Tablescape Thursday - Coffee in Bed

Who says Coffee and Poptarts have to be boring?

 It's more about the ritual and presentation than it is about whats in the cup or on the plate...really this Poptart tasted better than any other Poptart that I ever had!

This is one of my favorite "Indulgence's" - I don't do it everyday ( maybe I should), but I try at least once a week to have my Morning Cup in bed with all my favorite meditative books and magazines spread out for me to pluck and thumb through. What about you? Do you have a favorite morning indulgence or ritual?
Well I don't want to spend too much time here this morning, precious few moments before the sunrise then it's all business from there...tata for now!

Linking up with Between Naps on The Porch - You should check out her backyard tablescape- I am green with envy over all of the green that is surrounding her table!

Also Linking up with Delightful Order - some amazing inspiration here!

Wait! Don't Go! Okay you can go for now - but only if you promise Cookies!

Everybody is posting on FB or blogs their goodbyes to summer. I guess in this little time vacuum that I am in, I just don't see the end quite yet. Well, for one it is going to be about 102 degrees here today and for two I have had such an awesome summer with PC, my kiddos and my Sistas that I just didn't see the end coming.  When I say I had an awesome summer - I mean this is one of those I will keep going back to on those days I need a good memory to get me through...

The View from our Campsite in Carpinteria, CA.

Our Awesome beach cruisers - mine has a basket now!

Our perfect little Beach Camper!

With that said, I have a ton of schoolwork to try and get completed before I get that first call (!!), and wouldn't you know it, while I was blog hopping yesterday, I landed at Organized Christmas! Yesterday just happened to be the very first day of The Holiday Grand Plan.  I know I know! This always happens, no sooner are you sadly saying goodbye to summer, Christmas is running up behind you, ready to pounce on your back -ready or not!  Well, I for one, even though PC still has a beach trip or two up his sleeve, am fully committing to the HGP!  Wanna join me? It's not too late really and believe me - you and your pocketbook will be happy you did!

http://christmas.organizedhome.com/

Okay, so off I go to finish printing my HGP notebook (I really wish there were an APP - but I'm a sucker for a notebook), Tata for now!

A New Day

Good morning! I'm just sitting outside listening to the soundtrack of the sunrise...howling coyotes, roosters and a few sparrows battling over the breadcrumbs I threw on the ground earlier. I'm trying my hand at mobile blogging this morning, I use my precious iPhone for everything else why not to get back to blogging right? It's a new day and I have so much to tell...I am no longer on the path to being a nurse; I found out quickly while in CNA training that nursing, though noble a career, is not what I thought it was. So now I am back to what I now know is my true calling ( maybe I was a little burnt out)...teaching. Now granted, I am not jumping in the deep end just yet, for fear of drowning again, but I am wading. On this beautiful Sunday morning, after a quick once over of the humble abode, I have Algebra homework and a paper to write... yes I am a student, still. I believe that is what this life change was all about, the journey, not the destination ( although a general direction is nice to set the compass) but most certainly not the path...I know in my heart to be a better teacher, a more self actualized person, I need to invest more into my
education. So my major has changed from Nursing to Special Education. I am attending an awesome school - Western Governors University - completely online and fabulous! But to keep me fresh and in touch with the staff and students that I cannot seem to put behind me, I'm also substituting at my old school! I am so excited - they start next week and while I wish no one ill, I can't wait for my first call!
I'm sure it will be different, a lot has changed about the school in a year, but much like my pics this morning - its the lens that makes the difference.  Tata for now!

PS, if you get a chance - hop on over to one of my former kiddos blogs- Blunders & Blessings and give her some bloggy love!

An Autumn Brew (warning - lots of eye candy)...

"Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble."~ Shakespeare "Macbeth"

While I have been quite in blogland, I have been busy in the world, making memories. October is a busy month for us, many birthdays (family and friends), usually an escape of some sort...mourning summer I suppose and of course, the landmark holiday, Halloween. A landmark because it it the beginning of the end of the year.  a time full of wonder and celebration...my favorite time of the year. October and I have had a love affair since I was a child kicking up the leaves on Elsmere Ave, eating bowls of Cincinnati chili and anxiously awaiting the door to door compliments on the fabulous costume Momma whipped up and of course the reward of candy, popcorn balls and coins! Yes, along our route in my fabulous (to me) hometown, there was a large house that gave out half dollars...a treat indeed! I believe my papa & mam- ma loved Halloween as much as we did because they decorated the front porch to be scary and fun, with 9 children, they had a cast of characters for years!  This is the time of year when mam-ma would make popcorn balls and chex mix (REAL chex mix). Races to the heat registers would begin to ensue, first one there felt the warmth rush from the floor as if a dragon lived in the basement just to warm our bodies. Yes, I have been in Love with October for as long as I can remember.  So while I have been quiet here, my soul stirs, I find I tend to journal more and  take a lot of photos in October...because the world becomes alive with magic, both natural and the Home Brewed kind...so today I would like to share some of the Home Brewed Magic that I have spotted....

