Morro Bay Kite Festival

Cambria Pines & 50th Birthday Gift Idea

Ahhhh...Cambria Pines Lodge

I have been to Cambria Pines Lodge many times and this time was extra-special because the gardens were just lovely. From blooming wisteria to enchanting birdhouses to adorable 'flower beds', Cambria Pines is a delight, not to mention the wonderful food.

I was invited to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday last weekend and couldn't figure out what to get him for a present. The crafter in me took over and I came up with the idea to find some 60's candies and decorate a container to put them in. Finding the candy was less of a challenge than I thought it would be. My local Rite-Aid had some of the old favorites like Abba Zabba, Big Hunk (gotta put at least one in a guy's gift) and Sugar Daddy's. To my surprise, I found a ton of 60's candies at World Market - they even had Bubble Up and Nesbitt Orange Soda to round out the gift.

For a container, I went to my local hardware store and bought a white bucket for a couple of dollars, printed off some 'groovy' images on my computer and to make it even more interesting I searched on the internet for interesting facts from 1960 plus I printed the baby and high school pictures from the party invitation and put those center stage on the bucket. I used double-sided tape to adhere all of the images and info on the bucket.

The party was down in my old stomping grounds of Los Alamos - I wish I'd taken my camera because it was a gorgeous day, the setting was beautiful with majestic oaks and we even had a surprise visitor - a gopher kept poking his head up from a hole and he was even eating grass we hand fed him.

Make it a groovy day!

Joan

Free National Park Admission

Get out! National parks to hold fee-free week

To make it easier to experience America's Great Outdoors, the National Park Service is waiving entrance fees, so visitors can enjoy all 392 national parks for free April 17-25.

Gather up your family and friends and get out and explore America!

Wildflower Photo Contest

Wow! I'm honored. I submitted my Morro Bay in Yellow photo to a contest sponsored by my local TV station. The photo appeared on the news tonight. Vote for your favorite at: http://ksby.upickem.net/engine/Votes.aspx?PageType=VOTING&contestid=15669

Morro Bay

These pictures were taken on my walk yesterday!!! Beautiful day! Beautiful wildflowers along the cliffs!

How to Make a Personal Invitation

I believe that an invitation sets the tone for an entire event so I wanted to create an invitation for my recent dinner party that gave a sneak-peek into the upcoming evening but not give it away.

I scanned part of the bandanna I was going to use for the centerpiece into my computer and used Word to make the invitation. Super simple, simple cheap! I used the same idea for my high school reunion announcements - I scanned in our yearbook cover!!!