March In A Sentence A Day

(Note: I am no longer blogging here on a regular basis, but will continue to put up my monthly Sentence A Day posts, plus the occasional misc. posting. In that it will be pretty quiet here on the blog as a result, you might wish to follow me on Instagram instead at WestCoastTamara)

The theme for March was apparently Soldier On! in that it started off with a whole boatload of rain-generated stress. However, it got considerable better by month end so, whew, feeling like we dodged a bullet!

March In A Sentence A Month

1.  Woke up to rain seeping in through our downstairs bedroom patio door . . . not good!

2.  Rain in the AM washed out our volunteer shifts at the Whale Festival, but did lighten up enough to enable us to attend a fun wine tasting event in the PM.

3.  Sunday services in the AM, errands on the way home, then a quick dinner before heading out to a Sunday night discussion group sponsored by our spiritual congregation.

4.  A long day with our contractor and his team . . . walls were opened up to trace source of water leak, which turned out to be the result of missing flashing in the upstairs master bedroom that was added to the house in 1990 . . . the good news is my contractor said he can fix it without it costing a fortune!

5.  Made tomato pizza tartlets, which disappeared in about five minutes flat upon my arrival at the Mardi Gras party I made them for!

6.  Met with yet another painter to get an estimate on the house, grocery shopping, then attended a book discussion in the PM on this month's read, Go, Went, Gone, about the refugee crisis in Europe .  . . . it was a great discussion!

7.  A 'normal' retirement day of going to the gym in the AM, working a volunteer shift in the afternoon, then home to make dinner and enjoy a lovely sunset out on our balcony.

8.  A little bit late for me, because we didn't know until today whether we'd be able to leave our leaky home, however, after assurances from our contractor that all would be fine, we spent most of the day getting our packing done for our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam . . . we are only taking carry on, but that can actually make packing all the more difficult!

9.  Morning hike with my Sat group, then home to greet termite team in order to remediate some of the wood damage our earlier rain leak had revealed, then a dinner of random refrigerator leftovers before heading off to LAX to catch our midnight flight to Taipai, leg one of our trip into Cambodia.

10.  Lost somewhere midflight, in that we crossed the international date.

11.  An easy layover in Taipei after the first 14 hour leg, then a three hour flight into Phnom Peng, Cambodia, where we were taken to our hotel, checked into our room, and headed out to visit Museum of Cambodia, including a time out to experience the local beer, dinner at a little bodega where we enjoyed more beer (it's so cheap here at $1 a can!) and two $3 bowls of fish and chicken amok, then to our hotel's scenic top floor for swimming and final nightcaps.

12.  Toured the beautiful Royal Palace complex, the sobering Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, then to the airport for our very short 30 minute flight into Siam Reap, where we were welcomed with dinner and a traditional Apsara dancing show during which most of us fell asleep. . . late night shows are really not a good idea at this point in the trip!  #jetlagisreal

13.  Spent the entire hot and humid day touring the unbelievably amazing Ankgor Wat and Ankgor Thomm complexes, plus saw a newborn monkey and mama . . . about dead from exhaustion, but what a day!!!

14.  A long but relatively easy day compared to yesterday- a ride in an ox-driven cart, a fascinating boat ride to see the floating villages of Tonle Sap Lake, a visit to the National Museum of Cambodia, then off to the airport to catch our flight into Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where we headed out for late night dinner of $2 Pho the moment we landed . . . Vietnam appears to be even cheaper than Cambodia!

15.  Long ride in bus to visit Cu Chi Tunnels Historic Park, which included a painful-to-watch film detailing the war from the perspective of the Vietnamese, a sampling of 'Hootch' post-tour, a fabulous lunch at Pho 2000, where Bill Clinton ate when he was here, much needed naps, then lemon grass and lychee nut cocktails, followed by a walk to dinner at the lovely Tuc.

16.  Our first, much needed, slow-morning start of the trip, then off to the airport for our short flight to Dunang, where we stopped to put our feet in the South China Sea at China Beach before heading to the utterly charming and picturesque historic section of Hoi to shop, sitesee, drink the local beer . . . OK, lots of local beer . . . and to enjoy dinner, before checking in to our equally charming hotel.

17.  Boat ride on Thu Bon river, stopping at asmall village to shop for hand made wooden items, plus a tour of a traditional home, then off to visit an organic farm, plus learned the art of making Vietnamese pancakes . . . insanely delicious!

