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 April was What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger! Not only did I need to complete my last couple of very long training rides, at 55 and 60 miles each, before doing our 66 mile The Boob Ride bicycling event, I also needed to overcome a very steep learning curve in order to hire both an architect and a structural engineer upon being informed by my landscaper that he wasn't licensed to provide the city all that was required for completion of our backyard deck rebuild. This after already having torn down the old deck. Trust me when I say I could have happily clobbered my landscaper after he dropped that lovely bombshell!
But little my little, each obstacle was overcome, and success was ultimately achieved. And yet another lesson to myself that adversity can indeed be overcome if approached one small, manageable step at a time.
April In A Sentence A Month
1. I feel a little guilty about seeing the most irreverent musical, possibly of all time, The Book of Mormon at Segerstrom Performing Arts Center on Easter Sunday, but we did, and it was brilliant!
2. My gal pal visited for the day all the way from Singapore, where she and her hubby are living temporarily, and I tried hard to pack as much in as I could - a seven mile hike, shopping, lunch at Ramos House Cafe in San Juan Capistrano, another hike along the bluffs in Dana Point, then dinner overlooking the harbor at Harpoon Henry's, whew!
3. Super interesting behind-the-scenes tour of Laguna Beach's 85 year old Pageant of The Masters with our OLLI group, then a short walk down to the beach with hubby for a terrific lunch at Urth Caffe before a short but scenic drive back home via Pacific Coast Highway.
4. Cancelled out on my scheduled 9 mile hike to instead spend the day ripping out the last of the insidious creeping fig from our backyard side fencing in order to help finish off the demolition stage of our backyard remodeling project, plus sunset viewing from new ground level viewing area.
5. Haircuts and grocery shopping in the AM, then off to our favorite San Clemente night club with friends for dinner and a night of hot Latin jazz.
6. Still more time ripping down creeping fig from our side walls as I hurried to take advantage of the free haul away being provided by our yard contractor, then off to a couples fellowship meeting in the PM.
7. Beach race walk in the AM with my group, coffee and pastry afterward with one of my fellow walkers, then home to prepare wine and appetizers for a fun visit with our oldest daughter in our newly cleared backyard, gazing outward at the opened up views as we chatted.
8. Took my sister-in-law to a John Denver tribute performance by look-alike Jim Curry, then out to dinner afterward, all to celebrate her 67th birthday.
9. Final training ride for our upcoming bicycling event - a 60 mile pedal up the coast and back, including lunch midway at the amazing and decadent Burnt Crumbs in Huntington Beach.
10. Puttered around the house all day cleaning and organizing, blowing off two previously scheduled Lifelong Learning classes, because I'm almost always a homebody the day after a long, hard athletic event.
11. Grocery shopping in the AM, then spent the remainder of the day pulling down creeping fig from the side fencing in the front of our home because I so liked the end results of clearing it off of our backyard fencing.
12. Pruned the front yard in the morning since we'll be without a gardener for a few months until the backyard is completed, then spent the afternoon sitting in a chair out back reading and watching birds, including a pair of red tail hawks, and one very noisy Cooper's hawk.
13. Super scenic, but very challenging (i.e. windy!) 40 mile bike ride down the coast and back with my group, including a swing onto Camp Pendleton Marine Base, and an encounter with a TV crew filming at San Onefre State Beach (Animal Kingdom anyone???), followed by lunch together at Mongkut Thai.
14. Morning four mile race walk with my Saturday group, home to meet a structural engineer regarding our enlarged backyard balcony plans, then a romantic evening with my hubby enjoying this OC Register best-of-the-best take-out pizza, plus a bottle of wine, at the beach while watching the sunset.
15. Joined a new-to-us Sunday evening San Clemente beach walk and dining group event that was so, so enjoyable in that the folks attending were really welcoming and friendly.
16. Met with another structural engineer that I liked better than the one I interviewed last week; fingers crossed that he agrees to take on our relatively small project.
17. Received an email proposal from the structural engineer I met yesterday, so it looks like we're moving forward again, relief!
18. Attended a wonderful lecture event given by Henry Rollins of punk band Black Flag fame (no worries, I didn't know who he or his band were either until I looked them up!) on why we should travel as often and hard as we possibly can, while we can.
19. Met with the architect we hired upon our structural engineer's recommendation, then an interesting night out at Science Night, a monthly lecture series put on by the city of Dana Point, with this month's lecture focusing on The Wonderful World of Sharks, creatures I hope to never, ever encounter in the wild!
