Chucks

I recently visited the SB location of Chuck's Steakhouse- for a Mat-Tai. I truely enjoy the very dark interior and huge portions of salad and fish. Most of all I enjoy the infamous drinks. I found a picture of a visit to Chuck's in honolulu!!

A Wonderful Sunday

After a very busy weekend of runing, working and hosting, we enjoyed a walk along the bluffs and took some pictures

GoodBye Fires

I am very happy to report that the fire in Goleta, which started last week, is now 50% contained. The Gap fire, has really hit home with evacuations and the ensuing stress was palpable late last week.
Now that the fire has been tamed by the wonderful firefighters, life is somewhat back to normal, minus the ash in the air and the ominous cloud of smoke to the north.
The other nuisance has been the power outages, random and lasting for about 2-4 hours at a time, always when I am about to sit down and work (or blog). They say that the power lines need to be turned off when the smoke is too thick. It really is a small price to pay for us, but really make one realize how reliant we are on electricity.

To find out the most recent information on the Gap fire check this: http://www.independent.com/gap-fire-map/

House Sitting

Over the last 3 years we have been very blessed, in the housing situation. We have been housesitting for a couple that enjoys the wide world of RV travel- for 7 months out of every year. The positives: no home rent, amazing view

from the large deck, TWO bathrooms (great for getting ready at the same time), great neighbors, a guest bedroom (awaiting its first guest of this year), the most comfortable mattress in the world. The negatives: I have realized that it is sad to live without your pictures and familiar things on a day to day basis, moving every 7 months, the decor is not our style (think: ducks, taxadermy, new white shag carpet, white leather barcaloungers with heat and massage) and probably the biggest negative is that things break and we have to fix them!! We have had a big taste of being a home owner. A *short* list of the big issues we are now accomplished in dealing with: a flood and the associated 6 inches of mud that was collected in the garage, a hive of bees in the wall, hornets in the eves, house painting, tree trimming, a broken hot tub, repaving of the driveway/street, skunks, and most recently a broken garage door.

There is always a light at the end of the rainbow and this is a picture from the patio after a rain.

We are off to Napa and leaving the FIRE behind. Although seeing the flames from your house is a very scary sight.

Finally

I realized that reading blogs is much easier than writing and keeping up with blogging. I also decided that blogs with pictures are much more interesting.

So, for your viewing pleasure- a funny picture I found on Neal- in Homosassa, FL (yes that is its real name) visiting the native Manatee's.

me

I couldn't wait any longer!

For those of you that know me, there is no way I could wait an entire week to open the present my mother sent me... So after my 3.5 day weekend started- with a burrito and Corona at lunch- my guard was down and I ripped open the package.

Here is what I found!!