Happy Birthday Lana & Leonard

A Very Happy Birthday to my Sister and my Brother!

Yes, they are twins…

Lana, I thank God for you and pray that He blesses you with all things good this coming year. Thanks for all the fun times we have together, shopping, exploring cemeteries, eating, and blogging together. Joy, Joy, Joy is what I wish for you!

Leonard, I thank God for all the new things He has filled your life with this last year! Wow, He has really blessed you richly and it makes this sister overwhelmed with joy for you and thanksgiving to our God. I love you my brother!

Since it’s her birthday why don’t you head over to Lana G!’s to see a photo of her and my brother together sporting a fabulous hairdo!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site and have replaced my photos with black and grey boxes of ugliness. I’m slowly deleting those boxes from my blog and trying to update so many posts, very frustrating.

Tolstoy ~ Quote

“All happy families resemble each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in it’s own way.”

~ Leo Tolstoy from Anna Karenina

Well I’m off and running getting everything put together for the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night. All the shopping is done. I even managed to find a new dress to wear to the wedding in under an hour. Whoohoo! Pasta Salad is done. Chicken is marinating. Brisket is ready to go into the oven tomorrow bright and early. I’ve been to the airport once already today and got to get re-acquainted with my sweet little niece who is now 5 months old. I head back to pick up my daughter at 9:45 tonight. Tomorrow morning I have extra hands at the condo to assemble fruit skewers. When all is transported to the venue I hope to be able to get some photo time in between making sure everyone is fed and happy!

The wedding is Saturday evening and then we hit the road bright and early on Sunday morning for Seattle.

All this to say ellen b. will be back to bloggy world when she arrives in Seattle next week. Have a wonderful weekend y’all!

Snapshot Tag ~

Flower has tagged me for a getting to know you meme called Snapshot. Here are some flowers for you, Flower! I added some to the meme. The meme asked for 5 places you’ve lived. I did that in two parts, 5 places before I was married and 5 places after I was married.

A. What were you doing 10 years ago?

That would be 1998 correct. I was substitute teaching in the State of Washington.

B. 5 things on my to do list.

1. Buy dress for wedding.
2. Make shopping list for Rehearsal Dinner we’re catering.
3. Shop for what’s on the shopping list.
4. Cook what I’m cooking ahead of time for the dinner.
5. Decide on whether to go to Disneyland on Thursday.

C. 5 snacks I enjoy.

1. Chips and Salsa
2. Nuts
3. Crackers and Cheese
4. Ice Cream
5. Hummus with pita bread

D. Things I’d do if I were a millionaire.

1. Pay off mortgages.
2. Give my children some money.
3. Donate more to some worthy organizations.
4. Take my kids to Great Britain and Ireland.
5. Put some money away so I can buy gasoline for my car :0)

E. Places I’ve lived {before I was married}

1. East Los Angeles, California
2. Pico Rivera, California
3. Montebello, California
4. Redlands, California (1 year at University of Redlands)
5. La Mirada, California

F. Places I’ve lived {since I’ve been married}

1. West Los Angeles, California
2. Huntington Beach, California (Josh and Dan born here)
3. Ventura, California (Katie born here)
4. Bothell, Kirkland, Kenmore, Washington
5. Camarillo, California

So if you’d like to participate in this meme consider yourself tagged and let me know if you play…

Tagged for My Unimportance!

Cori G. from Gingerbread Crumbs and Co. has tagged me for a meme. I’m suppose to post 6 unimportant things about me. Now which 6 to choose.

Here are the 6 I settled on.

#1. I drink coffee every morning.
#2. Orange is not my favorite flower color.
#3. Hats aren’t flattering on me.
#4. I am not a vegetarian.
#5. I enjoy strolling through cemeteries.
#6. I do not bake pies.

During my last stroll through the Santa Barbara Cemetery look what I saw. Ellen B. is buried there, thankfully not this Ellen B.

Thanks for the tag Cori G.!

I’m not going to tag anyone but if you want to play let me know so I can come and visit.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Pampering Myself ~ How to Eat Out Alone

I have learned over the years to pamper myself when the time is right. I also can rationalize a dinner out any day of the week. So…because Dear has been in Seattle at a Pharmacy conference since Friday and I’ve been home alone I decided to have a treat and go out to dinner on my last night alone. I started the eating out alone experience when I was out of town at sports tournaments, etc. I learned that it’s OK to eat out alone. The first couple times it was awkward but I’m “way over it”. I like to eat early so Happy Hours are ideal for me. You can eat at a nice restaurant instead of a Fast Food Joint!

