Mountains or Beaches... Both

Ringing in 2026 with mountains, beaches, and back to work.​

We started the new year in Colorado, bundled up in the chilly mountains and celebrating with family. Almost as soon as we unpacked our bags back home, we repacked them and flew down to Dana Point to visit Sahar’s aunt, uncle, and cousin, where the air was salty instead of snowy. It felt pretty special to bounce from winter wonderland to beachside bliss all in the same week, lucky us.

In Dana Point, we fell into a nice routine: I went running each morning while Sahar did pilates, we then went exploring somewhere, and ended the day with a great home cooked meal and some tv. On our outings, we visited neighboring towns, learned about the history of the missions in that area, snuck in a short hike with gorgeous views, and grabbed some excellent pho with my friend from college and his girlfriend, a warm bowl of soup and good conversation before real life ramped back up.​

The Sahar Scoop: Sahar went straight from vacation mode into school mode, using the weekend back home to tie up loose ends and get ready for the new semester. On top of classes, she’s in full interview season, this upcoming week she has one scheduled each day! She’s still waiting to hear back from a few final rounds but keeps lining up more interviews. She's also continuing her wheel pottery class at the school's craft center, she recently made a very nice bowl.​

The Benoit Blurb: I used that same transition weekend to get ready to return to work, which has been chugging along in its usual “same old, same old” way while we wait to hear about end-of-year reviews next month. The real exciting event of January, though, was a jury duty summons that resulted in 2.5 days of sitting in a stuffy courthouse waiting room, only to be released before even making it to voir dire. They live streamed the process to us at least so I was able see how the attorneys and judge work. The trial was expected to last one to two months, so it’s probably for the best that I wasn’t selected, though I did come home with yet another cold (which I blame entirely on that waiting room air).

Since the semester started and work picked back up, life has felt pretty busy, with days filling quickly between classes, interviews, jury duty, and recovery from that stubborn cold. We're looking forward to February for a lighter load for Sahar once she lands an internship, and more free time for me now that I'm back to healthy. February also mean another year older for me, it's starting to be a lot of those!