Last Thursday, J and I celebrated 14 years of marriage. We flew out late that morning to Ontario, CA and drove out to Temecula. No one has really heard of Temecula, but I got wind that it was a smaller wine country in southern California, so I figured it would be a nice spot to scout out for a weekend.
Flying out of SJC, we are def getting our process down, and with TSA Pre, we are through security and to the gate in about 15 minutes. Yippee! On the other end, we did the over-optimization thing where J waited for our bags while I went to get the rental car. I know, we are ridic. But man, Lorraine over at Budget Rental hooked us up! What a pleasant lady. She had a warm smile and when she told me they were all out of sedans and only had the mini van available, I mentioned that J had a thing for mini-vans. She then proceeded to upgrade us to the Chrysler Pacifica, which ended up being an uber van. She was so sweet. As part of my new perspective on customer service/sales jobs, I’m going to write her a thank you note.
Anyway, J and I had a nice weekend even though internally, I was stressing out about hitting my 100 contacts… I know, I’m a total nerd. And when I talked with my friend N the day before, she basically said that my homework numbers were a false problem. I mean, true esp compared to her health woes (she now needs a knee replacement!!), but still. If I consider my homework numbers as an indicator of actual real estate leads that will come my way, it’s still important.. It’s fine: N and I go way back, so I understand her bluntness and her intention.
Anyway, I got us a room at Marriott’s Springhill Suites. Spacious but a bit dank and well, there was peeling wallpaper and cracked caulking… nonetheless, I didn’t feel like complaining after a long day. We had a lovely early dinner reservation at the local golf club. Yep, big time oldies in da house! I think we were done with dinner and headed home for bed like before 8pm. Haha.
Boy oh boy though, I sleep so much better when I am on travel. I dunno whether it’s all the things I need to do at home or the bathroom reno that’s cluttering my mind or what… I slept pretty damn well though.
The next day, we met up with my Duke Nonprofit classmate S (She’s also a camp counselor at Camp Wonder). Man, if you think I’m a research maven, this chick knows EVERYthing. Sure, Temecula is her hometown, but shit, I would not have that level of 411 on any place I’ve lived. She’s super succinct too, providing just the highlights without bogging us down with analysis paralysis. Yay!
Btw, I will say I got a warm lead for work! I’ve been posting some real estate stuff to Instagram and sending emails to my network… Turns out, a childhood friend is moving from PA to CA! She’s headed for big time snow country, but I was able to find a top producer agent and hook her up. We chatted via phone for the first time since probably college, and it was really nice to catch up! Kinda cool to reconnect.
By Saturday, J and I were ready to get out of Temecula. We hit up a couple of wineries with S on Friday, but J characterized wine country there as “very L.A.” In other words, beautiful and nice on the surface, but very little substance. For example, we did a couple of wine tastings, and the guy behind the counter just poured all the tastings out at once and then turned around. He didn’t even tell us what was what. Seriously, no description or background or tasting notes or anything. It was odd.
So on Saturday afternoon, we drove out to Carlsbad to meet up with my Chinese school friend, K. She and the fam have been in San Diego for many years, and we congregated at the Flower Fields. It was funny, bc there was a lot of back and forth beforehand on what to do and where to meet. She and the hubby have two small kids, and with the limited exposure that we’ve had, it’s stressful to figure out the right environment. She kept pushing back for us to just pick what we wanted to do and they would do it… J and I were so skeptical, but wow, what a pleasant experience.! Her kids are crazy well-behaved and the parents don’t hover. at. all. We had fun! But I will say, I felt a tad bit sad. For all these years, I’ve always considered their family to be a strong role model for J and me. They work hard but still manage to stay in shape and do all kinds of side activities… Things seemed different this time. They had let go of many of those past hobbies and I dunno: I just sensed some fatigue. I mean, their parents are both in Maryland and the fathers are having health issues, so I know the stress… I hope things get better for them. Sigh. Adulting is hard![FAG id=7509]