Greetings! February turned out to be an amazing month full of interesting performances, lectures, and restaurant dine outs. Plus I managed to hit 37 days of being sugar free (I had just one slip, and I'm now down 7 pounds since initiating this change on January 21.).
February In A Sentence A Month
1. A very productive morning scheduling estimates for 1) Roofer (need some shingles replaced as a result of balcony project), 2) Rain gutter cleaning, and 3) House painting, plus got the house ready to welcome overnight guests Ed and Susan, which upon their arrival then transitioned into Happy Hour here at the house, followed by a lovely dinner out together at Vine Wine Country Bistro in San Clemente, meaning another check mark off of our Top 75 Restaurants In O.C. list.
 |
| My wine-country-casual ensemble for our evening out. |
2. Woke up to pouring rain, so we scrapped our plans to go hiking and out to breakfast with our friends, and instead stayed in and talked and talked over a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs and fruit salad . . . not bad for last minute I have to say!
3. Spiritual services in the morning, then home for a quick lunch before heading to Segerstrom Performing Arts Center for a wonderful performance by the Pacific Symphony featuring concert master and violinist extraordinaire Dennis Kim, then a return trip home for a quick dinner for heading out yet again to our monthly spiritual discussion group.
4. Woke up to rain, so spent a guilt free morning in my office catching up on the myriad of things always needing my attention, then attended Spanish Class before returning home to a lovely batch of White Bean soup that I'd started in the AM in my crockpot.
5. Walked the Salt Creek trail to beach and back, then a shift at the cultural center I volunteer for, where it rained buckets!
6. A visit to the Irvine Art Museum to see some beautiful California coastal paintings . . .
7. Took friends Nikki and Dennis hiking along the Aliso Summit trail, then enjoyed lunch together at Plumeria Cafe . . . views to die for in that the rain had left snow covered caps to the east, and clear blue ocean and skies to our right.
8. It literally and figuratively rained buckets all day so I went absolutely nowhere!
9. The sun broke out just in time for visiting friends, Todd and Shannan, so we hiked them all over Dana Point, including stops for lunch at Pain Du Monde and coffee at The Coffee Importer, then to our favorite San Clemente brewery, Left Coast, before returning back home to enjoy wine, dinner and a lovely sunset together before they departed for home.
 |
| Hello sun, we've missed you! |
10. Morning spiritual services, then lots of shopping on the way home . . . seems having hubby with me as an incentive is the only way I'll set foot in a retail store these days!
11. Hilly hike along the ridges above San Juan Capistrano with hubby, followed by coffee together at Starbucks afterward, a favorite Monday routine . . . the hikes may vary, but the coffee is a constant!
12. Morning hike to Salt Creek Beach and back, then off to volunteer at the cultural center, where I always enjoy chatting with the center's generally happy visitors, then a meetup with hubby at what may now be our go-to Mexican restaurant, we liked is so much, San Clemente's La Siesta.
 |
| Our delicious margaritas were a sign of good things to come, and the restaurant did not disappoint! |
13. Morning hike, then to Huntington Beach for dinner, where my oldest daughter's boyfriend knocked our socks off with roasted sweet potato fries dipped into a yummy cumin aioli, plus homemade mushroom pizza, both from the amazing Eat Delicious cookbook.
14. Lovely and romantic Valentine's Day enjoying opera with rising star Liv Redpath at Casa Romantica in San Clemente.
15. Morning hike at the harbor, then yet another romantic night out with hubby, beginning with Happy Hour at Watermans Harbor, then to Casa Romantica for Members Night, where we enjoyed beautiful sunset views along with a acoustical guitar performance from this talented young singer and songwriter, Kristofer Winrich of Dream Brother Music (click here for a sample of his music).
16. Saturday morning hike at the beach, then off to a dinner of Spanish tapas at the truly incredible Vaca, owned by Season 13 runner up Top Chef Amar Santana, followed by a fantastic Pops Concert - Kenny G. backed by the entire Pacific Symphony . . . what a night!
 |
| From the Vaca website . . . |
 |
| . . . and from my camera in the concert hall lobby before the show. |
17. Sunday morning spiritual services, then off to a training shift at the marine institute I volunteer with . . . I'm moving indoors to the Gift Shop after enjoying the brisk outdoor position I've held for since moving here . . . then back home to enjoy a Sunday night dinner of slow cooked baby back ribs, baked sweet potato and roasted asparagus, yum.
18. So cold today for Southern California ,even while brilliantly sunny, so I spent most of the day inside doing chores, though I did duck outside with a blanket to read for a bit on our balcony because the ocean was a such a glorious blue I couldn't resist.
19. Cold but gorgeous hike to the beach and back with my Tuesday group, yardwork here at the house afterward, which involved clearing off the last of the wall-covering vines in preparation for getting the house painted this spring, then off to attend a talk by living legend female activist Gloria Steinem at The Bowers Museum, followed by dinner out with my fellow attendees at Chapter One, both in Santa Ana (after talking them down from going to Norm's Restaurant . . . um, sorry, but just no!).
 |
| Ms. Steinem applauding the audience for being a part of the ongoing changes we all wish to see occur. |
20. Interesting lecture on the history of immigration policy in the USA at our Lifelong Learning group, then a delicious lunch at Clay Oven Indian Cuisine with our Gastronomers Group - might have overdone it a bit with the impossible-to-resist garlic naan!
21. Grocery shopping, then to Pacific Sales to investigate new dishwashers for our kitchen, a request from my husband, the head dishwasher around here, and therefore one I am happy to support!
22. Fun training session at the gift shop I'm shifting over to as a volunteer, then we put on a little ritz and headed to a dinner event featuring the winemaker from Coppola Wines (yes, that Coppola family!).
 |
| And this was just dessert! |
24. A gorgeous day here, so we rode our bicycles to Huntington Beach, checking in on our older daughters cats along the way since they were away for the weekend skiing.
 |
| The ferry trip across Newport Bay is one of our favorite parts of this ride. |
25. Four mile walk in the AM, then errands than home to tear down the last (really!) of the vines on our brick wall in preparation for getting the exterior of the house painted.
26. Beautiful hike in Aliso Woods Regional Park with my Tuesday group, all of us agreeing that we've never experienced so much lush green as we have this very-wet winter.
27. A 10+ day . . . spent the morning hiking above and into Laguna Beach with my Wednesday group, then a return trip to town in the evening to have a date night with hubby at K'ya Bistro.
28. Worked my first on-my-own gift shop shift, and had a blast chatting with customers, many of whom were tourists, about the wonderful marine institution the shop is a part of.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
And so sped by February. Really looking forward to next month, in that we'll be traveling to two new-to-us countries, Cambodia and Vietnam. Not looking forward to the long flight, but am otherwise very excited to experience the history and beauty of both places.
