A good trip, though sadly eventful

It began well enough. Mitch's mom and her boyfriend recently bought a house in an "active adult community," so we spent the first few days of our stay in Arizona helping them get set up in the their new home and tooling around the new, unfinished community in golf carts. We ate lunch at the clubhouse, toured the new, unfinished Sports Center and walked through finished, fully-furnished models of the model homes (decorated in charming, if slightly ridiculous, themes).

Here is a picture of a sunset, taken from the back step of the new house:

Here is a picture of Mitch's mom, Teresa, and I, baking snickerdoodles and pretending that we're on a cooking show:

All was lovely and sunny and happy until New Year's Day, at approximately 12:15 am, when I woke up suddenly and spent the rest of the night on the bathroom floor. As it turns out, I came down with a bad flu that kept me in bed for all of Monday (I am prone to exaggeration, I know, but this is absolutely not an exaggeration--I was weak and feverish and made it out of bed once, the entire day, to go to the bathroom) and a good part of Tuesday. By Wednesday I was up and moving, though not quite at full speed, and Mitch and I set off in a borrowed car to visit some friends in Globe, AZ.

Here is a picture of Globe, taken through the window of the old courthouse, which has now been converted into an art center:

Our Globe friends recently opened a coffee shop, so we spent a good part of the time sitting around at the coffee shop, drinking coffee and visiting or sitting around at their house, playing Guitar Hero (or watching Dora the Explorer with their adorable daughter) and visiting. The night that we spent in Globe was the night of the full moon, so when I woke up in the wee hours to use the restroom (our guest room was not attached to the main house), I had the distinct pleasure of walking through the backyard in the blazing moonlight, with all the constellations in full view.

Beautiful.

Here is a photo of Dezi, who opened the coffee shop, who also married Mitch and me four years ago:

Here is a photo of me watching Dora the Explorer with Laura and her daughter, Eowyn:

...and here is a pretty picture of Austin, Laura, Eowyn and I walking off into the Arizona sunset:

We drove back to Mitch's mom's on Thursday night and stayed there until this morning, when we drove, flew and shuttled our way back to the hotel where we'd parked our car for the week only to find...

...that our car had been stolen.

Here is a photo of my sad face:

If anyone sees a dejected-looking Subaru wagon wandering the streets of SeaTac, please tell it to call home--we miss it dearly. We spent the evening talking to the hotel staff, the police, my parents and the Airporter Shuttle before finally managing to make it, at last, home.

Here we are. We're glad to be here. Even if Armand, Subaru of the Night (as he was fondly called) cannot be with us.

So long, 2006!

(I'm publishing this early because I'll be in Arizona for New Year's, so here it is. Also, here is last year's post. Looking back, I realize that Arrested Developement made both lists--not that I'm obsessive, really.)

This year I'm thankful for (in no particular order):

Oikos! And the delightful experience of (at last) being a member of a church body

four years of marvellous marriage (to the most magnificent Mitch)

creme brulee from the Mount Bakery (served at the Temple Bar)

Carina Round, The Disconnection

my family, who is made up of very neat people that I love more and more all the time

Arrested Development

Monday nights at Boundary Bay, dancing to the Gallus Brothers

contacts! (Goodbye, glasses)

the blessing of playing shows, and writing songs, and hanging out with people who play good music

shopping at Goodwill

my little bro, who periodically calls in the middle of the night to tell me that he loves me

the motivation to actually read the Bible, and to really study and learn tons

double tall americanos (black) from Caffe Adagio

Jonathan Foer at Village Books, and the brilliant things he said about writing and art

our cats, who make me laugh but who are excellent at snuggling

Greg Brown at the Nightlight, and that awesome rendition of "Evening Call"

four hour evenings at the Temple Bar with Morgan

origami boxes, origami paper

baking, and those amazing macaroons that Ashley made with bitter caramel buttercream filling

riverboating in Missouri (turtles! turkey vultures!)

The Black Keys, Rubber Factory

learning "Hallelujah" on the guitar

and yes, my new Kitchenaid mixer. It's amazing.