It Was Like This...

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was as sweet and nice as this adorable little tickle-ish kitten. Mine was fun. It went like this...

Turkey. Tryptophan coma. Movie. Sushi. Hockey. Football. More Turkey.

More or less with a little bit of extras here and there, that was my holiday in a nutshell. A chocolate pecan nutshell.

On the train on the way to work this morning, I turned to my friend and said, "I'm pretending that I'm on a train on vacation in Europe." She looked out the window as we whizzed through the underbelly of Sylmar and said, "Yeah, the butt-ugly part."

There is no easy way of going back to work after a holiday. Not even if you're striving to be delusional.

Just Gotta Get Right Outta Here!

I don't know what it is about the day before a holiday. Everything seems really overwhelming...there's so much work to be done before I leave the office early tomorrow. And then there's work to be done for Thanksgiving dinner. And the world doesn't seem to be cooperating with good news for the holiday -- everytime I look at the MSNBC website the story on the front page is about homeless pets, jobless people or the war in Afghanistan. And so when I stumbled across the Muppets doing a cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" my heart sang along. I hope yours will too.

A Royal Wedding On The Way?

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I love British royal weddings. Charles & Diana...Andrew & Sarah...who cares if the marriages ended in divorce? It was all about the spectacle, baby! I was in a store the other day and thumbed through a coffee table book dedicated to "Diana's Dress." Just her wedding dress...can you believe it? I even toyed with the idea of buying it for my coffee table -- I could find that dress in the dark -- it was the most beautiful creation I've ever seen. It had big poufy sleeves and a huge train -- for years after I wore bridesmaids dress with big poufy sleeves because of Diana's dress. And I'm a girl with the kind of shoulders that really can't take big poufy sleeves -- in fact there was one church aisle where I feared I would have to walk to the altar sideways -- the aisle was small and my linebacker shoulders dressed in big poufy sleeves could poke an eye out of one of the guests. And so isn't it nice to entertain the idea that William & Kate -- two people with a limitless budget -- might be getting hitched in order to show us commoners exactly how it's supposed to be done. Besides, it'll give Memaw Queen Elizabeth a chance to dust off the royal jewels. And it would give me an excuse for a trip to London...as if I was needing one...I could always just stay home and watch Fred dance.

I Can't Hold Still

Phew! I've got three different 'to-do' lists and I don't think I've checked off anything on any of them today. I'm starting to think that if I combine my list into one big-ass 'to-do' list that I'll have a better chance of getting to just one thing on any of the lists...but then I convince myself that combining my individually categorized lists into one massive list would be so overwhelming that I wouldn't get anything done at all -- I would just sort of quiver in space. I guess you know where I'm going here -- I feel about as stable as a hummingbird. There's an adorable little hummingbird who lives near the pool in my complex. I call him "Frank." He's a dapper little fellow and seems very friendly.

Home Sweet Home

I don't know about you, but the best part of my day is the greeting I get from Roxy when I come through the door. Back when Goldie and I were living in Los Angeles at the end of a dead end street, I can remember driving a little faster than I should have down the street because I knew I was going to get to see her. When Goldie was very sick -- towards the end of her life -- it was the worst part of my day. My heart was filled with dread every time I turned into the parking lot. After she was gone, it was even worse. I kept hearing phantom sounds of her when I was alone in the apartment. I still miss her very much. Now, my life is filled with Roxy and she's hard not to notice. I can't imagine what it would be like to be away serving your country in a horrible environment like Afghanistan while your pet is missing you at home. Huffington Post has put up some of the videos soldiers have taken of their first greetings from their pets on their return. You can see more heart-warming greetings by following the link. I guess it's no surprise that we all look forward to going home -- and our pets are no small reason why. Two other sweet dog stories to warm the cockles of your heart. Here and here...with extra photos here.

Come On Baby, Light My Fire

The weather has changed from summer to winter. There was no fall. We've started to have fires in the fireplace because they are so cheerful when the sky gets dark out at 5:30p.m. I have such a hard time adjusting to the early darkness. Very soon I will be leaving for work before light and getting home after dark. All the good sunny hours will be wasted at work. Bah! Humbug! The good news is that little Roxy had her first fire. And a good time was had by all.

Backwards And In High Heels...

In one of the most male-dominated sports of all -- horse racing -- two little fillies have dominated the scene this year. They're calling it the 'Year Of The Girl.' And yet...a feat like this is hardly getting its due from the mainstream media. These two little fillies are world class athletes...the sport of horse racing has never seen the likes of these ladies. Rachel Alexandra kicked the butt of the Kentucky Derby winner this year, but she wasn't allowed to be entered into all of the Triple Crown races because she's a girl and her owner's an old-fashioned guy. Meanwhile, five year-old Zenyatta remains undefeated. That's right -- she's undefeated and she's five years-old -- can you believe it? You can watch her amazing come-from-behind win in the video above. It is perhaps one of the most exhilarating races I have ever watched. Seriously! It brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from former Texas Governor Ann Richards. "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did -- only backwards and in high-heels.' Girl power!