Presumed to be awesome.

We've had a lovely, low-key Christmas. I finally got around to doing some holiday baking, and there is now a whole array of yummy cookies on our kitchen table. Last night it was just me and my mom; I made some yummy gumbo for our Christmas Eve dinner and we got our festive on with some Malibu rum and pineapple juice!

This morning I woke up to Rhyan in the hallway yelling "WAKEY, WAKEY! Time to open presents!" :D The girls had a fun time tearing through the boxes and wrapping paper and after playing with their new toys for while it was blessedly nap time. Sadly my nap was a short one, as I had to get the turkey and the various turkey-dinner accouterments cooking. The turkey is now in the oven and everything else is done. Seriously, I've done enough cooking in the past 48 hours to feed a small army. Obviously, around these parts, food is the reason for the season! *g*

Like I said, lovely and low-key. Whatever winter holiday you celebrate, I hope you've also had a lovely one, surrounded by those you love. And if you haven't yet, help me spread a little holiday cheer!

Ok, really, I'd like to know where the hell 2010 went. Because it seems like just yesterday that I was at Gridlock, hearing Adam perform his own material live for the first time, and ringing in the new year with some of the most amazing friends on the planet. And then POOF! The year is practically gone.

Good news is there's a whole month left to squeeze every last drop of awesome outa 2010! Who's with me? *beams*

So far, my December is looking like this:

- Yummy Thai food with llandaffaz to catch up from her many travels and to plan our fabulous trip to L.A.!

- Decorating the house and putting up the tree with The Nieces, who are both finally old enough to get really excited about Christmas!

- A sure-to-be FANTABULOUS trip to L.A. with llandaffaz and Vivian (Roadtrip!!!) where I'll get to see my girls coolwhipdiva, _lisalisa_, editorzon, azewewish, and sabrinagb (Hookers, I've missed you! *clings*)! There are sure to be shenanigans and damn good times had!

- Getting to see my boy Adam Lambert do his thing in his final two shows of this tour in L.A.!!! I'm expecting these shows to be AMAZING and for him to pull out all the stops for his hometown crowd. Also, I'm super excited about sharing these shows with some of my most favorite people! *loves*

- Seeing the uber adorable Darren Criss perform live! I understand that there are almost sure to be covers of Disney songs! I'm charmed already! *g*

- Seeing Monte Pittman perform his solo material! Monte is a musical genius and I'm thrilled to be able to catch one of his solo shows.

- Fangirls! All of these shows mean a convergence of sparkly and awesome fannish peoples! I'm looking forward to seeing some of the folks that I met traveling around the country this summer, and to finally meeting some of the ones that I missed before! Mi gente!!! <333

- Christmas! We have two little girls in the house this year, so, even though we're going low-key with the gifts, there will be no scrimping on the holiday cheer. Also...egg nog! :D

- Disneyland!!! The Nieces' Christmas present this year is a trip to Disneyland. So me, my mom, Rianna, Rhyan, and my sister in law (and any of y'all that I can cajole to join me *g*) will be spending four days, including New Year's Eve at Disneyland. Can't think of a better way to say good-bye to 2010 than at the Happiest Place on Earth!

So, what are y'all doing to wring all the awesome from 2010 in this last month? *chinhands*

To be perfectly honest, I wasn't feeling particularly thankful yesterday. In fact, I spent a good part of the day feeling exhausted, over-worked, unappreciated, misunderstood, annoyed, and down-right grumpy. On top of all those decidedly non-shiny feelings, I felt guilty for not getting into the whole be thankful theme of the day, which, you know, only added to the grumptasticness. After a while, I decided that I was just going to give myself permission to feel whatever it was I was feeling. So, I stopped fighting the grumpy and instead I drank wine and ate pie! *g*

And, whataya know, today I can again see all the goodness in my life for which I am, despite, yesterday's grumpiness, truly thankful. So, even though the rest of the country has moved on from thankfulness to rabid consumerism, I'm going to take a moment and be grateful, for all of this, and so much more that it actually defies my stellar list making skills!

• My mom. She's amazing. And she loves and supports me unconditionally. This is priceless.


