We had a wonderful time in Silver City. Spent lots of quality time with family and friends (we were oh-so social!), ate lots of green chile, toured the galleries, lunched in Mexico:

frequented several new pubs, baked yummy treats, and received some awesome (mostly handmade!) presents. We even got to spend time at our favorite cob house with Mel, Jeff, and Raf:

We’re now back in California, exhausted and with head colds. Here’s to long weekends to relax and get healthy. Happy New Year, everyone!

On Thursday morning I visited Muir Woods with Miriam and Ross, who were in town from Philadelphia! We had a great time gallivanting around giant redwoods while catching up. It was such a treat to see them.

What a year for visitors! As a goodbye to 2006, I thought it would be fun to make a list of friends and family members who’ve come to visit us this year, as well as document our out-of-state excursions.

April:
Carrie’s dad visits us from New Jersey to help us move from Boulder to Santa Rosa; we meet up with Carrie’s family in Washington, DC the weekend before our move for Beth and Shaun’s wedding.

May/June/July:
Carrie’s aunt Deborah-Miriam and cousin Julia visit us several times during the summer while Julia has an internship in San Francisco, Carrie’s mom visits us from New Jersey, and Carrie’s uncle from New York takes us out to dinner in San Francisco. Carrie goes back east for her mom’s graduation. David also visits San Jose for business and Carrie tags along to see Monterrey.

August:
David’s mom Diana visits from New Mexico and later in the month cousin Rachel and her boyfriend Ed fly in from New Jersey. We also get to see Melanie and Jeff who are in town on their way back to Silver City, visit with Joe Tom and his family on vacation in Healdsburg, and say goodbye to Julia/Deborah-Miriam on their way back up to Oregon.

September:
We tour the Napa Valley with David’s uncle Mike and aunt Sherry visiting from New Jersey.

November:
Carrie visits family and friends back east while David attends a conference in Colorado Springs and meets up with folks in Boulder/Fort Collins.

December:
We meet up with Thorsten and Stefan (from Germany and Colorado, respectively) and Natalia (from Pasadena) who are in town for two different academic conferences, and Carrie gets to see Miriam and Ross at Muir Woods (see photo above). Carrie and David visit Tucson, Arizona/Mexico/Silver City, New Mexico for Christmas.

What a blast we’ve had! Please come visit!

Look who we got to hang out with! Last night we met Natalia Deligne down in San Francisco for dinner! (She flew up from Pasadena for a geology conference.) We walked around the streets of San Francisco, ate delicious Italian food, and had such a blast catching up. It was as if no time had passed (Natalia and I grew up together, but it’s been 6 or so years since we’ve seen each other.) and David finally got to meet her. We had a great night.

I love that there are so many academic conferences in San Francisco! What a great excuse to see friends! (This month we’ve seen three friends for this reason!) Everyone, come visit!

p.s. What you can’t see in this picture is that I am wearing flip flops. Yes, it’s still warm enough for bare feet! I love it!

Lately we’ve been savoring awesome every day things.

We’ve increased our intake of raw foods/vegetables and are still working out every day. We are feeling great!

We’ve also started collecting wine. Anytime we taste a wine that we like, we buy a bottle. Our collection is growing! The labels are just lovely too, don’t you think?

The rains have held off here in northern California and we’ve had a number of sunny, warm days. I’ve been running in shorts and tees. Love it!

I’ve finally given notice at my job in Colorado and am excited about increased free time to focus on other projects. (On a related note, I am looking for more website design projects — if you know of anyone who needs help, please send them my way! Never mind about the design projects! We’ve decided I already have too much on my plate.)

I’m knitting up a storm trying to finish Leyba holiday presents. At the yarn store I treated myself to the most beautiful chunky white mohair yarn that I am going to knit with a thin blue yarn into a thick, warm scarf (for when the rains finally get here!).

There are so many fantastic world music CDs at our library. I’ve been listening my way through some awesome compilations including Nuevo Latino, Congo to Cuba, Women of Latin America, North African Groove, and Music from the Coffee Lands…

We are in the midst of Dungeness crab season and are taking frequent trips to the farmers market for just-off-the-boat crab! I do believe we’ll be having more crab-stuffed salmon this weekend.

Yes, I lead a charmed life.

Our dear friends from Germany (who we met in Boulder) Thorsten and Stefan visited us this past week! We had a blast hitting Chinatown (near the hotel they were staying at in San Francisco for a conference–the “real” reason they were here!), touring and tasting at wineries in Sonoma, watching movies, and hiking around some giant redwoods near our house. We had a whirlwind trip and great time together. Come visit us again soon, guys! And, yes, we will make it to your neck of the woods and visit you in Germany one of these days!