Family, Sun, Warm

OK, I have been a slacker about this blog. Lot's of excuses but none of them hold water.


So I am here in sunny Southern California, soaking up the warmth and the sun. I sat out in the sun for about 10 minutes and could tell I was getting burned - I am SO pasty - ick! Tomorrow I head down to Oceanside to see Cody, Mel and Oliver and will spend the night with the Straitiffs, then head back up here on Thursday for a birthday dinner that Les is cooking for me! What  a treat. I am amazed at how far he has come with his cooking. It was just about a year and a half ago that he could barely boil water and now he is in culinary school, whipping up gourmet meals like it's old hat! Tonight he is doing halibut and other wonderful stuff and for my birthday dinner, lamb chops. How spoiled I am - and loving it.


It felt really good to get away from Washington and the cold - and the negativity that has invaded my house. I do have empathy for him, but his thinking is so skewed and I watch him spiral himself in with the negative talk and it is just too much to deal with sometimes. And frustrating! Because I will not fall back into the helping mode and do everything and yet he won't pick up what needs to be done. It's as if the world owes him. So it's good to be away and get some perspective.


Being down here also reminds me of how much I need the sun - and people. I know I will have to work for the rest of my life so I might as well find something that I really enjoy doing, in a place that I like, around people that I want to be around. So the old idea of the B&B in Costa Rica resurfaced and I think of how much fun that could be, near or on the beach, people around, and I can get back into doing the type of writing and photography I love to do, which has been shoved on the back burner. I also realize that I can do the nut biz from just about anywhere - as long as there is someone who can physically pack and ship the orders. Wouldn't that be cool? A warehouse in California or somewhere, and me in the tropics, taking care of the "stuff" while somebody else does the grunt work! 


The site is coming along with the revisions but as usual it is always slower than anticipated. Especially when the designer is off sick and then the Project Manager is sick. And of course there are the constant glitches - I had no idea what really went on with web sites in the background. So often, on a site, there'll be something that doesn't work quite right, and I gloss over it, but when it is your own site! Oh dear, what a difference that makes. 


We are gearing up for a media blitz as soon as the site is revamped and that will be a lot of fun. The PR guys are getting stuff organized and have been a big help so far. I get to meet them on Friday. Now that is going to be a treat as I am meeting them at a Farmers Market in Hermosa Beach and apparently they have the best tacos! Real Mexican tacos, not the wimpy Washington ones. And the Farmers Market is year round, what a treat - not just the months it's ok (sort of) to be outside. I'll post pix.


And then I am getting my hair cut by Tate, a friend of Ryan's who has wanted to cut it for ages! The last cut I had in Port Townsend was terrible and I have let it grow out so he will have a lot to work with.


So it's all good! I just keep a vision of the B&B in the tropics and know that I have a direction to go.