IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME for MONDAY - DECEMBER 22nd

Hi everyone,

How are you? I've got a little bit of a cold, which has made working this crazy retail season a little challenging. I am resting a lot and drinking lots of fluids.  Thankfully, I'm making it so far :)

Have you noticed that gas prices have been dropping in your area? I have. I haven't been keeping track of prices, but I think gas is less than $3 a gallon in my area.  I was at exactly a half tank of gas.  So I drove to Whole Foods, bought a Sunday paper and got $20 cash back to fill up the tank...and based on my previous experience at the gas station, I "knew" that $20 wouldn't fill it up. Well, I guess there's a first time for everything.  Not only was the $20 more than enough. It only cost me $17 to fill up a half-tank and get it above the "full" line.

Here's a pic of me looking across the street at another gas station and thinking, I really am glad to have money to put gas in the car.  Now I have $3 dollars left over. What will I do with it? I will put it into my cash envelope and specifically the one marked for "gasoline"...so I'll have a fund ready to go for the next time I need to fill up.

After work, I needed to do a little bit of shopping. One thing I always ask myself lately is 1)Do I really need it? 2) Is there something I have at home that can fulfill the "need" that I have until I can afford to pay for the item I want?  Well, I had two things on my list - new heavy duty black socks to wear while I"m at work and a contour make-up brush. 

I decided the contour make-up brush could wait, because I have another brush that can serve the same purpose. However, I really needed the socks. They seem to get lost all on their own.  I ended up buying a set of 6 pairs of Gold Toe heavy duty cotton black socks. They are guys socks, but I love them because they're so comfortable. It's the perfect thing to put on my feet when I'm spending all day on the sales floor at work. It makes being on my feet so much easier. When my feet are comfortable, I can work better :)

This is what I ended up purchasing last night after work.

I needed the socks and I knew that I'd get my 20% employee discount. What I forgot about is that they were also eligible with a 20% off coupon. The socks originally cost $20 for  set of six. With taxes it would have cost $21.50. When I got to the register, the associate reminded me that I could use a coupon. That was a really nice surprise. That's $4 extra dollars that I saved....that translates to eggs, bread, or some coffee or a gallon of gas...or something like that...so with the coupon and my employee discount, it ended up only costing me $13.76 with tax.

That represents a savings of 36% off of the original price. I'm happy with that.  I'm very happy with that :) :) 


What are some things that you've saved money on lately that brought a smile to your face? 

Oh, after work, I went for an ocean drive with my father. I was wiped out after a super busy sales day. It was a beautiful evening and it was still just light enough to see some things. I loved driving past Old Fisherman's Wharf because the lights from the buildings were dancing off the surface of the water...just beautiful :)

I've got three more work days before Christmas and then things will slow down just a bit before New Year's Day :) :) :) 

I plan on going out for coffee and a visit to Asilomar State Beach on Christmas day. What about you all? If you celebrate Christmas or some other holidays, what plans do you have?

I pray that you will all have a very Happy Holidays!!!!  That is the news from the ocean shores of California today.

Love and hugs,  Heather :) :) :)

FEELING CRAFTY AGAIN !!!!

Hi everyone,

It feels good to be back again. I've been meaning to get a blog post up for awhile now and then life happened and I'd keep pushing it to the back burner. Well, after this past week, I decided I need to get my creative juices flowing again and just go for it :) :) I'm so sorry that I haven't posted anything in a long, long time !!!!

Here on the coast of California, we've been going through a super storm of sorts.  It was much worse in the San Francisco Bay area then it was here in Monterey, but we were prepared and well-informed via weather services on Facebook, radio, tv etc.

Today was my day off from work this week and I decided I wanted to have some crafty  fun.  Well, I didn't actually start a project, but I did find a few craft items that I was intentionally looking for and whole bunch of stuff that I hand't planned on. You know how it goes. There's hidden craft stashes everywhere in my house...LOL :) :) :)

Below is a photo of just a small fraction of what I found. I just threw it on the futon couch and took a photo. Tonight, I'll sort through it all and see what I what I can make out of all this stuff.

