Happy Sunday, Friends!

Truffles and you ...

Truffles by the Sea is free on Kindle for today only.

Happy small business Saturday, my beachy friends, wherever you are ...

Seeing Stars ...

Last Friday I had the privilege of attending/working at an event to honor pastors, hosted by our local radio station, KDAR. Here's a shot of me with author and speaker, Greg Smalley. Note to self: Must call my hairstylist, Terri, stat!!! But seriously, Greg is hysterical and poignant, and that's a gift! If you ever get the chance to hear him speak--go.

Mickey Rooney ~ yes, you read THAT right ~ Mickey Rooney was in the house! Let me tell you, there's nothing like seeing an icon like Mickey stand and raise his hands to God as the band led us all in worship. Powerful stuff, peeps! (Just to clarify, in this photo, Mickey is waving at the crowd, not participating in worship, which happened earlier :-)
 

I also had the opportunity to pour tea for the lovely Margaret O'Brien, probably best known for Meet Me In St. Louis (but my dad, a film buff, will probably correct me about that!).

Today I was back to the drudgery of working in front of a computer screen. Not a celebrity in sight ... ah, well. No complaining here :)

Gracias ...

Happy Saturday! Rain's coming down, but it's all good (washes the heron poop off the house!). I'm so excited because my designer is working on the cover of my ebook, due to release in just a few weeks. LOVE the photo he's working from, and can't wait to show it off.  I'll reveal it here first =)

Lots of stuff to be thankful for - and in case I forget, my Facebook pages have been overflowing with gratitude posts lately. Yours too?

Here are a few of the things I'm thankful for: Family, friends, a light Saturday rain, the beach :) ... and most importantly God's unending love now and through eternity. Have a blessed and beachy Thanksgiving week, my friends ~ wherever you are ...

Island Views ...

Happy Wednesday. It's officially the hardest day of my week, every week, but especially today. Not that I have much to complain about. Life is good, but it just isn't exactly what I want it to be sometimes. Funny thing is, my son recently changed his Facebook profile page to green grass because of the "grass is always greener" cliche. So ... I'm taking that to heart!

One thing that never seems to change (except in a good way) is my view of the sea here on the central coast.. Ahhh ... this morning the sky was pink and the waves were flat. Very [insert Christian zen-like word here].

So here's to Thursday. May it usher in Friday like blue water lapping onto sand :-)

Breaking news ...

... Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez have broken up. (Apparently it's a slow news day :) 

Bad news is it may be too late for Teen Girl who recently took down her more-than-life-size poster of JB. His loss ...

Good news is we may be visiting England next year, home to four of the boys from One Direction. She's already seen them in concert (and yes, she already has tickets for next August's concert in LA ...)

Must find a way to write off a trip like that ... wondering if I should set a book on that end of the pond. Hmm...

It's Wednesday ...

Watching X Factor and The Voice (alternately) with Teen Girl, writing a super fun novella on my laptop, and munching dark chocolate-covered almonds. Life is GOOD!

Watcha doin'?

Pinky swear ...

Teen Girl and I just returned from a whirlwind weekend in Philadelphia to visit College Girl who moved across the country more than a month ago. I snapped this shot of them surreptitiously as they walked along, pinky in pinky, like they do at home. My heart swells with happiness just thinking about how close they are, and at how hard I laughed this weekend over ... well, I really can't say. It was girl stuff! =)

The more I visit the City of Brotherly Love, the more I'm smitten. On this trip, we shopped in the boutiques of Old City, strolled through Penn's historic campus, ate decadent desserts in University City ~ the pumpkin cheesecake rocked ~ and watched street dancers bounce on wiry arms in Rittenhouse Square. Such good memories, all.

Today I'm back and doing a final read-through of an editing assignment, then it's on to some writing that's been awaiting my attention. Here's to love, new journeys, and beachy days, my friends ~ wherever you are ...

Thinking of pie ...

So Teen Girl and I wandered into Pier 1 today and bought some candles that smell like spice cake. And that reminded me that we hadn't stopped at the local pumpkin patch in, oh, about eight years ~ not since she was in kindiegarten and I was one of the carpool moms. It's crazy that just because the kids grow up and move out (two in college now ... sniff sniff) we halt traditions, such as wading through hay and dirt to find the perfect pumpkin to grace our doorstep.

And so while out shopping for clothes that we never did find, we took the scenic route home along corn-dusted farms and leafy fields that stretch nearly to the sea. I love these roads, just a long stone's throw from our beachy neighborhood. By the number of cars entering the makeshift, dirt parking lots, so do our neighbors and visitors.

The big guy in the seat belt looked pretty lonesome out there in the patch surrounded by fashionable plus-sized gourds, their round bellies protruding like giant swim rings ~ and we were both smitten. He has personality, we said. The guy at the wooden check-out shack called him, "lanky." What started out as a hunt through a vast pumpkin patch turned out to be a quick trip when we spotted this big guy and brought him home.

Here's to new seasons that resurrect old traditions. Have a beachy week, my friends ~ wherever you are ...

Too good not to post

Hubby took this pic while we sat on a dune and watched the sunset. SO nice after spending the afternoon down south in sweltering heat for our daughter's soccer game.

Happy Sunday, friends! Here's to a beachy week ahead ~ wherever you are =)

It tastes better than it looks ...

I tried hard to think of a good post to go with this one, but really, I've got nuthin'. We've been back from Philly for more than a week and I'm still missing College Girl. Weird that she's not here in Cali, cracking me up like usual. Changes the dynamics of the house when one of the kids leaves. Incidentally, College Boy is home more these days. He's a junior with classes two days a week, so he comes home the rest of the time. I mean, why wouldn't he stay where the fridge is (fairly) stocked and he can sleep in his own stinky bed?

