Packing

Like everybody else, I am good at some things and not so good at others. In my not so good things would be packing for a trip.

I was going to take 2  suitcases, but after talking to the girls I realize  just taking one would make more sense since we don't want to go thru the hassle. So one it is, and it should be one that fits overhead. The only one that would fit would be my regular red one, so that's what I chose.

If I was going to Utah for a weekend or so, no problem, if I was going to Savannah for 4 days, no problem. If  my trip is going to be 16 days long, and go both to SLC and Savannah, then I have a problem. What to take?

To make matters harder is going to be cold, which means the clothes I'm taking are going to take more space. If Lizzie or Sandy were packing, they'd have no problem I'm sure. But this is me, I forgot to pack my nightgown and a sweater when I went to Cambria.

I packed and unpacked 3 times already, this suitcase is not very big at all. So far things fit OK but not my shoes, or sweashirt or long sweater. Everytime I get rid of one or two things and then I realize is one of my must take stuff.

I don't have a winter coat and Sandy is going to let me use one of hers otherwise I sure wouldn't know where to pack it!  OK here I go again...I'll unpack and see what else I can get rid of....

Getting excited!

November Recap

Here's my recap...a good month for me

Nov  6    Walk with N to the HB marshes. Dinner at Harbor House
Nov  8    Big fires in California
Nov 14    Corona del Mar, HB sunset. Slapfish dinner.
Nov  19   Lizzie's Birthday
Nov 20    Lizzie came to LM
Nov 21    To San Diego
Nov 22     Thanksgiving. Great day!
Nov 23    To Julian. Visit with Michelle
Nov 24     Walk around SD. Visit with Heather. To LM
Nov  27     Talk to girls and N in Las Vegas.
Nov 28     To podiatrist. Panda Inn
Nov 29     Rain all day. Clean drawers.
Nov 30      Found a piece of jewelry I thought I'd lost, and also found some $$. YAY for cleaning?

BOOKS I'VE READ

MOVIES I'VE WATCHED

The day after

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to go to Julian. It was a very nice drive and lovely weather, when we got there the town was packed, no place to park, so we drove on to have a nice lunch at Jeremy's at the Hill on Wynola. For dessert we went to Mom's Pie house for the typical slice of apple pie, the Julian area is well know for its apples.

From there we drove to go visit a friend of L from High School, she lives in the Poway area in a very nice house .  In the way we stopped to see the Santa Ysabel Indian Mission.

It was nice to see Michelle again, I had not seen her for a long time and it was good to catch up with her.  When we got to her house, Lulu made herself at home, she ran around checking everything, even climbing on the couch. They have two big dogs and they were outside but wanting to come inside, it was funny to see them trying to be friendly with Lulu, but she wanted nothing to do with them, she even growled and barked at them if they came to close.

We got back to San Diego and walked around a bit and then had dinner at Lolita's. Another fun day.

Saturday morning we walked to the Opera bakery to have a delicious croissant and hot chocolate and then we walked for a while. We saw that 5th Avenue was closed for 2 blocks because they were going to have vendors and other Christmas events starting at 2PM  We were going to leave early but decided to hang around for a while. We went back home to pack and rest for a while and then we went walking around. We bought some yummy candied bourbon pecans, and I found some soap and lotion that I could actually smell! it was mango &  coconut :)

Just before leaving I took a picture of the pretty Christmas tree in the lobby of L's apartment building

On the way home, we stopped to visit Heather another friend oh L in San Marcos. Her sister and husband were there too, and a little later her other sister and mother came along with some of her grand kids.  Heather has a barking dog that is cute but loud, her oldest son took him for a walk and once again Lulu was queen on the house. She went around exploring, and ate all the dog food (not hers) she also  played with everybody and got enough loving to last her for a while. It was very nice to see all of them.

We had a very nice drive back home, Lulu was excited! It was a very fun long Thanksgiving weekend.

I forgot a little anecdote. After our Thanksgiving dinner, we took a Lyft home. The driver was very nice and friendly. He said I had a sweet voice. People have said I have an accent, but nobody ever said my voice was sweet. I loved it!

A San Diego Thanksgiving

Lizzie thought it would be a good idea to spend Thanksgiving in San Diego, I wholeheartedly agreed!
We left the night of Nov 21, and had a good drive, Lulu enjoyed it as well. It was a little cloudy and rain was announced for  Thanksgiving day. I was sad because we were booked at a very nice Restaurant called Island Prime C Level, in Harbor Island
 https://www.cohnrestaurants.com/islandprime

The morning was cool and cloudy, but it got better as the day went by. In the morning we walked downtown and stopped at Bub's for drinks and chicken tenders. There were a lot of people milling around, many walking their dogs, and it was very nice.

