Mothers are irreplaceable and life would never be the same without them. I know for sure that mine wouldn’t. I love being a Mom and more importantly, I’m blessed to have a wonderful Mom.
We spent part of our afternoon at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, CA. This event was sponsored by Rain Bird Corporation and we received four free tickets provided by the company as well. The purpose of this event was to raise awareness of America’s Public Gardens and their important role in promoting environmental stewardship, Education, plant conservation and water conservation in Communities nationwide.
It’s impossible for one to see all the beauties this botanic garden has to offer as it is spread across 86 acres. We walked for almost two hours, admiring the native Californian plants, learning a little bit about each one and of course, taking pictures and videos. We will have to come back to see more areas of this amazing garden.
Ticket Booth. Garden Flags/Signs.Re-creation of a Tongva family complex and dance arena.Gazebo.Giant Sculpture.Mother’s Day 2009 (Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden).
Our day wouldn’t have been complete without stopping by Mix Bowl Café, our favorite Thai Restaurant in Pomona, CA. I highly recommend this Thai Restaurant for its high quality authentic Thai food, the great customer service it provides as well as the warm and welcoming environment.
To all of you, beautiful and strong Women, I wish you a blessed day filled with love and appreciation.
We returned home yesterday from a three day vacation in Maryland. It was the first flight we took together as a family. At first, I was worried about flying with a one year old; but it actually turned out great. He was calm, well behaved and slept almost through the entire flight. For me, those were signs of a wonderful weekend.
Partial view of the White House by night.
One of my brothers picked us up from the airport along with my dear Mother and dropped us off at the residence of my other brother. As soon as I got a chance to close my eyes, I slept almost half a day. My brothers got to meet their nephew for the first time and we met their significant others. Despite everyone’s busy schedule, we had a great time and we created beautiful memories that will last forever.
On the morning of our last stay, my brother surprised us by driving down to Chesapeake Beach Veterans’ Memorial Park (one of the major attractions). It turned out to be a lovely day and we quietly walked along the Chesapeake Bay. While visiting a shop on North Beach, my Son had his eyes on what appears to be a Vintage replica of a Leviton Truck by Branch Electric Supply Company. After making some purchases, the shop owner decided to gift him the truck. Oh, boy, was he happy.
Beach Sign & Decorative Oar with Lighthouse Scene.
Of course, the trip wouldn’t have been complete without seeing my friend and sister in Christ, Emilienne, who drove all the way from Virginia on our last night with her sister and daughter to see us.
Joan and Emilienne.
As much as we enjoyed being around those beautiful individuals, we are very happy to be home and grateful for a safe trip, to and fro.
Finally, some updated pictures of our Guest Room. The room was a mess when we finally got the House keys and got to really look around. I mean ‘really look around’ because we only had a few minutes to check out the place when the Inspector came over to evaluate the property. I am so thankful that our Apartment Lease had not expired by the time we acquired this property. I am also grateful that our awesome realtor convinced the seller to remove the old carpet in the entire house and dispose of the furniture the last tenants left behind.
The new carpet in all the rooms are from Empire Today and were installed by their professionals (our gift from Mom). We first painted the room using a Walmart™ color called Southern Dawn and then a couple of weeks ago, we re-painted it using Streambed, also a Walmart™ color. Although I really loved the light pink color, I thought a neutral color would be more appropriate for the space considering that it’s a Guest Room.
Guest Room Renovation.
We are making great progress and the results are encouraging. I know things can be unappealing, but I do not believe in ‘ugly’ and ‘lost causes.’ People and things alike are created to be beautiful and useful, but some Men have a careless nature of destroying whatever they touch; thus, turning them into waste.
With a little bit of patience, determination, some tools and much love, everything can be restored.
We have been busy lately working around the house (the backyard mostly). So much trash, debris and dead trees have been left behind by the last tenants that cleaning up has become overwhelming. At the same time, we are enjoying our darling little boy while familiarizing ourselves with the area.
Giving our busy schedules, we have been unable to install new cabinetry. However, we did the next best thing, which is giving the kitchen cabinets a new facelift (a quick fix until we are ready to tackle the big project).
I love vintage cabinets with gorgeous edging; however, given that we have a tiny kitchen, the Maple color not only made it look even smaller, but ugly too. We painted the cabinets white.
How is life in the High Desert of California? Some of you might ask. We moved here without knowing what to expect, except the fact that up here there’s less noise and pollution as opposed to life in bigger cities.
Well, we’ve only been here a month and the heat is exhausting (keep in mind that I am almost a month away from bringing my first child into the World). I have gone days at a time without stepping outside for fear of fainting or something. Other than the inconveniences cited above, the High Desert is quite a beautiful place to live. We’ve been blessed with high winds (though it feel more like a curse when they are gusty) to compensate for the heat waves and extremely high temperatures.
Adjusting
In just a few days of being here, I found myself drinking a lot more water than ever before to fight dehydration and tiredness. Drinking water has so many benefits amongst which healthy skin, healthy heart, weight loss, help with digestive problems and so much more. Click here for more information.
Within the first few weeks you will experience some degree of dryness, especially of the heel (cracked heels/heel fissures). One thing you could do to help prevent this is to constantly moisturize and wear socks. Click here to learn about some Home Remedies to help you deal with this problem.
High Desert People
The first time we drove here to view the house, we were greeted by a neighbor across the street who wished us good luck in getting the house. Once we finally settled in, a next door neighbor came over with a large basket of food and fruits. A few days later, another neighbor across the street stopped by to offer some gardening tools to get us started on weeding (things we didn’t have to worry about in our apartment). It was all overwhelming to say the least. High Desert people are welcoming and friendly.
Nature/Environment
We are home to Weeds and lots of them; they are faithful, they do not discriminate and they give a dirty appearance to the area (thanks to the wind, which carries the seeds from one location to another). Due to the amount of weeds, most homeowners tend to choose gravel over grass for their landscape design and drought resistant, low maintenance plants are prominent as they cut down on water costs. Keep in mind that regardless of your choice of landscape, weeds will always make their presence known. The bottom line is that you will constantly have to work at it to keep your yard looking beautiful.
The Air is fresh and pollution is kept to a minimum. We have some of the most stunning Sunrises and Sunsets. The view of the Mountains are a delight to wake up every morning. We also get snow here at least once a year every year which is an experience on its own. Our home area is close to the path of the Santa Ana winds, which cool you down in the summer and keep us cold in the winter.
For more Destinations and Attractions in the High Desert of California, please visit the High Desert Insider, a guide and directory to High Desert Entertainment, Events, and Recreation. For local breaking news, visit the Victor Valley News.
By JM Perez
