Rain, Row and Romance

Hi All!!!!!
I'm back from my "Romantic Get-away" to Monterey with the love of my life...  I came back home to a very busy evening since I had to prepare a session for today's class.  Well let me get on with how my day's away went.... I'm sure you want to know or else you wouldn't be here... lol....
 
 

I ended my last blog on day one (Sunday) of our stay in Monterey.... 

 I felt much better on Monday... of course I did take enough meds to get me through the day without feeling too sick... So Monday was a better day for me and for Lance!  (if you don't know what I'm talking about then you should read my last blog)

Poor guy... I bet he thought I would end up laying in bed the whole time hahhaa...  so let's get on with the fun stuff!!!

We headed out the door around 10:00 and were making our way towards Big Sur, we had never been there before so we didn't know what to expect.  The weather forcast was "rainy" and boy was it!!! 

I put together a scrap page of our drive there.... needless to say it was a bit wet but in the end on the way back to Monterey the sky opened up and heaven shone upon us the rest of the day!!! Whoo-hoo for nice weather!!!

So let me share with you the "trip" to Big Sur before I post the picture...  Like I said we didn't know what the drive would be like and well... I'm not real good with windy mountain roads that look like you are going to fall off the cliff's edge... and I'm not good with bridges... and I'm really not good with the two combined along with the cliffs that drop off into the ocean.... needless to say I was a bit... uh nervous... Poor Lance... he really is a trooper when it comes to dealing with my car melt-downs.... but once we reached "low land" again I was good to go!!! I must tell you that if you love to camp and be near the Coast at the same time I would suggest you head to Big Sur!  It's absolutely beautiful being surrounded by all the trees and "foresty" area and also being only 1-2 miles from the ocean at the same time.   

Before we headed too "high" into the mountain side we did pull over a few times to look at the view... one of my thoughts every time I go to this area is how much I hope that those who live in this area really appreciate the beauty that surrounds them, you know how easy it is to just "get used to" where we live and then a stranger comes around to "refresh" your view of where you live... Oh Lord please let them still appreciate all that beauty!

So this is what we seen on the way to Big Sur and back to Monterey  follow the pictures from the left to the right... see how it was oogie and then turned beautfiul.... kind of like how I felt as the day progressed....

 

So once we got back into Monterey we headed over to Cannery Row.  We love to just walk up and down the Row and go in and out of the shops just to look at all the stuff and read all the crazy things in the shops... but the best thing to do is EAT!!! Yeah I didn't get the size I am by just looking at food.... lol....
Hmmm... what sounded good to us??? BUBBA GUMPS!!!

If you've never eaten there then let me just explain that it's a resturant based upon the movie Forrest Gump... they have the movie playing on the t.v's and the waiters will come up to your table and ask you trivia questions about the movie.... not that I've watched the movie over and over again but it's one that you just can't seem to forget... Both Lance and I did really good on the trivia part and even stumped our waiter! He asked us "What book was little Forrest reading at the end of the Movie"  okay so he gave us a hint "has a monkey in it" so we guessed and said Curious George! Yipee we were right!! No you don't win anything you just have a good time anwering the questions!  Then I asked him "So which Curious George book was it?"  Ha he didn't know! hahhahahaha...  Lunch was GREAT!

Here's a lookie loo at what we ended up having..... yeah it's a whole "let's eat" kind of get-away hahahhahaha....

 

The quotes that are written around the picture is what was written on the table we ate at.... I still have more quotes but didn't have the room on the picture!
So after Bubba Gumps we walked around some more and went to this huge Antique Store, I was looking for some soup tureens that we can use when we have our Souper-Stations during this Lent (something I'll explain in a different blog), well... we were in Monterey and I know that everything there is much more expensive but GEEZ I was blown away... and literally out the door by the prices!

We decided to head over to any second-hand store to see if we could find something there!  WE managed to find some baskets (NEW ONES!) for the bread and some more soup ladles that looked just as new!  AND while I was standing in line I was looking from afar at the movies they had for sale and guess what I found..... FOR THE BOYS oh I love that movie!!!!!!! I only had to pay $2.25 for a DVD that worked perfectly!!! (we watched it at the hotel later that night!)  While I was there I asked if there were any other 2nd hand stores and they directed me (and Lance since he's the driver) to where they were and after getting lost only once we found them!  I managed to find a few more baskets and a really nice glass bowl for a prayer table candle that I bought...  BUT I still needed some tureens!!!!  

Just outside the 2nd store that we went to there was this beautiful mural on the wall... It had all remarkable women... yeah that's right... women ROCK IT

 
 

 
 

 
 

 

Wow!! As a painter myself I really can appreciate all the hard work that this artist did to portray these wonderful women!!!
After being "stalked" by a fellow shopper... kid you not this guy was with us at every store!!! and he was a bit uh... unnerving... so after not finding what I needed we left and I noticed a 99cent store across the street, so we ran across the street and into the store... can you tell that I LOVE BARGAINS???

