HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I hope it was a good one for you. The New Year always felt like an anticlimactic holiday to me. I've celebrated in the streets of San Francisco, at parties and just been konked out at home. It's just never the way it looks on TV. This time, though, it was pretty fantastic and I would love to spend future New Years like this, minus the storms.

Let me back up a bit. Remember when I baked drunk and I said The Man and I got into a tiff? Well, I was pretty upset that we were fighting (over something silly) right before Christmas. And I was even more upset that we didn't get to see each other before my most favorite holiday of the year. Not to worry, we made up and everything was squared away. But I think The Man wanted to make up for it and for working this Monday. So he said he would take me away for the New Year, I just had to pick where. Well, I wanted to be surprised but I have high speed at work so I did some research.

I picked two places that were close enough - the Half Moon Bay Ritz Carlton and The Sonoma Inn & Spa. I printed out package descriptions and prices. Some were very unreasonable like $950/night but I like to hear his reaction. The Man and I like to do that - do things just to get reactions from each other. So I printed out several package pages per hotel. It was worth it. That night, I gave him the the package information and went to the kitchen to bake. As I was mixing my cookie dough, I heard, "What the ...?! Woman! What the heck do you think I'm made of?!" I got a good laugh.

The Man is a great man. He's also a procrastinator. I had no idea what we were doing until Friday afternoon when he called me. (He had booked the place during his lunch break.) We were going to Carmel. My first time there! I packed and met him at his place. We drove through a pretty nasty storm. Before I drove out to see him, The Man told me I could look up where we were staying, The Carmel Valley Ranch, on the internet but I told him I wanted to be surprised. On our way there, he told me that this place was a bed & breakfast, formally a farm house. He said that there were wild turkey and deer on the premises. The Man also told me that he had booked the "Milking room" package. That's right, folks, I would be learning how to milk a cow.

The Man and I also play a game that we haven't titled but I call it, "Bull$hit." Usually, he's the one to tell the tale and I'm the one to determine if it's for real or bull$hit. At this point, I had no idea. But he swore to me that there really were wild turkey where we were staying. F*ck.

No need to worry, we drove up to this:

Oh yahhh! I was so happy. And relieved. All the rooms are suites and he booked us a corner suite. Ours had a living room area, two fireplaces and a king-sized bed. We had a private deck that wrapped around the suite. Unfortunately, we were having a mini-monsoon so we couldn't really enjoy the deck ... what is up with my vacations and freakin' storms? But oh my goodness, it was beautiful!

(Click on the picture if you want to see our suite. They definitely made it much more glamorous than the real deal but it was still very nice.)

All the storms - oh yes, there was more than one - made it nearly impossible for us to enjoy the hiking, tennis and outdoor stuff the hotel and Carmel had to offer. We did, however, have about a half a day's worth of semi-sunny weather. And by golly, The Man swore it to be true and it was. We saw wild turkey on the hotel property! Look at what else we saw:

(According to The Man, these birds are California Quail. And look, four deer! Sorry, no pics of wild turkey.)

We went on the 17 Mile Drive from Monterey back to Carmel. It rained on and off but we saw some beautiful scenery. Of course, we had to take pictures! I won't inundate you and your computer so here's the best one from our drive -

Pookie shouted me out. Yes, I was asleep by 10:30pm! But I wouldn't have spend New Year's Eve any other way. Despite the crazy storms (Sonoma officials evacuated everyone this weekend! Glad we didn't stay there,) this was probably the best New Year I've had. And, on a side note, this is the FIRST vacation The Man and I have taken (by ourselves) where we haven't fought. We always joke and say, "We fight in the most exotic locations." Maui, Lake Tahoe, Capitola, Santa Cruz ... we're pretty gifted. In any case, these fights are usually big whoppers and just plain ugly. Normally, I don't divulge relationship information but no fighting on this trip is HUGE! And it's a cause for celebration because, let me tell you, we just tackled a huge hurdle in our relationship. This trip, in so many ways, was a wonderful way to kick start my 2006!