Podcast 007 had to do with the Year of the Rat, and also the Victim Loop. This is the Chinese Year of the Rat, and I find it easier to set “goals” (not “resolutions” —hate that word) on or about this time, with whatever the Chinese new year is supposed to signify as a subject goal. As you will hear in the podcast, this year is a year of the rat, which keeps a clean nest, is clever, knows when to get out of trouble, and is a guardian of abundance.
Oui, it is I, Solitaire, posting whilst on holiday with my James! It’s his birthday, and we’re driving down Highway 1 from San Francisco to Laguna Beach. Well, let’s say we HAVE been driving down the coast… I had great thoughts of blogging and podcasting my way down, and there has been absolutely N-O reception along the way. So, we’re here (Laguna Beach), after a bit of receptionist-wrangling (awful awful terrible dark room for our 3-day stay) and “stirring not shaking.” My James is off to get supplies (bless him) and so… here I be.
So what’s really on my mind now is Travel. I can’t get over how much easier it is to get out and about when I have my “gym bag” (with necessities) and my “makeup bag” all set to go. I took my own good advice (was that Podcast 3? Who can remind me?) and have put my contact lens fluid, conditioner, etc. in smaller bottles, and am dutifully chalking off the sides as we use them each day. I’m still working on the right bag for my makeup stuff, brushes, and the like. My dad gave me a bag for Xmas that I thought might work (because I want to use it… because he gave it to me…) and it’s just too big. Pfffft. Oh well.
Thusfar, we have stayed at an Inn in Carmel, and went to Clint Eastwood’s ranch/inn place for cocktails one evening. It was beyond a hoot. They do sort of cowboy karaoke, and most of the folks there are locals. If any of the pictures came out, I promise to burn them—oh, I mean post them. :-)
We went from there to Cambria, a WONDERFUL little town, and stayed at the J Patrick House. At their suggestion, we ate at Robin’s Restaurant — fab, fab, fab — at least we walked there so we could just roll ourselves home and spend a few calories at it.
Then we headed to Hearst Castle — a friend is the District Superintendent (read: Big Ranger Kahuna) at Hearst. He got us on a tour, and we were able to catch him between meetings. He said that Hearst was his first posting where he had to have “not one, but two tuxes.” Apparently the Governator likes to use it as his own private party spot, especially at Christmas. And who can blame him???
We met some folks at the Cambria B&B who suggested we stay at the Montecito Inn, in the “expensive part” of Santa Barbara. Lovely, lovely, though the walls were a bit thin. Amazing gym! We walked over to the Four Seasons/Biltmore Santa Barbara and had cocktails in front of their roaring fire—wow. We snuck in a “back way” so we didn’t have to come in the front door — we came in a side — and whether or not that really made a difference I don’t know.
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This is very interesting