{12 Days of Christmas} Stocking Stuffers

Sip Back and Listen Flask // It's a Done Meal Kitchen Timer //Anchor the Call Mug // Home Sweet Houseboat Wall Hook // All Along the Watts Tower Flashlight // Sippin' in the Stars Flask Set
Refinements are Forever Cocktail Shaker

Christmas is coming - only 6 days away! 
I've compiled some of my favorite things from Modcloth for stocking stuffers - most of these gifts are under $20! 
As you can see, there are many coastal-theme (read: anchors and lighthouses, my favorites) items as well as flasks/drinking items, which I know my friends would love! 

What are you hoping to find in your stocking this Christmas?
xoxo

ps. **This post contains affiliate links, and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.**

{12 Days of Christmas} Decorations

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I absolutely love decorating for Christmas. It's one of the best times of the year; the house has all of these trees, lights, shiny ornaments, stockings... There's so much to look at and decorate with! My living room is a light turquoise so I tend to go with a coastal Christmas theme in there, as pictured above. All of the ornaments are ocean-related or teal/blue/green. There's a starfish, jellyfish, whale, pufferfish, and dolphins!

Above that mini-tree, I hang my stockings on the wall (unfortunately, I lack a mantel) and my favorite Christmas sign! The stocking on the left was hand-made by my grandmother and the one on the right is my father's; he was born a week before Christmas and got to go home in a baby-sized stocking! These are two of my most-loved possessions. 

On top of my armoire is my father's toy car, which I paired with ornament-garland, tinsel garland, and two of my grandmother's vintage nutcrackers.

That's it for the living room!

 I'll have to share more of the house in another post soon!

Do you have any specific themes for your decorations?

Tell me in the comments!

xoxo

{12 Days of Christmas} Boat Parade 2014

Jellyfish!

This year, I attended the Santa Cruz Harbor's boat parade for the second year in a row. This time I went with a large group of friends (my Santa Cruz family!) and had a lot of fun. It was very chilly down at the harbor. There weren't as many boats this year, and many were the same as last year, so that was kind of disappointing, but going to a boat parade at Christmas has been a tradition for me my whole life. 

I really liked the jelly fish boat (pictured above) and my favorite from last year was back: Rudolph the Red-Nose Rein-boat! See this post for the picture. 

They even lit up the lighthouse! 

Overall, it was a lot of fun to enjoy the boat parade tradition with new and old friends, who have become my family.

Have you seen a boat parade this Christmas? If so, where was it? 

Merry Christmas!

xoxo

Quote of the Week: {Feb. 17, 2014}

"We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back to whence we came."

-John F. Kennedy

Happy President's Day!

I hope that you are enjoying the day, remembering some presidents of the past and, if you are lucky enough to have the day off, enjoying the ocean! If you don't live close to an ocean, and have the day off, I hope you are finding something fun to do!

I am going to the beach after I finish an essay that I have to write, and I can't wait! It is gorgeous outside in California today, so I am very excited to go soak up some of that sun. 

Have a wonderful president's day, everybody!

xoxo

{Valentine's Day} LOVE

For a romantic or fun evening out!

Happy Valentine's Day! 

I hope that you are enjoying this day with people you love - a significant other, friends or family - and enjoy your Friday and the three-day-weekend ahead! Above is a photo of a dress I found that I would absolutely love to be wearing this Valentine's Day - it's so cute and festive, (buy it here: Poppy In for a Visit Dress from ModCloth) and would be perfect again in the summer -  but I already bought the cutest shirt!

Here's the shirt: 

It's from Target! So cute, right?

I'm a bit owl-obsessed so this shirt was perfect!

I had a wonderful day at work, and I was more spoiled today than I was at Christmas! It left me feeling very loved (and sugar-filled, but in a really good way). I even received a red rose from one of my students! Cutest thing ever.

Happy Valentine's Day, everybody!

xoxo

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

Christmas Boat Parade {Northern California}

Christmas Boat Parade

{Northern California}

Last weekend, I was able to make it to a Christmas Boat Parade on the harbor after rehearsal; the preschool I work for was part of a "Friendly Beasts" Christmas performance. It was so much fun! 

It's been an annual tradition for my family and I to go to a boat parade around Christmas time, I cannot wait to go to the one with them in Southern California soon! 

