roaming_kate23

Weekend report TWO weeks in a row-I do believe that is a first!

Friday:Up early,headed to Santa Barbara . I needed coffee and we didn’t stop ‘till we were almost in Santa Barbara. The first place we saw when we stopped was a 7-11.I was like “works for me!”

Showed up at my aunt’s house and we sat around for a while, then went for a walk which was nice(my aunt has a nice neighbourhood to walk around in.)

My cousin came over with her baby(who I hadn’t met before then..she is SO cute! My mom, who is a mother of 3 and a grandmother of 5 and who worked with babies, was in her element.

Later on we went to the Santa Barbara Botanical gardens.That was a LOT of walking but I was up for it. I’ve been to the botanical gardens near where my mom and dad live, and yeah,OK, it’s impressive,but it doesn’t have redwoods.

My cousin and her wife live kinda nearby so we checked out their house(they live near the mission and like hanging out there with the baby because she can run around, as kids that age do.

Dinner was at a Mexican food restaraunt and was a little on the late side but eh..it was worth it because the food was REALLY good!

A few words about the hotel we stayed in:Not great, but we were only there for one night.I walked to McDonald’s for breakfast and coffee in the morning. I was so tired I went right to sleep . Also, the hotel has been sold and is going to be turned into homeless housing.

Saturday:Walked to McDonald’s for breakfast . Busy day but nothing like yesterday(and BTW I know I’m starting to get toned because I was not sore at all.)

Did a tour of the UC Santa Barbara campus. It is a GORGEOUS campus, and there is an area called Isla Vista which has everything a college student could possibly need right there(including the beach!)

My aunt’s birthday is today so we had an early birthday dinner with sandwiches she likes.They WERE good! Wish we had a place like that around here(and no, Subway and Jersey Mike’s don’t count.)

Sunday:Made sure my mom was well taken care of. Fixed lunch(bagels, pastrami,cream cheese potato salad, and cookies.) for my mom. Went home early(ish) via the grocery store.

Friday: Had breakfast at my favourite restaurant .The eggs had an orange tint but apparently this is a good thing because it means that they are healthier/organic.They tasted fine to me so maybe there’s something to that! Made the topping for my sweet potato casserole(the recipe says to make it ahead of time..and also I am an organiser so there’s another reason!)

Saturday:Did my usual Saturday at my parents’ house.Hit up Bath And Body Works..they were having a buy two candles get two free and you know ya girl is a whole ho for Bath And Body Works.

When I got home I made the sweet potato casserole(SO unhealthy-it has butter, and cream, and brown sugar and marshmallows.Oh yeah! It’s one of my niece Chloe’s favourites.I get it!

Got my haircut(it was a mop at the time I got it cut).

Later on I made lemon bars for Easter dessert.

Sunday:Simple Easter breakfast(banana bread,fruit and cofffee).

My dad and I went to church but didn’t stay for all of Mass,Felt a little bit guilty but I say we get half a point for making an effort!

Easter dinner was so good-ham, several casseroles(my mom made a corn pudding that was 💯 and I want her to make again) sand several desserts.And chocolate!

After giving up chocolate for Lent it’s weird..I didn’t feel like I wanted to eat ALL of the chocolate!Also, it’s helped my diabetes, and that’s GREAT.

The day got even more fun because my niece and her husband to be brought their karaoke machine and everyone got up and sang.My parents’ neighbours had to have been wondering,LOL.

Friday:Headed to my parents’ house via Beach Break. I always order off menu(I have a particular thing I like-the artichoke scramble which is only occasionally a special but you can order it anytime if you ask-if they have artichoke hearts they can make it(and they always do-I haven’t been refused yet!) Boy is it tasty! You have to like artichoke hearts (which I definitely do!)

Saturday:Birthday festivities started early..my parents and I went to Panera for breakfast.Then we headed to Orange County(and Fashion Island.)

I was WOWED by Fashion Island. “High end” doesn’t even begin to describe it(they had 4 luxury car showrooms. And a Rolex store.Neiman Marcus too. I picked out several birthday gifts, including a Nespresso coffee maker.SO excited!

