Busy, Busy!

Hello my lovelies!

Can you believe I was off for 10 days and my apartment looks the same and I'm running around like a chicken with her head cut off?! Some things just never change. I do have to say that I had a wonderful time off from work and it was mighty hard to drag myself into work Tuesday morning.

In the last days of my furlough, I managed to:

~Go to the Walt Disney Family Museum and learn more about the man behind those fantastic movies I loved as a kid (who am I kidding, I still love them now!) and Disneyland. It was wonderful.
~Tried chinese soup dumplings which I'm still on the fence about.
~Saw The Artist which was fantastic and I recommend highly is you like classic films, the silent era and/or black and white cinematography. Loved it!
~Had a facial and was told by the estetician that I have nearly flawless skin and who was shocked that I was 36 because she thought I was 28. God, I loved that! I'd keep her if I wasn't so loyal to my Russian estetician who I've been seeing forever.
~Read a book...The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly. It was a good read but I preferred The Tea Rose and The Winter Rose.
~Made a pot of soup.
~Saw My Week with Marilyn which I was pleasantly surprised over. Michelle Williams did a great job exuding the spirit of Marilyn and the insecurities she must have felt during her rise to stardom. Fantastic and I recommend this one too!
~Had a nice visit with an old friend who has the knack for making me believe the things I don't from other people. You know, the comments about being beautiful and having a lot of things going for me and being a good person. It's rejuvenating to hear and I've decided to listen for a change, hold it close to my heart and allow it to carry me through. I feel a little spring in my step and feel better than I have in ages!
~Saw The Descendants. Sad movie but well done.
~Met up with a friend who's starting a new relationship. I hope I imparted some good wisdom. "Don't change because they want you to. Change because YOU want to. Don't lose yourself. Be true to who you are." I'm hoping I don't lose another male friend due to female jealousy and insecurities but only time will tell.

So you can probably imagine that I haven't gotten as much stitching done on my furlough as I had hoped. And I did not start my Fairy Moon BAP on New Year's Day. I've decided to carry on with my stocking until it is done and I need to start a small project that a fellow stitcher was kind enough to lend me the chart for and can be my "carry around" project since I can't take the stocking with me anywhere. Once I finish the stocking, I'll start Fairy Moon and it will obviously have to be my "at home" project since it's so big!

In the meantime, the stocking seems to stitch up fairly quick and I am about halfway done!

I somehow need to find the time to put away Christmas and drag a tree down three flights of stairs! It's much more fun to put up decorations than take them down!

I noticed that I am about 6 followers away from hitting the 200 mark. I'm planning a little surprise for when I hit 200 followers and to also say goodbye to the Year of the Rabbit. The year wasn't how I had dreamed but it was a good year for me nonetheless and I'm incredibly grateful to put that terrible streak of bad luck behind me. It will be time for the Dragons to have their fun. So if you're not a follower, become one! I'll have a little surprise worked up in the next couple of weeks or so.

Until next time...

The Birthday Getaway...(photos galore)

So a long, long time ago...like April...I knew I had to get out of dodge for my birthday or I would go berserk and depressed to be spending another birthday alone, at home, with my parents who make me get my own cake and my own present and will probably criticize me because I had the nerve to visit them in yoga pants and without makeup. Because, you know...how am I going to meet a man dressed like that(!)...while stuck in the car, driving, between my apartment and their house. No way! Getting out of dodge! I would not be able to deal. It was bad enough that my mom was all hurt that I wasn't spending my birthday with her and kept making snide remarks about how I was going away with a man and why I wasn't bringing this imaginary man by the house to meet her. Seriously, it's amazing I'm as normal as I am being surrounded by that insanity.

So I booked myself a loft cabin in the woods. Me, a city girl, in the woods. I wasn't sure how bright an idea this was but that was the plan. Quiet, seclusion, relaxation...and lots of wine.

