We’ve been sticking pretty close to home for a while, as you can probably imagine (because you’re in the same boat!). We haven’t ventured out of town much at all, but yesterday we drove up to the cute town of Sonoma about 20 miles north.
I have a friend who lives up there (hi, Marisol!), and after a quick socially distanced visit, during which I dropped off one of the aloe plants I repotted over the weekend, we stopped at Sonoma Plaza to do some exploring.
Sonoma Plaza is a large outdoor square with playgrounds, trees, paths, duck ponds and plenty of picnic tables. It’s surrounded by wine tasting rooms, restaurants, shops and the last of the 21 Spanish missions built in California. Most of the stores and restaurants are currently closed, of course, but the walk around the area is beautiful.
Before I go on, to ensure that this post is at least marginally makeup related, here’s the five-minute makeup look I wore. It’s been my go-to look as of late.
- Brows: Urban Decay Brow Blade (super long lasting, and so easy to use)
- Lashes: Urban Decay Cannonball Mascara (waterproof, doesn’t flake)
- Liquid liner: MAC Brushblack Brushstroke Liner (ultra black and draws sharp edges with ease)
- Eyeshadow: MAC Cork (the best for carving out a soft crease)
- Under-eye concealer: Estee Lauder Instant Fix Concealer in Medium Deep
- Face Powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Golden (used this alone as a base, no foundation)
- Blush: MAC Warm Soul Mineralize Blush
We walked all over the plaza, exploring the paths and different areas of the park, and doing some hardcore socially distanced people watching. It’s been an unusually warm January here, so there were people about, but everyone was wearing masks and social distancing.
The trees! There are so many of them!
If you decide to go sometime, be sure to either pack a picnic, or make plans for a takeout meal at one of the restaurants nearby. Several of them are open for online orders only. It’s a great park to enjoy a meal and relax in the sun.
If you have little ones, FYI, the duck pond is the place to be! Connor could’ve easily spent all day there. We practically had to drag her away!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Haven’t been to Sonoma since Dear Daughter stopped riding. Used to go hang out there when we needed to get away from the show grounds to decompress. I also remember going there to visit the mission for the “4th grade mission project”, as Dear Daughter decided visiting three different missions was infinitely better than trying to make a scale model of one.
I wonder if the kids still do the fourth grade mission project. I had to do one too back in the ’80s, and mine was a mess! Both my parents worked a ton, so growing up I was left to my own devices and had to do most things on my own (including the mission project). Everyone in my class used sugar cubes, but since we only had regular sugar in the house (and it never occurred to me to ask my parents to help or buy sugar cubes), needless to say it did not go well. It was very, very messy. LOL! Ahh, memories.
Ok, Dear Husband is three years younger than me and he did the mission project back in the late 60’s/early 70’s. My girlfriend said her son did it two years ago. So yeah, they still do the mission project and they still do outdoor ed. for one week, too.
When it came to parental help on homework, I did the minimum. I was of the mind, I went to school and did my homework, now it’s your turn to do it. It wasn’t my homework it was Dear Daughter’s. Of course you could tell the projects where the parents did most of the work. Sigh. Even though it didn’t feel like it at the time, you learned more and got more out of it than the kids whose parents did the bulk of the work for them. It was really hard not to step in and do things for my daughter, but I felt she needed to take responsibility and ownership for her work. She also needed to learn when and how to ask for help. Of course, this is entirely my own philosophy on child rearing and I’m no expert.
I’m completely fumbling along as best as I can (aren’t we all?), and I have the same mindset. It’s going to take some work for me to not get up in the mix, though. I do find it very challenging to not step in with things now — making her bed, brushing her teeth, choosing her clothes for the day. I’m going to try to get better at it! 🙂
You sound like a great mom to your DD!
Parenting is one of the hardest things on the planet because there is no “users’ manual” to follow. And even if there was, I feel like kids are so completely individual that what works with one, will not work with the other. They’re all motivated by different things and figuring out what that is, is the hard part. The most important thing is to treat them consistently and with lots of love. It’s weird how many “quality time” events my daughter remembers from her childhood. Not so much the stuff, but the outings and time spent together.
Why do you choose Connor’s clothes? Does she dawdle getting dressed in the morning? (Potentially making you all late.) You could either ask her to pick out clothes before bedtime stories the evening before. Or you could select two or three outfits and let her pick from that selection in the morning.
California is so beautiful and Connor is so cute! Nature is my church 🙂 Glad you were able to get out and enjoy it.
I’ve never actually been to California but I love when you give mini tours of places around you. I sent my gal pal from grad school a fun Michigan-themed gift for Christmas to give her a little bit of a tour of parts of Michigan she wasn’t familiar with (I live in SE Michigan but am from the north). It was so fun to put together and she loved it.
It’s a bit chilly for outdoor visits here but we met with my brother in my front yard for 15 minutes on Saturday – he brought his HUGE 9 month old puppy Max, who makes my 60 lb dog look tiny. He’s a Husky Shepherd mix, so sweet. Hettie hadn’t seen him in 6 months.
The girl & the fig is always a top recommended eatery from me at Sonoma Square. Everything there is extremely delicious.
It looks lovely; I’m a fan of historic buildings/architecture. 🙂 Is that a rare El Hub sighting by the duck pond?
Our boys had to do a longhouse project in 4th grade. We each took one of them and helped them figure out what materials to use and how they’d build it and what they’d include (racks to hang the “animal pelts” etc). If there was some tricky gluing, etc, we were hovering and happy to help. HAHA! Oh, and to supply/help gather the materials they needed.
LOL, yes that’s him! 🙂