MY FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY. THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN.

UPDATE:  I AM EXTENDING THE DEADLINE TO ENTER THIS CONTEST TILL 10:30 P.M. PACIFIC STANDARD TIME :) :) THE REASON? I REALIZED I WON'T BE AT MY COMPUTER AT 9 P.M...SO THAT GIVES YOU ALL AN EXTRA HOUR AND A HALF TO ENTER TO WIN THE GIVEAWAY :) :) :)

Hi everyone,

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy....this is a huge occasion for my blog, because I am hosting my FIRST ever giveaway. What's the reason? Just because I can :) :) :)  

What a story.  When I first was approached by the MyMemories company, it was via email. I had NEVER heard of this company before.  So I asked my friends on Facebook about this.  My sweet friend Patti of Fill my Cup with Beauty told me of two blogs that had previously hosted a giveaway for MyMemories digital scrapbooking software.Those two blogs were, Blessings of a Stay at Home Mom, and Homesteader's Heart.  Feel free to visit their sites and see what beautiful creations they came up with.

Here are come of the creations that I came up with.

THIS WAS MY VERY FIRST PAGE THAT I MADE USING THIS DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKING SOFTWARE FROM "MY MEMORIES".  I MADE THIS PAGE AFTER CHURCH ON SUNDAY.  THIS PAGE SHOWS SOME SHOTS OF THE FAMOUS CANNERY ROW IN MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA.

I sometimes think of myself as a "technological peasant" when it comes to computer software. I've never really understood it.  However, this software was really easy to use.  It was a lot of fun just exploring all the different scrapbooking options available. Let me tell you, there are a LOT of them that come free with this software. 

One of the first things it will ask you, when you open it up is to choose which kind of page you want to design. They have pre-made templates or you can create your own, or browse the web for more selections. I chose to create my own pages.  Oh, here's another cool thing, MyMemories digital scrapbooking software, then gives you the option of choosing a square page, an 8 1/2x11 page, or a landscape page layout for you to work with. I chose the 8 1/2x11 page, since that is what I use in my own personal scrapbook of ideas, recipes, etc.

So you can choose from their abundant selection of templates, create your own page (like I did in the previous photo). Here's another "create your own" page that I made. This time, I used one of my own photos as the background, selected a photo layout and added more photos of my own, with text.  This is what I came up with:

THIS IS ALSO CANNERY ROW IN MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA.  I USED ONE OF MY PHOTOS AS THE MAIN BACKGROUND, ADDED SMALLER PHOTOS FOR THE LAYOUT AND ADDED THE "CANNERY ROW" TEXT.

MyMemories digital scrapbooking software lets you do MORE than just scrapbooking. You could design really cute pages for a recipe book. Here's a full 8 1/2" x 11" page that I created.  I don't cook a lot, however, I do LOVE to make my own cleaning supplies at home. This is a recipe page for homemade laundry powder.

THIS IS A SAMPLE OF WHAT YOU COULD CREATE FOR YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS.  THIS WILL FIT EASILY INTO AN 8 1/2 X 11 INCH SHEET PROTECTOR.  OH, PLUS IT'S A REALLY USEFUL, MONEY-SAVING LAUNDRY POWDER RECIPE.

Here's a fun video demonstration from My Memories, that shows you a really nice variety of things you can create with this digital scrapbooking software.

Now for the super fun giveaway details.  You can win a copy of this digital scrapbooking software from MyMemories for your computer. Here's what you do to earn entries into the giveaway (Please leave an individual comment for each entry. It'll be easier to choose a winner at random that way.):

1) Be a follower of my blog

2) Go to the MyMemories page, take a look at all of their background templates and layouts, and tell me which one you like best.

FOR EXTRA ENTRIES:

3) Follow the MyMemories blog

4) Follow MyMemories on Facebook

5) Blog about my giveaway on your blog or Facebook page.  Make sure to post a link to my blog giveaway post. 


Here's a link to the MyMemories channel on YouTube. There are some wonderful video tutorials that really showcase all the things you can create with this wonderful digital software. Click here to pay a visit.

If you don't have a blog, no worries. Just make sure you give me your name and email address, and leave a comment here for each of the entry requirements.  This giveaway is open to all of my lovely blog friends :)




I have a special coupon code that you can use. It gives you $10 off the purchase of the MyMemories Suite Scrapbook software AND  a $10 coupon towards the MyMemories.com store.  Just use the following special discount code: STMMMS50832 here, if you decide to place an order.


