A Sad But Merry Christmas

I unabashedly adore Christmas, and I usually try to partake in all things related to the festive season, but this year was a fail. Although I finished all of my Christmas shopping well ahead of time and decorated our flat with lights and baubles, there was no ice skating, visiting the Christmas markets, or drinking hot chocolate and mulled wine.

J left for San Jose a day before I left for Los Angeles, and I made sure Casper was all ready for our absence. I really wish it was easier for animals to cross borders, as I would've loved to take him with us. In any case, it was just as well as the animals back home kept me busy while I was there.

It was my first day back in LA when I took the dog to the vet for an ear infection. He's a big dog (67 lbs), and it's near impossible to get him to the vet. It turned out to be useless as he was so aggressive that the vet couldn't examine him even with a muzzle on.

It was my second day back in LA when I found blood on the floor and followed the trail to my cat who was bleeding from her stomach. I went into full-on panic mode, and herded her into her carrier and took her to the same vet. Another useless visit, as they said she was too old for their office to handle. 

I ended up driving her straight to the VCA Animal Hospital in West LA, which is a top notch facility, and I highly recommend anyone with a sick pet to go there straightaway. The first thing that struck me was just how sad everyone in the lobby was. The second thing I noticed was the sheer amount of tissue boxes. The vet's office on Christmas Eve is a very sad place - the only reason you could be there is probably a pretty bad one.

I guess you could lump me in with one of the pretty bad cases as it turned out Kitty has cancer. The good news was that it hadn't spread to her organs yet, and there was a good chance that the growths on her stomach and her chin were mast cell tumours. Surgery of mast cell tumours can be curative, and I took her home with surgery scheduled on Friday. A big thank you to my little bro and his wife, who were with me the entire time and kept me company while I was waiting while the tests were run. I would've fallen apart without them there to keep my mind on other things.

I returned to the vet on Friday to some bad news. The staff oncologist saw the slides of the growth on her stomach and thought that there was a good chance that the growth on her stomach wasn't a mast cell tumour, but carcinoma. The prognosis for carcinoma is quite poor - 6 months is the average life expectancy. We ended up going with a more aggressive surgery in case it is carcinoma, and Kitty had to stay two nights at the vet recovering from a radical mastectomy. J and I were scheduled to fly out during that time, and my older brother agreed to pick her up and administer her medications during her recovery. I'm so, so grateful for my family helping me during this difficult time.

Kitty's back home now and recovering. I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from the vet on the biopsies of the tumours, and I'm hoping that it isn't carcinoma. Kitty's been with me for 17 years, and I'm just not quite ready to let her go. But I'm moving forward with the goal of making the rest of her life as comfortable as possible and not trying to prolong it by any means necessary, which just wouldn't be fair to her. This visit was the first time I noticed how old she had gotten - her face looked a bit grizzled, the fat pads on her paws were small and hard, and she had lost a lot of her fur. It's so strange and hard to see her grow old and get sick when I can still clearly remember the day I brought her home.

Our dog also got to visit the VCA, and he had to be sedated before his ear could be examined. He's so agitated that the vet said that he fought the examination even under sedation. Luckily, he's healthy and fit other than the ear infection, which requires a cleaning and medication regimen for the next month. My older bro has his hands full taking care of the dog and Kitty, I really can't thank him enough.

J and I are both back in London now, and I've been sleeping more hours than I've been awake. I think I was pretty stressed while I was in LA, and my body is in recovery mode now. I lost a good chunk of weight while i was there, which tends to happen when I'm really stressed out, and I suppose I'm working on putting it back on.

There were some good parts to this Christmas. I cooked a goose and ham for Christmas Eve dinner, and we had a wonderful time opening gifts with our larger than ever family. My older brother officially got engaged, and he did a beautiful job with the ring. It was lovely having a full house for Christmas - it made it feel really festive, and I can tell that my parents love having six kids now. I got to see most of my cousins, even if only for a few hours, and it was nice to see everyone happy and healthy. And it looks like we've got lots of weddings in 2014! 

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see any of my friends this time around, but I think they'll understand and forgive me with all the animals being sick. Hopefully, I'll get to return to LA soon and make a proper visit next time. Much love to you all, and I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas!

Around Town

I'm pretty smug about the fact that I finished most of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, which is a good thing since our Christmas list is a mile long! The added bonus is that it gives me time to enjoy the run-up to the holidays without panicking about what to buy everyone. 

