Posts from the ‘Personal’ Category

Around Here: February

Well, it is still February, and we are so ready for spring, which will bring more light, warmer temperatures, and longer days!  Only about four weeks to go!  We are counting down.   Below are some items that have occurred around here in February!

-working really hard editing images for my long-term photography project.  I have spreadsheets keeping me on track as I work through this project.

-gearing up for the final photo shoots for my project this spring.

-training class is in full swing with our Victory!  Victory has some anxiety with new situations and she does not like to share the sidewalk with anyone in the neighborhood!  If someone opens the door to their home, is walking/running on the sidewalk, is walking a dog, etc., she will have no part of it!  Plus the builder is still building and the earth movers scare her, too!  We are trying to get her to a place where this will not be so troublesome and we can have smoother walks in the neighborhood without her getting so scared of her surroundings.  However, when we go to new places and take her on walks and outings she walks just fine — go figure!  Hopefully, we will make progress to make our morning walks during the week a little easier!

-began reading this book.

-scouting for a few more fine art prints to fame and display in our home!

-making homemade dinner with Doug on Sundays.  Doug has been cooking fried talapia and pulled bbq chicken, to name a few.

-making breakfasts together on the weekends.  I love Doug’s homemade donuts and chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes!

-began watching Better Call Saul, a prequel to Breaking Bad — an entertaining show!

-still watching Season 5 of Downton Abbey, which is coming to an end as the season finale is next week.

-burning lots of candles around the house!

-having date nights with Doug!

-enjoying the snow days at home!

*Finally, thank you all for your feedback on the survey, I greatly appreciate your insights!  Thank you.  If you have not completed the survey, please do!  You can take the survey here.  Thank you!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Valentine’s Day – Doug and Victory!

Happy Valentine’s Day to my two loves — you both make my life so much sweeter!

It is our second Valentine’s Day with little Victory, and for Doug and I it is our eleventh Valentine’s Day together!  Wow, where has the time gone!  I can still remember our first Valentine’s Day together.  Unbeknownst to the other, we gave each other the same Valentine’s card and Doug wrote such a sweet note inside the card.  I have kept all my cards, post cards, cards from flowers, etc., from Doug — I like keeping these tangible cards, I guess I am sentimental that way.   Doug and Victory are shown below.  Victory is wearing her new Valentine’s bandanna.  Last year, we left her Valentine’s bandanna on her, and, well, she chewed it off!

For Valentine’s Day, we got Victory some fun chew toys, since she loves to chew and hoard her toys!  We also signed Victory up for another training class, which begins next week.  It will be good to get Victory out of the house more to attend her class, especially during the colder winter months!  We cannot wait for spring to arrive in order to have more opportunities for outings with warmer weather, which is about five weeks away, but who is counting!  Doug and I are going to go to celebrate Valentine’s Day tomorrow by going to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Northern Virginia and then we will spend the evening together with Victory, likely watching a Netflix/On Demand marathon!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all!  I hope that you have a nice long weekend!

“Love recognizes no barrier.  It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.” -Maya Angelou

Photo Magnets

I love magnets, especially quotable magnets, which are inspirational.  In fact, I have sixty square quotable magnets on our fridge, which I have collected over the years!  I am running out of room!  However, I recently decided to try something new and have magnets made using my images.  I used Sticky9 to create my photo magnets, which I uploaded from my computer, shown below.   I used the medium size magnets, which comes in a square grid of nine magnets that can break apart into individual magnets.  (I chose to keep my grid together for now).  So, now we have some fun images of our little family on the fridge to enjoy, and I plan on making more!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

What I Learned in 2014

I have been reflecting upon 2014 over the past week.  Here are some things I learned this past year:

1.  Dreaming big — dreams require boldness, a lot of hard work, and follow through.

2.  Learning to enjoy ‘the middle.’

3.  Practicing habits that aids my creativity.  Showing up and doing the work is the only way to attain my goals.

4.  If I commit to my work, the Universe will be supportive in kind.

5. Taking more risks and getting outside of my comfort zone can lead to positive results.

6. Taking breaks and resting is necessary and it can also lead to invigoration and renewed creativity.

7. Learning not to let fear and uncertainty get in my way.

8. Continuing to follow my curiosity is a good practice.

9.  Nothing matters more than the present moment.  Today is for living.  (Doug is really good with this practice and he and Victory are my teachers.)

10. Finally, always keeping a grateful heart!

And with that may you truly live every day of 2015!

Around Here: January

It is a new year!  Below are some items that have occurred around here in January!

-cleaning off my desktop and filing and archiving files on my computer.

-finishing up making our photo albums from the last quarter of 2014.

-finishing collecting data and coordinating photo shoots to take place shortly for my long-term photography project.

-editing images for my photography project.

-making paw art with Victory!

-listening to Hozier on repeat.

-scouting for a few more fine art prints to fame and display in our home!

-finished The Missing on Netflix.

-finished the BBC’s Broadchurch on Netflix — this show is pretty good!

-began watching Season 5 of Downton Abbey!

-making and having homemade breakfast with Doug on the weekends!

-making this soup with Doug.

-Finished reading this book.

-Began reading this book

-burning lots of candles around the house!

-having date nights with Doug!

-planning a fun trip with Doug!

-Doug (with Victory’s help) got his new Lionel train up and running!

-taking Victory on outings to get her out of the house to prevent cabin fever since it has been so cold here!  Our options are limited, but we have been resourceful.

-resting.  We are trying to incorporate more rest in 2015 — Victory sets a good example for us below!

-gaining many more blog subscribers again this month!  Yay!  Thank you to all of my blog readers!

Happy Tuesday!

Photo Calendar

I love photographs.  For Christmas, for one of Doug’s gifts, I made Doug a calendar full of images of our little family, and our fur girl, Victory, shown below!  For the first time, I used Artifact Uprising, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I selected a simple calendar, with individual pages for each month, and I selected twelve images from the year and put together a calendar printed on heavy card stock, highlighting the images, which can be displayed on refrigerators and desks!  Doug was quite happy and he took his calendar to work!  I made another calendar for the house, shown below, which is currently on our refrigerator.  My next project is making some photo books!

Happy Monday!

2015 Word of the Year: Flow

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don’t resist them — that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” -Lao Tzu

Many people write new year resolutions.  I still write down my goals for the year, but I have found it more helpful to have a word, an intention, to focus on throughout the year.

This year, in addition to my animal spirit totem, a deer, I decided the word flow would be my word for 2015.  Last year I chose the word trust and the year before that, I chose the word create.

Flow defined: flow /flō/  verb 1. move along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream.

I am going to keep moving along steadily with my long-term photography project, which I hope to be done photographing by this spring; and I am going to practice flowing with what comes my way.  My hope is that positive benefits will flow from this practice.

Are you considering selecting a word for yourself (or letting one find you)?  There is no right or wrong.  The main thing to remember is that this is your word.

And what do you do with this one little word?  You live with it.  You invite it into your life.  You let it speak to you.  You might even follow where it leads.  There are so many possibilities.