My California

Where can you find perfect weather? Blue Skies that run into the ocean?

Newport Beach, CA

Sign I walked by at Balboa (the Newport bay). Talk about jumping to the point...

By the way, can you see Waldo in the middle picture... he likes to spend his off time on Newport Beach. ;)

Mississippi Here I ... Came

On The Way

Me and planes don't go to well together. Especially little planes. As I held back calling out "Jesus" and gripped the seat in front of me, I had a chance to look out the window and see flat land and lots of trees. We were not in Orange County anymore.

We had to travel from Jackson, MS to a little town called Columbia. Blink and you may miss it. Cute and quaint... okay that wasn't my initial reaction. I saw all the horrific things and didn't see any of the good until a few days later. I told my sister that she would have to come visit me because I sure wasn't coming back. lol but I changed my mind and now, if I must, I will visit from time to time.

The Proposal
The first night there, my sister's boyfriend planned a dinner for her and us at this little place that looked like a sandwich shop. The menu's on the wall had fried everything, but the tables were set with rose petals and candles. We, my mom and I, watched from a distance as this happened...

My sisters fiance is the production manager at the local newspaper, so he had a full color page for his proposal.

We had fried green tomatoes for the first time, fried calamari fresh from New Orleans, garden salad and the best shrimp scampi ever. It was perfectly cooked and seasoned. We finished dinner with Chocolate mousse and strawberries soaked in Grand Marnier. Divine. That's all I have to say. Divine.

Wedding Errands

On Saturday morning we woke up at 4:30, 2:30 CA time, and drove to Pensacola, FL. We had to be there for a morning appointment at the caterer. We had appointments one right after the other at the florist and bakery. We then headed to Orange Beach, AL to see where my sister is getting married and the house we will be staying in the week of the wedding.

This is the beach we are staying on. The sand is incredible, fine and white.

I took a few pictures of my sister and her fiance Paul, we called them engagement pictures but it really was a few shots here and there.

The ride home never ended... it seemed as if these Southern roads could go on and on... that wore me out along with the fact that I'd only gotten 7 hours of sleep in the last two days.

The B&B

My sister's fiance was kind enough to get us a room at the local B&B. We had the whole upper floor to ourselves and each morning the B&B host would make us breakfast in the formal dining room. This picture kind of reminds me of Green Gables.

Bottle trees are a Columbia staple. You drive down the street and see one of these in almost every yard. My mom wanted to put one together at our house and I told her it's best to leave these in Columbia. =)

My Favorite Part

I think the best thing about this trip were the fried pickles. I do not like pickles at all. I give them away or just throw them out, but these were mouth watering goodness. I have been craving them since and have no where to get them.

Sunday Go a' Meetin'

We visited my sister's new church on Sunday morning, one the most beautiful churches I've seen, Woodlawn. Afterwards we were invited to a luncheon for Cath and Paul at a co-worker of Paul's. The house was on tons of land, green and lush. Made me want to pick it up and take it back home with me... don't know where I'd put it, maybe on a cement building... that's pretty much taking up all our land here.

We spent the last two days looking around town and resting since we completely wore ourselves out.

I was so glad to hit land in Orange County... there really is no place like home.

It's a Crazy World

Goodness! It's been over one week since I last posted. I haven't even been keeping up with my photo blog like I KNEW would happen.

Life is busy, I haven't had one free night this week. Monday we had ladies prayer at my house, so good! Tuesday we have community groups, at my home. Wednesday - It was my week to teach the kiddos at church. I had a mini breather on Thursday, got a much needed pedi and then had to pack for the weekend.

I'll be a little lonely the next week and 1/2. My sis is left for an adventurous trip and I am already feeling a little lonely... okay a lot lonely. =( But I'll survive.

::

What else? I am supposed to be on Weight Watchers but I.can't.get.motivated. Maybe tomorrow... but then again there is too much going on... (shame, shame, shame).

Since we're on the subject of food. I must share this recipe for the BEST stuffed mushrooms. You cannot get any easier than this. Look at the picture... drool a little and then make it yourself! You will love them.

RECIPE

Button mushrooms, cleaned with edge of stem cutoff and stems removed (and saved)

Filling:(approx)
8 oz Cream Cheese
2 tbs of bacon bits
2 tbs of green onion
2 tbs of chopped mushrooms stems
3 tbs of shredded cheddar cheese (I use sharp)

~Fill mushrooms and place on baking sheet. Cover (sort of smoosh down) with chedder cheese

~Put in oven at 375 for 10 minutes or until cheese is starting to brown on top.

