Laguna Festival of the Arts (and Mom's visit) - Various, CA

It’s December already? How the hell did that happen? Last I checked the knob on the air conditioner didn’t go past 10 no matter how bad I wanted it to (“Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?” “[pause] These go to eleven.”) and now I’m shivering when I get up wondering why I didn’t turn on the heat the night before. I haven’t even gotten my Christmas cards written out yet! How are all of you to know to send them to me if I don’t send them to you first? AHHHH!!!

Heh.

Speaking of holidays, it was recently Thanksgiving; and for Thanksgiving, my lovely mother came out to visit me. The visit was good, but busy. My mom was always cold except for about 15 minutes on the last day during the afternoon when she was sitting in the sun with only TWO long sleeve shirts on, rather than three long sleeve shirts (one being long johns) a winter coat and a pair of gloves. Seriously. I honestly don’t know how she manages being in WI where it is easily 40 degrees colder than it is here. I questioned whether or not she had her own heated ‘bubble’ environment that she uses. I think she said yes and I don’t think she was lying.

But besides her being cold, it was good. She arrived on Thanksgiving Day and we spent a long time talking while we waited for the turkey that was only suppose to take 3 hours to cook took 5. I didn’t have enough foresight to provide proper snacks so for those 5 hours, we nibbled on crackers and Pringles while slowly getting tipsy on holiday cocktails. Ah, a proper Thanksgiving. We also played Children’s Cranium (she won) and I forced her into watching the latest episode of ‘Pushing Daisies’.

The next day Kevin stayed home to do what he does best (which I’ll jealously say ‘is nothing’ but what I really mean is ‘having a good time puttering around in pajamas’) while my mom and I tried to go whale watching. Unfortunately the whales are currently on holiday in Baja, Mexico and won’t be back until December 17th (They are consequently not checking voicemail either). We ended up going for breakfast and playing a hundred and one rounds of “What do you want to do?” “I don’t know, what do YOU want to do?” before pajama clad Kevin texted me and suggested we go to the Laguna Beach Art Festival that was having its Christmas themed art…thing.



I’ve never been to the Festival of the Arts building so we ended up parking all the way on PCH (and paying $10 for parking) and walking the mile and a half to the festival (where parking was $3). I wasn’t expecting much from the festival so I ended up being pleasantly surprised. There was your standard fare of paintings and jewelry, but they also had a live glass blower demonstration, a snow making machine (!!!), and the most real looking Santa I have ever seen. My mom kept asking me if I wanted her to buy me something, (“Do you like that? Do you want me to get it for you?”) but I kept turning her down. By the time I did find something that I wouldn’t have minded having (a gorgeous paper origami on oil painting) she had stopped asking.


My mom also got in trouble for taking pictures of people’s art without asking, and I managed to snap this picture of her with two older ladies who weren’t actually purposely dressed as elves.



My mom showed them the above picture. The woman on the left looked at it in the digital camera window and said, “Oh dear! I need to wear more color!”


We stuck around for a good three hours before trudging back the mile and half to the car.

After a dinner with bad music in Dana Point, we headed back to Costa Mesa to pick Kevin up so we could all go to the Harp. At the Harp my mom drilled Brian on the materials and methods he used for his recent flip. I don’t know if Brian was happy or uncomfortable talking about it. My mom really likes discussing siding and travertine floors. I basically know where I got my love of TLC remodeling shows.

We did nothing worth mentioning on that Saturday, but on Sunday, we all woke up early and went to Catalina. That’s right, Catalina Island on golf carts! And yes, it was still awesome. We had dinner at a so-so fish restaurant (I got a burger) and then went for drinks at Luau Larry’s. Luau Larry’s was having a drink special…I don’t remember what the drink was, but it came with a straw hat. Of course I had to have one. After Kevin saw my hat, HE had to get one. And because of that, we have these awesome mementos:





Our last stop was at the Cantina. My mom stated to the waitress after asking what time the last boat left, “We’re not from around here.” Because we were still wearing the hats (among other things), the waitress responded, “That’s pretty obvious.” It was a good moment…almost as good as other Catalina tourists taking our picture and someone making the following comment when my mom climbed in a tree to get her picture taken, “Look! It’s a hat model!”




My mother admitted the next day that it was the most she has had to drink in a long time. I’d like to respond, “That’s pretty obvious.”

Heh.

On Monday while poor Kevin had to go to work, my mom and I drove around taking pictures of palm trees. Or rather, I drove and she would yell, “Stop Stop Stop!” when a photographic palm made an appearance. I’ve told people that story since then and they always suggest that I get her a palm tree or a light-up palm tree Christmas tree for a present. To that I respond, I can’t- she already has them.


My mom left on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and it was sad to see her go. I’ve got more family coming in for Christmas so it’s definitely a nice but busy holiday season this year. Evil cat Chloe has been sharpening her claws and perfecting her hisses for the occasion. One of these days I’m going to have to create a new website called, “I swear our cat isn’t normally like this” with videos to support my cause.