Happy Anniversary to Us

How then, can I tell you of my love?

Strong as the eagle, soft as the dove.

Patient as the pine tree that stands in

the sun and whispers to the wind...

"You are the one!"


To K, You are the music, you are the song- XOXOXO M

Camera Car for Almost Wordless Wednesday

Even though I have lived in Los Angeles for almost 17 years, it was in downtown San Diego a couple weeks ago where I finally got to see a camera car. Apparently, actors can't act and drive for safety reasons, and are often towed adjacent to a car that has an attached boom for the camera. The camera car is also painted a matte black so it can be digitally removed if needed. Pretty cool stuff and I still get star struck, even over autos.


Shameless Blog Cross Promotion Alert

I host every Wednesday at The Motivation Station which is an interactive support blog focused on helping you achieve your goals and hopefully some peace of mind too. Today, I have a fun little post about how astrological signs affect organizational style, please stop on over. Also, the TMS team and I invite you to become a host, whether occasional, guest, or on a regular basis. Please let me know if you would like to share your successes, struggles, tips, and ideas on staying Motivated, no matter what your personal journey holds. Thank you so much.

A Trio of Perfectly Delightful Moments

I am so happy to share with you a trio of delightful moments for Perfect Moment Monday including-

The arrival of my gorgeous new sweater, "Hey Teach" from dear Mrs.Spit, who also taught me that sweaters have names, yes, Names. Hmmm.

Skiing with the family during Spring Break.

And last, but certainly not least at the Case Manager Certification website-

Congratulations, you passed.

Thank you so much for allowing me to kvell in all these mitzvahs and for Lori of Weebles Wobblog for hosting Perfect Moment Monday.

Flashbacks from the Fifties for Pink Saturday

Welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and Thank you for your visit!

The pink I wanted to share today are Flashbacks from the Fifties including some snazzy outfits worn by colleagues at my husband's company's costume bowling party a couple months ago. (Hubby and I are in the matching green bowling shirts, aren't we chic?)


Here's a classic Pink Cadillac outside of Schat's Bakkery in Bishop, California, a local culinary trademark in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas.


For more fun with Pink Saturday, please visit the incredibly talented and inspiring Fifi Flowers! C'est une artiste extraordinaire, tres formidable!

I also invite you to enter to win a bottle of Perricone Advance Facial Firming Activator, to keep your face in the pink too!

Beauty Tips from a Tomboy of A Certain Age Plus A Fabulous Giveaway of Perricone's Advanced Face Firming Activator

I am on my own quiet little campaign to make it okay for women of a certain age to not only Look their age, but be beautiful, nay, Stunning in their own skin. To me, it's all about three things, being comfortable and confident, (infinitely attractive!!), accentuating your best features, and taking care of your skin. Especially taking care of your skin, which is crucial. You can spackle on all the makeup you want, but if your skin looks bad, the makeup will actually draw attention to what you are trying to mask. Conversely, if you take exquisite care of your skin, you can get away with very little or No Makeup and look quite lovely.

I have worked as a RN with plastic surgery patients, (both elective and reconstructive), and have not only experienced skin cancer myself at 28 years of age, but also taken care of those who have become disfigured from the toll of the sun on their skin. So the first and foremost thing to face the age of 50 or 60 or 90 years old, and still enjoy your face, is USE Sunblock. Everyday, high SPF, reapply approximately every 90 minutes and don't forget neck, decolletage, and hands. Yes, even in Winter, most sun exposure occurs from everyday activities like walking to lunch and getting the mail.

In addition to being a consistent sunblock wearer, I never, ever, ever sleep with make up on. I don't care how tired, sick, ______ I am, I always take the 3 minutes to remove my makeup and cleanse and moisturize my skin before going to bed.

Which leads me to a fascinating tidbit that I learned when I stumbled across Dr.Nicholas Perricone on Public Television over 5 years ago where he discussed reversing the signs of aging both internally and externally with diet, exercise, supplements, and skin care. I learned from Dr.Perricone that we actually overwash our skin by staying in the shower too long which depletes the natural oils in the skin, and by washing our faces too frequently or too vigorously. A gentle wash twice a day is plenty, spot treat your blemishes and wrinkles, and don't forget to moisturize your neck which often shows the first and most severe signs of aging because there are No Oil Glands there. None, nada, zippo, that poor little piece of skin real estate is all on its lonesome moisturization wise.

So, please, now it's your turn to share your beauty secrets and enter for a giveaway of Dr.Perricone's Advance Face Firming Activator, (gee, try and say that 5 times fast)!

The fine print-
1. Please leave a comment on why you want to win Perricone's Advanced Face Firming Activator. That's it!
2. Additional entries - Please leave a separate comment for any of your tried and true beauty and skin care secrets.
3. Please make sure I have a way to get in touch with you, an email address or email link on your profile is fine.
4. Open to residents of U.S. and Canada. Contest will run until 12:00 am Sunday May 2nd.
5. Winner will be chosen by Random dot org

Also, you are invited to enter to win Dr.Perricone Acai and Neck Therapy Giveaways at the Perricone Company blog.