~You can add anything else that you think you make it better - Onions, garlic, spices...

Get ready for a party for the buds!

::

Onto other news, I did my first family shoot on Saturday! I had some families at my church approach me about doing their family photos after seeing my cousins photos that I did for Christmas. I was so excited because, of course, I now had JW and we can really get some great shots with his help. (Reminder to self: stop referring to your camera as a "him".) I'll share some of the photos once I get the "ok" from the family.

::

Check out my photo blog for some shots around town during our rain storm - The Daily Photo

Weird Art

Some people view things so different. We live close to Ripley's Believe it or Not and as a kid/teenager my parents used to take us there whenever we had guest or someone new showed up in the area. At our Ripley's there is a wedding portrait made out of lint. Entirely of lint. Someone put those loads of laundry to good use. The same artist was recently featured in our newspaper. I couldn't figure out why they featured a picture of sushi on the front of the local page. After reading that she was a lint artist, I gasped and proceeded to show everyone that came by.

How would you like to receive this box of chocolates from your honey? One good thing, there truly is now fat here. Ha! Maybe just an asthma attack.

Another odd thing that is one of my favorites at Ripley is the Last Supper Portrait made completely of TOAST. I love it. Now they have tools ans such, but this was done long ago without tools, just a crazy mind. I wish I could find it and show you, but this will give you an idea... makes me want to try it.





So, next time your overloaded with wash, think about saving your lint. Better yet, find ways to see other things as art, such as your dogs hair, dust balls, cob webs, chewed gum and your kids boogers... you never know what they can form into.

Starbucks is the BOMB

There just something about a good, hot eggnog latte on a chilly morning.

My sweet sister surprised my SIL and I at work with Starbucks. Mm-Mm GOOOD.

It's about 55 degrees here and I am freezing. This girl is not cut out for cold weather!

Rainy Morning

I took some pictures on the way to work this rainy morning. Clouds are so fascinating to me. They change shape right before your eyes and are never the same, day to day. A rainy morning brought such incredible beauty...

Southern California is Burning

I wanted to write a quick post for all my blog buddies. This fire is bad. Very, very bad. An hour after the Corona fire started, our skies turned brown and the smoke was overtaking our city on it's way to the ocean.

The winds have been blowing ash and smoke all over. Our home smells like fire and eyes are burning, heads are pounding. This fire has gone from bad to worse.

I am about 10 miles from the fire now and it's creeping closer. The sun is a burning orange color, I took some photos but don't have the connection to upload here.

Pray for the SoCal residents that are in the middle of these fires and those in Los Angeles and all the firefighters.

This brings to mind the scriptures in Acts 2 where we're warned about the coming of the Lord. The sun will be dark, the moon will turn to blood, and vapours of smoke on the earth. Whether or not this has anything to do with those days, He's coming soon!

We need these winds to stop!

A Weekend Rundown and Blog Headers

I've officially started my Christmas shopping! I went shopping on Friday night with my sisters and there was something for the Mom that I couldn't resist buying. I now have a plan to buy a couple of things each week prior to Christmas in order to afford the mass amount of gifts that will be purchased with my teeny tiny paycheck. Oh my.

I kinked my back a couple of weeks ago and things just got progressively worse from sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. I got into the chiropractor on Saturday and prayed and asked everyone else to pray, dramatic, that it wouldn't be too bad. I must say, I dislike the chiropractor more than the dentist! My body is so sensitive and bruises easily, so I am guaranteed to leave with finger and elbow bruises. Sure enough, my back and bum were bruised and hurt-ing. This called for 1/2 a painkiller that I do not like taking. I end up talking so fast about nothing and wear myself out. I was drained by the time Saturday night showed up.

Sunday morning I woke up and bundled myself in front of the TV only to be startled by huge military planes flying over, very low. That always makes me a little jumpy. I spent some time at the park with my nephew on a perfect Fall day and watched as more planes flew over. Interesting...

On Sunday night, we had an unbelievable, make you feel goooood, service. I love it when God speaks directly to your situation and provides answers! If I could put words to the feeling, I would love to share, but I can't. It's just something that everyone should feel in their lifetime.

