Corner News-Let’s Go to the Beach!

June 18, 2016June 17, 2016Leave a comment

Hello everyone! And welcome to another edition of the Corner News. I had a great week this past week and wanted to share a mini vacation with you.

So, living in the central valley of California, we live about 2 hours from the coast. And being that it has been so hot in California, Haley, my friend Bekah, and myself decided to take a beach trip. We decided that we would drive my little cube the 2 hours and end up at Morro Bay.

We started our trip with some lunch at Bayside Cafe which is next to the marina. It was a bit cloudy and cool when we arrived, but the sun was out when we left. And of course, I started with the clam chowder in a bread bowl. Yum!

We then drove into town and started shopping. We started at a small shop that is like a thrift store kind of thing. I don’t know what it is called exactly, but it is fun to look through. I found this really cool chair in the store that was for sale. I thought that it was absolutely adorable.

Next we went into the Garden Gallery. It is a beautiful store that has a lot of decorations and of course, gardening stuff. I found this really cool California pillow that I considered buying, but it didn’t really match my decor.

I also found this cute piggy bank that I had to take a picture of.

As we wandered down the Embarcadero, we came to a small knick knack shop with a lot of random and cool things. We found their mask collection, and had to take a picture.

We finally made it to the beach where it was a beautiful day. The sun was out, and we were able to sit on the beach without being cold or blown away. Look at this weather!

Now, one of Haley and my favorite things to do when we go places is take pictures. So, of course we were modeling for each other and taking lots of pretty pictures. Like this one!

After sitting on the beach for a while, we decided to make our way to San Luis Obispo to go shopping. But, we also went to Woodstock’s Pizza. If you are ever in the San Luis or Davis areas of California, I highly recommend going to Woodstock’s. It is delicious and a good price for amazing pizza! So, we had a pepperoni pizza and delicious cinnamon bread for dessert. YUMMY!

And this concludes our beach trip. Don’t worry, we are already planning our next trip and where to go. And don’t worry, I will take plenty of pictures while we are there. I hope you enjoyed seeing my mini vacation!

Corner News-June 11-2016

June 11, 2016June 10, 20166 Comments

Happy Saturday to you! How has your week been? This was my first week off and it was busy! I thought I was supposed to be resting! The shelter we volunteer at is holding a yard sale, so Haley and I have been helping to set up. We have gone to the gym a couple of times and have been busy cleaning out the house of clutter. You should see the pile of boxes!! My mom and I will be having a yard sale too, so I have to get it done before then. While cleaning out, what do I do? Go shopping for more, of course!

This gold platter/plate was at the shelter yard sale so I snatched it up. I love the scalloped edge on it. I have already painted it and plan to add a base so it can be a stand for goodies. I think I will cut some scrapbook paper for the bottom and then I can change it out for whatever occasion I use it for.

I also picked up this cute sweatshirt from the shelter yard sale. Do you recognize the seagull from Finding Nemo? Mine, mine, mine! I made it onto a dog bed using the directions from Handimania.com. I figured since the dogs fight over who goes where, this was perfect for them!

I found this plant at Goodwill this week. Sorry for the bad color, but it reminded me of the beach and now I really want to go!! Hopefully I will get a day or two to go enjoy the sand and surf.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and see you on Monday!

The Great State Of Hawaii-Part 3

May 16, 2016May 15, 201614 Comments

Happy Monday everyone! Wait! Is there such a thing?! Why do Mondays always seem to be a hard day? It’s so difficult to get back into the routine of school again, especially this close to the end. My preschoolers are definitely feeling it too! At least we can go outside and let them run off some energy. We have 3 weeks left and then we get a much needed break. Yay!!

Since I was thinking about vacation, I decided to show a few (!) more of my Hawaii pictures. I realized I hadn’t done any for awhile. I’m in the midst of some projects, but nothing is complete yet, so this will help fill the gap. Plus it’s nice to dream again!! Here is Part 1 and Part 2 if you missed them.

One of our free mornings, we decided to check out the aquarium. I decided I saw more of a variety of fish here than I did when we snorkeled, and this was much easier! I don’t remember all the names of the fish, but it’s so relaxing just to look at them and imagine the water and waves.

We probably all know these fish from Finding Nemo-Clown Fish! Did you know that Finding Dory is coming out next month? Can’t wait!

This little blue guy looked so pretty in front of the coral.

Yes, those are bright orange teeth on this fellow! I don’t think I would want to meet him underwater!

A beautiful purple sea urchin.

