Greetings! Today, and each month going forward, I'm documenting how I spent my month in just one sentence per day.
Turns out that the theme for March was Don't Stop Until You Drop! I don't know quite how it happened, but we ended up packing what felt like a year's worth of fun into March's 31 days. We hiked, we biked, we dined, we partied, we hosted, we rocked out, and we almost passed out from exhaustion on more than one occasion.
It was a heck of a good month!
March In A Sentence A Month
1. Enjoyed a sunny walk to the beach and back with hubby, 6 miles in all, and the last time we'll likely get outside for a bit in that a big storm is rolling in per our local newscasters.
2. Early morning grocery shopping to stay ahead of the rain, a bit of reading by the fire while watching the rain, then off to volunteer at a jazz festival, where after working for several hours we were able to sneak into the first row and enjoy some freakin' amazing sax by Michael Paulo, plus some 80's R&B with crooner Jeffrey Osborne.
3. Well, we had planned to attend the Dana Point Festival of Whales, plus an outdoor Hamilton sing-along, before joining friends for dinner, but everything got rained out, so we ended up spending the day at home, although I did manage a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond to purchase some new bedding and wall hangings for our guest bedroom.
4. Early morning four mile race walk, spiritual services, then a wonderful walking tour of downtown Dana Point with the Historical Society as part of this month's Dana Point Whale Festival.
5. We did our scheduled 45 mile training bike ride, and the weather was absolutely picture perfect for it - 70 degrees and light winds.
6. Attended two lifelong learning classes, then home to read for pretty much the rest of the day . . . ah, the joys of being retired!
7. My month for planning the dine out for our UC Irvine OLLI Gastronomy Club, so we all traveled to Stanton's Irrawaddy: Taste of Burma, where the owners gave a presentation on the style and flavors of Burmese cooking before the group happily dug in.
8. A 'typical' day in retirement at our new digs: AM gym workout, grocery shopping, volunteer shift at the harbor, dinner at home, then a marine science lecture in the PM.
9. A 25 mile bike ride through the Irvine bike trails with my biking group, including a stop for lunch, home to clean up, then a wine pairing dinner and presentation in Costa Mesa that featured the owners of the lovely Pear Valley Vineyard, located in Paso Robles.
10. AM race walk along the beach with my Saturday walking group, then hubby and I decided to skip our originally scheduled evening out event, and instead stay in and cozy up on a rare, rainy Saturday night.
11. The start of Daylight Savings, bah humbug on losing an hour of sleep, though I did appreciate this sweet note and hot cup of coffee my husband left me as a reminder,
then off to enjoy the play Plumas Negras at UC Irvine, about the farm workers of Salinas, California, and which was proceeded by a most interesting talk from the play's writer and director, Juliette Carrillo.
12. Gave myself permission to work on my needlepoint project the entire day for our soon-to-be-here new little granddaughter.
13. Our planned 50 mile training bike ride got fogged out, so we walked 12 1/2 miles instead, the approximate equivalent at my estimated 4:1 ratio (four miles of bike riding is roughly the equivalent effort of one mile of walking).
14. Spent the day grocery shopping and cleaning the house . . . every so often we do need to take a day off in order to take care of chores!
15. Field trip with my Art History class to San Diego's beautiful Balboa Park in order to visit the San Diego Museum of Art and the Timken Museum of Art, where we took three docent tours, learning lots and lots in the process.
16. A 30 mile bike ride through some of Irvine's multi-use trails with my biking group (Irvine has over a 100 miles of these paved trails), then home to enjoy a rare, but much enjoyed, quiet Friday night at home
17. Best St. Patricks Day ever as we kicked off the night with a Happy Hour get together at our house with two other couples, before heading to The Coach House to enjoy an absolutely fabulous night of Irish music with The Fenians.
18. Six mile walk to and along the beach, home to clean up, then off to attend a performance of the Pacific Symphony at Segerstrom Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.
19. Completed our 55 mile training ride, traveling from Irvine to Bolsa Chica and back again, including a midway stop for lunch at Pacific City in Huntington Beach, then absolutely nothing the remainder of the day!
20. & 21. Attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour at Orange Coast College with overnight guests - we love this event! - plus enjoyed over 18 miles of hiking and dining at some of our favorite lunch spots with them while they were here.
22. Out with the former, in with the new . . . our house guests left for home, only to be followed by Bob and Betty Lowry of Satisfying Retirement blog fame, who flew in for a five day visit, starting with a short hop over to San Clemente, where we walked to the pier for some sightseeing under threatening skies.
