Photo A Day Week 2

Day 5 - Square
One of five pillow ornaments

Day 6 - Round

Twig balls

Day 7 - Currently reading

Some of my favorite publications

Day 8 - Landscape

Yay for blue skies and sunshine!

Day 9 - Pattern

Never really paid attention to the tower before

Day 10 - Hello

Hello 30...not me, but Erin turned 30.  I officially feel old now that both of my kids are in their 30's

Day 11 - I see...

Six year old toes

It was fun having Erin and Shylee here for the prompts!  I hope the coming week is just as fun.  Have a marvelous Monday my friends!

xo Annette xo

A Photo A Day

One of the things I hope to accomplish in this new year is to learn photography and my camera.  Michael gave me a photography course I started and am loving, and I found another from A Beautiful Mess that I hope to take.   I was hoping to find a new photo challenge since Focus On Life has ended and I came across a photo a day challenge on Bron's blog Taylor Made.  The challenge actually comes from Fat Mum Slim.  There will be a list of prompts for a week at a time and I will share my photos when the week ends.  So here is the first week.

Day 1 ~ The Sky
I don't really remember what a blue sky and sunshine looks like.

Day 2 ~ Something Yellow
This little star just makes me happy.

Day 3 ~ Me Today

Day 4 ~ I Hear...
Bon Jovi, of course!

We'll see how this goes!

Have a great Thursday!

xo Annette xo

A Belated Happy New Year

Happy New Year!  I hope you were able to spend the holidays with those you love and that 2015 brings you lots of joy, happiness, laughter, and love.

We decided to go to Arkansas to spend Christmas with my family.  My mother asks me every year if we're coming and I felt like I needed to say yes this time.  One sister lives there and one sister lives in North Dakota and she was going to fly in.  I really wanted to give my mother a Christmas with all of us together since the last time was 1986!  It would have been great, but most everyone was sick and we never had the whole family together at once.  My sisters and I managed to be together long enough to take pictures the day after Christmas.

We still haven't had Christmas with Erin and Shylee.  But the tree and presents will be here when they are able to come.  It was just the strangest Christmas, but so glad to see my family!

Happy New Year!

xo Annette xo

Focus On Life Week 50 ~ Lights

The topic for December is "Tis the season" and this week's prompt is lights.  I had fun playing with the camera this week.  The last photo is from playing around in Picmonkey, which was also fun!

Last week's prompt was chaos.  Shylee was trying to untangle the beads for the tree.  We ended up not using them!

I hope you're enjoying the lights of the season.  It's one of my favorite things.

xo Annette xo

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus On Life Week 46 ~ Faith(ful)

Hope you're having a spectacular weekend!

xo Annette xo

An InLinkz Link-up

Focus On Life Week 45 ~ Grateful

I have missed participating in Focus On Life.  Sometimes life just gets in the way of what you want to do.

The topic for November is ...ful.  This week's prompt is grateful.  I try to live my life with gratitude.  Everyday, I find something to be grateful for.  It's too easy to focus on the negative and everything that is going wrong, but when I deliberately look for something to be thankful for,  I feel better and it becomes easier to put everything in perspective.

Today, I'm grateful the sun was shining.  It's bad enough that it gets dark so early since changing the time, but when it's cloudy all day for days on end I get depressed and a little grumpy!

What are you grateful for today?

Have a wonderful weekend!

xo Annette xo

192.  health insurance

193.  old movies

194.  new movies

195.  sunshiny days  

196.  phone conversations with a 6 year old

An InLinkz Link-up

A Good Day

It was one of those days that was good from start to finish.  We got up early and drove three hours so Michael could work at the home office and I could see my girls.  I enjoy the drive in the fall because the turning trees can be breathtaking.  I took all the tree pictures through the windshield!  It's a good day when that drive is enjoyable!

One of the iconic landmarks of Baltimore is the smoke stack.  I've tried so many times to capture it and this is the first one that turned out half way decent.  It's always a good day when a picture turns out!  Especially through the window!

I only got to see Erin for about an hour before she had to leave to go to Shylee's Halloween parade at school and put in some volunteer hours.  But that was okay because I got to spend the afternoon with a friend.  And it's always a good day when I get to hang out with one of my favorite people.

I picked up Michael at work and we headed back to Erin's to see Shylee dressed up for trick or treating.  She was so proud of her Elsa shoes to go with her dress.  It was fun for me to see her get made up and witness her almost uncontrollable excitement for the evening.  It's always a good day when I get to see her completely happy!

What is a good day for you?

I hope today is a good one!

xo Annette xo

187. a friend who gets me

188. getting a doctor appointment a week out instead of 3 months away

189. good days

190.  being a grandma

191.  pure joy and excitement

Happy Mail

You may remember a while back when I posted about the pay it forward art making project that I signed up for.  Well, I recently received my art project from Kathy at Kluless.  Kathy is a junking junkie and maker of all kinds of beautiful mixed media art and more.  I knew that whatever she decided to make for this project would be fabulous and I was right!  Oh my, this journal is beautiful and full of inspiring pages.  I was in awe as I turned each page, running my fingers over the paper and carefully pulling out the contents of the the pockets and envelope.  There is so much creativity and inspiration in this journal and I absolutely love it!  Thank you again, Kathy!

As if that wasn't enough, Kathy also included some vintage packs of rick rack and buttons.  She knows what I love!

I hope you have a marvelous week!

xo Annette xo

184.  cruise control in the car

185.  happy mail

186.  handmade art

Wordless Wednesday ~ A Recent Rainy Day

Happy Wednesday!

xo Annette xo

180.  orange scones and butternut squash soup

181.  my thoughtful husband

182.  another successful published book for my friend

183.  fall

I've been away from my little blog but it was for a good reason.  I went and stayed with Erin and Shylee for a few weeks while Dan was away at school.  Erin's new job wasn't very accommodating with her schedule, so it was Grandma to the rescue!  It was also a time of unplugging and paying attention to those around me.

Shylee is in first grade and I got to be a part of her school life for the first time.  Helping her with her homework was such a treat (for me at least!).  Watching her struggle to understand and then seeing her face light up when she finally 'got it' was priceless.  What a privilege it is to be a grandma!

It's been a beautiful fall this year.  I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and should go out again with the camera because everywhere you look is glorious fall color.  It might not be my favorite season but it certainly is beautiful.

I hope you've all been well and hope you have a great week!

xo Annette xo

174.  cool crisp days of fall

175.  reconnecting with an old friend

176.  high tea at the tea room

177.  chocolate strawberry tea

178.  spending 4 weeks with Erin and Shylee

179.  helping with first grade homework