Crossing Our Fingers

D and I are crossing our fingers that it stays sunny throughout this 3-day weekend. We have a lot of outdoor activities planned. I'm already looking forward to it.

Trader Joe's Outing

Today D & I headed out to Marina Pacifica to: 1. hang out at Barnes & Noble; 2. shop at Trader Joe's and 3. redeem our coupon for a free 8 oz. cup of fro yo at Golden Spoon (we had the Heath Bar flavor, on the recommendation of my sis--good choice).

I remember when I was younger I didn't understand the allure of Trader Joe's. My parents used to get excited about going there, but it just seemed like another grocery store to me. Now, of course, I fully appreciate their enthusiasm. Interesting foodstuffs at reasonable prices--nice! Unfortunately, we don't live too close by to one, so we didn't get their Fearless Flyer this time around. However, I accessed it online, here, and the current issue is really good: 104 all-time favorites picked by the staff.

For lunch we had the BBQ Chicken pizza...yum. I also picked up a carton of non-fat plain yogurt which I am going to try with their frozen very cherry blend. Other things that went into our cart: a tub of hummus, pita bread, organic tomato pasta sauce, frozen party meatballs, vegetarian egg rolls and their version of orange chicken (I've never tried this, and it is relatively expensive, but we're trying not to eat out this weekend, so it will be a little treat for us).

This afternoon D & I watched the Preakness. D almost welled up when Barbaro got hurt, it was kind of cute (D's reaction, not the horse getting hurt).

Track

I have discovered that running around a track is much more enjoyable than running on a treadmill. Over the weekend I ran at the Pacifica H.S. track. I ran about 5 miles (20 laps) and ran it in 52:17. Which was surprisingly fast for me. Then I ran yesterday at University (the Trojans) H.S. in Irvine, and the track is nice. There is a wildflower area on one end, and then a basball diamond on one side over a little mound/hill. It also is nice and cool at 6 a.m. I need to leave by 7 a.m. or the H.S. gives cars parked in the lot a ticket. I ran 3 miles in 28:06.

What made me want to switch running surfaces was knowing that many runners mess up their knees. So I decided to do research. And I found a ranking of different surfaces.
Best surfaces to run on article.

Mother's Day/Dad's Birthday

On Sat. we had everyone over for a combined Mother's Day/Dad's birthday celebration lunch. We have a lot of celebrations between May and July so we tend to combine them. My sister and bro-in-law did the majority of the cooking, so all D & I had to do was clean up our place!

On Sun. we went to the WPC Mother's Day breakfast before service. We had scrambled eggs, sausages, pancakes, fruit and jook (for the Chinese contingent). D and I were so full we didn't eat lunch until around 3 p.m.!

SoCal Beaches continued

Two Weeks till L and I hit the beach! I am really pale according to L, so I am excited to show off my paleness. Currently Laguna and Seal Beach are tied for 1st place. In a close second are Huntington Beach and Santa Monica.

Here are some interesting numbers to ponder for the people that haven't voted. Huntington Beach is 8 miles long. Laguna is 7 miles long. And Newport is 6 miles long. Santa Monica is only 3 miles long and filled with tourists. However, Santa Monica beach is probably the busiest since there are 15M (45M for Santa Monica Bay) visitors. Huntington beach has 11M visitors, Newport 7.2M visitors, Laguna 3M, and Hermosa/Manhattan with about 3M. When I visited Santa Monica I usually parked by 3rd street promenade and then walked over PCH. This is not very easy. Further, the pier is pretty gaudy and cheesy and they have a lot of homeless people. But they do have wide beaches, a nice bike path, and eateries.

Huntington beach has the moniker "Surf City USA". It is close and the parking is not too bad. Huntington beach has nice restaurants, such as Duke's and Sparks, even though they are touristy as well. They also have the longest concrete municipal pier in CA. They have great surf shops and nice atmosphere with broad side-walks.

I was suprised with the amount of young people partying it up in Newport. Interesting for a snobby place like Newport. However, the pier isn't that great, and they don't have a cool moniker and parking is tough.

On Saturday, May 27th, we'll be at one of SoCal best and most popular beches. But which one is the question. Stay tuned to find out!

WPC Women's Retreat

This past weekend I spent some quality mother-daughter time at the 2nd Annual WPC Women's Retreat. The speaker was Tara Barthel and the theme was "Real Peace for Real Women". Tara was quite an engaging speaker AND biblically based...now I am reading her book, "Peacemaking Women". Read her blog--she mentions how much fun she had with us :) I like how she calls herself a "recovering lawyer".

On another note, WPC was written up in the OC Register, pretty cool.

SoCal Beaches

I am new to SoCal and need some help with figuring out which beaches are the coolest. Please give me your favorites. I think Huntington Beach is the best for a everyweek destination and Laguna Beach is the best for a weekend getaway. However, your opinion matters. We need a destination for Memorial Day. Would you like to influence where L+D spend their weekend? Please vote. Here are some criteria for the best beach. We need a beach with...
- Relatively easy & cheap parking
- Good cheap restaurants (burgers NOT steaks)
- Wide and long strands of sand to walk on
- Relatively clean water
- Shops: clothes, ice cream, trinkets

What is the best SoCal Beach? Santa Monica Manhattan Beach Hermosa Beach Redondo Beach Seal Beach Huntington Beach Newport Beach Laguna Beach San Clemente    Free polls from Pollhost.com