• My nieces. Rianna and Rhyan fill my life with love and laughter and hope.


• My friends. I'm a better person because of the phenomenal people who I'm blessed to call my friends.


• My health. My body is strong and healthy and beautiful.


• My amazing life. I've had such a fabulous year full of music and travel and friends and just living every moment.


• My mind. Not just my intellect, but also the experience and tools to know that I choose my thoughts and thus shape my world.


• All of the shiny things that make my life so much fun! Amazing music, entertaining t.v. shows, shiny fandoms, Adam (!!!), glittery new make up, dance, books, travel, and, of course, all of you.

Oh, one more thing. I'm also VERY thankful for my cousin's delicious Malibu rum sweet potatoes! So yummy!!! Definitely my favorite part of this year's Thanksgiving dinner! :D

I had a lovely holiday weekend. I drove down to Tucson for the 4th and spent the day splashing around in the pool, eating yummy food, and drinking delicious adult beverages with the familia. I also got a much needed hair cut from my cousin, who set up the back porch as an outdoor salon and styled and cut just about everyone's hair, all while wearing a bikini and high heels. She has an excellent rack so I think that this would make for a very lucrative business idea! Hell, I'm her cousin and so not interested in her rack in any prurient sense, and still tipped her well for the value added service. *g*

I was offline all weekend, so I'm probably behind on everyone and everything. If something terribly exciting and/or important happened in your life in the past five days, please do let me know.

Otherwise, it's occurred to me that there are a variety of assorted things that I've yet to ramble about here, so I think I'll do that now.

:: Last Thursday the D'backs (finally!) fired A.J. Hinch as Manager and GM Josh Byrnes. If you've not picked up on my deep and abiding hatred for A.J. you've just not been paying attention. I literally let out a whoop of joy when I got the text about the firings. A.J. should never have been managing a major league team and we shouldn't be keeping around a GM who thought that hiring him was a good idea. So, yeah, I'm pretty damn happy that they're both gone. I think Kurt Gibson was the right choice for interim manager and I'm curious to see what the franchise decides to do going forward. No matter what they do, I don't think it's possible to make a worse choice than A.J. Of course, getting rid of the faux-manager and the idiot GM in no way is going to solve all of this team's problems. Let's face it, we're a fucking mess. But it's certainly a good start, and I'm glad to see the D'backs ownership finally make that move.

:: I'm not sure what it is with me and technology lately, but the Electronic Gods seem to be angry with me. First it was my laptop that had a complete meltdown. Almost $200 and two weeks later, and it's finally back and in working order. Then today I discover that my iPod has apparently suffered some type of stroke. It's still playing, but my screen is completely out and the menu function doesn't work; so I can only play what I was playing when it was last working properly. Now y'all know that I love Adam Lambert like WHOA, but I'm thinking that at some point soon I'll want to listen to something else. I found a used, but functional iPod on eBay at a relatively cheap price that I'm hoping will hold me over until I potentially get an iPhone next year. But, seriously, what do I need to do to get back in the Electronic Gods' good favor again???

Speaking of electronic gadgets, though, I did order that Flip video camera and it should be arriving this week -- here's hoping it's resistant to this electronics curse I'm suffering under.

:: I got caught up on Friday Night Lights yesterday, and, really, I don't think it's possible for me to love this show any more. Coach Taylor continues to be one of my favorite male characters on t.v. right now. Also, Coach Taylor soaking wet on the sidelines is a beautiful thing! And the Riggins brothers continue to be well intentioned but incredibly stupid and I don't know what it says about me that I obviously have a soft spot for that kind of thing! And I want to be Mrs. T when I grow up. Seriously, she's just awesome in every way. And I'm really liking the diversity in the new characters and I'm enjoying the layers that are slowly being added to these new faces. In short, I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!

:: Another show that I'm really diggin' is Drop Dead Diva. It's pure fluff, but it's enjoyable fluff. And I love that the main character is plus size, and yet the show isn't treating her or her story lines as if "plus size" is the only or even the main defining characteristic.

