So this is 40....

First of all, thanks to everyone who helped make my "birthday blowout" sale such a success! I really appreciate all the orders (as does Ryan's college fund which got a nice bump from all of this).

I've been 40 for a few days now and I have to say that at least so far, it hasn't sucked as much as being 39 did. At least my relatives have stopped dying off and no one's been sick and I got to go to a really fantabulous restaurant in San Clemente for my birthday dinner. It's called "Vine" and here's a link if you want to check it out:

Vine Restaurant

I can highly recommend the artichoke ravioli appetizer and the lamb shank w/ zinfandel sauce entree. I think I traumatized the poor sommelier by ordering a white wine, but unfortunately, I'm allergic to reds so I had to break some of the rules. I did promise him I'd only drink it with the appetizer and not with the lamb which seemed to perk him up a bit. I like my whites a little on the sweeter side but still somewhat middle-of-the road so he recommended the Signorello chardonnay. I hadn't ever tried it before, but it was excellent and went perfectly with the appetizer. DH (who isn't allergic to reds) ordered a glass of Jazz zinfandel to go with his lamb (he was unoriginal and copied my selection of entree) and he reported it to be excellent. My brother had the flat iron steak and my sister-in-law had the pork tenderloin. All of which were reported to be fantastic. We finished off the celebration with a chocolate souffle for dessert. It was really one of the best dinners I've ever had and the prices were actually quite reasonable considering the quality of the food!

Afterwards we decided to stroll around San Clemente (my brother lived there until he got married a couple of years ago so he knows all the good local spots) and so we headed down Del Mar to the Beachfire bar. They had a great band playing reggae music so we decided to grab a spot on the patio, order some drinks and hang out for a while. My SIL and I discovered a rather disturbing trend while we were there, though. The "uniform" of the evening for most of the women consisted of hip hugger jeans that looked okay if the person wearing them was standing up, but turned out to be rather disastrous when the wearer was sitting on a bar stool. Since when did female trouser smiles and advertising to the world that you're not wearing even a thong under your jeans become "de rigeur?" I'll admit that I thought the trend of having thong straps show up over the waistband of jeans was trashy-looking, but it beats plumber's crack any day. And sure, some of you are shaking your heads and saying that I'm only bothered because I'm now 40 and old-fashioned, etc. but honestly...I'd NEVER have worn something like that back when I was 20-something and weighed 115 and wore a size 7 jean. I'd've CHECKED the rear view (both sitting and standing) in the dressing room before I purchased the jeans and I would've made sure they FIT in both situations and looked sexy rather than trashy. But then again, I believe in all those other old-fashioned things like mystery and romance and charming flirtation and the joy of the pursuit. I suppose if your schedule is really jam packed it's better to just skip all that and advertise the goods right out in the open (insert sarcastic eye rolling here).

But I digress...

Our time on the Beachfire patio was short lived as it was relatively smoke free when we first went out there but at some point, the entire place (except for our party) lit up at once and it was a bit too much for my SIL (who is 5 months pregnant) and for me due to a nicotine allergy. So we left there and decided to head down to Laguna Beach because my SIL had read an article on the 10 best places to get dessert in the OC and 2 of 'em were in Laguna. And yes, we'd already had dessert...what's your point?

Unfortunately, the first place we went to (which I now don't remember the name of except that it's on Forest Ave) closed at 9 PM (and it was 10 when we got there). Whoever heard of closing a restaurant/bar at freakin' 9 PM on a Friday night at the height of tourist season? Sheesh! But all was not lost as there was a cool little band set up on the street corner nearby playing some nifty jazz and swing music so we stopped to listen for a while. It's not often you see a bass fiddle in a trio outdoors these days so it was unique...and they were quite good as well. Then we headed off to the Sorrento Grille (which WAS still open) for our late dessert and a last drink before heading home.

All in all, it was a great celebration and I had a wonderful time. DH's gift to me was tickets to the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp production of "Movin' On" at the OC Performing Arts Center. I can't wait to go - it should be a lot of fun!

In beading news, I'm busy getting all the sale orders shipped and working on some custom orders that have come in this week. Busy, busy, busy! But it's okay - I like it this way! I've also got another pair of bead embroidered earrings about half way done. I hope to get those finished and posted later this week. And, I've got lots of yummy new lampwork and furnace glass beads coming in (my birthday present to myself!) that I can't wait to make up into some fabulous creations so keep an eye out for those.

That's it for now! Take care everyone!

KJ