Sunday, August 15, 2010

A funny thing happened while I was on vacation.

I bought a house! It's true.  I had been thinking that buying a house while prices are low and so are interest rates since June.  During my daily walks I noticed the flyers on houses for sale in my neighborhood had dropped significantly.  I started a little search with my price range and a few nearby zipcodes.  One house jumped out at me right away.  I contacted a realtor because I wanted to look at it to see if the pictures did it justice.  So two days before I left for San Diego I went to look at it.  It was even better than the pictures.  Just the right size, a ranch, a fenced backyard for the pups and less than a mile from my office.  I had planned on looking at it again after I returned home.  In the meantime the realtor sent me some comparable listings, but they all needed some significant improvement or other.  Then she sent me an email that the house had come down in price.  I looked at it again the day after I got back and made an offer.  Bingo! 

I never really planned on being a homeowner again.  I like renting very much but my current residence is more suitable for a 2 income family with kids.  I rumble around in my duplex, using only a third of the rooms.  Time to downsize. 

I will move in September but here are a few pictures with the current owners furniture.  I hope you like it. 
It's three bedrooms and 2 baths.  The living space has an open floor plan in an L-shape.  No stairs and no carpet, hurray.  It was remodeled about 8 years ago and it's in great shape. I will use one of the bedrooms for my crafts and keep one for a guest room.  It has  plenty of windows that let in lots of natural light. 

For not really expecting to find a house so soon, I am really quite excited.  It will be fun to decorate and with Chris taking quite a bit of my old furniture, I will be able to get some new more appropriate things. Most of my furniture is  still the durable boy-friendly kind.  Durable but without taste.  This time I will be able to make it a bit more feminine and put my stamp on it.


San Diego Dining

Dining in San Diego was especially fun.  Not only the meals but the wonderful treats were available within walking distance. 
Here are a few of the places where I dined.
Mimmo's is in Little Italy.  It wasn't my favorite.  I ate at two other Italian restaurants that were better.  But I picked this one at random and it was OK.

This one was my favorite Italian, Bella Luna.  I had a luscious salad with mangoes and a tangy vinaigrette, mushroom risotto and a fabulous house made lemon sorbet. 

Candelas was fantastic. The sign on the door said " New Mexican Food".  I believe it meant a new style of  Mexican food, not food from New Mexico.  At any rate, the inside is charming, the wait staff were very kind and attentive.  I had a salad of watermelon and cantaloupe with a cumin laced vinagrette and an entree of sauteed baby vegetables.  It was so delicious. 

The best restaurant by far was Cafe Chloe where I dined on my final evening.  It is a teensy tiny little French restaurant with about 12 tables and very friendly waiters.  I had frog legs to start, then steak and frites with a caramelized onion blue cheese relish.  For desert I had pistachio bread pudding with espresso sauce.  The owner, who had been working mostly behind the bar, came over and gave me a tasting of a sherry that he said would go with the bread pudding.  It was really delicious with it, kind of sweet and warm.  I thought that was a really sweet thing to do. 

My other favorite place was Heavenly Cupcakes, located a dangerous 2 blocks from my hotel. 
I went their TWICE and only wished I had found it earlier in the week.  I had the Lemon Raspberry and Coconut Lemon.  It inspired me to see if there were any cupcake shops in Denver and that's when I found
Gigi's Cupcakes.  Denverites, you must go there. (More on this later.)

A word to those who worry about dining alone.  It is a marvelous experience.  First, because since you are not deep in conversation you can really spend time savoring the food.  I always take something to read along so the wait staff gets the message that I am not looking for conversation and that I am not in a hurry. I had three courses for supper each evening, and the staff seemed to enjoy the fact that I was not calorie conscious and picky.  I lingered over my meal, people watched and left a generous tip.  I tend to eat so quickly at home a bad habit left over from residence, made worse when  the boys were small.  I am trying to correct that and my vacation helped me along.  I am trying to eat more slowly now that I am at home.  To further my cause I have decided to eat out alone at a nice restaurant once a month.  Also, my friend Barry and I eat out monthly too.  We both like good food and trying new things.

It sounds like I ate my way through San Diego, and in fact I probably did.  I haven't even mentioned the self serve ice cream at Yoga Tango, the fabulous gelato and divine chocolate caramel mocha I had at the Coronado Hotel.  My daily walks and only eating till I was full helped me not gain any weight. Since I slept in most days, I usually only had two meals a day, a schedule I would keep if I didn't work, but do employ on weekends and my day off. 

Bon Appetite! as Julia Childs would say.


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Vacation pictures

Well it's been a few weeks but I finally have a chance to show you some of my pictures from my San Diego vacation.  By the way, the calmness and spirit of that vacation has stayed with me.  I am trying remember the relaxed feelings I had during the week and how I achieved it.  And I am enjoying my days off more.  I try to mimic the style of the days I had in S.D.  I normally would use the weekends and days off to catch up on things, but now I spend only a small amount of time on it.  I watch less TV and use the internet less frequently.  I put my feet up more.

This is the Andaz Hotel in the Gaslamp District.  I couldn't have picked a better location, I was right in the heart of everything and could walk to fine restaurants, fun shops, the bay and Little Italy.  Andaz is a new boutique hotel by Hyatt, which is the hotel chain I usually use.  It was the old Ivy Hotel and has been completely remodeled.  I stayed on the 3rd floor and if look at the corner pointing closest to us, I had the window to the right and the two to the left.  I think the room was about 700 sq. ft.  The other nice thing about a boutique hotel is that the staff get to know you and it gave me an extra sense of security since they would know when I came and went.  I would definitely stay there again.



This is the cool roof top pool.  On weekdays there was hardly anyone there so I felt like I had the place to myself.  To the left of the pool is a nice quite patio area where I sometimes read.  At night it was a wild and crazy nightclub.  Of course I usually went to bed at 9pm.  I had a fabulous hamburger by the pool.  Many thanks to the waiters who kept my Diet Coke all afternoon.

Whenever I go to a city I am unfamiliar with, I try to take a tour.  San Diego has a couple of options.  I took a grey line tour which took us to Olde Towne, the Bay and the Midway, the Coronado hotel and beach, through the park and then a boat tour to Point Loma.  It was a lovely morning and I got my bearings so that I could easily walk around the rest of the week.  There was also a trolley that you could get off and visit and area as long as you wanted and pick up the next trolley when it came by.  But I liked my tour because it was just in the morning, the trolley tour takes most of the day and it got quite warm by afternoon so I headed for the pool. 


The Coronado Hotel

The Edge of America, Coronado Beach


Old Towne

So tomorrow, I will fill you in on some lovely dining experiences I had.  I was fortunate in choosing interesting restaurants at random.