The night before I was supposed to leave, I had a headache and was exhausted and didn't have the energy to pack. I decided to check my email one last time before heading to bed. The laptop was driving me nuts...wanting to do updates. So I decided to just let it do its update but it got kind of stuck...so I turned it off even though it said to not turn off the computer during the update. People...do not turn off the computer!! Holy Cow. I ended up being up half the night trying to get my computer to turn back on and each time, I got a "fatal error" message. I was in a panic and emailing(from my phone since the computer was broken) every geeky nerdy friend I knew at 2am hoping they were up playing video games and could talk me through the disaster I created for myself. No luck. I managed to sleep for about three hours before I woke up again. I was a nervous panicky mess mainly because my budget does not allow for another laptop and I would be computerless which is akin to death. In relaying my misery via text to Claire, she told me to bring the laptop to her and her husband would look at it while I was gone. So I packed, dropped off my laptop and began my journey up 101 and 128 before landing in Mendocino 3.5 hours later. The drive up was gorgeous and hassle free. It was 90 degrees in the Valley and I stopped at the orchard and a winery on my way to stock up a little. But let me tell you, once I crossed over onto Highway 1, the weather literally dropped 30 degrees. I traded in one foggy city for one seriously foggy town! I found my rental and it was a gorgeous little space. Here are some photos to get an idea.

The Deck

The View

The View at Night
Interior shot from entryInterior shot from Kitchen
View of Kitchen from Bathroom

The owner is an artist and there were examples of her collage art around. Her work studio was below this loft space and wow...it's a wonderful set up with tons of light. I did a quick trip into town to pick up food supplies and I tucked in for the night and stitched while watching tv.

The big news story in the area was that there was a murderer on the loose who was breaking into rental cabins and homes looking for food and supplies who had a shootout with the Sheriffs and got away. Joy...oh, joy! Here I am alone in the woods with some psycho on the loose with a rifle and I have no cell phone reception. Where is my wine...la la la...let's try not to think about it.

The next day, I headed into town to get coffee, a pastry and do a walk around. I went to my usual go-to stops, visited the farmers market and walked along Main Street. The shopkeepers here are so friendly so each stop was at least 20 minutes because talking about the weather and the impending rain was a must. In one shop, I bought this cute Halloween decoration. I couldn't resist! Look at the fluffy neck muff! Love it!
At another stop, I bought myself a souvenir tee shirt even though I already have a lot of Mendocino shirts.

Oh and here are a couple of photos I took around town.

I walked around until it was time to see if Claire arrived at the rental...and she did. I timed it perfectly. We headed back into town for lunch and more walking around. We gathered more supplies to have a little picnic in the cabin and tucked in for more tv and stitching. Being a mom, this was the longest stretch of stitching she has gotten in in the past two years!

There's a reason for the picnicking too. The area is very lowkey and nice but the dining options are slim. They are either super casual and close very early or high end and too expensive.

On the third day, we headed out winetasting...in the rain. We had a fun time. Heck, who doesn't have a fun time wine tasting at wineries that have no tasting fees?! Bring on the wine! I ended up with 8 bottles of wine. The standouts to me were Toulouse and Breggo. Toulouse is one fantastic and dangerous place. They are still new and do their tastings in the barn because they are still trying to get the winery off the ground and built the tasting room. They have a heavy hand when pouring their tastes and have probably some of the best wine I've tasted. Their Gewurtztraminer and Pinots are excellent and if I could have afforded it, I'd have bought at least one of each Pinot Noir they offer but as it was, I splurged and just bought one. If I win the lottery, I'll buy myself a caseload! Breggo is another place known for their Pinot Noir but I stuck with the whites during the tasting and they were excellent...they really have a skill for pairing interesting notes. We also visited Navarro, Husch, Brutacao and Lazy Ridge.

