Highs and Lows and Phone Photos

This was another  week with some pretty severe lows, but we’re going to Italy tomorrow (!) so life’s not all that bad. Here’s a rundown.

Lows:
1) Sick grandparents. My PawPaw Lee, who is ordinarily healthy as an ox, was taken to the ER this week. As soon as he was stabilized and released from the hospital, I was greeted with the news that my MawMaw Estelle was taken to the ER as well.
2) I conked my head on the edge of our car door which has left me with a large cut and a goose egg bump on my forehead, not to mention the nauseating headache that’s been following me around ever since.


Such a clutz...

3) Icy conditions have made getting around town quite complicated and I’ve ended up home bound a lot of the time.
4) Packing for Italy.

Does packing invoke major panic attacks for anyone other than me? It doesn’t help that every time I check the weather forecast, it’s drastically different than when I checked it 3 hours before.

I’m trying to pack light, but that is just so hard to do when (sometimes) the lows for Venice are predicted to be in the teens. Yikes! (You don't feel sorry for me, do you?) 

Alright, that’s enough negativity for one day.

Highs:
1) Book Exchange party at Jillian’s.

Everyone brought a sweet or savoury dish.

It was a great time with great women, not to mention the crock pot hot cocoa that Jillian made. She sure does know the way to my heart.

2) AWA Christmas Luncheon.

It was a special event made even more special by the fact that my friends Nary and Tanvi planned the whole thing. Heck yes, I am name dropping. So proud to call these creative party-planners my friends!

3) Tanvi and Ram’s leaving do. Yes, it was bittersweet, but also a lot of fun, as it always is when most of my favorite people end up at the same spot. 

4) Flights booked: we’re going skiing in France, baby!

Morzine

Life is good. Life is very very good.

5) Discovering Sno Trax which has enabled this home bound runner to get back out there and jog. Bailey and I have enjoyed three six mile jogs over the past few days, one of which was in a blizzard.

There is no bad weather, only bad gear.

6) Snow, snow, snow. It just makes everything look magical and gives me the perfect excuse to indulge in hot chocolate.

7) Last but not least, Mirabell Spring made her appearance bright and early Thursday morning. Mom, baby, and dad are all happy and healthy and I couldn’t be more thrilled for Jill and Brian! And P.S. Is Mirabell Spring not the most gorgeous name you have ever heard in your life? Sounds like a ballerina name to meJ Congrats on the beautiful baby girl you two! (P.P.S. it’s pretty late in California so I didn’t obtain permission from momma and daddy to post a picture of their little girl, but trust me when I say that she is every bit as pretty as her name!).

Now I also have a few phone photos from this week which are too cute not to share. The first is of Jonathan getting ready for his hunting trip.

Hunting here is a business-casual affair and you must wear slacks, a button up and a tie. Gone are the days of hunkering in a deer blind while wearing camo and chugging down coffee. Hunts here are generally catered and you have someone assisting you with loading your gun. They also pre-plant the birds in your area and supply fully trained dogs to assist with the flushing and retrieving. It's basically akin to hunting with the royal family. Jonathan had a great time. So great that he actually labeled it the best day of his life. Here are some of his phone photos of the excursion:

The estate.

Serenaded by a lone bagpiper.

The hunting vehicles. Whatevs. Just some Range Rovers. Totally normal.

Whisky anyone?

Custom built whisky box in a Range Rover. A totally different world... 

Jonathan's assigned hunting spot.
 

Now anyway, back to me....Our house gets pretty chilly when it's pushing 30 degrees outside, so we have to supplement our radiators with portable space heaters. We rarely feel their warmth since our dogs like to sit directly in front of them and hog all the heat.

It's annoying, but super cute.

Since it's been so icy the past few days, I have been utilizing the elliptical machine we brought with us. Samson follows me everywhere I go and so of course he joined me in the guest room while I exercised. It wasn't long before he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and persisted to check himself out for the entire 30 minutes that  I was elipticalling.

I could not stop laughing.

I agree Sam, you are quite the handsome chap...

And to end the week on a high note, here is a snowbow:

Alright, I better be going so that I can finish packing for Italy. But first, what were your highs and lows this week?