What I Did on my Summer-I-mean-Fall Vacation...

preview of post to come on lunch at Tiger! Tiger! 

1. Pinned up a storm - My love affair with Pinterest continues.  If you are looking for me, chances are you will find me over here.  (If you need an invite, let me know!)  
2. Fretted about my garden - Though we did get quite a nice haul of tomatoes, cucumbers and salad greens this summer, the garden just has not been looking good for several months now.  Early blight struck the tomato and cucumber plants so they looked dead even though they kept producing, and the peppers, squash and herbs just never took off.  When I finally gave up and ripped out the plants, I discovered an infestation of disgusting fat, white grubs, which were probably eating the roots.   I'm just about ready to give up.
3. Read the Game of Thrones books - After watching the HBO series, I became hooked and read the first three books back to back.  I'm just now getting into the fourth one. 
4. Took the nieces to Disneyland (again.) -  We saw World of Color, which was fantastic, and went to the Halloween party, which was very fun and provided the girls with the opportunity to collect lots of candy.  We also had some good rum cocktails and snacks at the new Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel.  If you live in the OC you should definitely check it out!
5.  Had surgery - In September I underwent surgery for removal of a cantaloupe - yes cantaloupe - sized ovarian cyst.  It went very well.  My surgeon, Dr. Tarakjian at Sharp and anesthesiologist Dr. Farrell took very good care of me and I was able to go back to work the following week.  Needless to say though, during the approximately month-long period between the initial detection and removal, it was a bit of a distraction.
6. Learned to make friendship bracelets out of embroidery thread - I bought a huge bag of embroidery thread and learned to make them using this blog post.  It's very meditative.  Just need to learn how to make good knot and loop closures now.  
7. Had some good meals at a few new restaurants -  I finally tried Searsucker more than a year after it opened, and went to both Burlap and Tiger! Tiger! on their opening days.  All were very good. We also snagged seats at the Cooks Confab Confit dinner at Farm House, which was divine, and I had a very good dinner at Starlite with some girlfriends.  Hadn't been there in a while.  
8. Said goodbye to a friend - Her illness was a tragedy, and her loss is unspeakably sad.  She was a beautiful woman, inside and out, and a beloved sister, wife and daughter.  Only 44 years old.  
9. Contemplated the universe - I feel like I'm at a point in life now where I know what I want to do with my time and energy and I need to control it more carefully.  I've been trying, but I'm surprised by how difficult it is. Most of the time, I feel like I'm bouncing off of obstacles like a ball in a pinball machine.  The days go by so quickly, and before you know it, you've reached the end of another one.     This will be an ongoing challenge, I fear.      
10. Contemplated this blog - One of the reasons I haven't posted in a while is that I've been wrestling with what exactly to do here.  I wish I could write about it all, but time is limited and I feel like the audience is a bit divided - the food posts definitely get the most feedback,  and I always hear good things about the restaurant reviews - which I really like doing, but I like mixing it up with other stuff too.  If you have any thoughts about what you'd like to see more or less of, feel free to let me know in the comments.

It's good to be back!