Lunch was at a food court with several different fast food places.I had lunch at Five Guys.I hadn’t had 5 Guys in a minute and it was GOOD. Love the way they always put extra fries in the bag.

Ended the day with gelato-it was SERIOUSLY good. Ya girl had Nutella flavour(of course!)

On the way back to the freeway we got a little lost, and then there was TERRIBLE traffic on the way home but once we got past the problem(it was an accident) it was all good.

Sunday:We went to a memorial for a friend of my mom and dad’s. I knew them too, and one of their kids is around the same age I am.

Grocery shopped at Walmart(wanted a change and it was definitely that!) Oh! Bought Girl Scout cookies before I went in to shop(shortbread in case you were curious.) I used to be a Girl Scout so I always buy a box of cookies when I see them.

Thursday: I didn’t have to do anything because I did my prep cooking the day before so everything that I made was ready to go(sweet potato casserole and cranberry relish). Our Thanksgiving was lovely-local family-my brother and his wife and kids were at my parents’ house and everything was so good(my 20 something nephew was in charge of the mashed potatoes and they were SO good!) Of course there was pie(my parents and I had pumpkin pie for breakfast, a many-years Thanksgiving tradition.).

Friday:I braved the All Fridays Matter sales and did some of my Christmas shopping.Signed up for Paramount Plus and watched the South Park special(my thoughts about it later on in this blog). For dinner we had turkey noodle soup-one of the best ways to get rid of leftovers, in my opinion!

Saturday:Originally I Friday is was going to see House Of Gucci  on Friday night and bake cookies on Saturday..But all of the showings  on Friday night were sold out so Saturday it was(the cookies happened after I got back from seeing the movie.) More leftovers (turkey, mashed potatoes , cranberry relish and my sweet potato casserole as well as what was left of the pie(we didn’t have a lot of leftovers which was a GOOD thing,as much as I love turkey I can only eat it so many days in a row.)


Sunday:Went home early (via the grocery store) and spent quite a while getting ready for the week.I also went for a walk. Thoughts about South Park and House Of Gucci below:

( Read more... )

Friday:Was my mom’s birthday. We had a book group discussion at a local hotel(where my aunt and uncle were staying-she has MS and it’s hard for her to get around so it was the perfect setup). The a/c was only kinda sorta working so I had to go out to the lobby where the a/c was a lot better.Got to see some of the opening ceremonies for the Olympics(most of it with the sound off because I was watching it in the hotel lobby.)

Saturday:Mom’s birthday party at a local park-we had sandwiches from Mendocino Farms-I have been meaning to try them for a while so now I know what their sandwiches taste like now and can easily decide what I would like if I go there.(the vegan bahn mi was 💯the only thing I didn’t like was the huge chunks of tofu.If I ordered it there I would say extra veggies and no tofu.)It was tiring.Every day we’ve had family here(since Thursday now) I fall into bed at the end of the day because I am just tired out.in a good way of course .)

Sunday:Thankfully was more of a down day though we spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle who were taking the train back home(they got here Friday-were quite delayed,I guess that is what you deal with when you take the train-and there are a lot more variables than when you take the plane though there are certainly variables when you take the train too.)

My nephew is manager at a local pizza place (Best pizza) so we went there for dinner. Nephew made sure that we were well taken care of and the food is good-I’ve had the pizza so I know *it’s* good but wanted to try something else-lots of people ordering the salads-apparently they’re very good-next time, I think!

Friday:Found out the weather was supposed to be bad the next day(Saturday) so changed plans accordingly.

The day before my mom asked me-since it was my birthday weekend-what I wanted for dinner on Friday and I said Jersey Mike’s(I prefer it to Subway but Subway is my dad’s favourite and what we get most of the time when we want sub sandwiches.)

Saturday:Got up early and headed for Los Angeles.Stopped in Orange County for breakfast and coffee.It really looked like it was going to rain but didn’t and when it did it(fortunately) was whilst we were in the car for the most part.

First stop was the Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles.Sketchy area and the parking situation strange(my dad got 2(!) parking tickets. The Last Bookstore is in an old bank building.Best part?Yes, they have books but there is a section with vinyl(didn’t really look in that section but it’s mentioned in a lot of the Yelp reviews.).

