for serious

I really do have good intentions of B.A.B.B. (being a better blogger).

Scout's Honor.

I will begin by saying thanks to all my blogging friends that have left me such sweet comments and messages. It really does mean alot...and to anyone else who stops by from time-to-time, I really do hope to get back to myself soon. And to those spammers that seem to have found my blog, um, can you please stop? K-thanks!

I must say Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I have truly had a great day - pretty low key, but full of messages, cards, calls, gifts, cards and time to worship and time with my own special Mom!

I am truly blessed to have such a great family and my Mom has been a real inspiration in my life - I hope I can be half as caring and giving as she is.

My selfie this week includes her:

I may not be a biological mother, but I am a Mom.
I have been blessed enough to be stepmom to three great people and they also helped mold who I am today.
I do hope I have had a positive influence on them as well.
I love them dearly and realize my life would not be complete without them in it.

Things are getting better - my MIL is improving slightly and we hope she continues.
Please continue to keep her (and us) in your thoughts & prayers.

Alex graduates Friday - I am shocked by that to be honest.
We've had some recent rough patches...just the normal stuff, but that situation is also getting better and I could not be prouder than I am of her and her accomplishments.
I look forward to seeing what lies in her future...she is destined for greatness!

just a quick post

Again, I have been remiss in posting.

Sometimes life takes over and certain things take a backseat - seems blogging is one of those.

My mother-in-law, AKA Memaw who lives with us and is 90 years old (yes I said 90!) fell again this week and I've just had my plate full.

I would appreciate any prayers for our family as we are just dealing with alot right now.

I am still doing my 52 weeks however, so I thought I'd at least post last week's on the blog for archival purposes.

I'm sorry I have not been commenting on your blogs lately either. I know I have missed some good stuff! Hope things calm down after Alex's graduation and Memaw's recovery.

I do have some great senior pictures of Alex and hope to get those posted here soon.

xo

HELLO IN HERE....

....hello in here....hello in here.....hello in here.....

Yes, I have abandoned you poor little blog and I am sorry.

I have been so non-creative lately and have not really felt like I had anything positive to blog about.

I have always tried to keep anything I post on here positive (except for my occasional soapboxes), but lately things are just not so I've been a little quiet.

I'm trying to have a better attitude and remember that life is not always sunshine and rainbows - it's more about peaks and valleys.  I'm praying I'm coming up the hill out of the valley where I can see the sunshine and rainbows again! :)

In the meantime, I'm using my less than spectacular mood to keep my 52 week project going....it will serve as a reminder of my mood when looking back at this project.

Week 16:

Thanks old blog for always being here, even when I'm not.

late to the Easter recap party!

So I am a week late with my Easter pics - sorry 'bout that!
Especially since Easter is by far my favorite holiday!

IT truly was a GLORIOUS Easter this year. 

I felt like I was really reminded of the real reason we celebrate - and what a great feeling to know that story and know that God's sacrifice of his only begotten Son is the reason I am forgiven of my many sins and will spend eternity in Heaven. 
It just makes me giddy, really!

Our church had a great Easter Cantata that they worked so hard on - and it showed - I'm pretty sure I was overtaken with emotion at least 3-4 times. (of course if you know me IRL, you know I get pretty emotional and am kind of a big crybaby).

Anyway, I was so very proud of my Mom who had a solo during one of the songs.  She was so nervous that she was mess up, but I'm telling you she was just awesome!

After church we had a typical Easter feast and did the whole Easter egg thing for Joe & Jake.  I think they enjoyed it...
Also included are pics from Saturday's egg dying.

These monster eggs are my favorite!!!

Don't they just make you smile!? :)

So, Happy Week-After Easter! :)
Maybe I'll post Alex's softball pics from this weekend in July.

Week 14

This was Easter Sunday - 

taken in my Mom's back yard on her bench.  

A little post-processing experiment as well. ;)

A little windy, yes...but I went with it.

(another appearance by my junk jewelry too!)

Dogwood sighting

I saw this as I was driving out to my Mom's Saturday: 

Then I saw this as I was leaving her house Saturday:

I love Dogwoods, they are my favorite!

It's how I know Spring has finally arrived. :)

Desktop Wallpaper

Back in January I discovered a groovy freebie on one of my favorite sites: Design*Sponge.
They post a monthly d*s desktop wallpaper with a cool illustration and calendar for the month.
I look forward to seeing what the new art will be each month.

This month is awesome - orange+yellow and a bird. :)

How could you go wrong????

Happy April.

Seriously Blown Away!

S-E-R-I-O-U-S-L-Y

excited that Ree (aka The Pioneer Woman) selected another one of my photos for her photography assignment.

After my Gray Kitty picture was selected a couple of weeks ago I was floored, and now to have another one in her "green" challenge is just, well, overwhelming!

Funny thing about it is that this picture was part of my own little color challenge from last year around this time.  Several friends from online and IRL had gotten together to do a photo color challenge on Flickr just to stretch our creative juices.  Of course I don't have the bazillion readers of my sad, pitiful little blog like Pioneer Woman and am unable to give out sweet prizes so our little challenge didn't go over quite like hers do! ;)

We did have fun though I must say!  Here is a glimpse of our green photos:

When she announced her "green" challenge, it made me a little reminiscent of our Color Fun challenge and I went back on our Flickr group to give our pics another look-see...that was a fun little walk down memory lane!  Give it a whirl if the urge hits you.


color fun

And be sure to submit your own GREEN photo - you might be blogging about being blown away by getting selected next! :)

It's an Epiphanie

I really need to win the giveaway over at Epiphanie Bags!

#1 - I covet those bags!!!!  I seriously want one and will own one at some point.

#2 - I would ding-dang-dong-DIE to win this 5D! 

#3 - If I don't win, I sure would love for someone I know to win!  So get your tail on over there and check-check-check it out!

Epiphanie Bags.

Which bag is your favorite?  I like them all for different reasons, but Ginger and I would really get along well I'm thinking.

Week 13

Maybe it's the unlucky 13 or something, but I have felt a wee bit crazed the past few days!
That plus my crazy hair that was just plain wild on Sunday produced some crazy selfies for the week:
Enter exhibit A:

I call this one psycho*diptych

I decided I needed some lip color to brighten up my selfies but when I got a little "outside the line" I thought: "hey, I'll go with it and look really crazy!"
A straight jacket would have been a really cool prop for this one, but I'm afraid some people who know me might want to keep me in there!!! :)

Here is my take on Week 13:

Obvious use of some cool actions on both of these shots.

The psycho*diptych shot has an action found here: deviantART
On the latter shot I bumped up the levels and ran an action I've had for awhile (from parts unknown) which is an extreme lightening action.  Then I sharpened the shot using the sharpen action from one of Pioneer Woman's free sets.

I love actions!
Can you tell?