Oops

Wow, I didn't quite realise it had been so long since I had wrote. 14th February in fact... when I was looking for a job! So much has happened, yet not big enough excitements to write lots of little entries. So a bulletpoint type of post I think!

• I finally got a job and started on 2nd March- it's part time in a shop, the colleagues I work with a great, I know however it will be temporary as they won't be able to keep my job open when I go back to the Uk for 5 weeks later in the year.
• I have booked a trip back to the UK, I am looking forward to seeing all my family and friends in both Worthing and Eastleigh/Southampton areas as well as some penpals and other friends around the country. I also get to go to two weddings while there and have my birthday in the UK for the first time since 2009 (last year I was here in San Diego and in 2010 I was in Australia in a camper van).
• We went to Hawaii from 21st-26th September, I may possibly post some pictures in a separate entry at some point. We got to visit Maui and spend time in Waikiki. Also went to the wedding of two friends with three other friends. Perhaps I will also do a whole entry about Hawaii separately.
• We went to the Brit meet at the beginning of March and the one at the beginning of April. We also intend to go to the one this Friday.
• We have met another couple through the hubby's work and a couple through the British Expat Forum, both of which happened during April. I am now in the process of introducing all friends to each other so that it's a big group of people we see regularly or at least regularish.
• Had a meal on Easter Sunday in Hillcrest, it was at our friends' house and a few other friends were there. They cooked a lovely Greek meal which included roast lamb. Delicious! Lamb is much harder to find here and when you do find it, it is quite pricey (in comparison to the UK).
• We had two couples round the 2nd week in April for drinks, food, conversation and board games. The plan had been to have a BBQ but it was pouring with rain all day and evening.
• 20th it was drinks with the couple that we most recently met through hubby's work. We met them at a place called Union in Encinitas, which it seems is a cougar bar. Oh and prior to meeting them we had dinner at Five Guys.
• On 23rd I was contacted by the lady from the couple we met through the British Expat forum so on the Friday 27th we went for a lovely Indian meal at a new place called Bawarchi Express. Hubby had made reservations thinking it was a proper restaurant (I admit I told him to) but it was actually a cafe style place! No alcohol... but we did manage to go for a beer afterwards at TGI Fridays.
• We went to a party on Saturday, it was a surprise party so hubby and I arrived early and hubby took the man of the couple out for drinks so he would not be aware of people arriving. They didnt get back til about half 8- an hour after most people had turned up. I had also invited some people along (3 couples) to start the introduction process between friends. Didn't get home to bed til 1am, and had to be up at 6am for work in the morning. It was a good night.
• I had a meeting at work on Sunday from 7am-10am followed by a shift til 3pm, I was exhausted by the evening!
• I feel much more settled here, working 20-30 hours a week does mean that I take more time to get to reply to emails and inbox messages I receive and has also meant that I have less to blog about and less time to blog. In fact, it's not just blogging that I haven't done since Mid Feb... Yelp has taken a back burner too. It takes a while to get used to the change in routine. I wouldn't say it feels like home yet, but I feel like I have a routine lifestyle and yearn less for home. Also I feel like I know the processes.
• I dont feel entirely comfortable with mentioning people by names or showing pictures of people given that this is a public blog! So seeing as most things we do now revolves around seeing people it makes it difficult to write blogs. But now that I have written this entry and broken the writer's block I now have ideas for two more entries and perhaps will even get back to doing differences.

That is all for now... I shall return (much sooner) with another entry...

Catching up. Part 2.

I still have so much more to write about. So more bullet points! I know I wont get the whole of the time between 22nd December and now in this entry either!

• 22nd December I met up with the two ladies who moved over here around the same time as us. We met at Champagne for a coffee (well hot chocolate for me!) and cake and swapped presents. Well actually they were just decorations for the tree- we all had decided to try and find each other tacky Christmas decorations for the tree and we had to hang them on the tree.
• The rest of 22nd was spent in preparation for my family arriving- housework and cooking a delicious slow cooked chili with jacket (baked) potatoes. My mum, dad and brother arrived around half 8 and the evening was spent eating said meal, chatting and a few drinks.
• Mum and I headed out on 23rd to Costco, Walmart, Cupcake shop, Michaels, Ralphs, Trader Joes and Bishers Butchers to pick up all the bits for Christmas whilst my brother dad and hubby headed out to look at a mall and go to a few other places. We had a relaxing evening with Pizza. My brother and I also put together a Gingerbread house- which promptly fell apart.

• Christmas eve we headed out to Coronado, had a wander around the parts we had been to before but also discovered a completely different part which was near the ferry landing, I have posted pictures before of Coronado but here are a few of the bits which we found which we hadnt seen before.

•  On the way back from Coronado we headed to the San Diego Chargers Stadium, known as the Qualcomm stadium. This is were the American football team play. The reason for the visit was my brother needed to get some bits for his friend who supports them. My brother however is a Detroit fan and Detroit had beaten them just a couple of days before. Oops! 

•  The evening of the 24th my mum and I were baking sausage rolls (using the pork mince we had picked up from the butchers), Cheese and onion rolls, Cheese straws and cookies.
• Christmas day we had a lovely breakfast and then packed up the car with the BBQ and foods to cook. We first had a wander along Mission beach, then walked back up Mission Bay before having a BBQ right next to the beach.

• On the way home from Mission Beach we headed to La Jolla where we saw Seals, Sealions, squirrels and hummingbirds.

•  As Christmas day fell on a Sunday everyone had the Monday off in lieu- in the UK this would have been a bank holiday anyway. Most people were out at the sales, we however decied to head to Ramona and Julian.
• The following day was our mall day, we went out to Fashion Valley Mall and to Mission Valley, I cant recall whether I purchased anything though!
• My brother and dad went to Flying Leathernecks Aviation Museum whilst my mum and I went to Costco on 28th- or should I say we tried to go to the Costco that the sat nav was telling us to go to but this didnt exist so it was then looking for another one instead! Once we were finished we picked up my brother and dad and headed to North County Mall.
• 29th we headed to the Plaza Camino Real Mall then drove through Oceanside, Carlsbad, Encinitas, Solana and Del Mar. That evening we all went for a meal (including hubby of course) to On the Border, the food was pretty good! We saw our first black widow spider outside! EEK!
• We headed to Balboa Park on the 30th, my mum and I went round the zoo whilst my brother and dad had a wander round the park! It was so busy in there though that by about 3 we headed out, we had seen all of the more endangered animals during that time.

• New Years eve we all headed down to Downtown. We managed to find parking at $1 an hour which was much cheaper than the car parking we normally use- I believe that one is about $10 or $15 a day, we had a wander around the Gaslamp district, headed to Horton Plaza Mall, and walked down to Seaport village where they were setting up for the evening where some guys were jumping across from the North to South parts of the harbour, or it may have been the other way! It was getting a bit chilly- whilst it is warm during the day we find that the evenings are cooler so we headed back to the apartment and chilled for the evening with nice food and some alcohol!

OK, I think I will end here as I have concluded December, another entry will follow soon!