California Vineyards Ready for Harvest

Spending a few days doing one of my favorite things...photographing in the California Wine Country. The weather is gorgeous. The vines are loaded with grapes. It's almost harvest time.

And all this rolling green is just minutes from the Pacific ocean. Yesterday we took the dogs to the beach for a picnic. Summers in northern California just can't be beat!

One Step Forward Two Steps Back

Have you ever had one of those days where everything you do on your computer sends you backwards with more work to do? Of course you have. If you use software and the internet you must know what I mean.

So today I was going to get my MacBook synced up to the iCloud. My iPhone and iPad are already synced. The instructions look easy...how hard could it be?

Well many many hours later and I am still cleaning things up. My bookmarks on my MacBook are all changed. My calendars all have duplicate events. My iPhone quit working all together. Documents in "pages" would open in the iPad and iPhone but I would get an error message when trying to open them in my Mac's pages.

Now I love my Apple gadgets...and my iPhone is working again...and I somehow figured out to open my documents by holding down the option key when I click the file icon?????? How did I know to do that????? But...this syncing thing is driving me nuts.

No posts today...just whining and complaining. Sorry. I will be better soon.

One of the Best Things About Summer - Farmer's Markets

Spent time doing one of my favorite summer things this weekend...shopping and photographing at the farmer's market.

I also downloaded a farmer's market app. You can find markets by city or by day and it maps it for you with the gps.

Reading a New Book - The Untethered Soul

I am reading a terrific book. My Mom bought a copy for me and also for my sister. I have it covered with notes in the margins and underlines. It's a book I think I will read many times. The Untethered Soul is by Michael A. Singer. You can see Oprah's interview with him here.

Hard Cover Book The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
From Kindle The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

From iBooks

So You Think You Can Dance - Top 14

Mia Michael's routines are featured tonight including some of my favorites from over the SYTYCD years

Favorite couple routine - Addiction with Lindsay and Cole
Favorite female - Lindsay
Favorite male - Cole
Best music - Duffy's Mercy
Most Fun Routine - Will and Amelia's butt dance
Going home this week - What???? 2 guys and 2 girls going home this week? Janelle and Amelia, Matthew and Dareian

So sad to especially see Amelia and Dareian go.

The Intouchables

I am off to see this movie for a second time. I think I probably could watch it a bunch more. It is a fabulous movie. Really. Trust me on this. Go see this movie. You will love it. 

An iPhone Image

This dress from the Jean Paul Gaultier collection reminded me of the structure of the Eiffel Tower. I took a picture of the dress and shadows with my iPhone. I then photographed a French post card of the Eiffel Tower (also with my iPhone).

I blended the images together and did further editing...all in my iPhone. The apps I used were...
Image Blender
Jazz
SquareReady
ScratchCam

Eva Cassidy Sings Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I have loved Eva Cassidy's singing for years. She died in 1996 of skin cancer. She was only 33. If you've never heard her you are in for a treat.

Over the Rainbow -
Wade in the Water -  This one is probably my favorite
At Last -  I love her version of this wonderful song
Ain't No Sunshine -
People Get Ready -

Book Review - Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller

This is my second time reading this book and I am quite sure it will not be my last. I love how this book focuses on the ordinary life...our every day moments.

It reminds me...that my life is taking place right now... not in some future dream. My life is in how I feed my dog, peel the skin off peaches to make smoothies, dance around my kitchen, blog this book review.

Karen Maezen Miller has a good story to tell. She says, "That's why I wrote this book. To atone for the messes I've made, to see the wisdom I've overlooked, to offer the care I've left undone, to show both you and me the inexpressible beauty that comes tucked inside an ordinary life."

Some favorite moments in this book are...
•  Happiness is simple. Everything we do to find it is complicated.
•  Meditation is misunderstood because it doesn't look like anything happens in those torturous few minutes of motionlessness. But everything happens when you meditate.
•  I'm no religious scholar, but the sum total of Buddha's teaching seems to me to be just that. See for yourself.

There are lots of jewels in Hand Wash Cold. You can read more by Karen Maezen Miller on her blog. The book is available through iBooks  and on Amazon.

Healthy Choices - The New Normal

Several friends and I are on Weight Watchers. We all are doing really well...I think especially because we are so supportive of each other. When one of us has a tough day the others jump right in with words of encouragement.

Today my friend Tricia said something I loved..."It's just trying to make the healthy choices more and more often until they become the new normal."

Isn't that brilliant? And it's not just about what we eat...it's about exercising our bodies, finding time for ourselves, finding time for our friendships, laughing...

being the best of who we are...now isn't that a fabulous new normal?

New Flash for Your iPhone

This Paparazzo Light for the iPhone is raising funding over at kickstarter. I want one. Cool, huh? Come on now, you know you want one too!

My Favorite Diary App - Wonderful Days

I have tried a gazillion diary and journal apps. Wonderful Days is my favorite. (There are several other apps with similar names...it is Wonderful Days - with an S.) It provides exactly what I want. I can add pictures, customize pages and change fonts, borders etc. It also sincs with my iPad using the Evernote app.

I like to use my diary to keep track of my daily dancing around the kitchen. I write down what time of day I danced, how long I danced, my mood before, my mood after and that day's GoTo song. I then add a picture to the diary page, usually a dancing image I created.

Do you have a favorite iPhone/iPad diary/journal app?

Breathe - #12 of A Year of Blogging and Journaling Ideas

My mother is a meditator. Since I was a teenager, if I had a problem, she would say "Honey, have you meditated on it?" I am so grateful she taught me to sit quietly to find answers. However, where Mom is a consistent meditator, I am an inconsistent, off and on meditator (more off than on).

Usually I just try to count my breaths, especially if I am anxious about something. I have a very wandering mind...actually it's more of a jumping mind. I don't gently wander. I do the high jump from thought to thought.

My friend (and excellent meditation instructor, Tricia) suggested I try meditating in the bath tub. That helps a lot. Recently I purchased a string of mala beads. They are like rosaries only instead of counting prayers or mantras, I count my breaths. I also sometimes wear them as a bracelet during the day, to remind myself to slow down and just breathe.

Do you meditate? What works for you?

*You can download a free copy of A Year of Blogging and Journaling Ideas - here...

Dancing in Our Kitchens

I have placed my favorite posts about dancing in my kitchen on a new blog. You also can get to it by clicking on the button in the right column, or clicking on the tab under the header. Today I posted about music I have tagged on Shazam. Do you Shazam?