Monthly Archives: December 2020

Best Mantra for 2021

Posted on by
Reply

Let’s all take a deep breath and say goodbye to 2020. Hindsight truly IS 2020, isn’t it? At least now it is, haha.

I like to post a mantra to welcome each new year, and saw this one from the Dalai Lama to maintain peace of mind and remain free from worries.

“Om tare tuttare ture soha”

This mantra is often chanted to overcome physical, mental or emotional blockages, although it can also be used for blockages in relationships. It can help release hope for a particular outcome and bring the energy back to yourself, generating inner peace and clarity.

“Om tare tuttare ture soha”

To reap the most benefits, mantras should be chanted 108 times (mala beads can help.)

“Om tare tuttare ture soha”

Happy New Year!

Gotta Love a Wolf Moon

Posted on by
3

Here in SoCal, the final full moon of 2020 will be tonight at 7:28 p.m. After our big storm yesterday, the sky looks clear and bright and everything is shiny, so I’m hopeful mama moon will be out and visible.

What a perfect time for a little year-end magic!

Don’t forget to charge crystals and a bottle of fresh water. Moon water is traditionally charged at night under the light of the full moon, when lunar energy is at its most potent and we’re easily able to connect to our intuition.

No photo description available.

Happy almost 2021!

Easy DIY Mod Podge Candle Decor

Posted on by
1

We had our first winter storm today with some hail, so I needed an indoor project.

I love to embellish pretty much everything, usually with seashells, but not always. This time I decided to Mod Podge a silk scarf onto plain glass candles that came from the dollar store.

The scarf was an old Laurel Burch cat scarf that I must have inherited from my mom because I never was really a Burch fan. I’m not sure why I had originally cut it up, but there was enough material left over to beautify three candles.

The art of decoupage is so simple yet so satisfying.

1. Cut the fabric to the size of the glass container.
2. Brush a good amount of Mod Podge on the glass.
3. Carefully place the scarf on the glass and press firmly.
4. Brush on more Mod Podge. The silk adheres really nicely to the sticky glue and there’s enough time to push out all of the air bubbles.
5. Let it dry for about an hour and then paint another layer of Mod Podge onto the surface.
6. Let dry.

That’s it!

I’m beyond pleased with the results!

All lit up and glowing. They look even better than I thought they would. The best thing is that when the original candle burns out, I can replace it with a votive.

“Be Happy” Should Be On Your To-Do List!

Posted on by
Reply

BE HAPPY!

I hope everyone had a lovely 2020 sort of Christmas, even if was different than in the past. I can totally relate!

BE HAPPY!

I first saw this little journal about a week ago a couple blocks away on one of my walks; I picked it up and placed it on a fence just in case the owner was searching for it.

BE HAPPY!

I saw it again on my Christmas Day walk, resting on a bed of rocks, and love the message so much I took a photo. Two simple words, but incredibly profound.

If it’s still there today, I’m rescuing it. At that point, it’s meant to be mine, do you agree?

BE HAPPY!

(That’s not merely a suggestion, it’s a great mantra for 2021.)

Happy Christmas 2020

Posted on by
4

Mele Kalikimaka!
Yuletide greetings from Enchanted Seashells. Even in this craziest of crazy years, there’s always something to be grateful for, right?

Photo by Olya Kobruseva on Pexels.com

One of my fave versions; makes me wish I was in Hawaii right now.

Easy Vegan Tofu Mayo

Posted on by
6

While everybody is posting pics of beautifully decorated cookies and cakes, I decided to go back to basics with a recipe for vegan mayo. 

No need to panic if you run out; it’s really easy to make your own!

I used to love Trader Joe’s vegan mayo but they’ve either been out of it for a long time or maybe they just stopped selling it, so I decided to experiment with my own version.

It’s simple and tasty but next time I’ll use vegetable oil instead of olive oil–that’s a personal preference because I don’t really like the taste of olive oil.

Easy Vegan Tofu Mayo

–7oz silken tofu
–1/3 cup oil
–1TBS lemon juice
–1tsp vinegar
–1 tsp (or more to your taste) dijon mustard
–1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt (to your taste)

Place all of the ingredients in the cup of an immersion blender and blend until smooth and thick.
Add a little more lemon juice if too thick. It should look exactly like mayo and spread easily.
If you don’t have silken tofu, you can try it with the firm option, but it won’t be as velvety.

That’s IT. Nothing fancy. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
And VERY healthy; packed with protein thanks to the tofu.

DIY Yule Wreath

Posted on by
2

As promised, I’m posting my homegrown Yule wreath. I used a ten-inch wire circle and all the rest of the ingredients were foraged from my garden.

Toyon berries:

Rosemary, lavender, pine boughs…

Manzanita, the star of the show with her lovely pink/red flowers:

Getting started, with a ten-inch wire circle and the bendy manzanita…

…to the finished product, ready to manifest all kinds of positive energy and magic for the solstice and 2021…

If I feel like wearing it on my head like a flower crown and dancing in the moonlight, I might just do that.

I feel very witchy today.

Moonday

Posted on by
Reply

Happy Winter Solstice!

Since we’re still in the midst of a surging pandemic and travel of any sort isn’t a great idea, I’m going to honor they day by making a Yule wreath with some pine boughs and rosemary branches from yesterday’s garden project and a few bright red toyon berries. If it comes out OK, I’ll post a photo.

Along with the shortest day of the year, if we’re lucky, we’ll be able to see the Christmas Star, the Great Conjunction with Saturn and Jupiter that hasn’t been seen since 1623. Best times for viewing in the San Diego area is 4:47 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.

Taken with Canon Rebel T3I

Did anyone see the sunrise at Stonehenge?

(Some) Creatures Great and Small

Posted on by
2

With a nod to All Creatures Great and Small by veterinarian James Herriot, this is what my Sunday looked like.

We started off the day at the beach and I’m beyond sad that I didn’t have my good camera with me so I couldn’t capture the magic of a school of dolphin jumping and splashing in the water. I’m sure this paddleboarder was happy because they seemed to follow him wherever he went. Trust me, there are about six dolphin in this photo.

On the way home, we saw a bit of an odd sight…check out these seagulls that shouldn’t have been this far away from the beach. They usually only fly inland when there’s a storm, so I have no idea why they were flying around in circles and then perched on the telephone lines.

Today was a work project day in the garden, cleaning up around the rosemary and lavender. I sat down for a minute for a wheatgrass break and this little alligator lizard stopped by to say hi. I scratched his back with a stick and he allowed me to take these pics.

All in all, a great Sunday for creatures great and small.

Adding Spice to My Life

Posted on by
Reply

I don’t know if it’s similar to the Great Toilet Paper Hoarding of 2020 or a supply chain issue, but when I used the very last drop of my Tapatio hot sauce, every store I went to was out of it.

I tried them all: Target, Stater Brothers, even WalMart, and there was the little sign on an empty space where the Tapatio should have been.

There were other hot sauces to choose from: Valentina, Crystal, Cholula, whatever Trader’s brand is, but not Tapatio. I was looking specifically for Mexican hot sauce, not Tabasco or Sriracha–it had to be Tapatio, my favorite.

I didn’t really want to order it online but I would have, except that at my final stop at Vons I found the VERY LAST BOTTLE of Tapatio, a giant thirty-two ounce size, so I’ll be happy and spicy for quite a while.

Funny enough, they were also completely out of the small sized bottle, so that’s all there was to choose from.

Now I can enjoy a yummy quesadilla with vegan cheese!

Do you have a favorite hot sauce?