February In A Sentence A Day

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 February was Keep Moving! I came into the month feeling strong, stalled out for a bit while visiting our granddaughter in chilly Metro-DC, came home and got back to it, stalled out again due to getting sick, then kicked it back up again once I recovered. The lesson here is clear I think - Don't give up! Tomorrow is always, always a brand new opportunity to do better.

February In A Sentence A Month

1.  Joined a new hiking group for a six mile super fast hike through our local canyons, followed by coffee hour, then home to clean, dust and put my finally-completed kitchen and home back together . . . so happy!

My freshly cream cabinets . . . love!

2.  Fabulous 34 mile bike ride through San Clemente into Camp Pendleton Marine Base in N. San Diego County followed by lunch at a terrific Thai restaurant, then a quick shower and nap before attending a performance of the Dana Point Symphony in the evening.

Always a wee-bit intimidating when we pull out our ID's to show to the always-serious marines on guard before being given clearance to enter the base on our bicyles.

3.  Spent the morning puttering around the house cleaning and doing painting touch ups, then prepped for a fun evening entertaining friends here for Happy Hour before we all headed to dinner at Sol Agave in nearby San Juan Capistrano.

I'm really bad at full-bodied selfies, but here's a photo of the cute new peekaboo booties I wore to dinner!

4.  Quick race walk in the morning, Sunday spiritual services and lunch, then to Costa Mesa to attend an afternoon performance of the Pacific Symphony followed by dinner out with symphony-attending friends at Seasons 52.

5.  Early morning flight to Metro-DC to see our girl!

6.  Took our girl on the Metro into the city to visit the National Building Museum, which was chock full of toddler friendly activities, then a toddler-friendly lunch at the otherwise mediocre Greene Turtle before taking the Metro, and one very tired girl, back home.

7. Freezing rain resulted in a snow day for my teacher-daughter and granddaughter, so we all stayed home and played games and read books together.

8. A cold but gorgeous sunny day here in DC, so while my daughter and granddaughter heading off to school, my husband and I enjoyed a six mile walk, followed by lunch out at a restaurant.

9. Took our girl to an indoor playground on a wet, wintry day, then all had lunch out together at a little bistro where she happily colored away while awaiting delivery of her grilled cheese sandwich.

10. Took our girl into DC once again, this time in order to visit the Natural History Museum . . . . butterflies, bugs and fishies galore, oh my!

11. Lots of last minute playtime with our girl (hide n' go seek and 'chase!' being her two favorite pastimes currently), then lunch out with everyone at fab Mediterranean fast casual Cava before being dropped off at the airport for our flight home, boo!

12. Came home with a little cold, so pretty much all I accomplished was a trip to the supermarket before retiring to the sofa with hot tea and a good book.

13. Felt fatigued, but went ahead and attended two scheduled classes - the first of a four part lecture on real-life history behind the musical Hamilton, and my Art History course . . . so fortunate to have such fantastic professors for both classes.

14. A nine mile hike with my hiking club, where I realized halfway through that, yep, I'm really sick, then home to shower and take a nap before getting dressed up for a wine pairing Valentine's dinner at our Lifelong Learning program . . . I was feeling extremely fatigued, but it was still a lot of fun.

15. Really sick!

16. Still sick, but pulled myself together in order to attend an evening Pacific Symphony Pops Concert featuring Christopher Cross . . . totally worth the effort!

17. Feeling better, met up with a group to do a four mile beach race walk,

Can you find me? Hint . . . look to the left!

   . . . then home to prep for tonight's dinner party - red wine, bruschetta, mushroom-butternut squash risotto, Caesar salad, garlic bread, and for dessert a double chocolate cake . . . so good!

I tried to get my pretty on for our dinner party, but lordy am I lousy at selfies!

18. Morning spiritual services, a fantastic, gorgeous 32 mile bike ride along the coast, then hosted our neighbors after dinner for wine and leftover chocolate cake.

A spectacular February day should not be wasted!

