Roadtrip

Camels? Really? I saw two camels while driving along Rte 67 in Ramona. They were standing there on a pasture. I wanted to stop but there was no shoulder to park and a few cars were right behind me, so I drove on, turning my head back to see if I had really seen right. And then there was the sign, so I was right:
Oasis Dairy Farm (Camel Milk). That definitely is a destination for me next time.

Ramona is always worth a short road trip. Antique stores, Ramona Cafe (great breakfasts and it was on Guy's DDD), Dudley's Bakery and most of all the wonderful nature. You drive through rolling hills and pastures and it was just such a great day today, in the 80s, can you believe it?
Of course, I had to stop at a bead store and check it out. Here is what I got there:

The seed beads and the leather bands are from the bead store. The peace pendants, carved out of stone, I found at the bakery. Weird huh?

Of course I had to buy a few of their wonderful breads. It is a bakery after all. I could not resist the 'Asiago Cheese and Oliv'e rolls, the 'Baja Jalapeno' bread' and the 'German Black" bread. Yes I am such a bread addict. Probably my German side. They will go into the freezer. Just take out a few slices and they will thaw out in a few minutes.
It was a great day and I look forward to many more weekend road trips.

Post Number 500

This is my 500th post. Wow, I think that is amazing. I enjoy writing posts, sometimes daily, sometimes once a month, just depending on how I feel. Currently I feel pretty good.

I completed a Color Code Personality Test one evening and the results were spot on. Yes that is me. The Me that I want to be true to.


Your Color Code Personality: WHITE
The Core Motivation that guides you through life is peace. This is not referring to a political agenda or the absence of war. It is, however, an absence of inner conflict, much closer to the idea of serenity, and an acceptance of oneself and others. You have a strong and compelling need to keep things in balance in your life so as to maintain an internal feeling of tranquility and comfort.


As this Color Code, you seek independence and require kindness, especially from those with whom you are in a relationship. You resist confrontation at all costs. (To you, feeling good internally is even more important than being good.) You are quiet by nature, process things very deeply and objectively with great clarity. Of all the colors, you are the best listeners. You respect people who are direct but you recoil from perceived hostility or verbal battle.


You need your "alone time" and refuse to be controlled by others. You want to do things your own way and in your own time. You ask little of others and resent others demanding much of you. You are probably much stronger than people think, but are not often seen for your strength because you don't easily reveal your feelings.


The last paragraph is so true. I ask little, prefer to do everything myself, because I always feel if I ask something of someone (and here I have a very specific someone in mind) their demand increases every time. So if I do things myself I do not owe anyone anything.  And I am glad that I have been doing everything (as help never came voluntarily and I would not ask for help either) because I am pretty much self-sufficient and a very independent person. Good for me. Feeling Great.

Currently reading

I started "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert last night and by chapter two I was hooked. Actually, I just got to chapter five and am still liking it. (I have not seen the movie and do not intend to either). I can relate to the story very much (so far) and I admire how she describes her view of God in Chapter Three, starting out with the comment, that people can decide at that point if they want to get offended or not. Nice move, as people get offended as soon as you are not of the same opinion on God and religion. Love it.

Looking forward to reading on.

And here comes a Filofax reference: Some time ago I had downloaded a template from the Philofaxy website (which is about Filofaxes in every way). Now that I have set up my Domino in a new way (again), I have added a few blank pages titled Book Review to my Books tab (makes so much sense, right?). This is the first time that I am actually using this page and I started making notes for this current book. I jotted down some quotes and personal remarks. Wow, I like the feel of this.

Prior to this I read 'The Hunger Games" trilogy by Suzanne Collins and I could not put them down. Read all three of them in a breeze. After I finished I still felt the rush and had to take a break before I started reading anything else. 

Now Eat, Pray, Love is on such a different level and such a different topic so there is no comparison here. This book will be more of a spiritual nature whereas The Hunger Games were  simply entertaining, but so worth it. I enjoyed these more than the Twilight books (forget about them, I never liked them much, but kept on reading to understand the hype about them) and even more than the Tattooed Girl I must say. I have never been much of a Young Adult Book reader. But these are just great. I hope you like them too. 