Sharing this tradition with my friends was a really great experience for me, one that I hope to be able to continue next year. 

It is always so much fun to see how each boat comes up with cute concepts for Christmas lights! My personal favorite is this one: 

It looks like Rudolph! So cute!

What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

xoxo

My Birthday Weekend {Part 3}

"... the sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonders forever."

-Jacques-Yves Cousteau 

Here's the last few photos of my birthday that I wanted to share! Above is such a cool jellyfish! They have a jellyfish exhibit right now, and it is so awesome! I think I took fifty pictures in there, but I obviously couldn't share each one! I liked this one best, so here you go!

View from the back deck of the Monterey Bay Aquarium

This place is so gorgeous! 

Half-chicken and salad

Doesn't this meal look delicious? We went to the Fish Hopper restaurant on Cannery Row - this was actually my mom's meal, but hers looked (and tasted! I stole a few bites) way better than mine so I am glad that I got a shot of it before we started to eat.

This was the view from the restaurant, which had huge windows on all sides to show the bay all around. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I would definitely go back. 

xoxo

My Birthday Weekend {Part 2 - Monterey Bay Aquarium}

Otterly adorable!

I am so excited (still!) that I was able to go to the aquarium this past weekend. It was on my list of 101 in 1,001, and the main reason I wanted to go was to see the otters! I would sit and watch them all day if I could - I love otters! They are so cute and playful. 

Isn't this view of a sea star nifty? There are so many interesting creatures to be seen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

  To the left, we see the kelp forest (I want to say it was the first of its kind in an aquarium, but don't quote me here!) as well as many silver fish and a leopard shark. If you look closely, on the right, you can find a fish poking out of the shoe!

Can you spot the flatfish? 

There's two!

This trip was particularly enjoyable for me because I took oceanography about 1 year ago and love learning about marine biology! 

xoxo

Boardwalk Frolic!

Swingin' around

UCSC takes over the Boardwalk!

Last Monday night was UCSC's annual Boardwalk Frolic, where they close down the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and only UCSC students gain entry. It was so much fun and I'm so glad that I was able to go. We rode the Giant Dipper three times; I am pretty sure it got faster after sundown... which makes it even better!

Giant Dipper

The Giant Dipper is actually a National Historic Monument: It was built in 1924 and cost about $50,000 to build the wooden coaster. It has been featured in a few movies, most notably, The Lost Boys, which is set in the fictitious "Santa Carla," but was filmed in many locations throughout Santa Cruz. 

See? Lost Boys! 

It is the 5th oldest roller coaster in the United States, which I thought was a pretty nifty fact. 

We rode a few other rides, like the Haunted Castle, and a personal favorite, the Double Shot. We were given a few coupons for things like bowling and laser tag, which my roommate and I cannot wait to use once we can afford a break from studying!

xoxo

Summer is Sailing Away

As made clear through many of my prior posts, I am very much looking forward to Autumn. It is my favorite season: I love the crisp, chilly air, especially when it is foggy. I love the sweaters, pumpkins, Halloween, hot cocoa, and so much more.

But, I will also miss Summer: the heat, daily walks on the beach, swimming, shorts, smoothies. It's all sailing away now. This summer, I was not able to go sailing, although I have had a very strong urge to. I've admired the cute sail boat fence (above), watched sail boat races and went to see the regatta at the harbor:

A grey day, but well worth it!

Since I was not able to go sailing this Summer, I have resolved to go sailing within the next 1,001 days (well, now we're at 997, but you get the picture). It's a part of my 101 in 1,001 to-do-list/challenge, and I am very much looking forward to it!

xoxo

Happy September!

Hello everyone!

Sorry that I haven't been posting for a few days; I visited my hometown last week and now my mom is visiting so I haven't had too much time to spend on the computer!

I hope that August was great for everyone and I'm so excited for this month. It's the first "Brrr" month so I'm really getting ready for Autumn! 

It seems that the weather agrees:

So foggy!

The weather has cleared up for the afternoon, though, and I'm sure that there are plenty of Labor Day visitors in town and on the beach. I'm just relaxing with my family and friends, BBQ-ing, and enjoying the last few days before heading back to work.

