Transplanted

Man, it’s amazing how much you can appreciate your family during the Holidays if you recently moved to another state (not that I didn’t appreciate them before). It also may have been the lack of snow in Atlanta and the near blizzard conditions, but I caught a heavy dose of the Christmas spirit when I was in Salt Lake.

My very sweet mother put us up for a few days:

And decorated her house in perfect Paula fashion:

And although I had to work while I was there, we got to see lots of our friends, too. In fact, we were going pretty much non-stop from the 22nd to the 27th when we flew back to Atlanta, but it was well worth it. We’re lucky to have such great friends.

Here are a few more highlights from Christmas Eve:

 (Me and my sister.)

 (My cousin Brittany, her husband and little boy, Finn.)

 (My nephew and niece opening their presents.)

 (The adults watching patiently?)

It was a great Christmas. Here’s hoping the New Year is, too.

Here’s something I don’t quite get: I posted this picture (very innocently) on my blog about two months ago. Since then, I’ve been receiving spam postings from porn sites (sometimes ten a day). And I’m wondering how their search engines tagged this photo. Was it the word “dry?” The whole phrase “We were never dry?” Either way, this billboard is about booze, not sex, but I suppose cyberspace doesn’t discriminate.

About a year ago I was watching TV an hour or so before bed when I caught the faint smell of mint. Too engrossed in the show to get up and investigate, I blew it off. Then I turned off the TV and went into our bedroom. That was my first mistake. When I hit the entryway a tidal wave of menthol blasted my senses, nearly knocking me to the ground (okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but bear with me). Seems Brandon had some sore muscles and decided to treat them with Tiger Balm. I was new to the product, so, after regaining my footing, I climbed into bed and figured I’d get used to it. Wrong.

The smell was so strong it kept me awake and after an hour or so I ended up sleeping on our downstairs couch, not at all happy about it either. Brandon felt so badly about the incident he vowed to never use Tiger Balm again in my presence–especially at night. Fast forward six months.

We’re in Atlanta. Brandon’s gone to bed. I’m reading in the living room when a familiar minty smell hits my nostrils. Too engrossed in my book to investigate, I keep reading. When I hit the entryway of our bedroom…yeah, he did it again. This time he decided that he’d put a turtle neck over it as though that would trap in the stench–listen, there’s a reason they call it Tiger Balm! I’m not sure a steel cage would be enough to trap it. The next morning after finding me sleeping in our guest room I got the same apology, and the same promises.

Fast forward two months to tonight. I’m enjoying my dinner. Brandon’s bouncing a basketball on the hardwood floors of our rental. I catch the mild smell of, yeah, Tiger Balm! This time he figured it wouldn’t be such a big deal because he was leaving to go play basketball. Well, guess what? The smell of The Tiger still lingers a half an hour after he left.

And here’s what I don’t get: Each time he used The Tiger he opted not to tell me he was putting it on. I try to imagine him rubbing the pungent salve on his neck or arms or whatever thinking, “Hmm, pretty sure this stuff stinks and I seem to recall Kristy wasn’t so wild about it. Should I say something? Nah. I’ll just put on a turtle neck. Yeah, that’ll work.” So I’ve decided it’s enough of the promises and the “I’ll never do it agains.” I’m going to go find that Tiger Balm and hide it. Three strikes and you’re out, Mr. Griggs.

Okay, so he’s been goofy all his life, but considering much of the world thinks he’s a complete idiot it’s impressive that he is still able to pull off “goofy” right now. Yes, I’m incredibly happy he’ll be leaving Washington in a little over a month (one month!), but I have to admit that his silly side is perhaps his best. Here is a video on CNN that captures it well:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/12/08/moos.bush.boogie.cnn

Been to the gas pumps lately? I have and I still can’t believe how fast gas prices have fallen lately. Here’s a story on MSN.com that details how these prices are the lowest in five years!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28101031

Whew! Over the course of 24 hours, Brandon and I hit three Christmas parties, and all were a great time. First up, The Carter Center bash with great food, open bar and dancing on Friday night then a CNN.com gig Saturday afternoon and The Relix celebration Saturday evening to hear our friend Ed’s band play. I haven’t danced that much in a long time and boy are my gluts reminding me of it!

A Houston couple camping in Yellowstone last summer lost their cat, Fluffy. Yeah, I’m not sure why anyone would take their cat camping, but that’s what the Ayers did. Anyway, the cat was recently found and returned to them.  Read about it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28023574/