By Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer | Photos by Viktor Budnik
There is nothing more exciting, rewarding…and potentially emotional…than shopping for the perfect gown in which to walk down the aisle. Tracey Theys McHale, owner of Bella Mucci’s Bridal Couture in...
By Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer | All photos courtesy Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach
Oxnard’s Mandalay Beach is one of the prettiest seaside spots in Ventura County. The view seems to stretch on forever, the waves crash majestically against the...
Story and photos by Chuck Graham
The sturdy coast live oaks gently swayed during a light, southeast wind. Their crunchy leaves rattled and cracked with each wispy gust on the shaded, four-mile-out-and-back Cerro San Luis Obispo Trail, surrounded by the...
By Karen Schaffner
San Antonio, Texas is nothing if not surprising.
From the friendliness of its citizens who go out of their way to make visitors feel welcome, to its preserved colorful history to the many opportunities to sample outrageously delicious...
By Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer | Photos by Matt Titone/Indoek/Italic Studio
Artist, photographer, designer, surfer: Matt Titone contains multitudes. From a young age, the East Coast native loved art and the aquatic environment, and has incorporated both into his life...
By Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer | Photos by Viktor Budnik
The very things that make up modern-day living — roads, buildings, tunnels, dams, bridges, water systems, etc. — exist thanks to the efforts and expertise of civil engineers. And since...
Photos by Viktor Budnik
An exceptionally wet winter has Ventura County bursting into full bloom this spring. Nowhere is this more evident than at Ventura Botanical Gardens (VBG), 100+ acres in the foothills directly behind Ventura City Hall that are...
By Alex Wilson | Photos by Viktor Budnik
Martino’s Catering has always been a family affair, which might help explain why it’s grown from humble beginnings to now serving about 80 happy couples and their families at weddings every year....
By Alex Wilson | Photos by Viktor Budnik
Martha Cantos has proven herself as a successful downtown Ventura business owner with her charming and colorful boutique Ecugreen since opening in 2017. Her entrepreneurial path to success included years of selling...
Story and photos by Chuck Graham
Our 4x4 vehicle was taking a pounding on the gritty washboard-riddled road toward the Kalahari Desert in northeastern Namibia. It felt like our teeth were rattling inside our heads. My marine biologist girlfriend, Holly...