You can also share that special discount code with your friends and family.


The contest will end at 9 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday - November 14th.  I'll pick a winner at random on Wednesday, November 15th.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave me a comment. This is my very FIRST giveaway...so I'm kind of nervous.  I'm also super excited. That's the news from the ocean shores of California.  Love and hugs, Heather :)

MY TEACUPS AND TEA THINGS & TEA TIME TUESDAY POST FOR NOVEMBER 8th.

Hi everyone, 

So I totally forgot about last Tuesday. Something in the California air has really done something to my sense of timing. Ever since I moved to California, the days just seem to run together so fast.  So TWO weeks ago, I showed you the Royal Albert sugar bowl and creamer that I won (as part of a mixed collection) at an auction. Today, I'm going to show you a little bit more.

THESE ARE ALL THE TEA THINGS THAT I WON AT THE SILENT AUCTION BACK IN SEPTEMBER. IT IS A REAL MIX OF DIFFERENT PIECES. ALL OF THEM ARE SO LOVELY.

The items that really caught my eye were the Royal Albert "Old Country Roses" creamer and matching sugar bowl.  The other items that caught my eye were the violet teacups, saucers and teapot.

These are the violet china tea things that I wanted to share with you all today.  If you look really closely, you'll notice that one of the teacup's, with matching saucer, is slightly different than the others. Oh, and to my surprise, the teapot was made in Japan, while everything else was made in England. Here are some close-up pictures of my lovely china:

THIS IS A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE LOVELY VIOLET DETAIL ON THE TEAPOT.

EVEN THE LID ON THE TEAPOT HAS LOVELY DETAIL. ISN'T IT JUST BEAUTIFUL? YES, IT REALLY IS. THERE IS JUST SOMETHING ABOUT VIOLETS.

THIS IS THE BACKSTAMP ON THE VIOLET TEAPOT. THIS CAME AS A TOTAL SURPRISE, BECAUSE I KNEW THE OTHER PIECES HAD BEEN MADE IN ENGLAND.  THE DESIGNS MATCH ALMOST PERFECTLY.

HERE IS A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL VIOLET TEACUP AND MATCHING SAUCER. THEY BOTH HAVE A LOVELY SCALLOPED EDGE WITH GOLD DETAIL AROUND THE RIM.

WHEN YOU TURN THE TEACUP AROUND, THERE IS A SOFTER VIOLET DETAIL ON THE OTHER SIDE. THIS IS SO DELICATE AND BEAUTIFUL.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THOSE "SECRET" FLOWER DETAILS ON THE INSIDE OF THE TEACUPS. IT REALLY ADDS A TOUCH OF SOMETHING LOVELY.

THIS IS THE BACKSTAMP ON THE VIOLET TEACUP WITH THE SCALLOPED EDGING.  I THINK SOME OF THE MARKINGS ARE VERY INTERESTING. HOWEVER, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY SIGNIFY. IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS, LET ME KNOW.

A LOVELY AND DELICATE VIOLET SAUCER WITH SCALLOPED EDGING.

THIS IS THE BACKSTAMP ON THE VIOLET SAUCER WITH THE SCALLOPED EDGING.

THIS WAS THE OTHER VIOLET TEACUP WITH MATCHING SAUCER. HMM...ON CLOSER INSPECTION, THEY MIGHT NOT BE VIOLETS AT ALL. IT'S CLOSE ENOUGH FOR ME. IT HAS A VERY GENTLE SCALLOPED EDGING WITH GOLD TRIM.

HERE IS A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LARGER VIOLET DETAIL ON THE TEACUP AND SAUCER.

HERE'S THE VIEW OF THE SOFTER FLOWER DETAIL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TEACUP AND MATCHING SAUCER.

FINALLY, HERE IS THE BACKSTAMP ON THIS TEACUP...

...AND THE BACKSTAMP ON THE MATCHING SAUCER.

That completes my tea collection for today.  I'm really curious about the person who owned all these tea things before they came into my possesion. Whoever that person was, she must have had excellent taste and a love for flowers.

