100 Good Things to Eat and Drink in San Diego - Redux

Easter, 1962

While I'm working on more vacation posts, I thought it would be fun to share these pictures of my parents taken on Easter in 1962. This was just a few months before they got married (on June 6, 1962) and they were 20 and 22 at the time. How stylish and adorable are they??

My dad's hair is buzzed because he was a cadet at the Air Force Academy. They don't make them do that anymore (as upperclassmen anyway) but he was in the third or fourth graduating class, back when they took those things seriously. My mother and her parents lived in Denver, and he went up to visit as often as he could. She went to Colorado Women's College (now part of DU) and they met at a dinner. He asked her out on the spot - to go watch the planes take off at the airport.

The camera my dad is holding in these photos is an Argus - we still have it. Actually, his mother worked at the factory, so we have a whole bunch of them. The shutter is stuck on this one, I keep meaning to take it to the repair shop. (I have a lot of things like that I need to take care of knives that need sharpening, copper pans that need tinning, a cuckoo clock that needs weights, on and on...)

My mother, doing her model pose. I would so wear that suit right now. She had some really darling clothes.

The one above is my favorite - it's just such a cute moment, and looks the most like them to me.

It's hard for me to believe my dad was really this young. He's looking sharp in that suit, too.

As a little bonus - this picture was taken a few years later, on Easter, 1972 - that's me on the right. The other little girl is Tricia Buzard, who was our next door neighbor at the time. I love her glasses.

Hope you and yours have a happy, peaceful Easter! Eat lots of chocolate bunnies and enjoy the celebration of Spring!

Nazca Grill

Spring Break Part One - The Ace Palm Springs, etc

I think one of the very worst parts of being a grownup is the absence of breaks.  As a kid and all the way into college (or grad school) you come to rely on things like winter break, spring break and summer to well... break things up.  Every fall is a fresh start, and every winter and spring you get a little time to take care of business, go on a trip, or just be for a little while.   Having a job has it's advantages, but I really miss those little refreshers - so this year I decided to take a spring break of my own.  It grew out of a trip to New Orleans (we leave tomorrow) and the fact that my nieces had last week off from school.  I'd told them I'd try to take them out to the Ace in Palm Springs for a quick overnighter in March - but the weekends don't really work (too debauched) and they can't miss school.   Hence, last week was the perfect time.   We drove out on Monday morning and didn't leave the property until noon the next day. 

Jora came too and brought little Baby E.  The girls were fantastic with her, and she had a blast making friends with everyone.  (I think she was the only girl at the pool with rolls on her thighs and a belly.)

I really do love the Ace. At least during the week it's a mellow scene.  There were a bunch of kids there since it was spring break for the public schools - but I'm sure that's not normally the case, and it wasn't really a bother anyway - they just played in the pool.  We had two good meals at the Kings Highway - I especially recommend the ALT sandwich - and the version where they add an egg and bacon at breakfast.  The coconut french toast was pretty decadent too.  They have great cocktails (I like the one with bourbon, ginger beer and blackberries) the service isn't pretentious, the rooms aren't expensive.  Jora got one with a little patio and a record player.  The record player was fun and it was nice to have a little room to spread out - especially with the baby.

Of course, we had to take this picture.  Alice, Caelan and Emma...

and the lovely Jora with Emilia...

When we got back, the girls spent another night, and I made a blackberry streusel coffee cake the next morning. There's nothing more indulgent than a lazy Wednesday morning with homemade coffee cake.  Then Emma hauled out the chess set and asked me to play.  We also played Battleship the day before - which they LOVED. (James and I couldn't stop saying "You sank my Battleship!" to each other, which of course meant nothing to them.)   

Their one request was to go to the tidepools in La Jolla.  We had to wait until late in the day for the tide to go out, so I took them to the mall to kill some time, and look at the new stuff for spring.  It was the first time they've shown any interest in shopping or clothes.  They were holding things up to each other at Anthropologie and trying on shoes at Nordstrom.  At home, Caelan picked up one of my issues of Vogue and said "I like to look at fashion magazines, they look cool."  Uh oh...

I'd forgotten that the tidepools at the south end of the beach are totally submerged at this point - those were the tidepools I used to go to as a kid, but that was, err... a long time ago.   We hopped back in the car and drove up to the north end of the beach by the pier, and they got to poke around for a while...  

Then we headed further north, and met their mom at Blue Ribbon Pizzeria.  I was coming down with a cold, we were wet and sandy from the beach, and their baby brother was fussy - so we decided to just get takeout and head our separate ways.  I ordered two pizzas and two salads and brought them all the way to  La Mesa from Encinitas - and I think the food was better than it was when we ate in the last time - believe it or not. Both of the pizzas - the signature and the father's special (or something like that) had their ricotta on them.  Do not miss that.  The salad with bacon and breadcrumbs and the tuna with avocado and grapefruit were similarly divine.  I definitely see inspiration from Pizzeria Mozza in their menu, and it's hard to go wrong with that.

Speaking of Pizzeria Mozza - I also went up to LA with a friend for a little shopping trip last weekend.   More on that is coming soon -  but now I have to pack for New Orleans.  Laissez le bon temps rouler!!   xxoo 

Huzzah!! Casa Robertson has a Guest Room!

I am pleased to announce that Casa Robertson at last sports an honest-to-goodness guest room!  It was a long time in coming, but when we go, we go all out.  A fan and a gumball machine are among the many amenities you'll find.   There's an Ace Hotel robe hanging on the back of the door, and I've even ordered one of those folding luggage racks.

This project began when a friend of mine happened to mention that she had an heirloom wooden double bed she needed to store. I have two nieces who visit not infrequently, who were fast outgrowing the single daybed they slept on head to toe. I'd also been meaning to re-do this room for a while now. It's still primarily my office and dressing room, but since I don't work at home much anymore, I didn't really need as much work space. It was also high time something was done about the furniture, which consisted of two dressers I had been using since seventh grade, and two white folding tables for a desk.

My friend gave me the bed to store for at least two years, and the rest just grew from there.  I wanted the room to be fun and kid appropriate - since my nieces will undoubtedly stay in it most often - but stylish and comfortable enough for adults too.  Luckily the bed fit right in with what I was going for.  I covered it with Ikea linens and hung a vintage wool blanket over the footboard. 

I still liked the robins egg blue, so we just repainted the walls the same color.  The bookshelf and desk chair came from West Elm and I picked up the bedside table at a vintage store in Riverside.  I could not believe how lucky I was to find the dresser on Craigslist.  It was only $250. and the seller lived less than a mile away.  The mirror is from the original 7th grade Ethan Allen furniture set.   

I already had this linen bulletin board and when we had our first houseguests a couple of weeks ago I wanted to get it covered.  I pulled out a box of thumb tacks and a box of art and travel postcards and mementos I've collected *going back almost 30 years* and went to work.  It was sort of strange handling things that are vintage because *I* bought them when I was 12.  (For a closer look, click here.)

I trolled Craigslist for a couple of months looking for a wood bookshelf until I finally caved and bought this one from West Elm. It was a little pricey, but it works perfectly and I needed to get something in there.

So there you have it - reserve now for best availability!  We have Traders chocolate croissants in the freezer, and we always have plenty of coffee on hand!