carlsbad on a sunday

Following a hotel breakfast which was one of those continental things that can fill your belly without satisfying the palette, we headed into Carlsbad to explore.

Scenery pictures are scarce, but it was hours of just meandering and enjoying.

We have spent many years splitting cinnamon rolls in half with a cup of coffee. Each. A. Cup. Of. Coffee. Or maybe a pot. JB's was the place on Sunday evening for a long time with friends and this was our traditional thing. Glaze and Grind did not disappoint!

An absolute beautiful day to put miles on the sneakers.

At one point I found one of those blue awnings announcing MASSAGE behind a door. I ventured in. Jari was sort of like, "you really want to go here?!" Yup. I did. It wasn't quite this spa. It was the much cheaper version. I'm not even sure they use massage lotion, but an hour well spent anyway while he wandered.

Love me a train station. Anytime. Anywhere.

I didn't try the phone. I'm not sure I'd know how to use it anymore. I could probably figure out how to pump the coins in and push the buttons to dial, but the numbers? That's the problem. Life has come to the point of Favorites in the cell phone. I don't remember numbers anymore. I use to be very good at that. Numbers have been replaced with a million passwords for everything imaginable.

 I can't call it shopping as I only left this part of Carlsbad with one little bag. I'd call it browsing and enjoying the dreaming.

A wee bit of ocean to tease.

Had it not been so chilly, I might have been tempted to rent a jet ski at a lagoon. Either Arizona blood runs in my veins now or it was just that chilly, but the thought of getting wet without a wetsuit just wasn't appealing. 

Did you say more food?! A short drive from our hotel, while the fingers did the walking on maps, we found the Tin Leaf Kitchen where we thoroughly enjoyed yet another sampling of salmon with some incredibly spicy green beans.

Sunday was put to rest and we look forward to tomorrow .....

seaside saturday

Sometimes you find the best places just by chance.

If you're in the area, or are even relatively close, it is worth the drive to Solana Beach for breakfast at Claire's on Cedros. Darling restaurant and coffee house with fantastic food. No pictures of this, but a number of children were there with parents. They walked in with their blankets and wrapped up. Sweet stuff.

I'm not sure what we did all day but I do know that we are now well acquainted with the Outlet Mall in Carlsbad ... and maybe the Shopping Center as well. I don't know what it is we needed, but the bags certainly came home with us.

And then there is the beach.
If I could live near water, I would.
Just to breath.

I think I remember a quite lovely nap sometime during the day.
There may have been a few chapters of my book.
A totally relaxing kind of existence.

Followed by another taste test that passed with flying colors.
King's Fish House was a delight.
We are lovers of seafood .... can you tell?!

It has been many years since we last did this.
Just wander wherever we felt like going.
Eat wherever it struck our fancy to eat.
Enjoy each other and leave the entire world behind somewhere.

Life gets in the way sometimes, but it is time to start carving out more times like these.

breathing in the ocean air

We ran away for a few days ... well, more like a week or more ... and it feels like it has been forever.

The first part of our explore was a driving one.

We packed our bags and headed for California.

My hubby loves it when I pack up things to do with my hands and I love getting something done while we drive.

We checked into the Sheraton in La Jolla. The grounds are absolutely beautiful as the view out of our room attested.

I wouldn't recommend staying here.

Ever.

The koi pond was nice.

The shopping options next to the hotel were nice.

Parking was nice.

No complimentary coffee. 

No noise barriers in the hotel. At. All. 

We heard every door banging down the hall.

We heard the muffled conversation of normal speech on the other side of the wall.

We heard the shower upstairs like it was in our room.

You've been warned.

The air was a bit chilly but the sun made up for it.
A trip to the Sunset Cliffs where we had never been before.

And food. Mitch's Seafood for dinner. Love this place!
We sort of forgot how much food comes on the plate.
This seemed to be a fairly common problem for an entire week straight.
We started our seafood taste testing here.

Scarves, hats, and mittens .... and salt air to soothe the sinuses.

And so our Friday ended ...

he's a busy one

Our living room is a rather dark space.
Eventually we are going to upgrade the window on the wall to the left to a rather large one, but in the meantime it can be a bit dark.
I can't find where he put the box that these lights come in, but ceiling lights went in last weekend. We have put these little waffle lights in both bathrooms, the carport and the kitchen. All of those lights are rather bright and I really wanted warmer light in the living room. Several Amazon orders later, we had the lights we wanted.

Next came the ceiling challenge. This isn't just sheet rock ceiling as it looks. It is plaster and who knows what all. Dropped ceilings and all kinds of joy. So ... another Amazon delivery brought a tool that drilled handy little holes in the ceiling real quick.

He found a very interesting way to run wire from one hole to the next and avoid crawling in the attic space. He said he didn't know exactly what we were using, but I seriously think it was a snake for cleaning out drains. A bit of teamwork and we had wire run!

The job of scraping that popcorn ceiling has become a challenge. It isn't just plain ol' popcorn. I don't know what we are going to do about that. Maybe just Kilz some of the noticeable spots, paint it and live with it for a while.

He put all the lights in and turned the switch ... only to find out he had installed the bright lights rather than the warm ones. Good thing they come out and go back in easily! They were switched out in a heartbeat or two. He even cleaned up everything and vacuumed while I was on the phone!

We have even light in the living room that can be adjusted with a dimmer switch. I love it!

And then he was off to figuring out security systems.

Hours on the phone because things aren't working right .... and for the most part we can now watch our home from anywhere in the world we have internet access.

We are getting to be a smart house .. one piece at a time. A number of the lights can now be turned off and on from our phones ... the chicken house included.

Now if I can just figure out how to make my coffee that way .....

a few favorites

 The weather wasn't warm, but the hearts made up for it.