I Can't Not Look

I am SO in the mood for Christmas this year. The fake tree is working out beautifully - with all the lights and ornaments, you can't really tell the difference. Rachel walked in last Sunday and said, "Hey you got the tree - did you go to Redondo Street?" Redondo Street is where the tree lot is located that we've been buying from for years. Since you can't have the real tree smell with a fake one, I bought really nice, scented candles. And Tony bought some mulling spices - they make the house smell fabulous!

As it's Saturday afternoon and he played golf this morning, Tony is napping. Afterward we are going for a nice, long walk. It's in the mid-60's here today and very sunny. Fred and Laura came over after golf with Tony and we celebrated Christmas together with a nice lunch.

So, you're asking yourself about this photo, right? Well, when I was visiting Mama and Daddy last month, Mama was showing me some of her pictures, and this one was quite fascinating. The story is that she went outside to take some pictures of flowers. (She makes her own greeting cards, and she likes to use pictures of flowers that she's grown - they really do make the cards pretty.) When she was taking the pictures, she noticed these butterflies. Yes, THESE. If you look closely, you will see that there are two, and they are mating. Have you ever seen anything like that, this close? For those of you that are thinking "why is Hope showing mating butterflies on her blog?", all I can say is - can YOU take your eyes off them? I thought not. And know this - you will think of them again.

Southernly,
Hope

A San Francisco Treat

Last weekend, Tony and I took a little trip up to San Francisco. We got to have dinner with Veronica and her friend, Annie, at Cafe de la Presse (one of our favorites in San Fran with nice French food). We also enjoyed a fun evening at Gary and Pam Elgaaen's house watching The Big Game. For those of you that don't know - The Big Game is Cal vs. Stanford. Obviously, we were cheering for the Bears, but we didn't get the result we wanted. The final score was Stanford 20, Cal 13. There's always next year.

This will be the first year that Tony's not been able to get the Christmas tree with the girls, which makes him a bit sad. As a result, we decided to go a different route, and we're getting a fake tree. It seems an economically sound thing to do, and fake trees look pretty cool now.

And I have to say that he's THE most romantic husband ever. He sent me beautiful flowers at work this week - red and green and white. Why, you may ask? Just because he's "my biggest fan." It's the most amazing feeling to wake up every day and have somebody like that who loves you. And it's reciprocated, as you might expect. Can I just say right here, right now - my husband is amazing and I love him dearly!

Until next time...