Just lent the first one to a friend through the Kindle option, so she can get a taste for them and see if she likes them. 

On weekend mornings while I am having breakfast, I read The Red Garden, by Alice Hoffman (My favorite author). I love the way she writes and her stories always have a nice magical twist to them. So do the stories in this book, which take place in a small town over a span of a few hundred years, and always includes the old tree and the red garden. A wonderful read with a cup of coffee.

Feeling good.

Filofax do-over

Filofax disaster
Previously I posted a Mini-Video which was titled 'A Reminder of the Important Things in Life'. I liked its simplicity and I needed that reminder. I found it on Google+ and had to send it out to my friends because I am sure everyone needs a reminder to stop and smell the roses once in a while. The last picture says, 'Be true to yourself'.
This is the direction I am going in 2012. I am going to be Me. I do not want to compete with anyone or anything and I am not going to change just to please someone else. It is going to be just plain Me. I have always been Me on the inside, so now it is also going to be Me on the outside. Sorry if you don't like Me.....

This 'being true to myself' is going to be applied to many areas in my life. One is my Filofax, of all places.
Yes, I am sorry to say my Filofaxes were a disaster. I was tempted and had bought a few wonderful binders in different sizes but actually none of them were working for me and I just did not want to admit it.
I really wanted it to work. I wanted to use a Botanic or Domino Italia Pocket that would fit perfectly into my purse and I wanted the Finsbury Mini in green as the perfect wallet.
Then temptation struck again and I started searching for other binders, I wanted a nice leather binder in Pocket size. eBay did not have any special offers listed. Nothing was on sale. I searched one week long, calculating if I really should be spending money on another Pocket size. Well, I am so glad that I did not, because I have to admit, I am a One-Binder Person. Yes, I am.  I cannot divide my pages over several binders, carrying some information with me, while other pages are in my wallet and others again at home. No, that is just not how I am organized, if at all.
So, I have emptied my Finsbury Mini and my Domino Italia Pocket and have stored them in my desk. Maybe I will part with them and post them on eBay, for now I still want to keep them.Same with the two Botanics, one in pink and one in green that I had intended to try out instead of the Domino Pocket to see if they would grow on me, but as they did not, into the desk they went.

Now I am left with my Domino Personal and again I am re-arranging the dividers, this time I am going back to the way it used to be, maybe it was a long time ago, but it worked for me then and it still does now (I hope).

Opening the Domino it lies flat. The slots on the left inside have not been assigned yet. The binder pages begin with a clear plastic sheet which covers a monthly page that I print through Outlook (see instructions here).

This is an overall view of the month, where I note upcoming events as a reminder. The page will be thrown out and replaced with the next month in time. Six color dividers follow (which I still had from an older German version):

• Kalender/purple (Diary): Wo2P with lines. One ToDo page is put between the current week and moved along until completed or full. Thanks to Tracy, who had given me that hint.

• Notizen/orange (Notes): This is my catchall, when I see something I would like to buy or an idea, it goes there. My first page shows haircolor that I may want to use next time (I have been purging all my magazines and cut out stuff I wanted to keep).

• Projekte/green (Projects):  - not much translating is needed, right? So this section is sub-divided into:

• Yarn (everthing about knitting and crafts), 
• Words (quotes, vocabulary), 
• Books (books, duh), 
• Food (recipes, wines, restaurants), 
• Travel (destinations, maps), 
• H&G (home and garden projects)

• Informationen/yellow (Information): important phone numbers, current prescriptions, pets, cars
• Finanzen/blue (Finances): budget notes, expenses, some bank info encrypte
• Adressen/red (Adresses): A-Z dividers listing my contacts, going way back too.

And at the end I give you:
Pocket Zip Envelope:  stamps
Pocket Envelope: concert tickets and other memorabilia
Assorted Sticky Notes



Wow, this has turned into a large post. I am curious how long I will hang on to this system. But somehow it makes me feel good and I love tweaking it here and there. It's just so Me.