Dear Mom

Hi Mom,

sounds like the gardening class is a ton of fun. Your yard will be the envy of all the cow-keeping neighbors and crazy ladies.

The Thursday before classes started, Matt and I had a dinner party where we made mixed greens salad with goat cheese medallions, mushroom risotto, standing prime rib roast with mustard horseradish crust, and fruit and cheese for dessert. In attendance were: Anne, Juan, Ava, Sam, and Candace. A good time was had by all.

The next day Matt, Candace, and I left for Tahoe to meet up with some lawyer friends of Matt's. Every year they rent a huge cabin in Tahoe to go skiing. We all learned how to snowboard. Candace gave up pretty quickly, but I went the whole day and by the last run I made it down without falling - except intentionally to avoid crashing into people. And that was only twice. Luckily there was a hot tub at the cabin. Two of the group were formerly men, but they looked very nice in their bikinis.

Then classes started, and I bought a new computer, and am taking twice as many classes as the usual grad student schmoe. My favorite class is an undergrad class that I am just sitting it, called Fantasy Film and the Realms of Enchantment. We're tracing fairy tales and film from 1900 +. It is a lot of fun.

I also started yoga, in addition to my pilates class. I go with my friend Karla, but we didn't go this past Thursday because I had a GMB meeting (Graduate Medievalists at Berkeley), which I am in charge of. We are planning for our big conference in April. Also, we get an undergraduate assistant this semester, which I am very excited about, because then I will have less to do.

Randomly, a few days ago, Jason King sent me an email. Do you remember him? He and Jeanine King were friends of ours in elementary school. He saw my friendster page because he was randomly looking up the names of people he used to know. He said in his out-of-the-blue email to me that I might remember him -- that Edward had introduced him to nintendo. I forwarded his email on to edward. He and Jeanine now live in Houston - she manages a restaurant and he is a journalist-aspiring-filmmaker.

Last night matt and I went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Le Theatre. Only it wasn't as good as usual, and we were a little disappointed.

I'm telling you all this so you can feel like you know your daughter a bit better. And maybe pick out your own Christmas gift for me next year! :)

Love,
Amelia