Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Out and About


My very favorite place to eat is at my girlfriend's house and I'm not sure how many times I can say the same thing, but here it is:

If you don't have a Turkish neighbor....get one.  Quickly.

Lucky, lucky me.  The food is always incredible and I even eat yogurt while I'm there and let me tell you, I am a believer that yogurt should be banned from the planet because I just. don't like. it. at all.  But she puts stuff in it....stuff like cucumbers and green things and love and stirs it all up and calls it by a fancy Turkish name which makes me believe that I'm not really eating yogurt...until I go to throw the trash away and see the empty container in the bin.

But that's ok.  I forgive her.

=0)

I've been blessed in the girlfriend department and especially the last few weeks where I've managed to spend time with so many different circles of friends.  I've needed that lately because it just feels like life has been full speed ahead...so garden time, both in mine and in theirs,  has been like therapy.

That guy that I like so much was away for the weekend and for the first time in 26 years, I spent a night alone on my own house.  Yes, he's travelled lots but there has always been a boy or two or three here at all times...but for the first time ever I found myself at home on Saturday night.

Alone.  All night long.  Since Matthew was born.  Isn't that crazy?

Dinner involved my favorite seasonal beer, a few handfuls of tortilla chips, a long hot bath and a really great book and a few hallmark movies and I'd like to say that I was lonely, but it was a really, really nice, much needed, super quiet night.  

I love quiet when followed by chaos and chaos when followed by quiet...and Saturday night was quiet.  Much needed quiet.

Oh...and the house was SO clean!

Brian had his roomies here for his birthday dinner...I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that Brian is 18.  And in college.  In a dorm.

Strange.

This houseful of boys is no longer a houseful of boys.

Super strange.

While that guy that I like so much was on retreat with his choir, I unloaded our shed, sorted through everything and threw half of it away.  I've been purging all summer and this was yet another space on the list.  It feels so good to get rid of stuff...once the weather cools, my hope is to conquer the attic.  Maybe.

Don't worry...the beer made it into the 'keep' pile.

=0)

Sunday morning I drove towards the mountains and picked up Matthew.  I love the town of Redlands where he lives...it just seems to fit my mountain-loving boy.  It's a big city but feels small and has such great history and architecture and fun places to eat.

Plus, I like that he's closer to home even though the drive isn't an easy one.

We went to church together and heard the Concordia choir sing in their first service of the year, which is always special to me.  We had lunch with Matteo after at a super cute spot before heading back to the OC...just in time for Sunday football and a nap.

=0)

Monday was a baking day and the house smelled SO GOOD...like cinnamon and spice and everything nice.  

Not pictured...flour EVERYWHERE and a sink (and counters) full of dirty dishes.  But I heard everything tasted ok so it was all worth it.

Last week we were gifted last minute tickets to the Hollywood Bowl...the kind of groovy tickets that included the fancy parking and the even fancier box seats.  I grumbled...and maybe even shed a rather fake tear because I was tired and didn't want to drive to Los Angeles during rush hour, but then I remembered how hard that guy that I like so much works and how this is so much his thing and they were really great tickets and so I threw a whole bunch of food in a bag (and a great bottle of wine) and off we went.

And once again, God spoke.  

The drive there was easy and so was the parking.  The seats...well, we had our own little four person box for just the two of us and they were front and center, exactly where a conductor likes to sit so he can watch the conductor.  I'd somehow thrown together a super awesome dinner out of what was in the fridge and as the sun started to set, we both just did that whole deep breath thing...that kind of deep breath where you exhale and all the stress of real life comes out and you feel like you want to stay in that peaceful bubble forever.

The music was beautiful and I'm so glad we made the trek there.  It just felt like we had a whole weekend away and it was just a few hours.  We needed that.

=0)

The next morning came early but that was ok...most mornings do.  Coffee helps.

=0)








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