California Dreamin'

Thursday, September 3, 2026

2026 - Update

So, I have a bunch of things to cross off my list. I plan to blog more regularly, now that I'm retired.

#2 - I went to Gallifrey One with Nevada and met up with my nephew. Link to photos.

#11 - Go to beach. In April, we went to Ocean Isle, NC, with myYD and family.

Then in May (right before Memorial Day) we went to Florida with my DIL and her husband.

#12 - Visit with Jennifer and David. Spent the day with them in August -- it was beastly hot. The only evidence I have of the visit is a picture of an owl we saw on our walk.

#15 - Plant more rosemary and mint. Done - but we'll see how well it does.

#17 - Visit MS - we visited in April for his birthday and then again in July (right before I retired).

#18 - Visit YS & family - will post on this later
#23 - Spend time with sister(s) - will post later

#24 - RETIRED - as of August 1, 2026!!

#26 - Coffee with Amanda - no evidence but we got together in April.
#28 - Go to Eagle Harbor - more later
#30 - Go to Sault Ste Marie - more later
#33 - Go to California - April and then again in July (for work)
#41 - Get a new laptop - Done
#46 - Become a grandma again - As of July 8, 2026 - try this link
#47 - Find a church - Done

Thursday, February 19, 2026

Baking Challenge #1 - Update

Here are Nevada's biscotti ...

Week 7 : Feb 12 to Feb 18

Feb 12

Feb 13

Feb 14 - bowling

Feb 15

Feb 16

Week 6 : Feb 5 to Feb 11

Feb 5 - the snowman ...

Feb 6 - in LA

Feb 7 - in the TARDIS

Feb 8 - without me :(

Week 5 : Jan 29 to Feb 4

Jan 29 - self portrait

Jan 31 - snow!!

Feb 1 - Snowman

Feb 2 - #3

Week 4 : Jan 22 to Jan 28 2026

Jan 22 - trying to be artsy :)

Jan 25 - a light dusting

Jan 26 - dancing?

Jan 27

Jan 28 - polished rocks

Saturday, January 24, 2026

New Restaurants #1 and #2

So I swapped out one of the items on my goal for 2026 for going to new restaurants. Hoping this will be something that we do.

#1 Millstone Pizza and Taphouse in Rock Hill

This was a pizza place that we went to after New Years. It was okay. They are connected to a brewery which wasn't open when we went -- they didn't really have kid's foods. Not a family sort of place but it was fine. The pizza was good; the bread knots were good. No pictures.

#2 Seoul Food in Charlotte

This was a good place to go with kids. They had little animals the kids could ride on (for a fee); they had a playground in the back. I don't remember what I had to eat, but the beer was good. Definitely would go back.

Okay, I obviously need to work harder at doing this -- not just provide the name of the place. I'll have to give more of a critique as the year goes on. But anyway, we've gone to two new places which is a good thing.

Baking Challenge #1 - Biscotti

So for the baking challenge with Nevada, we're going to find different things to make. She picked the first one (to be fair, she gave me a choice of a couple of things and I picked biscotti because I've made it before and had success).

Here's the link to the recipe that we used:

Chocolate dipped almond biscotti

Fortunately, I had all the ingredients on hand.

Flour
Eggs
Almonds
Semi-sweet chocolate
baking powder
cinammon
salt
butter
oil

I thought they turned out great. I actually don't like the chocolate -- so I'd probably leave that off next time. Just waiting to get pics of Nevada's ...