Where I want to be in the OC

I have lived all 43 years of my life in Orange County, and have never lacked for something exciting to do, somewhere enjoyable to go or some excellent place to eat. And because I am fortunate enough to work at Montage Resort, I am actually PAID to continually check out the eateries, sites and attractions of our beautiful and bountiful county.
I know, but somebody's gotta do it.
Taking a cue from Josh Peters, I thought I'd share MY favorite places and my favorite ways to spend a day in the OC...

1. Old Town Orange-Start with breakfast at Felix's Continental Cafe and spend the day walking through this beautiful little area which includes several antique stores, tea houses, and unique shops selling everything from old record albums to the metal lunch box you had in 3rd grade. (OK, that your dad had.)
   
2. San Juan Capistrano-Lunch at The Teahouse at Los Rios , again lots of shops to browse around in and then a little wine and cheese at Napa Valley Wine Bar.
   
3. Burke Williams Spa -the massage is just the beginning! After that you can stay the WHOLE day and use the sauna, steam room, jacuzzi, quiet room & more. It's heavenly.
4. Lucky Strikes Bowling- at the block in Orange. A little bowling followed by a little browsing in the great shops. Then lunch at Tu Tu Tangos and top off the afternoon with a couple of hot-out-of-the-oven Krispy Kremes and a chocolate milk. Oh yeah.
   
5. Santa Ana Zoo-I went here when I was kid, then took my own kids. Now I take nieces or nephews or I borrow a kid so I can go see the monkeys and ride the elephant.
   
6. Orange County Fair-start by checking out the 200 pound pumpkins, grab an eggroll on a stick, ride the giant ferris wheel, go see the 1000 pound bull and then stick around to hear DEVO or Peter Frampton in concert. Dang, I love the fair!
   
7. Take in an Angel's Game. Get there about an hour early, get a hot dog, a beer and a bag of peanuts. Go watch batting practice and drink in the most spectacular sites and sounds in the world. NOTHING like a night at the park.
   
8. A day in Laguna. Start with breakfast at The Cottage Restaurant. Walk around Laguna's breathtaking main beach and enjoy the surprising assortments of shops and galleries the town has to offer. Spend the afternoon at The Festival of Arts and The Sawdust Festival. So many fabulous dinner choices in Laguna...my new favorite is Mozambique. Finish the night off at the Pageant of the Masters. Stunning!

This is just the beginning! There's so much more to see! Let me know when you wanna join me at any of these places or one of YOUR favorites! I am always ready for an adventure.
And you know I am always ready for a good meal.

The BEST of the Hibbard women!

I had a most enjoyable lunch with Christine, who is "technically" my former sister-in-law, but "actually" one of my closest friends.

After lunch I met Allison...guess where? We had a couple of amazing blended beverages from the Nordstrom Coffee House and we finally got to catch up with each other. Of course, since we were at the mall, we figured we might as well do a little shopping. Allison is a BLAST to be with, shop with and buy clothes with.
And she makes sure that I don't buy anything that isn't cute!

Check out my dad!

Take a peek at my dad's "to do" list from yesterday.
This is a 66 year old man who sends us text messages (from his blackberry), emails, has a blog and changes the ring tone on his cell...I am sure he added songs to his ipod too!
This is Allison's GRANDFATHER! How cool is he??
Hey! If you want to keep up with the world in 2007--this is how you do it!
I am seriously proud of him.
Check it out
Julie's dad's blog

To do list for tomorrow

I have not had two days off in a row in over a month...until now. I had today off and accomplished so much...my house is totally clean and vacuumed, I did my bills and laundry and now I have a whole other day off tomorrow.
So, here's the plan:

• Sleep in til like 7
• Have coffee, a little breakfast and read the paper
• Watch the Angel game at 7:30 am (Yes--7:30AM!)
  
• check email
• blog
• take a shower
• meet my sister-in-law, Christine, for lunch
  
• go to the mall and buy wedding gift for upcoming weekend (maybe shop a little too...)
• get my car washed
• come home
• check email
• blog
• make a little dinner
• watch Dodger game at 6:40pm
• check email
• blog
• go to bed
  

Wow...I'll really be ready to go back to work on Tuesday.

#42

Jackie Robinson
He thrilled fans, shattered baseball's color barrier and changed the face of the nation--
60 years ago today.
Oh, yeah, and he was a Dodger.

Home Sweet Home

This is the front door of my beautiful home. Gosh I LOVE my home! I have decorated most of the house with a Vintage Travel theme and posters of the European cities I have visited. The upstairs loft is my work room and holds my bobble heads, metal lunch boxes and lots of other special mementos.

The wood floors are fun to slide on in my socks, especially if I get a running start from my bedroom. The fireplace is nice to sit in front of and read...
Mostly, I like to sit here on my comfy couch, computer in my lap, feet on the hope-chest-turned-coffee table and relax. And watch baseball.
I love my home. I love coming home.
Honestly, there's no place like it.

The gift of the magi...kind of

When I was about 7 years old, my dad took me shopping to buy Christmas presents. I remember picking out gifts for everyone and buying a very special gift for my sister, Gina...a gift that I knew she would like, but I really wanted for myself.
We got home and my dad helped me to wrap the gifts in the garage, so none of the sisters would see them. The next night, he took Gina to do the same shopping. And, again, they wrapped the gifts in the garage and then put them all under the tree with the others.

Immediately I saw that Gina's gift for me was much bigger than the gift I had bought for her. It was in a very large box and I truly had no idea what it could be. I thought maybe she would like her own LARGE gift better than the very small gift I bought her and that maybe she'd let me keep my own gift.
Come Christmas morning, we began opening our presents (a very long process for DiLallos who open one at a time--that's another story!) When Gina unwrapped my gift she was so excited! She loved it so much and I was so glad that she did. She quickly handed me my gift from her--the large box--and I began to unwrap it.
Imagine my surprise when it was the exact same gift that I had given her!
A tiny Kiddle in a coke bottle!
Only recently have I realized how cool my dad was for wrapping the gift that way. Neither one of us knew until Christmas morning that we had given each other the same gift. The one that we both really wanted...