Oh, exciting times coming up on Wednesday. I will be hosting my very first give-away. So you'll have to come back Wednesday to have a look-see.  I'll post it as soon as I wake up on Wednesday morning.

Thanks for visiting me today. I love visitors and messages, too...so feel free to leave me a comment. That's the news from the ocean shores of California today. Love and hugs, Heather :) :) :)

MY TEATIME TUESDAY AND TEACUPS AND TEA THINGS POST FOR OCTOBER 25th.

Hi everyone :) :) :)

Okay, so here are my tea things for today. It's been so LONG since I've been able to participate in some of the beautiful tea parties here in blogland.  I went to an auction about a month ago in Pacific Grove, California.  There was a set of various assorted china tea things.  I placed a bid and WON the auction for those items. That was so cool.  I'm not sure where the "group" photo of all the items is. When I find it, I'll post it next Tuesday. Until then, here's just part of what I have to show you all today :) :)

I finally have some Royal Albert china...in my FAVORITE pattern, too "Old Country Roses". This is my beautiful Royal Albert "Old Country Roses" creamer and matching sugar bowl.  It was such a joy to finally have some of this for my home :)

THIS IS A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF THE CREAMER. THE RED AND YELLOW ROSES ARE SO BEAUTIFUL AND DELICATE AGAINST THE WHITE BACKGROUND.

THIS IS THE FRONT OF THE CREAMER. THERE IS A DELICATE LEAVES AND ROSES DETAIL. ISN'T IT LOVELY?

HERE'S A SLIGHTLY BETTER VIEW OF THE DETAIL ON THE CREAMER. I JUST LOVE THIS PATTERN. I NEVER GET TIRED OF LOOKING AT IT.

HERE IS THE BACKSTAMP ON THE CREAMER. EVEN THE BACKSTAMP IS BEAUTIFUL. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY ROSES.

HERE IS THE TOP OF THE SUGAR BOWL. NOTICE THE HANDLE IN THE CENTER. THE CIRCLE RING IS DESIGNED TO NATURALLY FIT THE FINGERS, FOR EASY HANDLING.

THE FRONT OF THE SUGAR BOWL.  IT'S SUCH A NICE PATTERN.

HERE'S ANOTHER VIEW OF SOME OF THE SMALLER ROSES DETAIL ON THE SAME SUGAR BOWL.

That is all for the moment.  I hope you enjoyed my Royal Albert "Old Country Roses" creamer and matching sugar bowl.  I think "Anne of Green Gables" would have used this for her tea. Don't you think?  Stay tuned next Tuesday when I show you some more beautiful tea things from the auction :)

Oh, wait, one last thing.  A friend shared this video on Facebook and I'm sharing it with you. It's a beautiful song from Tracy Chapman called "The Promise" with a video montage of soldiers coming home to their families. It was on this program called "Wretched".  The video is beautifully done. It's a reminder of the men and women who sacrifice so much so that we can worship as we please. I also agree with the host that it's a small taste of what heaven will be like, when we are reunited with our loved ones. The song is beautiful and I've been listening to it over and over today.

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

p.s. Watch the video below:

TEA COMING SOON TO A BLOG NEAR ME :) :)

Hi everyone :) : :)

Okay, now I feel like I'm finally getting back into the swing of blogging.  I'm working on a belated post that is about tea.  I found some really neat tea things at an auction about a month ago. So I'll be sharing those over the next few weeks. 

In the meantime, enjoy this photo :) :)

THIS IS A NEW SHOP CALLED "OLIO".  IT IS FULL OF VINTAGE CUTENESS. IT'S DOWNTOWN ON  ALVARADO STREET IN MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA.

THIS IS ALSO THE HISTORIC "RODRIGO OSIO" ADOBE. THERE IS A LOT OF HISTORY HERE IN MONTEREY.

That's all for the moment. I have literally hundreds of photos to get processed.  Plus I want to show you some new tea things that I recently acquired :)

Thank you for visiting me. Please come back soon. Love and hugs from the ocean shores, Heather :)

TIMEGOES BY SO FAST !!!!!!!

