Time zooms on - my baby is 41🎂

My younger son turned 41 yesterday and while it is not as shocking to me as having a 53 year old older son it still feels like time has speeded up!

The birthday boy wanted a low key family only taco party and did much of the cooking himself. He loves to cook as does his wife and we are the lucky recipients of some of the results. A gorgeous warm and sunny day. When we arrived both granddaughters were swinging and laughing - so lovely.

Th unexpected part of the day was Hubby running into our DIL and granddaughters early in the morning when he went to get a dozen bagels as part of our gift. They were very surprised and exclaiming “Papa” happily according to him. He came home with a big smile.

Why bagels? Our son has been raving about this new bagel place that opened in Berkeley and also didn’t get to letting us know what he might like as a gift so it was going to be just cash. We tucked the cash into the bagel bag and I think he was most delight by the bagels!🌮🎂🎁🎉❤️

Well hello there 2024! I hope you will bring us many more good days

The new year started off quite happily for us as we spent the day with our son, DIL and 2 grandgirls. A belated Christmas gift exchange, delicious lunch and watching the Rose Bowl - Go Blue! The pup got to go too and be part of the pack to his delight.

A fun day

Hubby and I met in graduate school about 43 or 44 years ago. I liked his twinkly eyes and grin. So one day after I had made blueberry muffins I brought some to give to him. He told that story to our son, DIL and granddaughter yesterday when they called to wish him happy 69th birthday. That story came out because I made him blueberry muffins yesterday morning before he woke up. He added in “I think she liked me” - cute.

We took the whole day off which was lovely. The highlight was going to Ventura and having lunch at the restaurant on the pier. We both got the salmon platter and a beer and watched the sail boarders zooming by. With windows on 3 sides of the restaurant it was as usual a lovely view.

There were high winds blowing out to sea so the water was more like a lake and it was low tide. Loads of shore birds from large to tiny hunting for food and resting on the ocean quite far out as no waves. 

After lunch we walked the pier and walking back was quite interesting with the wind gusts but also exhilarating. We were glad though that we had parked close as the sand was blowing into our shoes once we were on the boardwalk. I woke this morning to no wind so we made it through without any wildfires. A great 24 hours.

Happy 2nd Birthday

It was way fun to spend time with an almost 2 year old granddaughter for 3 days. She is strong, smart, creative, focused and knows what she wants. The 2 year old drama is there too of course.

We had extra time with her because her daycare was closed Friday because of the fires. We spent the time singing silly songs, marching around and much more. All the time we were there was spent indoors because the wildfires in N Cal made the air quality awful.

The birthday party was a success although she was mostly focused on playing as usual and not that interested in the decorations LOL. Many more paper airplanes were made than were hung although Hubby and Auntie made mobiles of them to hang outside too in place of balloons. It was really cute! There was even a toy plane cake topper.

Our drive home included lots of discussion about if we will move again to be close to her now that my FIL has died and, if so, how we will make a decision about location and timing. We are still tired from the last move but will probably eventually make this one. Lots to consider.

Oops, it's time to think about the big holidays already!

Last weekend we had lunch with our son and DIL who innocently asked, "What are thinking about for Thanksgiving this year? We are happy to have Christmas at our house."

A bit speechless my first thought was - wait, it is that time again already? You see for about 15 years of the 20 we lived in Atlanta we spent those holidays alone unless we or our family traveled across the country. We developed very low key responses to them. A slightly nicer than normal dinner cooked at home for Thanksgiving. Christmas was dinner out on Christmas Eve followed by a drive around to enjoy the lights. A few decorations on the mantle - maybe. We sent gifts of course but mostly just went on with daily life.

Last year was our first back in the neighborhood of lots of family. A long weekend in Berkeley for the granddaughter's birthday party, back home to pick up the pre-cooked turkey, etc. from Whole Foods and cook the side dishes for a nice dozen or so family members for Thanksgiving. Christmas Eve and Day at our son and DIL's. Then I completely forgot about all of it LOL.

So here is the plan this year. Halloween is just a card to our granddaughter as we live in a 55+ community so no trick-or-treating. A long weekend in Berkeley for her 2nd birthday party and then hurry home for Thanksgiving prep. I'm sure it will be lovely!

The search is over - for the Mother of the Groom dress that is

So when your 47 year old son is marrying his sweetie of 20 years by throwing a big outdoor party (an "I Do BBQ") in hot weather what do you wear? I have been on the hunt and finally found this at Macy's 4th of July sale and I'm done! Well except for shoes and a tiny bag lol.

I think I could even toddler granddaughter wrangle in this if they bring her and certainly wear it on other occasions.

Edited to add that then I found the perfect pashmina at the local consignment store!

Entering the holiday and birthday season

I am actually looking forward to the upcoming holidays and all the birthdays we will celebrate as we go through the season.

We will kick it all off with birthday parties the weekend before Thanksgiving for our soon to be 1 year old granddaughter and soon to be 65 Hubby. Heading north to also help celebrate will be our older son and DIL. We will take our dogs too and are all 4 staying in an Air B&B together as we are too many for the younger family's house.

Then home to a small family Thanksgiving at our house - currently the count is 7 for dinner.

Onward to our younger DIL's early December birthday which will be celebrated long distance.

Then Christmas at the local son's home, a potential visit after Christmas by the Berkeley son and family and then all attending the Rose Bowl Parade down the street from the local son's house followed by the his birthday.