Perhaps not shockingly I found 4 books(two of them turned out to be only a couple of dollars and the others were full price.They have both used and new books there-also an antique book section.And I haven’t even told you about the upstairs yet-it just kept going and going-and there were these side rooms-the old vaults! -that were a must to check out too-each one had a different category of books! The tunnel of books-made out of old books-is one of the things you see a lot when you google the Last Bookstore.

Second stop was the Cathedral Of Our Lady Of Angels.I’ve seen it from the freeway several times. Very modern-at the time it was built it was referred to as Mahony’s Folly. Yes, it’s modern, but I liked it.I went to a modern church as a kid. Impressive, but I’ve been to the Vatican and St. Peter’s so...

Finally, we had lunch and walked around the Farmers Market and the Grove(posh shopping centre.) At the Farmers Market they were having a pre-Mardi Gras event with a bunch of bands playing at the same time.It was definitely a scene!

Sunday: Was my birthday! Got up and my parents and I had breakfast at Panera.

I wanted to get my nails done so did that and just hung out.

Then it was time for a late lunch at my favourite Mexican food restaurant and back to my house for chocolate fondue in lieu of birthday cake. Fun day with family and friends-the whole weekend was amazing, let’s be real- and I got some great birthday presents too!

My last weekend report for 2019 and of the decade AND the third week in a row that I’ve done a Weekend report-that has to be some sort of record!

Friday:Checked out a new coffee place near my parents’ house-had a hazelnut latte which was really good. Stopped by Costco to get a few things.

Saturday:Hung out with a friend of mine from high school.He turned up on a bike which..I had no idea.He might have mentioned it to me! We made the best of it though.

Sunday:Spent the day tidying to justify how lazy imma be today.It said it was going to rain but it doesn’t look that bad.Still, gonna have an indoor day.

Friday:I was going to my parents’ house but they were going to be out and about until the middle of the afternoon so I went to UTC and spent a while there(I normally would not go to UTC it’s just too long a trip from my house and back so doing so when I’m going to my parents’ house makes the most sense.)

Had Shake Shack for lunch..TBH the first time I went there I wasn’t impressed at all.This time I just ordered what they’re known for(hamburgers)and it was really good. 10 out of 10 would order again.

Friends of my parents were around in the evening and we had Mexican food from their new favourite place.

Saturday:Got my shop on-Bath And Body Works was having a sale and everything was $5 so yeah..I stocked up. Split pea soup for dinner with cheese bread-SO good!

Sunday:Home early(via the grocery store)Nice to be able to get home early and get ready for the week.

Friday:Went to Beach Break for an early lunch and got seated next to a keto bore(the guy said he was doing keto because of a urinary problem. Okay.

Saturday:Got some of my Christmas shopping done(I now have bought 3 Christmas gifts.That’s a dent in my Christmas shopping.Seriously!) Saw JoJo Rabbit and liked it a lot(even had the feels at the end of the movie).

Sunday:My parents and I picked my aunt up at the airport. I packed for the wedding I’m going to next weekend(my cousin is getting married). My aunt has a favourite place she likes to go when she’s in town so we went there for dinner(Mexican food-it was SO good!)

Friday:In the morning I went to my niece’s promotion(middle school to high school) and my youngest nephew graduated from high school(he’s a few years older than my niece).Both ceremonies were outside which meant I got a LOT of sun and in fact sunburned! But totally worth it as how often do your nieces and nephews graduate/get promoted?)

My brother’s house is within walking distance of the school so I walked home(it was a nice walk,not too hot!)
There were presents(my sister-in-law’s family were all down from Sacramento but it was fun-pizza and ice cream and cookies for dessert.

Saturday:Normal Saturday BUT.. in the evening my parents and I went to see the Elton John movie(Rocket Man).We all loved it.Afterwards we had dinner at a Greek restaurant that was close to the movie theater.

Sunday:Made sure my dad was well taken care of because it was Father’s Day(and I had a really good card and gift for him.Mom went all out and fixed brunch for all of the dads(my dad, my brother, and my sister-in-law’s father, all of them dads).