HI everyone :) :) :)

Golly, it's been almost a MONTH since my last post ;) :) I've been busy here and LOVING my new home ;) :) I've got lots of photos...and if I'd eventually write a proper post, you would get to see them :) :)

Let's see..I'm still job hunting.  I did interview for a job as a bank teller. I didn't get the job. That's okay. This LORD or something better. The "something better" is obviously what God has in store for me :) :)

I've also been working on losing weight. As of this morning I've lost a total of 22 pounds. Wow, it's gone fast...but my aunt introduced me to a naturopathic doctor.  It is an alternative medicine for sure. However, I wanted to try it, because she explained her healthy eating plan to me. It's all science and no fluff.  She also believes in eating meat. That's GOOD, because I LOVE to eat meat :) :)

She had me take a blood test, which revealed that I'm severely anemic, can't absorb protein, there's an infection in my gut and some other things that I can't remember.  So I've been following her healthy eating plan.  It's really similar to an elimination diet, where all the bad stuff is stripped away. I followed that for 5 weeks...and now I"m slowly reintroducing things back into my diet.

This is the best I've felt in over 10 years.  My naturopathic doctor told me of another patient who had Crohn's disease, who followed her eating plan, and also went "GLUTEN FREE" for five years...and after that time her Crohn's went into complete remission...AND she's able to eat regular breads with gluten now and everything is good. 

I have ulcerative proctitis, a minor form of colitis,...and so I'm going to try the same thing.  We did figure out that I have an intolerance to gluten and dairy.  So that was my decision. So far, so good, because my healthy eating plan is naturally gluten free right now.  When I start reintroducing bread into my diet, that will have to be gluten free.  I've been reading books and magazines on the topic. There's a lot to learn.  There's also a LOT of variety, so I definitely won't be without goodies to eat ;) :) :)

The weather has been rainy and sunshine...all in ONE day, for the last TWO days...so it's interesting. I never can tell what to expect.

That's all for the moment.  I'm still trying to figure out my new "sign off". That's the news from the ocean shores today.  Love and hugs, Heather :)

FINALLY....SOME PHOTOS OF THE NEW SURROUNDINGS.

Hi everyone,

I have lots of photos to share. I'll only share a few today. Mainly because I'm running out of room on my USB drive. It's time to buy another one soon :) :) So here's just a taste of where I live...

One of the first things I did was take a trip to Pacific Grove. It's right next to Monterey. There's a knitting shop there that I remember visiting years ago. It's still in business :) :) Yes, of course, I bought some sock yarn :) :) Here are three more photos of the place.

The hydrangeas are just gorgeous and pink. I love pink.

This is part of the Lighthouse Produce stand here in Pacific Grove. They have some really good organic produce, as well as international foods.  This particular produce stand operates in a former repair shop for cars.

You'll also notice  a sign for "The Farm Hen". It's the cutest little shop that sells the best vintage stuff I've ever seen. I'll definitely plan to visit this place again, soon :)

Most of the produce is sold inside the former garage/mechanic repair shop.

The rest of the produce is covered by these tents. I think that's very thoughtful. It keeps the fruit from getting burned by the sun.

The rest of these photos are of the ocean in Monterey, California. The weather is really shifty here. We do get sun. We also get lots of mist/fog from the ocean, since we are a city built on the ocean.

These particular shots are of the old fisherman's wharf here in town. 

Those are all my photos for the moment. I would have shared more, except my USB drive is running out of space :) :) Good thing, otherwise, I would have posted a boatload more worth of photos here today :) :)

That's the news from the Pacific Ocean today. Love and hugs, Heather

p.s. I'm working on different "sign offs" for my blog.  If you think of any ideas, please let me know :) :) :)

I'M STILL HERE :) :) :)

Hi everyone :) :) :)

I just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. My dad and I are settling down some. I've taken a proverbial boatload of photos already. So I'll make sure and get a new post full of photos up by this weekend :) :) How are you all doing?

I really love the weather here in Monterey. It's consistently in the 60s. Now we are by the ocean, so we get a lot of ocean mist here, too. It's really beautiful.

Monterey has a very interesting history.  If you click here, you can read a Wikipedia article about Monterey. It was founded June 3rd, 1770 by Father Juanipero Serra and Gaspar de Portola (then governor of Baja and Alta California).  There is still a lot of Spanish/Mexican influence all over this area. It's just breathtaking...that and the fact that I get to see the ocean every day :) :) 

Well, since I"m not in Oregon anymore, I'll have to change my "sign off" for my blog posts :) :)  What do you all suggest?  That's the news from the California coast today. Love and hugs, Heather :)