Pixel

Meet Pixel. No, we didn't get another ferret. We only had her for a week. Dacian was in love with this new pet that he could hold and carry everywhere. I think he played a little too much with her. She was very gentle and just an easy pet. She stayed in her cage most of the time. I love ferrets because they are very personable, they are easily potty trained, they are smart and mischievous. It made me miss our old ferret. However, I will not get any other pets and I am determined to not have any other pets after Tomi, our dog dies. He's in good shape for 14 and I think he might still have 2 good years in him. Now that I have kids and I am so busy and tired I don't want the responsibility of going for walks even when it's so cold and rainy and also the fact that whenever you go somewhere you have to have someone take care of your animal. Of course, now I know why for the longest time my parents would not let me have a dog. Cats, parrots or other birds, fish was OK.

Anyway, we had fun with this little pet for a week. Our friends came and got her today. Dacian told me all week that she is his pet and we can't give her back but today he had no problem with it. I guess I talked about it enough to give him a heads up.

Isn't she so cute? I love her pure white coat. Pixel is deaf but still very cute and playful.
I love this boy.
And this girl. I couldn't get a picture with the ferret and Lavinia. She kept laughing the whole time so here she is anyway.

Anniversary and New Year's

My Romanian potato salad. It's so good. I make it every holiday.

Dacian was rather scared when we had our party popers going off. I think it was more that he was so tired and just lost it. He is not the happiest in this picture but I don't have any other good ones.

My nice vacation is coming to an end so soon. I had a wonderful time off and had a quiet, relaxing Christmas. I enjoyed playing with my kids, cooked less and tried to nap some.

On the 29th my husband and I celebrated 8 years of marriage. Can't believe it's been this long. Shane surprised me with a night's stay at a fancy downtown Seattle hotel. It was so nice to be in the city. We had the kids with us first to go swimming with us. The pool was at the top floor and it was so cool to see all the other tall buildings and the Puget Sound so close by. Beautiful view. Later we dropped off the kids with my parents and then had Raclette ( a Swiss cheese that you melt and pour over potatoes and eat with bacon or other meats and pickles, super yummy) in the room (almost set off the fire alarm) and then had desert at Cheecake Factory. Also we slept in and what a treat that was. I felt like I hadn't done that in years. We then went to Pike Market and walked around and had lunch and desert at a very yummy French Pastry. I love the city. We don't go very often so when we go it's quite a treat. It was so fun to be together just the two of us. Love you Shane, thanks for 8 great years and thank you for a lovely day.

On to New Year's now. We spent it with the whole family at Patrick's house. Taylor, our good friend came too. It was so rad. It was what I think all New Year's parties should be like. We were there until almost 4am. It reminded me of Romania when we stayed up eating, dancing and watching TV all night. It is a night like no other there and I was so glad we got to do that here. They had really good food and music and a projector that was projecting the image on a huge wall. They even had Romanian music manele and I was dancing like a maniac at that point. I really miss Romania especially this time of the year.

I brought deviled eggs and a Romanian potato salad that I shaped into a Christmas tree. It was fun to make and I got this idea from a Romanian food blog.

Our friend, Patrick married this cool girl from Kenya and I just thinks she is the coolest and can't be happier for him. Congrats guys.

Well, that's my latest for now. I wish you all a Happy, prosperous, filled with blessings New Year!