Merry Christmas!

This year's holiday came and went with relatively little complication or fanfare, which is just how I like it. I spent a lovely day at home with the fam-damily and I got every item on my list, including a new digital camera (!!). Unfortunately the underpaid worker in Malaysia neglected to include a battery in the box, which my well-connected brother promised to rectify for me this week. The camera apparently has a 'blog mode' which I plan to investigate as soon as it is charged. I realize that thus far the blog has been void of pictures, but know that I fully intend to spice it up 1) when I learn how and 2) when I have interesting pictures to post.

I've reached a relative stalemate with my visa, mostly because it's hard to get anything done over Christmas. I was able to find out that I have no known criminal past and am in the process of getting a signed letter stating as much. For some reason I can't get my freaking doctor to respond to my myriad e-mails about the letter of clean health (which she originally tried to scrawl on a piece of prescription paper; like I could have gotten THAT past the Chilean consolate) and I'm still not 100% sure what is meant by 'financial solvency' but hopefully a call to the San Francisco consulate will clear that up. I hope to have my application in by January 3 - wish me luck!

And, for those of you who may have forgotten or didn't know in the first place, I'll be turning 26 on January 5, which is a Saturday. Plans are still pending, but I figured I'd get through New Year's first (also no plans, a theme among friends this year) before deciding on birthday festivities. Stay tuned.

I hope you and yours had a fantastic holiday season. Good luck with those New Year's resolutions (my new exercise cords will come in handy starting on January 2...) and I'll write again next year!