WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU ZUCCHINIS ~ MAKE BREAD!

My sister, Maureen, came over today with some giant zucchinis! She is growing them in her "Victory Garden".

We decided to try out a few different recipes for zucchini bread.

We gathered all the ingredients and got to work.



Just one of the large zucchinis filled up the whole Cuisinart!

Like with most breads, we measured out and sifted the dry ingredients into one bowl.

The wet ingredients into another bowl.

Then combined them together. Adding the nuts at the end.

The first recipe we tried was pretty good. It had great spices in there. Things like cinnamon, cloves and all spice. It smelled like Christmas.

We made four loafs of this kind.

Then we tried another recipe and it had less spices but added in coconut. At first we weren't sure if we would like the coconut with the zucchini or not. But we did. It was great.

In fact, I think I liked the one with the coconut the best. Have you ever made zucchini bread with coconut before?

Do you have a favorite recipe for zucchini bread? If so, please let me know what it is as I would love to try it.

It was so fun to share a day of baking with my sister. I love using things we grow our self and knowing we saved money. Plus, we now have lots of zucchini bread to enjoy.

IF I PLAN IT... WOULD YOU COME???

I've been working with a friend of mine who is a Travel Agent and we have been looking into putting together a group cruise.

This would be a fun cruise. Also, it would be a different cruise. This would be a Ghost Hunting Cruise.



We would go searching for Paranormal activity in reported haunted locations. Places full of history, wars, witch trials and murder.

On board the ship we would have classes in using the latest equipment, understanding your evidence, lectures from experienced Paranormal Investigators.

I was thinking going to the New England States and into Canada would be a great trip. So much history is there. Of course the Salem Witch Trials. Plus one of the stops would be to Halifax which is the largest location of Titanic victims being buried.

I think this could be a fun and very informative trip. Plus a great way to meet other bloggers and paranormal investigators. Of course, you would not have to have any experience in ghost hunting because we would show you the ropes.

Or, if you have no interest in ghost hunting but would like to go on the cruise to meet fellow bloggers that would be great too.

So, here is my question. If we put this trip together would any of you be interested? If so, how many.

This wouldn't be until next summer so you would have a year to save up and plan.

DID YOU SEE IT?

Did you? Did you watch MADMEN? I'm so happy it's back on. It seems like it has been gone forever.

I was a little bit confused at first. So much has changed since we have been away. Betty is already remarried. Wow!

I love the story line. I love the people on the show. But, what I really love is seeing how things were back in "those" days.

Things are so different now. Something I think is much better. Thank goodness we don't allow smoking everywhere like back then. Even in hospitals and Dr. Offices. What were they thinking?

Yet, I do think it would make work a little more fun if we were allowed to still drink on company time. Of course, I'm joking...sort of.

I love the clothes and hair on the women. Oh heck, there isn't anything about the show that I don't love.

I even turned myself into a MADMEN lady in the photo above. You can do the same thing if you want by clicking here. If you do, be sure to post it so we can all see what you would look like as a lady of the 60's.

SHE SALES SEA SHELLS TABLESCAPE

It's been a few weeks since I played along with Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursdays. Since it is her 100th anniversary, I felt like just sharing my friends party wasn't really fair. So, I'm posting my own tablescape and hope you enjoy it. I also hope you will go over to Susan's blog and see all the other fun tablescapes.



This is my 3rd Sea/Beach theme Tablescape I've done since joining in on Tablescape Thursday and I think it's my favorite.

I wanted to go with more sand colors and try to stay away from the blues I think of when I think of the Sea or Beach.

I also wanted it to be more natural looking items.

I started with a sandy color tablecloth and napkins. To that I added wicker chargers.

I knew I wanted to use shells too. So I borrowed my friend's white embossed shell plates. I love these plates and wish I owned them.

Borrowing from friends is a great way to save on money and of course space as you won't have to store the dishes.

On top of the plate I put the napkin in a white napkin ring that sort of looks like a sea urchin but I topped that with a white stick starfish. I love these starfish

I didn't glue them together as I wanted to be able to use both alone again some day.



At each place setting I put a little candle holder that looks like a rock. They all say Ocean Breeze but each has a different shaped shell on them. These would make nice little favors for everyone.

I spotted the little Pelican at a thrift store and picked him up. I knew some day he would be used in a Sea/Beach Tablescape. Isn't he cute?

I love this bird. He is a Fitz and Floyd beauty. Can you believe he only cost me $4.95 from Ross? What a deal. I think I'm going to keep him out for the summer in our living room or maybe my bathroom.

I just used my every day flatware. I wanted to keep the flatware simple and not take away from the other items on the table. Same with the glasses. I used simple clear goblets.

