Blog

It was one thing to be awakened in the middle of the night by high winds and waves of rain rattling the windows of our house. But it was another thing altogether to arrive in the office this morning and hear the building “creaking” from the 70-mph gusts of wind. I’m up on the 33rd floor in a building designed to sway in an earthquake. Still, its quite unsettling to walk through quiet hallways and hear the walls and ceilings moving…loudly.

A belated Happy New Year, fearless readers. The stress and hassles of holiday travel have faded, replaced by fond memories of friends and family.

We spent a fun Christmas in Muskegon. A beautiful tree. A freshly-fallen white Christmas. A brisk walk in the snow. And games of Mexican Train Dominoes that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. (If you haven’t played Mexican Train, then you simply MUST visit us and try it out…its addictive 🙂

We took a drive across Michigan to visit with friends north of Detroit. Jeff’s friends Matt and Lisa hosted a festive dinner party…complete with spontaneous guitar jams and expressive games on the Wii.

We returned to San Francisco on Monday and hosted small New Year’s Eve party with some of our close SF friends. A fantastic way to close out an amazing year.

This photo deserves its own post. We spotted these two poorly-placed neighbors in a shopping center in Muskegon. The epitome of one-stop shopping.

Like an old black and white television during a snowstorm, my blog has gone into a Nature-imposed media blackout. Still, the harmless-but-beautiful pre-Christmas snow that is dampening my cell signal seems worth the sacrifice 🙂

Hopefully, I will be able to post a picture or two soon…but in the meantime, text will just have to do…Merry Christmas.

On my drive in this morning, two Christmas songs popped up back-to-back on my iPod. Both are personal favorites that invariably make me sing along and smile. I thought I would dig these up on YouTube and post for your holiday enjoyment.

The first is “Do They Know Its Christmas”, with is message of hope for the world. Its simple and catchy, and always stirs me to try and do more.

Second is a song that Matt introduced me to a couple of years ago…”Marshmallow World”…a true Rat Pack classic with Frank and Dean. Throw-away lyrics about winter-time fun. I can’t ever get this tune out of my head. (Thanks, Matt.)