By the time we were getting ready to go to dinner it seemed like it wouldn't rain! yay! We  called a Lyft  and went to the Restaurant. We were there a little before sunset because I wanted to see it, however it was cloudy and we didn't see it, however we had the greatest view of downtown San Diego. That really made my day, it was gorgeous!

The meal was delicious, we chose from the Thanksgiving Menu. I had a glass of Cava and they brought us some great popovers,

 then butternut squash soup with creme fraiche, and my main course, rib steak with bordelaise sauce, mashed potatoes with butter, sea salt and scallions, caramelized onions and green beans. My dessert was pecan pie with raspberry coulis and caramelized orange. It was great!

The moon was full and after sunset the lights in San Diego were beautiful , a truly magnificent view .

Afterwards we went back home and rested a while, then we took Lulu for a walk downtown, and stopped at the bar of Pendry Hotel for drinks.

It was a great Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow I will write about going to Julian and meeting friends

Happy Birthday Lizzie!

An almost perfect day

November did not begin well.  I felt sad about the horrible shootings and the terrible fires and the usual b.s of politics , so I decided to go down to the beach on yesterday, it always makes me feel happy and calm seeing the ocean.

I drove down and went to get the beach pass from Norbert. He has been acting up a little lately and I wanted calm,, I just wanted to walk on the beach, he said he would come too, OK. After he got ready he asked me where I wanted to go, I said what I really wanted was to go to Corona del Mar, it is one of my favorite beaches, and he agreed right away :)

It was a gorgeous Summer in November day. Not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze and 81 degrees. Corona del Mar is a pretty town with multimillion dollars homes and beautiful sights. We walked down to the beach, is a fairly long walk, but they had paved it since the last time I was there and it was nice.

The beach was perfect. Hardly any people, just a few girls sunbathing and a couple of guys scuba diving. I climbed on the rocks with N's help and walked around  and got to wade in the water (good thing I was wearing my skort!) the waves were a little rough and I got wet but it was fun. The day was so clear we could see Catalina Island very clearly. N loved taking pictures with my phone and I took some myself. We sat down for a while and it was just lovely.

Nice reflection of the sun

I had sand on my feet and legs so N very nicely cleaned them so I could put my shoes one and walk up. He was super nice and friendly and very good company.  We also went to the Goldenrod Foot Bridge and looked around the pretty views.

It was time for a late lunch, he wanted to go to a Chinese buffet in Santa Ana, I didn't really want to go because I don't like buffets of any kind, but he had been so nice so I said OK. By then the roads from Newport Beach were  bumper to bumper, so he asked me how about going to Slapfish in HB. I said YES!  We drove there and had clam chowder and fish and chips, loved it!

We were going back to his house when I checked the time for sunset, it was 4:30 and the sunset was at 4:49, so I said I wanted to go see it, so we drove to "his" beach and walked to the shore and
                                         we were lucky to see an  amazing sunset.

It was almost a perfect day :)

Shopping

Today I was planning on going to HB and take a walk along the beach. It was a nice day but cloudy, so I decided to wait until tomorrow.

By the way, I don't like this change of time, it gets dark too early. And these days is warm in the daytime like today it was 84, but after the sun sets it gets quite chilly, right now is 52 brrrrrrr.

Anyway, I went to the library, then to the Banc of California , and because Ross is in the same shopping center I decided maybe I'd go in and see what they had. Today Tuesday there's a 15% discount for seniors, bonus!.
They had all winter clothes out, I gathered a few long sleeves tops, some cardigans, even a coat and went to try them.  (Lizzie they had a couple of nice women coats, surprise) I tried one but I was suffocating, I guess I'll take advantage of Sandy's offer and borrow one of hers.

First one I tried, I started to get hot, I don't like winter clothes, they make my neck itch and  the long sleeves bother me. That along with my natural dislike of shopping was making my shopping expedition a total failure from the beginning.

Then I looked at purses, I even tried one that was like a backpack but kind of cute, so I put it on but couldn't get out of it, yes I am a klutz, it took a while and the help of a nice security man that probably will laugh his ass off when he tells about it to his security friends. Oh well.

Next I checked some knit caps, they had a pom pom on top, needles to say I didn't even try it.
I kept on looking around and decided it was not a good day for shopping, I ended up with a  "festive" top with sparkles black with red flowers, but is not as bad as it sounds. I called it a day
.
When I got home, I decided to clean my closet and put some of the most obvious summer clothes away and check what I had in the way of winter clothes, just to see if there were some salvageable ones.
SCORE! I tried a few tops that actually look pretty good and some of them still had the tags on. A couple I didn't even remember buying, but it's all good. I also  found about 4 sweatshirts, and I have plenty of pants, some never worn. I tend to buy things then put  them away and forget about them and keep on wearing what I'm comfortable with.

That's the end of my story.