Goodbye 2015; Hello 2016

This final day of 2015 started out pretty normally. Woke up, fed the cats, put on my make-up, got dressed, then looked at my to-do list. All doable!

I needed to pick up my car from my mechanic of 19 years, and no one was around to drive me there, so I called Uber . Uber was in 50 percent surge-price mode, so I said, forget that! Opened
Lyft and put in my location and request...

Lyft did something weird.

I watched the Lyft car circle around, then was notified the car had arrived. Scanning all directions—no Lyft. The driver calls and tells me he is in West Seattle. Uh, yeah. I was 20 minutes away in Madrona. Wonder what happened? Obviously I couldn't wait for him, so I called my old standby, Farwest Taxi. They said it would be 15 minutes until a cab would reach me. No thanks. In this age of "I have no time to wait," I called Yellow Cab next. They arrived in 5 minutes.

An older East African gentleman

was driving and he wouldn't exceed 25 MPH. Drove me kind of nuts, actually, and eventually I jumped out a few blocks early and sprinted to my mechanic.

Let me just back up

by saying my family and I went to Star Wars on Tuesday evening. We were in a hurry (of course), but I wanted to grab my gloves out of my car. When I shut the door, I don't know how it was possible, but I slammed it shut on my Northface jacket. The door would. not. open. I had to twist around to extricate myself, then left the jacket hanging outside the door, then ran into the house and got another down coat. (It's really cold here right now.)

Weird how the door wouldn't open

My car was scheduled for a tune up

at CarTender Wednesday, so I figured I'd ask them to get the door unjammed. I felt pretty lame driving there with my coat partly hanging outside the car.

CarTender always washes and vacuums my car. But this time, I got there and it was still dirty. I asked the car-washing crew what was up, they said, "Well, at least we got your coat out of the door :)" Whoops. I was an ingrate! I paid my bill, wished some of the guys happy new year, drove away and was on to my next errand.

So we got a coupon for a free box of litter from Mud Bay. The coupon expires today. My plan was to pick up the litter after retrieving my car.

After searching 15 minutes for the store, it turned out Mud Bay moved. Guess where? Just a few blocks from my mechanic! Hey, let's drive all around Capitol Hill for no reason! Yay!

I got to the new location for Mud Bay,

but of course there was no parking. So I parked next door at the convenience store, ran in, bought a bag of chips and asked the guy if it would be okay to leave my car there a few minutes.

Zipped into Mud Bay, bag of chips in hand. I thought I should buy something since they were going to give me a box of litter, so I grabbed 10 rattle mice. Rattle mice are toys for cats that look like mice—covered with fur, with ears, a nose, eyes and tail. They have something inside that rattle, which somehow makes it more fun for cats.

Got to the checkout and guess what? They were out of the Oko litter and had no idea when they would get some—a supply chain issue or something. So I bought the rattle mice anyway. I now found myself with a bag of chips and 10 rattle mice I didn't need.

Sweet dog at Mud Bay

But what's this?

Lyft notifies me they are billing me $5 for a ride cancellation. What a minute. They never showed up. Is that considered a cancellation? Grrrr!

Next stop: Costco.

What do you know? I got a great parking spot just outside the door! Finally, things were looking up!

Costco was a total zoo but I managed to get my stuff and get out within an hour.

As I loaded my car, I walked around to the passenger side, and wow. There was a five-dollar bill on the asphalt! That almost paid for my cab ride!

Seeing that my day was on the upswing,

I had to feel better about the way it started. It was riddled with what my friend Reg likes to call, "first-world problems."
So this evening, to celebrate new year's eve, we met two long-time friends for dinner at
Cafe Lago , one of our favorites. The food reminds us of Tuscany.

One friend got very drunk

and knocked over a full glass of water onto the table, my phone and into my lap. Nice.
After dinner we walked out, freezing pant legs from where I was doused with water, and with drunken friend singing loudly (and out of tune), "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." I don't know if I'd lost that lovin' feeling, but I was starting to lose feeling in my legs.

Walked in the door to our home.

A phone call from our property manager, saying our AirBNB  guests lost power on the second floor. Oh, no!

David told them where to find the circuit breaker. Power restored. All good!

Ready to say goodbye to 2015,

I am counting my blessings, I have a wonderful husband, kids, friends and clients. I love our store, Alki Surf Shop , and blessed with many great people in our lives. And I'm also grateful to have my health. Next September 1 will be my 10th anniversary in remission. I'm ready for 2016!

Happy New year to everyone!

If you have any great 2015 stories, I'd love to read them!

Family together for Christmas, including our two dogs, Grey and Hunter

Verizon Wireless has given me the opportunity to use some of their products. Family photo and coat in the door shot with a Motorola Droid Turbo 2. No other compensation has been received for any of the links mentioned.

Special thanks to Jennifer for inspiring me to write this!