Another one of my family members joined the Rona Club this week, and as I was sharing my experiences of what worked for me, I started thinking about what I knew, what I didn't know, and what I would do differently to care for myself after testing positive.   My goal is to stay healthy all the time and yet,  I do acknowledge that we know that this is not a "one and done" type of situation at this moment in time.   So, I decided to write a letter to my pre-COVID self to help myself out in the future if the need should arise.  (A friend and I recently discussed the fact that we've all been so intent on "not getting it" and wished that we'd better prepared for what to do if we did. If you've had it, what would you do differently?) Dear Future Rachel,  You didn't want to get COVID, but you did.  You hoped to remain asymptomatic, but you didn't.   The virus was annoying, frustrating and exhausting, but it wasn't scary, and you required no speci

It's been hot and muggy all weekend in La Mesa, so we employed all of our best tactics for staying cool this weekend.   Good (Cool) Vibrations  On Friday night (forgot photos!), we went down to Solare in Liberty Station (Point Loma) and had a great seafood dinner outdoors.  It is amazing what a difference 10 degrees in temperature and a nice cool coastal breeze can have on your disposition.  The waitress was awesome and did not push us to hurry up and finish, so we had a nice three hours on the deck and a good conversation that included topics like "it's the people who make the biggest difference in job satisfaction," "on future space flights, how will people like psychologists help determine WHO has the right temperament to join the crew," and "did Garage Sale mysteries jump the shark or are they just hovering over it?"   On Saturday, William spent several hours painting boards for the future permanent yoga dome, and Rachel sat outside under the c

In the summer, I like to wear dresses.  They are comfortable, versatile and help keep me cool during our hot Southern California days.   For work, it's easy to add heels and a sweater.  Tip: for Zoom meetings, add a cardigan with a spaghetti strap dress so you don't create an illusion of bare skin!  A Dress Capsule Wardrobe? I may do a post in the future on a summer capsule wardrobe built around dresses (most capsules don't do this because you can make more outfits if you have mixable tops and bottoms!)  Romper Versus Dress For hanging out at home or going on an adventure, it's easy to pair a casual dress with sandals.  So, where do rompers fit into the conversation?   To me, a romper is the casual version of a short-er dress, with the added bonus that you don't need to worry about exposing too much if there's a gust of wind.  I've worn this romper a couple of times this summer, once on a shopping trip to the local mall and recently on our trip to Old Town T

In my Psychological Thrillers group, there are many good book recommendations and also some of the same conversations that happen over and over again.  One of those conversations is about two books, Verity (2018)  by Colleen Hoover, and The Wife Upstairs (2020) by Freida McFadden.   Spoiler Alert: Stop reading now if you want to read these books.  And I do suggest that you do.  Buy both of them!  If you prefer a PG version, go for The Wife Upstairs . While you're at it, read The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins (2020), which is also a great read involving (you guessed it), a wife upstairs!  Which Wife Was First? Some claim that Hoover stole the idea from McFadden, and others say that McFadden stole the idea from Hoover.  One upset reader said that the two books are exactly the same .  Although Verity was published first, some argue that The Wife Upstairs was written first.   I decided to investigate.  I've read both books in the past, and they didn't seem like the same

As I've shared here, I've read over 50 books this year and working toward 100+ before the new year.  My favorite genres are psychological thrillers (first) and mysteries (second).  Something happens when you binge watch a television series or read book after book: you start to see patterns.   I've been reading mystery books since I was a little girl and could only check out as many books as I could carry home from the library; today, I order my books on Amazon and have them delivered in one, two or three days.  I'm also a member of a psychological thriller group on Facebook, where I've discovered many intriguing authors, many of whom are recently published. And that's where I started seeing the word CLOCK used frequently.   No, not as the old mysterious clock hanging on the wall with a secret message inside, but as a verb that means many different things.  I asked William about what he thought the word clock could mean, and we discussed it during our recent wine

The Glass is More Than Half Full I bought the Cable Car Wine Tour in Temecula as a Christmas gift for William, and we finally had time to book at the end of July, which coincided with the end of our 10+ day quarantines and Rachel's time off work in August.   As 50somethings, we were the two oldest people on the tour but that didn't stop us from having fun, dancing, playing along with Cable Car Karoke and taking a lot of photos.   William said, "I'd give it a 6 out of 5 stars!"  Where We Stayed  We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites; it's one of several hotel locations where you can get picked up and dropped off for the tour.  T his was great because we didn't have to worry about navigating, parking or having one of us be a designated driver.   Our room had an in-room whirlpool tub ( yes ) and the hotel also has a swimming pool and Jacuzzi outdoors.   The Cable Car Experience  We started off at the Black Market Brewery, where we met our cable car driver a