Nicci San Diego, Travel

Christmas in La Jolla

Due to my husband’s cat allergies we had to abandon staying with family and flee to:

SONY DSCThese palm trees! They worked really hard to decorate them all.

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On our way to the hotel we saw a woman out working on the Christmas decorations in her yard. She already had lights and decor galore. But she was adding more! She looked so happy, pulling things out of bags and smiling.

I never used to pay attention to Christmas decorations. This year, inspired by Leanne Cole’s challenge, I am paying attention. The decorations add beauty to the month of course but it is the spirit behind the decorations that inspires me. From the effort people put into decorating their homes, to the efforts of companies like the Hyatt and The Georgian Hotel, to the efforts of cities like Melbourne, all the work has a personal feel. People work really hard to make these decorations! And the result is a feeling of connection, of a shared season.

Nicci Travel

Sunshine Award, and some sunshine from Southern California

sunshine-award

Many thanks to Michelle at KidazzleInk for nominating me for The Sunshine Award! I invite you to go check out her wonderful travel memoirs blog. Like Michelle who said in her Sunshine Award post that blogging has become a passion for her, blogging is a passion of mine because of the community of people. The positive thoughts and encouragement combined with getting to see so many perspectives on this world is now a background against which I live my life. I think about what I read and the conversations I have in the blogosphere, I’ve made friends here, I think about what I can do to share something with you every day, and my world is expanded.

Now for 10 Interesting  things about me:

  1. I’m finishing up the first draft of a science fiction novel that I’m co-authoring with a poet I met on Twitter. (We expect to do four drafts before we start looking for an agent.)
  2. I’m really not sure I would want my genome mapped. (The price is coming down on it.)
  3. I believe the world is getting better.
  4. I lived with a family in the south of France for three months when I was 22 and by the end I started thinking in French and dreaming in French.
  5. I was an English major and then became a math major in college because I wanted to develop both sides of my brain. It felt kind of weird in my brain, but that might have been my imagination! In any case, getting through Calculus and so on really boosted my confidence and later the combination was excellent for being a technical writer.
  6. I went to Australia and visited a friend I met through blogging.
  7. My dreams usually have sound tracks.
  8. I sometimes “write” in my dreams.
  9. I’m on the border of being an introvert and extrovert. The internet has been perfect for me because I can spend all day writing (introverted) but still stay connected to friends (extroverted) including making a friend who now co-authors with me (see number 1!).
  10. I used to be able to run long distances (15 miles) without training.

I would like to pay it forward to these bloggers who add to the sunshine in my daily life:

For my nominees who would like to accept this award, here are the rules:

  1. Display the Award on your blog.
  2. Announce your win with a post and thank the blogger who awarded you.
  3. Present around 10 deserving bloggers with the Award – “who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.”
  4. Link your awardees in the post and let them know of their being awarded with a comment.
  5. Write 10 interesting things about you

To close this day of gratitude, here is a bit of sunshine from Southern California:

Santa Monica
Santa Monica
Nicci Travel

Christmas from around the world, Santa Monica California, Leanne Cole Photography

I need to do two posts today because I took some new Christmas photos for Leanne Cole’s Christmas from around the World series and the deadline is today. Actually, I’m a little late. There are already some gorgeous photos on her site so perhaps mine will go up next week. But do click on the above link because the photos have so much heart they brought a tear to my eye.

These were taken at

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To put it in context, this is the beach scene in California during the holiday season:

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Nicci Art school, Australia, Travel

Impressions of Australia 6

Melbourne, looking down at the top of the first floor lights in the mall connected to the Sofitel on Collins, rendered in oil via Corel Painting Essentials. I need to comment that the only reason I took this picture was because I had spent the day hanging around Leanne Cole. My only artistic objective in tagging around with her was to have her “eye” rub off on me. I didn’t seek any technical instruction, which was good, given that I forgot the battery charger for my DSLR and so was just using the compact.

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Here’s Maggie Island (I think) shot from the boat on the way back from our Great Barrier Reef tour.

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