Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Happy Birthday, Part II

My 50th birthday celebration got a little bigger. It started out last week with a wonderful day of skiing with my husband and daughter. We continued the party on Sunday by spending a day in San Diego. We did a little shopping, dining, and even enjoyed a concert.

It was a sunny day and I enjoyed the hour drive down there and the chance to relax and crochet the whole way. We grabbed some yummy coffee drinks and spent a couple of hours at Ikea looking at their great stuff and being inspired. I love Ikea! We stayed for lunch and enjoyed their delicious Swedish meatball platters. Yum!

Next, we went to a bead and jewelery store/outlet that I heard about years ago and had been wanting to check out. They had so much stuff that it was a little overwhelming. But, I did find a little something that I wanted. A beautiful silver rose. It's about 2 1/4" wide with a pin on the back that works great as a shawl pin (I wore it with one of my shawls right after we left the store). It also has a loop that I plan to string a ribbon through and wear as a necklace. It's so pretty! I love it!


From there, we drove north to the town of Encinitas. It's one of our favorite places in San Diego and we spend a lot of time there. It's a beautiful little town with gorgeous beaches, beautiful weather and a great vibe. It's hard to explain. We just feel really good when we're there.

We walked around some little shops and had dinner at a fancy little Italian restaurant (I didn't notice the name). It was good! I had potato dumplings filled with spinach and ricotta and it was covered with a sage cream sauce. Yum! Hubby had butternut squash gnoccis with scallops, shrimp and some kind of tomato/cream sauce. It was really tasty! My daughter had penne with artichoke hearts and prosciutto. We enjoyed some delicious wines as well. It was a small, pretty restaurant with dim lighting and a comfortable feel. There was even a doggy laying on the floor next to one of the customers with his own little bowl of food. So cute.

One of the little treasures in town is the La Paloma Theatre. It's been around since 1928 and keeps on going. That's pretty special these days. It doesn't seem to have been remodeled or modernized. How it looks now seems to be how it's always been. It's like stepping back in time. It's a bit magical. We love to see shows there!

For years we've seen on the marque that George Winston performs there every January. We've talked about going but never got around to checking into it. This year, my husband surprised me with tickets. He bought them in November for my birthday. What a sweetheart! We were pretty lucky to get tickets because we heard it sold out pretty quickly.


We have some George Winston CD's that I love. I especially love listening to them when we go camping. His music is so happy, relaxing, and uplifting all at the same time. We were excited to see the man behind the sound. It turns out that he's a VERY quiet man...a man of very few words. But, he sure is talented. He even plays the guitar and the harmonica...verrry well!

We all had a very nice day! Turning 50 has been a little emotional but it's actually starting out pretty well! :-)

7 comments:

Dave Daniels said...

Happy Birthday and welcome to the 50+ club!

Sandra said...

What a great way to celebrate your birthday! I'll have to show this post to my husband, since I turn 50 this year, but I can say both he and my son abhor IKEA, and would not enjoy shopping in boutiques. I may get the great Italian dinner, and possibly a concert, so there's hope...

judith said...

Happy Birthday! Just don't join the Red Hats yet, you don't look old enough and there's no need to tell anyone that you are. Beautiful pin!

KarenB said...

Sounds like it was an especially lovely day in San Diego. What a sweet memory!

Benita said...

Happy birthday! I'll be joining the 50 club in 2 and a half years.

I have several George Winston CDs on my computer at work and I love listening to them there to help keep me relaxed.

What a nice birthday present to receive.

roxie said...

Happy birthday and congratulations on a celebration well done!

I saw your comment about lactose intolerance on Benita's blog and wanted to make a few suggestions. Cheese that has been aged over a year has no lactose left because the cheese beasties eat it all up. Costco has some lovely aged "Dubliner" cheddar at quite reasonable prices. You might give it a try. Lactaid milk has been very successful for me - you can get it at Safeway. Finally, yogurt is naturally lactose free and can be used as a substitute for sour cream, or, if you drain it through some paper towels for about 8 hours, it will become an acceptable substitute for cream cheese in most dips and spreads. And frozen yogurt fills in quite nicely for ice-cream.

Best of luck with the change in diet.

Erin @Days to Remember said...

What a wonderful birthday! Your Italian meals all sound SO good. I hope the big 5-0 is a wonderful year for you!