Tag Archives: Family

Topanga Canyon & The Seattle Sounders!

Today Katie and I met the bride to be with her parents in Topanga Canyon at Hidden Treasures Vintage Store. This is the shop where Gabbie bought her wedding dress. If you really enjoy vintage this is a great destination.

 

This shop is in an old house on Topanga Canyon Blvd. about halfway into the Canyon from the Valley.

 

Our Katie does vintage well and it was fun to see the things she tried on. She left with a new (old) coat, a sweater and a hat.

 

Gabbie bought some tablecloths for the reception. We had lunch together before we parted ways looking forward to seeing each other again at the wedding, especially seeing Gabbie in her Vintage Dress she chose for the wedding.

 

On the way home we had to pull over to take pictures of this Pink Pig flying.  “When Pigs Fly” was the chance the New York Red Bulls needed tonight against the Seattle Sounders in their debut opening season game! The Sounders beat them handily 3-0. Our sons have season tickets and enjoyed the game live. We were so happy for them that they could enjoy this big win!

 

I knew after seeing Fredy Montero #17 in Ventura a month ago that he would be someone to watch. Well done Sounders!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Family Celebration

After I picked up Katie from LAX we headed East to Whittier for a family gathering to celebrate Katie being here and Letty and my birthday.

 

My sister Kathy and my mom. My niece Michelle and Katie. My sister Vera and SIL Letty.

 

My niece Michelle and Melissa with my Grand Nephew Jackson. Michelle, Jessica, and my sister Lana. Kathy and Lana. Oops…I managed to miss getting my niece Debbee in any of these and she’s probably quite happy about that :0)

 

For dinner everyone brought along a favorite Chinese take-out item to share and my mom made this birthday cake for Letty and me along with those flaky delicate yummies on the right which are called Kudrishky. Kudrishky are a light flaky Russian dessert that is made from a dough rolled very thin, curled and fried. After they cool you dust them with powdered sugar.

 

The birthday girls! These extended birthday celebrations are a fun deal!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Let the Celebrations Begin…

 

I’ve never been one to shy away from celebrations and since I’m not getting any younger I decided that I need more than one day to celebrate. Now Lovella is enjoying her Jubilee year and that deserves a whole year of celebrating but for my 58th year I’m claiming the next 60 days to celebrate. That way I’ll get to celebrate with my kids, too, when we go to Seattle for Easter. My celebrations will culminate with Mother’s Day!

My actual birthday is March 14th and this year it happens to be National Pi Day I found that out from The Scrabblequeen Knits, too. And she also let me know it’s Albert Einstein’s birthday! With all this excitement happening this weekend I decided I needed to get a jump on my celebrations so I don’t get overlooked.

 

Dear is already treating me royally (what a guy). He ordered me a new SLR camera that is arriving sometime next week. He made reservations for dinner on my birthday at  Tam O’ Shanter in Los Angeles. My niece Michelle and Ryan have been going here for special occasions and we’ve been wanting to try it since it comes highly recommended. Michelle posted about the restaurant here.

Hmmm, Willow’s birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day so maybe I’ll suggest to her we do a little something next Tuesday to celebrate both our birthdays…

 

Next Wednesday my daughter Katie arrives for a week to visit us and attend a wedding of one of her friends from Wheaton College. On that Wednesday my extended family is getting together for a bring in Chinese Dinner at my sister’s house in Whittier. (Everyone who comes will bring a take-out Chinese dish of their choice for us all to share.) My mom is baking a cake to celebrate my birthday and my SIL Letty’s birthday that night. How sweet it is. Sometimes it’s hard for us all to get together so we don’t have any problem with combining celebrations when we can get together.

 

And just so all this celebrating doesn’t go to my head I’ll continue my daily chores and I’ll keep exercising and I’ll make it a point to share the love with other people around me and treat them to some fun, too. But most importantly I’ll remember the One who gives me all good things to enjoy. Thank you Lord!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Three or More ~

This photo of my kids on the horse was taken in July of 1988 on our move from Southern California to the Seattle Area. We stopped in Yuba City at Dear’s Aunt and Uncles’s farm/ranch. The kids were thrilled to get to ride a horse even if they had to share the ride.

I just got home on Sunday from spending a week with my kids in Seattle. I always get a little nostalgic when I travel away from them again…

Tam is the hostess for Three or More and to get on over to her blog just click on the logo above!

Friday’s Fave Five ~ Seattle Style

It’s time to consider the past week and to record some of our favorites!

Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our trusty hostess for this weekly event.

 

My favorites are all about family, friends, food, fun and the Father.

Since I’m in Seattle this week instead of Southern California I’ve been able to spend time with my adult children. We’ve enjoyed meals together, conversation, laughter and work. They are really into playing Rock Band and it’s been fun watching and listening to them enjoy this interactive game.

I’ve run into friends this week and it’s been fun catching up. On Saturday I’ll be walking with my buddies on our 6 mile Burke Gilman walk. Maybe I’ll have a picture to share next week.  Willow ~ Saturday will be my first walk since last Thursday when we walked…yikes!

This week the theme for my 40 day Journey with Jesus is my relationship with God the Father. It’s amazing to be reminded about what love the Father has for us and to respond to that love. I also treasure the beautiful things He’s created for us to enjoy like this scene on Lake Washington from Kirkland, Washington.

 

I have my yearly this morning so I’ll try to get around to your favorites later today. Have a wonderful Friday everyone.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

From Flowers to Reality T.V. Friday’s Fave Five…

Whoa…where has the week gone? It’s time to look back and pick some favorites. There is so much to choose from. Susanne has room for you to join in if you’d like to post your Five Favorites from the past week. Click over to Living to Tell the Story to join on in or see some Favorites.

