Blondie here hasn't been feeling too great lately (might it be all the toilet paper she's eating? No? How about all those Christmas cards she is eating before we can even open them? Eh?). But seriously, she has lost her interest in food, which has us kinda worried because despite all of her *many* issues, hunger has never, ever been one of them. In fact, she's even chewing up the toilet paper and SPITTING IT BACK OUT. That's one sign of how we know something is wrong. So off to the vet we went.We got blood work, urine samples AND an x-ray taken. We are still waiting for the results, but right now we are a tad concerned because her spleen looks too big. We'll wait for the full radiologist report next week. And yeah, this is as expensive as you think it might be.Otherwise today was full of work. We were planning on going to see Stuck Between Stations tonight and then heading over to the after party. But instead, we made an amazing steak dinner and had some wine and then decided to rent a horror movie and stay in instead. I think it's cuz the house is all cozy and decorated for Christmas. And it's cold out. So staying in seems so wise...

Man, today was one of those days where I just wish I could fast-forward to February and all the work that I need to do between then and now would just be finished. Poof! My to-do lists are taking over!But I digress. Back to the fun, eh? Tonight Nyberg and I met up for our monthly dinner, and we opted to try out the new Bachelor Farmer, which is getting rave reviews all over town. And MUCH to my delight, our server came out and it was no other than the fabulous Nadine DuBois!! You know her! I have shot her burlesque shows a gazillion times (see?) And as you can imagine, she gave us *outstanding* service. And the food? Yeah. Look at those plates. Nyberg even longed to literally lick her plate. It was that good.Also? If you have any dietary restrictions? They totally ask you and try to accommodate dishes to fit. How great is THAT? We will surely be heading back to this gem, as should you.And then after a fabulous dinner I returned to the office for several hours to do more work. I know. This whole living life to its fullest thing? I think I'm doing it wrong.

I don't know if it's obvious in this photo or not, but it RAINED all day here. You know what's wrong with that? IT'S NOT SNOW. Now listen here, before you get all cranky on me, I know that shoveling and layering up and all that gets tiresome. I do. And I know that come March, I'm just as annoyed by more snowfall as you are. But it's almost Christmas! And there is NO snow in the forecast! If I wanted a BROWN Christmas, I would still live in LA, Kansas or Miami.The other problem with all this rain? Pretty soon, it is gonna get cold, and then it's going to get slick. And you know what I hate? Ice.But that's enough about the weather. Today was pretty solid, but I'm in a bit of a haze. It was dark and foggy (and rainy) all day, and I am trying to go a day or two each week without coffee, and today was that day. So man, I am beat. Also, I had dinner with Julie tonight (!!! Yes, she's in town, and yes it was so amazing to see her) and enjoyed a big glass of red wine, and now I'm ready to crawl off to bed before 11 pm. Like an adult. Or a senior citizen.*And yes, I know this shot is out of focus. Sometimes I think the abstracts that fuzzy focus creates are more beautiful than crisp images. Today was one of those days...

Mmm... good day at work followed by an easy night of decorating the Christmas tree and catching up on bad TV. Man, I needed this.

Tonight was the annual holiday dinner with the girls. These girls are my lovely lady friends from the office who are like family after working nights/weekends/holidays with them for the first 3 years that I lived in Minneapolis. We are a group of seven (used to be eight), but three of the group have left the paper (and one of our usual guests up and moved to Tennessee, remember?).Anyway, we still gather each December and we all bring some sort of food and drink (we are really good at that) and we have a big feast and catch up on our lives outside of work, which is amazingly refreshing.

Today was extremely lazy. There was sleeping in, a small amount of picking up the house and a nap. Also, Jamie returned from California, and we ran a few errands (got the Christmas tree!). But we also stopped by our neighborhood community center to weigh in on a new development.Our neighborhood has a small "downtown" area that is cute and quaint and has lots of 2-story old buildings. A developer has proposed tearing down one of the restaurants (not a particularly attractive building) and putting up a big, 5-story multi-unit dwelling for both residential and business purposes. This building would be enormous, and some neighbors are up in arms. The neighborhood council wanted people to stop by, see the plans, talk to the developer, see the protesters' points, and fill out a questionnaire about concerns we might have.Let me tell you, this place was PACKED! Our neighborhood (and I can say this since I live here) is full of liberal, hippy activists (proud resident!) and these people are gonna get their say. Anyway, it was kinda neat to see everyone crowding in, doing what they could to make a difference.

Today I:

• Woke up after 5 hours of sleep
• Had a delicious brunch with Stacy before...
• We shot a wedding
• And then a reception
• And some cute photos of the couple (above)
• And then came home to play with the dogs for an hour
• Before going out dancing at the Doomtree afterparty
• Then came home hoping to get to bed before 2 am
• But had THREE computer crashes which meant this damn blog entry took more than an hour and half.
• And is now apologizing for the lack of a "written" post, but really wants to get to sleep
• Please forgive me.