Tonight I hopped into my car and drove a short distance to the Safire American Bistro in Camarillo. The bar has great tables for two for a single person to feel comfortable at. These tables were out of the main hub bub and not real conspicuous. They have what they think are deals on their happy hour menu. I’ve had better deals elsewhere but this was nice never-the-less. (Is that one word?) I ordered their Safire Salad which was wonderful $5.00. I love that it had garbanzo beans (chickpeas) in the salad and Parmesan shavings. The tomatoes were grape tomatoes and not the scary salmonella tomatoes that are causing havoc across the US right now. Sheesh the $7.00 gourmet pizza was a medium size not a personal size so I brought 3/4 of it home. I suppose $7.00 for a medium gourmet pizza at a nice restaurant is a good Happy Hour price…

Ummm, I wasn’t going to mention it but since it’s in the photo collage the gin martini was $6.00. And since you are eating out alone, only have one drink please. 🙂 Now how do I rationalize this meal that cost me $23.00 with tip you ask, yes I generally tip 20%. I figure since Dear’s company is paying for all his meals the last 5 days we’re way ahead even though I splurged. Do you see my reasoning?

The pampering didn’t stop with dinner. When I got home I brewed myself a cup of tea and had a slice of Amish Friendship Bread that Willow sent home with me yesterday. Very yummy, Willow!

This is a new brand of tea I’m trying from St. Petersbourg, actually made in France. A Russian blend of China, Ceylon and India teas with natural scents of bergamot, lemon, lime, orange, mandarin, and flowers. (Earl Grey, citrus fruits and flowers). I love the little muslin tea bags.

Dear comes home tomorrow, yippee!

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Feelings Meme ~

I saw this at Susanne’s and since I have to work at being sensitive to my feelings I decided to give it a whirl.

Feelings meme:

Reluctant ~ to get too involved in church activities these days.

Excited ~ to be spending 6 weeks in Seattle this summer.

Worried ~ About whether my first attempt at a cake with fondant frosting is going to turn out for a bridal shower this weekend. :0)

Relieved ~ that I found a couple bills that were missing and paid them.

Wondering: ~ I’m the Happy Wonderer, I wonder about everything!

Certain ~that Jesus lives and I will stand before Him someday.

Cautious ~about over committing.

Happy ~that I have so many loving people in my life.

Love ~every new adventure that comes my way

Adore ~God’s creation

Grateful ~for kind words of encouragement.

Go ahead and find your inner touchy feely and do this meme. After you do let me know so I can come by and get all emotional with you…

Oh and the photo at the top of this post is ellen b in the restroom at the Queen Mary Tea Room. Yep I take pictures everywhere…

Home Alone ~ What to Do?

Since Dear is somewhere north of Redding, California delivering a car from Southern California to Washington State for our daughter, I’m without my Saturday morning walking buddy. What should I do with my day all alone?

It’s coffee for one this morning so I decided to pull out the French Press.

Perfect amount for my big mug.

Well let’s see. My kitchen is clean already. My bathroom is clean already.

My livingroom is clean. My bed is made and the bedroom is clean. My office is OK. My huge garden is weeded and watered. Hmmm, and here it is 8:00 am already.

So I’m debating, should I go to Santa Barbara to pick up some necessities at Nordstrom? Our Nordstrom in Thousand Oaks doesn’t open until the fall and I hate to drive to the San Fernando Valley for the closer Nordstrom. Or maybe I should just drive up to Ventura and do some thrift store shopping. Decisions, decisions. Have a wonderful Holiday weekend everyone!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

Fun Monday ~ What Was & Is Worth It…

Southern Doll is hosting Fun Monday this week and she has the following assignment. What have you done in your life that was worth doing?

I know that as soon as I publish this there will be other things that come to mind. I decided to start with high school and move on from there.

The thing in high school that was worth doing was getting baptised in my junior year. I started a more dedicated journey following Christ at this point in my life and would never turn back.

During my College years I was part of a Christian Rock band. I met Dear in this group and we became engaged and then married in 1974. We went on two summer tours in England together with the group which was an amazing experience in travel and ministry.

Getting a College Degree and a Teaching Credential was worth doing.

Getting married to Dear was and is definitely worth doing and we’ve been doing it for 33 years. Oops! I think I just probably embarrassed my children and myself by accident.

Having each of our three children was worth it big time in my life. Each of them is unique and I thank God for their individual gifts and personalities.

Developing close friendships and opening our home for fun and fellowship and spending loving times with my extended family has been worth it.

Much of this time is spent around food!

Moving to Seattle in 1988 and raising our children there and developing friendships there was worth it.

Starting a blog and meeting bloggy friends around the world has been worth it.

Growing older with Dear and being faithful to our marriage is worth it.

For more Fun Monday posts head over to Southern Doll’s.