Life On The Central Coast

This past weekend I had a chance to try out a new little App on my Iphone; MoreLomo. This is a free Iphone App that turns your everyday photos into works of art. I began taking little photos around my house just to see what the program would do. Here is an average, everyday picture of some silk flowers in my home. From mundane to stunning! Then my favorite Starbucks drink became my focus. Iced Vanilla Soy Chai never looked so good! What about the Flyer from Trader Joe's, one of our local grocery stores? Cute, huh? The App works pretty well on static things but what about people you ask? Well, here's my grandson Anthony. I've been told it makes him look like he's wearing lipstick. I don't know, I kind of like it. But then I think he's cute no matter WHAT. Just look at those dreamy eyes. Then this weekend my hubby and I went down to our beach. The weather was beautiful, in the 70's, the tide was out and the beach was littered with shells and rocks. As I squatt...

Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite days of the year. You should see the pile of Valentines I've collected over the years! I still have years worth from when I was in grade school...antiques...like me. When I was little, my mom mostly bought little Valentines for us to exchange. I'd always throw a little something extra into mine, especially for those people I really loved! As I grew up, those Valentine's took on even more meaning. I met my husband when I was 15. We had only known each other a couple of months on that first Valentine's Day. He bought me a BIG heart shaped box of chocolates and a really sweet Valentine's card. I was in LOVE....big time!! Now we've been married nearly 35 years! Then, in 2001, Valentine's Day as I knew it came to a crashing halt. It became the day my beautiful sister passed away. She wasn't even 50. Her daughters, the age of mine now, were motherless. The "heart" of their family, and ours, rippe...

Our littlest grandson is about to turn 3 months old. He's growing like a weed, already doubling his birth weight and moving up in clothes sizes. He's mostly happy, only crying when hungry or wet and is learning to spend some time OUT of his mommy's arms playing on activity mats or swings. His mommy is making cute little onesies, blankets and shoes to sell so she can stay home with him for a while. You should see how many smiles we get each day! He looks a bit like his Uncle Wes and very much a combo of his parents. This picture was taken at his Auntie Beckie's Birthday lunch....see he's all decked out from head to toe. We love you Baby E!!

View From Amber's Bench, Memorial Park, Shell Beach, CA im the ocean's moon i belong to the sea i dance to her tune and she sets me free in her freezing waters ive found a warm home her love encompasses me in her shelter i have grown when the sky looks down feeling empty without me i look up and smile but turn away silently the sky held me too long the ocean's call i heard the sky has lost it's light ocean's moon; nature reversed. Richa Mehta

I chose a Word of the Year this year, RECREATE. For those of you new to choosing a Word of the Year, it's picking a focus word that describes your intention for the upcoming year. A really good list can be found HERE at Ali Edwards Design: One Little Word: 2010 Word List. As some of you know, I've been busy for the last few years watching my grandkids during the day and wasn't able to craft as often as I would like. Our annual vacation was usually shortened too to match our daughter and her husband's schedule. The middle of last year, I let my kids know that I would not be babysitting daily anymore after the end of the year. So January 1, 2010 dawned a whole new year for me! Let me fill you in on a few things I've done to make sure I stay on track with my word this year. First, created this cute little Journal to write in with my word on the front. Then hubby and I sat down with a calendar and marked out our vacation and days off for the entire year! I can...

Are you a doodler? You know, when you talk on the phone you play around with a pencil and pad of paper. Circles, squares, swirls, stick people.... well that's me too! I've always wanted to be able to draw beautiful pictures. Heck, I'd settle for being able to draw something someone else could recognize! Over the years, I've accumulated all kinds of drawing supplies like sketch pads, pencils, erasers and instruction books hoping that one day I would actually be able to draw. So a few days ago, while looking through our local Adult Education catalog, I saw a Beginning Drawing class being offered. I've wanted to take one for a VERY long time so I signed up!! And people, yesterday was the day I'm going to claim as the day I started to draw! We had 20 minutes to sketch anything in the classroom and I chose my water bottle that I brought to class. We had to turn it in so I have nothing to show you here... yet! Well, I could show you the tools of an pencil artist.....

Around the first of this year, I put pictures of my newly cleaned and organized craft room up on my Flickr site. Right now, I am SOOOoooo in love with my space. It's pretty and functional! So was I ever surprised when I found this email in my mailbox. You've been sent a Flickr Mail from CNN iReport ----- :: Closet office photos Hi there, I came across your closet office ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/xtraspecial/4245732517/in/photostream/ ) and wanted to encourage you to send it to CNN iReport. We're asking people to share photos of their home offices as part of a special report and have received a few shots of closet offices -- I thought it could be fun to create a gallery of closet offices for CNN.com if we get enough. Here's the assignment: http://www.ireport.com/ir-topic-stories.jspa?topicId=379044 Please let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to hearing from you! Best, Katie Hawkins-Gaar CNN iReport producer It took me a coupl...