I am back in El Paso...

After 10 great, relaxing, much-needed days of leave with Michael... Why can't I have more?!

Since it is back to work tomorrow, I thought I would jot down the last bit of Phoenix/Yuma happenings... We left Michael's parents house the day after Christmas, after having lunch with his best friend Eric, his wife and their son. Eric, similar to myself, just got back from an 11 month deployment, but he was deployed to Kosovo on a peace-keeping mission. It was definitely interesting to trade different sets of deployment stories, but yet still have the commonality of the deployment experience. On the way home, much to Michael's chagrin, I made him stop at the Dairy Queen and the metal dinosaur in Gila Bend... What can I say, I needed a chocolate dipped cone and a picture with the dinosaur, just like last year! :)

In keeping with another tradition, we decided to spend New Years at the same resort we stayed at last year. We had a nice time relaxing, eating tons of food from the free breakfast buffet, and being super-low key on New Years Eve. We pretty much spent three days indulging in the cable TV, movies and our own company. I couldn't have asked for anything better! We also continued a tradition of Michael's and did New Years Eve gifts... Apparently the presents weren't worth photographing, but the bow Michael stuck on my face, and the bag he put on my head were. You can see just how pleased he is with himself and his little shenannegans at my photographic expense! No, but really, it just goes to show how much fun we have together, and how he recycles packaging. Ha-ha...

On a side note, Jinx and Buttercup are getting along fairly well now that they have lived together for almost a year. I was pretty worried at first, because Jinx just wouldn't even have Buttercup anywhere in her vicinity without freaking out, but now, they can occupy the same space and are even partners in crime at times! I am just amazed at how well Jinx has adjusted from being an only cat to part of a cat pair... I had to post a picture because they both look so cute relaxing on the couch near one another.

The last thing we did before I had to go home was go to the Phoenix Zoo for Zoolights! It is the coolest thing I have ever seen... Every year, they wrap the trees with thousands of LED lights, along with lit animal shapes throughout the zoo. It was absolutely amazing and beautiful... The colors were so vivid, it is just a shame that they could not be captured to the fullest in photos. The neatest part of the exhibit were the trees by the lake that had their lights set to music. Michael and I were just in awe! All in all, we had fun goofing off, taking funny pictures (as you can see, I 'fed' one of the squirrels), with hot chocolate warming our hands as we strolled through the zoo. It was the perfect end to a great leave!

Yesterday, Michael took me to the airport and hung out with me in the Starbucks while waiting for my delayed flight. I love the fact that we can have so much fun doing absolutely nothing... We just sat there posting silly things to each other's Facebook pages from our phones and having text conversations about the various people who floated in and out of the Starbucks. We finally bid adieu when it was time for me to go to the gate, and I unwillingly went through security and waved goodbye.

And now, I am back in my apartment, not really wanting to go back to work tomorrow... Oh well, such is life for the time being...

66HM5 out...