Let the game begin!

Michael surprised everyone with a family gift this year ~ a foosball table! While Christmas Eve dinner was cookin', we headed downstairs for a friendly game! Reigning champs... Kelly and Papa!

Gopher hunting

Recently, we have lost several plants to gophers, including two of our favorite rose bushes. Koko is doing her part to help catch the darned rodents!

Oh what a weekend...late December back in '07

The winter solstice peaked yesterday at 2:09p.m. We have been busy with some last minute shopping and getting ready for Christmas Eve dinner, but we've been fortunate enough to fit in some fun as well. We've been able to experience some of the most negative tide we've seen in months ~ this called for some serious beach exploration. Last night, Michael and I took our first ride on the Santa Barbara trolley with Robby, Lindsay et al (we can check that off our "to do" list... ha!). Today we enjoyed the magnificent warm weather with a paddle off of Leadbetter ~ my first! Memories are made of weekends like this!!! More to come...

The City!

Michael and I just returned from a pre-holiday getaway to San Francisco! We (literally) ate our way through our vacation ~ dinner at Scala's, breakfast at Sears, lunch at The Slanted Door, dinner at Postrio... see, we're not kidding! We visited the museum, gallery-hopped, shopped and explored this amazing city! It was most enjoyable to walkabout the city in the rain and experience some weather for a change ~ it actually felt like winter. And yes, it was obvious that the holidays are upon us!
On the way home, we stopped in Santa Cruz to watch the surf (hence the photo of the surfers jumping off the rock into the wave) and had cioppino at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing. We had a full three days in the midst of the hustle and bustle of San Francisco! What a glorious time we had! We can't help but say, "it is THE MOST wonderful time of the year... or at least THE MOST wonderful December 17 -19th!!"

Back to the valley...

Today, Michael and I made our way back over the hill to the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Trattoria Grappolo and delighted in wonderful art and the company of dear, dear friends! This afternoon was the perfect ending to a most magnificent weekend!