It’s actually a really good thing that so much crap happened over the holidays, because ever since we got back we’ve both been so slammed at work that we haven’t had much to write about happen and I haven’t had much time to write about it.  So that’s a good thing, I guess.

But anyhow, the fact that I’m here in Seattle writing about our time in California means that we did in fact successfully get home somehow.  As of Sunday, Jan 3rd, at 3:30 pm, I had no idea how or when that was going to happen.  12 hours later, we were on the road.

How does that happen when the car we drove down is still minus one wheel and hasn’t even begun to be worked on?

Easy.  You get another car.

My beloved old Mini had been starting to show it’s age and we’d been talking about retiring it eventually, and thanks to the craptastic economy and a promotional APR, we got a pretty sweet deal (even my dad was impressed, which is hard to do, as he’s a master car negotiator- as a child I watched as he made a car salesman cry over the deal he secured on our first minivan).

I know that it sounds a bit weird to buy a car while you’re on vacation.  In fact, I only know of one other person who’s ever done it (again, that would be my dad, who bought the afore-mentioned minivan while we were on a camping trip).  But, as my dear friend Scott said, “Only you and Mike would buy a new car for a drive up the West coast.  And rationalize it as sane.  I think that’s why I love you guys.”  (This coming from the guy who flew to Munich for 3 hours so he could retain Executive Platinum status with American Airlines.  We really are soulmates.)

So anyways, we picked up the car Monday at noon and packed it up.  Few things are more entertaining in life than an overstuffed Mini:

And we were off to San Francisco!

With one last stop at In n Out on the way.

(Don’t be alarmed- that’s an iced tea in my cup.  Not that I ever closed my eyes and WISHED it was a Diet Coke.  ::le sigh::)

The title of this post pretty much summarizes how I was feeling last Saturday.  Thanks to Mike losing the wheel to his car, I had no idea how or when we were going to get home.  If you know me at all, you probably know that I don’t do too well with this kind of spontaneity- in my old age, I find myself getting more and more anxious when plans suddenly change.  I’m not proud of the fact that I get grumpy when something as insignificant as dinner plans suddenly change, and it’s something I’ve put on my official “very long list of things I need to work on” list, but with no idea of the method or date of our departure, by Saturday I was starting to freak out a bit.  Or a lot.  Like, so much so that I woke up with a popped blood vessel in my eye.  This is the face of stress.

I don’t know if Mike was genuinely concerned for my mental well-being or just getting stir-crazy in Anaheim himself, but on Saturday morning we decided to ditch Orange County and head to LA.  Mike was in charge of choosing our activity, so our first destination was California Science Center in Exposition Park.

I’ve been to this place before for the BodyWorks exhibit (and once in the 4th grade when my mom sent me to Science Camp with my best friend Shannon, where we both wore flip-up sunglasses a la Dwayne Wayne from A Different World, snuck off to the gift shop and spent all of the money we had on astronaut ice cream, which we ate so much of that we both barfed on the bus ride back).  The actual museum isn’t really my thing- it’s a little too kid-centric- but a) it’s donation-based, and therefore cheap, and b) it also has this really cool place called The Annenberg Building that you can rent for private functions.  I’m kind of obsessed with it- I really wanted to have our wedding there before I found out how expensive it was.  Therefore, now I just really want SOMEBODY I know to have their wedding or some other awesome party there so I can live vicariously through you.

Seriously, somebody please get married there.

Anyway, we spent about an hour reveling in the wonders of science.

Then we got bored, walked around Exposition Park for a bit, and left to go meet Mary and wander around Venice Beach for a bit.  (With one small detour to three car dealerships in between.  Typical Saturday.)

Venice Beach is one of my favorite neighborhoods in LA- it’s a good mix of artists and hippies with a healthy sprinkle of shallow bourgeoisie thrown in for good measure.  It’s a mix that is both familiar and entertaining.

We walked down Abbot-Kinney toward the boardwalk, visiting whichever boutiques and bookstores caught our eyes.

Mary had never seen a T-Rex before.  Thankfully, Mike not only knew what it was, but also how awesome it would be to take a road trip in one.  (He can do that without me.)