What are you doing this Labor Day weekend?

xoxo

Lighthouse Adventures

The Walton Lighthouse, Seabright Beach, Santa Cruz, CA

This past week, I had an afternoon off of work, and the sun was shining. My roommate and long-time best friend were faced with a dilemma: what do we do with all of this extra time?

She's really been eager to go to a lighthouse, any lighthouse, since we moved in, so we put ourselves in Siri's hands and went for an adventure! Siri did not know how to get to the lighthouse because there is no specific place to park for it. You have to park at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, California, and take a long beach-hike to get there. It was quite the workout. But we made it! 

Walton Lighthouse, up close!

There were a bunch of warnings about dangerous waves and such, but the bay looked calm, so we walked up and took a bunch of cheesy tourist pictures, of course.

Posin' all tourist-like

We just had to! We couldn't resist! We also hugged the lighthouse. We looked ridiculous but it was so much fun.

"for the people and mariners of Santa Cruz"

It was a fun adventure, and I cannot wait to explore the other lighthouse in Santa Cruz! 

xoxo

Slightly Tweaking the Name!

Before this day, my blog was called Mason Jars and Southern Charm, to match my tumblr of the same name: here. However, since I live in a coastal town and post much more content relating to the ocean, I thought a name change was in order! 

Sorry if there was any confusion. 

xoxo

Wow, what a weekend!

So, last Friday was my new university's orientation for transfer students, and while I was expecting to meet a ton of new people, I really didn't meet many people, and besides running into them on campus, I doubt that I'll see any of them again. I may have met more people had I not gone to the wrong major's advising meeting in the morning. -sigh-

So, apparently at my new school, there is a difference between Italian Studies (my major) and Italian language studies (apparently not my major)... So I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day long, thinking I was taking all of the wrong classes, only to find out from one of the student volunteers that I was doing all of the wrong advising all day. 

Luckily, I was sent to the literature and history departments before they left (I cut it really close) so I have all of my classes for this quarter, but I have no idea how to get around school (there's buses to take you around campus, but which one do I take? When do they run?) or which college is which. So things are going to be pretty confusing for the first week or two. 

My mom came for the weekend, though, so I got to spend time with her and my doggies. We went on a nice morning walk on the beach pictured above, and then a friend from home came to visit. The three of us shared the best cupcakes in the world and then went to see the Conjuring.

Rotten Tomatoes

The Conjuring started off alright, particularly since the doll pictured above was involved in the beginning of the film, and the doll alone is just freaky. However, toward the middle of the movie, I thought it was just going to be another mediocre horror movie. It started to move really slowly and went for a lot of cheap scares that just weren't scary. But then, at the end of the movie, things looked up. It got pretty frightening - there were a few laughable moments, but overall, they put together a horror film that was better than I'd seen in a long while. 

Enjoy what's left of the weekend! 

xoxo, 

Caryn Elizabeth

Boardwalk Concerts

Last Friday, 7/12/13

Every Friday night during Summer, the Boardwalk has free Friday night concerts, which is great entertainment for people on a budget (like me!). So my roommate and I headed downtown for some cheap food before going to last week's concert, Blue Oyster Cult. 

It was a pretty great show. We were a bit late so we had to sit pretty far back, but as you can see above, the view was pretty wonderful. The music rocked, and the crowd was enthusiastic, which made the show that much better. 

For those of you also on a budget, you should check out if there are free concerts or shows in your area! It certainly does something to shake up your weekend. 

xoxo

Caryn Elizabeth

Earth laughs in flowers

Credit

That is a quote that I absolutely adore, by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Being a very girly girl, I have always loved flowers, but gardening was never really my thing... Until recently! I have discovered that I have a knack for growing plants! Having just moved, I really want a sanctuary-type place where I can just fell calm. I think that if I put in enough work, I can create a garden that does just that.

This is a photo I took at the school where I work. Isn't this flower just gorgeous?

I really love lavender, anemone, allium, and daisies. But what I (and it seems half of the gardening world) have been really interested in is succulents. In my coastal climate, I won't have to worry too much about watering them daily, and they're really fun and kinda funky, which I like. I mean, take a look:

Credit

Credit

They're just so great! I already have a few succulent plants in my possession, but I will update when my garden grows! 

Much love, 

Caryn Elizabeth