Back in the saddle

Thursday turned out to be quite a lovely second-to-last day of the week. Around 2 pm I got a call from the insurance company of the other driver involved in the car crash.  The very crash way back in October that totaled my British Racing Green Mini.  Turns out she lost the fight of her citation and they were finally claiming fault.  Hooray for not being at fault and for finally getting my deductible back!

Once I arrived home from work, Jonathan and I took the cruisers for a short ride.  This is the first time Big Blue and I have ridden since the accident on election day 2010.  I'll admit I was a little timid when it came to curbs and turns but with my new helmet strapped on and Big Blue as sturdy as ever, the ride was delightfully pleasant.

Friday evening Jonathan and I joined his aunt/uncle and cousins in a delightful french dinner celebrating Molly's upcoming birthday.  Don't know a lick of French, but it was tres bien.  And, despite no doggy cupcakes, we celebrated Jackson's 1 year anniversary with us. It sure has been a quick year, and we couldn't have asked for a better addition to our family then our energetic sweet Mr. Jackson.

All this leading up to a 3 day weekend... not bad at all.

New View

When we started working on our house we decided to keep the hideous window unit in its place for at least one summer to be sure we could survive without it. We survived. In fact, we managed to make it through what has been reported as the hottest summer ever in Phoenix without even giving that beast a second thought. Time to go.

With the help of an uncle and a neighbor, Jonathan managed to heave the beast out of its metal frame and remove the case from the window without any damage to the woodwork. A job well done.

 

Next Jonathan used his master glass installation skills to install new glass for the window. Taadaaaa, a new and much improved view! 

Next, painting over the red to match the front of the house.

Hupp Holidays

Starting our Christmas vacation off on the right foot we enjoyed a lovely dinner with family followed by a good two hours of searching for our escapee cat. After plenty of neighborhood circling we discovered our efforts were in vain because, as Jonathan figured out, Sydney had been stuck in our next door neighbor's vacant shed the entire time. She is a talented kitty indeed. With our frantic cat search finished it was time to catch a whopping 3.5 hours of sleep before our 6 AM departure to Mobile.  After arriving in Biloxi, Mississippi we made the scenic drive to Mobile where we enjoyed some fried/boiled seafood for lunch, hung out with the kitties and prepared for Christmas day.

For a little over a month I'd been careful to keep Jonathan's gift a secret and was pleased with his happiness when he unwrapped his new banjo on Christmas morning. When I had told Ryan (Jonathan's brother) of the gift his apt response was "poor cats". After presents we enjoyed a delightful Champagne toast, tested our camera timer/tripod skills for family photos and feasted on a terrific Christmas lunch. Post lunch vegetation we challenged our brains with a few rounds of SmartAss, (a Trivial Pursuit like game) and concluded our day with a visit to an independently owned movie theater located in downtown Mobile to watch True Grit. (Great movie!). Quite a lovely Christmas in Mobile.

40 degrees and windy, sounds like a perfect day for a trip the beach to check out Fort Morgan and perhaps enjoy an arctic ride on the ferry. Our first stop was at the Malbi Memorial Church for a few quick and mainly blurry pictures and a little snowfall. Yes that's right, snow in Alabama. Back on the road we stopped at good ole "Tacky Jack's" for a quick bite to eat before arriving at Fort Morgan. Lovely Fort, but at around 40+ degrees with crazy cold/wet wind we only scurried about for around 20 minutes before toe and finger numbness set in. Seeing as the ferry would require a 45 minute wait we opted to return home via paved road and took a bit of a detour in the hunt for a warm beverage. Lulu's, a spunky riverside restaurant, which is apparently owned and operated by the sister of Jimmy Buffett served as our stop. This massive, funky place was complete with outdoor volleyball and stage and all kinds of touristy photo opportunities.

In the days following we hit up "The Shed" for some obligatory Southern BBQ, wandered about a gigantic Mardi Gras store with every type of beaded necklace and silly accessory you could imagine and enjoyed an lovely game of Croquet. Monday night, our wild night on the town, Jonathan and I met up with some past CMSA teammates, enjoyed some surprisingly good Mexican food and a had few drinks. Two came very well dressed for the occasion and it turned out they had come from assisting dinner service at a debutant ball. After one finished describing their duties as past debutant's she finished with a "you know how it goes".   I smiled and nodded, which was surely my most appropriate response method.

On our last full day in Mobile we checked out the local art scene and toured a bit of downtown. We stopped in several galleries and of course found art we'd love to buy but restrained ourselves from further feeding the belly of the Amex beast. One of my favorite art pieces however, was not contained in a gallery and can be seen below.

 

On our trip home from Mobile both Jonathan and I opted out of the toxic backscatter x-ray and instead took part in a little TSA pat down. After Jonathan's pat down one of the agents joked "Now that wasn't that intrusive, was it?" And thanks to a little experience and refined social filters both Jonathan and I knew it wasn't quite the place for a soap box stand against Big Brother. "Not at all" Jonathan said as we gathered our stuff and sat for our delayed airplane. Around Midnight we landed in a cold, rainy Phoenix, yet despite poor weather its always nice to be home. Our kitties were happy to see us and we were all looking forward to Mr. Jackson being dropped off by family a little later in the morning.

Hasta la vista 2010.