Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas!


Christmas in Florida is different, but good. I miss some of my family's traditional holiday events: my dad's annual store party, Christmas Eve at our house, even freezing while opening gifts in the drafty family room. But there's something to be said about the Floridian style of celebrating that my parents have adopted. It's relaxing, in the sit-by-the-pool-and-crack-a-beer way. Plus, it's warm. Of course, we've carried on some of our traditions. Mom and I made a big Italian dinner last night and pizzelles a couple days before that. And as always, our stockings were stuffed by Santa when I woke up this morning. But we've also added a couple new twists: a post-dinner bike ride down to the beach last night and sun tanning by the pool. This is a pretty nice change.


Sunday, December 23, 2007

Sarge


After Goldie, our last dog, died years ago, it didn't look like my parents would ever get a replacement. So Jesse and I were thrilled when my mom mentioned that she wanted a dog for her Christmas present this year. We went to the St. Petersburg SPCA on Friday and came home with Sarge - a 30-pound, 9-month-old pit bull terrier. We had planned to name our future dog Mubu, but because Sarge was my grandpa's knick name, and because Sarge really looked like a Sarge, we kept it. Outside of a bit of chewing, he's really well behaved and everyone's having a great time getting to know him.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Notes from Iraq

I met almost all of my college friends at The State News. Therefore, it was only a matter of time before one of them ended up covering Iraq from Iraq. Check out Jamie's blog about an experience that I'm sure is going to be exhilarating, scary, and eye-opening all at the same time.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Wicked!

As a kid, I saw Phantom of the Opera no less than seven times with my family, in addition to Les Miserables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, RENT, Showboat, Ragtime, Miss Saigon, and many others I can't remember. So you'd think I would have seen lots of shows on Broadway in the year and a half I've lived out here. Nope. Until last Wednesday, I hadn't made it to any. For my Christmas gift, Abbey bought us dinner and tickets to Wicked, which was so, so good. She saw it once before, but I'm not surprised that she wanted an encore. The music, the set, and the story (providing a new perspective on one of my childhood favorites) were all amazing. Thanks, Abz!