Chasing the Sun

  Over the weekend, we went to the beach to celebrate my mom’s 60th birthday! She isn’t one for parties, so it was just the three of us. Unfortunately, my fractured toe put a damper on things a bit. But, we made the most of the time we had over there.  We left around noon, only to discover that our tire light was on. So, we went to several tire shops before finding one who was able to get us in and out within the hour. And then we were on the road once more.  Our reservation for dinner was at 4 p.m. We got into town a little earlier, so we stopped at Wal-Mart to get a few necessities, and they usually have better items than we do. We went to a staple in Pismo, McClintock’s, which we hadn’t visited in some time. I went with the Salmon, which was delicious. You can’t go wrong, especially when the meal comes with onion rings and an ocean view. Even if it was foggy and harder to see, just knowing it was out there is what it’s all about. We took our time eating and enjoying th...

I loved the Fourth of July when I was a kid. It was always a big celebration at our house! The family would all come over, we'd BBQ and gather around the fireworks, all whilst wearing our patriotic shirts, most likely from Old Navy.  But, of course, as relatives have passed away, others have moved away or have to work, so have our gatherings. And, of course, our country has changed quite a bit over the years, too, so it's been a weird shift in not being super excited about what we look like to others around the world and what we represent.  The last few years have been hard, too, because our dog gets so anxious with all the fireworks booming all around our neighborhood. Sometimes we'd have a few family members over, but they'd leave because of the chaos with Rory barking and the craziness of the fireworks sounding like a war zone. Plus, fireworks have gotten so expensive that the cheapest one for like $50 has only a couple fireworks and you're done in 10 minutes. I ...

This week, I decided I should get my toe checked out. It's not that it hurts so much, but it is completely numb. That doesn't seem like such a good sign, so I figured I'd get it checked out to make sure there's no permanent damage or I haven't made it worse somehow.  See picture below:  I wasn't sure if my primary doctor could take care of it or not, and it was hard to get in touch with someone to get any questions answered. So, Tuesday morning, I decided to make an appointment for the urgent care. I went in at noon, and it took longer than I expected. My blood pressure was very high, so they took it several times. That was nothing new, I've always had that issue, but chalked it up to anxiety. Then, I waited for the x-ray technician. After they took the scan, I waited for about 20 or so minutes for them to call my name to go over it.  The doctor explained that I fractured it and showed me what it looks like, asked what I did. He told me he wants me to wear b...

After the week that just finished, I was ready for the weekend, even if I'd only worked three days this week. Emotionally, it was a lot.   There were no projects or classes to finish and was able to read to my heart's content. I finished one book I'd started earlier in the week, we had waffles and bacon (which sounded good the night before) and listened to the top 40 countdown from the 70's with Casey Kasem. My dad loves doing that, so it's become a thing I look forward to now! I also got puppy snuggles which is the best way to start off a day.   I got ready and for the first time in awhile was actually looking forward to going out and doing something, rather than dreading it like I have been the past couple months (or longer).  I had lunch at Mexicali with my parents, then we went to Target. Walking around the store was a terrible idea. I picked up a lot of great stuff: four new books, a journal, pens, tape for my toe and some other random things we needed. By the ...

If you can't go on vacation, it's always fun to at least read books where trips are incorporated and watch movies with a dysfunctional family (like the Griswold's or something along those lines). So I've done a lot of that. I've ordered a lot of books based in Italy, of course, and other summer romance type stories. We all need something a little more fun and light-hearted right now.  I also decided to make a list of summer movies to watch over the next few weeks: Cheaper by the Dozen 2 Mamma Mia Mamma Mia 2: Here We Go Again Dan in Real Life  Monte Carlo Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 Now and Then Beaches Under the Tuscan Sun 500 Days of Summer Letters to Juliet RV We're the Millers Vacation  The Lizzie McGuire Movie  Freaky Friday  Jaws The Music Man Top Gun I was off on Wednesday and felt nauseous for most of it. Mom wasn't feeling the best either. So much for having the day off. We didn't do anything!  I spent a...

The in-between moments of summer are often pretty mundane. You have 10-hour work days, Fridays off and a lot of time at home (or at least staying indoors) because it's so hot out there.  I've spent a lot of time at home, reading, sitting on the couch, trying to do some brainstorming for creative projects and such. I caught up on Bridgerton (because I stopped watching after the first season),  have listened to music, I've watched a lot of clips from the Eras Tour as I follow along with the Twitterverse from the latest dates in Europe. I've also taken some time to dedicate to learning Italian on Duolingo, which has been so satisfying and fun.    There were plenty of coffee moments, especially driving through Starbucks in the morning before work, shopping (online and making an effort to go in store). I've been working on becoming certified with Meta But, eventually, I know when it's time to become more social. Thankfully, one of my best friends decided to have a vi...

  This was another busy but fun and (somewhat) unexpected weekend. My parents and I had a pretty chill Saturday. We had a lazy morning, then decided to go eat at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants in town, then went to Walmart to get some things and I wanted to look at their clothes. I got a few things, as well as a couple books and magazines. Gotta love new reading material!    It was a laid back afternoon at home just flipping through my magazines and being inspired. Then, that night, we drove through In-N-Out. It became a thing during the pandemic and we've just kept the tradition. It's fun because it's usually around the time the sun is setting. When we were done, we went for a drive around town. It's one of my favorite things and also cheap entertainment when there's nothing else to do. I get so inspired just zoning out on the sky as we drive by.  We drove out near the airport to watch one of the planes come in just as the sun was fading out in the distanc...