Last Furlough Friday

A year has gone by since they started the furloughs and it's finally coming to an end. My coworkers bitched like crazy when it first started, now they are crying that it is over. Yes, I will miss the Fridays off but damn it, I want my full paycheck back!

The SD County Fair is giving free admissions to the fair for all state employees during Furlough Fridays. I took advantage of it today. Got a free ticket for Tbear too! In the 20 years I've lived in the SD area I never once went to the fair, so finally this was the incentive to go. We had a very nice time. The garden and flower display was great and gave us more ideas for our backyard. Plus we enjoyed all the cool animals. Who doesn't like llamas? They are so cute! Food was good but pricey of course. $13 for a barbeque chicken sandwich with some beans?! Ok ok, I know you have to expect fair food to be expensive but still, it's always a surprise at how overpriced it really is. Bottom line, I'm glad I know what the SD fair is all about but I'll probably not go again for years.

Front of our Home

Hopefully the grass will make it through the hot summer!

Master Bedroom Makeover

Before:

After:

Creating a Zen-like Retreat

It's been a long time since my last blog and so much has happened. New home and a future addition to the family. I've had a lot on my mind these days.

Our search for a home was long and frustrating. We really wanted to stay in North San Diego County. It's a great place to be, plus so close to my work. However, home prices in that area are kind of expensive for us. Anything that's in our range is also in major need of updating. So we caved in and moved further north, closer to my parents. Good thing too, I'll need Mom to watch the baby once I go back to work.

Anyways, I love the house we bought. It was move-in ready for the most part, just needed a couple things. The first thing we did was re-vamp the backyard. It was very "blah" beforehand.


So, we added a wall, some plants and a fountain and voila! It's so much more appealing now. Once the plants fill in it will look even better.


More house pics to come!

Hidden Gem

Wow, I haven't blogged in forever! I felt the need to share today though. While driving around looking for homes, we came across a nursery and gardens in San Marcos called Buena Creek. The gardens were beautiful and natural (meaning not overly manicured). Lots of cool knick knacks around the garden available for purchase. Also, a cute little gift shop called "El Shakito", which has lovely red tile floors and lots of charm. Not to mention free coffee and cookies for guests. Worth a visit if you're in the north county area. Me and Tbear will be back when it's time to buy plants for our home. The little guy above was part of the garden experience. He was a talker too!

http://www.buenacreekgardens.com/index.html

Most annoying thing of the week

Me and Tbear have spent the last two weeks house hunting. Nothing but short sales and foreclosures out there. It's hard to get our hands on anything that doesn't have seven bids from other home shoppers. *Sigh*. We have to finish our pre-approval process anyways so were looking at mid-summer to late summer. Wish us luck!

Anyways, we were driving around Escondido when we came across this modest but nice home:



Then we get a glimpse of the home across the street:


WTF? Does that say Heartbreak Hotel? Why yes it does!

Another entrance to this disaster home.

Please note: The garage has a "no littering" sign. Dude, I think you beat everyone to it with your questionable taste in home decor. No, I don't want your damn $50 dryer!


This is when you DO wish there were H.O.A fees! If you want to read more on the "inspiration" for this guy's home, click link below:


http://sports.uniontrib.com/uniontrib/20070225/news_lz1c25andre.html

I so relate to this......

R.I.P. Paquito and Precious

Tbear's sweet little chihuahuas have gone to doggie heaven. The poor little pooches had to be put to sleep due to medical issues. I know my honey and his family are very sad about the loss. Precious is in this photo, begging for her tummy to be rubbed.

Kasha Katuwe National Monument

Ok, so I was totally lagging on posting my pics from NM. I've gotten too caught up with facebook and neglected my blog. Anyways, here are some of my favorite images from our hike at Kasha Katuwe. I think we'll end up framing them in one of those four photo hanging frames you find at Michaels, etc. Pretty cool place, don't you think? We went on two separate hikes. The first was an easy loop around the canyons, about a mile and a half. The second was a more challenging hike up the canyon that ends with a view of the surrounding New Mexico desert and nearby lake. Another highlight of the trip was shopping in Santa Fe. I'm always on the lookout for beautiful turquoise jewelry (especially if it's a good deal!). Santa Fe is a great little town, but it doesn't quite have the "wow" factor that Sedona has in terms of natural landscape. On the other hand, there was more impressive architecture in Santa Fe, so I recommend going to both places!