(Note: I am no longer blogging here on a regular basis, but will continue to put up my monthly Sentence A Day posts for now. In that it will be pretty quiet here on the blog otherwise, you might wish to follow me on Instagram instead at WestCoastTamara)
April turned out to be a wonderful month, sorely needed after our non-stop winter rains, and the rain-generated house siding leak issue we discovered in March. By the end of April the rains were gone, the skies were once again blue, the wildflowers blazed, adventures abounded, our leak was fixed, and the exterior of our house was on it's way to being repainted.
April In A Sentence A Month
1. No April Fool pranks, but did enjoy a lovely day with hubby walking along the beach in San Clemente under sunny skies, which included a stop for yummy avocado toast at Catarina's, and iced teas at newly opened Moulin.
2. Gorgeous seven mile hike in Aliso Woods Regional Park with my Tuesday group, absolutely soaking up all the spring wildflowers, then home to enjoy a nap, some reading, and then an easy dinner of wheatberry salad with
4. A visit from my girlfriend and prior neighbor, Pam, who I took hiking and to lunch in San Clemente, home afterward, then out again after dinner in order to attend a lecture about our local owls, with live guests! 😊
6. Attended an oh-so-fun, day-long wine auction, where we started in an airplane hanger with seemingly endless wine . . .
. . . and ended up with this haul after a full day of bidding (And eating. And drinking, ha!)
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| One of these is a $100 bottle of wine that we purchased for half off, which we'll be saving to enjoy with friends during an RV trip this fall! |
then picked up a free pizza at Blaze Pizza via a coupon on the way home, eating it while watching this year's amazing Oscar award winning documentary, Free Solo.
7. Woke up to this stunning sunrise, made a batch of mini tomato tartlets to bring to our morning spiritual services' brunch, ran errands on the way home ('cause, hubby in car!), spent the afternoon reading War and Peace, then a quick dinner before heading out again to attend a couples discussion group in the evening.
8. A super fun Monday playday with hubby spent kayaking around Dana Point Harbor, where we encountered several very large and very noisy sea lions, then lunch bagels and iced coffees at harbor-adjacent Coffee Importers, followed by a three mile walk along the harbor to Doheny State Beach and back, enjoying the sights and sounds of happy spring break vacationing families.
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| The morning marine layer burned off just as we finished our hike . . . perfect in that it got quickly hot once the sun came out! |
10. Cancelled my Wednesday morning hike to await the garage door repairman, only to learn that while the repair would be modest, he didn't have the necessary part and would need to return tomorrow - grrr . . . dislike missing a hike for no good reason! - but it was a gorgeous day otherwise, so enjoyed a lovely afternoon of reading out in our backyard.
11. A morning three mile hike around our hilly neighborhood enjoying gorgeous ocean views, home in time to meet the team that would be replacing the drywall in our bedroom that had been removed as part of our earlier water leak remediation, plus the garage repairman returned with needed part, and then headed out to the Ocean Institute for an afternoon volunteer shift, then hone to cook dinner, plus make some date bars for an event occurring over the weekend.
12. Met my gal pal, Cherri, for a bright and early beach walk followed by coffee at just-opened Moulin, then home to hook up our trailer and head 30 miles south for a weekend of fun, starting with tonight's fabulous Classic Albums Live performance of The Eagle's iconic album Hotel California, plus a bunch of other Eagle's hits they played afterward - so much fun!
13. Spent the morning exploring Oceanside and Carlsbad via our bicycles, met up with our friends David and Fran for lunch in a serendipity moment, pedaled back to our travel trailer to clean up and enjoy a few hours of downtime, then headed out for the evening, first stopping in to new-to-us Prohibition Brewing Company (loved my coconut infused lager!), then to a second Classic Albums Live performance, this time of Fleetwood Mac's album, Rumours, which ended with the most amazing solo electric guitar performance I have ever witnessed - I still have shivers!!!
14. Hurried back from our trip in time to attend an Earth Day celebration at our spiritual congregation, which included the date bars I made on Friday, then errands (again, hubby in car!), and then home to unpack and relax, finally, for remainder of day, enjoying dinner outside on a gorgeous spring evening.
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| The canyon behind us is positively bursting with yellow mustard flowers! |
15. Our weekly Monday play day, which hubby and I spent cycling 30 miles via bike trails up into Trabuco Canyon - it was a gorgeous day, plus we met a retiree couple also out for a day of cycling at our lunch stop at Cooks Corner, hitting it off so immediately and so well, that we exchanged contact info and made a date to meet up at a winery event that we're attending later this month, yeah!
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| This year's wildflower display has been amazing! |
16. Return trip to our old town to get our hair done (so much cheaper in our old town than in our new town, plus hubby checks in with his sister during my turn with our stylist), then home to re-organize our downstairs closet thanks to new shelving that was installed by our handyman while we were away getting coiffed.