I found these candle holders at Ross also. However, they didn't have the shells on them. They had a Mother of Pearl button on them. Actually they had more of an Asian look then Sea/Beach.

So, I took the button off and glued on the shells. I used two small sand dollars and one small starfish. I then added small shells to the plate and the whole look of it changed. It now fit the theme just fine.

I just love the small adirondack chair. I borrowed if from my friend too. I don't want to give her anything back. Do you think she would notice if I didn't?



The crab is holding another big sand dollar. I picked the crab up months ago at TJ Maxx. I knew he would get used and he was on clearance for only $3.00.

Can you see the shell salt and pepper shakers in the background? I got them at a shell shop in Huntington Beach. I love that shop. I picked up the sand dollars and stick starfish from there too.

H

ere is a better shot of the plate. See, they are lovely, aren't they? You would want to keep them too.

The wicker chargers came from Pier One Imports awhile ago but, they still have them.



Here is the over all shot. You can finally see the white light house in this picture. It has shells going all around it. It also came from Ross.

I used a few natural twig balls around the table too. Just to add more of a nature feel to it. A few shell shape plates that were also borrowed from my friend finishes off the table.

OK, I feel better now that I got to play along for the 100th Tablescape anniversary.

A DARLING LUNCHEON TABLESCAPE

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Susan, over at Between Naps on the Porch, on her 100Th Tablescape Thursday post. I love going over and looking at the pretty tablescapes everyone does and getting out my dishes to play with has brought me so much joy, since I started playing along.



Today, I'm sharing with you a darling tablescape that a friend of mine did. She had a small luncheon for a few of us girls and I thought it was cute, I just had to share.

It's a Mickey/Minnie Mouse theme.



I loaned her my red and white polka dot plates and I love what she did with them!

Isn't the chocolate covered pretzel cute! She brought these all the way home to CA from Florida. They went to Disney World on vacation and even while she was there, she was thinking of putting together this cute tablescape.

I love the little salad tongs she used. I felt like Micky was giving me a hand with my salad.

Sitting down to this Tablescape, one couldn't help but smile. It made you almost feel like a kid again. The warm, happy feelings one gets when you go to Disneyland, filled the air.

Even the chip and salsa was put in a Mickey silhouette bowl.

She always has great little take home favors at each place setting. Today, we found a box of Minnie Mouse cookies tied up in a bow, waiting for us.

Also, she gave us a cute little red and white polka dot pad of paper that she got from the dollar section from Michael's. She added her special touch to it with embellishments of a flower with a Minnie Mouse center. A little Minnie Mouse pen pulled it all together.

I was to busy eating to take pictures of the yummy food but remembered just in time for dessert! We had strawberry short cakes topped with a Mickey Mouse that was made out of coconut dipped in chocolate. It taste just like an Almond Joy, minus the almond.

I had a great time and I really loved the Tablescape. I hope you did too.

If you have not yet made it over to Between Naps on the Porch, please do so you can enjoy even more fun, pretty and unique tablescapes.

CHARMED, I'M SURE!

I love charm bracelets. I always have. Even as a little girl I had one. Though, I've long since misplaced it or lost it.

As an adult I never forgot the joy I had every time I would bring it out and look at each charm. I would remember the places I had gone to or the people who gave the charm to me.

So, I got another one. I would love to have a gold one but I knew that could be very costly and often gold charms are hard to find. The silver ones are pretty common and at most places I've been I've been able to find at least one charm to remember the location with.



You can tell a lot about a person if you look at their charms. Places they have traveled to, things they love, a sometimes if you are lucky enough you will find little bits of family history.

Here let me show you what I mean.

I love San Francisco and one of my favorite songs is I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO. It's even my ring tone on my cell phone. So there is a little Cable Car charm.

You can see the happy/sad theater face. This came from my trip to New York. It reminds me of going to see different shows on Broadway. It also speaks about my love for the theater here in CA.

A little humming bird charm reminds me of my mom. When she was alive she always had humming bird feeders and they always made her so happy. After she died, my sisters and I started to notice a lot of humming birds flying by us and they would often hover around us and get very close.

We started to wonder if these little birds were our mom's way of saying hi. So now, when we see them we say "there's mom" or "hi mom".

Next to that one is the Empire State Building. Again, showing my love and reminding me of one of trips to New York.



I have so many charms on this bracelet now that I think it's time to get a new one and start filling that one up.

In this photo you can see up on the left side next to the Empire State Building, a ship charm. This is the Titanic. This is from my trip to Halifax which is the city full of Titanic history.