23. Took Bob and Betty to San Juan Capistrano for a walk through it's historic Old Towne, lunch at the wonderful Ramos House Cafe, a tour of San Juan Capistrano Mission, including a lecture on the swallows that migrate their annually, a stop into El Adobe for margaritas, home for naps, then out again to The Coach House for dinner and a concert featuring tribute bands to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones . . . . such a fun day!
24. Started off our third day with Bob and Betty at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, a wonderful organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of marine mammals along our S. California coastline,
then on into Laguna Beach for lunch at scenic Las Brisas, followed by a stroll through town visiting a variety of artists studios, which I knew the very-artistic Betty would enjoy (and she did!).
25. Today was all about our much anticipated whale watching excursion out of Dana Point Harbor, and it delivered in spades: five gray whale sightings, dozens of playful dolphin leaping all around our boat, and waves sufficiently high enough to cause a whole lot of rockin' and rollin', which just added to the day's excitement for most of us (hubby didn't fare quite as well with the high waves as the rest of us did, poor guy!).
26. We ended Bob and Betty's too-brief visit with a stroll down along Salt Creek Beach followed by lunch at Pain Du Monde before saying sad goodbyes at dropping them off at the airport for their return trip home.
27. An aggravating trip to the DMV to update my address and also apply for California's new Real ID Drivers license (90 minutes, even with an appointment, grrr!), then took my gal pal out for lunch at Mendocino Farms in Tustin, where we exchanged lots of happy news about our growing families,
28. We joined our Wednesday hiking group for a nine mile trek in the hills of San Clemente, speed grocery shopped on the way back, then got cleaned up and entertained friends staying in Dana Point for the week, including a guys vs gals game of cribbage, where the gals prevailed and then some!
29. Our backyard project kicked off this morning, with lots of this going on currently -
- plus I worked a volunteer shift at the harbor.
30. Joined my bike group for a 40 mile repeat ride to Huntington Beach, enjoying lunch at scenic Bear Flag Fish Co. at the halfway mark.
31. Morning race walk with my Saturday group, chores at home, then met friends for dinner at the fiery Sichuan Impressions, where we all broke into a sweat as we ate, because, yes, it was that spicy hot!
And so went the month! How was your March? Please share your highlights (or lowlights!) below.
It was a heck of a good month!
(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 Sentence A Day inspiration!)
March In A Sentence A Month
1. Enjoyed a sunny walk to the beach and back with hubby, 6 miles in all, and the last time we'll likely get outside for a bit in that a big storm is rolling in per our local newscasters.
2. Early morning grocery shopping to stay ahead of the rain, a bit of reading by the fire while watching the rain, then off to volunteer at a jazz festival, where after working for several hours we were able to sneak into the first row and enjoy some freakin' amazing sax by Michael Paulo, plus some 80's R&B with crooner Jeffrey Osborne.
3. Well, we had planned to attend the Dana Point Festival of Whales, plus an outdoor Hamilton sing-along, before joining friends for dinner, but everything got rained out, so we ended up spending the day at home, although I did manage a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond to purchase some new bedding and wall hangings for our guest bedroom.
4. Early morning four mile race walk, spiritual services, then a wonderful walking tour of downtown Dana Point with the Historical Society as part of this month's Dana Point Whale Festival.
 |
| We learned that before Dana Point Harbor was built, people just drove right on up to the beach! |
5. We did our scheduled 45 mile training bike ride, and the weather was absolutely picture perfect for it - 70 degrees and light winds.
 |
| We ate a sack lunch midway through the ride, but did stop for a well-earned treat just before finishing! |
6. Attended two lifelong learning classes, then home to read for pretty much the rest of the day . . . ah, the joys of being retired!
7. My month for planning the dine out for our UC Irvine OLLI Gastronomy Club, so we all traveled to Stanton's Irrawaddy: Taste of Burma, where the owners gave a presentation on the style and flavors of Burmese cooking before the group happily dug in.
8. A 'typical' day in retirement at our new digs: AM gym workout, grocery shopping, volunteer shift at the harbor, dinner at home, then a marine science lecture in the PM.
9. A 25 mile bike ride through the Irvine bike trails with my biking group, including a stop for lunch, home to clean up, then a wine pairing dinner and presentation in Costa Mesa that featured the owners of the lovely Pear Valley Vineyard, located in Paso Robles.
 |
| Taken by the wine club's photographer during the evening's events. |
10. AM race walk along the beach with my Saturday walking group, then hubby and I decided to skip our originally scheduled evening out event, and instead stay in and cozy up on a rare, rainy Saturday night.
