18 Minutes and Sick in San Diego

18 minutes to write.  Ready Go.

It's the end of a long productive day and my Mom just reminded me of my commitment to write every day for - what was it? - 30 days or something.  And that lasted, what? Two days.

Oh, grr.

Well, Mary Kay Ash did say you can always start a diet in the middle of a bag of chips.

Diet.  That's something else I'm trying to improve.  Being so sick for so long and then two weeks in San Diego didn't help that.  I gained about 14 pounds in all.  Yikes.  But I'm back to Jazzercise and home-made food and we're all healthy (Please Lord, keep it that way.) and so I'm looking forward to getting back into shape.

I went to Jazzercise on Tuesday and it kicked my rear.

Speaking of sick, wanna hear a great story?  It's about throw-up.  So, you know, if you don't like hearing about it, you may want to skip the next paragraph. Or the rest of this post.

Our first evening in San Diego, my Dad and stepmom came over and my Grandma took us all out to dinner at Chili's.  Then we headed home to play trains with Danny.  Except Danny was acting really tired and totally disinterested in his trains. Everyone thought he was tired but I thought he was acting sick, because NOTHING keeps that kid away from his trains.  Not four minutes later, as he was sitting on my lap, he projectile-vomited ALL of his dinner ALL over ME.  After we were pretty sure the vomiting was going to stop, and Alejandro and I had managed to catch it all with clothes and hands in order to keep it from getting on the furniture, we started to figure out how to transport us to the shower without spilling any on the floor.  (Anyone wanna' abandon my blog forever yet?  Just wait.  It gets better.)

The 2nd to best line?  "Wait, honey.  Don't move.  Let it soak into your shirt a little more before you get up so it doesn't spill."  This, as he was scooping chunks off my pants to throw away.

But the best line of the evening was after all was said and done and cleaned up and washed up.  He says to me, "Dude!  You were AWESOME!  You didn't even flinch!  You just let him vomit all over you and you just caught it!!"

Glad to know at least I maintained the cool factor in all of this.

Anyway, Danny proceeded to throw up two more times that night and three more times the next four days before finally feeling good enough for us to enjoy the non-snowy San Diego weather.  Poor kiddo.

Did I tell you that Grandma set up his bed in the closet?  True story.  He thought it was super!  Here he is napping one of his sick days.

There were a couple of days in which he got to watch his pick of movies.  

That meant the Cars movie on repeat and playing with Papa's ear...

...and rubbing Papa's head.  Papa really hates that.  Not.

Then one afternoon Papa decided to fold himself into Danny's closet-bed with him.  

It is beyond me how my 6'2" husband managed it.  But he did.  

P.S.  That was way more than 18 minutes.

Grandma's House

We’re staying at my Grandma’s house.

Danny’s asleep in his little bed made with cushions inside the closet. He thinks that’s fantastic. I do too.

I’m barefoot sitting out on the patio, because it’s warmer than 40 degrees outside and because Grandma keeps the heat at about 90 degrees inside and she’s hard of hearing so outside is the only place that’s quiet. But she’s 90 years old. So I’ll cut her some slack.

I sure hope that’s all the slack someone has to cut me when I’m 90 years old.

There’s a little green frog doorstop that keeps the door to the bedroom open. It’s the same little green frog that’s been there for 30 years (or more). Ever since I was five I wanted to play with it.

We’re sleeping in the bedroom where Grandpa wrapped his arms around Grandma about 55 years ago. Now Alejandro wraps his arms around me here. I remember when there was a double waterbed and a dresser with black and white pictures and sacred memories from decades long ago. Now Grandma sleeps in the room next door and Grandpa sleeps in heaven.

The TV’s on too loud.

Our black lab sleeps at our feet. There used to be a brown, black and white beagle that lived in this house. Flapper Girl was her name. She was a year older than me. Now there’s a stuffed brown, black and white dog that Danny likes to play with. He sits on it like a horse. It makes me laugh.

Alejandro put the paint on the outside of these walls last year. Last year I was at home in Colorado while he was here working and living for two and a half months. This year my sister’s getting married so we are here working and staying for two weeks.

There’s no Internet in this house. Well, now there is, thanks to my smart phone. Have I mentioned I love technology? It’s official. I would die without Internet. Poor me with my first world problems.

