Ready for the New Year

It's been a fun week of being flexible and enjoying all the holiday festivities, planned and unplanned. Mom and Jack are ok, although Jack's foot is still bothering him. He may be returning to the hospital next week. We're so happy that he was able to celebrate Christmas with the family at his home in Irvine. Nothing really went according to plan this past week; but that was cool because Gary and I had resolved to go with the flow. Wow, am I ever glad we did that!

Besides the Christmas day meals with our family and friends, we went to Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula instead of Vegas to celebrate my birthday on the 26th. We spent the night and had a fabulous dinner party with friends who joined us, including our nieces, in-laws, plus Kathy J and Pete J. Gary won and I "broke even." We decided we won't be going back to Vegas in the near future because Pechanga is so wonderful. I had no idea it was a four-diamond resort. And the spa re-opened in November after an extensive upgrade remodel. VERY nice!

Another highlight of the week was a trip to Irwindale to see the Mission Viejo float for the Rose Parade. My cousin, Dru, works for "our" new city and has been intimately involved in the float project all year. My sister and her family joined Gary and me to observe the decorating of the float - and several others in the huge warehouse area. We could have been in Hawaii thanks to the fragrance of flowers everywhere. Pictures are included above. We attended a fun party in a tent near the decorating area and came away with Rose Parade souvenirs.

On January 1st, we are being treated to a fabulous day at the Rose Parade thanks to Dru. We'll be sitting in the bleachers at the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado Boulevards with the "VIP delegation" from Mission Viejo, including Dru and her hubby, Larry. It feels like a great way to start 2009. And I'm ending 2008 with more gratitude in my heart than I've felt in many years. Happy New Year!