What prompted me to search for some craft items was my "Lace in the Attic" book. It's a whole book full of knitted Victorian lace edgings. I don't think the book is available in print anymore. My copy was purchased at a used book store years ago. Then I found all of this other stuff, including a finished pink lace edging that I had knit....probably to be used in a project for a shelf liner? I don't even remember now.  It would make a cute edging for a pillow case or something.

As I was going through my closet looking for some things, I decided to also go through my grandmother's old wooden sewing box.  It was something that I inherited after she passed away. One thing I remember using when I was a young girl, was this crimson red velvet pin cushion that her mother (my great-grandmother) had made using an old canning jar rim and ring. 

I took all the straight pins, and other things off of it, cleaned it up and put everything back on it. 

 It was really dusty from not having been used in years. In fact, I think the last time it was actively used was before my grandmother passed away in the mid-1990s.  Other than a little rust around the lower edge, it's still in great shape.  I always loved this pincushion and I have it on display on top of the wooden sewing box. 

I've always wanted to make my own and I will someday. However, I noticed that if it's made from an old canning jar rim, then maybe I have a glass Mason jar that would fit it?  Keep in mind, I have no idea just how old this pincushion is. I think my great-grandmother made it before my father was born, but I'm not entirely sure about that one.

In any case, I raided one of the cabinets in the kitchen, grabbed an empty wide-mouth glass Ball jar and voila, instant Mason jar/pin cushion thing....so cute and it was free :) :) :)  The lid doesn't screw down all the way, but enough that it'll work for this project of mine.  I think it looks cute, don't you?

Here's another view of my glass Ball jar with my great-grandmother's pincushion sitting nicely on top.

That's my little craft project for the day. Oh wait, there is one other thing. You'll notice that my Ball jar pincushion is sitting on top of a white lacey curtain panel. I have two of those and they were purchased from Rachel Ashwell's Shabby Chic line at Target.  They were originally curtain panels, but I haven't used them since I moved back to the Monterey Bay peninsula. 

I am debating about what I can make with them. Here's a close up of the beautiful lacey edging. Any ideas?

I couldn't bear to part with them because they're so lovely. They are a little faded and yellow with age, but I think with some loving care in the washing machine, they'll bounce back. 

That is the news from the ocean shores of a very rainy California coast today.  Please feel free to "visit" and leave a comment here on my page. I really do enjoy hearing from all of you :)  Love and hugs,  Heather :) :) :)

P.S. Do any of you know how I can change my font, so it's cuter and looks more like someone handwrote instead of it being a plain generic font like the one I'm using now? It's been such a long time, since I put up a blog post, I don't remember how to change the font anymore.

Also, I'll be in the very slow process of overhauling my blog by myself, until I can afford a professional service. I already have a great business in mind for that.  So there will be some changes coming to my blog, too, including changing the blog name and the photo header :) :) :)



















IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME FOR FRIDAY - DECEMBER 20th



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone,

 

How have you been? I've recovered from being sick. The antibiotics that I have been taking have really worked their magic and the sinus infection is G-O-N-E.

 

The photo I posted above was one that I took a few days ago when I was out at Asilomar State Beach and it reminded me of how God can still the storm-tossed waves of our lives. 

 

So I've been working on a financial plan of getting out of student loan debt and then I got thrown a curve ball the other day.  I'm still working on saving up a $1000 emergency fund when an unexpected expense for the dentist came up. I have to save up money for an xray before I can continue in my orthodontic/braces treatment. 

 

So sometimes when things like this happen, other wants get put on hold....again...and that  might be the situation here. I'm not sure yet.

 

One thing I have decided to do is tithe 10% of my gross paycheck. I started doing that last week and I'm going to continue to do that with each paycheck.  It's just something that I felt like God had been laying on my heart for awhile. It's all His money anyway and I just manage it...and I'm simply giving back what belongs to Him first.

 

I think it will look different for everyone and I firmly believe that we can also tithe with our time and talents when money is really tight. 

 

I've noticed a couple of things: 1) somehow my budget is working out and everything is getting covered, even inspite of me tithing 10% off the top of each paycheck 2) You can never outgive God.

 

I know that the money I give will be put to good use for people in need.  

