Eat, Pray, Love And Finding the Magic in Between

I recently saw this movie with my good friend and although I heard mixed reviews on it, I never listen to reviews. So, I saw it. I loved it and I related to Julia Robert's character in the movie so, so much! I'm sure a lot of us, in fact, can relate to her character (or should I say Elizabeth Gilbert). The journey to find yourself can be presently surprising and at the same time scary, especially when having to face your own flaws. Once we do find the happiness within, whether through spirituality or great food (as depicted in the movie) the possiblities become endless! Yea, yea, yea, this is yet another Julia Roberts sappy film but every now and then it can hit at the right time....and for me, this was the right time. So, long film and all, I loved it and I don't care what the critics say! Oh and I am definitely getting the soundtrack. I LOVED the music! What you're hearing is just a taste of it!

Have you seen it? Do tell us your opinion good or bad! :)

Trying to please everyone....

At a recent get together at my girlfriend's house. I'm holding her adorable granddaughter and trying to pet their sweet dog at the same time. Typical me.

They're just a few of the sweetest things in life. :)

Dreaming in Blue

You know, I'm not really into blues but when I saw this at Countryliving.com I thought, well, who says I can't change? :) Now, where's my bubble bath? *sigh*

A Princess Riding a Princess

Okay, funny title huh? Well, it was sort of true. I rode today with my friend Brenda who is a trainer. She'll usually call me when she needs help exercising her horses. Well, today, I rode this girl and her name is Princess, a Paso Fino-Standardbred cross who is a singlefoot registered. Yep, me a princess (sometimes) rode a horse named Princess. How ironic is that? She was a short little girl, only 14.2 so I probably looked funny on her. Lol! For being a small mare, though she had a lot of endurance and love in her despite where she came from. See, she was rescued and brought to Brenda's for a little TLC. :) She had not been ridden in almost a year and for an 11 year old getting her back on the trails was a must! She did great! I hope I get to ride her again soon!!

This is the video of her (since she is for sale now) with Mary riding her at Brenda's outdoor arena.




It's been hot, hot, hot here! Hope you're all staying cool!

My new shag rug...

What do you think? :)

Walking Bentley and Sachi Update!

Today was an awesome day. I went over to spend time with Sachi, my good friend who has cancer and who I mentioned in an earlier post. We had a nice lunch at her house with another friend of hers, who I adore now that I've gotten to know her and we just had some fun girly time. Also, I wanted to let you all know that the new round of chemo treatment she is on seems to be doing something positive! They cannot find the original tumor anymore and nothing new has surfaced so that is wonderful news! Her strength is back, she is exercising and taking walks and just looks great all around! I loved seeing her like this. Thank you all for your prayers! They are definitely helping. Prayer is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

I also had the chance to take Mr. Bentley for a walk again. I love our walks together. Today we passed by a small little apple tree and try as I might, I could only find a single green apple. It just hung there all alone...all by itself. It kept screaming for me to pick it but I was afraid that the neighbor would see and Bentley and I would have to go tearing up the street, running from the neighbor. I'm sure Bentley would have tripped me at some point and well...I settled for a picture instead.


Maybe if it's there next time I walk Bentley I'll take it and run! Hope you all are having a great weekend!

If I could.....

I would adopt every single animal that had the misfortune of suffering, in any form. No animal deserves to suffer without the chance to know true love from us. This story about Joyce brought tears to my eyes but has a happy ending. :)



If I had the means, I would have a sanctuary for homeless and abused fur babies. So if you think about it...the next time you want to bring a furry friend into your life, checkout the shelters first. Please? :)

The Fair Is Here!

This past Saturday I was able to go to the fair with one of my best friends and have some really good junk food and see the animals. What better of a combination, right? :))

Are you surprised this handsome guy won first place?

These were some of the best curly fries I've ever tasted!

Isn't this corn dog beautiful? Lol! The batter was oh so cakey!

And my friend had this de-licious Philly!

I gotta go fix dinner now! I'm starving! Lol!

I have a secret....

I finally had my chance to try on a real cowboy hat. Whadda ya'll think?

And I owe it to this handsome cowboy for letting me wear it.

Thanks Urban Cowboy (a true gentleman). ;) Hoping to see that hat and that smile again soon.

Now girls...don't start getting carried away. Lol!

Ahhh...the sweet smell of lavender is in the air!

My lavender has finally dried and I'm storing it in a jar for future use! There's something about the intoxicating smell of lavender that makes me wanna...oh...what's the word....RELAX. Do you all remember that word or verb I should say. :) Well it definitely relaxed me while I pulled the lavender buds off the sprigs.




Have you ever heard of lavender lemonade? While I haven't tried it yet, I heard about it on the Oprah Winfrey show. Now, ya gotta trust Oprah, right? It sounds refreshing to me so I'm gonna give it a go before the end of summer!

Lavender Lemonade

Ingredients:

•3 cups sugar
•7 sprigs lavender (stems and buds), plus additional for garnish*
•2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 12 lemons)
•1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 5 limes)

Directions:

In a large saucepan, bring one gallon of water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat; add 7 lavender sprigs and lemon and lime juices. Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill. Serve on ice, with additional lavender for garnish.