One of my favorites are these new bookcases that Dear put together and I filled in our Living Area. We are really enjoying the new look this achieved and I’m enjoying seeing some of my pretties out from their hiding places.

 

My next favorite is being surrounded by live flowers this week. We bought a few Gerber Daisies at the Farmer’s Market and then on Valentine’s Day our kids sent us the beautiful bouquet of Lilies. (Of course that bouquet is my very favorite because they came unexpectedly from our kids) Then I got 2 dozen free roses from the little Thrift store I frequent. I think that God is so good to us to have created flowers of so many colors and varieties for us to enjoy. Don’t flowers just make you smile??

Call my next favorite a confession of my not so secret obsession. I love Reality TV. Not all Reality mind you just Biggest Loser, American Idol, Top Chef, Amazing Race, Project Runway, and Survivor. Can you still be my friend after I’ve made this confession? Good thing we have DVR so I don’t have to be home every night to watch these shows! For those of you who watch Top Chef, Fabio’s restaurant in Moorpark is not that far from us so Dear and I plan to go soon…

 

Onward and Upward…my next favorite was weather in Southern California this past week. Look at the contrast over a 24 hour period in Southern California. Tuesday Evening we had those great clouds that had brought rain earlier in the day and then the next afternoon not a cloud in the sky. It’s been cooler, too, which is a nice change for us in Southern Cal.

Last for this week are Willow and my walks and the fact that Dear and I continue to work out on the Bowflex and try to get our walking in too. We are starting to see and feel some results which are motivating us to continue. Us older folk need to keep our muscle tone up… Willow and I took photos of each other this week on a fun little path behind her neighborhood. We promised each other not to take photos of our behinds going up the path and steps. Little favors go a long way with body self esteem :0)

Maybe next week I’ll be brave enough for Dear to take a photo of me grimmacing on the Bowflex!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

ABC’s of the Word ~ Brothers…

Psalm 133

A song of ascents. Of David.

 1 How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!

 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.

 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

For more ABC’s of the Word visit Pam at Grey Like Snuffie

Ruby Tuesday ~

Welcome to my Ruby Tuesday. Visit our great hostess Mary at Work of the Poet to see more Ruby.

Here’s my favorite little Valentine, my niece Hope. I was thrilled to receive this card on Valentine’s Day.

 

And another Valentine’s Day treat for the older Valentines…

Remember to visit Mary to see RED! :0)

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Valentine’s Day Adventures and Surprises!

 

We started our Valentine’s Day very early with a low tide walk at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura. This was a very cold morning for Southern California and we were layered well and I had my gloves on. Our faces were very cold when we walked into the wind. The only others up and paying attention to us were those 2 doggies in the window! We stopped for breakfast at Allison’s in Ventura then made a stop at Target where we bought 2 bookshelves for our living area (I wiill show how the space was transformed in my Metamorphosis post for Monday :0) Then we stopped at the Home Depot to buy an upper kitchen cabinet to put in our bathroom for some extra storage. I’ll show that project next week. Now Dear had the perfect Valentine’s Day ahead of him putting things together with his hand tools!

 

While we were busy recreating our space in the condo the doorbell rang and the florist brought this lovely bouquet from our children to us for Valentine’s Day. So unexpected and so appreciated. What wonderful thoughtful children God has blessed us with.

 

Can’t help but show you…

 

Isn’t the vase they came in pretty with the etchings on it?

 

Then after all the projects were done and we got cleaned up we were ready for our Valentine’s dinner. A very lovely, fulfilling day filled with lots of love…

God is good to us! Blessings on your upcoming Sunday.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Friday’s Fave Five~

Oh my life has been busy since last Friday! It’s time to stop and think about our favorites from this last week and also to be thankful for all the good things God causes in our lives. So visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in or to see some favorites from around the world. Just want to give a shout out to our friends in Paraguay and Belgium that join in…

 

On Saturday we traveled across town to a friends Aunt’s funeral. You might wonder why a funeral makes my top 5 but funerals have been a natural part of my life from childhood. It was a good time of supporting the family and seeing friends and family that we haven’t seen for years. Reconnecting, encouraging and enjoying the company of loved ones from our past and present. It was especially good to see my parents, that cute couple in the collage.

On Wednesday I hosted a Tea for my Bible Study Group. It was another great time of fellowship with ladies that have had such a different life experience from me and each other. God has brought us together for a time and it’s always interesting to see how we connect and grow together.

Wednesday night Dear and I went to Ventura for a soccer game. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner first that we hadn’t been to since 1988. It was a fun evening. I’m a huge soccer fan and we got to see the Seattle Sounders our new MLS soccer team play a pre-season scrimmage game against a local Ventura team. We found one other fan from Seattle in the stands and I wore my Sounders Jersey that my son and DIL  gave me for Christmas. Fun times and we won 6-1!

I really enjoy walking every week. Willow and I spotted our little Dove again yesterday. We couldn’t walk Monday and Tuesday because “Life” got in the way but it’s always great to resume and continue this discipline…

 

Now for #5. Yesterday I posted some ingredients that I was putting together for an experimental meal. I said I would reveal the mystery ingredient and let everyone know if it was edible. Well here’s the reveal. The not so surprising ingredients were whole grain pasta, pasta sauce, and basil. The surprising mystery ingredient was my leftover chicken salad mix from my tea on Wednesday.

 

Strange but true it was very good! Dear went back for seconds. It gave a creamy and crunchy texture to the pasta that was surprisingly good. So my 5th favorite thing from this week is experimenting in the kitchen and having good results! :0)

To see more favorites visit Susanne from Living to Tell the Story.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.