Lazy Ridge (i think)

Brutacao Vines
Pinot Noir Grapes
Husch Tasting Room - So Cute!
Wine booty

I was pretty toasted after all the wine tasting. We headed back to have an early dinner at a tapas restaurant I was dying to try and when we got there, the restaurant was closed! As in closed because they went out of business and there wasn't even any furniture in the space closed. Wah! After much debate over where we should eat and not really liking any of our options we decided to eat at the bar at the Inn at Little River and we had a nice meal with ollalieberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert. No chocolate cake but it was pretty tasty. After dinner, Claire made her way back home and I relaxed in the loft in a food and wine stupor. Too stuffed to read or even stitch! So I watched tv and relaxed and was happy that they "caught" the murderer so I could sleep in peace and not dream about some psycho breaking in and trying to steal my stitching.

The next day was my long journey back home. Why is it always longer to go home than it is to arrive? I arrived safely and relaxed at home. It was a nice birthday getaway! And you know the best part? When Claire arrived to Mendocino, she brought my fixed laptop with her. Her husband was able to fix it and I was over the moon happy! And she also brought me a bluetooth thingie because I always say I can't talk on the phone in the car because I don't have one (ticketable offense to drive and hold a cell phone at the same time). So happy!

So, birthday weekend was a success! The only bummer was that I did not score chocolate cake! I know what chocolate cake I want. I just need to find the time to go to Mara's for a slice of sinfully rich chocolatey goodness.

I hope you all enjoyed the photos! Time for me to clean for the cleaner. *grumble* How's this place get so cluttered and how come the laundry can't put itself away?! Magic wand, where, oh where are you!?

Until next time...

Vacation - Day Four to the End

The rest of my time on the East Coast was not as great as the first three days. Things kind of went downhill and I kind of wanted to go home early.

Day Four was supposed to be RISD day. We had found online that the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design had a textile and costume collection which included some samplers from the Mary Balch School. I was excited to be going. We got there, paid the $20 admission and walked all over that museum...and you know what? I didn't see such a collection shown anywhere! After asking a handful of employees that didn't know anything about what I was talking about, I was finally told that even though they have the collection, it is not on display. Yea...waste of time and money. I think that if they are going to boast on the website that they have all these fantastic items, they should also state that said items are not on display and that a request for private viewing will need to be made in order to see the collection. So note to anyone looking to see some Mary Balch School Samplers, RISD has them but a request would need to be made weeks in advance to the curator in order to actually see them. I was quite disappointed.

After that, we went back to the house and waited for the mom to get back from work so that we could take a trip to AC Moore. I'd never been to one since there aren't any here and I wanted to check it out. On our way there, we saw a child get hit by a car. It happened so close to us that it could have been our car that hit the child. It was scary...and fast...and kind of set my mood for the rest of the day...and my mood wasn't all that great after RISD. Who lets kids wander around by themselves? Cross a busy street without adult supervision in a not so good area? This child was small...maybe six years old at the most! And he just ran into the street...didn't even look to see if a car was coming. Amazingly, the child was able to get up and limp to the curb while his mother finally came out of their house only to scream at everyone "what happened?!". Perhaps she would have known what had happened if she had been supervising her child! Everyone else but her was trying to make sure that her child was ok. Once we saw that the situation was being handled, we went on our way to AC Moore and dinner at a local spot for clam chowder and clam cakes.

Day Five was Boston. Boston seems to be a city with great architecture and history but between *the boy* getting lost repeatedly despite him saying he knew where he was going and being stuck in a car in a walking town, Boston wasn't that enjoyable. I'd like to go back sans rental car and just walk the city and take public transportation. The drivers and pedestrians in Boston are crazy! The traffic, crazy drivers and pedestrians just walking right out into the street contributed to my blood pressure sky-rocketing and us just leaving out of sheer frustration! Seeing traffic accidents happen in front of me didn't help matters any after the scene the night before. Seriously...not the best impression Boston could have left on me. Plus $9 for 20 minutes of parking is just insane. That was the parking fee in order to park the car near Faneuil Market. Boston definitely is not a good siteseeing place to go to with a guy on crutches! I do have pictures to share for Boston. We took a Duck tour and that is how I saw most of the key sites in Boston and we got photos of a lot of great things. I think I'll show the photos in a separate post.

