How can a day that starts with
Old Soul not start out well? My god, their coffee is so damned good. Ordered and received a 5lb bag and put a lot of effort into grinding some and storing some in air-tight containers so it doesn't go 'stale' as the last round did. I followed through on the idea of taking Lauren driving, which we did first thing. Then we all, Dog included, and Tommy as a last minute concession, went to Devil's Slide. The idea was to go, hike it, return, and stop at Gorilla on the way back. Tommy ended up enjoying it, as did we all, especially Scottie. I rode in the back so Lauren could get some front-seat time. We got lucky with parking, too. Jen asked if I knew if Gorilla was even open and I said "Nope". I googled it when we got back to the car and it said they opened at 12. It was 11.58! We got there, parked and found a LONG line. We waited 1hr, 20min but it was SO worth it. I got frustrated trying to find a place to eat as we drove through the hillsides and backroads looking for a park. We found one, enjoyed an amazing lunch and took a load of food home for later too. Tommy rode up front on the way back and Scottie crashed from exhaustion in the back. I did the same for about an hour when we got home and forced myself up/out w/Tommy who wanted to drive. It went south when, after getting iced coffee from Starbucks drive through, I learned that by default, iced coffee at Starbucks includes "4 pumps" of sweetener. And it sucked. I went on my soapbox about how there's no indication in ordering it, that it'll include sweetener and I think they are both starting to see me as I occasionally see my mom. As irritable and cranky and too prone to get derailed by something you can't really change and doesn't warrant the energy. Then after getting a replacement I got mad that Tommy was meandering home vs going straight there so the iced drink we had for Jen didn't melt in the 90º heat. We got past it, eventually. We returned, and Nigel and Marissa came by after time with my mom. It was really great to see them both and we hung out on the patio, drank wine and chatted with the kids. I'm grateful for them both, he's awesome, she's awesome, and I am going to press to setup more visits. Quarterly, hopefully. Jon also dropped off our Martin Ranch BYOBordeaux, and we sent him home w/a 2014 Argentinian Malbec from GOBM to see what he thought. I started the day with a desire to break out of a rut, not spend the day in auto-pilot, not be sedentary or "Kill" time finding something to occupy it over taking a conscious active role in choosing what I wanted to accomplish. And it worked out great. Planning to continue it tomorrow.