Thank you so much and wishing you Good Luck and Great Skin, Health too!! (Because that's What It's Really All About.)


Full Metal Jacket Disclosure Policy - My only compensation for hosting this giveaway, in addition to doing something nice for a fellow blogger, is to receive a Perricone product sample sometime soon for adding their blog to my blogroll. (Cause the Doc Rocks and I appreciate everything I have learned from him and his books and TV shows.)Peace out, FTC.

Loose Grammar on the Slopes for Almost Wordless Wednesday

Don't you think someone would have caught this error when printing up these signs for a big enterprise like Mammoth Mountain Ski resort?



I am posting today at The Motivation Station about the two "D" words, Death and Denial, and you thought I was all fun and games?? Thanks so much.

Playing in the Dirt for The Motivation Station Show and Tell

After an especially crazybusy two weeks with a ski trip, house guest, football game, and two Show Choir competitions in the mix, it was delightful to play in the dirt and give my benignly neglected garden some major TLC.

I trimmed the rosebushes which were going to take over my agapanthus. I also put down additional alyssum seed for more ground cover.

This photo is the Before of my overgrown wildflower/herb bed.

I cleaned up the black eyed susans and purple verbena to make room for spring mix lettuce, basil, yellow pear tomatoes, thyme, dill, and more wildflowers including sherbert colored zinnias. I also added compost to enrich the soil. (I have a very active compost pile and community of hard working worms.)

I will plan on sharing the "fruits" of my labors in a couple months when things start to bloom. Thank you so much for visiting for The Motivation Station Show and Tell!
I wish you a wonderful day and week and I hope you have time to play in dirt or whatever makes you happy.

If you want to clear your head, get your hands dirty.

Beef Jerky Stand's Stickered Window for The Color Carnival

395 is the road between the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains and Los Angeles and the location of Gus's Really Good Beef Jerky. This picture is their front window which is all covered with stickers.
Their teriyaki beef jerky is really good, tasty and tender, but the brisket jerky is tough, kind of like shoe leather. (Hmm, come to think of it, I've never tried shoe leather...)
Please see what's cooking at The Color Carnival, which also is a tender and tasty treat and never tough. Thank you!

Next Stop, The Merry Go Round

I have been busier than I'd like to be but it's all wonderful stuff and from which I continue on the Merry Go Round. (See, off the Roller coaster, onto a kinder amusement ride.)

Our family had a great time skiing up at Mammoth Mountain in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. Gorgeous fresh powder and blue skies, perfect except for my creaky knees and the realization that I can't do Everything that I used to do as a kid, Or enjoy it as much as I did, and That's okay. Next vacation I want to go someplace where I won't get altitude sickness or wear four layers of clothing.

We also had a delightful visit this past week with Mrs.Spit and I have a new found appreciation for a true shoe connoisseur. I am in awe of someone who increases her shoe population of 86 pairs approximately 10% with her purchase of 8 shoes in two days. California is most appreciative of her economic stimulus.

I am back in the saddle again with work and happy to be caught up with the help of my colleagues. Being sick isn't for sissies, that's for sure. Neither is being a Case Manager for the medically fragile. (I am still waiting for my Certification Exam results btw, apparently it could take another two weeks for my results!! I took the exam 6 weeks ago, ack, what can you do??)

My oldest son and I will be leaving this Friday for an overnight trip to San Diego where he is performing with his high school Show Choir. We are excited, my parents are coming to see him perform for the first time.

Thank you for sharing in this little Go Round with me, and I send my best for your best amusement no matter what ride you're on.

Rollercoaster of Life

This has been a rollercoaster week, full of highs and lows both at work and at home.

Last week, my older brother, Jim would have been 50 years old. He has been dead now almost 26 years, I miss him still and always will. I think about what he would be doing, what he would look like as a 50 y/o. My shadow sibling, my parents' "shadow child", always close in our heart and thoughts.

This week was my dear Dad's 82nd birthday, he's still playing drums, studying the stars and the financial markets, and as he told me, "the same woman says she still loves me after 60 years". (Of course, She Does, Dad, she's No Dummy, and Who else would put up with her?? Now, Really.) So, well done, Dad, and yes, I agree, you have wonderful children and grandchildren.

This last past week at work, I've had three patients enroll in Hospice programs for their end stage disease. To put this in perspective, as a RN case manager working with the medically fragile for almost 9 years, I might have 3 patients enroll a year in Hospice. Ommph.

Some really happy stuff came my way in the form of the most gorgeous "crocus" purple cotton short sleeve sweater with beautiful hammered silver buttons made by dearest, artistic, prolific knitter, and hard working Business Analyst, among many other talents, Mrs.Spit!!!! I can't wait to wear it tomorrow when we go to a friend's home for Easter dinner. And Even Better Than This If You Can Imagine is that she is visiting our family next week for a long weekend. Can't Wait!

And if that wasn't enough, in between Mrs.Spit's visit to sunshine and salsa sauce soaked L.A., we are going up to Mammoth Mountain for a couple days skiing.

Thanks for sharing in this pass on the rollercoaster. My best to you and your loved ones this Easter and Passover.