I'm Still Here!!

It's been nearly a week since I've posted!  I'm so sorry!!  It's state testing week in Illinois, so it seems all my energy goes to ramping up for it!!  Haven't worked on photography, haven't worked on scrapbooking or cards, haven't posted anything on my blog! 
BUT, I have had time to read some other blogs, as I fall asleep at my computer at 6 p.m.!!   There are some incredibly talented bloggers out there!  Check out some of my links on the right.  And there's more that I've found that I'll need to add!!
My son-in-law posted this picture on Facebook, so I felt compelled to grab it and share it with you. 

No doubt Cormick is telling Ava that he loves her!  This is an everyday occurrence with this little guy.  He just adores his little sister and is just so kind and gentle with her.  And it looks like she's enjoying the attention.  She's starting to really smile at things!  Y'know... I get goosebumps when I look at my grandkids!!  I'm just embraced in serenity when I look at them!!
I've got a long list of photos I need to take for my Picture Spring class at BPS.  Good thing I'm not being marked down for having late homework!!  I'll have to take advantage of what looks like will be a beautiful day to take some pictures after work, in order to catch up with my homework.  I'll be sure to post some of the nicer ones here!!  Have a great Tuesday! 

Movies and Award....No, Not an Oscar!!

Have you ever had a time when you have so much rolling around your mind that you don't know where to start??  That's me today!! 

First, let me tell you about this award I got a couple days ago.  As much as I tried to get some time to write a post to tell you about this, I just didn't have enough time!  But I received a Happy 101 Award from Leanne at From Chaos Comes Happiness, who got hers from Leslie at Words of Me Project.  (I'm assuming the cupcakes will arrive shortly, Leanne?????)

The idea behind the award is to give it to someone who makes you happy and they can do the same to others.  So without further ado, I award this Happy 101 award to:

Michelle at So Wonderful, So Marvelous who just ran a RAK challenge to celebrate her 34th birthday.

Leslie at Running with Scissors who makes the most wonderfully beautiful cards you could imagine.

Betty at Bossy Betty who, although she's received this award before, I can't NOT tell others just how happy her Monday Morning Flower Delivery makes me.  Thanks, Betty!!  Your flower deliveries inspire me!!

And on Leslie's post on Tuesday, she asked about our favorite movies.  Movies you could watch over and over again.  I commented with this list:

Runaway Bride
Schindler's List

Fried Green Tomatoes
Steel Magnolias
Pretty Woman
Moonstruck
My Fair Lady
Somewhere in Time
Final Countdown
Lake House (There's a theme here...I love time travel movies that aren't gory or scary).

But at work, I thought of more. 
Sleepless in Seattle
The Truman Show (if you really give this one lots of thought once you've seen it, you can get into some really deep thoughts)
50 First Dates
Elf
Up  (a whole new experience when you watch it with a 2 1/2 year old who gets very active during "scary" parts).
I don't do blood and guts movies.  I know there are some suspense movies in my "really likes" but I can't think of one right now.  I mostly like chick flicks and time travel.
 
How about you??  What's your favorite movie?

Another Day in the Cellar...with CHOCOLATE

As I start this post, I find that I'm taking a deep breath and realizing how relaxing the day was.  You see, I spent another day at the Scrapbook Cellar with my local inspiration.  And I always come home feeling energized to keep up with my scrapping!!  Thank you, Ladies, for that!!

And of course, (as every dedicated scrapbooker knows) the day was filled with plenty of chocolate.  Oh, I'm sorry...for those unaware, chocolate is one of those scrapbook staples.  Gotta have it.  Preferably, the non-messy kind (a.k.a. M&M's).  But today, we had Chocolate Wine, Chocolate Chip Biscotti, Chocolate Cannoli (yeah, that was a bit messy but it was lunchtime so that's allowed) and Chocolate Pirouettes (yes, they're shaped like cigars).  So we had some fun.  Hey, some people like cigarettes.... we like chocolate! 

And on the way home, I picked up the Glee CDs as recommended by Leanne in this post.  So I have joined her Dorky Mom Jamming in her Car Campaign.  I play it loud and sing along.  It'll be my new fave for a few months, I'm sure! 

Now as soon as I can get some pages scanned, I'll get them posted here. 

A Reunion, of Sorts

Today, I ran into a former high school classmate.  (We graduated many, many years ago, so CLEARLY we have changed). Actually, it wasn't even "running into" her.  Linda is a friend of my coworker and she stopped in to see my coworker.   But the minute I saw her, I flashed back to gym class.  I could see us both in class in those stupid blue one piece uniforms. 

It wasn't until after she left the office, that I came to this realization.  You see, I wasn't popular in high school. I wasn't part of the "in" crowd.  But Linda was able to be friends with both the popular crowd and the unpopular crowd.  The reason I remembered Linda as soon as I saw her was because, way back then, she was kind to me even though I wasn't in the popular crowd.

It made me think of one of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelou:  "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."  Thank you, Linda, for making me feel a little better about myself way back when!!

Added:  Do you like words?  And do you like stamps??  Check out the giveaway at The English Geek.  She's giving away a Close to the Heart stamp set to celebrate her new BPS class "Textuality" that starts next week. 