19. A fabulous day showing friends around our new home, taking them hiking along a set of ocean viewing ridges for a total of 10 miles, lunch at Pain Du Monde, then over to our friend's oceanside timeshare to relax for a bit before heading next door to Olamendi's, one of Richard Nixon's favorite Mexican restaurants based on the number of wall photos of him dining there on display in and amongst the rather overwhelming decor!

20. Lots of learning - classes on Alexander Hamilton and Art History, followed by dinner at the international student cafeteria of Soka University, where we were also attending a talk on racial injustice in America given by this amazing man, Bryan Stevenson.

21. Six mile walk at the beach, chores here at home (every so often!), then a couples meeting followed by Happy Hour dinner out on scenic San Clemente Pier.

22. Tax appointment, hair appointment, then dinner with my daughter and her significant other at their place in Huntington Beach, where her sweetie made the most amazing street tacos . . . he's a keeper for sure!

23. Morning beach bike ride with two gal pals (26 years of friendship and counting!), lunch afterward at the harbor, then home to check in on hubby and enjoy a quiet Friday night dinner together at home.

24. Early AM grocery shopping, beach workout with my Saturday morning race walking group, more grocery shopping, then home to make Balsamic Pork with Winter Vegetables to take to a wine tasting & dining event in tony Emerald Bay - Warren Buffett listed his vacation home there in 2017 for $11 million buckaroos - so fun to have a peek at how the 1% lives!

25. Spent the day on our bicycles, first to drop in on a vintage surfboard exhibition, then off to do a 40 mile training ride along the coast, which became even more exciting when my husband realized he'd left/lost his backpack during one of our rest stops, aargh!

26. Long day cancelling credit cards, changing passwords, ordering new ID cards, getting the locks changed, and replacing car keys . . . oye vey!

27. Hubby's phone was found and returned, relief, plus two lifelong learning lectures, a little shopping, then a first time visit to El Adobe Mexican Restaurant in San Juan Capistrano, yet another apparent favorite of Richard Nixon per signs on the wall . . . the man got around!

The sign above our table informed us we were sitting in the spot, and on the chairs,
reserved and frequented by Richard and Pat Nixon back in the day.

28. A seven mile hike along a ridge overlooking the ocean with my group on a glorious February day, a two hour coffee klatch with some of my fellow female hikers afterward at Crystal Cove in Newport, then home to clean up and get presentable for a volunteer thank you banquet at the harbor . . . a very good day to finish out the month!

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And so went the month of February!

January In A Sentence A Day

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 January was Fun In The Sun! You guys, this month was so full of outdoor activities you'd have thought it was the middle of summer! We started the month hiking under sunny skies, and ended it doing same. It was almost a picture perfect month, save a couple of chilly days when temps stayed in the 50's all day. And with whale migration season in full swing, I finally saw my first whale spouting as a local, while walking along the ridge trail one afternoon. Seriously, this was a fantastic month almost from start to finish, and a wonderful re-affirmation that all of the hard work we went through to get here was well worth it.

January In A Sentence A Month

1.  Took hubby on the Colinas Ridge Trail for his first time, seven miles roundtrip, Starbucks for coffee afterward, home to enjoy a well-earned Trader Joe's mushroom and truffle flatbread pizza, then read by the fire for the remainder of the day.

2.  Attended training to become Citizen Marine Scientists, then assisted one of our volunteer organization's full time staff person on an amazing tide pool walk during a super low tide.

3.  Fabulous 11 mile club hike in our local hills overlooking the coastline, grocery shopping on the way home, then showers and a well earned nap.

This sign cracked me up!
Legend has it that once upon a time it read 'Environmentally Sensitive Trail' but someone with a sense of humor removed the first few letters, and the rangers liked it so much they left it as altered.

 4. Woke at 1:00 AM in pretty significant pain, that then got worse and worse and worse, until a trip to Urgent Care, and subsequent X-rays, showed I had a condition called calcific tendinitus that necessitated pain pills to get me through the day.

5.  Weaned myself off of the pain pills by white knuckling it for a bit, then an evening get together with our backpacking group to plot out possible trips for 2018.

6.  Feeling massively better, ran eight miles with my running club, then breakfast with my daughter and her sweetie, a drop by from my niece, and hubby and I started on preparations for hooking up our travel trailer and heading out to Palm Springs in the morning.