Day Six was supposed to be South Shore day but after the total bust that the last two days were and it being the Friday of Labor Day weekend and the newscasters telling everyone to go to the beach because the weather was supposed to be fantastic, we decided to stay close to home and kind of hibernate. So I stitched and relaxed and we ran a few errands and had a big family dinner with loads of pasta with clam sauce and literally...like 30 pieces of italian pastry and cake! It was yum! This was our final night on the East Coast!!

Day Seven consisted of packing and getting ready for our flight that evening. We had to head to Boston Logan airport on the early side to allow time to return the rental car, catch the shuttle to the terminal, check in and get through security. We allowed way too much time and had to hang out at the airport for a while! The flight took forever (seemingly) but we got home safe and sound. I know there is plenty of crazy in my neck of the woods...it is SF after all...but this is the crazy I am used to and can handle! I was very happy to get home.

It's now 2.5 weeks later and truth be told, I don't feel like I had a week long vacation! How does that happen. Back to life's daily grinds...work, housesitting, classes, relationship hoopla. Ugh, can't wait til my next vacation!

Vacation - Day Three

So back to vacation stuff...

Day two was lazy and basically consisted of me being in jammies all day, talking to the mom and trying to stay awake. I was really tired. At some point, I pulled out the Snappers and started my reconstruction of the border.

Day Three was fun. We made the drive to Plymouth, MA to see Plymouth Rock and The Mayflower II and stop off at a couple of stitching shops. It was a beautiful day. We started it off eating at Wood's Seafood where I had my first lobster roll ever!
It was yum. Lobster roll, some fish chowder and a diet Coke and I was ready to face the sights!
See! Lobster for $6.99 a pound! You can't find that on the West Coast...


I made the requisite stops at Plymouth Rock which is a lot smaller than most people would think!
As I was walking about and getting my act together, *the boy* would snap a kabillion photos of me. Many have me sticking my tongue out at him because I hate having my picture taken and can act like I'm three once in a while. This photo cracks me up...it's not a good photo but it's me in motion. It's also the only sneak peek of me that I've ever posted on the blog. I like being mysterious and all that jazz!
These swans were hanging out nearby...I think they are swans...
I love seeing these horse-drawn carriages at touristy locations. I had to take a snap!

Then we walked over to the Mayflower II and it was an awesome looking ship.

I walked around and then got all upset that it cost $10 to get on the ship. *The boy* seemed puzzled that I didn't want to do the whole tour but seeing as he was on crutches and I wanted to save as many pennies for stash shopping, I made him stand there and tell me the story of the Mayflower seeing as he's a huge history buff and from the East Coast. So he told me the story and it sufficed and I went souvenir shopping instead. Many may not think so but I have my priorities in check...souvenirs and stash over history tour! LOL On the main street, I found a great candy shop and came out of there with Charms Sweet and Sour lollipops! I love these suckers...I bought them by the fistful as a kid much to the disappointment of my dentist and my dad's wallet! I can't find these suckers anywhere near me though so I was happy to find some as well as some sour powers. I loved that candy shop! I didn't really find any souvenirs though. That's ok. We got into the car and drove the short distance to Sampler Needlework in Old Historic Plymouth.
It was a cute shop tucked away on the second floor of a shared building. There were lots of fantastic samples hung on the walls as well as a nice little framing nook. I peeked over to see what works were being framed and it all looked fantastic. This shop was decently stocked considering it's size. I was trying to be good and was looking for things specific to New England seeing as I can stock myself pretty well otherwise and what struck me the most was a simple needleroll pattern specific to Rhode Island...with apples, violets, roosters and maple leafs...all things supposedly specific to Rhode Island. I've never made a needleroll before so I thought this would be a good practice piece and souvenir all-in-one. Plus, these patterns are done by a designer in Plymouth who hasn't yet started selling them on the web. In fact, I think they were exclusive to Sampler Needlework for now. There was a needleroll pattern for most of the New England states. New Hampshire's appealed to me more but since I was technically visiting Rhode Island, I decided that was the one I should buy.

