Day Trip to Julian

It's crazy. I've lived in California my entire life, yet there are so many places, in my own backyard, that I haven't visited yet. You hear that a lot from people...we typically never experience the 'touristy' areas unless someone comes to visit us and then we go. I don't know why that is...I think, in part, I just have the mindset that, 'well, it's there, it's not going anywhere and I can go at anytime'. Problem is, I never go.

This past Sunday, I was able to check one of those places off of my list- Julian. Now, I wouldn't really consider Julian to be a 'tourist attraction'. As you're driving into San Diego, you don't see billboards advertising the city, nor are there even major hotel chains in the nearby area, but it's a place that it more known by southern Californians. Julian is a historic gold mining town that was founded during the Civil War. It's a very small town with only a couple of hundred residents, so you know that everyone knows everyone's business. It's unique in that it does experience all four seasons- tons of blossoming flowers in Spring, a lot of hiking and star gazing activities in Summer, Fall brings all of the beautiful fall colors along with apple picking season and it even snows in Winter.

Julian is really well known for their apple pies and along Main St. there are at least four bakeries that specialize in variations of the apple pie (keep in mind, Main St. is only two blocks long). We stopped at "Mom's" for some homemade apple pie and it really lived up to it's reputation.







When you arrive in Julian, on Main St, you really feel as though you've stepped back in time. They've kept it looking as authentic as possible, as you can see from the pictures. It epitomizes "quaint". I really loved it and I plan on going back in the Spring and Fall so that I can get me a little 'seasons' out here in California.

Here are some pictures from the trip...

New Year, New Furniture

The New Year is supposed to be one of fresh starts and new beginnings. Something new to our home, as of this last weekend, is new living room furniture. Yay! I'm so excited!

You see, my sister and I have been living together for the past 12 years and we have had the exact same couch the entire time. It's not like we haven't tried to find new furniture. I've visited department stores, Living Spaces, Thomasville, Pier 1, Cost Plus, Pottery Barn, etc. etc. etc. over the years and to no avail. It completely baffled me that friends would tell me that they were going furniture shopping on a Friday and by Monday they have a completely new furniture set...just like that! It's seriously been years of looking for something that not only looked nice, but that was reasonably priced and that both my sister and I could agree on...just trying to satisfy one of those requirements would be difficult, but to have to meet all three was becoming impossible.

I was so tired of our old couch. Not that it hadn't been a good couch- I mean, it still looked pretty darn good after 12 years of use, but I just felt like I should have furniture in my home that wasn't furniture I had purchased back in college. Plus, with the addition of cats to our home, several years ago, we found that apparently our couch's function was not only to provide seating, but to attract every stray cat hair in our condo. I think that we may have, single-handedly, funded the college tuition for the children of the inventor of the Pet Hair Lint Rollers. And with it being a solid dark green couch, it's not like the couch disguised the fact that there was enough cat hair on there to knit a small sweater.

I had all but given up hope of finding new furniture. Until... I went to Costco last week to look for a cookbook and, there, in between the books and the gardening supplies was a row of furniture and nestled amongst the bar stools and race car beds, was the couch . I loved it. Perfect size, color and price, and, after sending my sister to take a look at it, she loved it too! Hallelujah! Not only that, but we also found two really nice chairs to go on either side of it. The couch was purchased last Friday and delivered on Saturday afternoon and we are now the proud owners of non-college, grown-up furniture. (or, I should really say that my sister is the proud owner as she purchased them... I just get to reep the benefits)

Our old beloved couch. May it rest in peace...or out in our garage until we can donate it somewhere.




Our new furniture...








Our new furniture when we leave the house and don't want the cats to get their grubby paws (and claws) into it.





Yes, it looks funny, but it all comes off when we get home. I just draw the line at putting plastic slipcovers over it.



I know, I know, call me crazy...how could I not love the way the light reflects off of the plastic, or that anyone within a 100 ft radius could hear the slightest movement I make while sitting, or let's not forget the fact that if I were to sit down, on a hot day, I'd be permanently stuck to my couch. I'm weird that way.

Birthday Celebration

As you can tell from my last (very brief)post, it was my Mom's birthday. She, my Dad, and my Grandpa came down for the week to celebrate her b-day.

She started out the day with Creme Brulee French Toast that I had made the night before and, let me tell you... it was GOOD! You have to enjoy sweet food, but if you do, I can guarantee you'll like it and it's SO simple and you make it ahead the night before and just pop it in the oven in the morning. Here's the recipe for you cooks/bakers out there: (disclaimer- this is not my picture nor my recipe :-)



Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
2 Tbs Corn Syrup
8 slices of French Bread (approx 1 1/2 inches thick)
4 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups of Half and Half Cream
2-3 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tsp Brandy-based Orange Liqueur (Grand Marnier)
1/4 Tsp Salt
Cinnamon

Directions:

- Melt butter in the microwave and add brown sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Pour into the bottom of a 9X13 baking pan.

- Arrange bread, in a single layer, overtop of the brown sugar mixture in the pan.

- In a bowl, whisk together eggs, half and half, vanilla extract, orange brandy and salt. Pour over the bread. Cover and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove the dish from the refrigerator, sprinkle top with cinnamon and place in preheated oven.

- Bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes in the oven, until puffed and lightly browned.


After breakfast, everyone, minus me, headed over to Disneyland for the day.









I met up with them, after work, for dinner at PF Chang's at Gardenwalk in Anaheim. Afterwards we came back for presents and cake.









A very busy day for everyone, but I think that all in all it was a good way for my Mom to spend her birthday.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Unexplainable

One of my daily blog reads is Stuff Christians Like. It is a hilarious look at the Christian life and some of the habits we have ... i.e. 'the side hug'. Rather than give a 'normal' hug, facing one another and wrapping both arms around one another, we come up to someone, take one arm, put it around their shoulder and only the side of the hips touch. I would say that this is moreso when it's someone that you aren't overly familiar with or if it's a boy/girl hug and either/both the boy and/or girl are married to someone else, because with my girlfriends, I give 'normal' hugs...but, I've definitely been known to side hug. The blog author is great at painting a picture in your mind with his words and oftentimes the comments from readers are equally hilarious. Every few blogs, he'll usually quip in with a more serious-toned blog, that isn't poking fun at anything/anyone and today was one of those. He made a New Year's resolution for himself and it's definitely one that I need to be more active in pursuing. So, here you go...

"...I think that each day, God gives us all a chance to be the unexplainable. To help someone when it doesn’t make sense. To love someone who is refusing to love us. To share something that, on the surface, leaves us with nothing of our own.

That is what evangelism is to me, the simple act of being the unexplainable.

That is my goal this year.

When cool goes right and God asks me to go left, I want to do the unexplainable.

When easy is up and God asks me to go down, I want to do the unexplainable.

When fake is free and honesty is expensive, I want to do the unexplainable.

I want to live my life in a way that raises questions. I want my actions and my attitude and everything I am to encourage people to think, “There’s something else.”

That’s my hope for you this year. That’s my hope for me this year.

Let’s be the unexplainable.

Fall!!!

Can you believe it??? Southern California actually has a season! Look at these pictures of the beautiful Fall colors in my own backyard. Sure it's Winter, but who cares...

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