That's me on the left!

7.  Off the the Palm Springs Film Festival for the week in our travel trailer.

Our itty-bitty Trail Manor; but look at those views! 
Plus, the RV park has a pool, spa, club room and pool table, and we are within walking distance to downtown Palm Springs,
all for a paltry $45 a night.

8.  Hiked up nearby Lykken Trail in the AM, attended two foreign films, Foxtrot from Israel, and The Insult from Lebanon, plus dined at the always-delicious Trio in the PM with the friends we are here with for the week.

At the top of Lykken trail, our turnaround point.

9.  Attended two foreign films on a rare, rainy Palm Springs day, Germany's well-deserved recent Golden Globe winning In the Fade,  and Russia's compelling Loveless about two self-absorbed parents, then pizza and Chianti at the always-excellent Bill's Pizza - bonus points for having the most entertaining waitstaff around!

10.  Four mile racewalk in the AM, attended two foreign films, Thailand's entertaining Pop Aye about a man and his elephant, and the Czech Republic's charming Barefoot about a young boy coming of age during World War II.

11.  Two wonderful foreign films today, Turkey's beautiful true-to-life Ayla: The Daughter of War set during the Korean War, and Switzerland's hysterical, also true-to-life The Divine Order about the surprisingly late 1971 legislation that finally gave women there the right to vote - this movie is a must see if it comes to Netflix or elsewhere at some point -  then to Las Casuelas for Mexican Food, followed by attending the Palm Springs Street Fair afterward.

12. Hiked Lykken Trail again in the AM, then saw Italy's A Ciambra chronicling the real life of Europe's migratory Roma people, and Spain's quirky Lots Of Kids, A Monkey And A Castle documentary, followed by dinner and a show at The Purple Room Supper Club, featuring Broadway at The Keys with Tony award winning Levi Kreis - absolutely fantastic night!!!

13. Five mile race walk in the AM, then just one movie, the US documentary Jane, featuring recently recovered video on wildlife extraordinaire Jane Goodall (so good!), followed by checking out and driving home in the PM.

14. Morning spiritual services, followed by lots of shopping - Old Navy, Big 5, Sprouts and Trader Joes.

15. Physical therapy appointment for my newly diagnosed calcific tendinitis, then cleared out the knick knacks and smaller furniture in our downstairs in preparation for flooring removal and re-installation.

16. Demolition of remaining downstairs flooring began, plus race walked three miles and attended my first Art History class, courtesy of a new Emeritus Lifelong Learning program for retirees in S. Orange County.

17. Hiked 5 miles in Ladera Ranch with my hiking club, returning home to just in time to paint out hundreds of feet of baseboard and 1/4 round trim for the few remaining hours before the sun went down . . . exhausted by day's end!

18. Flooring re-installation begins, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, and why all the painting above on the 17th above occurred.

19. An exhilarating 30 mile bike ride with my new bicycling club up and around Irvine and the Newport Back Bay, along an amazing array of biking trails I'd long heard about but never been on, taking a well deserved lunch break midway at the terrific new-to-Orange County eatery Grater Grilled Cheese, yum!

20. Attended the Women's March for the first time, compelled to do so in the wake of the tidal wave of sexual assaults against women ripping through our nation, not the least of which is the recent USA Gymnastics scandal - as one woman's poster proclaimed, I can't believe I'm still protesting this sh*t!

21. Morning spiritual services, then a matinee showing of The Post in nearby San Juan Capistrano . . . the movie was well done, but discovering how cute downtown San Juan Capistrano is was even better.

22. Final day of flooring installation, hooray, a walk along the Dana Point Headlands Trail with a girlfriend followed by breakfast at always delicious Pain du Monde, an Intermediate Spanish class (excellent class, excellent instructor), then a quick dinner at home followed by a couples meeting in the evening.

23. Long day cleaning, dusting, and moving everything back into place downstairs, while electricians simultaneously worked in our family room installing recessed lighting and in our kitchen hanging two pretty new pendants over our kitchen island . . . love!