 

That's just where I am at right now.  I got paid today and haven't given every dollar a name yet, other than to budget for my tithe.

 

The Christmas holiday season at work is still crazy, but once I can get past Monday, it will be smooth sailing ;) :) I'm so looking forward to Monday.

 

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today.

 

Love and hugs, Heather :)

BEING SICK IS NO FUN

Hello to all of my sweet blog readers :) :)

Sorry I haven't been around much the last few weeks.  Christmas/holiday season at my job is in full swing and it means crazier than crazy hours.

I've also been fighting some sort of cold/flu virus for a week. So it's really put me out of commission.  I will have more blog posts coming up this week, including and especially on Friday :) :) :)

Here's a Scripture photo that I created this morning. Last night I was feeling really miserable and I was extremely congested. I just couldn't stop coughing, which made sleep impossible. While laying in bed, I was starting to let the worries about my financies and others things start to overwhelm me a little bit.

However, almost as soon as those thoughts entered my head, another thought, or rather a Scripture, entered my mind. It was Psalm 50:10 where it talks about how God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. It just encourages me to know that God is in control and that He does care about the things that concern me. He WILL take care of me.

I also thought about this photo that I took a little over two years ago. This was shortly after I moved back to California. I thought it was very appropriate.  So I decided to put Scripture and photo together.

Here it is. May you all be encouraged today and everyday.  I'll be praying for the things that concern you today, too !!!

Feel free to share this on your blogs and Facebook pages. If you do, PLEASE credit it back to me here at Heather's Blog-o-rama and also at my public photography page, Heather Danielle Photography.  While you're at it, leave me a note that says you stopped by. I'd love to "meet" you all :) :) :)

My best friend from church brought over some cold and flu stuff for me. I'm feeling much better right at the moment.  Plus my father is being really sweet and doing all my chores which amounts to a single load of laundry right now AND cooking all my meals today :) :)

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today.

Love and hugs, Heather

 

HAPPY SONDAY AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK

Hi everyone :) :) :)

I hope you all had a great weekend. Have a beautiful week. I took this photo after church this afternoon. It's out in Pacific Grove.  It was really windy today, but the water was so very beautiful.

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

If you'd like to visit me at my photography page on Facebook, just click here :)





DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME - DON'T FORGET ABOUT IT

Hi everyone :) :)

I hope that you are all having a really great weekend so far. I worked this afternoon/evening. It was an AMAZING day out on the sales floor.

This is just a friendly PSA about Daylight Savings Time.  Early tomorrow morning, on Sunday - November 3rd at 3 a.m. local time, make sure to set your clocks back one hour. OR if you are anything like me and prefer NOT waking up at the crack o'midnight or shortly thereafter, set your clocks back one hour TONIGHT (Saturday - November 2nd) before you go to bed :)


That's the news from the ocean shores of California. Love and hugs, Heather :)

MY BEAUTIFUL PACIFIC GROVE, CALIFORNIA

Hi everyone,

How was your weekend? My weekend was really good. I worked for a few hours on Saturday. Plus, I spent a little time working on my blog, working on my budget and other household chores etc. 

I wanted to share a few photos of Pacific Grove with you today. If you'd like to see my other photos, please come visit me here at my photography page on Facebook. It's called Heather Danielle Photography. I love friendly visitors, and while you're there, if you want to "like" my page, please do :) :) 

These are mainly of the ocean. I love the ocean. My grandmother lived here for many, many years before she bought her home in Monterey.

I'm not sure what draws me to the water. It's been a life-long love ever since I can remember.  When I am having a bad day, I like to spend time near the water. When I am having a good day, I like to spend time near the water.  I'm always reminded that no matter what is going on, God has still given me things of beauty to enjoy.

I'll post the photos and then talk about them below each picture. 

This is a photo of my dad taking a photo of me with my smartie pants mobile phone camera.  He is really camera shy. So I was very lucky to get this photo. We were out near Asilomar State Beach.

I am constantly trying to get photographs of birds in flight. This particular day, I had my "big girl" camera with me. Translation: I had my Nikon  D3200 with me :)  I can't even remember what type of bird this was now. It was either pelicans or geese. 

