Left My Heart in California...

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco Bay

More specifically, the Sonoma Coastline.  Wow!  Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed wine country, zip-lining through the redwoods, and floating down the Russian River, too, but the coast...ahhh!...grabbed hold of my very soul!




It's gonna take two or three blog posts to share my best photos and my reflections on this lovely adventure, so bear with me, Friends and followers.



Given these last few, rather stressful, years in our life together... and, the toll it has taken on our marriage...Don knew, intuitively, that we desperately needed a time of renewal.  Just us.  No distractions (Okay!...MUCH fewer distractions.) And, more than just a day or two this time.


He did not disappoint.  My hero!!  He proved how well he knows me, knows my heart, with this adventure.

And, he did this in true "Don-style"...aka. Go big or go home!






We haven't taken a trip together, just the two of us, since our honeymoon 22 years ago!

I'm sure those of you who've been married for quite awhile can relate - we even went through a stretch of time where we forgot to even "date" one another in the throes of daily life with young children and making ends meet, financially.

If you know any couples in that stage of life, offer to babysit!  In fact, TELL them, "We'll be over at 5pm on Friday, you are going out on a date!" 

It is incredibly important to regularly revisit why you LIKED your spouse in the first place.  That's the glue that keeps you together through those inevitable stressful, sometimes painful, times in your journey together.



Anyway, our week in California was wonderful!  A grand adventure, indeed! 

Bodega Bay

We created many memories together that will warm our hearts and refresh our minds for years to come.  Stories and reflections...all the fascinating things we've learned!.... we will share with our kids, our siblings, our parents, our future grandkids....basically, anyone who'll listen!











AND...we've determined we will NOT be waiting 20 years to do it again.  In fact, our new goal?  Plan a week-long "adventure",  just the two of us, every two or three years!


See unique places.  Check things off our "bucket lists".  Try new foods.  Meet interesting people.  Relax and unplug.

On that note, I'll shut up and share a few more great photos from the Sonoma coast, where we spent the first three days of our trip.

Photo credit: Don Westbrook, my hubby!

That's me on the adirondack chair!  (Don gets photo credit.)

The Pacific coast is so different from the Atlantic coast.  I loved seeing the seals and sea lions up close and watching a few hump-back whales move along the coast to warmer waters for the winter.

The rock formations.  The unique critters in the tidal pools.  And, the beautiful coastal vegetation.  Wow!  (I know.  I'm such a geek!)   

And, simply driving up and down Coastal Highway route 1...in a convertible BMW...was thrilling!  I thought our PA roads were windy and dangerous.  We got nothin' on CA route 1!  (Large sections have no guard rails along the 100+ foot drops - Yikes!)

The coast was a bit chilly: about 47 degrees in the early morning, warming up to 68 or so. We experienced a heavy coastal fog each morning that usually cleared by mid-afternoon.


The really cool thing?  Every place we visited lay within the same county, 1,567 square miles, yet each location had its own distinctive climate. (More about that later!)

 Hope you enjoyed these photos. FYI:  Don took nearly half of our 200+ photos!  He's a regular old photographer, now!   In my next post, I'll share more about our sight-seeing, the places we visited, and some terrific photos.  Check back in a few days, Friends.

It Finally Feels Like Fall!

Can I get an "Amen!"?



For those of you not living in PA, up until about 48 hours ago, we were experiencing near-rainforest conditions - humid, rainy and 80 degrees - for seemingly weeks on end.

Then, literally, overnight, we dropped to normal fall temperatures and much drier.

Common late-afternoon view here in autumn!

On that note, I thought I would share some fall photos....and, of course, a few cute photos of the growing kids!

As most of you already know, my time at the private salon in Oley, PA was very short-lived.

The young owner, inexperienced in life and in personnel management, was unclear in her expectations.  During our interview, she shared that the position was commission-based and made it sound like I was not expected to just "hang out" at the salon for hours on end when I had no appointments.  I thought I had made it clear to her at that time that I only wanted to work part-time, about 20 hours per week.


What she ACTUALLY wanted was someone to be at the salon from open to close Tuesdays thru Thursdays and Saturdays, regardless of when or how many appointments were booked for me "just in case" someone called for a last minute appointment.  BUT...there would be no hourly rate to compensate me for my time "hanging out".  Ummm...

Additionally, after that first week she had decided that my personality was "too outspoken" and "too strong" for her and, apparently, the Oley community.  I have to chuckle at that...I wonder what they'd say about my husband!

Oh well!  I have since had time to reflect.  Now, I strongly believe that this all worked out for the best.

It gave me a chance to reevaluate my goals, dreams and purpose in this life.  I was becoming too focused on things counter-productive to my mental, spiritual and physical health.  Too self-centered and money-driven.  Less dependent on the things that really matter - my faith in Christ, my family.

(These last two weeks of unemployment have been quite refreshing!)

To make a long story short, I am going back to Holiday Hair in Exeter, PART-time and only occasionally on a Sunday.

So what if its a corporate-owned salon, if that's what works for me at this time in my life.  I really cared about and enjoyed both the young ladies I worked alongside and my clients there! My manager at Holiday understands my need for more family time and time to help my husband with the data entry and billing for Westbrook Enterprise, his growing business.

When I was about to sign up for cosmetology school, Don asked me if I had prayed about this decision.  I responded, "Yes.  But what if God doesn't intend for me to make much money at this?  What if He intends for me to simply use the skills and knowledge I gain to bless and encourage others?  Not necessarily to consistently earn money for us?"


Don was good with that.  He encouraged me to keep moving forward!

I still desire to find an outlet...a "not-for-profit", volunteer-type outlet for my cosmetology skills.  I am quite sure there's something out there, a way to bless others in need. So, when we get home from our upcoming trip, I am going to work on that, as well.




Speaking of which....just days to go until we board that west-bound airplane!

I can hardly contain my excitement. 

My next blog post will be all west coast photos.

And, maybe, I'll have to start a Youtube channel or something to share our GoPro videos! (This coming from the technologically-impaired girl, lol!)

Then, we can revisit all of our home improvement projects right here - Yay! 

Guess what?

I have a home to dress up for the holidays this year!  

And, all of our Christmas decorations are out of storage - Woohoo!

(It's the simple things in life... 😁)





(Hard to believe how much has happened since last autumn, right?)

The twins are in the foreground, Ridire is behind them!