Where did March go ???

 March is over, wow, where did March go ??? I have been at the gym six days a week now,(only Sundays off ) and I admit I am addicted to the gym. Thanks to my friend Claudia who makes sure I go and meet her at every class they offer !! Piloxing,  power yoga, spin, and power pump to name a few. My body aches, my legs are sore and I feel limp. I have only lost 8 pounds, but I feel much toner, and Claudia has lost 20 pounds !!  I have been working on my books on blurbs.com almost every night, and I ADMIT it takes a lot of time to create and write a book.  One of my readers said my posts were only one  picture posts. Gee, I feel bad. I have had photo shoots this month , and I  have a few weddings coming up so I have been on the web, and finally found and  bought a beautiful new zoom lens.  I wanted to do the green thing for the month of March, but never got around to it. I took some photos so I guess I should post them now. My favorite green items for the month of March, (or the last day of March  anyway).

 

 Green tea to keep the extra weight off, green tea mints because I love them, Pure- via  a natural sweetener,  Candied ginger, and Ginger brew for stomach aches. Most of these items are from Trader Joes, except the Pure-via which I purchased from Costco.

 

 

I love these green tea  mints they taste good and they are natural antioxidants and this color green container makes me happy !

 

 

As far as  sweeteners go none of them are any good for you and that includes splenda (please correct me if I am wrong), EXCEPT this one Pure-Via all natural and made from the plant Stevia extract. I use it on everything from my oatmeal to my coffee. 

 

 

 I love this  candied ginger, it’s a natural candy for when you or your children have a stomach ach,  it’s a little strong but very tasty !

 I hope everyone had a great month, and next month I promise to post my April showers pics on time !

My motto for the month, “Life’s short, don’t sweat the small stuff !”

A perfect spring day….

Leonardo and I had a perfect spring day in old town Temecula, we went to his favorite kids museum Penny Pickle with his classmates(preschool). Then we had our lunch dinning Al fresco, and then we walked all along this quaint old town. He loved running around and looking at all the cute little shops and was quite the gentlemen  . He surprise me with his charm and his wit as we entered each store and the store attendances were amazed at his good manners. Well I guess he has no choice in the matter, he has come by it naturally by his  mom !  (the poor kid has been in boutiques  shopping since he was 6 months)

 

 

hope everyone has a nice spring day….

Simply Paradise

                   It’s a new day and a new world. The breath of a New civilization.  Sunday, March 20, 2011 marks the vernal equinox , and what many people in the Northern Hemisphere particularly the U.S.,  refer to as the first day of spring. But this equinox is different. I can feel the strange new energy in the air, and a book that just came to me while I was working on my two  books on San Francisco and the California coast. This book  wrote itself, and I use all  my photos from Paradise.

 

 

                                              

 Simply Paradise. I hope everyone takes the time to stop and feel this wonderful new energy…

                                                                                                   

    I will post this new book this week.

 

Take this day for yourself…

 In the words of Sheri my yoga instructor.. .”take this day for yourself, be kind to youreslf, give yourselve a big hug …enjoy the bliss of this day and spread it  to others and you will find so much more joy in your life, today and always”

 

 

(photo Pismo Beach ) 

Thanks Sheri for your words of inspiration, and for a simply wonderful class !

xoxo Cheryl 

The art of dining Alfresco

 

I love dinning Alfresco all alone in a beautiful city where I can just sit back and people watch…and take a few pictures.

 

 

This is a quaint little cafe in Santa Barbara, one of my favorite places to people watch…

 

 

Cafe Shell, I love the yellow umbrellas…

 

 

and the cute colorful  french menu, with the perfect color plates…

 

 

When your dinning alone they always bring the food out quickly….and the waitress always stops to chat.

 

 

This salad was as  delicious as it looks…

 

 

The perfect setting, a delicious salad,  and the perfect sunny day….The art of dining Alfresco .    

 

 

Hope everyone has a simply relaxing day !  

When I travel…part 2

(Photo from classic female pics)

When I travel I wished I look like this(we can dream, right ?)  I love this picture the perfect scarf and sunglasses and a cool red convertible( I have a green convertible).  This is the perfect retro look for a coastal drive. I always try to wear a scarf ,or a hat,  it always makes  sense and looks so  retro chic . Maybe  something Natalie Wood would wear …

xoxo Cheryl

When I travel…

I have had some questions on how I work when I travel.  Since I need room for all my camera equipment,  I do not bring my lap top. I make sure the hotel I stay at has internet access, I think most do now. And I use the in-house computer and log on and write my daily posts. I don’t upload my pictures untill I get home, so I can photo shop them and crop them and do my magic. I wish I could find a better solution to uploading my photos, but since I use such a large format, it’s hard to upload my photos on anything but my home laptop.  I know there are a lot of photographers now uploading on their Iphones and then downloading them onto their website or blog, but how do you photo shop them on such a tiny screen ???

  

This is a image of a  typical  mornings when I travel ,(San Francisco) but I must say it’s nice to have the coffee ready for you and to have those great croissants with butter and honey…yummy !

Hope everyone has a wonderful week !

Simple Beach Day

 

I had a cute response to my Fridays post Laguna beach, funny how sometimes we all  love just simple honestly, no matter how funny it can be. I know I do, so I thought I would create another photo with words of encouragement. After all sometimes the best days are simple days, without a lot of thought, so I will continue to create these wonderful simple words of life. My weekend so far is very nice and relaxing, I cleaned out my closest and found so many wonderful things to wear that I completely forgot I had (or that I can now finally  fit in)  . Leo was in a bike race ‘ Tour de  Murrieta’, which was absolutely so adorable to see three-year olds racing  , post soon to follow.  This picture  is Santa Barbara from our road trip up north.   Thanks for the emails …and the well wishes on my new book !

Hope you have a  simply easy  Sunday…

xoxo Cheryl

Laguna Beach

I have been so busy this week with photo shoots, the books getting published( yes there are three )and a big party I am planning for my book signing and my brother Rusty coming to my house to sing. We are all very excited that he is coming to California , and that he is back to work singing. ( post; A simply memory in Arizona )

 I love Laguna Beach and I had a great time at the photo shoot. One of the girls said they wished they had my job, driving to the beach and taking photos. hmm, it sounds so much easier than it really is. A lot of planning goes into every photo shoot, and every photo. And when I get home I have to download usually 200 to 300 photos and photo shop everyone. Then  download them again, and then send them out. It usually takes me about 2 to 3 days to get 300  photos just right. Here are some pictures I took of Laguna Beach .

 

We saw dolphins jumping in the water, while we were having lunch at the at the cliff restaurant , how amazing !

Hope everyone has a simply amazing weekend !

A book I just pulished…

A book I just pulished….Send me your love, a photographic journey for Children and their parents. 

 

 

Please check it out here and please leave a comment if you have any suggestions as I can still make some changes, thanks, Cheryl.

 

 

The final changes have been made, and by popular vote this is the new cover, hope you like it !

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/2041093