20. A quiet day spent at home, primarily working on my cross stitch project as I made a concerted effort to stay off of my feet ahead of tomorrow's big biking event.
21. We did it, we did it, we completed all 66.2 miles of The Boob Ride San Diego! !!
22. Lovely morning at a park in Mission Viejo celebrating Earth Day with our spiritual congregation, then home to prep for dinner and a book club discussion with my oldest daughter and her sweetie.
23. Got the piano tuned, always melodic in that our tuner always plays something beautiful before putting his tools away, then a walk along the San Clemente beach trail with hubby, enjoying lunch along the San Clemente pier halfway, plus we finally located a nearby area where we can park for free, vs. the trailhead's $1.50 per hour pay-lot, yeah!
24. Spent all day working on my new granddaughter's cross stitch project, plus met with the architect designing our backyard deck and trellis, and liked what we saw, hooray!
25. Finally found a local dentist after a year (oops!) and had my teeth cleaned, then worked a volunteer shift at the harbor on an absolutely gorgeous spring day!
26. Another gorgeous spring day, this one enjoyed while dining alongside Mission Viejo Lake with my Gastronomers Club, exploring the world of Japanese Bento Boxes (click here to learn more about their very interesting history!).
27. Stitched and stitched and stitched, and finally finished my birth record project . . . now to await our new girl's arrival in order to add her name, birthdate, height and weight before getting it stretched and framed.
28. Gorgeous morning hiking along the Las Colinas Ridge with hubby, coffee and conversation together at Starbucks afterward, then off to attend my girlfriend's 60th surprise birthday party at scenic Las Brisas in Laguna Beach.
29. Busy day attending spiritual services, seeing a rather intense play at UCI A Bright Room Called Day, then a dinner engagement with friends at Brodard Chateau in Garden Grove, where we not only ate and drank ourselves silly (I'm talking to you Lychee Martini!), but also checked yet another restaurant off of our Top 75 OC list.
30. Attended an interesting lecture on Middle East religions, then home to not only plant an herb garden in my front yard patio area, but also install a protective wire surround in order to try and protect it from our very-cute but also very-voracious local bunny population!
And so went the month of April!
But little my little, each obstacle was overcome, and success was ultimately achieved. And yet another lesson to myself that adversity can indeed be overcome if approached one small, manageable step at a time.
April In A Sentence A Month
1. I feel a little guilty about seeing the most irreverent musical, possibly of all time, The Book of Mormon at Segerstrom Performing Arts Center on Easter Sunday, but we did, and it was brilliant!
2. My gal pal visited for the day all the way from Singapore, where she and her hubby are living temporarily, and I tried hard to pack as much in as I could - a seven mile hike, shopping, lunch at Ramos House Cafe in San Juan Capistrano, another hike along the bluffs in Dana Point, then dinner overlooking the harbor at Harpoon Henry's, whew!
 |
| My gal pal Mary was such a good sport in keeping up with all of my plans for the day! |
3. Super interesting behind-the-scenes tour of Laguna Beach's 85 year old Pageant of The Masters with our OLLI group, then a short walk down to the beach with hubby for a terrific lunch at Urth Caffe before a short but scenic drive back home via Pacific Coast Highway.
4. Cancelled out on my scheduled 9 mile hike to instead spend the day ripping out the last of the insidious creeping fig from our backyard side fencing in order to help finish off the demolition stage of our backyard remodeling project, plus sunset viewing from new ground level viewing area.
5. Haircuts and grocery shopping in the AM, then off to our favorite San Clemente night club with friends for dinner and a night of hot Latin jazz.
6. Still more time ripping down creeping fig from our side walls as I hurried to take advantage of the free haul away being provided by our yard contractor, then off to a couples fellowship meeting in the PM.
7. Beach race walk in the AM with my group, coffee and pastry afterward with one of my fellow walkers, then home to prepare wine and appetizers for a fun visit with our oldest daughter in our newly cleared backyard, gazing outward at the opened up views as we chatted.
8. Took my sister-in-law to a John Denver tribute performance by look-alike Jim Curry, then out to dinner afterward, all to celebrate her 67th birthday.
9. Final training ride for our upcoming bicycling event - a 60 mile pedal up the coast and back, including lunch midway at the amazing and decadent Burnt Crumbs in Huntington Beach.
