Home for the Holidays

Yessir, back home for the holidays.  It’s true, you don’t get a white Christmas if you spend it in southern California, but you do get a little bit of swimming outside in the sun…

…and a little bit of running outside in the sun…

…and a little drinking with friends outside in the sun.

So, I mean, it’s a trade off.

Not to bore everyone (too late), but I was kind of in love with some of the gifts I gave to family this year.  First up:

The Roo (gifted to my mother, modeled by Paul).  I originally saw this on Garden Betty, it’s a frickin great gardening/fruit picking/any sort of harvesting tool.

The MonkeyLectric M210 LED Wheel Light.  For Paul when he rides his bike to the breweries at night.  He tested it out last night, works great.  A driver may feel compelled to pump up the disco music (or seize) when they see his bike, but they will most definitely see it.  Plus you can program it to be any number of different patterns and colors.  WHEEEEEE

In addition to an emergency hand-crank tornado radio courtesy of my mother (who also insisted we go over how it works before we left…she’s worse than I am when it comes to bad weather), Paul and I also received an anatomically correct chicken model.

If you take the plastic off you can see all of the innards, including an egg.  Paul spent about 45 minutes painstakingly putting it together.

And for a special gift to me, NY Road Runners decided to award me a lottery slot in the NYC Half Marathon in March.  Horray.

Trying to enjoy these last few days before the new year kicks into gear…