Ok, time for a blog update.

I’ve been holding out on posting pictures of my kitchen remodel because I wanted mom to see it in real life for the first time, but since I called her at least twice a day during the whole 6 week process (which was only supposed to take 2 -3 weeks) to get her opinions and updates she pretty much had it in her head what it was going to look like anyways. But it was nice to be able to have her come so soon after to see the entire project finished. And boy…am I glad it’s finished! Well…actually…there are still a couple of small paint jobs that are pending but I’m not sweating the small stuff. : ) This was a long and stressful process, but well worth it in the end. Everything kept snowballing into more work. Now all I do is look at the rest of the house and see what needs to be fixed/updated. Baby steps April…baby steps! : )



I had such a great time when mom, Penny, Debi and Jody came to visit me. We were up and running from morning til night and I enjoyed every second of it. The week first started off with me going on a business trip to NYC and Chicago. I got back on Wednesday and mom and Penny got here on Thursday. That night we went and got pedicures and Penny got a manicure too…new nails with red tips…really cute! Then we went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.



Friday we went to Santa Cruz and played around on the Beach Boardwalk. Then we picked up Jody and Debi and went to dinner at Maggianos , an Italian restaurant in an open door high-scale shopping mall. After dinner we walked around the shops.



Saturday was our BIG day. We drove to San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge. Then back over and into China Town. We went to the fortune cookie factory and had custom fortune cookies made and then shopped around some more. Debi and I got some really cute purses. Then we had to rush out of there because we had tickets to go to Alcatraz. We barely made it to the dock in time to get on the boat. The weather was perfect, not too cold and not too hot. And Alcatraz was great…as always. So interesting and the island is really beautiful. After that we went Pier 39 to do what? More shopping of course! : ) But once again we had to rush out of there to head over to see the Broadway Musical, Wicked. It was a great show and ended the day perfectly.



Sunday we headed back up for another day in the city. This time we went down Lombard Street and over to Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory…for more what again? Yep…shopping! Lol Then we headed over to Fisherman’s Wharf and back to Pier 39 so we could finish up the SHOPPING we hadn’t gotten to there. After that we drove around the city looking at the rows and rows of houses and we even saw Danielle Steels’ house. We then headed home and took Highway 1 back down the coast and saw a beautiful sun set.



Monday we went the opposite direction and headed south. But before we did that we all went and had a massage at this full body massage place for only $20…it was awesome and just what we needed after two days of all day walking in the city. Then we drove to Santa Cruz to see the Mystery Spot. The Mystery Spot is a place where the gravity is all mixed up…or at least if feels that way. It was discovered I think back in the 1920’s and has been featured in several magazines and TV shows since then. Penny got some good videos of it and all of us walking sideways. After that we went down to Monterey and Cannery Row. Need I even say it again….MORE SHOPPING! Monterey is great and really pretty right along the coast. We were going to try and hit the 17 mile drive in Carmel and along Pebble Beach, but we were shopping until it got too late and we would have been driving it in the dark…which wouldn’t have made sense.



Then the sad day came for everyone to head home and for me to go back to work. I had such a good time and I hope everyone else did too! And we only scratched the surface of what there is to do here so I hope they come back next year to do more! I love visitors so that’s an open invitation for anyone to come and visit me!!!