:: IN FOUR DAYS I WILL BE GETTING MY GLAM NATION ON!!!!! Louisville this weekend! So exciting!!! *throws glitter*

Friday my brother, mom, Rianna, Rhyan, and I all went to the D'backs/Dodgers game. The girls were all decked out in their D'backs gear. The cameraman loved Rhyan and Rianna because we were on the jumbo tron 5 times during the course of the game! Seriously, every time I looked up, there we were. It was a bit disconcerting after a while. Rianna, of course, thought it was the coolest thing ever. And Rhyan was just busy lapping up all the attention she could from everyone around us. Good times!

( Family night at the ballpark! )

It was a good game, with the D'backs winning it 9-4. In the first week of season, the only two games that the D'backs have won have been the two games that I've been at. Obviously, I NEED to be at the ballpark more often! For the good of the team, of course. *g*

We had great seats, just behind the home dugout. So, naturally, I took lots of pictures. Although I didn't take as many as I normally would have, as I was trying to keep up with a very wiggly 1 year old who was hamming it up for the jumbo tron!

( Hot baseball players!!! )

Saturday was spent working. I'm going to be in trial for the next two weeks, staring Tuesday, so I spent most of the day at the jail going over last minute details with my client. For the record, spending the afternoon at the county jail is NOT my idea of a fun Saturday! It was an awesomely rainy and cloudy day, too -- the kind where you just want to curl up with a good book and laze about the house. We don't get very many of those 'round these parts, so it felt like a wasted opportunity. *shrugs* Oh, well. You do what you gotta do.

Today, however, was significantly better as I decided to ignore work for most of the day! We celebrated Easter in our non-religious, candy-filled way at a park. Lots of good food, kiddos having fun with their Easter egg hunt, more desserts than should be legal. Good times! :)

( Rianna and Rhyan in their pretty Easter dresses! )

I hope y'all had a great weekend too!

As y'all enjoy the last few hours of 2008 and ring in the new year, my hope for you is that you're surrounded by those who love you most, that your celebrations be both joyous and safe, and that the new year bring you an abundance of love and laughter. May we all remember 2008 fondly, be thankful for the lessons the year has brought, and be open to blessings, adventures and challenges of the new year! *taps her champagne glass to yours*

No more Mondays!!! Well, at least no more this year. Sadly, Mondays are relentless and will surely be back in 2009.

This week is a strange mix of continued holiday-related down time and the craziness of trial preparation. I have a trial starting next Monday. It should be a short trial, 2 or 3 days at the most. But it does mean that I have to finish my trial prep this week, when, really, I was hoping to still count this week as my holiday vacation. There are a few other work-related items that can't wait until next week, but I am trying to limit my work this week to only what is absolutely necessary.

I really love this time of year, it's reflection on the year that's ending, and it's promise for the year ahead. Work shouldn't be interfering with my holiday vacation time! *grumbles* I'm going to put in a full day tomorrow and half a day on Wednesday, and hopefully I'll be able to take the rest of the week off.

Anyway, here are some end-of-year linky things:

The New York Times has some AMAZING shots here: 2008 - The Year In Pictures.

And since we've only got a few days left of 2008, it's time to start picking our word for 2009. And if you're curious about what other people have chosen for their yearly words, and how they've experienced that intention all of December's entries feature guest bloggers on their words. I have some ideas, but I'm still thinking about my word for 2009, as well as how I experienced my chosen word for 2008. I'm sure y'all will be hearing all about soon, and I'm sure you can't wait. *g*

Yesterday was the funeral service for my aunt. My family can do nothing in moderation, so the service dragged on for hours. OMG my family cannot shut up! I managed to sing along with some of the hymns and I gritted my teeth through the call to "salvation." But thankfully my niece Rhyan was being squirmy, so I volunteered to take her out and we waited outside the church for the next two hours, by the end I had all the small kids out there with me because it was just too long for them to sit still. After the burial, we all got together for lunch, because we are experts in eating our emotions, and the late lunch then devolved into all night drinking, eating, talking, remembering, and, oh yeah, more drinking. I was exhausted, so I bailed early, and, after watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I was in bed before 10. *facepalm* I have no idea what was wrong with me, but I was SO tired.

