What a wonderful Christmas we have had. We spent time with both sides of our family, ate tons of great food and even managed to tear into a few presents! Here are some photos of the highlights:
'Twas the Night before Christmas
Opening her Christmas Eve gift
Off to a spectacular Christmas Eve dinner
Christmas Day
What a wonderful Christmas we have had. We spent time with both sides of our family, ate tons of great food and even managed to tear into a few presents! Here are some photos of the highlights:
'Twas the Night before Christmas
Opening her Christmas Eve gift
Off to a spectacular Christmas Eve dinner
Christmas Day
I love holiday parties, always have. In fact my closest friends and I threw ourselves a holiday party as freshman in high school and almost burned down my friend’s house with our attempts at mulled cider and Christmas cookies. From then on her mom took us to tea instead and it has been a tradition for the 12 years. I have also gone to tea over the years with friends, had my baby shower at a tea parlor and most recently my best friend treated me to tea at the Fairmont for my birthday. It was at the Fairmont party that we concocted the idea of co-hosting a ladies’ holiday tea and ornament exchange party.
Well, it turned out better than my wildest dreams. The set-up turned out beautifully, thanks to my level-headed co-host who can be credited with much of the planning and also the execution of the tea sandwiches and my sister, who swooped in at the right moments to help with all the last minute details. 
But, even better than the party was the opportunity to have all these great friends over and chat about everything and anything. Having no little ones around gave us the opportunity to talk without having to chase after the kids. It was a much needed break for me, and I hope for others as well. I definitely think we will have to make this an annual event!
I love holiday parties, always have. In fact my closest friends and I threw ourselves a holiday party as freshman in high school and almost burned down my friend’s house with our attempts at mulled cider and Christmas cookies. From then on her mom took us to tea instead and it has been a tradition for the 12 years. I have also gone to tea over the years with friends, had my baby shower at a tea parlor and most recently my best friend treated me to tea at the Fairmont for my birthday. It was at the Fairmont party that we concocted the idea of co-hosting a ladies’ holiday tea and ornament exchange party.
Well, it turned out better than my wildest dreams. The set-up turned out beautifully, thanks to my level-headed co-host who can be credited with much of the planning and also the execution of the tea sandwiches and my sister, who swooped in at the right moments to help with all the last minute details.
But, even better than the party was the opportunity to have all these great friends over and chat about everything and anything. Having no little ones around gave us the opportunity to talk without having to chase after the kids. It was a much needed break for me, and I hope for others as well. I definitely think we will have to make this an annual event!
I think there is some pretty deep wisdom in this little piece from one of my favorite authors -- Charlie Stross. I too am concerned that we as a global population are not on a very sustainable path but the powers that be are too comfortable with the status quo and thus we have a hard time diverting the direction we are taking.
Corporate interests have zero care about the gap between haves and have nots in society, what system should we consider best for the total human sum of the world rather than the consumption sum or corporate sum of the world? For corporations the only healthy paradigm is growth. Right now the “great recession of 2009/10” is supposedly crippling us as a nation since we are not growing fast. Zero growth could be a healthy state if everyone is still putting their mind to good use and creating wealth. Uncontrolled growth, degenerate growth, rapid growth, something ultimately starving the local region of resources isn’t good, it is called cancer!
Take what you need from the world, but perhaps we could all take a moment to think -- how can I make the world better today for the long, long term? My take is politics isnt it, but I am still wondering what is. What can we do to force the persistent ruling entities in society care about the long term. Long term being 10^2 or 10^3 or even 10^4 years? Makes me thing of my other favorite author's book – Anathem. Long term, what is good for us humans? Not sure these multinational corporations and the degenerate democracy we have today is it. Clearly Sophia and my family are my top concern, but I am also puzzling the longer term. What do you think?
I think there is some pretty deep wisdom in this little piece from one of my favorite authors -- Charlie Stross. I too am concerned that we as a global population are not on a very sustainable path but the powers that be are too comfortable with the status quo and thus we have a hard time diverting the direction we are taking.
Corporate interests have zero care about the gap between haves and have nots in society, what system should we consider best for the total human sum of the world rather than the consumption sum or corporate sum of the world? For corporations the only healthy paradigm is growth. Right now the “great recession of 2009/10” is supposedly crippling us as a nation since we are not growing fast. Zero growth could be a healthy state if everyone is still putting their mind to good use and creating wealth. Uncontrolled growth, degenerate growth, rapid growth, something ultimately starving the local region of resources isn’t good, it is called cancer!