Jellyfish are just so cool to watch as they float in the water. Obviously, this is an Upside Down Jellyfish.

I love starfish and use them all over my house to decorate. I loved how these were all in a row.

More jellyfish!

One more! Isn’t this amazing!?

Well, hello grumpy!

I love to watch the seahorses too. The way they use their tail to hang onto the plants is so cool!

Love these guys!

They are all so pretty!

Well, I’m not so sure about these two!

This guy just stayed in one spot, upright, in the water. He would spin in slow circles around and around.

Naptime!

After the aquarium we met up with Haley and a couple of her friends for lunch at the famous Duke’s restaurant. This was named for the Duke Kahanamoku, who is famous for making the sport of surfing so popular. We had some really good food and it was fun to meet up with the kids and find out about what they had been doing too.

We even managed to get a family photo.

Do you have any vacation plans for this summer? I would love to hear where you are going! Thanks for stopping by today!

Beachy Dining Room Refresh

April 18, 2016April 15, 201614 Comments

Good morning! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We have been enjoying some amazing weather here. A little bit of rain, a bit of wind and lots of sunshine!

The beautiful weather has inspired me to freshen up my dining room! This was the corner for spring. I still had a bunny there, some silver branches and some heavier quilts on the ladder, so I decided it was time to lighten up and add a few beach items.

First, I took everything away. As you can see, we have a lovely wall air conditioner here. Isn’t she a beauty! She’s not pretty, but we sure do need her in the summertime! So I had to move the door out of the way, but decided to replace it with a shutter. That way we can open it up when we need it. I’ve never done it before, so I will see how it works. Hopefully it won’t block too much of the cool air.

I put the ladder back, but added a lighter-weight blanket. The white and gold one was one of the Lily Pulitzer items from Target last year, but guess where I found it! Goodwill!! In fact, I found 2, this one and a pink one for Lauren. I also replaced the wagon and the driftwood bowl.

As you can see, I already changed where the driftwood bowl was placed! I decided to hang it like a wreath with a grey ribbon and I added a seashell garland, which I made with more of my stash of seashells.

I added some nautical pillows into a big metal basket. The anchor design is a pillow cover from Amazon. I love these! They store so much easier than a bunch of pillows.

I added a large driftwood candle holder and a basket of fishing floats into the wagon.

Here is a closer view of the seashell garland. I used a couple of seashell necklaces we received when we went to Hawaii and made them into one long string. I drilled holes into the different shells and then strung them on the necklaces using twine.

I moved the door to the other side of the dining room, behind the bar cart. I kept the Welcome sign, but added a fishing net that has hung in my bathroom forever!!

I also gathered up some flowers and blossoms from my yard, arranged them in some bottles and then placed them in a metal basket. Such a fresh look for spring!

If you want to look at last years spring decorating, click here. Although looking back, most of what I took pictures of, has completely changed!

I hope you enjoyed my little dining room spring tour! Thank you so much for stopping by!

The Great State of Hawaii-Part One

March 28, 2016March 27, 20166 Comments

Did everyone have a wonderful spring break, if you had one in your area? Mine was good, but I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. But I did have time to relax and spend time with my girls (see zoo post here).

I know a lot of folks went to the beach or somewhere else nice for vacation. We stayed home, but we did go to Hawaii last month! This was our first time going. A lot of people couldn’t believe we had never gone before since we live in Ca. But now we can say we have! I realized I hadn’t shared any pictures with you, so I thought this would be a good time. I will have to do several posts, since I took llloootttss of pictures! We stacked a lot of activities into 6 days! I thought I would just share pictures of the beach where we spent our time and some of the wonderful things we saw there.

I have had traveling to Hawaii on my ‘bucket list’ for a very long time. What finally prompted us to go was Haley. She is part of the theater group at her junior college. She found out in the fall that they would be traveling to a theater festival that takes place each year. This year would be Hawaii. How could I not go?! I told here there was no way she would get to go to Hawaii and I hadn’t gone yet! So as soon as we found out where the festival would be held, we made our reservations.We made them through Travelosity and it included our flight and hotel. Such an easy way to travel. We also purchased a GoOahu Card through SmartDestinations.com. Best purchase ever! They have this card for many different cities, so be sure to check it out if you are traveling. By the way, I am not affiliated with these agencies, I just thought they were really good deals.

Okay. So on to the pictures! This is the beach were we spent most of our time. It was across the street from our hotel. The little piece of water you see to the left if a man-made lagoon. It belonged to one of the hotels and was a great place for kids. Straight ahead is a cove, so the water was great to go swimming in.