22 January 2014

Long Weekends Mean Fun

I don't know how it's already Wednesday. I meant to have this post up in the beginning of the week, but that four day weekend has me all sorts of confused and backward. So here's my midweek post reviewing a great weekend full of everything we needed.

If you follow me on Twitter you probably sensed I was having a tough time towards the end of last week. I don't know why but I was just in a rut and honestly couldn't shake it for anything. I tried baking, but just got upset. I mean, how does that happen?! To combat my less than pleasant mood Nic took the dogs and I for a beach walk. We're only a five minute drive from the beach yet we haven't been using it as much as we should. I love the beach. Few things make me feel more at peace than putting my toes in the sand and just sitting soaking in the rays. But being in SoCal the weather's kind of awkward and as much as I want to be in a bathing suit, my Floridian blood can't handle it yet.

So we took the dogs down to the beach and walked toward the border. He ran with Stella for a while and naturally Eevah needed to see where they went so we started to jog a bit, and it was perfect.


Saturday we went to a book store where I remembered just how expensive books are. I bought and have already read Calling Me Home and cannot recommend it enough. I cried heart wrenching ugly tears and I'm still feeling for the characters. A post about my book-olution and possibly a book exchange are coming up this week. After seeing how expensive books are, and not enjoying kindle's and nook's unless I'm traveling, the idea of a book share between bloggers and friends crossed my mind. If you'd be interested let me know so I can gauge if it'd be worth trying to do!

Anyways, we finally found journals (we're trying to document this year in journal form and couldn't find good journals). And then walked on the beach again. Which was perfect.

A stop at Buffalo Wild Wings and a failed attempt at having a bonfire on the beach marked our Sunday and we celebrated Martin Luther King Day with our bonfire Monday. If you've never had a bonfire on the beach, you need to add it to your bucket list. It was just so peaceful and fun to be able to have my toes in the sand while roasting marshmallows. And the big swell was starting to roll in so the waves were breaking loudly.


And these are the reactions when a friend throws lighter fluid on the fire while you're trying to get a picture. sigh. Boys and their obsession with lighter fluid.

I've been in a bit of a mood lately, but sometimes all you truly need is a good weekend with your husband. Add the dogs and some good friends in and I'm a happy camper again.

13 January 2014

Whale Watching

I've always wanted to go whale watching. I love the ocean and the many creatures that inhabit it. I think whales are so amazing. The thought of them just gliding through the water so effortlessly is beautiful.

One of the many things I've waned to do upon moving here was go whale watching. The grey whales migrate from the colder waters of Alaska down to the warmer waters in Baja, California (Mexico) every year to have their young. My dad was equally anxious to try and see them. I was kind of nervous to go out of the boat. Last time I was on a "bigger" boat I felt terribly seasick, the plus the nausea I've been feeling lately meant I was convinced I was going to be green faced off the side.  But half a dramamine and a rum and pineapple later and I was happy as could be.

We embarked on one of the Hornblower cruises and ended up having a great time. The ship was big and there were enough levels that we didn't feel like sardines. In typical San Diego fashion is got chilly and a fog rolled in as soon as we got out into the water.  Our parents hadn't seen the fogs that we get yet and my dad and I both kept joking that we expected the Black Pearl to appear.

The whales were amazing and beautiful. We saw the first one in the fog which just made the whole experience a little eery. Over the next 3.5 hours we saw a bunch of whales, dolphins and even sea lions!  For all of my military friends, get your tickets at the MWR -- prices are really fantastic! And for everyone who can't get discounted tickets, it was definitely still worth the full price.

I'm so happy we were able to see such magical creatures. It was a perfect afternoon adventure that I don't think any of us are going to forget.
















07 January 2014

San Diego Zoo

We finally made it to the zoo!! We've been trying to go at least three times since we've been here but every time we planned a trip something happened with Nic's work. But today nothing happened and we were finally able to experience the magic that is the San Diego Zoo.

I was able to try out the amazing new camera my perfect husband surprised me with and had a blast. I always think I love the Zoo until I get there and get so sad looking at the small enclosures the poor animals are stuck in. Nevertheless it was a great day.  I made the mistake of dressing for the afternoon even though we were going to be out after dark and was freezing by the time we left. I totally recommend dressing accordingly if you're planning on making a trip out there and plan quite a few hours. San Diego gets chilly once the sun sets and the Zoo is huge. We were there for five hours and still didn't see everything. They do have buses that you can jump on that will drive you around the Zoo but I hated them, I honestly wonder how many people get "lightly" touched by those buses.














06 January 2014

2014 Directive: January

I've created quite a few New Years Resolutions each year but I usually lose them halfway through the year if not earlier. Lifestyle changes are great, but for me it's really hard to keep things going for 12 months unless I absolutely need to (for example, eat gluten free. If this was by choice I wouldn't have lasted a week nonetheless over 2 years, but it's not, so I have to). Anyways, I was perusing some of my favorite blogs and came upon the 2014 Directive and I loved it! It breaks your resolutions down by months, so you can still accomplish those big things but also set smaller goals that span each month.

Each goal is broken down to fit into a SMART standpoint. They have to be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

I told Nic about it and he thought it was a great idea so here we are, trying to come up with our directive for this month. I want to say not spend money, but I also really really really want to try to go to Yosemite to snow shoe this month or the next, so that's not realistic.

Instead I want us to set a budget. We've been planning on sitting down and creating once since we've moved but holidays, Nic's job, and other things have kept pushing it back. So now we're setting this as our directive. We want to set a budget that can accommodate our lives both now and in the future. As well as have money budgeted in for fun things and for saving for "bigger" items that we've been lusting after.  I can't lie, I sometimes stress when I look at our bank account and actually having a budget would be nice and help alleviate that stress a bit.

I want to create a binder with sections for bills and documents for each month as well as a print out of our budgets and spending patterns. Friends recommended Mint so I think we're also going to give that a try. There's also a snazzy print out to keep the directives for the year in one area so I'm going to make a section for that.

So here's to getting organized and setting a budget this month.

Kate & Trudy The 2014 Directive