Montana de Oro

Before heading home from the Central Coast Chad and I went to Montana de Oro in Los Osos for the morning. Notice my second brave stop in a porta potty. Ew! Anyway, the trails were a rad way to end our trip and a great way to celebrate our anniversary.

Up the Coast

For one of the days during our anniversary trip we decided to drive up the coast and see where we ended up. We both had done this many times in the past, but it had been awhile since we made the time to visit the smaller, charming coastal towns.

We started in Cayucos. The primary reason I wanted to go there was to check out the candy shop I've always known and loved. The bummer news is that it moved and, even though it's fancier and in a larger retail space, it is no longer the same candy shop I remember. Darn! After going there we decided to walk along the pier and then check out the cookie factory. We have eaten the cookies before at our friends' house, but now we know where they got them. A neat little place.

After Cayucos we drove up to Ragged Point. Wow has that stop changed in the last 10 years! What used to be a pull-over lookout point now has a hotel, wedding reception area, two restaurants and a gift shop. Still a pretty stop, though, and I'm glad we drove up to see it.

Then we drove to the small (population 18) town of Harmony. There are two shops in town, a pottery shop/art gallery and a glassblowing studio/gallery. It was also there that I used the first of TWO porta potties during that trip. Yuck. After Harmony we had lunch in Cambria at Robin's before heading back down to Morro Bay for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Morro Bay

While we love the city of San Luis Obispo, we decided to make this trip a little different and stay in Morro Bay. The town is known for being foggy and cold nearly year round, but this weekend it wasn't meant to be. It was cool (upper 60s) but the sun replaced the typical fog during our visit. Lucky us! We ate two delicious dinners over the weekend, one at The Galley and the other at Dorn's. Highly recommend both if you find yourself in the area.  We were able to easily walk to the shops and restaurants on the Embarcadero because we chose to stay down by the water. The top left photo is the view from our hotel balcony.

Weekend Trip

Chad and I began our anniversary trip in San Luis Obispo. We had sushi for lunch at Raku and afterwards walked around downtown for the afternoon. It was neat seeing which parts of the town have remained unchanged and which have matured, been upgraded or just completely changed. I love that town. We also happened upon one of the best new places I've seen in awhile and was floored and excited to see that it was thriving in our old town: Kreuzberg CA - a book bar and coffee lounge. Rad, rad, rad. It's busy, arty, hip, youthful, spacious, vibrant, indie...ah! I loved it! And before I forget, a BIG thank you to my parents for watching Maggie for the weekend so we could celebrate our anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to Us

This weekend Chad and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary. We decided to head back to the place where we met and began dating 13 years ago...the beautiful Central Coast. More photos to come.

Happy Anniversary

This past weekend Chad and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. My parents were kind enough to come babysit Maggie so we could enjoy an evening out on the town.  We went to an Italian restaurant called Giovanni's that I've had my eye on and then to a movie. For dinner we sat outside on the beautiful patio while enjoying weather so mild we didn't even notice if it was warm or cold. Another great night.

I want to thank our family and good friends for remembering our anniversary and sending their good wishes. It made us both feel really special and loved.

Here's Maggie whistling a little celebratory tune in our honor before we left for the night:

The above picture is so terrible and dark but at least you can kind of see the pretty patio and tree we sat under at dinner. Maybe use your imagination.

Four Years and the Fair

Friday Chad and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. We went to a steakhouse and had a delicious dinner--thanks Mom and Dad! No photo of us this year--too much going on and taking a photo completely slipped my mind. Happy Anniversary, Chad!

Yesterday was Maggie's first trip to the fair. She loved it. Loved it so much she slept most of the day. After eating some yummy fair food, Chad worked at the CBS47 booth while Maggie and I hung out behind the scenes. The weather was wonderful so it was nice just watching the people and enjoying the day.

Screen Doors

For our wedding anniversary my parents gave us screen doors for the house. Last week I called around for quotes and ultimately chose the company that gave us the best deal with the fastest installation time. We decided to get retractable screens for all three doors. On Tuesday the owner of the company came out and measured our doors and then installed the screen doors Saturday morning. We love how sturdy they are, how you can't see them when they're open, and how they retract into the frame when they're closed.

Basketball

Yesterday we went with my parents to the LA Lakers/LA Clippers preseason game here in town. It was a blast! We had dinner beforehand at the Doghouse Grill and then headed across the street to the 7pm game. The Clippers were on fire and definitely deserved the win. The score was 107-80 (ouch, Lakers) and I'm sure the Clippers were thrilled with the outcome. Gold-medalist Kobe Bryant played and despite coach Phil Jackson's recent leg problems, he was there too.

I'm so glad we went. I wish we had an NBA team here!

Three Years!

Yesterday was our third wedding anniversary! How can three years go by so quickly but still feel like we've been married forever?

More on what we did on our anniversary in a few minutes. Tonight we're going to celebrate by going out to dinner. Somewhere we haven't been yet but have wanted to try.

Anniversary

Two Years!