Holidays at the San Francisco Hyatt Regency

Just because the Hyatt created such magic in San Francisco for the holidays, I wanted to post a few more pictures here.  Lys and I enjoyed lunching in this beautiful lobby and then taking pictures and studying the miniature snow village.  I hope you'll enjoy them, too.

 Notice the little stream that runs through the lobby above? 

 Hundreds of animated minatures created a village on a large platform....

 I especially loved the lighthouse.

A New Year Begins

Year after year I sit down and map out my goals for the year.  I love New Years, the clean slate, the spirit of renewal, even the sense of "no-more-procrastinating" that comes with it. My goals are personal and I keep them private (except that my daughters and I go over our lists with each another -- it's part of the fun!), so I won't post them here, but I'm inspired to move forward with them.  Without realizing it, it dawned on me that I'd been working on the Fruits of the Spirit over the last few years  One year I worked on adding Joy into my life, another year Kindness.  This year I made a conscious decision to have Self-Control as my theme word.

Tomorrow is the last day of my Christmas vacation. This Christmas was "different."  Perhaps it was because my girls and I were not able to participate in many of the pre-Christmas traditions with their living in the city and having busy work schedules.  Then, of course, Frosty's injury has been all-consuming.  He has had a round of vet visits, infections, med changes and another surgery, but I think he is finally out of the woods.  (I could write a book about what we've been through with all of that, but I'll save it for another time.)

Poor Frosty -- another surgery on January 2nd -- but this should do the trick!

But what we didn't get to do before Christmas, we did after Christmas!  Last Friday, Ash was in town and we went out for shopping, lunch, and to see "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." We really enjoyed it and decided the trailer doesn't do it justice.

The next day I drove up to San Francisco and Lys and I spent a fabulous day together there!  We went to the Hyatt for lunch, where it snowed (okay, fake man-made snow) in the lobby.

 

We then walked past the ice skating rink...

 ... to the historical Ferry Building! This is the architecture that helped the building survive

 the Great Earthquake of 1906.

It still serves the ferries for the Bay area, but also hosts many restaurants and shops, such as this unique "Far West Fungi" (mushroom) shop, decorated for Christmas.

We went outside and watched the ferries come and go and the view of the double-decker Bay Bridge, just enjoying the beautiful California weather. We had a wonderful day and evening together! 

Sunday I went to a holiday party in Pebble Beach.  My husband and I lived there for a couple of years and I still miss the ocean view and deer.  I snapped this picture on the road that we lived on, with the golf course behind our house.  I would wait until the golfers finished for the day and then every afternoon I walked the 1.5 miles to the beach and back.  It is one of my fondest memories.  I would see deer grazing, little red foxes running under logs, and then sat on a big piece of driftwood and watched the waves roll in before turning around and heading back home.  It is what made a walker out of me! 

My friend and her husband had invited several of us for "wine and canapes," but they had enough delicious food for a feast!  They had Christmas trees in almost every room, each with a different theme, creating a most enchanting setting.

So all's well that ends well!  Happy New Year!