I didn't find any tureens there but I did find some pots that I will be using instead.... the guy wanted to make the deal so much with us (because I needed 5) that he said "OH I give you GOOD DEAL" (yep he sounded like that it's not a typo) "I no charge you TAX" hahahahhaha so I got what I needed TAX FREE!  So not much but it was a "deal!"  I also managed to purchase 10 water pitchers that will be needed too.... Let's see... the only thing left for my night of feeding our parishoners was "SOUP" (which I was going to be purchasing later that night)

After "shopping" we both decided to go back to the room to just hang out for a bit before we headed out to dinner....
OH YEAH.... we went to

 

As many times as I've been to the Wharf... I've never eaten any where else but the Grotto!!!!! I always have the Cioppino!!!! So to show you how wonderful it all was I will share a little scrap page for that dinner too!!!

But before I post that I have to tell you that this resturant has a lot of style and really treat the customers GREAT!!! I've never gone away feeling disappointed with the food and it was really nice to hear an employee (he helped us carry out the soup to the car) say "Its the best place I've ever worked at" how often do you hear that coming from an employee about their employer????  So if you are ever in Monterey at the Wharf I strongly suggest you go there!!! We were even given a complimentary appetizer of Calamari and Artichokes...

 

OH YEAH!!! Thanks Mr. Shake!!!! (by the way the owner is always at the front door opening it for you!!)  so with no further ado....

 
After that huge dinner.... we headed back to the room and just soaked in the hot tub... and then I started putting together all these scrap-pages that you see here.... I hope you enjoyed being with us on day 2 of our get away....

ON day 3 it wasn't as eventful but our last day there was really nice because the sun was shining brightly, the wind had died down and we were able to just be together without any interruptions....

But there was this one bird who seemed to follow us everywhere!!! LOL....

 

Thank you so much for coming and visiting me on my blog, I really do hope you enjoy my little life stories and I hope that you can see the presence of God as I do throughout each day......

With that I leave you our final day's pictures..... 

Both Lance and I were.....

 
And we love each other and go together so well that we are like.....

and

 
Where there is one of us there is always the other.....
 

 
Yes we complete each other.....

only because by the Grace of God are we together!
 

Oh yeah one more thing.... everyone probably thought we were crazy taking pictures of all the food and stuff in the resturant... but he when you want to make scrap pages you'll take a picture of anything and everything!!!!

Drop a line in the comment box to say hello and please
Have a blessed day!
Love,

Flowers, Burgers and Kleenex

Goodmorning all!!!
I told you I would try to update you while we are away on our "Romance" trip to Monterey... something we've been doing for a a number of years now... just Lance and I, during the month of February.... keeps the marriage "fresh" I suppose... that and we don't get too many breaks during the year so we need this little get-away!
Let me bring you up to date as to what has happened since Saturday. 
 

Saturday I figured I would attend mass at 5:30 so that I might be able to sleep in on Sunday (yeah as if that really happened!) because I was beginning to feel a bit sick... darn the luck, why is it when you plan on doing something there's always a monkey in the wrench??   I woke up Sunday feeling really *green* you know what I'm talking about??? Why is it we never say we feel yellow or red???  We know what "blue" feels like but what about orange or purple??? LOL.... okay let me move on here, I'm beginning to feel like Romper Room's Mrs. Maryann (remember that show? or am I dating myself?)
 
 
  Like I said I was feeling worse than I did on Saturday and I felt really bad that I wasn't going to be 100% for Lance on our trip... so I took some meds (should have taken more!) and started getting ready for our get-away.  Jumped in the shower and that seemed to help for about 2 hours...  We gave kisses and hugs to the kids (although Gabriel isn't a hugger for some reason) and headed out the door...
Our first stop at 12:00 was just down the road from us about 1/2 hour away... I hadn't eaten yet (you'd think I only would weigh 80lbs not eating like I should... but no....) and my stomach was beginning to feel "wacky".  We both love to eat at Carls Jr but the kids don't like to so when ever we are by ourselves we are able to eat there without the whining (love ya kids but yeah you whine)... I made sure to get the camera ready before I left so that I could take a bunch of pictures on our trip... so the first set comes from our lunch date
 



 
Yeah I'm sure everyone in the resturant (all 6) thought I was weird taking all the pictures... but hey it's my life  and I can remember it any way I want right??? LOL.....
Poor Lance didn't remember that they had Chili Fries so he didn't get any of those, that picture is just a reminder of what "heart-stopper" he didn't eat... lol...
We were back on the road within a 1/2 hour and that's when I realized that this ooogie feeling wasn't going away but was slowly creeping up on me and getting worse the farther we were down the road....Popped more meds hoping to knock it out...
We take what's known as the Pacheco Pass to get to 1 and on the drive we are in the hills/mountains, normally this stretch makes me nervous because there are so many accidents on this highway... but this time I think I was too busy concentrating on breathing through my mouth.... hahhaa

 
Along the drive we were passed on the opposite side by a huge convoy of military vehicles...
see...

 
look to the left of the picture... the line was huge...