11. The start of Daylight Savings, bah humbug on losing an hour of sleep, though I did appreciate this sweet note and hot cup of coffee my husband left me as a reminder,
then off to enjoy the play Plumas Negras at UC Irvine, about the farm workers of Salinas, California, and which was proceeded by a most interesting talk from the play's writer and director, Juliette Carrillo.
12. Gave myself permission to work on my needlepoint project the entire day for our soon-to-be-here new little granddaughter.
13. Our planned 50 mile training bike ride got fogged out, so we walked 12 1/2 miles instead, the approximate equivalent at my estimated 4:1 ratio (four miles of bike riding is roughly the equivalent effort of one mile of walking).
 |
| The weather we woke up to . . . a blanket of fog. |
14. Spent the day grocery shopping and cleaning the house . . . every so often we do need to take a day off in order to take care of chores!
15. Field trip with my Art History class to San Diego's beautiful Balboa Park in order to visit the San Diego Museum of Art and the Timken Museum of Art, where we took three docent tours, learning lots and lots in the process.
17. Best St. Patricks Day ever as we kicked off the night with a Happy Hour get together at our house with two other couples, before heading to The Coach House to enjoy an absolutely fabulous night of Irish music with The Fenians.
 |
| One of our friends really went all out! These guys are just as amazing in 2018, as they were back in 2008 below. . |
18. Six mile walk to and along the beach, home to clean up, then off to attend a performance of the Pacific Symphony at Segerstrom Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa.
19. Completed our 55 mile training ride, traveling from Irvine to Bolsa Chica and back again, including a midway stop for lunch at Pacific City in Huntington Beach, then absolutely nothing the remainder of the day!
 |
| Hubby during the ferry crossing section of our route through Newport Beach. |
20. & 21. Attended the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour at Orange Coast College with overnight guests - we love this event! - plus enjoyed over 18 miles of hiking and dining at some of our favorite lunch spots with them while they were here.
22. Out with the former, in with the new . . . our house guests left for home, only to be followed by Bob and Betty Lowry of Satisfying Retirement blog fame, who flew in for a five day visit, starting with a short hop over to San Clemente, where we walked to the pier for some sightseeing under threatening skies.
 |
| The San Juan Capistrano Mission is one of California's oldest and most historic structures. |
 |
| The mission's gardens were a good reminder that S. California is actually a dry, desert climate, in spite of it's magnificent coastline. |
 |
| Bob and Betty were terrific sports in agreeing to pose for this photo! |
24. Started off our third day with Bob and Betty at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, a wonderful organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of marine mammals along our S. California coastline,
then on into Laguna Beach for lunch at scenic Las Brisas, followed by a stroll through town visiting a variety of artists studios, which I knew the very-artistic Betty would enjoy (and she did!).
 |
| Bob and Betty posing along the scenic pathway behind Las Brisas. |
 |
| Beautiful Las Brisas always brings out the romance in hubby and me! |
25. Today was all about our much anticipated whale watching excursion out of Dana Point Harbor, and it delivered in spades: five gray whale sightings, dozens of playful dolphin leaping all around our boat, and waves sufficiently high enough to cause a whole lot of rockin' and rollin', which just added to the day's excitement for most of us (hubby didn't fare quite as well with the high waves as the rest of us did, poor guy!).
 |
| Beautiful Strand Beach at low tide. |
27. An aggravating trip to the DMV to update my address and also apply for California's new Real ID Drivers license (90 minutes, even with an appointment, grrr!), then took my gal pal out for lunch at Mendocino Farms in Tustin, where we exchanged lots of happy news about our growing families,
28. We joined our Wednesday hiking group for a nine mile trek in the hills of San Clemente, speed grocery shopped on the way back, then got cleaned up and entertained friends staying in Dana Point for the week, including a guys vs gals game of cribbage, where the gals prevailed and then some!
29. Our backyard project kicked off this morning, with lots of this going on currently -
- plus I worked a volunteer shift at the harbor.
30. Joined my bike group for a 40 mile repeat ride to Huntington Beach, enjoying lunch at scenic Bear Flag Fish Co. at the halfway mark.
 |
| The guys at our lunch break point at Bear Flag Fish Co. |
 |
| The gals staying warm around the restaurant's fire pit on a chilly Spring day. At 55 years, I'm the youngest of this group by a good 10+ years, but let me tell you that I have to pedal like a crazy person to keep up with this bunch! |
31. Morning race walk with my Saturday group, chores at home, then met friends for dinner at the fiery Sichuan Impressions, where we all broke into a sweat as we ate, because, yes, it was that spicy hot!
 |
| Our massive sweet teas, recommended as a way to offset the fiery food. |
 |
| Tea leaf smoked ribs. |
 |
| Cumin spiced lamb on toothpicks over a bed of red chiles. |
 |
| Savory Cold Noodles up top, Juicy Steamed Chicken in Spicy Chili Sauce below. |
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And so went the month! How was your March? Please share your highlights (or lowlights!) below.
