The Nutcracker at Royce Hall

For my birthday earlier this year, my parents gifted a membership to Pasadena's Huntington Library. As we learned last month, part of the membership includes discounts at regional art events -- including a 2-for-1 promotion at the Los Angeles Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

Neither one of us had actually seen the show; frankly, I was clueless as to the storyline completely.

Last night, in the third consecutive day of Southern California rain, we braved the brakes-locking-hydroplaning-accidents-galore drive on the 405 down to UCLA's Royce Hall (one of the first four buildings built at the university) -- where one of the productions was held.

The hall was completed in 1929, severely damaged in the 1994 earthquake, and restored in 1997 after a $70 million project -- and it shows, the ceiling and the 6,600-pipe pipe organ are amazing (you can see some of the pipes near the ceiling in some of the photos).

I wasn't allowed to take any photos of the production (Emma's more strict about this than the ushers are), which is unfortunate since our balcony seats in the middle were perfect for seeing everything.

After the show, we again headed back out into the all-to-rare Southern California rain, drove home successfully with all limbs and car parts intact, and tried the new Asian restaurant in town, Wokcano.

California rolls, crazy rolls (yellowtail, salmon, crab), beef lo mein, and crispy orange chicken -- all really good. Impressive really. And the same goes for the strawberry cheesecake we shared.

I don't think we'll end up making The Nutcraker an annual tradition, but it was a fun, festive time.

Christmas Ornament Review

Last year was one of the first years since my first apartment that we've had a real, larger-than-table-top Christmas tree.

So last year, we ended up buying a few "filler" ornaments to fill the extra space not taken by our one-off ornaments.

We have a few really special ornaments that Em and I were talking about as we were decorating our tree last night.

Whenever we travel, we try to pick up an ornament to mark the occasion.

On our honeymoon, we picked up the sandal ornament on Oahu -- our first island on our two-week paradise vacation.

A year later, we traveled north 2,800 miles on our Alaska voyage -- quite the opposite from our time in Alaska. Though, we did snorkel in both places -- which was fairly amazing. In Juneau, before our Alaskan Fudge Company stupor set in, we picked up the Eskimo girl ornament.

Taking a break from the "travels" collection, we arrive at our angelic tree topper -- which was made by Emma's grandmother (mom's mom); it's a special piece. And as you'll soon see, angels are a bit of a theme on our tree.

It was a tradition that Em's dad would buy her mom an angel ornament every Christmas. When Em and I first started dating, I did the same. This was the first angel I bought, in 2002... a few years ago...

This angel ornament is very, very special to Em. It's the last angel Em's dad and the girls picked out before her mom passed. It's that simple.

Em has a bit of Irish heritage on her side of the family. In one of my first years at University, I bought her a sterling silver claddagh ring at a street market; she still wears it today. The claddagh has been a symbol of love throughout our relationship -- from the ring, to a similar tattoo on my left shoulder, to part of our wedding giveaway gifts.

Back to the travels, we got this bus ornament in Cartagena, Colombia earlier this year. It wasn't meant to be an ornament, but we made it one anyway. Like the Old City, this piece is full of color. Looking back on our trip their, it probably wasn't the safest at the time, but it's without a doubt, one of my favorite cities.

Sailing through the Panama Canal was amazing. And then that night, docking just outside Panama City and seeing the city lights twinkle off the ocean was equally memorable. The next day we walked around greater Panama City (Puerte Amador) a bit and picked up this ornament. Truthfully, I have no idea what it is (maybe a gourd?) but we like it.

We spent a day in Acapulco this year. Em wore a white dress -- that combined with her sun-bleached blonde hair -- was quite the attraction to the locals. We weren't all that impressed with the city, but we were somewhat taken by the color and art in downtown's old marketplace. We found this piece there -- artwise, it's pretty similar to the art we saw a few days earlier in Huatulco.

And....done. That's not all of our one-off ornaments -- but it's certainly some of the most special ones.