We left Plymouth to go to Middleboro. There was this cross stitch shop I was interested in checking out. This is an example of how you shouldn't let the guy obtain the details. I had asked *the boy* to call to check on hours and I remember him telling me that the store opened at 11am and I guess I just assumed they closed at 5pm. I got to the shop at 250pm and from what I could tell...it was a fully stocked shop. I was getting excited and looking through the chart bins and kind of making a mental tally of what charts I might pick up when the owner came up to me and told me she had to close the shop and I had to leave. I was rather put off...and she didn't really say it all that nicely. I told her I was sorry...I thought that the shop was open until 5pm but she told me that on Tuesday, they are only open until 3pm. I left without buying a thing and frankly, I probably wouldn't go back despite it looking like a nice shop. I just wish the owner would have told me she was closing in 10 minutes when I came into the shop. It would have saved us both some trouble as I would have just left...I can't look around and shop in only 10 minutes! I called the shop to try and check on their hours...they don't have a website or any hours listed on the web and they now have Fall hours on their phone line which means they are closed on Tuesdays all together. I find this very odd. So I left feeling rather put off and stranded in the middle of *I don't know where the hell I am* because *the boy* went to go gas up the car and let me shop in peace. He quickly turned around to get me and bought me an iced coffee and a donut to sooth my ruffled feathers. So out of the whole trip, the only stash I bought was that Rhode Island needleroll pattern!

That's another thing...there is Dunkin' Donuts everywhere!!! I had a lot of iced coffee (which is nowhere on the level of my beloved Peet's coffee) and donuts (not as good as Rolling Pin). I thought it was funny that the folks there are devout about their Dunkin' Donuts. Their coffee isn't that strong. And considering I need rocketfuel (aka Peet's) to get moving, I was always in this half-sleepy state...well, at least more than usual. I remember that *the boy* made me go in by myself to grab coffee and juice. I like my coffee regular...no fancy milks or foams or syrups...maybe once in a while, but for the most part, I like regular coffee with a little cream and one Splenda. I walked in, tell the girl I'd like a large coffee and she asked me how I would like it made. Errmmm, what? So I had to go into this whole thing about how I just wanted coffee and don't they have the cream and sugar out somewhere? Apparently, coffee culture is very different on the West Coast than on the East Coast! The girl was nice though...she explained that regular coffee at Dunkin' Donuts already included cream and sugar and if I wanted to do it myself, I had to order it black. Errm, ok. Is there even a Starbucks here?! Uh...nope! I didn't see one single Starbucks but there is Dunkin' Donuts on every block! *sigh* I just learned to say light cream and light sugar so my coffee wouldn't become this weak yet sickeningly-sweet mess.

Heading back home from Middleboro, we hit insane traffic...people in MA and RI drive like maniacs! I thought driving habits and traffic was bad here...oh no....MA and RI has NorCal beat!! We made it home in time for dinner...the mom made ham, mashed, rabes and bread and I got to meet the aunt. The aunt was a hoot!

So it was another good day with a couple of glitches.

Vacation - Day One

I arrived into Boston without a glitch and actually managed to sleep through most of my red-eye flight which was great. I had a big day ahead of me. *The boy* was going to pick me up and we were going to head up to Rye Beach and Portsmouth, NH. It was a nice drive and the green-ness of everything was amazing. But then...New England had been experiencing a ton of rain. I was lucky too...everyone, including myself...was all worried about Tropical Storm Danny and it hit the day before I arrived. The weather was overcast and gloomy...my kind of weather! LOL But the weather stuck to 75 - 80 degrees the rest of the week. Perfect!

