Outdoor Wednesday - Sunrise in the Desert

I've mentioned before (or I meant to anywayy) that the sunrises here can be just as breathtaking as the sunsets...full of color, warmth and the promise of a great day. PC was home a few weeks ago for vaca and made it a point every morning to watch the sunrise, I've aways taken for granted the fact that I see the sunrise every morning...he is usually stuck in a hanger or trying to catch up on sleep during the weekend. We enjoyed a beautiful week of sunrises together and I will never take another for granted.  One morning he told me to grab the camera and so I did...enjoy.

Be sure to check out all the other beautiful Outdoor Wednesday photos over at A Southern Daydreamer...I lust love her pumpkin shots, definitely frame worthy.  Well, I'm off to do some homework...this week is midterms!  Ta Ta for now!

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

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!