Deer are very common here on the peninsula.  As my father and I were driving along the ocean shore, we saw this handsome creature. Look at the antlers on that thing. It is not uncommon to see them in peoples yards, crossing the street, walking down the side walk etc. In fact, I see them in my neighborhood quite often.

It was a beautiful, sunny day with blue skies. However, it was also really, really windy. So while the wave were not very high. They sure were rolling in really fast.  Usually when the ocean looks like this, it makes me think there's a possible storm ready to head inland.  Not this time. I'm hoping we'll see some rain soon. In the meantime, it was really a beautiful ting to see this many waves.

Another thing that I'm obsessed with capturing on film are the waves right as they're about ready to crash into white sea foam :)

This plant is called "Pride of Madeira".  It is not quite in full bloom. When it is in full bloom, it's amazingly beautiful.  I'll see if I can find a photo of it in all its glory. This is one of my favorite plants. One of my other favorites is Mexican sage.

This will be my last photo for today. This is literally my favorite place to sit and look out over the water.  Whenever I drive along the shore to take photographs, this place is ALWAYS one of my stopping points.  It's a favorite of many people and I always see tourists stopping here to get photographs :)

Well, that completes my little ocean tour of Pacific Grove for today.  I pray that you all will have a really good  Monday and a good rest of the week, too.  That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

MONTEREY

Hello everyone,

How are you all today? I'm doing fine.

Monterey is a beautiful city.  There's this one building that I drive by quite often when I'm downtown.  It is heavily decorated.  I'm not sure how old the building is. My first thought is that it was built in the 1920s or 1930s based on some of the design features.

There is a flower shop on the ground floor that has been there since the building opened. Hmm...that's a thought. I should walk into the flower shop and ask the owner. 

Here's a photo of the building from the outside. It has some amazing detail and I LOVE the fact that the main entrance to the building is on the corner. You don't see that kind of detail much anymore:

The flower shop is called "Flor Monterey".  In any case, I'll make sure and get some more photos of this building sometime this week or next week.  It has so many interesting details.


There was a controlled burn out at Fort Ord yesterday and then again this morning. Here are a couple of pictures that I took with my mobile phone camera.  It looked a lot scarier than it really was, but I figure that as long as that smoke is not shaped like a mushroom, we're doing fairly well :)

The first pic was taken around 9:47 a.m. this morning from the Whole Foods parking lot. The controlled burn had just started at 9:30 a.m.

This next photo was just over an hour later. It was taken from my front yard. By this time the smoke was quite thick and it even covered up the sun. However, it didn't last long. It's 1:20 p.m. now and most of it is clearing away thanks to the wind.

I actually have today off from work. So I stopped by my hairstylist's salon to get my bangs trimmed. They were getting kind of long and I just can't make up my mind about whether to keep them short or grow them out long.  In any case,  I had my mobile phone with me and snapped a couple photos.  There is beauty all around if we can only learn to keep our eyes open for it.

I really like bougainvillea. It's a beautiful plant that grows very well here in the Monterey Bay peninsula area. I just loved how this particular bougainvillea was growing up around the slats on this balcony railing.

I also love vintage antiques, including trucks. I usually see this beautiful Ford truck at a local carwash. Today it was parked downtown.  This is my dream car, for real :) :) I so would love to drive something like this.

I also went to Trader Joe's to buy some cheddar cheese. I have a leftover bag of gluten-free tortilla chips that I purchased at TJ's yesterday. Then the idea came to me to make easy peasy nachos. So on the way to the store, I stopped to get a photo of this beautiful iris. This is another flower that I see a lot around this area.

Oh, and in my backyard, we have quite a few different varieties of trees from Spanish oak to a very tall Redwood tree.  Well, a few weeks ago, one of the trunks on the Spanish oak just fell over. It just missed the house by a few inches. Thankfully there was no damage. One of our neighbor's was really kind and helped us chop up the trunk. Most of the wood has gone to the yard waste recycle bin. This is what it looks like now. Thankfully the rest of the tree is solid :)

That's about it for now.  I hope you all are enjoying your Tuesday.  That's the news  from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)


THE OCEAN AND BEAUTIFUL SEA GLASS

Hi everyone,

How are you all today? I'm doing well.  I'll often answer "Better than I deserve".