They've Got My Heart - The IRS, Not So Much

Don't you just love it when boys eyelashes are long??  My grandson graciously agreed to "model" for me to help me with my Day 10 "Capture Light" assignment in my Picture Spring online class at Big Picture Scrapbooking.  Love the freckles, love the eyelashes, love the kid!!

Then, just to see if I could do it (it's never easy capturing a dog that is constantly moving) I took some shots of Barney, our 14 year old cockapoo.   He's such a loving dog.  And it's so sad to see them slowing down as they get older.  I've been trying to work on a scrapbook album all about our little buddy, using prompts and messages from another BPS class called Celebrating our Pets.  Maybe I'll get some pages posted once I finish. 

What's not to love about this sweet face??

That's all I've got right now.  Today is Tax Day.  Hope yours is done and the damage wasn't too bad!!  Each year I say I'm going to complete and submit in February, yet end up submitting at the last minute.  Since I owe this year, I was willing to put it off until the final hour!  How about you?  Are you a last minute filer?  Or do you get it done early?    

It Doesn't Get Better Than This!

Yesterday, we celebrated two birthdays.  My son, daughter, three grandkids and my PG, all got together to celebrate one belated birthday (Happy Birthday, Jim!) and one birthday coming up this week (Happy Birthday, PG!).  Because these two birthdays are only a couple weeks apart, and due to everyone's busy schedules, we usually combine the celebrations.  My daughter chose a kid friendly place where the kids could make their own personal pizzas.  My Pi (the name actually uses the Greek symbol for 3.14159265--how cute!!) was very accommodating and we truly had a lot of fun.  As I was taking pictures, the manager offered to take a group picture.

The absolute best part was when I looked at my two grandsons making faces at each other, my son & daughter chatting away about music, PG sitting next to me, and my granddaughter sleeping in my arms.  At that moment, I said to myself, "This is my life.  And I couldn't ask for more."

I am so incredibly blessed.  I absolutely adore my kids and (what's a word that goes beyond adore?  where's my thesaurus??)... well, let's just say I'm head over heels in love with my grandkids.  And PG truly is the love of my life. 

I just wish this for everybody.  Many times, when you really take a step back and look at your life, you'll find it's the little things that offer the greatest blessings.   So tell me, what makes you feel blessed today?

Through the Camera's Lens

As I mentioned previously, I'm taking a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking called Picture Spring.  In this class, we receive a prompt every day to look at things in your life with a new eye, and find the beauty in it to photograph.  Everything was going along great, I was having a lot of fun looking at my life each day.  One day you take a picture of what your life looks like first thing in the a.m.

Another day, you had to look up and find the beauty above you. 

Still another day, you had to drop to ground level to find what rocks your world.

And then...the dreaded "SELF-PORTRAIT" day came.  How many of us dread this challenge??  Tracey's email said "Spring is the season of renewal and rejuvenation. Beyond the blooms, our spirits feel alive! Today, as you soak it all in, capture yourself in a self-portrait. Celebrate yourself! You're worth the hoop-lah!"..... Right!!!! 

But I refused to be intimidated.  My reasoning to take this class was to grow in my photography skills.  I needed to do this!!

So I stood in front of a mirror and turned my camera around and snapped away.  I took countless pictures.  And I give to you, a cropped version of the picture I submitted for the class.  

I really don't like looking at pictures of myself but I have spent part of this morning thinking about why that is.  And I've come to the conclusion that it has a lot to do with your life as you are growing up.  I think many of us are told that it is vain if we like to look at ourselves.  Vanity was sinful, as I recall.  Isn't that interesting??  Because I am of the belief that in order to love another, you must love yourself.  Maybe you can love yourself and not like looking at yourself.  Is that it??  

So after all my pondering this morning, and actually looking more closely at this picture, I've decided that those little crows' feet around my eyes are caused by the laughter in my life.  So I will wear those crows' feet as a badge of honor, that I have a wonderful, laughter-filled, joyous life.  A life that brings me peace and serenity.  A life I am delighted to express gratitude for.   

Are you like me?  Do you dislike looking at pictures of yourself, but truly enjoy your life and all the laughter in it?  Maybe all it takes is a change of attitude!  Thanks for stopping by today.    

Forever A Student

When I had the opportunity to go to college, I realized that I really did enjoy learning.  While attending community college for my associate's degree, I decided then and there that I was going to be a lifelong student.  Not necessary attending a brick and mortar institution, but taking classes somewhere. 

Last year, I took an online class at Big Picture Scrapbooking that allowed me to grow as a memory-keeper.  It certainly wasn't an easy class, because it forced me to dig deep within to find the stories of my life that might not ever get told.  But I was pleased with the results of the class, and it serves as a reminder to me to get my story told.  I posted a couple of the "assignments" on this blog, here  and  here.   

So here we are, the start of a new season and I've decided to take another online course.  This is more photography related, but one of my goals for this year was to grow in my photography skills.  And it will also help me to remember my 2010 word, as well as my 2009 word. 

This new class is called Picture Spring.  Each day, we receive an email prompt that allows us to think about things in our life that might be mundane, run-of-the-mill, ordinary things that might get overlooked unless you approach everything with eyes wide open!  The prompt for Day 1 was to take a picture of the beginning of something... anything.  I've got two pictures I like and thought I'd get your feedback.  I'd love to hear your thoughts.