Weekend in San Diego & San Juan Capistrano...

It was a little odd this year not being at the family reunion in Guerrero, Mexico, but I was still able to see one of my cousins on the same weekend as the reunion. My cousin, Susana, whose grandfather was brother to my great-grandmother, invited me to spend the night with her family at their house in Chula Vista, which is right outside San Diego.

After a few setbacks in the morning (waking up not feeling well, paying the painters, feeding my mom's dog while she's still in Mexico, and a few others,) I was able to get on the road to San Diego at about 7:45am.

At Susana's house I met her husband, Gaston, and her sons, Santiago (4) and Elias (2.) Two cute and active boys! We packed up a picnic lunch, got into their Honda Odyssey, and toured around San Diego for about 5-6 hours, stopping at a beach in Del Mar to eat, and driving through La Jolla and Point Loma. It was a comfortable drive and eventually the boys fell asleep. We stopped in Point Loma and had some yummy shrimp cocktails and bought some ahi tuna for dinner. The dinner they made was wonderful!

The next morning (yesterday) I woke up around 7:30am after sleeping like a log, showered and packed, ate breakfast with the family, said my goodbyes and headed home.

It was my plan to come straight home, but after about 80 miles I was getting closer to San Juan Capistrano and thinking that I wanted to stop by the Old Barn Antique store, right across from the San Juan Capistrano Mission. That store is fascinating, and I'm lucky if I get to go once a year. So I decided to stop.

The place is enormous, about 1/2 block long, so you really have to scan everything carefully for things to stand out. The first thing I saw was a pretty glass pitcher on one of the front counters. As I rounded a corner, I found an interesting Lenox piece that I thought would go great on my dining room table. The store is sectioned in different areas supervised by different vendors. I went to an area in the back that always has pretty linens, and found a cute white tablecloth with blue embroidery that I thought would go well on my kitchen table. And, nearby there was a vintage red basket with a lining that I thought I could use for extra water bottles next to my fridge. Much cuter than the box I've been keeping them in. Grand total for these for things was $110. Not bad. The two breakables were 20% off and I had saved money on hotel and food by staying with my cousin the night before.

After the Old Barn I went across the street and visited the old mission. After being demolished by an earthquake it stands in ruins now, but it is still pretty and the grounds are full of flowers. I love taking pictures of flowers and it is always fun to visit historical places like this. Good practice since I'll be teaching 4th grade next year--CA history for Social Studies, and mission projects.

I really love my new camera, which I did buy on kind of a whim last Friday even though I have thought about getting a new camera for quite a while. It is an updated version of the one I already had, a Sony CyberShot, so it is very easy to use. My old one had a smaller screen, was a little bulkier, and only 5.1 mega pixels. The new one is very thin and sleek, and a screen about 2x3 inches, and is 12.1 mega pixels. The lithium battery charges up pretty fast too, and it takes great pictures! I love the way the colors turn out!

Here are the flower pictures I took around the mission yesterday:

Everything turns out so clear and bright! I can't wait to take the new camera to the Arboretum, and I'm thrilled to have it on my UT trip. I can't believe I leave in 6 days! The trip to San Diego was good practice driving a long way with the new CR-V. I love it. Very comfortable and smooth.

All in all a good weekend. I'm very glad I decided to stop in San Juan Capistrano too. I arrived home around 4pm yesterday, and set to work getting my house back in order and taking care of my mom's plants. It isn't easy taking care of 2 houses!

Today has been very sluggish. The painters had to go to another job today, which actually worked out really well, because it gives me a chance to be home and not having the stress of the workers around at the windows. I can't wait for this project to be done, although it probably won't be finished until I've already left for my UT trip.

So, that's what this weekend looked like for me. And it is really nice to have a quiet, relaxing day at home today.