California solo

I went out to California yesterday so that I could visit my sister Heidi and meet her new baby Jordan, then go down to Santa Barbara for Thanksgiving and then stop in Houston for a couple days of work on my way back.

Heidi, Jordan and John

I arrived on Tues afternoon (26th Nov), rented a car, and drove to Oakland to stay in Heidi. We didn't take many photos, but it was a really special time that we had hanging around admiring beautiful Jordan and hanging around Oakland. So we hung out Tues night, Wed day and Wed night, then I got up early on Thurs and was on the road by 5am to start my 320-mile drive to Santa Barbara.

Sunrise somewhere on Highway 101 between San Francisco and Santa Barbara

I had a great drive down to Goleta (good country music on the radio!) and went for a quick run around the canyon before my Mom came home from church and we started getting ready for Thanksgiving. Eric and Kristin came over and we worked in the kitchen together after they announced the big news that they are expecting a baby in June!  Great happiness!

Eric and Kristin making some stuffing

We headed over to Uncle Phil and Libby's house around 2pm and had some good catching up before eating sometime around 3:30pm. Needless to say, it was a delicious meal and truly special to be present at the table with all these great people.

Clockwise round the table from lower left: John, Wheeler, Ruby, Egan, Molly, Debi, Eric, Kristin, Jim, Grace, Lucas, Stacy, Grandma Bucky, Libby, Anna, and baby Oliver.

Same as above but with Phil in the picture between John and Wheeler

In the evening, a subset of us went to go see the 2nd Hunger Games film at our local cinema. It was a long day but a truly fantastic one as well.

P-A-R-T-Y

I am turning 40 this week and so I had a little bit of celebrating to do. Nia came over from Cardiff on Fri night and we went out to breakfast at the Anchor Inn on Saturday morning before Rhodri drove to Bristol for the rest of the weekend.

Candid breakfast photos by Rhiannon

Saturday evening I invited a few ladies around to have a little dance party. We cleared the furniture out of the living room and just had a bit of a boogie.

Clockwise from top: Cat & Sasha, Nia & Cat, me, Christ, Jane & Liz & Viki, Emma, Corinne and me & Nia in the center.

Barcelona

I traveled by myself to Barcelona for a conference a few days ago (Sun Nov 10). It was so nice to have a brief change of scene with sun and foreign languages! I didn't know anybody there, and so it was fun and challenging to be out in the wide world alone meeting people. It was hard leaving the family on one of the most beautiful Sunday mornings ever, but the view from the plane window was pretty special.

 I stayed here and it was the same location as the actual conference, so that was handy. I settled in and then went for a wander around the streets before sitting down to work for a few hours.

View from my room

A beautiful sunset from my window

It was an interesting conference and I was really glad that I went to it, but I was happy to come home last night.