April 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 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 goat cheese feta.

3.  Grocery shopping and chores day, contracted with a house siding replacement company,  made a final house painter selection, plus organized my bedroom closet for, hopefully the last time in that I hung about two dozen hooks for the purpose of displaying my plentiful scarves and costume jewelry . . . the older I get the more I appreciate 'distractions' around my face!

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! 😊

5.  A 30 mile ride along our local bike paths to biker hangout Cooks Corner for lunch with my Friday bike group, home to clean up and enjoy some book club reading (Tolstoy's War and Peace), then to Huntington Beach via always-scenic Pacific Coast Highway in order to enjoy dinner with my oldest daughter and her sweetie . . . he is such a good cook!

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!)

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.

9.  A six mile hike with our Tuesday morning group along the ridgeline of Aliso Woods Regional Park, an afternoon volunteer shift at Casa Romantica in San Clemente, then home for our own version of Taco Tuesday.

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.

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!

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.

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!).

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.

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!

New tomato red pillows and throw in family room.

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!

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???

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!

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.

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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!