Lots of Traveling....

When I took my job, they told me "some travel is involved." Up until the past few months, that statement was fairly accurate. But, alas, I've hit a rough spot and have been doing way more than my fair share of the traveling. In October I went to Redding a couple of times. No big deal, only 3.5 hours from Sac and not too bad. Then December hit. One week I had a hearing in Susanville (near Reno) and had to make a call to a court for another hearing from my hotel room (!) and had a hearing in Sacramento the next day. The next week I had a hearing in Crescent City (near the Oregon border) and a hearing the very next day in Sacramento. Crazy, especially as I almost got stuck in Crescent City. After all this I thought January and February would be calm. Nope. I made an overnight trip down to Hanford two weeks ago, a trip to Fresno last week, another trip to Hanford yesterday, and next week I travel to Modesto on Tuesday, Chico on Wednesday, and Hanford again on Thursday. Most of these are overnight trips. I've decided I'm definitely earning my pay! I've also learned that I don't like to travel alone! So ... if anyone needs any tips on traveling in CA's Central Valley, come see me! If there is a prison nearby, I've been there. :)

Life phases are very interesting things. When I graduated from college many of my friends were dating someone seriously, and many got married withhin a couple years of graduation. I felt a little left out and also a little out of the loop -- they were "couples" while it was still just me. Then I found a whole new group of single girls at my church and my social life exploded. Several years later, many of us are just getting married and now we're "couples." Now, many of my college friends and new friends in Sacramento have kids. While I can now relate to married folk, I can't imagine having kids. I just can't relate to taking care of a fussy baby or active toddler all day; although some say I treat Maggie and Chloe like babies, they're really not the same. :) But I know in a few years I'll be doing just that and so will some of my other newly married friends. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that life is full of changes and you have to have a balance of old friends who may or may not be in your life stage but know you really well, and new friends who are in the same place as you. Also, I'm learning that God provides enough grace to handle each new "life phase" even if we don't think we can handle it. In fact I'm counting on that grace -- without it my kids won't make it past their first birthday!

As I write this post I'm sitting on the couch with my two puppies asleep beside me, and I'm wishing that I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow. I was fortunate enough to get almost all of last week off, but now I'm dreading what I might find in my inbox when I return. Our first Christmas as a married couple was great, though. The Christmas Eve dinner turned out fabulous. My brother-in-law said that the risotto was better than some he had recently had at a four star restaurant (despite the fact that the red wine made it look purple) and that the creme brulee was restaurant quality. High praise! Above are some pictures of our Christmas Eve table and of the house decorated for Christmas. Sorry for the orientation on the second one -- I tried and tried to rotate it, but to no avail. :)

We had a great Christmas day at Dave's brother's house and then my parents came up for a week. They're still house hunting and although they didn't find anything it was nice to have them up here. Some other good news is that my good friend from the OC got engaged over Christmas so there will be another wedding this year!