One of the things that I like to do in my free time is search for sea glass. Sea glass is simply broken shards of glass that have been worn smooth of the course of many, many years by the ocean waves.  It's like finding little gemstones in the sand. It really is fun to search for these tiny treasures.

Here is what I found one day back in September. I went to one of the local beaches here in Monterey. This is what I came back home with:

These little bits of sea glass are often times smaller than my pinky nail. The biggest and rarest piece that I found was the size of my thumb nail. It's the very light aqua piece of glass that is to the left of that tiny piece of brown sea glass. Aqua glass is rare to find. 


I love aqua as a color.  When I went searching for sea glass this particular day, it was already afternoon and most of the good sea glass has already been picked over. However, I think God meant for me to find this piece to let me know that He cares about every detail of my life, even the small things :) 


Here's a close-up of what I collected:

The white, green and brown sea glass is quite common to find.  Every once in awhile I do find aqua sea glass. I'm still on the hunt for the extremely rare pink sea glass. Some day. A girl can always hope and dream.

Much of the aqua sea glass comes from broken pieces of old blue Mason jars like the one pictured above.  I wonder what kind of stories those pieces of glass could tell me. It's a bit of a romantic notion, I suppose, but it's fun to imagine and to dream.

I'm storing all of my aqua sea glass in a small glass storage jar with a glass lid and metal latch hook system.  My collection is small, but it's worth waiting for.  Maybe I'll actually manage to fill this small jar one day.

Oh, and just as an added bonus, I took a photo of the bottom of this small glass storage jar. It's so CUTE. It says "WHEATON" in big bold letters up top...and below it in smaller much fainter letters it says "U.S.A".

I love the ocean. Truly, I can be happy anywhere, but I'm so thankful that I've got this time to live near the ocean shores. 

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to you all, Heather



IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME FRIDAY FOR OCTOBER 11th, 2013

Hi everyone,

How was your week? Mine was interesting. It was a mix for me, but for the most part it was very, very good.

The photo above was taken in the Carmel Valley. I just love how the mist/fog sits atop the mountains in the morning. It always reminds me of when God spoke to Moses on the mountain top. That and it's just magical and beautiful, like something out of a story with knights and princesses :)

Okay, so this week, I "officially" start blogging about my journey to becoming completely debt-free.   I'll also be blogging about what I do to save money on every day things. 

So first off, I stink at keeping certain papers organized. Oh, I keep them all in one spot, but I don't file them. I'm talking about my bills from the orthodontist, my small student loan bills etc. I always pay them on time every month but I'l explain a little bit more towards the end of this post.

The only really BIG, UGLY LIKE AN ALBATROSS AROUND MY NECK debt that I have left to pay are my student loans from college.  Once those are paid off, I'll be completely debt free.  I"m working on increasing my income to make that happen.

However, I'm also looking at what I can do RIGHT NOW as well.  I am NOT an expert by any means, but getting this out in the open is helpful to me personally and hopefully it'll encourage you that you can do something as well, no matter how small to manage your money a little more responsibly.

Now for me, my overall bills each month aren't that many. I only have four in total.  But there are three that I have each month that once they're paid in full will free up a LOT of money each month that I can actually start paying on my student loans. Phew...are you confused yet? I am feeling totally overwhelmed, but a girl has to start somewhere right?

So these are the bills I'm going to pay off from smallest to biggest. Once the smallest bill is paid off, then I'll roll that payment over to the next bill and pay all that off. It's like a debt snowball :) :)

Here they are:

1) ECSI - a small student loan from college

2) Verizon Wireless - the plan is to pay off the rest of the contract period EARLY, so I can put that money towards paying off my student loans

3) Orthodontist - Once that is paid, there are no more monthly payments, regardless of how long I have to wear these braces on my teeth.

Once I get my organizational act together, I'll come back and update what the actual dollar amounts are here :)

One of the items that I buy often are USB flash drives.  When I take photographs, I leave them on the original SD memory card and then buy a new one when it's full. I also transfer copies to a USB flash drive. That way, if something  happens to the SD card, for example, I'll have copies on the USB flash drive.

