Monday, April 30, 2012

Man! She 'beat' me to it!

(Pun not intended)

My brother got an awesome award last week.  My sister beat me to blogging about it.  So I'm going to take the easy road (plus it will get exposure for her blog--that's the main reason.  Yeah.  That's the main reason.  Exposure for her blog) and let you click on this to get to her blog for the post.

Congratulations Eric!  We are very proud of you!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

San Diego Part 6

This post will be all about food!  Now that's an awesome post!

We ate a good number of our meals at the restaurant in the hotel.  But it's not just any old restaurant.  It's more of an upscale restaurant. We actually had vouchers for most of our breakfasts.  (thanks to our awesome travel agent!)  You could order a full breakfast but our vouchers only covered their "continental breakfast."  When I think of continental breakfast, I think buffet style-make your own waffles-stale bagels-Days Inn-type food.  Not this place.  It was still a "sit down and you'll be served" type of meal.  They bring you food (you don't really order) but it's plenty and good.  Yogurt, assorted pastries (yum!), assorted fruit, bread/toast if you wanted it, and assorted muffins.  My kind of breakfast.  The day we got there was Christmas Day, so not many other restaurants were open.  We ate dinner there that night (late for us; the second it opened at 5pm). They actually had a Christmas special that was really good.  I think it was some kind of a roast with the yummiest mashed potatoes and broccolini.  Another night we at in the bar area and had Kobe beef burgers.  If you ever order Kobe beef burger, do NOT ask for it well done.  There is so little fat in Kobe beef that it dries out really fast.  But it was the special that night:  I think $6 for a burger and fries.

One night we had reservations at a really really really nice and really really really expensive seafood restaurant. The restaurant was actually right on the water, literally part of the restaurant was out over the water.  It was dark and you could see the lights of the city reflecting on the water.  It was beautiful.   When we got the bill, C wanted to see it.  Before I showed him, I told him to keep his words and emotions quiet.   By the time we were done, it was well over $150 for the 3 of us.  I had 3 risotto cakes each topped with a scallop then a piece of prosciutto and then something else.  C had steak and french fries.  Daddy had surf and turf: a lobster tail and a steak.  It was all very yummy.  After we were done, Daddy took some amazing pictures down by the water.



We also ate at a California Pizza Kitchen.  They have them other places besides California but we've never been to one.  Pretty good pizza.  And we ate at a burger place called In & Out.  Everyone that we talked to that had ever been to California said we needed to eat at one.  Good burgers and fries.  Awesome shakes!

One of the things I wanted to make sure of:  I did not want to eat at any kind of a "chain" restaurant that we could easily get back home.  So I looked on line and asked for suggestions.  One of the places I found on line had actually been on Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible with Robert Irvine. I remembered watching the episode.  So I had Daddy watch the re-run with me.  The restaurant was on this show, not because the food was awful.  Actually, on the show Roberts comments "the food here is actually pretty good."  It was on the show because the owner had gotten herself into huge debt and couldn't figure out how to get out.  She was charging pretty much "at cost" for her food and had borrowed a lot of money to buy an expansion of the store front.  So we decided to try it.  Oh.  My.  Word!  It was the best place we ate THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE IN SAN DIEGO!  We went for breakfast 2 days in a row.  It was called The Trails Neighborhood Eatery.    The first day we went Daddy got their cinnamon roll pancakes.  C and I lusted after them.  The next day we all ordered them.  We actually got to talk to the owner.  We told her we were there because we saw the show.  We have since tried to make them at home.  Nothing compares.  They were awesome.  (Disclaimer:  I actually tried the Elvis Presley pancakes on the first day.  They had chocolate chips, bananas, and peanut butter.   They were really good too)  If you are ever in San Diego, it's a must try!  (PS:  I have a picture of those pancakes somewhere, but can't find it. My pictures are not the most organized thing in the world)

Saturday, April 7, 2012

It's an eagle!

Wednesday I hosted a Dei Gratia leaders meeting at my house (hosted prolly wouldn't be the best word cuz someone else brought lunch; we just had it at my house)

We had finished eating and were discussing upcoming plans.  When all of a sudden, someone said "that's an eagle."  We all jumped up to look.  Sure enough there was a bald eagle circling around the pound behind our house.  By the time I was able to get the nice camera, he had stopped flying around and was sitting in a tree across the pond (or as I texted Daddy "pound")    He sat there for some time, then circled again, and flew away.  How amazing!  I hope he comes back to visit again.


Wednesday, April 4, 2012

San Diego Part 5


Part 5
Thursday

Thursday we went to Old Towne and the USS Midway













It's kinda far away, but it's a statue of that famous picture of the returning sailor kissing a nurse.
 I also bought a pair of salt and pepper shakers that are the same thing.
























This is for my friend who had to match 77 pairs of socks the other day.  

I'm thankful I don't have to do this much laundry.


This cracked me up!

I could so fit all my stuff into that little thing.  That's one thing my dad taught me well:  how to pack.
 I love to pack.  And I'm pretty good at it.


This was the POW/MIA table.  Each item represented something.  Sobering.

.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Happy Anniversary!



Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!  I'm so glad God gave me you.  I wouldn't want to go through life (and all that we have gone through) with anyone else.  You're awesome!

I love you!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

San Diego Part 4


Part 4
Wednesday Part 2 (continuing the confusion)

Wednesday we also went to see the Pacific Ocean.  We couldn't be in California without seeing it.  Trying to find parking was horrible.  I will say it was so cold out there; much more than I anticipated.  But it was amazing to see.  Having grown up in Pensacola, I am used to the beautiful white beaches of the Gulf Coast.  The Pacific is so different.  There were huge piles of sea weed all over the place.  Huge piles.




I'm guessing this is some kind of sea weed?  Interesting looking , whatever it is.


C wrote this in the sand.
I love K.


See? Huge piles.




Wouldn't it be fun to rent one of those?




C tried to do a Michael Jordan move.  I'm not sure he accomplished it.