Catching up. Part 3.

So where was I?

• 2nd January was my brother's birthday, we ended up going right down to the border of Mexico to Las Americas Premium Outlets but didnt go over the border to Mexico, we have been told it is not safe at this time. Also the hire car my parents had wouldnt have covered travel within Mexico. We then headed onto the Plaza Bonita Mall for a bit where we ate and shopped. There was a really good deal on in Bath and Bodyworks where if you purchased one of the small Christmas/winter scented candles you got a free glass for burning it in so of course I got some of those!
• 3rd January we had a day out in which we explored Point Loma, Ocean Beach and Old Town. In Ocean Beach we went to a place called Hodad's where we had the most enormous burgers! Here is a selection of pictures from the day which were stolen borrowed from my mum and brother.

• I didnt head out on 4th January with them as I decided to have a quiet day around the house getting caught up with laundry etc so that they could go back and not need to do any laundry. They went home on 5th January, we had such a lovely but busy time while there were here! I wonder when we will have our next visitors here.
• 6th January hubby and I met up with our friends- it was a belated new years celebration. We headed to a place called Urban Solace which is in the North Park area of San Diego. The building was absolutely beautiful as was the decor. The prices however were quite high. Additionally we found the food to be a bit of a disappointment. Everything we ate tasted sweet! Still the evening was great, good conversations with friends is what we had gone for. It does seem however that everytime we all meet up and go out for dinner it is a slight disappointment.
• It was another friend of our's birthday on 13th January so quite a few of us headed with a BBQ to Mission Bay Park on 14th January. It was lovely to catch up with everyone. I still cant quite get used to the being able to BBQ in January! Hubby and I are used to being layered up and staying in!
• I had received my work permit on Christmas Eve so the job search started on 15th January, many of the jobs require a driving license so at present the job search is limited to retail and other places which I can get to by bus. As of today- 2nd February I have applied for 16 different retail places, not one has come back to me. The unemployment figures here are as high as in the UK so I am not going to panic, additionally there is the fact that my retail experience may be too old, that they may not recognise my experience and qualifications so far and that in some cases whilst you can apply for jobs there isnt actually anything available at that time. Will keep on plodding along.
• I met with my friend from Scotland on 18th January, we met at the Fashion Valley Transit center which is right next to the mall then got a bus down to Downtown. After a walk around the Gaslamp district we walked down to Seaport village, around the Embarcadero park, along the harbour past USS Midway and the Maritime Museum before taking a walk down to Little Italy, a place with many different Italian restaurants. We ended up having Pizza at Landini's Pizzeria where they had a fantastic deal of 2 slices of pizza and a drink for $6, the pizza was really good too. The day out made me realise the following: 1) I need to take my camera out more. 2) there is still a lot of San Diego that we need to explore!

I had hoped to finish off my update on this blog entry but there is still so much more to write, so another will follow shortly.

  

Photos from 1st October and 2nd October

I had planned to put photos from the past three weekends in one blogpost. However, it soon became very clear indeed that this would be a very picture heavy entry. So instead I shall split between three posts. These are just some of the favourite pictures. The rest are on facebook.

Ocean Beach

Point Loma

Liberty Station

Old Town

British Car Event at Liberty Station

Update

Oops. It would seem I have not written a blogpost since 27th September.

I admit, I have been busy.

Mainly we have been exploring. We visited Ocean Beach, Point Loma, Liberty Station and Old Town on 30th September then on 1st October we went to a British Car event at Liberty Station.

My birthday was 6th October so the birthday celebrations started on the 5th October and carried on until the 9th October. The 5th was spent with friends then the 6th Marcus took me to malls and we had cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory!

The weekend was spent in New Mexico visiting Santa Fe and going to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. The fiesta was amazing. I am a geek and had always wanted to go and see the fiesta. I think I first wanted to go about 10-15 years ago when I saw a framed picture in Athena of all the balloons going up. The temperature in New Mexico was much colder than here in California so if I was to go again I would need much warmer clothes.

We returned on the morning of the 9th and had planned to go and chill for the day. However, the weather was so beautiful that we headed off to the Gaslamp district of downtown San Diego to see the 5th Avenue Auto Showcase and also visited the Horton Plaza mall.

We get the keys to our more permanent apartment this Saturday. So, this weekend just gone should have been about looking for furniture and accessories. Yes we have some furniture but we still need a bed (our place is 2 bedroom), a chest of drawers and a beside cabinet. That didnt happen!

Saturday we went down to a check cashing place. Basically as we are not in the system yet due to being new for us to have a gas and electricity account we had to go show our ID, we also have to pay a deposit on our account when we get the first bill. So many new things we are learning here. I feel like I am starting life from scratch.

We had then gone to Time Warner Cable but their office was closed. We have scheduled our install of telephone, cable and internet for the afternoon of 24th but completely forgotten that we had something else going on.

We also went to a couple of malls. Looking for ideas for the home basically. One thing I do know is that we wont be buying our stuff from Crate & Barrel. While the stuff in there is fantastic the prices are quite high. Afterwards we visited Lake Poway and the shops in Poway.

Yesterday we had a daytrip out to Ramona, Julian and Borrego Springs. I know I really need to do a photo entry. But first I need to sort out a couple of photos from each of the places we went and upload them to a photo hosting site and then upload them to here. Its quite a long process and well, things are pretty hectic right now.

My work permit form has been submitted to the lawyers, I now need to complete another form and send some photos in to them. Once that has been submitted I need to wait to hear about an appointment to give my fingerprints. It can take up to 3 months for me to get a work permit should it be granted. Yes, there is a possibility it can be denied. Thank god I have a few projects I need to get into over the coming weeks.

We get the keys to the apartment on Saturday, our new home for the next 12 months. Though our container of furniture will not arrive until midweek! I find it quite odd in a way that on 2nd September all of our stuff was put in a container and almost two months later it will be delivered to us. I have forgotten half of what is in there. I am pretty sure there will be stuff that I will question our reasons for keeping!

We have a party at his work, the installation of the cable services and all the unpacking. Plenty to keep me occupied. I look forward to being in a more permanent home with all our belongings around us. I feel that things will then feel more settled once we are in there.

He has his theory test this week, next we will need to organise his driving test and find a car. It is all go. But slowly but surely through the baby steps we are getting somewhere.

I will try and update again soon, perhaps a photo entry in the next week or so.