Holiday Update

Merry Christmas!
You can view more holiday pics here.

Winter in California is amazing.  The temperature on the beach reaches the mid 60's but if you turn around and look up to the mountains in the nearby distance you can see snow atop them.  How cool is that?

Last evening we returned to Santa Monica to spend time with friends there and went ice skating outside.  A real surprise for this part of the country!

I have been working on a Christmas present for our landlord, if it's not posted yet, it will be shortly. It is a small mural I have painted of a deep sea diver that you can only view when opening up a dummie door ajoining two seperate living areas.  He will be surprised!

We attended a Christmas party  held across the street from a parade of lights in the marina.  The boats get all lit up and sail along the marina to compete for a small cash prize for the most creative lighting.  Visitors line along the shore watching them, but we had a view from the third story of the house.  We did take a stroll to the shore but a nippy wind changed Mary's mind.

This year we are passing on giving  and receiving gifts, but we did get a present that we both enjoy.  It is  a digital picture frame that displays pictures.  We are extra cautious on any purchase as ultimately whatever we buy must find room in our small car, and this certainly made the packing criterea.  We have already placed two years of pictures on it and barely made a dent in it's memory capacity.  Pictures to anyone else; memories to us.

If you haven't already heard, I am extending another contract in Thousand Oaks and we will remain at the beach till the first of April, from there we hope to move next to Hawaii.  One thing I have learned though; plans are easily subject to changee.  Flexability is the name of this travel nursing game.  

"We currently have lots of positions in Washington state." says a recruiter. 

"Yeah, cause it's so stinking cold up there."  declares Mary.  

One thing we are not flexable in is cold weather.  The cool temperature in this part of California is as low as Mary would stand for.  

Already the itch to move is working on both Mary and I, but the slow down-time at the beach has been good for us.  It is the friends and relationships that we have made in the area that has really made all the difference for us.  

"You will have to pay an extra charge for a second bedroom in Hawaii."  says a nurse recruiter.  That's OK.  We suspect several folks will be visiting and the extra room will come to good use.