I woke up this morning with sore stomach muscles from all those sit ups I did yesterday. Okay, who am I kidding, sit ups? Me? No. A Friend of my sister and I took us out to eat after church. We chatted and laughed so much that I must have sucked in too much air! Just like a baby. Ha ha. I had hiccups for a good 20-30 minutes. Who knew hiccups could be so painful! Hence the sore stomach muscles.

::

My cousin asked me to change up her blog layout and make it more her style. This is the outcome...

You can see the rest of her blog here - Say What?!

It's time for Christmas, according to me! I love changing my blog for the Christmas season. This year I wanted a classic, not cute, Christmas layout. Let me know what you think!

Disneyland with a Two-Year Old - Part 2

Part 1 here.

By Mid-afternoon we headed over to California Adventure. E-ver-y-one had the same idea. It was packed and hot.

The minute you stepped into the park, you can tell it was pumpkin season. Candy corn ws everywhere.

Candy corn stalks and candy corn cactus!

First Stop - Hollywood

Playhouse Disney
What's more fun this standing in line in the hot sun for 20 minutes? My thoughts exactly. But it was well worth it, the minute we walked into the playhouse, settled on the floor in a massive room full of kids and parents, we knew this was up Cristian's alley. What's better that tool puppets and tigger? It was so cute and the quality of the show was incredible.

Disney Animation Building
I can spend hours in here. When you walk in, the main room is massive, dark and cool and covered with huge screens playing still shots from the Disney animated movies. In the center are plush sofas for sitting.

There are different rooms with interactive attractions that take you behind the scenes of Disney's animation. Our feet needed some rest so the first thing we did was see Turtle Talk with Crush. Crush, the turtle dude from Finding Nemo, interacted with the audience. How Disney does it is a mystery.

In Animation Academy they show how to draw Disney characters with real Disney Animators. Below is a showing of how animation is achieved. This Toy Story setup shows characters that are slightly different than the others. The setup begins to spin super fast... and magic happens.

We headed back to get the stroller and this is what we came upon... not an easy task, trying to figure out which one is yours and how to get it out. We ran into country fall Mickey and Minney as they ran away from the crowd.

Second Stop - Bug's Land

By this time, the weather was beautiful. The sky's were picture perfect!
Cristian is a water kid. He loves showers and baths, he's already in the middle of swimming lessons. The minute I saw the water zone, I knew we had to stop... As you can see below, he l-o-v-e-d it! We continued onto Bug Land and went on a few kiddie rides. Cristian was now almost over the screaming fear of Disneyland.

As we waited for my aunt and cousin to get off the roller coaster I took some pictures of the California sunset. It was the perfect day to be at Disney.

We headed back to Disneyland for the night, along with the other multi-trillion people.

Third Stop - The French Market and Fireworks

The French Market is my favorite restaurant in Disneyland. My parents would always take us to The Blue Bayou or the French Market. Both are located in New Orleans Square. The food is scrumptious and the atmosphere is priceless. The Blue Bayou is a swankier restaurant compared to the other dining places in Disneyland. The inside makes you feel like you are outside. Tables overlook the swamp that is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The French Market is located next to the train station with dimly lit lanterns and iron gating all the way around. You stand in line for your food and then sit down to a serenade of Jazz. I ordered Clam Chowder in a sourdough bowl and a Salad with their famous blue cheese dressing. My family is big on blue cheese. We love it! We split this chocolate cake with a white chocolate castle on top.

After a long long dinner we headed over to the castle to get seats for the firework show. By this time, my feet hurt so bad, I didn't care of there was bird poo on the floor, I was going to sit! I sat under this massive flower bulb...

We waited a good hour for the show to start. I took pictures of the crowd all around the circular square that didn't come out very well. The mass of people was overwhelming. No walking space, barely room to sit on the floor and tuck your feet and hands in.

If you haven't seen the firework show at Disneyland you are missing out. This was my favorite part of the whole day. Incredible! I took a long video to post here... It is worth watching!

Part one - Disneyland Fireworks


Part two - Disneyland Fireworks


All in all, it was a fun Disney day with my favorite kid!

A Tough Nut to Crack

Can you smell the Fall air?

Sunday morning was crystal clear, beautiful and crisp! Perfect Fall weather. The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze with a slight chill in the air, between 65 - 70 degrees. Just as Fall should be in Southern California.