Also, a clover and a cross. They represent that I'm an Irish girl and I'm also a Christian.

My trip to Maine is remembered by the Lobster charm.

The little blue box is from Tiffany in New York. It's my most expensive charm and was $150 or so. Most of the other charms run somewhere around $12-$60 depending on where they were purchased from.

The dice are from Vegas. The plane represents my love of travel. There is also my Family Crest.

No the handcuffs do not represent all my trips to prison. It is from when I went to Alcatraz Prison on a tour.

The other ship is from my first cruise on Holland America. Sadly, most of the ships no longer carry silver charms. I had wanted to purchase one from each ship I went on but, that didn't work out.

The sand dollar is because I love the sea and the phone was from I worked and spent the whole day on the phone. It was given to me by one of my co-workers.



My sister bought me the pretzel and I just adore it. It's because, every time I go to the movies I always purchase a pretzel with cheese sauce and a diet coke.

Of course I had to get a Mickey Mouse. After all, being from So Cal and having year to Disney land, pass almost requires me to have one.

The dolphin is one I got after I did volunteer work counting dolphins in the Ocean as they migrated up North.

Next to that is a Chili Pepper and a snake. These came from my nephew. Both are really true loves of his. However, he told me that not only did he want me to remember him when I looked at them but he said they also were because my favorite type of food is Mexican and because he once had a snake that was the only snake I ever liked.

It was a baby snake when he got it and was a pretty red, grey and black stripe one. When my nephew would clean the cage he would ask me to hold it. As it grew I would still hold it because for some reason I wasn't scared of this snake.

I would always bug my nephew about giving the snake a name. He said his snakes never had names but since I knew this one since it was a baby I thought it needed a name. So he finally said "Fine, it's name is Joanne" and that name stuck.



I used to have a Maine Coon cat. I loved that cat more then any other pet I ever had. Sadly, she died a few years ago but I still miss her even today. I often dream of her. So on the left you will see a charm of a Maine Coon cat.

Also, a birthday cake that a friend gave me for my birthday one year. Next to that is one of the mansions from New Port RI. I toured a few when I was on a cruise last year.

It's hard to see but there is a whale's tail charm next. I love to go whale watching and I also saw a whale one one of the cruises I was on when I went to Alaska. Thus, the whale's tail.

On both of my cruises to Alaska I saw a bear in the wild. I was so excited both times. The first one was a big brown bear walking in the forest and searching for a salmon along the river.

The 2nd time was when I was on a train trip and a baby bear was sitting about 5 feet away from the train tracks on a rock. Just sitting there. At first I thought it was fake but as we went by it moved and I knew it was real.

I documented these trips with the bear charm.

Above the bear is a witches kettle. This is because last year I had a Witch's luncheon at Halloween.

Under the Kettle is a sign that says Salem. I got this one when I went to the witch museum and the place where people from the Witch Trials were buried.

I thought it was fitting to put it the two next to each other.



I don't wear my charm bracelet, though I know some people who do. I keep my mine tucked away and every once in awhile I pull it out and fondly remember each getting each one and the memories they each stand for.

Doing this always makes me happy. I think it's a great way to bring a little bit of each trip I take back with me.

I don't do scrap booking. I do charming.

Oh, I almost missed a few. The arch into Louisbourg was purchased when I went on a tour there, the Oak Leaf is from when I was in Canada.

My first trip to New York is one I will never forget. I went up inside the Statute of Liberty and climbed the steps up to her crown. This was before 911 and I remember looking out the little windows and seeing the beautiful sky line.

I knew I would be back again and again. Of course I had to get the Statute of Liberty charm to mark that day.

The little tea cup not only represents my love for all tea items and tea parties but it's from Butchart Garden's in Canada. It even says so on the bottom.

The last charm is a snowman. Everyone who knows me, knows I love snowmen. I collect them and so I had to have a snowman on my charm bracelet.

So, now you know a little bit more about me.

Do you have a charm bracelet? If you do, what story about you does it tell?

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Growing up I always wanted to be a Girl Scout. Sadly, that dream never came true.

Yet, in the back of my mind, I wondered what it would be like to one of the lucky girls who wore the green uniform, went camping, did crafts, helped people and sold cookies.

Now, I'm going to find out. I became a Girl Scout Leader.

It turned out that the leader of Trinity's Troop wanted to step down and I was asked if I would do it.

I was so honored and when the girls got excited about having me be their leader I was very happy. So, how could turn it down.

I went to my training and now I'm officially part of the Troop. We even had our first meeting today.

I'm looking to a year of a lot of fun and excitement as well as long hours of hard work.

Just don't be to surprised if I come knocking at your door during cookie time!