A week of winter

Well, that was a nice break from blogging, among other things. We returned from Minnesota on New Year’s Day. Our pace definitely slowed for the week that we were there. The majority of our time was split among three families with some travel in between, but it was relaxing. I'm happy to report all of our flights and drives went off without a hitch. You never know what card the weather will play in Minnesota. It was great to see everybody, eat a bunch of excellent food, and to experience some real winter without the opportunity to get tired of it.

Check out our photo gallery from the holidays. It's sort of dominated by our photogenic nephew. R gave me a new lens as a gift, and I got a lot of practice with it taking shots of that little guy. (We even caught him crawling for the very first time!) The lens has a wide aperture, so it's great for shooting in low light and for playing with a shallow depth of field. I regret not owning a lens like this sooner. The results we've been getting so far have made the price way more than worth it.

We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button during our stay in Eveleth. The movie struck a chord with me. I think it had something to do with the emotions that seem to pervade the time I spend with my family during these bi-annual visits. As much as I enjoy my time with them, there's this underlying sadness in the way it feels like I show up only to say good-bye. The movie was about saying good-bye and how the chance to connect can be fleeting even when a relationship exists our whole lives. All of this makes me glad to have R in my life. It's nice to have somebody I don't have to say good-bye to as I don't think I could do this on my own. We returned to California together last week, and I think we have been appreciating each other's company more than ever since then.

On Friday I got a head start on the upcoming work week. Tomorrow everybody will be back in the office, so the pressure will be on to finish some things I left hanging before the holiday. I'm starting to feel like my responsibility at this job is outweighing the benefits. I love being able to work from home, but there are some things related to the recent acquisition that I'm not happy about... and it can't all be blamed on the poor economy. I probably shouldn't be writing about it here, but then again maybe it's okay if a coworker reads that I've been getting my résumé back into shape.

This weekend wasn't as productive as it could have been. I guess we're still in vacation mode. The next three or four months are going to be busy ones, so I wish I would have taken the opportunity to get more done around the house. We did have some fun though. Yesterday afternoon, for instance, we visited a winery down the street for a tasting session. 8 samplings later we found ourselves heading out the door for some tipsy furniture shopping and then a long afternoon nap. We also joined the winery's club, which means we agreed to buy so many bottles a year but also get free tastings (guests included) for as long as we're members. Now you have even more reason to visit us. Speaking of which, we have four separate groups of visitors arriving in the next few months, so that is definitely exciting!