Sounds like a great month for March, Tamara. I love how you have slipped well into the community with your groups. Also your needlepoint looks lovely. Exciting times ahead.
ReplyDeleteSue from Sizzling Towards 60 & Beyond
Hi Sue! We are continuing to feel more settled with each passing month, and now bump into familiar faces almost everywhere we go, which feels very nice. And even at six years into retirement our pace seems to be continuing to pick up speed, which is pretty darn exciting as you say!
DeleteI would SO much rather be busy and enjoying the great Spring time weather and I would agree that you had a very busy but awesome March! Love your spare bedroom! Especially the lamps and bed! I haven't cross-stitched in years! Congratulations on your new addition to the family! Enjoy your Friday Eve!!
ReplyDeleteWell, it was really our Winter weather that was so wonderful - cooler days but still bright and sunny. Now that Spring has sprung (ha!) we are actually moving toward foggy mornings and overcast afternoons, with the sun not appearing till rather late in the day. It may not reappear consistently until July, being this close to the coast, and I can assure you that I miss it!
DeleteIt doesn't look like you dropped at all!! You are amazing with all of your activities!!
ReplyDeleteXOXO
Jodie
www.jtouchofstyle.com
I am trying hard, Jodie! And I do get my allotment of downtime each day, which is how I recharge. 😊
DeleteWell done encore, Tamara! Such fantastic location you're in with nearby trails and beaches. Your guest room bedding and wall hangings are very nice. Love your photos, especially the ones of you and Mike. Oh and the spicy food, OMG, I can handle just a little bit of spicy hot, otherwise my mouth feels like burning and I can't taste anything after.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying, Natalie. It certainly helps to live in an area with a seemingly endless list of things to do. If I only had the energy of a 20-something, I'd be Gold!
DeleteI was proud of myself at our Sichuan dinner. Up next with our group is Vietnamese, which is easy by comparison!
You've been so active Tamara, I love reading about the walks and bike rides you've been doing. Such a fun month by the sounds of things :)
ReplyDeleteI love being outside Debbie, probably more than anything else I do during my day. And it is so crazy beautiful where we moved, it's harder to stay inside than outside!☺
DeleteWhat a fabulous month you had - your photos make me want to pack a suitcase and get on a plane out there! I do feel very lazy in comparison though, you do so much exercise (and I do so little). I will be retiring early in 6 weeks time and everyone keeps saying ' but what will you do all day?' but I guarantee everyone I know who has stopped working has, like you, found that the days are every bit as busy - but with things you want to do and not office work.
ReplyDeleteHi Deb, I want to assure you my physical endeavors are all about the joy I experience while doing them, particularly when with other people, so don't give me to much credit here . . . it may not be deserved!
DeleteCongrats on your early retirement! I was 48 and my hubby was 55, and the years, other than the first couple for me, have sped by. My hubby slipped right into retirement mode, but it took me a couple of years to fully find my groove.
And I get so irritated/insulted by the 'what will you do' comments early retirees so often hear. Because sitting in an office all day attending questionably important meetings is so goldarn interesting? I think not!
So glad I took my vitamins this morning before catching up on your SaD post!! I need a nap, now that I've read it. I want to be a gal who goes on 40 mile bike rides but can't imagine where I would even do that. And if I would ever be able to walk or sit again afterward.
ReplyDeleteYour guest room is such a restful-looking space. I am sure all of your company in March enjoyed staying there. My daughter is using similar tones in her new home. She would love this room.
You guys are such a darling couple. Love the kiss cam photo.
I am here to tell you that you can do anything you put your mind to, because you start small and work upward from there. (Insert reassuring hug here :-)
DeleteAnd keep in mind that I love, love, love this type of thing, so it does not feel like work to me whatsoever. It's really pure joy, with a little 'push' added in. And our bike routes here are absolutely marvelous, so that helps a lot! Yesterday, for example, we were by the beach for about 80% of our ride, stopping for lunch in a super fun part of Huntington Beach. Seriously, I think I'd pay to do these rides if I had to, they are so much fun!