Life Lately December 2025

I decided to do my wrap-up post about December early because we'll be traveling for the rest of the month and I like for any travel posts to be separate from the Life Lately posts!

I love our handsome boy

To be honest, there really isn't much to report because the month was all about the countdown to winter break. Since we'd already celebrated Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend, the focus was prepping for our trip!

made an $18 impulse purchase during Black Friday
sales and now I can see the northern lights whenever I please

I call Avalanche my "silly goose"
so I love this new shirt

also bought some Silly Goose mittens

holiday dinner with my girls

he's got a tough life

my favorites!

the face he makes when he wants a treat

truly his favorite spot

he loves snoozing by the Christmas tree

we got some snow, so Avalanche and I went outside
at 5:30 am to experience the first flakes

he would have stayed out there
all day if we had let him!

none too pleased that it was already
starting to melt

built for winter weather,
forced to live in Virginia

taking himself for a walk

ready for a road trip to Canada

found quite a bit of snow at a rest stop which meant
Avalanche spent 15 minutes wandering around
sniffing every inch of ground in sight

part of our drive were not great,
but we eventually made it

apparently worn out from the drive

settling in for his four-week stay with his grandparents

C's dad took Avalanche for a walk
to distract him when we left to drive
home without him

we luckily had great weather on the way back

we are so incredibly grateful
for C's parents and their willingness
to watch Avalanche for us while we travel!

As I'm writing this, we're in Argentina, meaning it's summer here (the real feel today was 92 degrees) and it was the Summer Solstice today. As a lover of winter and cold temperatures and short days / long nights...how have I had to experience the longest day of the year TWICE in 2025?!? LOL!

Happy Tails to you!

Life Lately November 2025

As always, November seemed to come and go in an instant. The school calendar was irregular, with only one of the four weeks being a normal, five-day schedule, which certainly contributed to how quickly the month passed! We had a lot of family time this month, which was wonderful, especially since we'll be traveling over Christmas and New Year's, and the cooler weather is certainly making our four-legged guy very happy! One of my favorite events from November was going to the Maryland Zoo with our niece and nephew...you may recall that in September, we went to Charm City Cakes with them to celebrate our niece's birthday; for our nephew's birthday, we went to the zoo for a "Breakfast with the Big Cats!" experience. We had a great time and then they slept over at our house, so we had them all to ourselves for two days! We also celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas last weekend when we were able to be together and although I absolutely dropped the ball on taking photos, it was an incredible way to wrap up the month!

a friend introduced me to a local coffee shop
and I could sit in this room and stare at
this wall map all day, drinking coffee and
dreaming of places to visit

we went back to the 4DX theater
(we saw the original Twister here last summer)

this time we saw BttF for its 40th anniversary
release and it was a super fun experience 

exercising one of the most important rights I have

in addition to breakfast and an informational presentation,
our tickets included admission to the zoo for the day

I did a trivia night with two of my best friends
and although it took two tie-breaker rounds,
we emerged victorious!

caught a faint, but nonetheless beautiful,
view of the northern lights

had a Friendsgiving dinner with
some of my very favorite people!

picked up my YaYa to take him to a family
celebration in honor of his 96th birthday!

family is everything

learning about his heritage LOL

another hotel stay for Avalanche!

he got pretty close to a chicken
and had no idea what to make of it

put this Husky decal on the back
window of my new car

and this one

officially said goodbye to my Honda Pilot,
which I already miss terribly

I donated it to Habitat for Humanity
and was at work when it got picked up,
but C sent me this pic of it leaving us

B1, S1, B2, S2, C, and I pick names
and do a Secret Santa gift exchange...
S1 got my name this year
and gave me a perfect gift!

With the holidays right around the corner, I am reminded that the greatest gift is being seen for who you really are and being fully loved, weird quirks (like an irrational attachment to an old car) and all!

Happy Tails to you!