My previous USB flash drive was completely full and I had to wait till I had enough money to buy another one. This is one of those things that I will definitely have to budget for on a regular basis.

This USB flash drive my dad purchased for me at Radio Shack. It has the best price of any place local to me. It is 16 GB for only $14.99 plus tax. So it ended up costing me a total of $16.11 (including tax)

I also received a register coupon for $10 off my next purchase of $50 or more. Normally I ignore coupons like that, but in this case, since I KNOW that I'll be needing this particular item on a regular basis, I can budget and stock up on more.  It will equal almost 20% with tax when it's all said and done.

On a comletely DIFFERENT note, I do budget for slightly more expensive things.  In this case, I also bought a gluten free conditioner.  I have a very strong intolerance to all foods that contain gluten in them.  As it happens, it seems that my skin and hair also respond to hair care and body care products that are also gluten free. So  I sacrifice other things so that I can afford this conditioner. It works great. It does the job well:

This is an 8 fl oz tube of "Red Raspberry" conditioner from Desert Essence. The whole line of products is wonderful, but I like this scent the best.  It costs $8.99 at my local Whole Foods store. However, I get a 10% discount because I work at the mall. So it only costs me $8.70 (including my 10% mall discount and tax) That equals $1.09 per ounce.  I don't use very much at all, so this product actually lasts me a very long time.

I'm sure there's a website where I can order more in bulk and save even more, but until then I'll continue to buy it at Whole Foods.

Desert Essence DID NOT pay me to talk about their conditioner. I'm just blogging about it because I LOVE this product. It works wonderfully well.  It also is fantastic because there is hard water in the area where I live, so it still leaves my hair feeling soft and shiny instead of dry and crispy.

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to you all, Heather

p.s. Update on Friday - October 11th at 9:30 a.m.  One of my BIGGEST inspirations in my desire to become completely and totally debt free is Dave Ramsey. Click here to go to his Facebook page. Click here if you want to visit his website. You can listen in live to his radio show every day Monday through Friday. The shows are also archived to listen to later on.


In any case, I saw a really nice, simple article on five easy ways to lower your heating bill. Click here to read the article.

I've got sone more posts all lined up for later this weekend and next week. I'm so excited to be blogging again. It's a real creative release. You all out in the blogosphere are awesome :)

I would LOVE to hear what you all do to save money on anything.  Stop on by for a visit and leave a friendly comment.  That's the news from the ocean shores California...again :) Love and hugs to your weekend, Heather :)

COMFY CUSHY CHAIRS

Hi everyone,

How are you doing? I've been doing well. I'm so sorry that I've been neglecting my blog. 

Well, I'm definitely still alive and breathing. I was just talking with a friend the other day about this giant, cushy chair that I have in my house. It's leather and soft and cushy and comfortable.

I like to sit here and read, check my email and Facebook via my smartie pants phone etc. Well, this chair is so comfortable, that I always end up falling asleep in it, too. It's like a baby basinett for adults.

It's really funny, because everyone that comes over to our house and sits in that chair automatically wants to take a nap. Maybe that chair has magical properties? Here's a photo:

The Fourth of July holiday weekend is almost here. I hope that you all have some fun activities planned. Stay safe while you're celebrating :)

It's been really hot here on the ocean shores of California. It's also been really humid, which makes it even worse. However, I still love where I live :) :)  That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :) :) :)

THE PURPLE ICE PLANT IS COMING TO A SHORE NEAR YOU.

Hi everyone,

My dad just came home from his men's Bible study, so I'll have to make this particular post a shore one.

If you ever have a chance to visit California, you should come to Pacific Grove during the month of May and June. Why?  The purple ice plant is in bloom all along the shore. It's starting to bloom now, but it'll be a veritable blanket of beautiful purple in just a few short weeks.

Here are some photos for you.  I just can't get enough of the ocean. I've been home sick, but I'll make any excuse to spend some time near the water.

  


























Okay, this first photo is NOT the purple ice plant. However, when I go to Pacific Grove, I usually drive through Cannery Row. That's always fun to see the people and the buildings etc. This is Stohans Gallery. It's sat empty like this for YEARS. I'm sure somebody owns the property, but I'm not sure if anything will ever be done with it. In truth, I kind of like it just the way it is.

