I've been thinking a lot the last few days about all that has transpired in the last year. It was my first full year in Colorado. Mike and I both feel like we've lived here all of our lives. I have a new and better relationship with my mother-in-law, an old and degenerating relationship with my own mother... I have my sisters, all of whom I've come to appreciate in the last year for their strength, their weakness and their individuality. I have my friendships. There's much to be said about my friendships but this probably isn't the best forum. We'll just say that, because of my friends, over the last year I have experienced many emotions. I've been inspired and disheartened, filled with joy and sorrow, been encompassed by both bliss and anger... sometimes on the same day. I've lost a lot this year. My career as I've known it has gone the way of the dinosaurs. I lost another year to time... 33 used to seem so old to me. I wish I could feel older than 26 but, somehow, I think I got stuck there. I cut off ALL OF MY HAIR! (See how I make that all drama filled? *grins* It's only because I love it short.) I guess, really, I've been taking stock. I feel myself on a precipice. I can sense some of the changes the next year is going to bring and I can't help but wonder where it will take me. I can only hope that I'll be as... blessed. I hope each of you are, too.

Good luck.

My Week In Review...

Sushi with Jenny and Bee was an experience. In a good way. As usual. Fantastic chopsticks from Jenny and much laughter. And much sushi. Raw fish is my favorite EVAR!

I cut seventeen inches off of my hair. I feel wonderful. Free.

Dinner was yummy. I didn't get the ghastly food poisoning that half of our group managed to get. Thank all that is holy. I really like my sister's friend, Matt. He's awesome.

I had latkes. They make my belly happy.

Date night was great. I ate way too much steak and just couldn't manage to convince my brain that my stomach was full in time to stop the pain of over-eating. Gah. Pain. It was SO GOOD though!

Christmas was really... special. My mother made me upset. Really, really upset. It's all okay now, though, and dinner turned out so fabulous that I was blushing with the compliments that came rolling my way. Always the best kind of holiday dinner, right?

Then off home...

Do you ever get the feeling, when leaving someone(s) you love, that you're making a horrible decision? I was so ready to come home... but driving out of town I could almost feel my very cells screaming "NO!"

I miss so much.

I haven't posted in so long... I wonder if anyone even reads it anymore. I've just been so busy. Which is good. With Christmas fast on the approach, a new show going up in the gallery and finding a new home for my bird, I have been swamped to the point of exhaustion.

So, I leave today for Cedar City. The first leg of my trip. I'll be there for a couple of days, celebrating an early holiday with my in-laws. Pagan is getting groomed and my bird, Suki, is getting a new home. Saturday morning we'll be leaving Cedar City for Las Vegas. We've got a hotel room this time around and Mike and I have a scheduled DATE. Just the two of us. I'm so excited. David is feeding me latkes (I've never had them and he makes them from scratch because he's so fucking cool) and I'm having sushi with my Bee and JennyBot. Group dinner on Saturday is going to be freaking HUGE. 20 people. Jeez.

I'll post more when I get back!

I was just sitting here thinking about Michael and how he's always laughing the hardest when he's doing something that makes me laugh. Like over the summer when we were at the park and I'd get on the see-saw (which is my most favorite thing in the whole world) and he'd make me bounce on one end, always cracking up at my hysterical giggles, which I (OF COURSE) burst into each and every time I landed. I love him for loving my happiness that much.

That's all.

Pretty