I still have a few odds and ends to pick up, which means I'm venturing out around town despite the cold weather that's settled in to stay. I don't mind since it's a good opportunity to see some of the Christmasy things that have popped up for the occasion.

We went to Selfridges this past weekend and saw this 3D printing pop up shop next to the jewellery department. You step into this booth where they scan your body and print out a mini 3D version of you! I was this close to getting a mini-me made for my parents, but the £159 price tag convinced me otherwise. But I haven't ruled out having one made for J's office so that he can never escape me. Muahahaha.

We also went to brunch with some friends at Caravan behind King's Cross station, which is a great tapas restaurant that also serves the best coffee in town. A simple thing, but I liked that they decorated the trees in the plaza.

Not exactly a Christmas thing, but there's a giant St. Bernard that lives in our neighbourhood. He seemed ancient when we first saw him 3 1/2 years ago, but he's still around and roaming the hood. Unfortunately, he was whimpering from an earache yesterday. He normally lolls about on the pavement, but his dad got him a sofa to lay down on while he's sick. Lucky dog.

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels

It was about time for our annual sojourn to the countryside to do some clay pigeon shooting, so I was more than ready when J was invited to Holland & Holland by a work colleague. Lucky me, I usually get to tag along to these outings, and I was more than pleased to break out my hunting jacket for the occasion.

I think this could be one of my favourite photos - our best imitation of countryside gentry.



We chilled out in the reception room as our instructor got our shooting equipment ready and warmed up with some hot coffee as some stuffed animals looked on. J got to use a 12 gauge shotgun, while I stuck with a smaller 20 gauge.



We had an hour of shooting scheduled, and we were lucky that they could fit us in as it's currently gaming season and hunters were out in full force with their deer hunting rifles. Our instructor was a former instructor for the US military so he was full of amusing anecdotes in between teaching us how to shoot properly. A bit overqualified to teach a couple of lawyers to shoot for an afternoon, but I wasn't complaining.

I was good enough to hit most things so long as the instructor was telling me when to shoot. Otherwise, I got overexcited and jumped the gun. Sounds about right.

J was disturbingly good. I blame it on all the videogame playing.



We finished the afternoon off with a pub lunch at the Old Orchard on Park Lane. The portions were huge, and the ambience was really cosy especially since they had their Christmas decorations up. Another point in its favour was the roving bloodhound. Dog = win.



It was a great afternoon in the country, but my shoulder's still a bit sore from the shotgun's kickback. J swears up and down that his shoulder feels fine, but I'm happy to report he's sporting a shoulder bruise just like me. We are a couple of badasses. Lol.

Casper and Cakes

Casper decided it would be fun to attack J all night rather than go to sleep so I hardly got a wink trying to get him to calm down and at least stop trying to eat our feet. We would've put him out in the living room, but then he starts yowling loud enough to wake the neighbors. It's hard to get mad at him, he's cute and furry and fat enough to get away with murder.

I was dead on my feet the next day and decided to stay home and try to catch up on my sleep. I don't know how people with babies do it! Anyway, since I was home, I decided to bake a chocolate and raspberry cake. Good times! I'm getting better with the buttercream, but I think a turntable may be in my next Amazon order.

Baby, it's cold outside

I haven't been posting much lately since I've been back at work for nearly a month now! I decided I needed some extra pin money for Christmas, and I probably had a little too much time on my hands since I knitted Casper a jumper for the winter ahead. He's not such a fan, he flops around like a landed fish when he puts it on. 

In other news, J got some awesome news at work - he made partner! I made a cheeky cake to celebrate the occasion and added his name to the firm's name. The people at his office had a good laugh over it.

He's also recently moved into a bigger office. I'm making plans to visit him at work to scope out the new space and see if I can make it a bit homier since it is where he spends the majority of his waking hours!

Casper At Home

It's been two and half months since Casper joined our little family, and we still haven't fully settled into a routine. He's good about falling asleep when we go to bed, and he's almost completely stopped treating J as a walking, talking chew toy, but the mornings are still a bit rough.

Casper falls asleep wherever he wants, which is usually on the bathroom floor mat (I couldn't imagine a stranger place) or at the foot of our bed. Unfortunately, he wakes up way before we do, and he likes to have company in the mornings. He's tapped J on the shoulder to wake him up, jumped on top of my head, and if all else fails, meows and meows until I have to get up and shut him out of the bedroom.

