Singing the Joys of Priceline.com

Priceline.com totally rocks! We've used it a time or two before. We have friends who use it for all their hotel get aways, most of the time, getting four star rooms for as low as $50 a night.

We used Priceline for our anniversary vacation and scored a four star hotel in Newport Beach, across from Fashion Island, for $50 a night!! When I checked the website, a King Room was listed for $177 a night, the back of the hotel room door said the room could go for $325 a night. But we got it for $50 a night thanks to Priceline.

We ended up paying a little more once you add in the $18 a day to park, and the $10.95 internet fee, but even with those added expenses, it was still a really inexpensive nights stay at a very nice hotel. This was our room before we moved in.The hotel was HUGE. It had over 400 rooms and three very large pools. The parking was quite a bit aways from our room, so every time we came and went we walked through the beautiful grounds. It was a beautiful place to stay for a few days. And another positive experience in a four star hotel thanks to Priceline.com. If you've never used it before, I highly recommend trying it out!!

The Ocean

I love the ocean. It brings about a calmness and is so majestic. I was thinking the other day that a good majority of our vacations and get aways over the years are always to places where we can easily make a trip to the water, if not staying within steps of it.

The past few days we stayed at a hotel in Newport Beach. While it wasn't directly near the ocean, we did make a trip to the pier one day and drove the coast one afternoon and we were close enough to feel the sea breeze and smell the ocean air.Newport Beach
In the last few years, we've taken up camping at a State Campground on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We're looking forward to camping over Memorial Day Weekend and then again in July. In July, we'll have an entire week of being near the ocean and hearing the roar of the waves nightly as we sleep in our tent.San Elijo Sunset
And then there is Pismo Beach. If you're family or a good friend, you'll know that Pismo Beach has been a family vacation spot for many, many years. Our family has been making that trek for over 20 years. Definitely holds a special place in all our memories and hearts. Pismo Beach Pier
I could definitely go for living near the ocean. I love the smell and the sea breeze. I love that when I'm in the element of the salty sea air, my sinuses don't bother me. I'm ready to go back, who's up for a day trip??

Our Anniversary

We've been away for a few days for our anniversary since Sunday, but today is the official day, our 14th anniversary.

Before kids, going to Disneyland was our thing, well, one of our things, and it's not very often that we go without our girls. So this afternoon, we did just that. We went to Disneyland for a few hours. We stopped off at City Hall and got anniversary buttons, which I promised Steven he did not have to wear, I just wanted the buttons and a picture and then we could put them in my purse. They're cute buttons, and the Cast Member even put the year and how many years we were celebrating. One of the unfortunate things about where our anniversary falls on the calendar is that every year it falls right in the midst of Spring Break. So the parks were very crowded today, lines were long, and there were lots of people just stopping in the middle of the walkways (you know, special people). We rode Pirates of the Caribbean, which was nice because it's been a long, long time since we've ridden it together, one of us usually has to sit out with Rachel. And we walked Disneyland and then over to California Adventure where we visited Blue Sky Cellar and got up to date on all the construction and additions coming to the park.

Steven still had his Fun Card (last years' Disney promotion, where you in to DL for free on your birthday, or passholders got a Fun Card for the amount of the cost of a one day ticket) and he bought me this Precious Moments Figurine. Precious Moments has a TON of DIsney themed figurines now, but this one is one of my favorites, the couple is sharing a Mickey Mouse Premium Ice Cream Bar. It's been one of our favorites for years. We finished off our special day with a nice dinner a Newport Beach rib joint.

It's been a great few days away celebrating our anniversary, however all good things must come to an end, and therefore tomorrow we'll be heading for home and picking up our girls from their Gramie.

BJ's for Lunch

Many, many years ago, my friend Diana introduced me to BJ's on the Balboa Peninsula. They had good pizza and a trip to BJ's was always a way to get a trip to the beach and walk the pier.

That is...until they started building BJ's all over the place. There's several in the surrounding cities in which we live and are a lot more practical than a 50 mile trip to the beach just for pizza that can be found less than 10 miles away. We had lunch today at BJ's on the Balboa Peninsula and then walked the pier. It was a nice treat!

