Hanging Out
My friends from MI, Emily and Drew, are vacationing in San Diego this week so I headed downtown to hang out. We spent some time at Mission beach and then headed to the Gas Lamp district for dinner.
Believe it or not, with all my time spent in Cali this year (4 months!) this is my first sunset on the beach!

Peter hits the road
My little brother Peter has decided to ride in the Little 500 this year at Indiana University...I took him out for a ride today along the PCH. He is learning that road riding, specifically learning to ride the Little 500, is much different than mountain biking to say the least.

Goodbye Steve and Jen!
Steve and Jen flew back to cold and snowy Michigan today...though I am not sure the weather in Colorado is any better right now?!

Merry Christmas!
Christmas in Cali...now that's what I am talking about!

2006 Hot Christmas Decorations...The Blow-ups
Since the blow-up Christmas decorations are hot items, I did a bit of research to see what are most popular and most unique. The Santa on a Harley wins most unique as I have only seen one...this one was in CO.
California's most popular choice is the giant snowglobe...perhaps they are attempting to make up for the lack of snow?
This house wins most overdecorated house of the year...or just plain to many blow-ups! Though there are some unique ones like the Grinch on the doorstep and roof, the Santa that comes up out of the chimney, the Homer Simpson Santa...
and the Bart Simpson on the other side of their yard...appearantly spending bucko-bucks on these decorations is the thing to do this year.

We definitely are not in Michigan anymore!
Growing up in Michigan, it was family tradition to take a hay ride and cut our Christmas trees down in the dead of winter...U Cut tree farms in Cali fail miserably. Seriously, these are the tall trees and my dad is like 5'11"!
With the lack of choice at the tree farm, we had to head back to the city for a tree lot...buying from a tree lot after 20 some years of cutting our own tree down was a bit disappointing.
But we did find a couple of nice trees.
And if you look closely, you will notice an On the Boarder in the background...we bought our trees in one of the local mall parking lots! Definitely not MI...though the better weather is pretty darn awesome! :)

Life Is Good
Another beautiful sunset while hanging out at the dog park!
Cos waits all day long to go to the park and play ball...
And Rudy waits all day long to go to the park so he can steal the ball from Cos and then plop down in the grass...he looks pretty content doesn't he?

My First NFL Game
I went to my very first NFL game yesterday with mom, dad and Peter. The San Diego Chargers played the Kansas City Chiefs.
Peter couldn't wait to get to the beer tent...and this was the first one we spotted after walking in the gate. He later decided that drinking beer at a football game was not worth waiting in line at the men's bathroom all night long.
We got there a bit early and had a chance to explore. This is the stadium before everybody was there. Check out my shirt, before this weekend I did not know who Phillip Rivers (#17) was...now I know he is the starting QB for the Chargers (who happen to be the AFC champions this year and have a good chance at going to the Superbowl.)
During the pre-game warm-up I was looking through the program and happened to spot a familiar face. Kris Dielman (#68) played football at IU when I was a student trainer there and worked with the FB team...so I legitamately know a starting player on one of the best NFL team's out there! In fact, we used to talk about horses alot! :) And I know one of the coaches as well...Cam Cameron is the offensive line coordinator...he was the head coach at IU when I was there...I am not such a fan of his though we had a loosing record the entire time he was there and he did not like girl trainers!
Check out the cool hats we got...Santa Charger hats...for getting to the stadium a little bit early! :)
The pre-game show was the best part! It started out with a little taste of Mexico (go figure considering we are in San Diego) and ended with fireworks and 3 F-18 fighter jets flying right over our heads!
This is the opening kickoff...the first quarter was awesome and the second was exciting with LT (Tomlinson, #21) scoring on 75 yd (12sec) run...and breaking a NFL record. He is pretty good from what I hear! :) In the end, the Chargers won 20-9. Go Chargers!

Back In Cali for the Holidays
Despite an awesome head cold that set in with the last of my schoolwork, I hopped a plane and am back in CA with my parents and pooches...Peter actually got in today as well. The rest of the gang comes in next weekend.
In case you didn't notice the tree behind Cos and Rudy before, take a closer look...only in California would you have palm trees decorated with Christmas ornaments and lights.

(Oh, that little giraffe is one of Rudy's toys...he is a sucker for stuffed animals!)

Secret Santa Revealed!!!
Last night our Secret Santas revealed themselves...they are Eric and Laura Dorsey! :) Appearantly the twelve days of Christmas does not really start until December 11th so that it can end on Christmas but they started early so that it would be over while I was still here...what awesome friends! :)

PS: I turn in my dissertation proposal today and then I will be back to regular blogging!

Two More Days...
And I am ready for a break...as soon as I am done with class I am headed to CA for sun and warm weather riding for two and a half weeks! :)

??Secret Santa??
About the only exciting part of my week has been our Secret Santa. Every day since December 1st some wonderful person has been leaving little surprises for us. Each day the gift has the same number as the date of the month so I am wondering what we will get 7 of tonight???
The first day we got this horrendously ugly singing Christmas tree...let's just say it's a one of a kind! :)

Two Weeks Of Class Left...
And I have to give my presentation in class tonight (and turn in my big paper for this class.) After tonight, one take home final, my dissertation proposal and two in class finals and then I am done. Only one week left!

Colorado Springs' Festival of Lights
Colorado Springs has more parades and festivals than I have ever seen anywhere else I have lived. Last night was the annual Festival of Lights.
Not only was it cold, it was freezing! I think it was about 19F...after standing there for 45 minutes watching the floats I don't think any amount of clothing would have kept me warm...in fact, it was so stinking cold that I probably would not have gone if I wasn't looking for an excuse to get away from my papers for a little bit.
I think just about anybody could be in the parade...all you need is a truck with a flatbed and some Christmas lights around it. This is one of my favorite "floats." I think it was supposed to be a Cinderalla thing and there is a little 4 wheeler in between the horses pulling the thing along.

Umm-Umm Good!
Last night Annie was kind enough to make her amazing lasgna for dinner and tasty applecrisp for dessert!
After dessert, Mandy and Mary were kind enough to give us a private concernt of "Heaven." And then Mary gave a surprise performance of her Mariah Carey rendition...I don't think I have laughed that hard in months!