But it's all worth it with all the fun we have with him. Especially when the tables are flipped, and we get to mess with him when he's trying to sleep.

 

But he got his revenge this morning when I went to the bedroom after my morning coffee to make the bed. Comfy, much?

Casper v. Bike

J and I have a big eating weekend planned, and we've been making a concerted effort exercise beforehand so we could gorge without guilt.

We haven't used our little exercise corner since Casper arrived, and let's just say that Casper does not approve of this exercising business!



I think he thinks (and I tend to agree) that we should be doing a lot more of this instead...

Autumn's Here

We've had a wonderfully warm summer this year - multiple heat waves with temperatures near the 30's. It more than made up for the soggy summers we've had since we moved here when it rained most of the time, and the sun peeked out once or twice from behind the clouds.

The heat left suddenly as it came, and it feels like autumn. I'm actually pretty pleased, since London is poorly equipped to deal with heat. Most places (including our flat) don't have air-conditioning, and the heat can become pretty unbearable at times. And not to mention the Tube during hot days - it's common for people to faint dead away in the heat and TFL posts signs everywhere advising riders to carry water with them to stay hydrated.

Another plus of the cool weather is running outside is much more pleasant. It doesn't feel like I'm breathing through a hot sock, and it's not such a big deal that the water fountains in Regent's Park are usually broken. 

This is Casper's first taste of cool weather, and in spite of his very fluffy fur, he's been bundling up for his naps.

He's also been making good use of the fireplace. He's pretty fascinated with the flames, and I'm so glad I thought to buy a screen for the fireplace or we'd end up with roast cat!

The other good news is that work on our flat is finally complete, and I no longer have builders traipsing through on a regular basis. I think Casper's going to miss "helping" them...

The bad news is that it didn't mean that everything in our flat is working as it should. We had no cold water for over a week, and Thames Water was shillyshallying on repairs. Believe it or not, they told our building that they would get to it at the end of the month! Our building had to threaten them with their solicitors to get TW to get the leak repaired so that we could have cold water again. I'm still amazed at how insanely terrible a lot of the services are here. It's not abnormal for it to take two months for internet to get installed or for TW to expect you to go for a month or so without cold water. Insane!

Work Perks

J's job can be incredibly demanding at times, but there are some perks. For instance, some of the firm's vendors like to take him on various outings, and he always insists on bringing me along. I'm definitely not complaining!

We got tickets this summer to go to the Longines Global Champions Tour, which is a horse -jumping competition. I'm not quite sure why the camel was there.



We got there during a lull in the action, so we spent some timing shopping the various tents. I'm guessing the people who go to these kinds of events are a bit more posh than I am, as Harrods had a tent along with a bunch of other shops for the toffs in our midst. I picked up a fleece jacket, which fit perfectly for once - I guess I should shop in jockey stores from now on!

Anyway, it was a bit windier than we anticipated, and I ended up bundling up while we watched the horses leap about. Everyone would hold their breath when the horse would launch into a jump, and there would be a collective sigh if the horse touched the hurdle. It was almost comical how in unison everyone was!



We had some awesome seats, and the horses were literally just a few feet away from us.



After a while, J grew a bit bored, and I couldn't help laughing when he asked, "Is this it?" I was freezing cold, so we ended up going home a bit earlier than anticipated, but it was a fun day.

Another fun activity that we got invited to was golfing. We had gone the previous year, and I guess it was time for our annual lesson. We got picked up and driven down to the London Golf Club, which is down in Kent.



It's absolutely beautiful there, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect! We decided to grab some lunch first, and we sat down to enjoy the view of the early morning golfers finishing up their games.





I gobbled down some fish and chips, then we all headed over to our lesson with the golf pro. We remembered a few things from our previous lesson, but it was embarrassing how bad we were when he asked us to take a few practice shots at the driving range. J and I spent a good hour swatting at balls and watching them kind of just roll away. The driving range turned out to be pretty hard work, and I was working up a sweat by the time we moved over to the putting course.



The sad thing is that I'm even worse at putting! I'm guessing I'll may be passable after next year's lesson. I'm guessing at a rate of a lesson a year, I might be able to play with my dad after twenty years or so...

