Beautiful Ohio

I took unexpected trip home to attend the funeral of my "Aunt" Frances... who is really my cousin, but we always called her "Aunt."  I will miss her.  I drove cross country with her and my mom two times, and she also came to visit California a few times.  We have some good memories of trips to Mexico, San Juan Capistrano, and hot air ballooning.  Good times...

Even though the trip to Ohio was for that reason, it was certainly good to see all my relatives and especially my two sisters.  My sister, Kathy, also known as Martha Stewart to me, has chickens, and I even collected the eggs from the coop.  Not bad for this citified girl...

Also loved seeing my niece, Cassie, who now attends Ohio State.  Due to family circumstances, I didn't get to see her much or have much of a relationship with her while she was growing up.  I am looking forward to changing that now that she is in college and I can have full access!

Of course, no trip to the Midwest would be complete without buying some sort of Ohio State wear, and visiting Cracker Barrel for good food and good shopping!

And on a plus note -- it was not freezing while I was there, either!

Drink and Be Merry!

Well, I don't really drink, but I do drink these!  Actually this is one I made myself.  At four bucks a pop, I can't frequent Starbucks like I would like to.  But I do know how to make a lot of the good stuff and even better!

My friend Thelma introduced me to this suspension bridge in San Diego.  We stopped by here after kayaking at Mission Bay.  Love this bridge!  It spans a canyon near the end of Spruce Street.

Amy is enjoying her new job at Native Dreams Salon.  She cut Ally's hair into an A-line cut.  Quite a good job if I do say so myself.  But so short!  Ally thinks so too and is going to grow it back out.

We didn't have quite the hot summer that we had last year, thank goodness.  Ready for fall!