We saw the Grilled Cheese Truck!  We didn’t eat there though since we already had dinner plans.

We made it to the beach just as the sun was setting.  I LOVE Venice Beach.  Growing up, my dad would take us there on weekend mornings just for people watching- the body builders, the protesters gathering signatures to legalize marijuana, the freaks walking on glass- nothing says “Sunday morning with the family” like mocking crazy people.

And then we saw it…  the drum circle.

There are no words to describe the 80 year old man, dressed in a full suit, dancing in the middle.

After the sun set we met our friend Noelle for lunch at my new favorite restaurant, Lemonade.

Seriously- it’s so good.  Their salads made my tummy sing with joy and Mike’s pot roast/macaroni and cheese sandwich won raves as well.  And they have parsnip soup- parsnips are basically my favorite vegetable in the entire world this week.

After dinner we bid adieu to Mary and Noelle and headed back to Anaheim.  I still had no idea how we were going to get home, but the combination of sunny skies, dancing hippies and parsnips had definitely improved my overall mental health.

Traditionally, we spend Christmas Eve with Mike’s dad’s family.  They have their holiday celebrations down to a science- lots of kids, lots of pretty wrapped boxes, and lots and lots of food.  But it definitely has it’s own special spin on the process.

Dumplings, spring rolls, green papaya salad, noodles and mac n cheese.  Guess who contributed that?

aunts and orchids.

We ate.  A lot.

Highly competitive ping-pong tournaments.

Presents.

LOTS of presents.  Hey, when you have 28 people in one house, the wrapping paper really adds up.

Mike and I had a total of 2 presents wrapped before we arrived and about 20 to give out, so we did what any good older cousins do- we made the younger ones do all the wrapping.  (There is a culturally insensitive sweatshop joke that should go here, but I’m not feeling very clever.)

Passing out gifts.

Giving and receiving.

The best part of Christmas- happy kids.  (We know that kids take Christmas seriously- when we first walked in the door, a herd of boy cousins came up to Mike and said “We know you work at Microsoft and get a discount on Xbox stuff, so we have big expectations for you guys this year.”  Thankfully, Mike was able to score some cheap games and we had some happy campers. For the girls, the Wacom Bambu tablets we gave CK and Havanah were big hits.)

I seriously love these two kids.  They were both flower girls at our wedding and I still dig them.  Then again, I am a sucker for kids who can make a fort out of anything, even Christmas presents.

This is Emily, the other girl cousin.  Equally adorable.

Andrew and Phong are a little too old to be adorable, but I dig them too- especially Andrew’s little mohawk.

Older kids (ok, Tony and Amy don’t even count as kids anymore) are way less cute, but deserve good Christmas nonetheless.

This photo doesn’t really fit anywhere, but it makes me laugh.

Merry Christmas!

Time: 4:05 pm
Location: brea, ca
Listening to: old Dave Matthews
Temperature: 72 degrees
Number of giant glowing orbs in the sky: 1. And that’s all we need.

(I’m totally singing the crap Celine Dione song right now.  Wasn’t Meatloaf in that video?)

But yeah, I’ve been in California for 15 hours.  And, like always, I immediately feel like I never left.  Trust me, I dig Seattle, but there are some things you can’t get up there.

Like this being the first text message you see when you turn your phone on:

Or this greeting you at the airport:

Or going HERE straight from said airport:

And eating this for dinner:

Yeah, some things about California are just GOOD.

Note: I am not technically on vacation until about 5:00 today, and am just staring at the warm sunshine bitterly while having a rather hellish work from home day.  On the bright side, thanks to my trusty Google Reader, I was alerted to the existence of THIS today:

Dude.  It’s $250 worth of the BEST eyeliner known to mankind.  And it’s a collector’s set- which means that somewhere, somebody is a PROFESSIONAL EYELINER COLLECTOR.  They go to eyeliner galas and auctions and buy eyeliner that appreciates in value.  THIS is obviously what I was meant to do with my life.  People, if you love me, pool your money together, email other readers, buy me this and start my new life as a freaking true eyeliner afficionado.  Trust me, I would be REALLY good at it.  I promise.