This is the beautiful purple ice plant that is starting to bloom. In March it's just a few little blooms, but look at what we've got already in April...and wait till May comes around.  It's going to be beautiful :) :)

It was also a beautiful, sunny day as you can see.  It's really quite a thing to see and it only last for a couple of months. So I always make sure to take loads of photos.  

I might have mentioned earlier that I'm recovering from a cold, so spending time out by the water yesterday really helped. There's something about the sunshine that helps to clear up my sinuses.

 














 You may have to click on the above photo to enlarge it a bit, since I took this photo in panorama view.  This is part of the coastline in Pacific Grove and that purple ice plant is just amazing. I learned that this particular plant is actually native to South Africa.  

I'll leave you all with this photo. This is one of many rest stops along the coast.  People will often just come park their cars here and sit for awhile staring out at the water.  This day was relatively calm, although the waves were crashing quite high, too.  I usually stand right on that ledge and take photos, but it was making my father a bit nervous. So I obliged and stayed a safer distance away :) :) :)

What's been happening where you're at?  That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)


p.s. EEEK...squeals of delight. I was the featured blogger today at MaryJane's Farm websight.  I am also a Mary Jane's Farmgirl Sisterhood member #2176. In any case, click here to check out the GirlGab site for some other awesome blogs. Click here to visit the MaryJane's Farm site and consider subscribing to the magazine. It's got everything farmgirl, frilly, glamping, country, organic and everything else good. THANK YOU to Mary Jane's Farm for featuring this blog post today. You really made my entire week :) :)

HEATHER'S PHOTO TEXTURE TUESDAY

UPDATE:  I think I figured out the "problem" with the fonts.  So hopefully from now on, I should be able to write in the "pretty" font ;) :)

Okay, so I'm just now noticing that Blogger is no longer giving me the fonts that I want. So I have to stick with this plain font....boo !!!! Anyone know how to fix that?

In any case, I am participating in Kim Klassen's "Texture Tuesday" link-up today.  I LOVE to take photographs. I'm also just discovering all the cool things I can do in Photoshop as well, including adding layers of texture to change the look of my photos.

Here is what I have to show you today.

This is a photo that a friend actually took of me last Wednesday. This is the original. It was a very cloudy day last Wednesday:

I figured out how to not only add textures in Photoshop, but how to resize the texture so that it fits over my photo like sand in an hourglass.  So after doing all that,I ended up with this photo:

I used Kim Klassen's texture called "waterstained frame" I really like it and it gave me a real retro vintage cool look to my photo. It felt like I found the "holy grail" of vintage photo coolness.

Since it's Tuesday and I love you all, here's another photo. This one I took way back in October 2011...and I applied the same "waterstained frame" texture. This is what I came up with:

OH, this is totally random, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...and did I say LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the vintage 3D Kodachrome photoreels...the ones specifically from the 1950s and earlier that you insert into a ViewMaster. The colors are brilliant and they all have a vintage cool look to them.

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs to your day today, Heather :) :)  :)

I'M STILL HERE

Hi everyone,

I am still here :) :) I've been really lazy with posting the last couple of weeks.  Everything is okay at home.  The job front is still nothing, but I"m not discouraged. I'm working on some knit socks for my father, which should be really interesting. They're being knit completely on the fly. That means, I'm not using a pattern.  I'll share a picture or two tomorrow. 

We finally got some more rain again today :) :) Yes, I'm so thankful that God sends the rain. We need it, even here living on the ocean coast :) :)  That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

IT MAKES "CENTS" TO ME FRIDAY - FOR SATURDAY - MARCH 24th.

Hi everyone,

Okay, so I'm late with this post, but late is better than "never" today.  Here is what I purchased this week.

A sweet friend called me up and asked if I needed a ride to the store.  I didn't "need" to go, but when a ride/opportunity presents itself, I've got to take it.  I told my friend that I didn't have a lot to buy, which was true. Would that be okay? She said "Yes".  So off we  went to the store. Oh, it is raining today, too.  We went to Whole Foods, where I love to shop.  That place has a lot of good stuff and a lot of culinary temptations, too. So you have to be careful when you walk into this store. 

