Ramblings....

September has come and gone with some of our hottest days on record. And even as I post this blog on Oct 1st - it's supposed to be 100 this weekend! So no relief yet. Is Autumn here yet...but like real Autumn?? I'm so over this heat. It thwarted many things we had going on this month.

Pat started his new job this month. After Wells Fargo screwed him over, he had multiple offers come up. He's pretty brilliant, so I wasn't surprised, but he of course is quite modest. This new job is lucky to have him and I'm sure he will thrive. We're very grateful he wasn't laid off for too long. It seems the news/country/world is getting worse. Gas is at an all time high - over $6!!! Everything has gone up, Inflation rearing it's ugly head and making things impossible. I'm doing my best to not go down a spiral with all the bad going on right now. I capture the good. Memories. Joy. Try to focus as best I can on that. So I greet October with hope. I'm not sure what to hope for anymore, but it is the spooky season and I'm sure we can find those spots of spooky joy.

So - another month of memories.

The fur babies:

I'm obsessed with her

So distinguished

Spoiled

I mentioned "Gramma" was coming and he started looking for her

My obsession

Did I mention spoiled?

He doesn't like mornings

Exhausted from day care

Love this picture of Elizabeth and Rascal

Rascal in his jammies

Bowling/Pool Shenanigans:

Libby getting lessons from Owen

I thought I was taking a picture of us...but Beth knew. LOL

That's the picture I was going for...

Libby and her shots

Riley staying cool with his own personal fan

I bowled a 212 one night!!!

The Striking Hornets

The food:

Cod with a yummy sauce

Veggie Skewers - looks like Christmas!

Pat is on a Mediterranean kick right now. This was a fish stew, wilted chard and a middle eastern rice. It was so friggin good!

Lamb shoulder with a tomato sauce, a carrot/orange salad and cous cous

Salmon with a delicious sauce and Tabouli

So simple, yet yummy

Paella

Cod with a lemon glace, pilaf and zucchini also in a lemon sauce

This chicken had an amazing pistachio/cranberry mix on it that was bomb!

A yummy dessert at Happy Hour

Labor Day we started off with a lovely walk around Irvine Park with The McDonalds. We were going to hike but weirdly it rained the day before, so we just hit up the park. Then Pat and I did a whole lot of nuthin and it was lovely!

After the rain

I destroyed Pat

Since I killed Pat in the GenX game I let him kill me in Pool later

Hikes:

I took a Friday off and met up with Elyse to do some SeaGlass hunting one day. I had told her about Capo Beach and I guess it was a good pick! She found a huge piece and was so ecstatic about it. I got some good geocaching in as well! Then we had breakfast. A lovely day indeed.

Geocache #1

Geocache #2

Geocache #3!

The bridge that goes across PCH seems to be becoming a lock place

I will never not love the beach

Look at all the rocks within the rock!

Love these guys!

Really cool shell I almost took home

OMG Baby ones!

Elyse and her prize find

Just a couple of gals looking for seaglass and pretty rocks

My Haul

We headed down to SJC and met Carol and Michele for brunch one morning.

Libby, Robin and I decided to get brunch one morning. Lots of laughs!

Um......

Seriously these two...

Culinary Dropout has one of the best espresso martinis

Pat and I had a wine pick up in Temecula this month.

One of our favorites

Rascal digs wine pick up days too

Rick turned friggin 80 this month! So we all met up and we took him out to dinner! We so love this man.

This cake was so rich!

Jen, Maria and I had our monthly brunch and celebrated Jen's birthday! We had breakfast then did the candle making with wine at Seis Soles.

Happy Birthday Jen! I got her a She-Ra pin that I thought was a tiny pin, but it's huge. She of course loves it!

Ready to make my candle

This was a Gen Z Mexican Bingo game. I actually won!

But really...GenX forever bitches!

Pat started his new job this month, so the Thursday before we decided to take a day since we're not sure what his PTO situation will be. We had a pick up at Halter Ranch so we stopped there then had lunch at Cougar. They had a special and we came home with a case of Rose! Wooohooo!

Charlie is the official Halter Ranch Greeter

I love it here

It was damn hot again. We would have stayed longer but this has been a hot as hell month. Rascal agrees

Wondering why mom just kicked dad out of the car to go buy that case!

One of my work colleagues - David - hosted a dinner party one night with a few of us. He made a short rib, broccolini, cauliflower, and an appetizer. He always had some really great wine! It was set up really lovely. Pat made a chocolate cake and I brought my caprese skewers which always seem to be a hit. It was a lovely evening!

Pat & My contribution

Such a lovely set up!

TJ's appetizer. It was basically flaky fried cheese

The spread

This wine was divine!

Michel, Lindsey, Elizabeth and David

Another fun thing of note - our offices at work are in this back building that sucks. Everyone has been pulled back in office full time (except those of us trying to get exception requests) and it's pretty sad around campus. One of our colleagues thought it would be fun if we had a puzzle set up in our workroom so people could pick at it and take breaks. Well this non-puzzle girl has become obsessed!! I'm the one working on it the most! LOL. We finished one and are almost done with another. I can't believe I'm into puzzles all of a sudden. I'm now trying to figure out a way to have one here at the house, but not sure I can make it work.