Living la vida calor

Oh, I had almost forgotten how much I love California.... Ya know, it's kind of funny. When I was on my first date with Simon in Santa Barbara, I told him that I only ever wanted to live in this little swath of land between San Luis Obispo and Thousand Oaks along the beach. While that dream has really been chucked out the window, when I come back to this part of the world, I still think to myself that this is a wonderful place to live. I could come back here for sure. Even with the outrageous housing costs, it's still better than most places I've lived. And at this point in my life I think I've seen quite a few of them. Barcelona is the exception though, as I still have dreams of retiring there eventually! Living in warm Spain with all the pata negro, manchego and sangria I can consume is my sort of ultra dream paradise! But I digress... So Cal is so nice in the winter, especially on winter days when I can go barefoot outside and sweat in the sun! I'd be freezing back in Edinburgh and not wanting to go outside to go the grocery shopping. I think we may have to rethink our long term living plans, as I really do like to feel warm. The winters are fine, but it's the cold summers that have really gotten to me. It's only when I experience a nice California day in December here that rivals the best August day in Edinburgh, that I realize what I'm missing... :(
But, on the upside, there are no castles here, no public transportation, no old buildings, no tiny fuel efficient cars (just parking lot after parking lot of huge monster pick up trucks and SUVs driving around spotless and with owners going to white collar work or to the grocery store in them), no global news (although the UK isn't the best EU country when it comes to thinking about the rest of the world), no green grass that's not artificially watered, and no good tea or shortbread. I do miss the UK, or Scotland I should say. But I'm not sure I can make it my home for the long haul. But we'll see. I think that's just the Californian in California talking. I'm sure I'll perk back up once I get home and acclimate to the ice and rain.
Anyhow, on other fronts... Marius has chicken pox! The poor kiddo must have picked it up at nursery. There were a few cases in his room there, and the incubation period is about 10-21 days, so I'm sure he got it towards the end of November and it just manifested this week. The crappy thing is that I had already made an appointment with my mom's doctor to get Marius the chicken pox vaccine tomorrow! Oh well, that saves my $80 now! Marius doesn't seem to be really put out with the pox, even though he has one on his tongue, one on his lower eyelash, one on the roof of his mouth, one in his nostril, several on/in his ears and tons on his body. He's only gotten a few on his arms and legs so far, so hopefully they'll stop popping up now and just start going away at this point. He first got them on Sat night, so I think for the most part this is all he's going to get. They haven't yet started to crust up so we've been in quarantine this week. We were supposed to go to LA on Sun with a friend to see the children's science museum, but that got thrown out of the window when I suspected that his spots were chicken pox and not flea bites from my brother's dog! I had hoped to visit the Santa at the mall, complete with a woody and surfboards in fake snow - but that too is now chucked out the window. I will now have to wait for his 3rd Christmas to get a Santa photo....
Have a merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah next week! Sorry photos and videos will have to wait until I can use Simon's computer...