Brothers Family Restaurant + Heavenly Donuts revisit

Yesterday we made our way out here again...

Bert and TC hadn't tried breakfast here yet...

Brothers Fail...so Village Cafe

It was a rare morning, having TC with us on a Saturday..

Due to morning delays, we didn't get to our original breakfast destination until 10...

Portland Day 3 - Either/Or Coffee

Our third day in Portland began bright and early...well, more like cloudy, eh.

We crossed one of Portland's many bridges...

Date night with Bert @ Tribute Pizza + Holsem Coffee

There were seven minutes left of Happy Hour...

and we made it just in time, heh heh...

The new Communal Coffee in South Park + recent visit to Hawthorn Coffee

At the end of March, Bert and I went to check out the new coffee spot in South Park...

which happens to be in the old Christmas tree lot on Fern...

UTC + La Colombe Coffee Roasters + Sprinkles, lunch @ The Purple Mint & The Cupcake Store

Both of us hadn't been to UTC in years...

There is all kinds of new construction going on. I didn't realize the mall was undergoing a major overhaul...

Birthday crawl with Astroboi - Return to Sunshine Pancake House + The Lazy Hummingbird (El Cajon Blvd location)

I had been looking forward to my birthday date with Astroboi for weeks...

This past weekend took us to the outer edges of La Mesa...

Birthday crawl with MFH : Cafe 21 on Adams + Holy Matcha

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting up with my dear friend MFH...

I hadn't seen her since her birthday last fall and now that it was spring...

Portland Day 2 - Pizza Jerk

Bert's choice for our dinner spot tonight...

was in the Cully neighborhood...

Portland Day 2 - Return to the Village Merchants + Joan of Arc statue

Prior to our trip, I had asked TC to make a wish list of sorts...

ranging from places to eat, visit and shop. She chose to focus on thrift stores...

Portland Day 2 - Blue Star Donuts (Hawthorne)

When we were in PDX in 2012, Blue Star hadn't existed yet...

since then, this donut shop has expanded to several locations...

Portland Day 2 - Never Coffee Lab

A few steps away from Movie Madness...

was our lone coffee stop for the day...

Birthday lunch at Himalayan Curry & Grill

There was an interlude after James Coffee on Pacific Highway...

where we ended up going to Fashion Valley...

Portland Day 2 - Return to Movie Madness (formerly known as Mike's Movie Madness)

The morning's events were quite exciting...

and we would later end up watching news coverage later that evening...

Portand Day 2 - "March for Our Lives" Portland

The streets in downtown were marked with red circles and X's...

("Unity" mural by Kristen T. Ramirez on SW Morrison St.)

Certain streets downtown were closed because of the event happening this particular day...

The Waffle Spot

Does this sign look familiar?

It's on the south side of the 8 in Mission Valley near Hotel Circle..

James Coffee, Pacific Highway

We took the surface streets from Harper's Topiary Garden in Mission Hills...

to get to a part of San Diego known as Middletown...

Harper's Topiary Garden

Since we were already in Mission Hills...

I saw that we were pretty close to a hidden San Diego gem...

The Brazilian Guys

My birthday was on a Friday...

and this breakfast place in Mission Hills was only open on weekdays...

Portland Day 2 - Council Crest Park

Every guide to Portland mentions this park...

located in one of the highest points in the Tualatin mountains...

Birthday crawl 2018 with Bert - First stop, Project Reo Collective + The Loteria Show

Yesterday Bert took the day off to share today's adventure...

After all, it's no fun celebrating a birthday alone, right.  So we began the day here...

Portland Day 2 - Ken's Artisan Bakery

Literally a stone's throw away from Sterling Coffee Roasters

was a bakery we had bypassed six years ago...

Birthday Highlights 2018

I was fortunate enough to have Bert with me on my day off...

where my birthday fell upon Lucky Friday the 13th...

Portland Day 2 - Sterling Coffee Roasters

Our apartment suite was walking distance to our morning coffee stop...

It was quite brisk that morning (still in the low 40's)...

Sunset @ Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve

We were on the outer edges of this very preserve earlier this afternoon...

and wanted to catch the few remaining rays of light.

Bree'Osh, Montecito

There was a bakery I wanted to check out in the upscale town north of Carp...

we took a wrong turn and I noticed this vintage sign...

Lunch @ Rincon Brewery, Carpinteria

There were three breweries in Carp...

During the course of our stay, we managed to do two of them...

Carpinteria Summer 2017

We were finally back in Carp...

having been there the previous year...

My Birthday Foodcrawl with the Educator GF's

Yeah boiiiiii!

Stop one of my pre-birthday food crawl was at...

Portland Day 1 - Prince Mural + Motivasi Coffee

Two years ago after Prince died,

I kept seeing many artistic tributes pop up in various cities...

Portland Day 1 - Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai

It's so lush and beautiful here...

so many of the yards and sidewalks are filled with beautiful flowering trees and blooms like this one...

Portland Day 1 - Bison Coffee House

It was finally time for our coffee fix,

at a place I checked out online before our trip...

Portland Day 1 - Annie's Donuts

While en route to our first coffee stop,

we passed by this place, which I had "starred" in my googlemaps for our trip...

Portland Day 1 - Joseph Wood Hill Park at Rocky Butte Park

Our first stop after our breakfast at Elmer's ...

was at this park which sits on top of...

Sea Cliff + coastal overlook in Carpinteria

It's the return of the Carpinteria road trip posts...We haven't even gotten to that point yet, but bear with me as I painfully eke out these posts...

After our short stop at Beacon Coffee Co. in Ventura,

As much as we enjoyed our trip to Ventura the previous year, we needed to move on....

New Easter Pez

Happy Easter...

for those that celebrate...On my mantel are the Easter themed Pez...