Thursday, March 22, 2012

Out and About

One of the things I love most about living in Sunny Southern CA is the cute little beach towns that dot the coast.  Each one has their own personality.  Some are lavish and wealthy, some are organic with a hippy vive and some are just chill - a surfer's paradise.  It only takes minutes to travel from one extreme to another making a day trip up or down the coast a total blast.  One of my favorite spots on the Southern CA coast line is La Jolla.  (Really though, I love them all.)  A couple of weeks ago I spent the day cruising the streets with my step mom and her sister.  We had great food and lots of sun.

Enjoying the view.

There is one draw back to walking near the water, La Jolla has a lot of natural beauty and some times that natural beauty has a horrible smell.  

That's not snow - if you catch my drift.

Up on the hill from the water are streets lined with shops and restaurants.  You can find high end stores to peruse or spend some time in the Gap.  There is something for everyone.

Cute dog area outside one of the bakeries.
Wonder if I could get the hubs to make something similar in blue for our dog?!

What is your favorite day trip town?  I highly recommend slipping away and enjoying your spot, even if only for a quick cup of coffee and a cupcake.  It does a body (and mind) good.



Monday, March 19, 2012

One Of Those Days

You know we all have them, those days when nothing seems to go right.  For me it wasn't a full day of misfortune, but this evening - whoa it was kind of a doozy.  Nothing major, just some little things adding up.  My girls came home from school and just as soon as they burst through the door they burst in to tears (yes, both of them) - breaks my heart.  They weren't fighting, they both were just having one of those days too.  The oldest didn't fare too well on a test she had studied for.  The youngest had issues with a kid at school.  Again, nothing major but just enough to bring tears of frustration.  After some calming words, a phone call from Dad and dinner they seemed to settle in to their usual evening routine.  I pulled out my very seldom used sewing machine to relax and get my creative juices flowing but wouldn't you know it, my bobbin was messed up.  Try as I might I couldn't re-thread it and my owner's manual is no where to be found.  Argh!  After getting the ladies to bed and some decompressing time spent on Pinterest I decided to try my hand at finger knitting (no pun intended).  There are some great tutorials in blog land -- but I found a youtube video that worked best for my style of learning.  It's not hard to pick up so I not only got to be creative tonight, I may have just found a new addiction.  Love it!  Something tells me by next week my house may be covered in yarn.



If you are on the hunt for something simple and creative here is a link to the video I watched.  Happy Monday!



Friday, March 16, 2012

Thought For The Weekend

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did. 
So throw off the bowlines. 
Sail away from the safe harbor. 
Catch the trade winds in your sails. 
Explore. 
Dream.
Discover". 
Mark Twain


Have a great weekend!!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Beauty and Love

A few years ago my little family of 4 traveled across Washington, Idaho and Montana.  Our final destination was Glacier National Park, amazing.  Have you been?  The natural eye candy absolutely blew me away.

Hiking through God's country.


Taking it all in.


 Mountain Goat enjoying his lunch, never mind this crazy tourist and her camera.


Among all this spectacular God given beauty I found something else that took my breath away, something that too is a gift from God.




Love.  Dedication.  Support.  

As we were playing in the (rather chilly) water this couple waded by.  The shore line was rocky, footing for even an agile 8 year old was unstable but here was this elderly couple working together to reach their destination.  I had no choice but to turn my camera on them and snap away.  

With my cousin's fiancĂ© still in critical care my mind has turned to the devotion and dedication of love and commitment.  It seems this world is too quick to jump ship when times get tough.  

My cousin, Bryan, however has not left his love's side.  He has posted on Facebook that no matter what comes with this injury his love will not change, his devotion is to the woman he chose.  I am proud to call him family.  Times will be tough - she faces significant challenges, most we are not even aware of at this time.  My prayer for this young couple, after my prayer for healing, is that God will sustain and protect their commitment.  May they walk the rocky shore holding on to one another, finding support in their joint effort.






Monday, March 12, 2012

Asking for Prayer

I realize I don't have a ton of blog readers (maybe just one) but just in case someone stumbles on this would you, could you, please pray.  My cousin's fiancĂ©' was in a significant paragliding accident over the weekend and is currently fighting for her life in the hospital.  Her name is Shahane.  She is a beautiful, strong woman - she doesn't have a lot of fear (I am in awe of that quality).  She is a fighter but at the moment her body is very, very broken.  Their wedding, scheduled for June, has been put on hold so all can concentrate on her healing, or at the moment, her surviving. 


Aren't they a sweet couple?  They are so very much in love.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Gotta Do What You Gotta Do

Last week my friend brought her two daughters over to hang with my girls.  As they were walking in the front door her youngest, a very sweet seven year old, proclaimed that she looks forward to visiting and seeing the fun things we have hanging on said door.  It was still Valentine's month (in other words, February) so a heart wreath with yarn and paper flowers adorned and welcomed.  It's a new month with a new holiday and I have pinned many a cute St. Patrick's Day wreath ideas.  My head has been filled with yarn, with felt flowers with a cute banner in green welcoming visitors to our home.  Something happened though as I was walking through Michaels the other day, I saw a wreath - pre made and ready to go, on sale for $7.00.  I picked it up, did the math in my head, looked through my mental calendar and decided to buy the painted plywood wreath.  Pinterest by darned.  Sometimes you seriously have to do what you have to do.  Next month is Easter, perhaps I'll get an earlier start....

Friday, March 2, 2012

Cravings

We've had some cool and wet weather over the last week here in Sunny So Cal.  When this happens I start to crave warm food - this week's craving, lentils.  I happen to be a vegetarian girl so lentils really fill my need for hearty warmth.  Since I sometimes have to be creative with recipes I have a tendency to collect vegetarian cookbooks.  The recipe I used this week comes from one of my favorite of these cookbooks - "Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker" by Robin Robertson.  (I found mine on Amazon.)



This particular recipe is called "Sloppy Lentils" in other words vegetarian Sloppy Joes.



Here are the ingredients, not at all intimidating is it?!  (Another reason why I love this recipe.)



The final product looks like this, yum - seriously yum.  This was my mid day snack, when I served it to my family for dinner we put it over toasted wheat bread.  I'm making it again tomorrow to serve to friends, I bought some good crusty bread and will serve it along side the lentils.



In other news I bought my big ol' black trash bags and have started my 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge.  I am trying hard to be honest with myself regarding what I really need and what I can let go of.  Wow!  I seem to be more of a hoarder then I realized.  (I bet the hubs already knew this.  Sigh.)