gratitude

Thanks for all the good wishes for my birthday last week. I had a great day and we even managed to get away for a little road trip over the weekend. First road trip in over 2 years, oh how I've missed traveling!

Thanksgiving is this week!

I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it - the preparation, the parade, the food, the reminder to take time to be grateful.

So that's what I'm going to do this week on the blog - focus on the things I'm most grateful for this past year. As I've mentioned before, it hasn't been my most favorite year and yet I woke up this morning with a roof over my head, food in the pantry and a job to go to. That's a lot to be thankful for and I am.

Travels with Charlie - Cambria

Don't we all have a favorite travel spot - the place you long to go when you need a little break from life? 

For us, this spot is Cambria, California. It's about 2 hours south of us so while we have frequently made it a weekend getaway, it's also a perfect day trip.

Recently we traveled down for a day. How I would have loved to have stayed at our favorite place down there - Cavalier Resort - but that wasn't in the budget. 

Frankly, even the day trip down to Cambria wasn't in the budget but we really, really needed an escape. So we packed some sandwiches (no visit to the Main Street Grill on this trip, sob) and hit the road. 

And the road was HOT. We watched the temperature climb higher and higher each mile down the highway but we knew it would drop dramatically the minute we turned toward the coast.

 Even so, Charlie was very happy when we stopped for a water break

Cambria is quirky, that's what I love about it

I kind of really want that turtle/batman poster

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping...or at least window shopping. Cambria has some really wonderful shops and I was the queen of window shopping that day.

Looks like Mr. T and Charlie are tired of shopping and are heading off for pie without me...hey, wait up guys!

Good thing this was our next stop

Oh look, more shopping at the pie store!

and best of all they have this amazing puffed corn snack that I crave. I limited myself to 2 bags and I've been pretty good at rationing them out, I still have a little bit left but I think I see the need for another trip down in the near future.

All too soon it was time to head back home. It was fun sharing such a happy place with Charlie. We have many good memories of being here with Jasper and Shifu. It's been great sharing it with you too!

 

travels with charlie - burlingame & san mateo

Charlie told me the other day that she was getting a severe case of cabin fever and needed a little adventure in her life. Ok, maybe it was me that needed a little adventure and a change of scenery but I'm pretty sure she felt the same way. We are best friends after all.

So we packed up the car and set off to explore a couple of Bay Area towns just south of San Francisco - Burlingame and San Mateo.

 Charlie was a little overwhelmed by the main street of Burlingame with all the shops and restaurants and people. Oh wait, maybe that was me again. Charlie was actually quite the trooper and had a blast leading us through the streets. She was a well behaved little lady with all the other dogs, such a change from Shifu who could turn into Cujo when encountering other dogs. 

 I had never been up to this cute town and really enjoyed walking along the main street with its newly widened sidewalks perfect for strolling shoppers. They've put in benches every few feet so it's easy to spend an entire day just visiting shops, stopping for snacks and sitting down to contemplate that next purchase.

 I ran into the Vans store to look at the new Pooh shoes but at $60 they are not going on my feet anytime soon. Sigh.

After a delicious lunch at a Middle Eastern place (I adore Middle Eastern food!) we drove over to the next town, San Mateo, to check out their revitalized downtown area. Our friend, who lives there, told us this place is hopping after dark but it was pretty deserted when we were there at 2 in the afternoon. 

A beautiful mural pays tribute to the building, now a restaurant, that used to house City Hall.

I can't resist a pretty street scene

And then I turned the corner and found Dragers, a local gourmet grocery store that is all kinds of awesome. To start with, you walk in the front door and run smack into the pastry section. Drool city, especially the macarons. I could have stayed there all day. 

They have a beautiful floral section

 But look at this - how many grocery stores have an escalator? It leads to the housewares department, aka heaven.

My favorite display was the Le Creuset, such great cookware. I like to mix my colors. Well, I only have one piece right now but I intend to get more and mix colors. I've even seen, on Pinterest, that they make pieces in an Antique Rose color but they appear to be hard to find.

Charlie and I (and Mr. T and our friend Ted) had a great time up in the "city" and there wasn't enough time to see everything so I see another roadtrip in our near future.

Until next time...

life with Charlie

A week and a half later and we're quite mad about our Charlie girl. She has fit into our lives so perfectly; it reminds me of our first days with Shifu. The rest of our life is kinda upside down but we know that we've been blessed by adding this little sweetheart to our family.

We've been busy over the past couple of weekends, taking her here and there.

 first visit to the beach

 first visit to my favorite park in Carmel

 now we know she's my dog, she is rockin' that hat!

 driving around with me during the week

 picnic in the park

super Charlie, able to leap tall stumps in a single bound

Sometimes I look at her and marvel about the perfect timing, perfect setup of events (good and bad) that brought us together. 

I love our little family

 

florida fun

May was my first full month in Florida and I feel like I packed a lot in there. In addition to my painting projects during the week I also spent time adding a few fun decorative touches to the house and Mr. T and I had a lot of fun on the weekends. 

Sometimes it felt like we tried to experience a whole Florida lifetime in just one month. We were on the go from early Saturday morning until late Sunday night traveling all over our area discovering new parks, flea markets, shops and towns. We even found a church we love and made a new Sunday morning routine.

So. Much. Fun.

 

 

May, you were quite a month. I am never going to forget you.