17. Kitchen backsplash tile shopping, because now that I have a great handyman the ugly mosaic above the stove, currently covered with a temporary silver screen, is on it's way to being replaced, plus packed for our trip to Metro DC, after which hubby and I headed to Laguna Beach to meet up with our friends Ed and Susan for a quick dinner at Urth Caffe, followed by a Carole King tribute concert at the Laguna Playhouse.
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| This travertine tile bar pattern, which matches our current travertine backsplash, will be broken up with brushed nickel bars. . . I think it's going to look great! |
18. Early flight out of Los Angeles, arriving at Reagan Airport on time, at which point we picked up our rental car, ordered pizza enroute to my daughter's, and then absolutely indulged in granddaughter time the remainder of the evening, carting off the oldest one to spend the night with us at our nearby hotel when she refused to let us leave without her (no complaints here!).
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| This precious little pumpkin fell asleep in front of the window where she'd been watching for our arrival. Love her sooooooooo much! |
19. An early departure with our oldest granddaughter in order to make our 9:00 AM entry time into the Baltimore Aquarium (such a fabulous place!), chocolate ice cream for our little one afterward, then a slow traffic filled drive back, which was fine in that our girl slept the entire way - yeah to us for successfully wearing her out! 😊
20. Babysat our girls so mama and papa could enjoy a little adult time, which meant non stop play enjoying a picnic lunch, tea party, swings, books, and much bouncing on the bed (!), then once off duty, hubby and I headed to National Harbor for our own adult time, enjoying a wonderful dinner at southern sublime Succotash.
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| Our meal started with hush puppies and deviled eggs . . . it doesn't get much more southern than that! |
21. A beautifully sunny Easter Sunday, meaning morning services for us, then some fun with the family at Mason Neck State Park before returning home and enjoying a lovely Easter dinner together of buttermilk chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, and carrot cake.
22. Granddaughter time with our 10 month old in the AM, then picked our oldest granddaughter up from school and took her to nearby park & nature center for a wonderful afternoon of fun, followed by a stop for frozen yogurt (she got so excited about picking out her own toppings), then back to her place for dinner with the family.
23. Early morning flight back home, boo hoo, arriving early enough however, to unpack, and enjoy lunch out at Board & Brew, with enough chicken club sandwich leftovers to do us for dinner as well.
24. Our house painting project kicked off with power washing, which I escaped by going grocery and house shopping, returning with lots of food plus these cute new tomato red pillows and accent throw for our family room - the home refresh never stops around here!
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| New tomato red pillows and throw in family room. |
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| Next home improvement project will be painting the media cabinetry in cream, the same as in the adjacent kitchen below. |
25. Replacement of house siding commenced today, plus I did a volunteer shift at the harbor's gift shop, which resulted in this coming home, which we'll play when our granddaughter visits with us this summer.
26. Lots of Friday fun today - met my gal pal at South Coast Plaza to attend the Spring Garden Show, including lunch together at Champagne French Bakery & Cafe, then home to change clothes and head out again for an evening get together with new friends Dayna and Ray at a nearby winery, where we enjoyed great wine and BBQ, and literally closed the house down singing along with the talented singer and guitarist, Sky Green.
27. Morning beach walk with my Saturday group, then home to make this fantastic Ina Garten Shaved Brussels Sprout Slaw, our contribution for tonight's wine society get together, which we enjoyed along with lots of other great food contributions, plus a dozen blind tastings of Rhone wines . . . always a guaranteed fun event!
28. Felt the need for some slowdown time, so we skipped Sunday services and instead spent the morning walking along the beach in San Clemente, and visiting the wonderful Sunday Farmers Market (hello rosemary garlic sourdough bread, fresh made tamales, and ruby red beets!), lunch along the way back at Moulin, then home to shower and clean up before heading out to my older daughter's in Huntington Beach for a robust book club discussion on, yes, we finally finished it, War and Peace!
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| This was our book club dinner starter, which my daughter's sweetie made . . . he is most definitely a keeper! |
29. Handyman service over to replace a couple of pieces of wood that termites had damaged, follow up from Saturday's visit by our termite inspection service, then a quiet afternoon spent napping and binge watching the utterly addictive VRBO-style home fix up show on Netflix, Stay Here.
30. Gorgeous if wet walk in the canyons with our Tuesday hiking group, then home to meet our handyman again for completion of above wood replacement, plus made an awesome pesto pasta for dinner using a new-to-me homemade pesto recipe that called for, 1) roasting the garlic, 2) toasting the pine nuts, and 3) mashing the basil, all before adding these ingredients into the food processor . . . can you say pesto flavor explosion???
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| We're also having an explosion of mustard this spring thanks to our winter rains. |
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And so went April. Looking ahead to May, we should see our house painting project completed, new cream painted cabinetry in our family room, new accent backsplash tile in our kitchen, lots of hiking and biking, weekends spent with family and friends, and trip planning completion for two upcoming vacations of almost 30 days each!