24. Six mile hike with my club in the hills of Mission Viejo, then lots of errand running afterward.

25. Shutters installed over kitchen bay window, worked an information booth shift at the harbor, enjoyed sunset at the beach with hubby, then a fascinating lecture about the gray whale's annual migration from Alaska to Mexico and back in the evening.

26. Uber-fun 25 mile bike ride over to scenic Corona Del Mar with my biking group, then rushed home to clean up and welcome my dad to our new home for the first time.

27. Took my Dad on a hilly 10 mile hike - at 81 years of age he did great - then home to prepare homemade pizzas for dinner.

It was a three generation hike, in that my older daughter joined us.

28. A gorgeous 85 degree day which we spent with my dad kayaking, tide pooling, and scenic beach walking.

We kayaked.

We tidepooled and beach walked.

We ate!

29. This was my dad's last day here, so we took him to San Clemente for breakfast at Ellie's Table, followed by a beach walk to the San Clemente Pier where we spotted whale breaching - so exciting - plus I managed to make my Spanish class and a couples workshop in the evening after Dad departed, whew!

30. Worked a volunteer shift at the harbor, attended my Art History class, and made a delicious mushroom risotto for dinner.

31. Painters arrived to finish off our kitchen cabinets, so we escaped the house for the day by joining our hiking club for a gorgeous 7 mile hike along Crystal Cove Beach, after which we enjoyed burgers, fries and ice cream shakes at the iconic Shake Shack in Newport Beach.

Hubby and I shared a strawberry banana shake, so good!

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And so went the month of January!

December In A Sentence A Day

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 December was Joy!, then Dismay!, then Joy! once again. Sigh. It was an unexpectedly challenging month what with our voluminous water loss on the 5th, followed by the decision to go ahead and have our interior doors and kitchen cabinets repainted, and the kitchen ceiling track lighting removed and replaced, since we'd be ripping up all the flooring (again!) anyway. What. A. Mess.

By the time Christmas rolled around, however, everything but the flooring and Christmas tree - poor bald thing, we had to dismantle it for the water remediation, and I didn't have the energy to put all the ornaments back on - was pretty much back to normal. And we did manage to got our bounce back well before Christmas, enjoying lots of time with family and friends, plus holiday concerts, parties and plays, so a big 'yeah' for that.

(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 September In A Sentence A Day inspiration!)

December In A Sentence A Month

1.  Attended the funnest holiday party with our wine society, eating, sipping, singing, dancing, and even running into a newly retired couple we'd known during our daughters' soccer years . . . we're so excited that after being out there all by ourselves for the past six years, our friends are finally starting to step away from their professional gigs and join us in retirement!

Can you tell my husband is sporting a black eye in this photo?
The result of an accidental head bump with our granddaughter while playing Hide n Go Seek!

2.  A wonderful morning spent touring the Dana Points Headlands with a naturalist, followed by a coastal walk on our own, then a bagel breakfast at this divinely situated harbor cafe..

3.  A most festive holiday concert at one of our local colleges, which was absolutely wonderful, and definitely a new tradition going forward.

4.  A 25 mile bicycle ride along the coastline on a glorious low 70-degree day . . . we had so much fun!

5.  The disastrous day my washing machine overflowed onto my new hardwood floors!

6.  A rough day of navigating around the very noisy and numerous water remediation machines situated all over the bottom floor of our house, but did break away for a bit to attend a previously scheduled lunch and tour of the Shakleton Antartic Special Exhibition at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana.

The Endurance, stuck in the ice of Antartica in 1915

7.  Deeply depressed to once again be facing a period of demolition, chaos and dust, particularly during the Christmas holidays, but a festive holiday performance by the Dana Point Symphony went a long, long way in helping my mood.

Not the greatest sightlines in that the symphony plays at a church,
but the acoustics are great, and the tickets are a modest $15 each, so we'll deal.

8. This wonderful person, my oldest daughter, turned 35 years old today . . . how is that even possible???

9.   Attended a holiday jazz concert at a nearby college and had an absolutely wonderful time - nothing perks up my spirits more than the energy of talented young people.

The conductor brought up the children in the audience at one point,
which will hopefully plant the seeds for future jazz appreciation.