Take what you need from the world, but perhaps we could all take a moment to think -- how can I make the world better today for the long, long term? My take is politics isnt it, but I am still wondering what is. What can we do to force the persistent ruling entities in society care about the long term. Long term being 10^2 or 10^3 or even 10^4 years? Makes me thing of my other favorite author's book – Anathem. Long term, what is good for us humans? Not sure these multinational corporations and the degenerate democracy we have today is it. Clearly Sophia and my family are my top concern, but I am also puzzling the longer term. What do you think?
Looks like we are going to have quite a powder puff team in this house as we found out that our second baby is going to be another girl! We are all thrilled about this; I immediately thought about the tight bond I have with my sister and how Sophia and her sister will get that too. I also thought that it would be easier to raise another one of the same, as we already have some experience with girls (of course I am not sure how “easy” any baby really is). 
The challenge for us now is coming up with the right name and also ensuring that we make things special and slightly different for this baby. More to come in the following months on all these topics…..and hopefully pictures of the nursery too.
Looks like we are going to have quite a powder puff team in this house as we found out that our second baby is going to be another girl! We are all thrilled about this; I immediately thought about the tight bond I have with my sister and how Sophia and her sister will get that too. I also thought that it would be easier to raise another one of the same, as we already have some experience with girls (of course I am not sure how “easy” any baby really is).
The challenge for us now is coming up with the right name and also ensuring that we make things special and slightly different for this baby. More to come in the following months on all these topics…..and hopefully pictures of the nursery too.
This year we spent Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, instead of Texas. Being pregnant I didn’t know if I would feel up to the trip to Texas, since the last Thanksgiving I was pregnant I was downright green when the turkey came out of the oven. This time I am happy to report that I felt great, which was a blessing.
I went down to LA early to spend some quality time with my parents and also my high school besties. We shopped, dined, karaoked (terribly) and spent the night at the beach. It was a great mini-vacation and a chance to chat up on girl talk. 
Once Cyrus and Sophia arrived we focused on family outings and events. We took Sophia to Griffith Park to ride the train, but upon arrival saw they had ponies too. Sophia immediately asked to ride one and was put into Duchess. It was nerve racking for the parents as we were not allowed in with the ponies, so off Sophia went on this pony with no one next to her. Luckily Duchess treated our princess perfectly. So well in fact that Sophia had a fit when the ride was over and demanded another round. We were happy to oblige to see her smile and laugh. 
We also spent lots of time playing at my parents, especially on the swing. Look at how cute Sophia and her uncle JoJo are!
In addition to all these events, we had an amazing Thanksgiving. My mom made a gorgeous meal that tasted divine; everything was over the top from the huge turkey to the flower arrangements to the little crystal glasses for the kids. Although Sophia didn’t sit at the table for long, she really enjoyed running around it and tagging everyone as we ate. 
This year we spent Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, instead of Texas. Being pregnant I didn’t know if I would feel up to the trip to Texas, since the last Thanksgiving I was pregnant I was downright green when the turkey came out of the oven. This time I am happy to report that I felt great, which was a blessing.
I went down to LA early to spend some quality time with my parents and also my high school besties. We shopped, dined, karaoked (terribly) and spent the night at the beach. It was a great mini-vacation and a chance to chat up on girl talk.
Once Cyrus and Sophia arrived we focused on family outings and events. We took Sophia to Griffith Park to ride the train, but upon arrival saw they had ponies too. Sophia immediately asked to ride one and was put into Duchess. It was nerve racking for the parents as we were not allowed in with the ponies, so off Sophia went on this pony with no one next to her. Luckily Duchess treated our princess perfectly. So well in fact that Sophia had a fit when the ride was over and demanded another round. We were happy to oblige to see her smile and laugh.
We also spent lots of time playing at my parents, especially on the swing. Look at how cute Sophia and her uncle JoJo are!
In addition to all these events, we had an amazing Thanksgiving. My mom made a gorgeous meal that tasted divine; everything was over the top from the huge turkey to the flower arrangements to the little crystal glasses for the kids. Although Sophia didn’t sit at the table for long, she really enjoyed running around it and tagging everyone as we ate.
Sophia is such a blessing. Here we are having fun putting up her Christmas Tree. She said "I did it" every time she put an ornament on the tree. Too cute.
Sophia is such a blessing. Here we are having fun putting up her Christmas Tree. She said "I did it" every time she put an ornament on the tree. Too cute.