The linoleum in the kitchen has been there since as long as I can remember. There’s been a map of the United States on the wall over the kitchen table for as long as I can remember too. That’s how I learned U.S. geography.

Last night we had pizza at the octagonal dining room table. We used to eat ground beef patties at the same table. That’s hamburgers, for those of you who don’t know my grandmother. That was my favorite recipe of my Grandma’s. I think she still doesn’t believe I know how to cook. And she keeps taking us out to eat so it’s sort of hard to prove it to her. Not that I mind.

Today we went to the park. The same park we went to when I was a little girl. It’s shrunken since I remember. The swings used to be the tallest ones in town. Now that park is small small small! The walk to the park shrunk too. I used to be so tired after that walk.

There’s a tree in the backyard. My sister and I used to climb that tree. I think Danny might be a little small still to learn that. But not too small to try.

San Diego sun feels good on my feet. Ocean breeze feels cool on my face. Home feels good to my heart.

Good Morning

This morning I woke up (the second time) to the most spectacular sunrise.

Last night we packed up ourselves, our dog and everything but the kitchen sink and loaded it all into my magic car (that's my new-to-me minivan with automatic everything at the push of a button). This morning at 4 a.m. we set off through gently falling snowflakes down the road towards California.

It took Danny and I about 5 and a half minutes to fall back to sleep, while my husband (the drivin' fool) enjoyed the quiet early morning road.

It wasn't until 7 a.m. that I was conscious again, but man once I was, it was uh-mayzing. I groggily turned over to see my dog's nose about 3 inches from mine (not so amazing) and when I looked out the window, almost like a vertical wall in front of me were the snow-covered mountains of Raton Pass with patches of black wet rock showing through here and there, all blanketed in a haze of fog. The quiet that fog creates seemed to reach all the way inside the car and comfort this slow waker-upper.

After a few turns we came over the top of the pass and through the cloud we'd been driving in. The whisps of cloud gave way to pink light and layers of pink mountains behind the downhill slope of the road and the hills around it. Birds dove and rose and wove around each other in a dance that seemed to be saved and sacred for the celebration of the creation around them.

If you do not praise Him, even the rocks will cry out. Creation cannot keep still.

The fog's quiet cleared. Pink became brighter and took on a hint of orange. Hills flattened out into plains, the clouds cleared, save for two, and the sky seemed to clear of all color. There were only two puffy clouds off in the distance that were suddenly accented by glowing sunlight around the edges as they reflected the not-yet-risen sun behind them.

It killed me a little bit that I was too groggy to catch all of this on camera, but no camera would've done it justice and I don't have the skill yet to catch the colors and depth anyway. Especially from a moving car.

At last the road curved west and the sun rose and flooded orange all over the plain to our left, just behind the sweet closed eyes of my sleeping baby in his car seat.

Good morning everybody. We're headed to California.

Pink Infusion - Day 1

I'm just going to give you all fair warning right now...  I am at our annual Mary Kay Seminar Party Inspirational Workshop Theatrical Production Training Girlfriends Get-Away Beauty Pageant Seminar and I'm not even going to attempt to try to curb the amount of disgustingly gushy enthusiasm that is about to spill onto the pages of this blog.

This is one of the funnest weeks of my year and I SO wish every single one of you could come experience it.

I mean, for one thing...  there's the food.

I mean, like a piece o' heaven on a plate Good Gracious, the FOOD!

I started with my salad.  

And since dessert was staring at me in the face between my glasses, and the main course had not yet been served, I ate it next.  Yup.  All of it.

And for the record, Mary Kay Ash always ate dessert first.

Secondly, there's the party.  

It is a kickin' party to end all parties!

Add to that, the best girlfriends ever.  

Girlfriends that ask you the sucker-punch-to-the-gut hard questions and won't let you off the hook, but rather, challenge you to be better.  

Girlfriends that make you choke on your chocolate cake because you're laughing so hard.

Third, there's the slammin' gowns we all put on.  Yeah, we rock it.

There's sitting at table number 13 - Mary Kay's personal lucky number... 

and realizing later how perfect it is.

There are new faces.  

A total absorption of world-changing inspiration and 

challenge to take the next step in God's plan for you.

There's powerful talk about walking in His Spirit and Truth even though it's not trendy or expected.  

Yes.  This is Mary Kay.

There are women who raise the level of your belief because if she can sign up as a brand new consultant, become a director and earn her pink Cadillac in nine months, well, maybe I can, too.  