Sounds doable and good to me!

Do you have plans yet?

Empty nest holiday traditions

As a mixed religious heritage couple, when our children were young we celebrated everything - Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Easter, Passover and birthdays with lots of family, food and activities. Then we moved far away from family with just one teen who is long grown up and flown from the nest. So we have adapted our celebrations to make us happy and not feel sad that we are going through the motions of celebrations past without the joy of extended family. By the way it is a choice not to travel across country for Thanksgiving and Christmas as we certainly could spend it with family.

That being said, here's our scaled down, perfect for us now holiday season. We go to any holiday parties that are available, send a few cards, drive around to see the outdoor holiday decorations and go out to dinner on Christmas eve.  We are thinking that we will go to a movie on Christmas Day. Some years we go to a Christmas concert before the day. No decorations, exchange gifts with our kids and my FIL but not each other, and that is it.

It is perfect for us right now. Last night we did our "Let's go see the lights" drive as the weather was great. We oohed and ahed, made up award categories (More is more, best light show, best minimal decorations, best effort, highest in the trees, etc.) and had a good laugh over that while enjoying the beauty of lights in the dark.

I'm sure when we move back close to family our traditions will all change again and that will be great too.

Hope you are enjoying your holidays in a way that is perfect for you in your life right now!

Reverse Advent Days 1-6

It is a very good time of year to give things away and I am doing Reverse Advent as suggested by The Frugal Queen and giving away one item each day of advent.

So far:

December 1st: book donated to Friends of the Library
December 2nd - 5th: women's knit top, cookbook, apron, and fabric remnants to pet rescue thrift store
December 6th: cash donation to community food bank

How are you celebrating Advent?

Countdown to 65

I'll be 65 on September 1st - Labor day, how appropriate - and I'll be celebrating with loved ones in sunny Pasadena, CA at a birthday BBQ hosted by the younger generation for us and our CA cousins. We leave on Friday morning and have rented a house for us and one son & DIL who don't live there. I'm excited and happy that I decided on this plan instead of booking travel by ourselves to some other part of the world. Since my Mom died I have really wanted to spend time with the family that we have now and this will be a good dose.

In the meantime, I got this in the mail.

It's official. Just Part A since I am still covered under Hubby's insurance from work. A new season of life.

Help me plan my 65th birthday celebration

Just a little less than 3 months until I turn 65 on Labor Day (how appropriate, but some years it happens LOL) so it is time to do two things - sign up for Medicare and plan a trip to celebrate this milestone while visiting family since that is my favorite thing.

We have family in both ends of California so we will be most like heading there as we haven't been since the beginning of the year. The conundrum is that they are at both ends and our kids both have recently started new jobs so time off is probably not an option for them. That means seeing them on weekends and older relatives during the week. We have thought of 4 scenarios to handle this so far.

1. Ask the family in N CA to come to S CA for the weekend and all celebrate together followed or preceded by a side trip somewhere.

2. Go to visit one part of the family then and the other in about 6 weeks later.

3. Plan a long trip that includes two weekends and go somewhere else in the middle.

4. Go somewhere else in the country entirely - Santa Fe or New York City are thoughts.

We are stymied a bit as to where to go for our side trip if we go to CA as we have been many places in CA on vacation while living there for decades. We thought of Monterey as an option as it would be cooler. Palm Springs is an option if we go twice.

Ideas? How would you coordinate a trip like this? Where would you suggest going? I want it to be fun and not outrageously expensive.

When I'm 64

Yesterday I celebrated my 64th birthday. We had fun with it being my 64th birthday - singing "Will you still need me when I'm 64" and asking "The $64,000 question is?". I asked for my birthday dinner a day early as I knew I would be exhausted from the book sale in 90 degree heat. Hubby is a great cook and came up with a spicy shrimp and peppers with pasta dish along with garlic bread and wine. He brought out a chocolate mousse cake and fruit tart (small versions from our favorite bakery) for dessert and split them so we each had half of both. Yum! I am so glad that I asked him to plan and make me a special dinner for my gift instead of going out.

This blog turned 2 yesterday also. I'm hoping that is in dog years as I don't want it acting like a human 2 year old with tantrums and such LOL.

Seriously, I took a look at what the all time favorite blog posts were and I'm struggling to see a theme:

The joy of friendship Dec 22, 2011, 2 comments	3628
Choosing optimism Dec 12, 2011, 1 comment	2672
Project 333 - Fall Wardrobe Nov 9, 2012, 6 comments	2292
Our Christmas is simple - but not nearly as much f... Nov 29, 2012, 2 comments	1120
What to do? - A whole day with no scheduled plans Feb 7, 2012, 4 comments	857
Project 333 - Spring wardrobe Mar 25, 2013	756
No complaining - why is that so hard? Jan 31, 2012, 4 comments	563
Why I'm not collecting Social Security benefits - ... Sep 12, 2011, 2 comments	546
Gloomy weather - gloomy spirit or the unhappiness ... Oct 9, 2012, 4 comments	452
Finding volunteer opportunities that fit you Jan 20, 2012, 10 comments	336

A couple of pages got a lot of visits too:

2013 - Goals and Resolutions Aug 20, 2013, 1 comment	584
Helpful Reading Jun 4, 2013	569

So if there is something you'd like me to blog about more this coming year, let me know!