Life Archives - Page 4 of 23 - A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living

Anne with an E

Anne: I’ve always imagined that my name was Cordelia – at least, I always have of late years. When I was young I used to imagine it was Geraldine, but I like Cordelia better now. But if you call me Anne, please call me Anne spelled with an e.

Marilla: What difference does it make how it’s spelled?

Anne: Oh, it makes such a difference. It looks so much nicer. When you hear a name pronounced can’t you always see it in your mind, just as if it was printed out? I can; and A-N-N looks dreadful, but A-N-N-E looks so much more distinguished. If you’ll only call me Anne spelled with an e I shall try to reconcile myself to not being called Cordelia.

From “Anne of Green Gables“

Travel: Calico Ghost Town

On our way to Las Vegas this summer and before our stop at Red Rocks, we got to stop at this super fun and well-preserved little town called the Calico Ghost Town. This quaint little place is full of original Gold Rush era buildings, surrounded by well-designed newer buildings which blend in so well.

Another bonus of this little town’s location is the geology of the surrounding area. The rock formations are incredible. My kids always love seeing the mountains that look just like Radiator Springs. It is off Route 66 after-all. You’ll feel like Mater could totally drive by at any second.

One of our favorite buildings was the school-house. Faith had a fun time picturing the way Laura and Mary (from “Little House on the Prairie”) would have gone to school. So interesting that a whole public school class of today wouldn’t fit in the schoolhouse. SO crazy.

The little shops had your typical “Old West” souvenirs like wooden rubber band guns, local rocks and gems, harmonicas, and Route 66 patches. The “Saloon” had lots of fun options, including some very cute bottles of natural cream soda. The food wasn’t bad…for being in the middle of nowhere. However, the restaurants there will never be in Sunset Magazine for “Top 10 food stops on Route 66”. Just sayin’.

I highly recommend this Route 66 stopover! It’s in the middle of nowhere, but where else were you gonna hang out for a bit anyway…the car? A gas station? You won’t regret this little stop. Do it!

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New Headshots from LimeLife Photography!

I’m so thrilled that Becky of LimeLife Photography offered to take new headshots of me! I would never have sought someone out to do this because I don’t, by nature, take a lot of pictures of myself. However, recently, I’ve been asked to do a lot of interviews for different blogs and companies so I really do need to have some more recent photos. Becky did a great job working with this girl who’s more comfortable behind the camera! ;)

LimeLife Photography is an amazing husband and wife duo based here in San Diego. They are adorable, funny, and know how to do their job right. Be sure to check out a sampling of their work here. The holidays are approaching, so if you are in need of a great Christmas card photographer, call them! I’ve also seen them travel into the LA area for weddings and special events!

Thanks, Becky!

Fundraising with Tea Collection!

(Faith with her attempt at making caramel apples in of her favorite Tea Collection dresses! She always wears this dress first, straight out of the laundry ;))

How is Fall here already?

Well, in San Diego it will be Summer for another 2 months as far as the weather is concerned. September is usually our hottest month of the year and October trails along in the same manner, leaving us locals longing to wear sweaters in the Fall. A week or so ago, we ventured into the local mountains to snag some of the apples before they were gone. Last year we missed them by a few days. So, up we traveled with tank tops and flip-flops, with the sun on our shoulders, to pick apples and pretend it’s Fall. This week Faith and a friend we have visiting attempted the very difficult task of making caramel. Didn’t quite work but they seemed like they had fun.

For many of you, your kids have gone back to school and you are starting to switch gears to schedules, practices, school meetings, and hopefully ways you can reach out to people in need inside your community or town.

Last week, I was so excited to learn that one of my very favorite kid’s clothing companies, Tea Collection, is running their school fundraising program again! So generous of them to give back in this way, especially considering how much we all know our teachers would love to have a little spending money to use in their classrooms to make learning that much more amazing for your littles!

Here’s how it works:

Shop for clothes between October 21st and 27th.

Select your school.

Your school gets 15%!! Amazing, right? So generous.

Find a list of schools here.

Don’t see your school? You should totally sign them up (deadline September 13th)! Schools need proactive parents like you to help in ways like this to keep a smooth system running. Go for it!

Don’t have a school to support?

Tea is giving back to ANY non-profit with a 501(c)(3) program! Yay! Sign up those non-profits!

Make sure you follow Tea’s Facebook here and Instagram here for reminders. ;)

Don’t miss out on FREE money for your school when you shop at an already amazing store!

Can you tell I LOVE Tea?

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Interview with Flipboard!

I’ve been having so much fun curating digital magazines for Flipboard over the last few months. I’ve been a Flipboard user for as long as I’ve had an ipad, but I fell I’ve fallen in love with this new style of reading tutorials and recipes. Basically, I read my content by “flipping’ through magazines created by myself or others. I can go directly from the mag to the article being featured and then right back again to the magazine. Personally, I find that it helps me get “lost” less on the internet and I waste less time opening multiple windows. Also, as I read, I can “flip” the content directly into my own curated mags and share with my own readers. So efficient, right?

Why is this different from Pinterest?

I get this question a lot when I share about these new Flipboard mags. In my opinion, the ability to see the entire article, then go back to the original with one touch of my finger is invaluable. I love it and it works soooo well for me. I also look at these mags as an opportunity to start fresh and created these magazines to be something I use all the time myself. Plus, they look clean and are peaceful to “flip” through. My Pinterest can be overwhelming and full of things I don’t care to look at. Plus, YOU CAN SHARE THEM ONLINE NOW!! I’m so excited to be able to share what I love with the rest of the interwebs!!

To hear more about how I use my Flipboard mags and why I love DIY, check out the Interview I did with Todd Lappin of Flipboard! It was an honor to have someone ask questions about something I love!

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