Fun Week!

This was a good week.  It was full of CM meetings, birthdays. lunch out and Relief Society stuff.

Three sweet friends celebrated birthdays this week - Emily, Sherra and Meg.  Birthday celebrations included phone calls, gifts in the mail and a birthday cake baked.  Only Meg leaves near me so she is the only one that got a cake but Emily and Sherra would have gotten one if they lived closer!!

I had two CM meetings - Monday and Tuesday night.

My friend Jane treated me to a pedicure and lunch out as a thank you for helping with her son's wedding.  It was fun to spend some time with her and get caught up on life.

Wednesday I met mom, dad and Aunt Dottie for lunch down in the Pearl District.  It is always a joy to spend time with Aunt Dottie who lives in California.  She is the only extended family we have on my mom's side so anytime we get to see her or spend time with her is cherished.

The cute cousins:

 Friday night Jim and I met our friends Shauna and Merrill on their side of town (Eastside) for some good Mexican food.  The restaurant is rated as one of the top Mexican restaurants in Portland - it is "real" Mexican food, not the Americanized version.  So good and it was fun to spend the evening with Shauna and Merrill.

Saturday morning Jim and I made salsa using Emily's yummy recipe.  Our tomato crop was so poor this year I ended up having to go to the store to buy some tomatoes so we would have enough for a batch.   Yum!

 Saturday night was our RS Broadcast at the Stake Center.  As usual I was in charge of food.  I picked out all the recipes and then assigned each ward one recipe.  They made all the food and brought it so my job was pretty easy.  I did the table set up and decor which just involved taking some of my Fall decor and using it on the table since we didn't have a budget for anything much.  I also went over to the CSA farm some of our friends at church run and cut some sunflowers (I did get permission) .  Our Stake owns some pretty gold tablecloths so I just added some flowers and pumpkins!

Everything turned out great and all the food showed up!

Tessa had a busy weekend. A birthday party Friday night and Saturday their school hosted an Improv Festival so since she is on the Thespian Board she had to be there all day.  She did run over to the Broadcast near the end so she could be there for the senior recognition where they welcome them to RS and they gave them these really fun necklaces - a burnished metal dish that had T2TF engraved in it - True to the Faith.  They are really cute.

The Beach Babes California Adventure - Day Three

Sunday morning it was time to head south back to Oakland to the airport.

We decided to have brunch in another small town that was on the way back to the freeway.  Fortunately for us we had discovered a much shorter and much less winding route back to the freeway!!!

We stopped in the town of Upper Lake at the Blue Wing.  What a treasure we found.  The atmosphere was wonderful and the food delicious and the best part was we found it in the middle of this no where town.  The last place I would expect to find a restaurant like this.  So fun!!

 

Brunch was delicious - I went for the fish tacos.  So good. 

 

Brunch came with mimosa's - we got ours virgin of course!

It was a perfect morning.  Wonderful atmosphere and scenery, delicious food, good conversation and beautiful friends!  The only bad part was we had to leave and head home!

We even had our own paparazzi!!

We decided to make at stop at Muir Woods on our way back to the airport. It was a busy place that day but after trying to find a parking spot for ten minutes or so we finally did.  We enjoyed a peaceful and beautiful walk through the woods.

The redwoods are BIG and BEAUTIFUL!

Finally, thanks to GPS we found an In n Out on the way to the airport and enjoyed dinner before boarding the plane home.

How grateful I am for these amazing women in my life.  The first Beach Babe outing occurred in March of 1994 - so the Beach Babes are celebrating 16 years of togetherness!!  Lots of life has happened in those 16 years - lots of unexpected twists and turns for all of us.  But through it all the bonds we share and the life and moments we have shared make us each stronger and better women. 

They are all incredibly strong women in different ways and the strength and fortitude they show through life's joys and sorrows is amazing!  I am better just for knowing them and being in their presence!

"Gentle ladies, you will remember till old age what we did together in our brilliant youth"

The Beach Babes California Adventure - Day Two

Saturday we woke to another beautiful California day.  The weather is ALWAYS good when the Beach Babes are together!

 OK - so I might look a little silly but the scarf helped save the hair!!

We headed north in our convertibles, with the tops down of course, to the quaint town of Healdsburg.  We had fun window shopping and browsing through the many art galleries and shops.  The whole downtown area is built around a town square with gazebo in the middle - it reminded me of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls!

There was lots of pretty to be found.

 They even had a fan museum in town!

From there we continued north and had lunch at Francis Ford Coppola's new winery. Some days he even shows up and cook sin the kitchen. It was fun looking at all the old movie memorabilia.  We enjoyed some delicious food and celebrated and toasted to Shauna's 50th birthday!

We then hit the road once again and wove our wave through a VERY windy mountain road to get to Nice, California, our next destination.  I was very glad I was driving so I didn't get car sick (sorry Patrice!)


Nice is a very small town, in the middle of no where!  As we entered town I saw a sign for Foster's Freeze which I remember from my early California days.  I was so excited.  The Beach Babes indulged me and I enjoyed a root beer freeze - yum!!!

We hit town in time to enjoy an amazing sunset over Clear Lake (the reason you go to Nice)

The end to another fun Beach Babe California Adventure!