December already...

I can't believe it. This month has absolutely been flying by, what with the play, improv shows, social functions, moving and Thanksgiving, plus blogging almost every day!

So here we are - exactly three weeks and we'll be flying into Seattle for Christmas. I can't quite put into words how excited we are! I know we were just home a couple months ago for Julia's wedding, but it feels like much longer and I can't wait to see family and friends again and to celebrate this festive time together.

December has always been and will always be my favorite month. What's not to like? :)

Sweet Home.

Thought I would share with you some photos of our place as it is now - all put together (for the most part.

Living room/office, with the dining room in the background.

Bedroom, the kitties not hiding under the covers for once. And yes, that is an exploding hamper - we desperately need to do laundry.

Cute kitchen. No counter space - so whats new. :)

Our sweet 80's era stove we bought for $50 (that is in great condition and works perfectly, by the way!) I was five when this stove was purchased new. I love it, but if only it told me when the oven reached the desired temperature....

Tobias loves to stare out the front door and growl at our neighbors, no joke. What is he, a dog?

Liking it here!

Home.

Chad and I spent the almost the whole day at home, which was very nice after the insanity of moving in followed by all the Thanksgiving excitement and post-turkey comatose phase. Our place is actually feeling like a home now, everything is put away & there are even some Christmas decorations peeking out...

I wish we could get a tree this year but I don't think that's going to happen... unless we find an artificial tree that is super affordable. Doesn't quite feel like Christmas without a tree! But admittedly, it never feels like Christmas in LA anyway.

On fossils and cupcakes.

We celebrated our friend Kaitie's birthday today with a visit to the La Brea Tar Pits, a place we'd never been despite living in LA for 2 years.

We enjoyed some cupcakes with her family in the park outside the museum, and then journeyed inside to take a gander at some pre-historic bones!

Interest facts I learned today:

"La Brea" means "The tar" in Spanish, so really you could call these "The Tar Tar Pits".

There are no dinosaur fossils at the tar pits, since these bones were actually from 10,000 - 40,000 years ago and the dinosaurs died 65 million years ago. Though, in fact, you could say the tar is the dinosaurs.

Only one human skeleton has ever been found in the tar pits, a woman.

The pits are still an active excavation site!

They have found thousands of turtle shells and bones in the pits , but no turtle skulls...

Fascinating stuff!

Full of pie and gratitude

We have some incredible friends here in LA, and were very blessed to spend our Thanksgiving dinner with some of them. Our friends Dave and Mandy hosted (their first time, I believe!) and made an enormous, juicy bird, mashed potatoes and casserole, and everyone else brought a dish along: cornbread stuffing, mouth-wateringly sweet sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce from scratch, sweet Hawaiian rolls... Gorgeous, gorgeous spread! And for dessert, our contributions of pumpkin pie, apple pie and chocolate cheesecake (and don't forget Chad's punch.)

The food always seems to be the star of the day, but for me the true joy is spending time with people you love and support, and who love and support you right back. We could have had pizza and pop for all I care - the real memories I'll take away are about the people - catching up and playing games and just being together.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. See you on the other side of it! The Christmas side! :)

Many good things

I have many good things to be grateful for today.

The sun coming in through our front windows on a chilly morning. I've never seen this in our new place before! I've always left before the sun comes up until today...

Getting out of work an hour early and being able to run some pre-Thanksgiving errands.

A clean house, mostly organized and feeling more like a home.

A (finally) clean former house, which has been a big, dirty project weighing on my mind and stressing me out lately!

My adorable husband, who is making an apple pie - Grandma Evans' recipe - all on his own for Thanksgiving dinner. (PS, yes he is also making his famous eggnog punch. :)

The chance to perform with my improv group tonight, and for our friend Jeff to come along and watch.

The pending festivities of tomorrow! We are spending Thanksgiving at our friends Dave & Mandy's house, and are pretty darned excited about it. How blessed we are to have such amazing friends - first they help us move and then they invite us into their home to share Thanksgiving dinner!

I hope you are enjoying this Thanksgiving Eve, and I wish you a beautiful, joyful day tomorrow filled with family, friends and pie!!

Our awesome friend Krista is awesome...

...because she did a headshot session with us when we were in Seattle in September...for free! She is an amazing photographer who mostly shoots children and families (I know, that sounds wrong), but she's never really done headshots before so we saw a great opportunity for her to get some practice and for us to get some new looks!

