August was the month that finally felt like 'Hello Summer!' We balanced our never ending home remodeling to-do list with equal doses of fun in the sun. We hiked, backpacked and ran to and at the beach, we attended concerts in the park, enjoyed dining al fresco almost daily, slept under the stars, awoke to the sound of waves crashing, experienced the solar eclipse event, heard elk bugle and a mountain lion roar (!!!), BBQ'd, wine tasted, and simply immersed ourselves in the still new-to-us fabulousness of living near the coast.
So if my sentences appear to be a bit more upbeat this month, it's not your imagination!
(And P.S. - Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post to see who else is participating,
and to visit their blogs for additional August In A Sentence A Day inspiration!)
- Backpack training hike #3 (eight miles, 22 pounds), followed by a loooong nap, then dinner at Ivory in Laguna Beach before enjoying Pageant of the Masters, a longtime summer tradition.
Those be real people up there! - Woke up to ants in the kitchen, eek, and quickly called our pest control service, after which I left the house and shopped till I dropped - groceries, more home decor items, and lots of ant killer spray to use while we await our pest control service.
- Long, tiring day
helpingwatching my electrician friend install ten new lighting fixtures, three new ceiling fans, remove oodles of useless wiring for a now-dead security system, remove more useless wire for an also-dead outdoor lighting system, and re-position several outlets away from three soon-to-be installed replacement sliding glass doors. - Sleepless night due to a helicopter loudly circling above our neighborhood for two hours in the middle of the night, a highly unusual event that literally blew-up our Facebook neighborhood page, then five hours of volunteer training at the Dana Point Ocean Institute followed by an evening in the park
trying to stay awakeenjoying a No Doubt tribute band.
It's Gwen Stefani!
OK, maybe not, but she did sound pretty darn close. - Ran around the harbor in the AM with my running club, bought massive peaches at the Dana Point Farmers Market, then joined friends Ed and Susan for a truly unforgettable Burmese meal at the wonderful Irawaddy.
One of the best items we ordered was this divine Tea Leaf Salad.
Unlike anything we've ever eaten before. - Fun potluck after Sunday services, with my contribution being another sinful Ina Garten recipe, this amazing Sour Cream Coffee Cake.
- Bribed a friend with lunch to pretty please come over and patch a couple of small drywall holes before getting our new glass sliders installed, plus met with our designer to create a new office for hubby that will look an awful lot like the one we had installed just before selling our prior house.
The office hubby barely got to use.
So happy we are making this a priority in the new house! - Moved six boxes of packed dishes and glassware into garage to await upcoming replacement of flooring, and couldn't believe I really had that much stuff stored in my dining room hutch!
Hello, my name is Tamara and I have a dishware problem! - Glorious morning run, then onto my second orientation at the Ocean Institute on a gorgeous summer day.
- Backpack training hike #4 at Carlsbad State Beach, eight miles with 24 pounds in packs, followed by breakfast at Daily News Cafe.
- Morning run, then off to a yoga retreat in Ojai with my oldest daughter.
- Yoga, it does a body good!
My daughter demonstrating the perfect post-yoga activity. - Started the day early with meditation, then enjoyed a lovely hike with my daughter before packing up and leaving for home.
- The first set of replacement windows started going in, and when we opened our new casement window in the ocean-facing upstairs guest bedroom it was instant paradise as a strong ocean breeze immediately came flowing in.
- A lovely lunch with my spiritual ladies group, then home to await the delivery of new living room furniture, which eventually arrived just before midnight, grrr.
New wood flooring sample in lower right corner . . . can't wait! - Eight mile training hike, stopping halfway at the beach for lunch, then home to check out how things were progressing on tile installation in our, blech, previously carpeted bathrooms.
So glad to see this carpeting go bye-bye! - Long day hanging around the house to be available for the million little decisions any home upgrade requires (where to stop tile, where to place baseboards, what to do with closet organizers, what to do with closet doors), plus a big design decision to attempt to emulate this sample staircase:
- Met with our window treatment guy for a second time in order to measure for shades, instead of shutters, for all of our view-facing windows, a much better option for preserving our view without sacrificing privacy.
- Morning race walk, then spent the rest of the day getting ready for your upcoming two week backpacking/wine tasting/hiking/RV'ing trip, yeah!
- Departed home bright and early at 4:30 AM to get a head start on our 470 mile drive to Point Reyes National Seashore, oof!
Last scenic few miles of a very long day of driving. - Solar eclipse fail in that the skies were too overcast to really see anything, then off onto day one of our four day backpack through Point Reyes National Seashore.
- So many animal sightings as we hiked - whale, weasel, coyote, quail, rabbit, deer, seal, hawks, turkey vultures and osprey.
- A VERY memorable warning growl from a just out-of-sight mountain lion when we accidentally lingered near where it was apparently guarding or ingesting the body of the weasel head we briefly stopped to look at along the trail.
- An absolutely gorgeous hike out of the park, then lunch back at our RV's, followed by looong hot showers.
- Point Reyes Lighthouse, elephant seals and French Marin Cheese, yum!
- The sights and sounds of Tule elk, males loudly bugling, as we hiked to Tomales Point in the northern end of the park.
- Fascinating discussion with our newly arrived wildlife naturalist RV site neighbor about how Tule elk came to be resettled in Point Reyes, and then onward to Petaluma for the next leg of our trip.
- Funnest wine tasting experience ever at Williamson Wines in Healdsburg!
- To Cline Cellars in Sonoma for more wine tasting, followed by a gluttony of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, cheese, jam and sauce tasting (hello bacon jam!), then dinner at Mustards Grill in Napa that ended with this amazing dessert - Mile High Lemon-Lime Meringue Pie.
- Nerve wracking drive towing our travel trailer over San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, then south along scenic Highway 1 to our last stop in Pescadero/Santa Cruz.
- Immersed ourselves in elephant seal biology at beautiful Ano Nuevo State Park, and let's just say that being an alpha male elephant seal may not be all it's cracked up to be!
And so went the month of August! We are still RV'ing with our friends, with just a couple more days to go before we return home and embark on an almost solid, non-stop month of remodeling.
