For Cathi, it was a nice quiet trip to the country, complete with horses.  For Cathy, it was like Christmas morning, out in Jan’s backyard assembling her new compost bin that has tons of rivets.  I was inclined me to call it the round Borg ship.  Hopefully this will help Jan make good fertilizer for her flower beds.  And speaking of flowers, we helped plant flowers at her church.   :)

If you havent been to Griffith Observatory, you should put it on your list.  It’s free and has a lot of information on space, and a great view of L.A. and the Hollywood sign.

Of course, we HAD to drive down Rodeo Drive to see what all the hype is about in sooooo many movies.  Still not sure what the hype is about, but it was clean and looked expensive.

Cathi and I love to cook so we “catered” Christmas dinner for Michelle, her kids, grandkids, and Uncle John.  We had honeybaked ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chocolate silk pie, egg nog, and salad.  I think we had at least 4 invitations to move in!  

Yesterday we went to the LA Botanical Garden in Arcadia. It was great to see roses, irises, and daisies in bloom – in December!  There was also a waterfall, a couple ponds, really tall bamboo, and a variety of cacti.  It was a great day for a walk around the gardens.

Waterfall at Botanical Garden

The garden cafe is not open on Monday but some great volunteers in the gift shop pointed us to the food court at the mall across the steet.  I recommend the Grilled Cajun sandwich at ChickeNow.  And the chocolate caramels from the store kitty-corner to it.  On the topic of kitties, there is also a Hello Kitty store – all Hello Kitty, all the time!

Hellloooo Kitty!

It was also Uncle John’s birthday yesterday so Cathi decided to treat him to a homecooked lasagna.  Remember those Christmas cooking recipe jokes about taking a swig of alcohol while cooking?  Cathi tried that last night and is sleeping it off today.  Sorry, shouldn’t share details here, but feel free to ask.   lol

We haven’t decided what we’re doing for my birthday (aka New Year’s Eve) yet.  But we are planning to start the trek home on January 1.  First stop will be Scottsdale, AZ so Cathi can meet her boyfriend’s mom.  Think she’ll be nervous??

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