Two Parades

While Washington was having it's own inaugural parade, we were excited to send out new model down the road with a parade of vehicles.

From the drawing board in April 2008, to heading down the road in January, it's now on it's way to the Miami Boat Show...has quite a trip there. From the pictures, you can see from the size that it requires a five car escort. A pole care in the lead (to make sure it can go under bridges), a police car, a wide load vehicle, then THE YACHT, another wide load vehicle and finally another police car to end the procession. Once it goes in the water later this week, it will have to have the bridge installed (sits on top of the boat for the captain to drive from), then it has a several day of grueling travel by water to FL. With no hardtop, there is no protection from the sun or other elements as it travels.

Living in the Desert

On the way to work this morning, this coyote strolled across the road in front of me, not far from my house. I grabbed my camera and took some pictures...making me a little late for work. It was the first time I've seen a coyote since moving here, and definitely the first time I saw one so close. I saw the coyote after seeing a beautiful sunrise this morning. What a great start to the week.

Venice Beach, CA

Today, a friend and I went to Venice Beach. It was an interesting place to people watch. We walked from the bottom part of Venice Beach almost to the Santa Monica Pier. Here is a picture of the beach and pier.

Fikus

Cats really enjoy finding a patch of sunlight to snuggle up in. I tried getting this picture of Fikus a few minutes earlier, but the sunlight caught on the lens and a light starting reflecting across the floor, so he started chasing it.

Queen Mary, Long Beach

My parents, aunt and I went to Long Beach to see the Queen Mary. The attached link has some interesting facts comparing the Queen Mary to the Titanic (click on the work lonk that is underlined).

On the way home, we drove up Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Instead of Christmas decorations, there were Baccarat Chandeliers in glass cases. There were 20 of them valued at over $50k/piece compliments of the 240 year old Baccarat company.

New Curtains

My parents help me install some new curtains in my living room, entryway and dining room.

Christmas Photos

This evening I was able to take a few pictures of my parents. My mum was trying on a new outfit that she purchased for a special occasion that's coming up soon.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to each one of you! For Christmas, my parents, Ann (my aunt from England), Duncan (my brother), Marlene (Duncan's fiance), Bob and Betty (Marlene's parents) were all here to celebrate.

The Glory of Christmas

The snow melted enough today so that we could go see the Glory of Christmas at the Chrystal Cathedral. Before the program, we had supper at the Cheesecake Factory. My aunt from England had never been to one before. The Christmas program was really good with Angels flying through the top of the church, live animals and great costumes. Driving home the roads were good except the last 6-8 miles which was mostly black ice due to the freezing temperatures. (not my pictures)

More Snow!

What a winter wonderland. Yesterday, we had about a foot of snow. Quite exciting for my parents and aunt that haven't seen this much snow since living in New England and I hadn't seen this much in years. It looks beautiful everywhere. Who knew SoCal had this much snow?! I cleared off my driveway with a dustpan and rubbermaid lid as I didn't have anything else that resembled a shovel. I closed the office around noon (yesterday). It took me 1 1/2 hours to drive home and get the car into the garage...usually only takes 15-20 minutes. Work was cancelled today as the parking lot was covered with a foot of snow and roads were pretty bad in the morning. It was our bosses last day and we had a big thing planned, so we had to postpone it until January when he'll be back this way.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

This morning we had a light powdering of snow. It looked really pretty, but didn't last.

Christmas Decorations

Tonight, I put up the Christmas tree. Tomorrow is cleaning night, then family will start arriving for the holidays.

Christmas Lights

This evening, I went with some friends (Ovi, Stephanie and their two kids) to the historic Mission Inn in Riverside to see the Christmas Lights. I took a few pictures of their family.
Here are pictures of the lights

Fire! Fire!

When my friend Steve moved into his house, he had a cleaning crew coming in and clean. Apparently, they missed the broiler plate under the oven.

On Friday evening, Steve was having about 30 people over for dinner. He had the oven on for about 4 hours cooking lots of lasagna. After everyone was there (except me), the oven caught on fire. Thankfully, he had a fire extinguisher to help put some of the fire out, but he used that all up, so had to call the fire department. People said that when Steve came out the kitchen, there was some coming out his mouth and nose from when he was in there trying to put the fire out. The wall behind the stove was 160 degrees and there was a concern that insulation might catch on fire, but thankfully it didn't. When I got there, the trucks had left, but there was ash on everything. The evening still was a success, there was plenty of other food and people all had a great time.

NOTE: If you don't own a fire extinguisher, go buy one. Safety First!

Mini Family Reunion

Last night we went out to eat at Cheesecake Factory in Scottsdale, AZ. Left to right, yours truly, Neville (my nephew), Duncan (brother), Marlene (Duncan's fiance), William (my nephew), Dawn (my sister) and Todd (Dawn's husband).