Festive Holiday Parties

So, we all know how much I love the holidays!  Last weekend offered the first of many holiday shin digs at Jason's place. Mark made gorgonzola and prosciotto wrapped figs, which were to die for. Jason made his famous spiced cider.  His roommmate (also named Marc) did some amazing decorations with Christmas balls and feathers. And we did experimental photography with my camera (still learning how to use the manual setting) to document the fun.

Mark, Gretchen, Jason and Marc

Note the christmas balls with feathers hanging from the light fixture...genious!

Manual camera effects

Home

Just returned from a week in Pennsylvania and pondering impressions of "home":

• Warm hugs from mom and dad at the airport
• Crisp fall mornings
• Mom's potato salad
• Deep sleep in the back bedroom
• Going through the treasures stuffed in my closet
• Seeing friends I haven't seen in years and picking up right where we left off
• Being charmed by my nephew and his ever-increasing vocabulary
• Home brew at the Langlois
• Wine and catch up time with the Hebs
  
• Stroud Mall movies with mom, sticky floors and all
• Analyzing the PA accent (which I only recently realized existed)
• Dad and football

Jason

I was looking through some older pictures (these are from 2007) today and came across these of me and Jason. Jason is one of my very most favorite people in San Francisco (and possibly anywhere ever). Never before have I met a guy who cooks pot roast that rivals my grandmother's, gets just as excited as I do about hosting Thanksgiving and Christimas parties (the bottom picture is from a holiday party we threw the year I moved here), and doesn't even flinch when I make up stupid songs at random. Jason is one of the most honest, caring, and genuine human beings I know, and I feel privledged to have lived with him and to call him my friend. It was a really hard decision for me to move out of our apartment on Church Street (one I've been really regretting recently). However, I'm absolutely thrilled to be moving back to my old neighborhood this weekend (did I mention that I'm moving literally 1/2 a block away from my old place). Jason and I have already made plans for weekly dinner gatherings and I'm glad to be moving back near Dolores Park (my favorite place in the whole city) and near my "buddy friend" Jason.

A return to the bandwagon...

Wow, apparently I wasn't very motivated two years ago when I started this blog. I literally made it through one post and never updated it again. So, here we go...try #2. Time to start fresh and attempt to do this for real.

I feel like my California experience has been pretty spectacular so far and I'd like to share it more. My goal is to see every part of this beautiful state, and I'm off to a pretty good start. Most recent trip to the Trinity River was a prime example of the amazing sites there are here. Everything from the river itself to the Bigfoot Museum in Willowcreek. Who knew?