10.  Attended our first theater production at the same college, and though we did not enjoy the play so much, Stephen Sondheim's very dark Assassins, we were blown away by the talented actors and actresses, so we stayed all the way through to the bitter end, and were glad we did.

11.  Our dinner club held their annual potluck and planning session, and my husband and I agreed to take on one of the months in 2018 because we think the group will enjoy experiencing Burmese food as much as we did upon discovering the wonderful Irawaddy last year.

12.  Worked a tidepool shift and enjoyed the utterly thrilling experience of watching dolphins leaping and somersaulting high into the air in what seemed to be a show of sheer joy.

13.  Spent the morning hiking in the ocean-adjacent Laguna Wilderness with my hiking club, giving a little insight into why wildfires are a way of life here - our wilderness areas, even this one located just a couple of miles inland from the coast, are generally dry as a bone other than during the rainy season.

14.  Painting of my interior doors and kitchen cabinets commenced, because we figured we might as well get them done before the replacement wood flooring went down; a.k.a., turning lemons into lemonade!

Original maple cabinet paint color at bottom, a yellowish ivory, and refreshed color, the same Cream I used
in my prior kitchen, on the top.

15. Believe it or not, we entertained around the chaos, but just for an hour (they are very good friends!), before heading out to Sol Agave in San Juan Capistrano - yeah for good Mexican food and drink for what ails you!

16. Dinner out followed by the Dana Point Harbor Boat Parade with my oldest and her sweetie.

17. Long walk around the harbor and headlands, one of my very favorite things to do here.

My husband waving 'Hello' from the headlands trail.

18.  Kayaking in the AM, then a meeting with our financial team, followed by a lovely, but sad, farewell party with the members of my longtime book club now that we live too far away to make continuing tenable.

19.  My kitchen refresh is done, including removal of of 1980's track lighting, and I am beyond thrilled.

20.  Braved Walmart for a few household items, but got there early enough to avoid the Christmas crush.

21. We combined a walk to the beach for breakfast with a few on-foot errands, managing just shy of seven miles by the time we returned to the house.

Where the wonderful beach trail by our home ends.

22.  Worked a volunteer shift at the harbor, which was fun but brisk at just 50 degrees in the shade where my info booth was set up, brrrr!

23. Ran six miles at the harbor with my running club, followed by breakfast together at Coffee Importers, then made and baked salted caramel chip chocolate cookies and delivered them to all the neighbors, plus attended a festive Rat Pack concert . . . a long, but super fun day!

24. Long walk along the beach, then to my older daughters for an amazing Christmas Eve dinner: Coffee crusted filet mignon, sweet potato puree, grilled asparagus, heirloom beet salad, and for dessert, fresh cherry pie. #feelingspoiled

25. Merry Christmas, S. California style!

26. Today was all about Japan - we booked a trip to visit there in the fall, and we bought ourselves a new Toyota Prius!

Us in the fall of 2018.

Us right now!

27. Wonderful hike along a coastal ridge trail near our home with my hiking club, and learned our daughter is having a girl!!!

28. Worked a volunteer shift at the harbor, took down all the holiday decorations, organized the garage, and made a fragrant slow cook Indian chicken curry for dinner.

29.  Small drywall patch job by my painter in advance of our new floors going in in January, to Target to replace my 34 year old Hoover vacuum cleaner (!), plus our water loss reimbursement check arrived in the mail, big sigh of relief!

30.  Morning run with my club, prepped the house for overnight guests, then spent the evening with them enjoying dinner and a Neil Diamond tribute band at The Coach House.

31.  Took our friends for a walk along the Dana Point Headlands followed by breakfast at Coffee Importers, tidied the house after they left, then made a romantic dinner for hubby and me and settled in for a night of movies and waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square.

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Goodness December was a roller coaster of a month! But I have to say, I doubt I would have bitten the bullet and gone ahead with getting our kitchen cabinets repainted, and our overhead kitchen track lighting removed and replaced with recessed lights if not for the loss. So, I am actually super happy with the way my previously very nice kitchen is being elevated to gorgeous status, and I look forward to sharing photos next month once the final touch ups occur.

How was your December? Please share your highlights (or lowlights!) below.

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