San Juan, Puerto Rico

Just a few pictures of some pretty sights of Old San Juan.

The building of the hostel we stayed at. It was the tallest building on San Francisco Street!

The view of the balcony and beyond (4 floors up)

A pretty part of the old fortress

The buildings were all squashed together and each building was painted in different bright colors. The streets were real cobblestone. There was some serious old world charm here.

Chicken mofongo for dinner, apparently a traditional local food. It was super delicious.

One of the open plazas

View of the harbor

The harbor at night

Wild Thing

Kitties roaming the streets.

Sint Maarten, Dutch West Indies

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Sint Maarten, DWI (This kitty lived at the "Blue Bitch Bar" and was lounging on some bar chairs with the customers)

Would you like some butter with that?

Isn't this little guy the cutest? I just want to make a ton of these in all different colors. I got the pattern from Karabouts, who, by the way, makes the cutest amigurumi and has other amazing crochet works.

Knowing

I recognized someone's PostSecret that made it into the weekly Sunday post recently. It's difficult to know what to do now that you have placed a name and a face to a secret that supposedly has never been shared before.


It's disquieting.

La Jolla Contemporary Art Museum

I'm never sure whether it's ok to take pictures inside of museums. Sometimes they have signs that say no photography, and sometimes I wonder if I just missed seeing that sign in others.

I thought this particular installation was fascinating.

Toasted Sandwiches

I have really poor eating habits that stem from both frugality and laziness. So occasionally, I am surprised by my ingenuity when reinforcing both of these traits.


This was my response to wanting a grilled cheese but not having any butter and not wanting to get out a frying pan and not actually knowing how to properly make a grilled cheese in the first place.


That's a turkey and provolone cheese toasted sandwich right there. Yessir, that is the finest in this broke college student's recipe book.


I used to do this thing when I was a kid where I would get a slice of cheese and a slice of bread and melt the cheese onto the bread in the microwave. This is only slightly more sophisticated than that. Can I just say how much I love toaster ovens? They are second in usefulness (to me) only to the microwave. And to think, I once took a gourmet cooking class and managed to make somewhat tasty food without hurting myself or other people (well, I might have cut open my finger while chopping oregano, but that was only once!). What happened between then and now?

Lake of the Pines

We did a big family getaway over the Fourth of July weekend to this beautiful lake house at Lake of the Pines. I'll try not to have an overabundance of photos here :)

Saw deer walking through the backyard!

Sunrise

Sunset




Pre-dawn. It was beautiful, and the lake was glassy. Everything was so still. I just wanted to sit and absorb the stillness and silence.


My brother caught a fish!

Fish on a leash!



Enclosed patio on the second story of the house overlooking the lake. I think we ate all our meals out here.

Domo photobombed this one.

Our private dock and view from the top.

The back of the house. Isn't it huge?


I think this is so sweet.


It was nice to get away from San Diego for a weekend, albeit to a hotter area! But most of all, it was nice to see the extended family. The baby is getting so big, a year and counting!