A New Chapter

Before I had even finished putting my Christmas decor away Bob and I went to California for a week.

He was presenting at a conference in Palm Desert, and I was going along.

He had to give a 30 minute presentation and then he was done.

Done.

I mean as in the end to a 36 year career done.

He is retired.

It is the end of the second week and it still feels like he is on vacation to me.

So, my new normal.

We'll see how it goes:-)

In Palm Desert, because he was presenting, they gave us a room with an adjoining living space.  It was so nice to have the space as we both had trouble with the time change and were up at odd hours.  Because we had this space we could go in here and not bother the other.

But do you notice something missing?

There are only 2 lamps on the buffet.  Not a shred of light in the sitting area.  I am not impressed with the decorator of this space.  And what is the purpose of that weird round ottoman?

I am so glad that I remembered to pack my reading light.  It is now a staple in my suitcase along with my pillow and my sleep sac.

The view from the balcony was beautiful.

When the conference wrapped up we headed in to the ocean for a few more days of retirement celebration.

We had lunch here in Laguna Beach.

The view from our table.

This place was right in town and right on the water.

Our lunch was pretty good too.

Then on to our hotel in Laguna Beach.

The Montage.

Lovely.

I was quite taken with the view from the lobby.

And with the lobby. 

 I loved the decor.  It was just like a very large comfortable living room and I could just move right on in.  So many hotels now are decorated in a very contemporary style and while they are very nice, they seem cold to me.

Books, a roaring fire, lots of yellow and comfy places to sit, the ocean right outside the window, oil paintings….

The grounds were so pretty, lots of blooming things.

Everything is so brown in Texas that it was nice to see green grass and flowers.

I took a few pictures of the room because I could just move in here too.  In fact I want that yellow plaid sectional for my library.

And I don't ever think I saw a hotel room with off white carpet.

The room wasn't grand ~ or large ~ but I loved everything about it.

{except maybe the drapery fabric:-) }

This is what we did for 2 days, sat on a lounge at the pool facing the ocean, reading our books.  

We did move off of our lounge chairs long enough to explore a bit.

We headed to San Juan Capistrano which was just a few minutes up the hill from Laguna.

We had breakfast in town here.

Ruby's was the only place we saw open for breakfast.  The restaurant is upstairs and we sat on the balcony and had a delicious breakfast.

From our table I could see the mission, which was the reason we came.

We took the self guided tour and it was very interesting.  

So beautiful.

And then, back to the hotel to take a walk on the beach and read some more and watch the sun set.  I never tire of watching...

Of course, now we are home and getting nothing accomplished!  I still have the trees up in the grandchildren's rooms!

My sister and her husband came to visit the weekend after we got home but no pictures of that.  They needed to escape from MN where they have had 5 days off from school in January due to the cold.  I was glad it was in the 70's while they were here.

It's cold here now too, so I guess no more excuses for me to not finish putting the holidays away.  

Till next time...