My Homestead

cooking, vegan, recipes, family, gardening at Lita’s house

Dead Horse Point

Dead Horse Point State Park

We continue on Day 2 of our trip where we head to Dead Horse Point State Park after visiting Arches National Park. Dead Horse Point is located outside of Moab at an elevation of about 6,000 feet….and more importantly, the views along this high plateau, 2,000 feet above the Colorado River, are just amazing! I’m […] Read more…

Arches National Park

Arches National Park

Here we go with Day 2 of our trip to Southern Utah….I’m splitting this day into 2 posts because, well, we saw 2 very distinct areas and thought they deserve to each have their own spotlight. We begin the day with another fabulous breakfast in Moab here at Eklectica: I must say, I’m really loving […] Read more…

Moab, UT

Moab, Utah

So, seriously, we just had the BEST vacation E.V.E.R!!! We flew into Salt Lake City from San Jose on Alaska Airlines – um, did you know you get free beer and wine on this airline?!?! For someone who’s a big CHICKEN about flying this is kinda a HUGE bonus! AND they have a vegan snack […] Read more…

Bffs

Bubba’s Best Friend

Bubba has a BEST Friend! Meet SIMBA! He’s our neighbor’s dog. They are inseparable when together…and just so stinkin’ cute in their own ways. There’s the sturdy, calmness of Bubbster: He exists with almost a “Zen” quality at times: Just a total relaxer if there ever was one: As opposed to the spunky – almost […] Read more…

Spring Fun

Springtime Begins

I hesitate to even speak of Springtime as most of my New England relatives deal with yet more snow! but…. there are absolutely beautiful signs of Spring happening around here. First, there’s the arrival of Martha Stewart’s April/Springtime/Easter magazine edition: Which I happily got to enjoy reading while sitting at the park as the bulldog roamed […] Read more…

randomness

Randomness 2015 – Series #1

Um, so you may have noticed there’s not a lot of posting going on here at the blog this year. I assure you though, there is more posting happening on other social media platforms and hope you will join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+. I’m finding that finding the time to post has […] Read more…

Westly

Westlini

Aaahh this boy!! My youngest Grandson Westly – my hubby’s “mini-me”. He is in-a-word just AWESOME! He keeps us all so very entertained with his constant chatter, ideas, expressions and love. He has such incredible self-expression and self-confidence and oh my gosh I hope he never loses these parts of himself. I hope he never finds […] Read more…

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays from me and my crew…yep this is us. We don’t seem to take those lovely family pics – which is why I fit in here oh-so-well!   We all have our qwerks, our unique abilities, our likes and dislikes, (the inability to stand still for a photo being one of them) and I […] Read more…

O Olive Oil & Vinegar

Joy oh joy oh joy!! During our trip to Spain – the glorious land of olives and tapas – I received an email from the O Olive Oil & Vinegar company asking me if I would be interested in trying and reviewing their olive oils and vinegars. What timing!! Of course I said YES!! I’m […] Read more…

Thanksgiving Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving!! I know I’ve been a bit MIA lately…off traveling actually and then, well, working…but I’m back and I have so much to share and to be thankful for. First of all, if you’re actually reading this post…well I’m SOOOO thankful for you. I am just filled with: YOU are why I blog…sharing is […] Read more…

Princesses

The princesses…my beautiful little cousins. Oh how fun to be that age and to play dress-up!! I just love these photos and had to share them…oh and I just LOVE these two precious girls! First, we have Princess Cadence:   And next, Princess Esme: A fun way to end the week wouldn’t you say?? Happy […] Read more…

Keurig 2.0 LOVE!

As luck would have it (and I’m so happy it did) I was invited to a Keurig breakfast during BlogHer14. Besides sharing a delicious breakfast with other beautiful bloggers, all of us that were invited also received the new Keurig 2.0 K550 Brewing System to enjoy and review if we should so choose. YES, for […] Read more…

Schoola #GivingStyle

My favorite site to purchase gently used children’s clothing (while raising money to support schools in need) Schoola has a new program called #GivingStyle ready for all you fabulous parents to participate in. I’m so excited about this and all the Schoola programs! This amazing company is growing and currently has 3,000 schools that they’re helping.  What does Schoola […] Read more…

Flowers by The Bouqs

When I was at BlogHer14 (in what seems like forever ago now) I was introduced to this amazing flower company called the Bouqs at the convention expo. Now I don’t know about you, but I seem to send a lot of flowers to family and friends throughout the year. Maybe it’s because I live so […] Read more…

Yosemite Fun Photos

Happy Friday everyone!! I just realized that I never posted some photos from our last trip to Yosemite – which was actually a few months ago. So, I thought for some Friday fun, I’d post some here: We brought Bubba with us on this last trip…and took a few little hikes on the valley floor […] Read more…

Ruby Rocket’s

Still trying to hang on to Summer a bit here, how about you? If you are too, and are interested in trying a healthier frozen summer treat, then you should give Ruby Rocket’s popsicles a shot. These tasty frozen pops are are different than other popsicles as they’re made with a mix of both fruits and […] Read more…

Our Little Scottish Dancer

We have another star in our family. Westly, at age 5 (almost 6) already has a love of the stage. We knew he had a love of dance with his previous tap performances for family and friends. And now we know he has the Scottish Dancing Bug!! I’m sure you can’t help but notice how […] Read more…

Mr & Mrs Llaneza

I had the great pleasure of taking photographs for my lovely friends Jeff & Leilani’s wedding on Maui August 5, 2014. No, I am not a wedding photographer, but she had faith in me and I just couldn’t resist – especially since I knew the day would be gorgeous…well, because as you can see, Jeff […] Read more…

Back to Schoola Shopping

I mentioned in a recent post how I’m working with the website Schoola, an online shop dedicated to recycling brand-name children’s clothing. Schoola collects, organizes and then resells this used clothing giving 40% of the proceeds back to schools in need. Well, I decided to give this online site a try and see how easy could it be […] Read more…

Maui Fun

So, the Maui fun continues!! I’m so happy we came a few days before the wedding so I would have a little time to relax and have fun before the “photographer” pressure begins. Here’s how our days are going so far: Wake up, have a cup of tea and head out on the “morning walk” […] Read more…

Adopting a School in Harlem with Schoola

I probably don’t do this enough, but I’d like to take this time to use my blog as a medium to do good in the world. Right before BlogHer began, I was approached by Schoola to help with their “20 Days of School” Adopt-a-School campaign. What is Schoola you ask? Schoola is an online shop dedicated to recycling […] Read more…

Returning to Maui

Ahhh, Maui! We’re back…after visiting together 20 years ago! We came here the first summer I met Pops. Back then, he was still teaching so we mainly traveled in the summertime and that first summer I made my first ever trip to Hawaii – visiting Oahu and Maui with him. That first trip, 20 years ago, […] Read more…

I’m Going to BlogHer – Are you?

So, I couldn’t pass up going to BlogHer this year!! I mean, it’s right down the street from where I’ve worked for over 25 years, so there are simply no excuses! Not that I would need any excuses to attend just an inspiring woman-oriented event! I’ve been watching the posts on social media and all […] Read more…

Rodan + Fields Summer Glow Giveaway

This summer get the perfect tan! I am giving away a foaming sunless tanner by Rodan + Fields (the same MD’s that created Proactiv Solution.) This stuff goes on easy and dries quickly and gives you the most natural looking tan! Protect your skin from the sun and achieve a sun-kissed glow the healthy way!! […] Read more…