“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough” Oprah Winfrey
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Monthly Archives: July 2012
Standing Guard on Deck
Sneak Peek
My sister and I did a photo shoot for our garden book this weekend. Just one little shot as a teaser of things to come in the book! 
An entry way should be warm and inviting and convey a prelude of what’s to come when you step inside. This homeowner has perfectly combined the use of stone, wood and wrought iron to create an interesting palate that captures your interest and leaves you wanting to see more. The addition of the fabric drape softens the hard scape materials and creates and indoor/outdoor feel.
In this circumstance, the homeowner uses the French Doors as the main entryway. By flanking the French Doors with the large symmetrical placements of the urns and lanterns, it invites the guest directly into the home.
Just Another Gorgeous Day in California…
Santa Cruz, CA
This just never gets old!
I’d Like To Introduce You To The…
ADVENTURES OF THE RATTY PACK (a new WordPress blog)
My dear friend, Kim ~ the quintessential California girl and a freelance writer with a quick wit, has started a new WP blog “Adventures of the Ratty Pack” based on the daily musings of her family’s shenanigans – see here.
Kim has the great talent of expressing her humor in her writing, and with her two teenage sons, a hot husband, and her own quirky characteristics she has plenty of inspirational ammo for her writings. So give the Adventures of the Ratty Pack a follow and see if their shenanigans don’t brighten your day!
Have a great Friday!
WordPress Weirdness or Is It Just Me?
I’m just curious if anyone else is having any issues with WordPress or if it’s just me. I did mess around with my account when I added my new travel site SKEdaddle and that might be the reason for a few issues but I don’t think it covers some of the other issues I’m having.
For instance, I don’t know why all of a sudden my “About” is showing up on any new posts on both of my accounts. That could be a user (SKE) error but I’ve tried finding it in the formatting and I can’t seem to locate where to correct it.
Another thing that has happened is that there are several of you out there that I had been following and I am now noticing that I’m not following people that I know I had been following. I also have noticed that people have added me again when I know they were following me. Any else notice this?
Then there has been some weirdness with trying to manage two blogs. For those of you who manage more than one blog, do you have them under one profile or did you set them up completely separately of each other? I originally set mine up under one profile and then realized I couldn’t do some things I wanted so I then created another profile. I added an additional “user” to each account so I could co-manage each account but found that was creating some issues as well. Some of you may have noticed that my responses on SKEdaddle are from SKEdazzles, etc.
Okay, thanks for listening…if anyone is experiencing any of the above issues and/or have information you can share, I’d appreciate it. Oh, and feel free to grab a cup of coffee and read and enjoy the “about” section that follows!
Capture the Colour…
Nicole from TheThirdEyeWorld nominated me (and in essence presented me with the challenge) to participate in a contest called “Capture the Color”, sponsored by TravelSupermarket – click (here) to see rules for the competition. I really admire Nicole and her conviction to do what she can to make change in the world. Her actions are very admirable and refreshing and she has some wonderful travel posts and photographs so be sure to check out her blog (her link is attached to the blog name above).
The rules are fairly easy, publish a post with a photo that captures the following 5 colors – Blue, Green, Yellow, White and Red. Then you are to nominate five fellow bloggers to enter a post following the criteria of the contest. Lastly, you enter your post at “Capture the Color” and there actually is a prize for the winner in each color category. I have no illusions of winning, and I don’t usually follow-through with these nominations but I found this challenge fun and decided to do it.
So here are my nominations due solely on the fact that they seemed like some of the more colorful sites I remembered.
Okay, so after all that here are my photo entries. As I mentioned, I have no illusions of winning, just playing the game so I tried not to take the color definition too literal.
BLUE
As most of you know, this is an image from my most recent trip to Kona, HI. I took this shot at dusk shortly after a stunning sunset. It was taken on the first night of our trip and I love the way the blue adds to the mood of the photograph.
GREEN
I decided to choose my green shot from my Half Moon Bay series where I went into the woods and found these furry trees. This image is of the bark and I just found them fascinating and eerie at the same time.
YELLOW
This was a shot I took in downtown Carmel, CA. It was a really unusual image as this looks like something you would see more in Europe. I thought it was quirky and loved it.
WHITE
I love the monochromatic look of this image with the white lighthouse. This was taken on a very foggy morning in Santa Cruz, CA.
RED
I could have chosen to go with something that was a more literal translation of red but I love the way the red jumps off the background, and of course, I love the heart and message. This was taken in Santa Cruz as well, on the same day as above.
So there you have it. Take a look at the site and submit your own photos and share the post with us! http://www.travelsupermarket.com/c/holidays/capture-the-colour/
Embrace Life Each and Every Day
Four Seasons Hualalai
SKEdaddle Update
I’ve been quite distracted lately trying to update my travel blog, SKEdaddle, and it seems to be moving very slowly. I will say that because I am using it as a much more interactive site, I am learning a lot about WordPress and the applications….although, my knowledge is so limited, that’s not really saying much!
I have updated the Luxury Resort link with some reviews of the resorts I’ve been to if you would like to check it out (here). You will need to place your cursor over the main tab and choose a sub-tab category. For the followers who have been with me for awhile, you may have already seen some or all of these but it is my intention to keep this link updated as frequently as possible. I am also in the process of starting to add some trips that my luxury travel suppliers offer (here).
I am also looking for people to submit their beautiful travel or destination photos that I will highlight on my sidetab. See (here) for submission requirements. So far I have highlighted two beautiful submissions (here) and I would love to keep sharing travel images from around the world.
Thanks for listening! Have a great Monday!
A human person is infinitely precious and must be unconditionally protected ~ Hans Kung
Thoughts and prayers to the victims of Aurora, Co.
Why must it take a tragedy to show and feel compassion for one another? How about we treat each other with respect and kindness each and every day?