We took a drive through Rye Beach so that *the boy* could show me where he used to live and I can see the beach on the East Coast. Here's a shot while on the drive.
And the piece de resistance...Portsmouth, NH. Since *the boy* was slightly disabled on the vacation, we didn't really walk around but I wish I had taken the time to visit the shops. Portsmouth has a wonderful downtown area with lots of quirky shops and boutiques. We stopped at a local spot for breakfast called Colby's for a yummy start to the day and then we drove to John Paul Jones' House which is part of the Portsmouth Historical Society.

I learned of the Portsmouth Sampler exhibit from Jacqueline at Needleprint. After asking how far Portsmouth was and finding out it was close, the exhibit became the first concrete plan of the vacation. I came expressly to see the Portsmouth Needlework Samplers and the ones on display were amazing! I will let the pictures do the talking.




My favorite of the whole exhibit...Sarah Emily Currier...Age 11. Age 11 people!! With 22 years on Sarah, I have doubt in my ability that I can produce a sampler as stunning as hers. It was quite humbling to see the beauties that young ladies...basically children, back in the 1800's could produce. The samplers were all beautiful and the lady working at the "House" was very nice, informative and pleasant. If anyone is planning a trip to NH or lives closeby, this exhibit is certainly worth the trip and the $5 price of admission.

The grounds were also pretty to look at...perfectly manicured and green...

Drooping Sunflowers...
And the needlework exhibit wasn't the only items on display...there was a lot of Items on John Paul Jones and others...not being the most historically tuned person...I kind of passed everything else by but this room caught my eye...the linens and dresses were lovely...not to mention the antique furniture. So pretty!While I was ooooing and aaahhhing inside at all the lovelies, *the boy* was outside waiting and taking a million photos of this poor bee pollenating. Here is the little bumblebee in flight!
Then we headed "home" to Providence and we passed all these message board signs on the freeway like the one below that said "Thanks Ted from the People of Massachusetts". I arrived the day after Senator Kennedy's services and funeral. I thought these signs were a lovely sentiment from the people to the Senator...for all the hard work he put in for the state and the country. Day one was a great day but tiring considering a 4 hour nap on the plane and a cross-country flight. I was literally falling asleep on *the boy* by 730pm!

I still have loads more to tell you not to mention the happenings of the past week but will save it for another post(s). For now, I am off to stitch on Red Sampler and get my supplies ready for my sewing class tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a terrific weekend!

Until next time...

Tuesdays Are My Stitchy Night

Just a quick post tonight. I'm tired! It's hard working a full and busy day when you've been a sloth for 10 days. I haven't stitched one bit today. I got home and listened to *the boy* rant about his day and offering advice. He is having a tough time getting one of his former employers to just accept the fact he is eligible for unemployment considering they fired him...because they were running out of money. He's now on his third appeal and has to make an appearance at a hearing tomorrow. A part of me just wants to slam this company because they are bad business people but knowing them, they'd sue me for slander or libel (I always got those confused) so that they could try to earn money to save their business. They have been a subject of constant consternation with us...*the boy*, being the calmer and more rational half, finally had it. We will wait to see if they (bad former employers) will actually make a presence at the hearing tomorrow.

There is a lot of stuff up in the air this week...revolving around *the boy*...seeing as the drama seems to follow him everywhere...EDD hearing, doctor's appointment, lots of trips into the city. I'm just hoping that the drama doesn't prevent my chicken tortilla soup from being made. Girl needs to be fed!

I've also been doing a lot of reading and my Google Reader is now down to 117 posts. Whew!! There is lots of stitchy goodness out there in blogland.

