resolutions and plans

[Full photo set here. Is it really possible that between last August and now I had forgotten how incredible the Côte d'Azur is? Guess so.]

Some resolutions for 2012:

+ Figure out job/country/life situation.

+ Write daily.

+ Run a 10K.

+ Write the first draft of a novel (= at least 50,000 words). It's all right for it to be terrible! That is what first drafts are for.

+ Take a cooking class.

+ Take a photography class.

+ Be open to randomness, such as the solo four-day trip to the South of France I planned at the last minute last year upon having a fit of feeling that I wasn't getting out of Frankfurt enough. (. . . This was approximately thirty seconds after returning from three weeks in the USA, mind.)


Last year at approximately this time: I was getting ready to go to London.

Three weeks from today: I will be on a plane to visit my brother Conor in China for a week, followed by a week in Malaysia with Megan. I think that's what we call starting 2012 off right.

brudders

My brothers (Ryan, green buttondown, and Conor, black t-shirt) and Ryan's girlfriend Mariah are a bunch of goofballs.

colonial williamsburg

  

This one's for Megan, who likes Colonial Williamsburg almost as much as she likes Mt. Everest. Duke of Gloucester Street is a lovely place to walk, especially on a marvelous sunny day just before Christmas when all the houses were decked out with wreaths and garlands.

a tale of two bakeries

  

For Gran's 87th birthday, we drove over to Plaza Bakery (pictures 1-3) and bought half of the baked goods in the world, and then drove over to Sugar Plum Bakery (pictures 4-7) and bought the other half. We made Gran endure a particularly off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" (not a single good singer in this bunch), and then we feasted.

conor and the dog

  

Just Sunny and Conor goofing off, plus Sunny doing what she does best at her advanced age: looking sad and/or possibly dead. (My mom says she plays "dead or asleep?" with the dog every morning. Aww, old Sunses.)

welcome to virginia beach

I spent two weeks in Virginia Beach leading up to Christmas, and have thoroughly remembered why you might want to live someplace with a mild winter. I wore my wool peacoat all of once while I was home. I wore shorts outside, repeatedly.

And on top of that I got to see my whole immediate family all at once, plus my brother's girlfriend, both grandmothers, all of the cousins from one side of the family and my uncle from the other side of the family, some dear friends I hadn't seen in years, and -- last but certainly not least -- Sunny the upwards-of-fifteen(!)-year-old Labrador. Plus I cooked up a storm, hosted a dinner party, biked into the state park twice, biked on the boardwalk twice, went out to breakfast at The Beach Pub and Doc Taylor's (the latter of which is in an old beach house down at 23rd Street -- there can be crazy wait times, but the place is super atmospheric and if you're into brunchtime drinking, there are $2 Bloody Marys to make the wait go faster), went out to lunch at Doumar's and Bite (twice), and bought out the inventory of two excellent local bakeries (more on that to come).

Two weeks is such a great amount of time to be home, I think -- long enough not to feel harried -- though I could happily stay much longer. Are you sure you don't want to take me up on the offer to become the family's personal chef, Dad? I assure you my rates are quite reasonable.

merry christmas from the dog

Sunny doesn't much like being an elf.

weihnachtsmarkt

I'm in Virginia Beach for the holidays, but first a couple of pictures from the Frankfurt Christmas market.

1. The star lights you see all over the place in Germany during the holidays.

2. What happens when you rubberband two full packages of 40 sparklers each and light them on fire. (I stood waaay back.)

Happy holidays!