18.  Left early for Hue, Vietnam, stopping for Vietnamese coffees en route, viewed some scenic oyster farms, a tour of Imperial City, a cyclo ride through the Citadel, then dinner at Y Thao Family Restaurant, where we were serenaded by some of the noisiest frogs we've ever heard!

19.  Boat ride on the Perfume River (which was actually not fragrant whatsoever), pagoda visits galore, a very interesting visit to a nun monastery for a vegetarian lunch served by the nuns, steep ascent afterward to Khai Dinh Tomb (hot! humid!), Vietnamese coffee back at hotel, then a rowdy dinner at the DMZ with some of our fellow travelers.

20.  Long day of travel as we left Hue and headed to our Halong Bay hotel via plane and bus.

21.  The highlight of the Vietnam segment of this trip - an all day cruise in Halong Bay, including a stop to explore a sea cave . . . wow, wow, wow, even with the floating plastic debris!!!

22.  Hanoi touring day, starting off with a walk through the Old Quarter of Hanoi, then a visit to the uber-intersting Museum of Ethnology, a brief stop at the Ho Chi Minh Memorial, lunch at the incredibly fabulous, Anthony Bordein and President Obama visited, Bún chả Hương Liên, followed by a lake walk, a traditional water puppet show, then dinner out with a group of our fellow travelers at the lovely Seasons of Hanoi.

Best meal of the trip, and all for about $2.50 per person, including the beer!

23.  Super interesting visit to a traditional Vietnamese village where we observed glass noodles being made, a stop at Thay Pagoda, where we first feasted on Vietnamese sweets (well hubby at least, not me . . . still sugar free!) waiting out a brief rainstorm, lunch afterward at an Italian restaurant (it was nice to have something a little different, plus it was still interpreted Vietnamese style!), back to hotel for a brief rest, then out with the entire group for our farewell dinner at 5 Spice Restaurant.

Hand made glass noodles stacked and ready for shipping.

Loved this picturesque Vietnamese town!

24.  Long, long day of travel, finally reaching home at 7:00 PM PST after 14 hours of flying, five hours of airport layovers, and a 90 minute drive home, at which point we gave each other high fives that our leak appeared to be all fixed, than fell into bed and slept for 10 straight hours.

25.  Our handyman stopped in to install closet shelving in our upstairs guest master bedroom, plus prepped our outside concrete block walls for painting in April, and the moment he left I fell back into bed for a nap . . . jet lag is real!

26.  Slept from 2:30 AM - 8:30 AM, so I missed my AM hike, but did manage to make my afternoon volunteer commitment in San Clemente.

27.  Overslept again after not falling asleep until 2:00 AM, meaning I missed an AM dermatology appointment, oye vey, but did manage to make it to the grocery store to stock up on the necessary items for Saturday night's big Italian dinner party event.

28.  Overslept again, but did manage to make it to the harbor in the afternoon for my volunteer assignment . . . have I mentioned how miserable the return leg jet lag always is for me?

29.  Attended Jazz Night at the harbor, which started with sparkling wine, moved onto wine and small bites from a variety of local restaurants, then concluded with a charity auction and lots of smooth jazz featuring the amazing Michael Paulo among others . . . such a fun, fun night!

30.  Morning beach walk with my Saturday group (it was a gorgeous morning) . . . 

. . . then lots of cooking and prepping for tonight's Italian-themed fund raiser dinner - tomato tartlets, bruschetta, Caesar salad, mushroom lemon risotto, garlic bread, Italian cookies, and tiramisu, plus lots and lots of Italian wine . . . the party lasted until 11:00 PM!

31.  Sunday morning spiritual services, shopping errands on the way home (seriously, I need the hubby with me to find the motivation to step into a store these days!), then an afternoon of nada after last night's big event, and then leftovers for dinner.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

And so went March. Looking ahead to April, there'll be lots of wine tasting events, retro live music performances, time with the granddaughters, and, hopefully, a freshly painted house exterior!

February In A Sentence A Day

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 . . .

. . . then to dinner at new-to-us Paul Martin's American Grill, where I went bonkers over my Raspberry Martini.

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!).

23.  A mad day of cooking and prepping for a dinner party left me pretty wiped out by the time our guests arrived . . . could it be that a professional chef is in our dinner party future???

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. 

January In A Sentence A Day

January turned out to be a terrific, and terrifically productive month, largely due to being gone for a good chunk of the month, and due to experiencing amazingly consistent energy upon our return due to making a long-overdue decision to give up processed sugar. 