It's an unforgettable four days.  This is just the beginning. 

I wish you all could experience this kind of community.  There's simply nothing like it.

Seaport Village Fudge Factory

During your visit to San Diego (which all of you are going to want to go do, right after this post), right after you stop in at the California Candle Gallery, cruise on over to the Seaport Village Fudge Factory.

Yup, they make goodies right there.  

Come to mama!

And the fudge taste even better when it's served with a smile!

I absolutely did not eat almost an entire bar of fudge 

within 15 minutes from leaving that place.  

And even if I had, I'd never tell.

California Candle Gallery

Today I'm featuring two little shops in San Diego's Seaport Village that you MUST go see, when in San Diego.  I asked the shops' permission to take pictures and tell you all how great they are...  no compensation for it... I just really enjoy these two shops.  

First off, we're gonna take a tour through the California Candle Gallery.  

They design and create their candles right there in the shop.  

They design and create lots and lots of them.

Every single one is unique.

The candles are dipped dozens and dozens of times in hot wax.   

There are a few layers of color and many many layers of clear wax.  

This allows the light to shine through the candle better when it's lit.

In the store, artists carve the wax 

They cut off the bottom...

...and make magnets with them.

It looks as though the candles are also dipped in some sort of glaze, but I didn't catch that details because I was too busy snapping photos of all their amazing candles.  

If you're ever in the area, make sure you stop in and see them.  

And while you're there, tell them I said, "hi!"

Sea Port Village - San Diego

If you ever make it to San Diego, make sure you spend some time at Sea Port Village.  Especially if it's summer time.  Especially if it's a weekend.  Since my grandmother made our last trip there possible, we decided to treat her to a day at Seaport Village.We informed her we were stealing her away for lunch and an afternoon stroll by the bay.  There are all sorts of great things to see there.  

At 90, my Grandma doesn't get out a whole heck of a lot, so when she does, it's a big deal.  You can imagine her delight at this afternoon.  We started the day by making friends with some pretty birds.  Since Grandma was looking all around at all the sites, she didn't notice the bird was on her arm until she looked down!  She was amazingly calm and collected. 

The Seaport Village boardwalk winds around with this gorgeous view.

My Dad and Step-Mom joined us too.  

This was one of the favorite places Alejandro and I spent our time at when we were dating.  With the street vendors and the shops and restaurants and the parks, it's a popular place.  It is also a popular spot for the homeless of San Diego.  It's easy to see this...

...and miss this.

 When you don't want to acknowledge a difficult reality, it's easy to see this...

...and miss this.

One of the things Alejandro and I did in our very early days of marriage was to invite a homeless person for lunch after church.  We'd go to Jack in the Box and pick up three combo meals.  Then we'd find a park and ask someone if we could share our lunch with them.  We had some fascinating conversations with people. It's a memory I hold dear.

Regularly making its way through Seaport Village is the Cinderella carriage.  I've only ridden it once.  It was prom night.

The sea gulls make their home on the docks and rocks.

Oh and the shops! This is the very best place to go window shopping... or real shopping ...but window shopping is just as enjoyable, if you ask me.  A few of my favorite places:

There is the California Candle Gallery. 

We affectionately call it the Candle Factory.  

More to come about this place later.

Upstart Crow is one of my favorite coffee shops of all time.  

And on the way over to the Fudge Factory, we met a family of ducks!

They started to swim away, but before we knew it, 

they turned back around!

They were up close and personal!!

I'm not kidding!  My camera's good, but not that good.  

They were just feet from where we stood and SO cute and fuzzy!!

You can also see odd shows like this one-man band

and a man who swallows swords.  

We ended the day at the Fudge Factory.

Danny, with his lactose intolerant cute self enjoyed sherbet.

You can meet great people at Seaport Village too!  We met this great gentlemen, Richard.  Would you believe, he grew up in Trinidad, lives in near Toronto, is a chief of police works in the IT department of the police department, and was at a Conference in San Diego!? (I thought he was the chief of police!  He sure looks like he could be one right?!)  He asked if he could share his table with us and now we've connected via Twitter.  How fun!  Here he is enjoying some real Mexican food.  Yumm!!

It was a great day at Seaport Village.  Danny was delighted.  

Grandma was delighted.  We were delighted.  

Amen.