Here are a few of my favorites. And also check out her website to see more of her work - she really is incredible.

Last Moments at Waverly

Our last day in the Waverly House - including some snapshots from our "House Cooling" party.

Incidentally, it is a really bad idea to throw a party in your house the day before you move out of it.

Well there goes my good November track record...

...Granted we threw a "House Cooling" party Friday, moved two households over 15 hours Saturday and have only now been collecting our wits a little so I can post the tiniest of updates. Also I didn't have any internet when we were between houses so I don't feel too bad. :)

But we are in our new place, and I am loving it and happy - Even though it is a disaster area of boxes and furniture. And even though we don't have a working stove yet. Even though I am sore in every part of my body, from my aching calves and biceps to the blisters on my toes. Even though I am dead on my feet and just want to sleep for 9 hours and wake up to a nice big hot breakfast, and even though instead of that I will be getting up for work at 6am and eating cold cereal. In spite of all these things I am so happy, and it all feels right. :)

More tomorrow, including photos maybe. For now I'm going tozzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzznrk.

Getting things done.

We've got our truck reserved for Saturday.

We are blessed with incredible friends ready to help us do the heavy lifting.

We've got a fridge for the new place all lined up.

We looked at a stove today, and are looking at another tonight.

The house is mostly packed up (the kitties love the surfeit of boxes.)

Our address is changed in (hopefully) all the right places.

We're on the verge of buying our plane tickets home for Christmas....

And I've been essentially offered a role in a play that opens in February!

Yep! Getting things done!

Fun with exposure time...

SOLD OUT!

I just heard that our entire run of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is completely sold out!

Okay - so maybe it was expected, since we only have 3 shows in a tiny theatre with a sizeable cast, but regardless I am very excited that we'll be performing for a sold out house all three nights. It's going to be a great show!

Little to say today...

It's definitely getting harder to post something every day. But I'm sort of stubborn so I have to see if I can do it.

Today we had our monthly all-staff meeting at work, which always involves a race for the limited seating in the conference room (I'd say 5-8 people are always standing.) Of course I never manage to snag a chair, and today was no different, so I ended up standing against the back wall. However, today WAS different in that I realized I can use this inconvenience for good! So instead of grumbling to myself about how I never get a seat, I covertly did intervals of 60 second wall sits. Who knew meetings could double as workout sessions! I actually do this sort of thing a lot - when I was working a lot on movie sets, standing around waiting for literally hours at a time, I'd do toe raises or knee bends to pass the time and keep from getting too bored. Also when I'm carrying groceries or anything heavy I'll use it kind of as a bicep workout...

...Am I the only one that does this?

Thankful for: A Table

Today we picked up a dining table and four chairs we saw on Craigslist. It's surely nothing to look at, but I am just ecstatic that we officially will have a place to sit, eat and entertain in our new apartment. It's funny - just having a table and chairs in our new place has made it feel more like home.
And best of all, it was free!

Hollywood Sign Hike

It was a clear, chilly, perfect day for this hike which Chad and I first did a little over a year ago. I was very impressed with how much easier it was this time around (though still a great workout!)

Chevy Chase Place: First Glance

Some first looks at our new apartment... she's not much to look at yet but just you wait!

Lost & Found

Our friend Erika had some 'old' photos from back in Seattle that we had never seen - many of which made me giggle, sigh and/or cringe. I thought I'd share some of my favorites here today:
From when we went to Vegas a few years ago... It's harder to tell with the smaller image but I would hazard a guess that we have collectively lost about 100 lbs since this photo was taken.

No idea where or when this was but I sure am happy wherever it is...

Halloween a couple years ago. I totally forgot about this!

I think this was Chad's birthday party at Via Tribunali. Again, really happy to be there.

Camping on Orcas Island. This makes me giggle because of how cheerfully I am sporting that black eye (received from a bike crash along the Burke Gilman.)

Again, no clue where or when (probably Christmas-time) but whatever Chad's drinking was probably really good.

Moving day... Just as we were leaving our beloved little Queen Anne condo to make the long haul to LA. It was a tough day for me, lots of tears and lingering behind. I miss that place to this day... This photograph will always remind me of how much we loved our life there.

Aren't photographs powerful things?