The Blind Side

We are away for a few days for our anniversary. Not too far from home, but far enough to feel as though we are away. The girls are with their Gramie (Steven's Mom). And we are enjoying our four star hotel for cheap thanks to Priceline.com.

We finally were able to see The Blind Side last night. I didn't realize it was a true story. DUH.

What a great, great movie. It's no wonder Sandra Bullock won the best actress Oscar, she played a great part. Her role, and really the role of the entire family, should be the attitude that we as Christians should take when we see people in need of a friend, a meal, encouraging words, and in the case of 'Big Mike" a couch to sleep on.

Through a ministry at church, we've been learning a lot in recent months what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people we encounter. And I think this movie was a good example of it as well.

I think because of the Oscar win, the movie has been re-released at some theaters, if you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you check it out. Or you can always just buy the DVD when it comes out tomorrow!

My Address Book

I have an address book. I've had it since we were first married and tucked away inside are names, addresses, and phone numbers of family, friends, doctors, businesses, even the address of the annoying and loud parting neighbors behind us (makes it easy to call the police and report when you have an address!).

Whenever we go on vacation, or away for a few days, I always, always take my address book. There might be an emergency whereas you need to contact the neighbors, the doctor, or you might want to drop a postcard in the mail to a friend or two. But it always comes with me.

Over the course of the last few days I've been taking the names and addresses out of my little blue book and adding them to my address book on my iPhone.Having all that information in my iPhone is not only helpful, but my phone is always with me. Having all my addresses and phone numbers with me is just another reason why i LOVE my iPhone!

Spring has Sprung

While the calendar says Spring is still a few days away, the weather and the trees and all the blossoming going on here in Southern California says otherwise.

The last few days have been quite warm, mid to high 80s. One day was even bordering on 90, which is too warm for me. The skies have been clear and there's a nice afternoon breeze sweeping through the late afternoons.

The girls are officially off track, but we've not been doing much of anything as Hannah has had a sore throat for a few days. I took her to our Pediatrician on Wednesday after finding out that my niece, whom the girls spent time with this past weekend, was diagnosed with strep throat. Hannah's had no fever, no spots on her throat, therefore our Pediatrician ruled it a virus and said she should be on the mend in the next day or two. We've been home all week so that she can get better, not be exposed to anything else, and hurry up and get on the mend.

With being home so much this week, I've started on some Spring cleaning. It started with wiping all the doors down with bathroom cleaner. Every door we have is a six pane door and those little ledges of the paneling are perfect for collecting dust. They've all been washed down, front and back, and all the doors in the hall look so fresh now. I also switched out the attachments on my vacuum and vacuumed all the blinds. They were so dusty you could see fingerprints on the wooden slats, but not any more! This afternoon, I hosed down the patio and then started washing windows. I'll maybe finish that tomorrow. But I'm on my way of tackling some deep cleaning that's been bugging me for months but have been too busy.

We're adjusting to the springing forward of our clocks last weekend. It's a good thing we are off track, I can't imagine having to drag the girls out of bed at 6:30 when it's relatively still gloomy and on the dark side. Staying light longer in the evenings is a welcome change and it feels as though more hours have been added to your day in order to get things done. It's time to start looking for new recipes to try on the BBQ and get in the mode of 'cooler foods'. LOL.

Another sign of Spring - our wedding anniversary! Our anniversary is next Tuesday and we'll be leaving town for a few days and I CAN NOT WAIT! The girls will be going to my Mother in Law's house Saturday afternoon and will stay with her for a few days. We thought about going to a favorite vacation destination, the Central California Coast, to The Apple Farm, but after Steven spent a night in Orange County a couple of weeks ago, we decided to go to Newport Beach. There is lots to do in Orange County and it's only an hour from home and we scored BIG on Priceline.com with the hotel.

Speaking of time change, the sun can sure throw a person off, I'm thinking I still have an hour to prepare dinner, but I don't. So it's time to go get dinner started...