not perfect, each priced at $100) she happened to mention that all of the shoes on the sale racks were marked down from their sale prices, so I wandered over to the size 11 rack just to have a look, not at all hopeful, and "what to my wondering eyes should appear?" (no not tiny reindeer) but three pairs of shoes, two of the exact styles I wanted and one pair of Easy Spirit summer shoes. I didn't need those but at $12 who could resist?  All in all I spent $67.  For three pairs of shoes!!!  Happy cruise to me, happy wedding to me. Life is good. 

getting serious now...

 This morning my FF and I did some serious, getting ready for marriage, stuff. First we met with my attorney, having already reviewed the document from my FFs attorney, fine tuned a few details and signed our prenup agreement.  This happened at a downtown business building right next to the Court House.  So, when that legal business was finished, we walked over to the Court House (in the super-cold baby blizzard that was blowing thought the streets) and applied for and received our marriage license.  All very official looking with space for witnesses to sign and everything.  That will happen during the wedding ceremony.  Since we had prefilled the form on line it was a quick and easy process.  After that, feeling proud of our accomplishments, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch.  We headed to Al Azteca, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, had delicious lunches with nice warm Fideo soup, and even toasted our successes with midday margaritas.  Believe me that doesn't happen every day.  Which is, no doubt, a very good thing.  

celebrating relatives

My west coast brother informed me that, on this date in 1903, the Wright brothers got off the ground.  This is special to me because without airplanes I would have traveled a lot less in my lifetime, or taken much longer to get where I wanted to go.  I'm also interested because, according to family lore we are distantly related to the Wright brothers.  My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Wright and they were third cousins or something like that.  

The other relative (or almost relative) I want to celebrate today is my FF because it's "National Maple Syrup Day."  Back at Thanksgiving I baked a carrot cake following my sister-in-law's excellent recipe (another relative to be celebrated).  Carrot cake is traditionally topped with cream cheese frosting and I bought some. I admit I don't make frosting.  Unfortunately the frosting I bought was made with corn syrup to which my FF is allergic.  So, ingenious person that he is, he found a recipe for cream cheese frosting made with pure maple syrup which is absolutely delicious.  In fact it's so good that I am feeling compelled to bake another carrot cake sometime soon.  Or maybe he could make it again and we could just spread it on graham crackers or ginger snaps or eat it with a spoon. I'm not proud.

Tis the season...

 It's the season for something.  I'm sure about that, but today I'm getting mixed messages about just what season I'm actually in.  This morning I spent a delightful hour and a half trying on wedding dresses, and, yes, I found THE DRESS!  David's has a fun little ritual where, when you're sure you've found your dress, you close your eyes, make a wish and ring a pretty bell loudly.  Then everyone else in the area cheers for you.  It was fun. So it must be wedding season.

But then, this evening, we attended the Philharmonic Pops Christmas Concert.  If that doesn't put you solidly in the middle of the Christmas season, I don't know what ever would.  The Children's Choir alone was worth the price of admission.

When we got home from that experience, the sight of my yet to be packed suitcase reminded me that I need to get ready for the cruise we're leaving for on Friday.  That will be in the Caribbean where the season will definitely feel different.  

Tis the seasons to be jolly.  That I definitely will be. Ho Ho Ho!