January In A Sentence A Month

1.  Started off the day watching the Rose Parade on our new 65" TV (how sad that a float broke down and prevented the last few from being seen 🙁) while enjoying a New Years day brunch of blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon, then a lovely five mile walk along the beach before returning home and plunking ourselves down to watch movies the rest of the day . . . possibly enjoying our new TV just a bit too much!

2.  Booked a 33-day cruise around S. America(!) for early 2020, then off to our spiritual congregation's newly purchased building to assist with some move-in projects, plus lots of grocery shopping at Aldi's on the way home . . . I don't necessarily love everything Aldi's carries, but appreciate the great prices on those things I do.

So excited to visit all of these places!

3.  Morning dermatology appointment to get a squamous skin cancer lesion removed, spent the afternoon in the backyard reading and gazing out at the ocean under gloriously sunny skies, then my first time helping to bring and serve dinner to a homeless shelter in Laguna Beach that our spiritual congregation commits to one day a month - what a humbling experience.

4.  Morning workout at the gym, then home to pack and get our travel trailer hooked up and ready for our annual trip to attend the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

5.  Headed out early in order to get our travel trailer parked at the RV park in time to attend our first movie of the trip, Egypt's Yomeddin, a moving film about a leper colony, followed by set up, Happy Hour and dinner back at the RV park with our best friends, and fellow Film Festival attendees, David and Fran.

6.  Walked to our films today, @ 4 miles round trip, Austria’s The Interpreter, and Israel’s Redemption, then Chianti and pizza afterward at always-delicious Bill’s Pizza, discussing what we liked (and didn’t!) about both films with our friends.

7.  Morning hike up to the top of Lykken trail, a sack lunch in line while waiting to see Japan’s The Shoplifters (a disappointing 'eh' in my opinion, in spite of being a Best Foreign Picture nominee for this year's Oscar awards) dinner back at our travel trailer, then back in line yet again in order to see Denmark’s nail-biting thriller, The Guilty.

8.  Morning hike up Lykken trail, then off to see what turned out to be our favorite film of the festival, Lebanon's outstanding, Oscar-nominated Capernaum, followed by dinner back at our trailer, before heading out again to see Spain's charming Champions, about a group of disabled basketball players.

I know this is a long shot for an Oscar, given powerhouse Roma, also nominated,
but it is so worthy of receiving one!

9.  Took the day off from the Film Festival and headed to Sunnylands Estate for an almost-private tour (just 7 people permitted at a time) of the inside of this ah-maz-ing estate where seven U.S. Presidents have visited and stayed . . .

. . . then to Shield's Date Farm for luscious date shakes and Medjool date sampling, then topped off the day by enjoying dinner and a show at the cozy Purple Room Supper Club.

10.  Headed out by foot to see Ethiopia's beautiful movie, Fig Tree, coffee and a split sandwich afterward at our favorite Palm Springs coffee house, Koffi, a fun afternoon shopping our way through downtown Palm Springs, including a stop for yummy blackberry mimosas, a visit to the Palm Springs Art Museum, dinner at Mexican food fav Las Casuelas, then the weekly Thursday night Village Fest along Palm Canyon, whew!

The day's purchases included this hat and blouse,
both of which I couldn't wait to wear, literally!

11.  Morning hike up Lykken trail where we finally spotted a whole bunch of big horn sheep after just missing them earlier in the week,

then off to see our last films of the trip, the charming Swedish biopic Becoming Astrid (though I hated that they made the actress remove her blouse for no good reason . . . #timesup!) and the incredibly compelling Afghanistan war film, Jirga, which dealt with forgiveness in a manner most of us would never, ever have the courage to do!

12.  Headed home from Palm Springs, then spent remainder of the day cleaning our travel trailer, unpacking, doing laundry, and making a mini-grocery run, in that we leave again in just a few days.

13.  Attended first services at our spiritual congregation's new permanent home - so exciting! - then home to meet my girlfriend Mary, visiting from her temporary home in Singapore, taking her walking and shopping in San Clemente, then to dinner in always-beautiful Laguna Beach.

14.  Watched an episode of Mari Kondo on Netflix and was so inspired I finally got around to decluttering my office of an embarrassing accumulation of paperwork.

15.  Up at 4:00 am to catch out early morning flight to DC, being extra nice to TSA as we went through security (third week of no paycheck due to gov't shutdown), then a fun evening playing with our two granddaughters once we arrived.

