Focus On Life Week 7 ~ Capture A Collage Of L♥ve

Sally says one of the best ways to beat the feeling of cabin fever is to feel the love.  It may be as simple as that warm and oh so inviting cup of coffee, the cold nose of your four legged family member, or the smell of a certain flower.  This week love is everywhere and it's your job to capture it.  No bow and arrow needed, just a camera!

I love a lot of things.  Vintage lace, chocolate, Bon Jovi, the color pink, tea parties.  I love a lot of people too.  My family has been on my mind more than usual lately.  My daughter is the closest family member and she is three hours away.  Everyone else is scattered across the country.  I chose to make a collage of them.  My parents, sisters, children, granddaughter and of course Annie dog.  Since none of them are close, I had to use photos I had already taken.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo Annette xo

61.  love

62.  family

63.  hugs and kisses

64.  chocolate

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus on Life~Week 6~Feel the Love

This weeks prompt from Sally is "feel the love".  Sally says to feel the love that the universe is trying to show us everyday.

When I first read the prompt, my mind filled with all kinds of ways I see love and how to portray it in a photograph.  The problem was narrowing it down to just one idea.  No matter what I decided on though, I kept going back to one idea in particular.  A cross.  It is to me, the symbol of perfect, unconditional, forgiving love.

You can visit Sally's blog, The Studio Sublime, to see how others feel the love.

Last week, several readers asked me how I did the shaped bokeh, or to write a tutorial.  There are many excellent tutorials out there that are better than I could write. Here are a few links.

How to make your own bokeh shapes from How About Orange
How to make shaped bokeh from I Heart Faces
Create your own bokeh from DIY Photography

I do hope you give it a try and let me know how it goes!

xo Annette xo

Thirty Two Years

December 1978

It's been thirty two years since Michael and I vowed to love each other for the rest of our lives.  What an adventure it has been!  It hasn't always been easy, but it has definitely been worth the ups and downs and the tears and joy.  There is no greater blessing than to have someone to share your life with.  And that includes the good, the bad and the ugly!

Happy anniversary to my wonderful and amazing husband!!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom....A Mother's Love

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world.

It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down

remorselessly all that stands in its path

~ Agatha Christie

 

My heart breaks for by daughter today.  On Monday she traveled to Buffalo, New York to attend today's funeral of a friend who died last week in a motorcycle accident.  It's very sad, as he leaves behind a wife, a 4 year old daughter and a 2 week old baby boy.  My daughter, Erin, took this very hard.

 

When our children are little, we have the 'mom power' to fix eveything.  That is everything from a scraped knee, to hurt feelings, to broken bicycles,  to last minute projects requiring something you don't have on hand.  When  my kids were being bullied, it was very hard not to go do some bullying myself.  There's nothing we moms wouldn't do to help or protect our children. 

 

My heart breaks today because I can't fix this.  My hugs and kisses can't make it all better even though I gave her lots of them.  This has been the hardest part of having grown children.  We give them wings to fly from the nest into the world where they learn what life is all about.  The most I can do is pray for them and never let them forget I am there for them no matter what. 

 

 

 

Love and What Kids Have to Say

Today is the day.  The one day of the year that is set aside for love.  The day we're supposed to tell the person or persons we love, just how much we love them.  For some, it's the day they wonder nervously if  the guy or girl they like will like them back....will they get flowers, a card, chocolates?  For others, it's the day they have been dreading because they know there will be none of those things. 

As a blogger friend said, 'there will be lots of crying today'.  I feel sad for the ones who believe romantic love is the only kind that matters.  Yet, I used to be one of them.  With time, comes the knowledge that love from friends and family matters just as much as love from a significant other.  I wish Valentine's Day was more about love in general so that everyone could be happy on this day.

Here is what kids have to say about love.....
♥ "If falling in love is anything like learning how to spell, I don't want to do it. It takes too long." -- Glenn, age 7
♥ "Love is like an avalanche where you have to run for your life." -- John, age 9  
♥ "Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too." -- Greg, age 8
♥ "Once I'm done with kindergarten, I'm going to find me a wife." -- Tom, age 5
♥ "It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I'm just a kid. I don't need that kind of trouble." -- Kenny, age 7
♥ "One of you should know how to write a check. Because, even if you have tons of love, there is still going to be a lot of bills." -- Ava, age 8
♥ "Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me." -- Dave, age 8
♥ "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
- Rebecca - age 8
♥ "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
- Billy - age 4

I hope today you know you are loved!  Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

It's blizzarding here again today.  I was looking for a quote about snow but I wanted to find something about love since Valenitne's is Sunday.  Imagine my surprise to find one about both! 

“The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.”  ~Margaret Atwood

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom and Thirty One Years of Marriage

Thirty one years ago today my husband and I were married!  There have been a lot of ups and downs, good times and bad times, laughter and tears, give and take.  There have been numerous arguments, make-ups and compromises.  There have been days when going our seperate ways seemed like the only solution.  But more often than not, there have been days when I feel like my heart will burst with all the love I have there just for him...the man I married, the love of my life!

“The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressiveness of love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life.”  ~Hugh Walpole, Sr.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!!!!