Visit to Dallas

We didn't take too many pictures of our trip to Dallas, because we were so busy sleeping in, watching the HBO "John Adams" series, and generally relaxing. But there are a few photos documenting our visit.

I was going to take a picture of the fantastic food at Joe T. Garcias, an amazing Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth. When the food came, though, I was waaayyy more interested in eating than in taking pictures. A great place to eat when you're pregnant. Nathan did capture this shot of me looking sad after the meal:


From Dallas Jan 2009

Some shots outside the Amon Carter Museum in Forth Worth:










The day we went to the museum, it was 82 degrees out. Two days later, icicles were forming on Lou and Cheryl's awning. The high that day was 36 degrees.



We walk every day though, no matter what. Sometimes we get other people to walk with us. Even when icicles are forming outside.

The Great Northwest

We had a great vacation in Portland last weekend. Portland is home to some of our favorite people (and dogs.) We got to see Dad and Joy, and Nat and Austen, and Jim and Brien, though sadly we missed Lai. We ate a ton of great food, schnitzel and donuts and scampi and many, many french fries. I miss Portland.



I was enjoying the warmify filter on Picasa.

Holiday Lights

I'm a fan of Christmas. Probably this won't surprise any of the six of you who read this blog. But let's just start off with that general statement. Jenn likes Christmas. I've been known to sing carols in April, and to decorate very small areas, such as dorm room or lockers. This year, however, we have a whole house at our disposal. Right, we were here last Christmas, but between two new jobs and the move the day after Thanksgiving, we didn't really achieve to our potential, last year. We've made larger strides this year.

This is the first time in my WHOLE life I've been in a place conducive to hanging lights outside. Last Saturday, Nathan was minding his own business, sitting on the sofa, playing on his computer, when I decided to hang our outdoor lights. Well, you can see how that turned out.

From blog stuff

Yep. That's Nathan on the roof hanging the lights.



Don't get me wrong. I would have been happy to get on the roof and hang the lights, but that's specifically why Nathan feels like he should do it. I'm way more comfortable up high, and so, somehow, he figures that makes me more of a risk. I was a very good ladder holder, when I wasn't taking the photos. :)

My contribution to our "lightscape" was two strands of snowflake lights strung through two of our front garden beds. These things are cool. They are snowflakes on stakes, and you can set them to either stay white all night, or set them to "spectra," which means they cycle through six different colors. They are SOLAR powered....so they charge all day, and then glow through the night. Plus, like all our holiday lights this year, they are LEDs--very bright, and energy efficient. Though a bit difficult to photograph:


Here they are, in our front yard, a little blurry. They are set to spectra, but because the photo took thirty seconds to take, or something, they cycled through their whole color spectrum, and here they look white. That's kinda cool theoretically, but kinda annoying photographically.

Here's one all swirly:


In conclusion, let me say, that in the past, I've been known to be somewhat critical of the light displays of other folks, who, let's face it, are probably just as enthused about Christmas as I am. In fact, a certain someone and I (Hi Lacy!) spent hours every year, driving around rating Christmas Lights Displays, for our own amusement. We have our own rating scale, called the HollyBerry Scale, where one HollyBerry is not so great and five HollyBerries are awarded to the most lovely, most precise displays.

I stand by our system! I do! If you're going to hang lights, people, hang them with pride!! But I have come to understand this year just exactly how MUCH goes into the precise hanging of lights. It's not easy. Even for people with good intentions and husbands wiling to climb ladders. Our house is not a Five HollyBerry house. Not this year, anyway. :)

Yachats Trip

I've done it again!! More than a week has gone by since Nathan and I made a great trip to the Norther West. We spent last weekend in Yachats with Dad and Joy, and had a delightful time. We ate more dairy products than is decent. I had ice cream every day (Tillamook, Chocolate and Peanut Butter if you must know) and we ate plenty of good sea food. The weather was fairly cooperative. Dad and Nathan and Shadow and I took an epic trek along the beach on our first full day there, three miles down wind, and then three more challenging miles back upwind. We visited the Yaquina Head Lighthouse, and saw some charismatic macrofauna. All in all, a delightful weekend!! (More pictures when I can pry them from Nathan's phone.)





You can always click on the slideshow to enjoy the photos at your own speed.

August. Fresno. Wedding.

Three words that, together, would normally make me cringe. Who wants to be dressed up where it's bound to be 145 degrees in the shade. But, this weekend, we did indeed go to a lovely outdoor wedding, in mid August, outdoors, in Fresno. And it was delightful!! The weather gods were quite kind. We got there early, and snagged some shady seats, but there was a gentle breeze blowing. And dragonflies everywhere. Very scenic.

Here are a few of my favorite photos. You can click on any of them to get to the Picasa album. Just the usual George clan. :)

From Michelle's We...

From Michelle's We...

From Michelle's We...