Just Bella

San Diego

Rafa and I ventured back to San Diego last weekend, and it was a wonderful trip.  We stayed with Becca's dear parents, Parvin and Ali.  They were so kind and made us feel right at home : )

What is a weekend in SD without a convertible, at least that is what the rental car guy talked us into, and we totally caved.  But it was so worth it!

We saw so many friends!

And visited so many places!

Balboa Park...

Del Mar Beach...

La Jolla Shores....

Mission Bay....

Seaport Village...

Great weekend, great friends, best of times!

Toronto

I went to Toronto about a week ago, it was cold but it was very nice to see my Dad and my brother. Here are some of the pictures that my dad took.

"Solv It" Sylvan!

Every year, our neighborhood takes part in a volunteer event called Solv It.  Solv It is a non profit organization based in Oregon that focuses on the improvement of our community and our environment. We had a great turnout this year and I think that has much to do with the communication of the board with the neighborhood.  Between the bookmarks we mailed and the website, it has helped bridge the gap for information.  So the event was to gather at the Starbucks in our neighborhood, grab bags and clean up trash.  Once done, you put your bags on the corners of streets around our hood.  Rafa and I picked up trash and we volunteered to collect bags at the end of the day.  Here are a few pictures...

The Racoons name is Waverly, in case you were curious ; )

Volunteers having a little energy booster provided by Starbucks and QFC (grocery store)...

Me, cleaning up....

Just one truck load of trash we picked up...

Rafa empties the truck...

We made a lot of progress and I am glad we once again took part in this event!

Lincoln City Beach

While Rafa went to Canada to see his dad and brother this past weekend, Bella and I hit the road to the beach.  It was a relaxing and enjoyable two days with many, many walks down the beach.  We stayed in Lincoln City at the Sea Horse Inn and had a perfect view of the ocean. 

Road trip!

What it's like to drive to the beach...

View of Cannon Beach (Zoom lens)

View of Pacific City perhaps?

Seagull right outside our room waiting for food...

Seagulls enjoying the beach!

Bella enjoying the beach!

Clam shells, I saw one as big as my foot!

Serene morning walk...

Rooflette

So we were having a heck of a time keeping the soggy rain from sneaking underneath our doors on to our hardwood floors.  To help with the problem, Rafa built us a rooflette.  What we learned later was that really it was our gutters that were bad.  We have since replaced them, but take a look our new little addition to the house.  Good job Rafa!

 Before...

During...

Lighting...

Finished product : )

Birds

Birds are on my cool list for the year.  Not only are they pretty and sound lovely, but they visit OUR yard.  And every weekend morning, I take my coffee and my Bella and we just sit and watch.  Okay, I watch, Bella just sniffs things.  This particular morning I brought out the zoom lens to catch a few shots.  It's a lot of fun watching, but creating an environment for attracting the birds is serious business.  I am going slow and learning lots from the Portland Audubon Society http://audubonportland.org/ so that one day hopefully our yard will be the perfect spot for these little guys to hang out. 

 Not sure what this guy is...Sparrow perhaps?

 Beautiful Blue Jay...

Hummingbird...