 
I told Lance "I wonder what the military is up to..." his reply was "they could tell us but then they'd have to kill us".... way to go "Mr. Bond" ... hahahhaha so that filled my time for all of 5  minutes of the drive and then it was back to concentrating on breathing again!
We reached Monterey at 2:00 and I have to tell you I'm so jealous that they already have trees blooming (Trina is ours in the front yard blooming yet?) we only have buds on our trees at home...

I had almost missed this because the camera was taking forever to turn back on!

Let me just say if you ever stay in Monterey and are looking for a "reasonable" place to stay... I suggest the lodge that we stay at.... it's the best little secret that we have found in Monterey!

 

Seriously, it's clean and everything works and they have little cottages that a whole family can stay in with full kitchens!!!! (we stayed in a cottage with the kids last time)... I really do suggest you try them out!

No I don't get a discount for advertising for them, although maybe I should look into it... hahahahha

So we checked in the but  room was still being cleaned, it's always nice to have a clean room!!!  So we decided to go kill time at the mall (which is on and off the freeway)...

We went into pretty much all the stores just looking, but I managed to get Valentines cards for my hubby at the hallmark store! I love that store but it's expensive!

Then we stopped at the Gamestop to see what was in there... (Be good Gabriel you just might have a game when we get home *grins*) then we headed into the MINI Borders store, it really is 1/4th the size of a regular Borders... Lance found a new book and we may have found something for Katrina (I know you are reading ths so no peeking!!!) 

One thing I seen that really "CHAPPED MY HIDE" was a father taking his son who was probably all of 7 years old to the calendar shelf where he went staight to the SWIMSUIT calendar to show his boy the girls on it....  Oh  my gosh are you kidding me?!?  And we women wonder why some of the guys out there are perv's (of course none of my friends would do that right?)  Okay let's move on now that the "Courtship of Eddie's Father" is completed....  Oh wait did I mention that his other son was with the mother (I'm assuming they were all a family)....

 

We went into Macy's (yeah now I remember why I don't shop there! WOW the prices are absolutely ridiculous!!!!!)  I was sad to see the empty Mervyn's store (that was my FAVORITE place!) went into a few of the "perfume stores" and then headed back to the car.....

I'm also on a hunt to find things for Ministry Day this year!  I've been asked to put together a "prayer table/centering" for the presenters room, so I'm trying  my hardest to keep my eyes open for something I can use.

We were going to head back to the room but I wanted to stop at Beverly's Fabric/Craft store, yeah it's been forever since I've been in one of those too... but as I was looking around the store I started getting really achy!!!!  I felt really bad... both physically and emotionally... I know that Lance wants to have a good time and here I am getting sicker as the day goes on!!!  We managed to get back to the room without incident and Yeah they cleaned!! The room had a very clean and bleached smell to it... once we left the door open for a little while then it went away....   Don't get me wrong I was glad to smell bleach because I knew it came from the bathroom and well.... I'm really particular about where I sit... hahhaa

We both agreed to have a light dinner so we walked down to Denny's I had soup and tea... (very luke warm  tea which was disappointing!)  Then after that we walked over to Rite Aid to pick up a few things I needed to make my own tea in the room....

Got to the room and made tea and then.........SOAKED!!!!

Oh yeah!!!!  I felt much better after that!!! The aches went away and I was able to breathe because of all the steam!!!!  Oh praise God for HOT WATER....

After soaking I spent time looking at the pictures I managed to take on the way here and made the "lunch time" scrapbook page above....

and now... well it's 8:00 and my prince is still asleep and I'm sitting here telling you all about my day....

I'm going to pop more meds (did I tell you I took a bit more than I should last night???)  just so I can get through the day without complaining to Lance... I do want him to have  nice time!!! 

It's suppose to rain today so that means we are going to be getting a little wet here and there... fun stuff!!!  We are heading to Big Sur to check out the area since we've never been there before, they say that the grey whales are suppose to be migrating right now.... it sure would be nice to see something in water bigger than myself... lol.....

Well I'm going to go jump in the shower, I hope you enjoyed my silly day of yesterday!!!!  I hope to get more pictures to share with you all!!!

Have a great day!!!  *sniff sniff, hack, cough*.... okay I'm thinking I might get in the hot tub again..... yeah I know... poor me  lol.......

Love,