I'm sitting on my couch next to Ender, huddled together under the blanket that my friend Andy's dad gave me before I left for college. It's black and white with fringe around the edges and a Norfolk Southern train weaved into the center. "So you don't get cold," he said with what I'm pretty sure was a tear in his eye. It's been ten years and I still break it out every winter, because Jim Ed doesn't want me to be cold and you just gotta listen to Jim Ed.

Can you believe December is here already? I know we moved at the end of September but I still keep telling people we've been here a month, as if time stood still the moment we turned the key of our Silicon Valley townhouse. But the holidays are upon us and our tree is up, decorated with lights and ornaments (including several hilarious ones with baby pictures of me and my brother); and our stockings are hung not on the mantle (we don't have one of those), but along the edge of our staircase.

We're finding our routines--it takes time usually, so I've tried to be patient about it. Sneaking out of bed in the dark for an early barre class, coffee at the computer as I start my workday, a mid-morning break to take Ender to the dog park to play. I joined a book club and am reading again for the first time in too long (and stocking the bar with Baileys for next weekend, when I'm hosting). Thanksgiving in Half Moon Bay with my side of the family was exactly the low-key, relaxing, and fun first west coast holiday we needed to really start feeling at home here. It takes time usually, so I've tried to be patient about it.

California still feels like a different world sometimes. But December feels like an old friend.

As you probably know by now, Rob and I have moved several times. What you might not know is that by this point, it sometimes feels as though we have friends or family in almost every city in the country. Between the friends we've made in our many homes and the friends from home who have moved to other cities, we really can travel to a wide variety of places and meet up with people we grew up with, or people we've come to know and love more recently.

All of this is to say that over the years I've become a big fan of traveling and then staying in with friends for a cozy dinner now and then.

And of course, blogging makes the world a lot smaller. I feel really lucky to have been introduced to not just great friends, but creative colleagues in Annie and Kristan. Getting together last month to host our autumn lunch in Sonoma was so fun that it barely felt like work, and it also felt like no time had passed since we all met up to do the same thing in Seattle.

The night before we headed to Sonoma, we stayed in San Francisco--at a seriously gorgeous apartment in the Mission. There were five of us (Ozzie and John, our photographer and videographer/Kristan's husband), so it made more sense to rent a place than to get a couple hotel rooms.

We stopped at a nearby market for some flowers and snacks--we joke that The Cheese Board is really our thing, and for a good reason! We always manage to put together the most delicious cheese and charcuterie platters whenever we're together--maybe because we don't want to cook when we're hanging out, but also probably because we're usually drinking wine (as usual, we opened a couple bottles of La Crema's Sonoma Coast Chardonnay and Pinot Noir) and what goes better with wine than cheese? Grapes, olives, prosciutto, nuts, and just a little bit of chocolate--it's one of my favorite meals.

We spent an hour puttering around the kitchen, plating food, taking photos, sipping on wine, and as we brought everything outside to enjoy our happy hour party on the patio, suddenly it dawned on me that none of us actually lived in the city we were entertaining in! It's easy to make yourself at home when there's food, wine, and good company.

Annie and Kristan and I put together a list of tips for hosting a happy hour on the fly (especially if you're traveling), and you can check it out today on the La Crema blog! 

Many thanks to La Crema for sponsoring this post (and my amazing travels to and from Sonoma)!

Photos by Oguz Uygur.

Dear Ender,

Two years ago this weekend you were born. I believe you lived in Raleigh at the beginning--just a little guy, fast asleep in the lap of the woman who first took care of you as she emailed back and forth with me about your adoption.

I still don't know the details of how you came to be under the care of South of the Bully, but I'm so glad they found you and fed you and held on to you until I picked you up about thirty miles outside of Charlotte on that sunny afternoon in February. You fell asleep in the passenger seat and when I pulled into the garage and parked I reached over to pick you up, and as I stood to get out of the car with you on my shoulder I bumped your head on the door. 

We didn't always know what we were doing, but we did our best--still do. And we're so lucky to have you.