Wow a lot has happened! I’m going to put pics here you may have seen on my FB page–feel free to skip ahead.
Okay so first, we woke up New Year’s Eve to snow:
This is what it looked like about 6:30 am. Stunning as we don’t get snow here–ever! So that was exciting and fun. We had a snow day! I had intended to work but we were having too much fun playing like children.
Then New Year’s Day we left for our trip to Solvang. We met our three sons there, along with their girls (one wife and two girl friends). I put a family pic of my personal FB page you can probably see here if you’re interested. We all went on this wine tasting trip to celebrate BLB’s (youngest son) graduation with his B.A. degree. The trip was a blast, and I owe a special thanks to Special K (CPA Boy’s wife) for organizing it! And to all our sons and their amazing girls for making it work. These are memories we will treasure.
Even better, Bailey Dog joined us! This is him staying in our room while all the kids went to dinner (we were invited, I just wanted to stay in that night). He was showing off his brand new jacket that Middle Son’s girlfriend got him:
Wizard now calls him the “Red Cross” dog, LOL! Bailey was very good on the trip. We took him out for to explore the shops the last day, and stopped at one winery where they graciously allowed Bailey to come in, and we ate lunch on the patio of Cecco Risorante where they also happily allowed Bailey and brought him some water. We always ASK before bringing Bailey in anywhere.
Oh and I can’t forget this special cat, Cleo, we met at another winery the day before that:
Cleo likes to greet all the customers, and was super friendly as you can see. When I sat down, he crawled up in my lap and cuddled. Don’t tell Bailey though 
It’s our secret that I have a new friend.
Then Wizard and I went to Santa Barbara where we stayed another night to visit my brother and his lovely wife whom I haven’t seen in years. We never intended for so much time to go by, but that’s what happens in life if we don’t try harder to stay in contact with the ones we love. It was wonderful to them! I wish I’d gotten pictures, but we were so busy visiting, it didn’t occur to me at the time.
And then on the way home, we took the 101 home, and I can’t remember where this was exactly but not too far out of Santa Barbara. It was tricky to snap this pic of the Pacific Ocean while going about 70 miles an hour. It was gorgeous!
Compare that to the first pic of snow just a few days earlier, and you can see that Southern California can surprise us once in a while with a little variation in the weather
Now I’m so happy to be home, get back to my routine and work on Linc’s book, CAGED MAGIC! I’m hoping I can write straight through to the end without another interruptions. This poor book has been shuffled aside too many times.
So how was your New Years and weekend?
January 5th, 2015 at 3:31 am · Link
You sure looked like you had a fantastic trip. I love the photo of you with Cleo. Did Bailey forgive you ;)? I bet he had fun when you took him on the window shopping trip.
Special K truly is special. She must be a great organizer to plan and coordinate the trip. Said it before but you did well with the guys that they got great girls.
When I saw the snow in CA I thought of you. I can picture you playing in the snow and having a ball :).
New Year’s was okay here. Eldest son got the flu so only four of us ate the roast which meant we ate it again last night. It was yummy so all was good.
I’m looking forward to normalcy now that the holidays are over.
Have a wonderful day!
January 5th, 2015 at 4:39 am · Link
It looks and sounds like you all had a blast. I’m so happy for you. Isn’t it funny how when you’re with people you haven’t seen in a long time, the last thing you remember is taking pictures? I did the same thing this summer and the stupid camera was right next to me the whole time. Gah.
New Years was quiet here, except for the neighbors firing off guns at midnight. LOL I spent some time working and reading and watching football. And taking care of the cats. Yay. Oh, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but I paid for a month of Ancestry. Like I have time for that. I promised myself I couldn’t play in the family tree unless I got some editing done, though. I need to revise that promise to ‘after I edit three chapters’ because ‘some editing’ gives me too much leeway. ;o)
January 5th, 2015 at 10:50 am · Link
SNOW! We had a snow day too, but we get them where y’all don’t! Special K is made of awesome and the other boys seem to have picked out some amazing women to share their lives. Of course, they have a terrific example in you and Wiz, Jen.
New Years was quiet, but it usually is around here. I headed into two urgent projects and a rewrite of the proposal of the next Red Dirt Royalty book, so…3 urgent projects.
CAGED MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *throws cookies like confetti* I’ve been holding off on a reread of all the Wingslayer Hunter books. I will devour them leading up to the release when it comes! SOOOOO excited to have Linc’s book finally. And yeah, I know how that shuffling to the back burner goes. I have a werewolf FBI agent staring at me with side eyes because I’ve put his book off two years.
This year, Caleb. This year! 
January 5th, 2015 at 12:39 pm · Link
Viki, I hope your son is feeling better now. Bummer that he was sick on New Years!
I want normalcy for a while too
I miss my routine.
Bailey didn’t seem to get upset about the cat. Honestly, he was so happy to be with us, he was pretty easy going (age is part of that too).
On another subject, there were a lot of dogs out in Solvang, most of them very well behaving (meaning the owners were well behaved). It’s a very dog friendly place.
Hope you have a great week!
January 5th, 2015 at 12:43 pm · Link
B.E., I know, right? And Wizard took a bunch of pictures in Solvang, but it just totally slipped our minds when we saw my brother. I wish I had though.
I hear Ancestry is totally addictive. I have no self control but I bet you can limit yourself and enjoy the month in your downtime.
A relaxing New Years Day sounds good to me. That’s what we usually do–this year was very unusual for us. But we’re trying new things now that Wizard is retired
Hope your editing is going well!
January 5th, 2015 at 12:49 pm · Link
Silver, CONGRATS ON THE RELEASE OF COWGIRLS DON’T CRY! I saw my copy hit my Kindle New Years Eve but we were early and off so I didn’t get a chance to promote it until yesterday. I’ll do more this week.
And on that note, FB refused to boost the post I did on my page–so annoying. I hate the new rules, but nothing I can do about it.
Thanks on my family
You have a lot on your plate, but I know you can do it! I’m determined to get Linc’s book done, I just hope it’s going to be good enough.
January 5th, 2015 at 7:13 pm · Link
Ancestry is totally addictive. It gets less so when you’ve been at it a while because the hints get fewer, or they’re mainly for really distant indirect relatives, but still, it’s fun. =o)