PC and I went to breakfast last week and instead of going to our usual cafe, we ventured into the mountains and ended up at the Evergreen Cafe...what a treat!  As I ewwwd and awwed over the labor of love in the owner's Halloween decorations, I plotted to bring Baby Girl up for breakfast in a few days with camera in tow...PC is not as understanding as I'd like when it comes to snapping photos with my big ol' camera in restaurants...it's really where he draws the line...anywho...Baby Girl was game and we had a fabby morning...here you go!

As you walk in...you immediately know the spirit of creativity lives here...and we thought it was just a cafe...

The ceiling demands attention as many of the spiders descend and ascend as the door opens and closes...

The garden window has this great treatment (sorry it's dark) with fanciful witches and and the undead...

The walls are filled with all sorts of fun and spooky pictures, flowers and creatures of the night...

This little arrangement, very interactive, sits over the cook's window...

Almost forgot we were at a restaurant, huh?  Great food!

After breakfast we walked across the street, Baby Girl commenting how the town of Wrightwood reminded her of the small town in The Proposal (an all-time Fav of mine) and I agreed.  Quiet, artsy and full of characters.  We happened upon such a treasure of a shop, SK Jones Galleries - I HAVE TO SHARE - you can tell instantly that a talented artist is at work in this shop...

the jewlery is unique and gorgeous...

 the furnishings understated, artistic and beautiful,...

the spirit of the space is playful...

 and the artwork truly authentic...Suzan has taken the journey and arrived at her authentic self...

I love her window panes. Magic in the making.

Awwww...can you smell the crispness in the air...the magic?  I can!  But alas, I have to go make some numbers do magic -off to do algebra homework!! Tata for now!

Linking up with Show & Tell Friday

New Language, New World

I admit it, I am on a Miles Davis kick but his (accompanied by John Coltrane here) smooth notes and soulful tones make this music that I can truly listen too and not be distracted while studying. Today I am studying for my first Medical Terminology test, which should be easy but it's on 4 chapters and it's kicking my butt a little. I know I can do it, learning a new language is challenging but it's also fun. What I find most interesting is that, when I learn these new words, mostly conditions, I want to know more....like how does this happen? What kind of treatment does a person get? How many times will I see this? I get excited and want to know more! Goose pimples! This is fun! So while this tune does not convey excitement, it conveys relax...take it all in....let it become apart of who you are...internalize the language.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Gotta go internalize some combining forms (Khan Academy needs some tutorials about Medical Terminology), Ta Ta for now!

Is this really a tattoo shop?

The girls had one goal the day we went to Hollywood; go see if Kat Von Dee is in her shop - High Voltage AKA LA Ink.  Yep all three girls are in love with tattoos (two of them have them).  I admire a good tattoo and have a plan for one if I ever decide to take the plunge into this world....it is another world, but for now I just quietly observe the art that has been methodically placed on the canvas of flesh. SO when they wanted to go to "LA INK" I thought it would be an adventure (I've never stepped foot into a Tattoo Shop or watched LA Ink), I was wondering how it would look and smell...you know...will it be authentic? 

Well, when you first walk in, it's throws you off a little. Why?  There is this huge red beaded chandelier hanging over the....I don't what do you call it...a reception desk....do tattoo shops have reception desks?

Anywhoo...look at this thing....isn't gaudy enough to be great!  I loved it!

I also loved that everywhere you pointed the camera it was an "picture perfect" opportunity. coincidence? Nope we are in Hollywood and this shop is basically a "set" for her reality show.

Seee, right down to the floor...maybe that was there before the shop became famous...it's hard to know...was this shop already like this.....

or did the WOW factor happen after Hollywood got a hold of her shop?  The artists area's were set up a lot like a beauty parlor with massage tables for the chairs, but you have to be on the list to pass the velvet rope...I think it probably smelled better than most shops too.

The girls were not wondering any of these things...they were star struck...

They were standing in LA INK asking how long it would take to have an appointment (2 years BTW) and how much ($200.00 minimum), Okay girls can we go now?

I am assuming this is Kat's chair (COOL) and that is her purse (girls sigh), she must be in the back.

Okay, okay, one more picture because I think that sofa is a coffin...cool again. I mean I wouldn't put it in my house or anything, just like I wouldn't use Audrey's Bathtub for a sofa- but it's cool.

On the way CuzzyA snapped this one - I didn't even notice it was there...silly me.  If you are into tattoos, I think this is a definite stop, they were all very nice and the shop was beautiful and of course the Art was beautiful....If I  ever decide to get that hummingbird, I'm coming here...

A few days later CuzzyA and I made it to The Hollywood Sign...

There were beautiful homes all the way up this very hilly part of Hollywood...I want to live in this one...you cant see the blue but it is GOGEEEOUS!  It's a castle - what better place for a princess and her prince?!

22 years in Cali and I have never made the trip up here.

I'll be back again this summer with Baby Girl and Pumpkin.

You would never know this is the view from The Sign but it is...haze and all it was breathtaking....sooooo many people, so much going on and it was soo very quiet at the top of that hill.

Hope you had fun on our little adventure to Hollywood, I have to go fold some laundry before it eats me alive...it's a joke remember we were just in Hollywood, anything can happen.  Tata for now!