16.  Immersed ourselves in granddaughter fun, including some very chilly outdoor snow fun!

17.  Spent time attempting to help organize a preponderance of books and toys scattered throughout the house for my daughter . . . felt a bit like the little Dutch boy that stuck his fingers in the dyke, even as the water spilled out elsewhere!

18.  At long last, enjoyed 'hotel night' with our four year old granddaughter, which she thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed . . . the first of many, many more wonderful grandparent/grandchild experiences to come we hope!

19.  Lot's of playtime fun with 'our girls' once back home to their place from hotel night - chase, hide n' go seek, tag, stickers, coloring, and book reading, phew!

20.  Attended services at the Metro DC branch of our spiritual congregation, then finally managed to find time to stop by a movie theater in order to watch Bohemian Rhapsody where I, literally never stopped moving my feet . . . loooooooooved it!

21.  Flew home from Metro DC, always sad to say goodbye to everyone, but did enjoy dinner at our oldest daughter's in Huntington Beach once we landed back at LAX . . . her boyfriend is such a wonderful cook!

22.  Goodbye sugar . . . resolved to give it one more big try, and see if I could finally cut processed sugar out of my life in order to see if other aspects of my life might improve, primarily my energy.

23.  Day One of mp sugar was hard people - an addiction to sugar is said to be akin to an addiction to cocaine - so I kept myself busy/distracted by meeting up with one of my hiking groups for a five mile hike along some early-spring-green hills above Ladera Ranch.

24.  Woke up amazed at how solid my energy was yesterday - benefits of removing the processed sugar from my life already being realized - and caught up on my book club readings (Faulkner's The Sound And The Fury, and the uber-intersting non-fiction Sapiens, before heading out to work a shift at the cultural center I volunteer for.

25.  Morning hike with hubby, home for a bit to do chores, then off to first meet friends for Happy Hour at Waterman's Harbor, then to Anaheim to meet up with our oldest daughter and her sweetie for craft beer tasting at Bottle Logic Brewing . . . my brown porter with cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper was amazing!

26.  Morning hike along the beach with my Saturday walking group on a gorgeously warm day, home to re-landscape a small planter in our front yard that just had a tree removed, then in to clean up and head out with hubby to Laguna Beach for a quick dinner at Urth Caffee, followed by seeing the play Driving Miss Daisy, starting Michael Learned.

27.  Morning services at our spiritual congregation, then home to prepare for our quarterly book club meeting to discuss The Sound And The Fury, where we started off outside in order to enjoy wine and a gorgeous sunset, then headed indoors for a southern-themed dinner and book discussion - fried chicken, baked sweet potatoes, and a shaved Brussels sprout salad, plus homemade pecan pie (but none for me!).

28.  Morning hike with hubby, Spanish class in the afternoon, then home to start our next quarterly book club read, Tolstoy's War and Peace (it's not hard, truly, just long!), plus made an amazing quinoa, chicken and roasted sweet potato casserole for dinner from new-to-me magazine Eating Well . . . both hubby and I were blown away by how delicious it was.

29.  Morning six mile hike with my Tuesday hiking group, then home to clean up and get photos taken for our Cambodia and Vietnam visas, which I then returned home and spent two full hours applying for online before finally finishing . . . the upload features for photos we needed to submit was cumbersome for both to say the least!

30.  Enjoyed a very challenging 8 mile hike with my Wednesday hiking group, which included 2,300 feet of gain in the first two miles . . . while I avoided the worst of the spills our group experienced on the way down due to how rocky and steep the trail was, I did 'take a knee,' at one point due to briefly taking my eyes off the trail.

31.  My Thursday morning hike got cancelled due to pending rain, a bit of a relief after yesterday's long hike, so I enjoyed time in my office working on some upcoming trip details, before leaving for an afternoon shift at the cultural center where I volunteer, followed by a quick dinner back at home before heading out again to attend a Mozart concert . . . the later is more hubby's thing than mine, but I do always end up enjoying the music more than I expect to.

Bonus: I finished the month with ten straight days of being processed sugar free, and feat I've never been able to accomplish up until now. The difference in my energy level, and also my appetite, has been astounding. I'm also down four pounds already, which is making me very, very happy. By removing processed sugar, I've stopped bouncing into the kitchen all afternoon for pick-me-up after pick-me-up. Instead, I'm able to wait for dinner, and then to eat sensibly once I there. Wow, just wow is about all I can say at this point, though I will do a comprehensive write up once I get a full month of sugar sobriety under my belt.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------