I slept late and woke up feeling much better, so I think it was just exhaustion on every level. I'm still taking it easy today. My morning coffee has stretched into my early afternoon coffee. I'm watching football and catching up on the interwebs.

Later I think I'll go out and do a bit of holiday shopping. I've managed to get quite a bit of it done online, but I won't be able to avoid the mall entirely. I also need to get my holiday cards bought so that I can actually get them out sometime before the new year. I might do New Year's cards this year to give me an extra week. *nods* At some point this week, I need to get holiday decorations up. Man, why does December not have more weekends in it???

How is this day over? Seriously, this day flew by. Not before I got a great workout in with Trainer!Boy, though. And then I followed that up with a trip to AJ's for PIES!!! In my world, exercise followed by pies makes the best kind of sense! *nods* I've also had Rianna all evening. We went to dinner and then to the movies to see Madagascar 2. Now she's passed out on the couch and I've got some serious cooking to do before I can call it a night -- sweet and sour green bean casserole, cheesy spinach casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, and, of course, the turkey. I'm hoping to get the majority of it done tonight so that I'm not running around like a mad woman tomorrow morning. Chances are, however, that I'll be running around like a mad woman tomorrow morning. *g* One can always hope, though. :)

Before I get to cooking, I thought I'd make my traditional "Thanksgiving Gratitude List," because, you know, tomorrow's Thanksgiving. And, we all know how much I love lists! \o/

Today, tomorrow and every day I am thankful for:

:: ( Jeremy Shockey's mind blowing hotness. )

*laughs* Ok. While I am VERY appreciative of Jeremy's hot ass (and arms, and chest, and thighs...*ahem*), he's really not what I'm most grateful for. Let's try this again...today, tomorrow and every day I am thankful for:

:: My family, who love me and support me, even while they may not always understand me. My mom who has always been the primary reason why I can be whoever I need to be. My nieces who amaze me with their beauty and promise.

:: The amazing women in my circle of friends who support me, inspire me, and brighten my life every day with their love and laughter. You are my family of choice and I love each of you.

:: All of you for accompanying me every day on this journey we call life, for entertaining me, for making me think, for expanding my awareness of the world we share, for letting me into your lives through what you write here, and for joining me in mine by reading my words. Thank you.

:: My body that's healthy, fit, strong, and beautiful.

:: The beauty in the world around me found in music and art and dance and writing and in a million different ways that bring me joy every single day.

:: The hope and promise of having Barack Obama as our President come the 20th of January.

Whether for you tomorrow is a day of Thanksgiving or just another Thursday, I hope it's filled with the people and things that fill your heart with gratitude. And, you know, food and football!

First, a huge, heart-felt THANK YOU to all the men and women who have served in the military, past and present. You are heroes and your service and your sacrifice are very much appreciated.

Second, for the record, insomnia sucks! Hard. And not in the positive, life-affirming way.

As if insomnia wasn't bad enough, last night my car alarm decided it wanted to randomly and often makes its presence loudly known in the neighborhood. Seriously, there must be some sort of glitch with it because it literally went off at least a dozen times between the hours of 1 and 7 a.m. Every time I thought that maybe, just maybe, I was finally going to fall asleep, the damn alarm would go off again. I was not amused.

The only good thing that can be said about my complete inability to sleep last night is that I was finally able to start getting caught up with season 2 of Brotherhood. Holy hell, this show is FANTASTIC! How much do I love a broken and vulnerable Michael Caffee trying with everything he is not to show the world how fucked up he really is? Lots and lots. That's how much. And a pissed off Tommy Caffee is one of the hottest things on the planet. *bites lip* Seriously, if you're not watching this show...why are you not watching this show? It's one of the best written, most solidly acted shows on television.

In other news, Empire has amazing new Watchmen posters here. (Thanks to azewewish for the link.) Dear gods, how fantastically dirtybadwrong is that poster of the Comedian??? Jeffrey Dean Morgan looks so good. *wants*

Now I definitely need more coffee. I'm going to do my best to enjoy the last day of my four day weekend with as much Brotherhood and as little actual work as I can manage!