this little life of mine

Christmas Tradition #31photosin31days #holidailies

One of our Christmas traditions is to have eggnog and gingerbread man cookies when we decorate. I may not have done much decorating this year, but it was enough to require cookies and nog! (holly border courtesy of picnik.com.)

Wizard of Oz Collection #31photosin31days #holidailies

Among the few Christmas decorations I put out yesterday is this small collection of Hallmark's Wizard of Oz ornaments. My Aunt Alice worked for Hallmark for years and gave me dozens of ornaments as gifts. I have lots of Betsy Clark  stuff and cute little Santas, and now I have she Wizard of Oz ornaments. She sent me one a year for several years. I haven't received anything from Aunt Alice for a couple years now - no ornament, no letter, no nothing. I know she's pretty old - a year or two older than my grandparents, I believe - and that she had a stroke a few years back, but that's about it. I don't hear from "that side" of the family at all - not since my dad died in 1981 - (except Alice, who always stayed in contact with us) so if she's passed on, it's likely they'd never tell us. Alice is/was one of my favourite people and The Wizard of Oz is one of my all-time favourite movies, so this little collection is a tiny treasure for me to bring out every year.

Full Moon #31photosin31days #holidailies

I tried to get a shot of the ginormous full moon, but my camera is just not powerful enough. I thought the attempt was pretty, though. It almost looks like the sun shining at nighttime. I used picnik.com to get the black and white infrared effect.

Peppermint Mocha @brucoffeehouse #31photosin31days #holidailies

31 Photos in 31 Days: today mom and I decided to try one of the holiday coffee selections at our favourite coffeeshop Bru - the Peppermint Mocha. It was really good and so festive!

Christmas Cactus #31photosin31days #holidailies

31 Photos in 31 Days, day 8: it looks like my Christmas cactus will be well in bloom in time for Christmas this year (as opposed to Valentine's Day next year!).

 

There are a few buds on it, and this one big, lovely flower:

 

Nuts #31photosin31days

31 Photos in 31 Days, day 8: someone I work with has a walnut tree (or two or twenty, I don't know) at their house and brought in a ginormous burlap bag of fresh walnuts. Personally I'm mildly allergic, but my mom likes them, so I took some home.

P.S. This is my 2000th post in this little life of mine! I probably should've done something special, but I just haven't been up to doing anything lately, so a picture of a handful of nuts will have to suffice!

Sepia Scenes: Christmas at Bru #31photosin31days

31 Photos in 31 Days, day 7: my favourite coffeeshop is all dressed up for the holidays with a cute little display incliding a Christmas tree, fireplace w/ stockings, and a toy train set running around the tree.

 

The Return of the Tree Heart #31photosin31days

31 Photos in 31 Days: Day 6

With the Santa Ana winds blowing most of the leaves off the trees, you can now see the Tree Heart in the old oak by the bus stop. It's only visible during the winter, as in the spring and summer the leaves conceal it.

 

In case you can't find it, here's a close-up of the heart.

Christmas Bow #31photosin31days

Day #2 of 31 Photos in 31 Days brings us a bright and cheery Christmas bow:

 

a day in the life

"A Day in the Life" is a fun photo project from Tracy at sh1ft.org where you take a photo each hour for a whole day. Well, I didn't quite get a photo every hour, but I did take a few shots to at least show how most of my day went! Enjoy!

My mom and I started our day with breakfast at Bru Coffeehouse, our favourite coffee shop. We had our usual: 2 16 oz. non-fat lattes (I get mine with no foam as shown) and share 2 muffins. Today we got a gingerbread (on the left) and our favourite the Morning Glory (on the right).

After breakfast, mom and I went to Rite-Aid to get our flu shots. My arm hurt the rest of the day!

When we got home, I headed out to the garden to harvest some bell peppers and tomatoes. We got rid of our squash plants last weekend since they were basically gone. We're still getting lots of tomatoes and peppers, though, so we're going to do our best to keep those plants going as long as possible.

For lunch I made a Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad (the Classic with the Italian-style vinagrette is our fave!), and added some chopped green bell pepper and tomatoes fresh from the garden. It was the perfect side to our leftover roasted chicken.

This afternoon I polished up some of my sterling silver rings which I plan to take to San Francisco and use with my Halloween costume.

I'm getting ready to head to San Francisco to hang out with some amazingly awesome people this coming week. I'm all packed now including bits and pieces for my Halloween costume.

Tonight's dinner was Southwest Meatballs from the October 2011 Clean Eating magazine. I used the rest of the tomates I harvested this afternoon in the dish. It was yummy!

Before bed I decided to go ahead and polish my toes. I love getting pedis (and manis), but with the furlough days, I really can't afford to do them anymore, so I'm on my own. I don't think I did too bad a job at it! The colour is Bastille My Heart from O.P.I.