Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Quick sketch of this year's holiday highlights:
* Stayed at a bed 'n breakfast in Piedmont, South Carolina - Jesse and Amy tied the knot on 12/22. Had lots of grits and sweet tea.
* Visited E's uncle in Tierra Verde, Florida. The weather was perfect; no chestnuts roasted by an open fire, but the spirit of Christmas was well with palm trees dressed up in lights and much caroling and revelry with snowbirds at the waterfront dive bars. Gorgeous beaches. Ate sushi (fresh fish!), German crepes, and co-conspired with FIL, fellow Alton Brown fan, on a 6 lb standing rib roast for Christmas dinner.
* Went to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg and the Morse Museum of Art (large Tiffany collection) in Orlando - artsy fartsy. Learned a good bit about both.
* Watched Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba. Pretty cool! Dark, beautiful, surreal. The Diabolos performance stole the show, I think; the four Chinese girls were insanely young and talented.
* Spent New Year's Eve at Disney's Epcot. 14 and 1/2 hours on our feet, 2 1/2 of which were spent waiting in line for Soarin' (a 7-minute hang glider simulation). The fireworks at midnight were okay, but the feeling of celebration shared by the 70,000+ crowd, mostly tourists from all over the world, was incredible.

Kitties were excited to see us when we got home. They wouldn't let us out of their sight. After almost 2 weeks in T-shirts and flip-flops, it was hard to come back to the notorious Pittsburgh cold and bundle up like a Yeti. It was 20 degrees F this morning and I had to brush snow off the car before work.

Will post pictures!