10. Puttered around the house all day cleaning and organizing, blowing off two previously scheduled Lifelong Learning classes, because I'm almost always a homebody the day after a long, hard athletic event.
11. Grocery shopping in the AM, then spent the remainder of the day pulling down creeping fig from the side fencing in the front of our home because I so liked the end results of clearing it off of our backyard fencing.
12. Pruned the front yard in the morning since we'll be without a gardener for a few months until the backyard is completed, then spent the afternoon sitting in a chair out back reading and watching birds, including a pair of red tail hawks, and one very noisy Cooper's hawk.
 |
| Cooper's hawk, which I now think is what we saw flying overhead earlier this month, rather than an Osprey. The underwing markings of the two raptors are similar, but Osprey tend to stay right along the coastline in that they dine almost exclusively on fish, whereas Cooper's hawk remain inland, dining on land critters and smaller birds. |
13. Super scenic, but very challenging (i.e. windy!) 40 mile bike ride down the coast and back with my group, including a swing onto Camp Pendleton Marine Base, and an encounter with a TV crew filming at San Onefre State Beach (Animal Kingdom anyone???), followed by lunch together at Mongkut Thai.
14. Morning four mile race walk with my Saturday group, home to meet a structural engineer regarding our enlarged backyard balcony plans, then a romantic evening with my hubby enjoying this OC Register best-of-the-best take-out pizza, plus a bottle of wine, at the beach while watching the sunset.
15. Joined a new-to-us Sunday evening San Clemente beach walk and dining group event that was so, so enjoyable in that the folks attending were really welcoming and friendly.
16. Met with another structural engineer that I liked better than the one I interviewed last week; fingers crossed that he agrees to take on our relatively small project.
17. Received an email proposal from the structural engineer I met yesterday, so it looks like we're moving forward again, relief!
18. Attended a wonderful lecture event given by Henry Rollins of punk band Black Flag fame (no worries, I didn't know who he or his band were either until I looked them up!) on why we should travel as often and hard as we possibly can, while we can.
19. Met with the architect we hired upon our structural engineer's recommendation, then an interesting night out at Science Night, a monthly lecture series put on by the city of Dana Point, with this month's lecture focusing on The Wonderful World of Sharks, creatures I hope to never, ever encounter in the wild!
20. A quiet day spent at home, primarily working on my cross stitch project as I made a concerted effort to stay off of my feet ahead of tomorrow's big biking event.
22. Lovely morning at a park in Mission Viejo celebrating Earth Day with our spiritual congregation, then home to prep for dinner and a book club discussion with my oldest daughter and her sweetie.
23. Got the piano tuned, always melodic in that our tuner always plays something beautiful before putting his tools away, then a walk along the San Clemente beach trail with hubby, enjoying lunch along the San Clemente pier halfway, plus we finally located a nearby area where we can park for free, vs. the trailhead's $1.50 per hour pay-lot, yeah!
 |
| Lunch was a modest $6 burrito, which we shared, but the views were priceless! |
24. Spent all day working on my new granddaughter's cross stitch project, plus met with the architect designing our backyard deck and trellis, and liked what we saw, hooray!
 |
| The new deck will be twice the size of the old one, plus have backyard access via a new set of spiral stairs. So excited! |
25. Finally found a local dentist after a year (oops!) and had my teeth cleaned, then worked a volunteer shift at the harbor on an absolutely gorgeous spring day!
 |
| Sailboats dotting the waters outside of the harbor . . . ten months living here and I am still pinching myself! |
26. Another gorgeous spring day, this one enjoyed while dining alongside Mission Viejo Lake with my Gastronomers Club, exploring the world of Japanese Bento Boxes (click here to learn more about their very interesting history!).
28. Gorgeous morning hiking along the Las Colinas Ridge with hubby, coffee and conversation together at Starbucks afterward, then off to attend my girlfriend's 60th surprise birthday party at scenic Las Brisas in Laguna Beach.
 |
| I love these women, all of whom I've known for over 25 years. |
29. Busy day attending spiritual services, seeing a rather intense play at UCI A Bright Room Called Day, then a dinner engagement with friends at Brodard Chateau in Garden Grove, where we not only ate and drank ourselves silly (I'm talking to you Lychee Martini!), but also checked yet another restaurant off of our Top 75 OC list.
30. Attended an interesting lecture on Middle East religions, then home to not only plant an herb garden in my front yard patio area, but also install a protective wire surround in order to try and protect it from our very-cute but also very-voracious local bunny population!
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And so went the month of April!