We have several different kinds of trees in our yard, a few actually have things that you can pick off. Our home was originally the main house on orange acres many years ago. Almost every house has an orange tree in their yard. Our tree is an orange/lemon tree. Very unusual looking fruit with an even more unusual taste.

We also have an avocado tree that doesn't bear much fruit since it is overshadowed by a three story pine like tree. No sun means no avocados.

(macadamia tree)

One of my favorite trees is our macadamia tree. Every Fall/Winter, the tree drops Macadamia nuts all over the yard. One of my mom's favorite things to do is to gather all the nuts in baskets for cracking or to give away, shell and all.

A few facts about this tough nut:

• Originally from Australia and now moved to Hawaii
• Macadamias are highly nutritious nuts. They have the highest amount of beneficial monosaturated fats of any nut
• Macadamia oil is a desirable ingredient in cosmetics, especially skincare.
• Macadamia nuts are toxic to dog.
• Macadamia nuts are often used by law enforcement to simulate crack cocaine in drug stings. When chopped, the nuts resemble crack cocaine in color.

::

It was so nice on Sunday morning, I decided to spend some time outdoors and crack nuts to roast.

Cracking a macadamia nut is no easy task. I have proof of it on my bruised hand. This is the reason for the high price of this particular nut. The shell is so thick that a special nutcracker has to be used, even then it is a slow process and way too expensive. I use a large brick and a ton of patience.

You can see from the picture on the left, the shell is thick and hard as a rock. This was cracked with a few hits of the brick and still... the nut is enclosed.


It took me about an hour and a half to get a good amount cracked and ready to be cleaned and roasted. Since it's still early Fall, quite a few of the nuts weren't separated from the shell, white in color, these had to be thrown out.

A Macadamia nut should be a buttery color and soft. This is when they are ripe and ready to be eaten.

I cleaned all the excess shell and dirt off the nuts and placed in the oven to be roasted. They smelled so gooood!

After about 17 minutes of roasting, the nuts were hot and ready to be tasted jarred. If the task wasn't so back breaking, I would jar these and give them out for Thanksgiving gifts.

After yesterdays morning spent cracking and feeling the after effects today... I think I'll just buy the nuts for too much money in the store!

San Diego Weekend - Part 2

My sister and I got a hotel room for Saturday night since she was meeting up with an old friend from high school in the area. My cousin, her boyfriend, and my nephew Cristian stayed as well.

We went to Sea Port Village, first thing I did was take Cristian on the carousel. The carousel has been moved from over eight places. I believe it was first built in the early 1900's. Cristian loved it! He was yelling and waving at everyone we went by.

I took the above photos with my camera phone after my camera died. I went in search of somewhere to buy batteries and ended up paying $15 for two batteries! Well worth it thought since the view was incredible.

Below is a picture from a dock between the Coronado Naval Base and the Coronado Bridge.

Coronado Naval Base
My brother and his girlfriend, Stephanie, went with us and of course, I took a ton of pictures of them as he protested. The thing about my brother is that he protest but really loves it when people take pictures of him, if you were to look at his camera you would find a ton of photos that HE took of himself.
(Click to enlarge)



We were coming around a corner, looking at the water and watching the sunset when I heard screaming. After looking around for some crazy person running through the crowd with flailing arms, I spotted parrots. Who knew they could make such a ruckus.



We ate this incredible pizza, mouth watering. If you haven't already notices, I love taking pictures of food. To me it's beautiful, most food, not all. I had people asking me at the wedding, "Did you really just take a picture of that salad?". It was a pretty salad.



On Sunday we went to Coronado Island. I love love love Coronado, the smells and colors, It's breathtaking.
Views from the bridge...



I've mentioned the Hotel Del Coronado before, we always make a point to stop here if we have some time. Stephanie is a big Marilyn Monroe fan, I recently showed her Some Like It Hot which was filmed at the Hotel Del Coronado in 1959.

The weather was perfect, ocean breeze with the sun's heat. We sat at the Hotel beach for a while before heading to Moo's Creamery for some ice cream to cool off.

We had so much fun, I'm now trying to recuperate and keep my lids open for another day of work. lol. I have a WW meeting tonight and from the looks of the pizza above you can tell that it won't be thrilling.

Hope you enjoyed this long, picture filled post. =)

BTW - I'm in the middle of A Passion Redeemed, excellent! You must order it!