Home in Nor Cal – Granite Bay

It’s that time again, every summer to stay sane, I travel home to Granite Bay for a while. It’s 30 minutes north east of Sacramento, right by Folsom Lake. In this case it was just a week, right after my San Francisco girl’s weekend. It would have been a longer stay but Mr. Wonderful’s birthday is this week and he does need to work, and of course I should really come home to celebrate his big day! So my typical two week trip was cut a little short, but I’ll be back again this summer to make up for it.

Anyway, while I would have loved to have reported I took a splendid break from the 114 degree heat in Phoenix, in the Sacramento Valley it can get hot in the summer – like 90-100. Bleh! But we did sleep with the windows open at night so that’s a good report!

Paris, who is 68 in human years, gave up on the walk home after I grabbed coffee for me and my dad. He was dragging his feet and I realized if I didn’t pick him up, he’d add an extra half hour to our walk just lollygagging. I am sure this was a sight for those who drove by, me and my little dog and two cups of coffee.

He was tired. He still looks like a baby, doesn’t he – his back is still black and he has hardly any gray hair. He’s one of the smartest, great tempered little dogs.

My high school girlfriends (and husband) came over to celebrate Benjamin’s birthday. I love going home to see some of my girlfriends who have known me for 20 years, since middle school! It’s crazy to say that but also incredibly awesome, getting older is the best when you keep the friends who have been by your side for ages.

Church is always a treat, and lucky me, Lincoln Brewster hit the stage – my home church in California is his home church and he’s the worship leader. I always book my trips to make sure I stay for a Sunday so I can hear the great worship and service, to me, nothing else has ever compared.

I was trying to think of a creative way to stand between the Popsicle display at church and my dad said, “No, you gotta do this – like you’re licking it.”

OK dad, I’ll be a good sport.

Good news – when my parents dropped me off I didn’t cry this time. Although I did cry at the dinner table a few days earlier talking about them being gone (yep, again) and my dad told me to save my tears for when he’s dead and to stop crying because he’s not dead yet – that’s my dad’s sense of humor to make me quit because I was seriously wiping my eyes!

Window seats are good for the view – and seeing puffy clouds.

To my surprise Benjamin said, “Take a picture of us!” so this proves my husband was with me and I do love him – he doesn’t care to be on my blog or social media but I swear he’s not absent in my life! He also really likes my Sony noise canceling headphones over his Bose ones so they are now all his!

I’m hoping to go on another adventure next summer – somewhere international. These magazines were like $12 each by the way – since when are they the same price as books?!

I have Rachel on board and we’re saving our pennies and working hard – I’m not sure where we are going yet, it’s up to me apparently – and I’d love to hear your suggestions. Benjamin and I also have other financial goals/investments so we can get ahead in life, so I’m going to be a good teammate and help out because as Dave Ramsey says, “Live like no one else so you can live like no else one later.” There are probably different versions out there, I’ve never taken a class of his but I love his sayings – like “Stop spending money you don’t have to impress people you don’t like.” That made me laugh.

Have you ever taken any of his courses or heard his wisdom?

I’m also now dreaming of jumping back into writing (I have a B.A. in journalism) and pairing it with my photography – maybe one day I’ll become a travel writer AND photographer. This would have to be after all my other projects are done of course – more on what I’ve been up to soon.

Puffy clouds turn into wispy ones.

Sometimes I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have our heads in the clouds, sometimes we come back down with fantastic ideas or better thoughts.

Have a great start to your week!