Ok, I'll get to it...my BIG finish. The Snappers are Done! I am relieved. I was seriously close to throwing it out the window at least twice. This is the only project I worked on while on vacation. I was adamant about finishing it and I knew if it went beyond the weekend, it would probably get pushed into a closet and almost forgotten just out of pure frustration and boredom. That border can kill the spirit out of anyone...or at least anyone who was dumb enough to make a mistake in it, not once but twice...like I did. I figure I've stitched the border twice over for all the mistakes I made with it. I don't think I'll be able to stitch anything using GAST Dried Thyme for a while too! lol Here is a craptastic photo of it. It's very hard to photograph considering the length of it.

So I broke it down into quarters to see it a little better. January - March...April - June

July - September

October - December

Bent Creek Snapper Year
32 count Wichelt Country French Cafe Latte
GAST and WDW as charted
Border: GAST Dried Thyme instead of WDW Bark

I plan on framing Snapper Year as I have the perfect spot for it but I'm short framing money. I want to hold off on any big expenses seeing as budgetary talks at work sound scarier and scarier with each passing week. Time to save those pennies...just in case...you know what I mean? So this is going in the closet with ABC Lessons to be framed at a later date.

Well, that's all the energy I have for tonight but I will leave you with this picture. I promise to fill you all in on my east coast experience. The trip started on a high note! Once *the boy* picked me up from the airport, we headed straight to Portsmouth, NH to see the gems on display at this place. This was truly the highlight of my vacation. I can't wait to show you what I saw there!
Now to decide what I will actually start next! :D

Until next time...

Rest and Relaxation

The week before last, Claire and I spent a wonderful four days away in Mendocino. I had never been to Mendocino before and everyone kept telling me that it was very scenic and beautiful but that the drive was awful. I have no idea what they are talking about! Mind you, I was the passenger on the way up and on the way down and we took the less scenic route to get there. The scenic route is Highway 1 which hugs the coastline. The less scenic route is Highway 128 which goes through the woods, along a winery path and then through a forest of redwoods. Who says that's not scenic?! Plus, there were so many wineries that we had to do a few stops for tasting and acquisition. I came away from this trip with 7 bottles of wine and a new favorite for pinot noir. If anyone finds Toulouse Vineyard Pinot Noir...grab it! It's so yummy and what a strange coincidence that it's owned by a retired Fire Captain from the Bay Area. It truly is a small world! It's still a new winery and their tasting room is non-existent but the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable about wine.

Following are some pictures from the trip. I think the picture below was taken at Navarro Vineyards. Sorry...the wine made my brain fuzzy and I can't totally remember! But Navarro did have lovely grounds and if you look closely, you will notice sheep dozing under the grapevines. Baaaa!!!

Anther snap at Navarro. I love how the line of skinny trees looked in the background.

And here is a snap of the grounds at Goldeneye Winery. Good pinot noir but very pricey and out of my budget...that's for sure! But the grounds were lovely. The autumnal colors of the grapevines look terrific against the deep green on all the pines and other trees. This winery serves their tasting out on their deck with little nibbles of crackers, dried cherries, almonds and bits of cheese. Very nice and classy. I would recommend if only to stop and take in the view.

Ocean, waves and rocks

Ahhh, ocean is much calmer near the bluff. Claire and I actually walked and explored all around the bluff. It was nice. She was adventurous and climbed down these sand stairs to the ocean cove below. I was all scared I'd fall and create more havoc to the bum that I bruised falling down stairs a few weeks ago. I may look graceful...nut I'm not really.

Here's is the view of the downtown area of Mendocino from the bluff we explored.Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. I thought it would be huge! It's very tiny and I have no idea who those folks are that are walking in the foreground.

And the most amazing thing from the trip...this was the view from the deck of our hotel room at sunset. Isn't it amazing?! How in the world did I leave and how soon can I get back?!
This photo completely reminds me of a Hawaii photo except instead of palm trees, it's these. I don't even know what kind of trees they are! Mendocino was fabulously relaxing and the people were *so* friendly. It was so completely different from the hustle and bustle of the city and I relished every moment. I think this will easily be my *go to* destination for a relaxing getaway that is still kind of local and won't bust the bank account...and I must return sooner rather than later.