Entries from December 2007 ↓

2007 has been such a great year. I accomplished projects that seemed insurmountable at their beginning and life has definitely changed for the better.

A year ago saw Rick and me standing in Mom’s driveway, surrounded by a massive pile of junk and frantically calling Cathy for advice on how to deal with it. Cathy very kindly came over to help direct Operation Empty-the-Garage. A few weekends later the 10′x10′x20′ garage that had been packed to the ceiling was almost completely empty. The rest of the house and yard followed suit over the next few months.

Finally, the house and practice were listed for sale. And I was finally able to start moving my life to the Central Coast, where Rick had moved a year ago. The apartment search took longer than I thought but I found a charming loft in Los Osos and moved in in August. I left my in-house designer position at j2 Global to pursue a freelance career. I got rid of that piece-of-junk VW Jetta and picked up my super-reliable Honda Fit. Pixel is healthy and happy to be away from the day-to-day awfulness that is Hollywood. We both enjoy our visits to LA, though. (Pixel and Murphy are now good buddies and the Fit’s up to 11,000 miles already!)

Now to plan  2008. What seemingly-insurmountable goals will I complete this year? I still have about 10 hours to figure that out…

Happy New Year, everybody!

I hit 11,000 miles on the Fit’s odometer today. 1,000 of that is from the past four days.

On Monday Rick and I drove to Los Angeles to spend Christmas Eve with some friends at Cathy’s house. Cathy threw a great party with a plethora of delicious food. The next morning was a little rough, due mainly to a giant bottle of Jack Daniels that someone decided we should all finish off. Rick and I had a great Christmas dinner with Dad in Pasadena on Tuesday and then I spent a little time with Mom in the hospital. She’s doing okay. We’re still waiting for various test results.

We drove back to Paso Robles on Tuesday night and then on to Sacramento in the morning. My Grandma Helen (Gene’s mom) passed away last week in Los Angeles. Her funeral was in Sacramento on Wednesday. She was such a wonderful woman and I wish I had the opportunity to spend more time with her when I was younger. After the funeral the whole family had dinner together at my Aunt Carole’s clubhouse and it was great to see them all again after so many years.

We stayed overnight in Sacramento and then drove back home today. I am so grateful to be out of the car and back in my own place tonight.

*Edit: Just spoke to Mom’s RN and she said that they’re tapering her off the Dopamine. If her blood pressure stays up they will transfer her out of the ICU tomorrow!

Rick and I went out to our cars this morning and there was ice on my windshield. I hopped out of my car to tell Rick about it and his neighbor ended up chuckling at my shock as she and her husband went out to their car. Heh.