Our youngest is adjusting as best she can. She's a high school freshman who's usually joined at the hip with her sister. But that's rather hard to keep up when you live on opposite coasts. Every night we pray for her sister--and thank the Good Lord for inventing texting :)

Getting back to the Philly cheesesteak in the photo, you know, I didn't actually order one of these while there (sorry the photo's upside down; Blogger hates me), but Teen Girl tried a couple of them--for comparison sake, of course. I took a couple of bites but they're really not my thing. But as my husband said, "When in Rome ..." So, yes, he had a Philly cheesesteak AND a yuengling, because it's a law or something =).

Happy weekend, friends! Here's to family and dining like the locals ...

We returned from Philly the other night after dropping off our oldest daughter at college. Miss her bunches already, but somehow this beach chick gave birth to a city girl and I know she's happy. So that helps. Moving her in was a lot different from the time we moved our son onto a serene, enclosed campus. As I mentioned, she's in the city ... with traffic ... and zero convenient parking ... and on this particular day--rain, lightning, and 45-mile an hour winds. Welcome to the east coast, right???

Anyway, hubs and I did some last minute shopping at the Bed, Bath, and Beyond that had set up on campus--brilliant marketing plan!--and found this box of duct tape, which incidentally College Girl needed to patch a hole in her dorm room wall (I know, right?). I love this photo because there's not a drab grey in the bunch. Life's too short for plain vanilla, so kudos to BBB for thinking like a college student.

Hmm ... maybe we'd all be better off to think outside the box. Have a beachy weekend my friends, wherever you are =)

Falling for it

As I mentioned to a friend on Facebook, around here we've continued to have summer weather--except for yesterday when the air turned cool and it drizzled much of the afternoon. It was as if the weather knew the pumpkins were coming and that it should act accordingly.

Hate to admit this, but I've got my own Starbucks gold card. Yes, my name is imprinted on it and everything. Addiction at its height, I'd say. But the good thing is I've earned enough stars for a free drink, so woo hoo for that.

Today I'm wearing long sleeves (thin ones :) and heading into Sbucks for my free pumpkin latte (non-fat, of course!). Sometimes it's the little things that act like a dollop of whip cream on a long day.

Hello, fall!

TGIF

Pink sky at night, sailor's delight ... and all that. Please don't let a little thing like school starting make you think that summer's over. We've still got another couple of weeks, right? (At least on the weekends =)

Not that I'm not looking forward to digging out the fall scarves and picking up a new pair of boots. But patience is a virtue, they say, so let's enjoy those last lovely days of summer .. the sand ... the pink nights ... the palm trees swaying until the sun sets late in the evening. I don't know about you, but the older I get, the more I savor.

A happy FRIDAY to you, my beachy friends ... wherever you are :)

Happy Thursday! Ducking in to let you know that Chocolate Beach (recipe edition) is FREE on Kindle today only. Just thought I'd mention it.

Hope it's sunny where you are. Ventura is humid and overcast today ... what's up with that? Here's to a beachy weekend ahead ... wherever you are :)

Oldy but goody ...

Update: It's up to a buck 99 now, but that's still a good deal, methinks.

Back to the original post :) :

The owner of Trufflehounds in downtown Ventura said that fans of my book, Truffles by the Sea, took a pic of themselves outside of their chocolate shop one day. How cool is that? If you didn't know, the shop depicted in the book - the one Gaby regularly visits for "sustenance" - is based on our very own local chocoholic emporium :)

If you haven't read T by the Sea and have a Kindle, it's on sale for 99cents. Not sure how long that will last, so wanted to let you know.

Have a beachy weekend, friends - wherever you are :)

Surfer's Knoll

Dreaming of last weekend ...

Have a beachy week, my friends ~ wherever you are ...

Are you watching???

Swimming - check. Beach volleyball - check. SOCCER -- check, check!

All those fit people make me want to go out and run farther than my puny two mile beach run. Can you relate?

My girls won two tickets to the American Idol concert tonight, so I made the 2+ hour drive with them in rush hour traffic - with College Girl at the wheel - in order for them to arrive by 7.  And my laptop and I've been at Starbucks ever since ... good thing I'm a gold card member =).

I've never been the Coffee House Office type of gal, but it's worked well for me tonight: free wi-fi, electrical outlet, chai tea ... a restroom, lol.  Who needs to pay rent? I've gotten tons done for only $2.95!

Here's to impromptu concerts and late nights with plenty of caffeine ... 

Morning Glory

When I stepped outside this morning for my run, Charlie the Dog wasn't happy ... because it was raining. Raining ... at the beach ... in July. Suddenly, we're from the east coast! We're not used to this in Cali, and my dog is a big baby when it comes to water. Doesn't like it. Weird, right?

But it didn't faze me. I love running in the rain. As a bonus, the sun was shining ... and there were TWO rainbows over the sea. Two sweet neighbors, both older gentlemen, stopped me on my run today. "See the rainbows?" they asked. Lovely.

The only bummer is I didn't have a camera with me. The good news is that my friend, Patricia ~  in the next town over ~ woke up early and saw the rainbows too. Her backyard faces the west, so she stepped out onto her desk and snapped a few photos ~ and voila ~ she sent them my way.

In Genesis, God said, "... When the rainbow appears in the cloud, I'll see it and remember the eternal covenant between God and everything living, every last living creature on Earth." 

No wonder rainbows in the sky make us so happy (well, except for Charlie the dog =). Have a beachy week, my friends ... wherever you are.