Reykjavik Culture Night

It was a quick flight from Akureyri to Reykjavik, and we hitched a ride to our hotel. It turned out that it was Culture Night in Reykjavik, and we got back just in time for the festivities. Unfortunately, it meant that the roads around the hotel were closed, but we we got there just the same.

Hotel Centrum was really nice and it looked like it had been recently renovated to a high standard. J and I lucked out with an upgrade to an apartment in the building next door, and it felt a bit like we were locals for a night!

We unpacked our things and joined the crowd milling around outside and saw a blacksmith at his forge. Hm, never thought I'd see a blacksmith in action!

J and I didn't have much of a chance to look around since we were pretty hungry and we showed up thirty minutes early for our reservation at the Fish Company. The place was really cosy and well-decorated, but the food was the real star.

After being in Iceland for a week, we got used to have really fresh seafood, but this was just out of control deliciousness. I had a plate of pretty much everything that could be fished out of the water, and J had a beef and potatoes dish that he loved. I think it was definitely one of the best meals we ever had, and we didn't expect it in Iceland!

By the time we waddled out of the restaurant with our stomachs full, pretty much everyone had poured into the streets for the celebrations. All the roads were pedestrianised, and everyone was out and about despite the inclement weather.

J and I walked around town and bopped along to several of the ongoing concerts in the different parts of town, but our bellies forced us to retreat to our hotel lounge to sit down and try to digest our dinner. I'm guessing the carrot cake and hot chocolate I had in the lounge probably didn't help.

We were pretty drowsy with the combination of travelling and the large dinner, but I forced J to stay up to watch the fireworks that were scheduled to go off at 11pm.  And I'm glad I did as we got quite the show! The central plaza where we were watching was pretty empty, and it was a really amazing end to our stay in Iceland.

After the fireworks, we went straight to bed and hopped on the plane the next day to go back home. I was more than excited to see my cat again! I'm happy to report that he gained a full pound while we were away - we are now the proud owners of a seven pound kitten. Lol.

The Last Stops - Akureyri, Siglufjörður

Saturday started off with a driving tour of Akureyri. It's the most populated city after Reykjavik but it's still home to only about 18,000 people. I think that's how many people live on my street in London!

We then set off on a very long drive to visit Siglufjörður, a small fishing town not too far away. We stopped at some scenic viewpoints, but we spent most of the time driving through various tunnels.

When we finally arrived, J and I went straight to the coffee shop.



We had gotten in the habit of having a swiss mocha (J) and a hot chocolate (me) every day, and we needed our fix. J also took the opportunity to check his Blackberry.

I wasn't happy about the Blackberry's umpteenth appearance, and I gave J the side-eye of his life. Life lesson, kids: don't be a lawyer!



We walked around the very, very small town, and checked out the sights.

The harbour first, since it is a fishing town...



I noticed that every single town we visited, no matter how big or small, always had a church. I thought it a bit odd, since Herdis mentioned that most people go to church only for Easter and Christmas.

I love turf houses, but I have no idea who can fit through that narrow ass front door!



We still had some time to kill so we thought about checking out the herring museum. Yup, a herring museum. But we quickly changed our minds when I figured out that they were charging admission. Um, no thanks, I'd rather go check out the National Gallery or the V&A Museum for free than pay to look at herring.



It was finally time to leave (not soon enough, in my opinion), and we started our drive back to Akureyri. First, we stopped at the bird sanctuary at Húsabakkar next to Dalvík, but I quickly lost interest as I didn't see a single bird while we were there. I guess the birds didn't get the memo about the sanctuary.

Anyway, I was anxious to get back to Akureyri so I could walk around and see the town on foot. It reminded me a lot of Reykjavik.

The same painted corrugated iron covered the buildings...



A sculpture hearkening back to Iceland's Viking past...

It had similar graffiti...



But it also had its own quirks, like a two-headed sheep sculpture.

And a pair of trolls hanging around downtown. J swears he wasn't responsible for the woman's hand falling off.



Downtown was small enough that we finished exploring much more quickly than I anticipated. We regrouped at the meeting point, and it wasn't long before we were saying goodbye to Herdis and boarding our plane  for the short flight back to Reykjavik.

The tour was a lot of fun, but I was more than ready for it to end. Keeping in close quarters with strangers can be a bit of a strain, and the smallness of our group forced intimacy. I was looking forward to spending some alone time with J without having to socialise with others (yes, I'm an anti-social hermit), and doing things according to whatever we felt like at the moment.