'Tis the Season to Gobble 'Til You Wobble

I LOVE the holidays.  I love EVERYTHING about the holidays!  But this year I thought I might be homesick since we are so far from home.  Thankfully, Mike's sister Pam flew in last week and stayed through turkey day.  It was so nice to have family here... it made it feel like Thanksgiving!  

We did a lot while she was here.  We started the week off by driving down to Monterey to visit the aquarium.  The wind was blowing in Tahoe, so on our drive out of the basin, we stopped to capture some pictures of the powerful wind storm.  Caples Lake... a pretty small lake... had waves big enough to surf! 

The winds over the pass were strong enough to blow down trees... 

We made it to Monterery just after lunch time and headed straight to the aquarium.  

Pretty starfish. 

Sea otters playing in the bay... 

Sea otters napping inside the aquarium. 

Lots of jellyfish

Mike's silhouette and a sea of moon jelly's.  

Cute little sea horse and fish

A diver feeding the fish... 

BEAUTIFUL Monterey coastline

And we got to see a beautiful sunset over Monterey. 

Then we drove north... stopped in Santa Cruz for dinner on the boardwalk... and continued on to San Francisco.  We stayed the night in Fisherman's Wharf and walked around the city the next day.  Each time we visit, I fall a little more in love with San Fran.    

The sun coming up over the Bay Bridge

Sun coming up over Alcatraz... 

And the early morning sunrise on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sea Lions playing in the harbor...  

... and tons of sea lions sunbathing. 

 We were able to see most of the big tourist attractions, even though we only had a few hours in the city before we needed to head back to Tahoe. 

On the way home, we HAD to stop by a few wineries... 

We finally made it back to Tahoe and stayed in the basin for the rest of the week.  

Home Sweet Home

The rest of the week was full of sightseeing for Pam.  We were even able to do a little skiing.  Thursday I spent the morning in the kitchen... cooking turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, corn, green beans, rolls... Mike made mashed potatoes... and we had apple pie, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin amaretto cheesecake for dessert.  We ate til we were full... we watched the parade... the dog show... several football games... and Christmas movies!  A PERFECT Thanksgiving! 

Friday, we headed out in to the woods with our saw in hand to find the "perfect" Christmas tree.  We quickly realized we needed to lower our standards... none of the trees we saw looked like the full, perfectly shaped Frasier firs we used to get in NC.  Luckily, Mike spotted a really good tree... we chopped it down... came home... opened some wine... pulled out the leftovers... and began eating and decorating!

Thanks Pam for visiting!  We loved having you for Thanksgiving!  Please come back to visit ANY time you want.  

Hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Now, we have a few short weeks until Christmas!  

Stress

Although we live in a mountain paradise, I can't break my old habit of letting stress creep up on me until I LITERALLY explode.  This past weekend was ground zero.  Maybe some of you female readers can relate... male readers probably won't understand. 

It had been a pretty long and busy week at work.  Wednesday evening after work, we attended a free lecture put on by the hospital (it was all about knee injuries and rehab related to skiing) and went out with friends for dinner/drinks after.  Thursday night, I rushed out of work so we could get to North Lake for an avalanche awareness lecture.  By Thursday evening, I was feeling pretty exhausted, both mentally and physically.  Friday, it was time to relax and enjoy the weekend but I just couldn't for some reason.  

Friday afternoon, I exploded.  Here's how it went down:  Mike and I dropped off our bikes for some minor work at the bike shop and headed to get some lunch.  We walked into the restaurant and I headed straight to the bathroom because I felt an epic meltdown coming on.  I couldn't even compose myself enough to get through lunch!  I came out of the bathroom a teary mess and asked Mike to take me home.  Bless his heart.  The next 30 minutes I was a blubbering/hyperventilating MESS.  Once I got it out of my system... I felt a little better and we were able to get some lunch and go for a nice bike ride with a friend of ours.  

Here are some pics from the ride: 

The bike ride was pretty good.  It's ALWAYS nice to get out in the fresh mountain air.  And to think, I nearly ruined a perfectly good Tahoe bluebird day!?!?!  That would have been tragic. 

Saturday, I had to work in the morning but it was a short day, so that afternoon we were able to go on another bike ride.  The trail was pretty snowy/icy in some places and the chain on my bike kept getting stuck and I almost, ALMOST had another meltdown in the middle of the trail.  Apparently I was in a very fragile mood and it didn't take much to start the waterworks.  My dear husband helped me free my chain (twice) and I was able to keep from crying... this time. 

The ride had beautiful views of the lake... 

Seriously, how could anyone be stressed here??? 

Sunday, the lake was blissfully calm so Mike and I loaded up the paddleboards and headed out to paddle a stretch of the east shore that we haven't paddled before.  We paddled from Cave Rock to Glenbrook Bay.  I know that doesn't mean much to those of you who aren't familiar with Tahoe.  Anyway, I took a camera... but there was no battery in it... so that was pretty much a wasted effort.  But imagine paddling with the sun behind you, shining perfectly into the bluest water you've ever seen, with huge boulders the size of small elephants below you.  The lake was like a sheet of glass and there were times it felt like we were literally the only ones on the entire lake.  We worked up an appetite, and headed out to a lunch date of all-you-can-eat sushi.  It was exactly what I needed before starting another week at work.  

Mike: thank you for loving me despite my "episodes."  I wish I could tell you that was the last time... but it's probably not (just being honest).   Love you.  Mean it. 

This blog is sponsored by:

wine... 

lots and lots of wine! 

Life lately....

Well, the last few weeks have been busy and fun.  Sorry for the lack of posts.  Here's the recap...

A few weekends ago, we had a perfect fall weekend.  I was able to do some mountain biking... we viewed the salmon swimming upstream to spawn... and did a little paddleboarding on Echo Lakes.

Our friend Ann looking out onto Echo Lake.

Sunday, we spent the day at Apple Hill which is an area of orchards about an hour west of Tahoe.  We bought apple dumplings, apple cake, and an apple pie for thanksgiving (all homemade of course)... followed by some wine tasting.  

Last weekend we were in NC!  It was great to be back but it was a whirlwind trip.  We landed late Friday night, had my cousins wedding on Saturday, visited Mike's family on Sunday, and flew out EARLY Monday morning.  It was a great trip but it went by VERY fast. 

We came home to find LOTS of snow on the ground.  We stopped by Taylor creek to see if the bears were eating the salmon and sure enough... 

This weekend was a little more laid back... and we really needed that.  Saturday I was still able to do some paddleboarding with our roommate, Karyn (she's a PT student staying with us for 8 weeks).  And we all did some mountain biking Saturday afternoon (even Mike with his gimpy shoulder... you can see his video on facebook).