**Recipe courtesy of www.oprahwinfrey.com**

A Gift I Will Cherish Forever

Yesterday I went to visit my good friend, Sachi (Sue is her given name but all her friends call her by her nickname Sachi...meaning "child of joy" in Japanese). Sachi is my friend who is going through chemo and I have to say she has never looked better! We think this round of chemo is doing a better job! Thank you all for your prayers!! Anyway, she blessed me with a gift I will cherish forever. She gave me her two vintage hats from the 1940's. I was beside myself! You all know how much I love the 40's and that era. I even tried them on. *sigh* The green one has a tag inside of it that says Macy's, New York (even MORE beside myself)!

I will be thinking of the perfect place to display them aside from the times when I'm alone and playing dress-up and pretending I lived in the 40's. Lol!






Thank you SO VERY MUCH, Sachi! I will cherish them forever and ever and ever!!! What a special gift from a very special friend. xo

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved!

This was too sweet not to grab my iPhone and take a picture. Emma was curled up next to me while I was on the computer and in one swift movement she stretched and tenderly laid her arm across mine. I mean how much sweeter does it get? Oh and I swear my arm isn't really that fat! Pictures lie, I swear! Geez, I lose ten pounds in the last five months and all I get out of it is this picture with a fat arm. Nice.

Also, if you can all send some prayers again for Mocha. She had a bout with an infection and stopped eating for a day and a half. After a vet visit and antibiotics she is eating like a pig again but still very thin. I'm hoping she will put some weight back on. On this visit with a new vet, however, she did not feel a mass like her former vet did but it still could be something more serious than Irritable Bowel Disease. Stabilizing her is all I'm asking for. :) I call her my Energizer bunny. Lol! Thank you!

Perhaps She Came From Hogwarts?

I recently stumbled upon new blog and I am so happy I did. It's enchantingly called I Hope They Have Pudding. This delightful and whimsical blog is charmingly written by Miss Cellar Door. In reading her new blog and the way she writes, she reminds me of a student that has just left Hogwarts in pursuit of discovering the magic of life! She recently responded to my last post with a delectable recipe of Blueberry Mead, compliments of her Great Aunt Driven. What a wonderful recipe it was, indeed! I urge you to check it out if you have a chance by clicking here. Thank you Miss Cellar Door for gifting me with this recipe and for starting such a great blog! I hope to see a lot more posts in the near future. I thoroughly enjoy your writing!

Another garden surprise!

And you can imagine I was as blue as Violet from Willy Wonka when I saw it! My first blueberry that has finally turned blue! The big question is, will the others cooperate?

Have a great weekend everyone!

Fresh Sugar Snap Pea Saute!

After about five days of picking I was able to gather enough of my fresh sugar snap peas off my deck garden to make this wonderful vegetarian saute that my mother taught me while she was here visiting. It doesn't look like much but believe me, it is SO delicious and such a perfect dish for summer!

Fresh picked peas...

And into the frying pan they go. It's very easy. I sauteed diced onions in a little butter and olive oil until brown, then I added the peas (you can use frozen peas) and the sugar snap peas. Add a little salt and pepper and let it cook until done or at least how well done you like them. :)

Then serve over white or brown rice. I used jasmine rice that I bought at Trader Joes.


Enjoy and happy summer eating!

Black and white never looked so good! (bear with me as I redesign my site!)

I just love setting my camera on black and white or Sepia. It always gives my photos such a classic and timeless look. Recently while pet and house sitting for a wonderful friend of mine I took the opportunity to have a little photo shoot with her fur babies. I loved how some of them turned out. I sent them to her upon her return. So.....Michelle's pet sitting service includes a photo shoot and black and whites of your fur babies. Lol!

A special thanks to Zeus (brown Lab), Cosmo (tan Lab) and Thor (Jack Russell/Shih Tzu - I won't tell you my shortened version of him) for being my furry models of the day!

Morning Time with Quincy and Emma

Every morning when I get up Quincy and Emma have a ritual. We have to go out on the deck and have some fresh catnip...oh and checkout everything to make sure nothing changed overnight. Lol! Quincy, of course, always has to be the star. :) It looks like I'm ignoring Emma with the catnip but she already had her share that morning. :) Mocha is usually upstairs finishing her breakfast in bed. I'm pathetic, I know. Oh and Mocha is still doing very well by the way! It's been almost five months since the doctor felt she may have had a tumor. If it is one, I am hoping it's a very slow growing one. Then again, maybe she doesn't have one. In any event, she is still demanding with her food, is steady with her weight and runs up the stairs faster than me! :)



Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! Oh yes, one more thing. Checkout the latest giveaway over at Coastal Sisters. The blog button to the giveaway is on my sidebar to the right below my pinup girl! LuLu is SO talented! At least checkout her website! The button should bring you right over. :)

Do you see it?

My first eggplant! I'm so proud of myself!! :) Come on baby, keep growing so I can eat you all up!

A true girl....

Can go from dirty, muddy and worn cowboy boots....

To a lacy white skirt, pink flip flops and silver painted toes.

Any questions? :)

Too hot to blog!

Okay, so remember when I was complaining about the rain and how I would give anything for sunshine? Well....I asked for it! It's been entirely too hot to blog. Bad excuse, I know. It will be 100 degrees here on Thursday. I cannot complain though. I asked for it. I only wish I could look as good as Marilyn on a hot day. :)

Trying to keep cool! What's the weather like where you're at? I'll be back soon with some regular blog posts. :)