Purchase on March 24th, 2012 - Saturday at Whole Foods: $21.04

- 20 oz. drip coffee with cream & sugar - $1.90 "want, not a need"
- 2 pastries (one croissant and one nutty sticky bun) - $5 "want, not a need"...and WOW, the price went UP.  It used to be $2.39 per pastry. So the "oodle" factor just went down, when the price went UP.
- Applewood smoked bacon, 18 oz.
- 1 Izze sparkling "grapefruit" drink (for Dad) - $1.49 plus $0.05 bottle return deposit "want, not a need", but Dad really likes these. I read the ingredient label and I was not horrifed by the ingredients...but it is a "treat", that's for sure.
- 1 Bar Gelato, coffee-flavored - $1.99 "want, not a need" My father and I saw these in the store the other day. They looked interested.  In terms of ingredients, these are fantastic. It's made with all real ingredients and things that a third-grader can easily pronounce.
- Local newspaper $0.75 "iffy" I think a newspaper is okay, since it's good to keep up with local happenings.


The bacon that we eat looks like this. It's a Whole Foods brand, and I trust it. Otherwise, I don't buy any other kind of bacon.  Although I've been on a bit of a bacon-frenzy lately. So I'll probably not buy bacon for awhile yet. It doesn't have nitrates or nitrites. I AVOID all meat that has nitrates or nitrites in them:

Oh, this bacon crisps up really nicely when cooked on a flat pan on a grill/barbecue outside. It's much nicer than frying it inside a pan in your home. That and it doesn't smell up the house like bacon.  It'll make your neighbors want to come over and have a meal at your house. 


The gelato bar was awesome. I just had a tiny taste of that and wow, simple ingredients make for the best tasting stuff.  This is what we bought.  Then take a look at the second photo and read the ingredients. It's so ultra simple and all foods should be made with easy-to-pronounce ingredients:

So this was just one of my purchases for the week of Saturday - March 17th to Friday - March 23rd. I didn't include all the other purchases I made this week, because it was more of the same stuff/junk.  I think this is my "low" for the week. That's okay, because that's what "tracking" my spending is all about.  It's about learning where my money actually goes, and what needs to be changed.

Here's another "purchase" that I made at Whole Foods last Monday. These particular items were FREE.  I was in Whole Foods, when a lady with long brown hair, pushing a shopping cart, stopped me in the store and asked: "Do you like Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day products?" Why yes, yes I do like them very much. She handed me two coupons, each was good for one FREE Mrs. Meyer Clean Day product, up to $5.99.  So I went over to the aisle that has all the nice soaps.  I wasn't planning on buying more soap, because they're expensive. However, I like Mrs. Meyer's bar soaps, because they're made with good ingredients.  The soaps are normally just over $6 each. As it happened, they were on sale for just $5.19 each...and since I had two "FREE" coupons, both bars of soap were absolutely FREE. That was a 100% savings. Isn't that the coolest.  Here are the two scents that I "purchased":

Just as a side note, Mrs. Meyer Clean Day products have some of the cutest, vintage-style labelling of any cleaning product I've ever seen. So they get a lot of "points" from me for good packaging. Oh, that and the fact that I've got personal experience using these products and they work very well.  So out of this entire week's worth of mostly unnecessary spending, this was the BEST item.

In other news, I'm working on knitting a pair of custom socks for my father. He wants a ribbed cuff that goes to his knee. So that's presenting a bit of a challenge for me. Okay, it's a HUGE challenge. I'm just "winging it" with the pattern to see what happens. I'm also taking notes as I go along.  If any of you know of a good on-line resource that specifically states how to increase and decrease while knitting a "Knit 2, Purl 2" rib pattern, I'd be greatly appreciative. I'll share that project with you in the next few days.

It's raining today.  Not right now...but earlier today it was really coming down. I read that Watsonville was going to have a 90% chance of rain today, so when I saw that, the chances are really 100% good that it would rain here, too.  The rain is such a blessing for everyone, especially the farmers.

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather