Getting in The Christmas Mood

We have all been fighting this cold virus...one at a time...here at our house.  So, I did not get to do any of the baking and crafting that I wanted to do early in the season.  I was all over Pinterest pinning away all of the fabulous things I was going to make to give to friends and neighbors.  But when I finally felt well enough to do anything it was already the 19th and there really wasn't much time.  Then, Hubs came home sick from work and that blew any plans I had, right out of the water.  I am very much a germ-phobe and will not bake something in a "sick house" to give away to someone else.  But my desire to bake was so strong!!!!  I gave in and searched out the simplest recipes I could find and whipped those up...only after I Cloroxed the entire house!
I wanted to share the links for these ideas, they are so simple that you could whip them up today! Just in time for Christmas and run them over to the neighbors and impress them with your creativity!!! Or...keep them for yourself and eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner like me!

First up were the most delish chocolatey-minty cookies!!!  And they are made with only 4 ingredients!

Andes Mint Cookies

These Holiday Pretzel Treats are so addicting and so easy to make!

Holiday Pretzel Treats

These Candy Cane Marshmallow Treats were super easy to make.  I just copied the picture as there were no directions to go with the picture.  *Note, the link may not always go back to this picture.*  But, as you can see it is a mini candy cane, stuck into a large marshmallow, dipped in melted chocolate (I just melted semisweet chocolate chips in my mini crock pot) and rolled in crushed candy canes.  I ran out of crushed candy canes and rolled some in sanding sugar and it looked pretty too!  I thought these would be fun for stirring hot cocoa.

Candy Cane Marshmallow Treats

Well, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas...and are all healthy!

Busy as a Bee

I am sure at this point nobody even stops by my doorstep anymore.  There is dust on the knick knacks and cobwebs in the corners.  I have been away for far too long.  I said in my last post that I would have so much more  free time once the kids went off to school.  Well, I had no idea how wrong I was.  With Diva in kindergarten and Professor in second grade I now have two pick up times.  I am the room mom in both classes with teachers to love.  I volunteer in each class for a few hours once a week.  I don't even have time to go thrifting or to yard sales!  It is a fun and busy time for me.
Among this busy life I have decided that I want to start a business.  I have loved photography since I was a kid.  It took me over two years with my Nikon D90 to actually take it off of the AUTO setting.  WOWZA! Once I did that it was like a whole new world opened up right in front of me!  I have been soaking up as much information as I can.  I have been taking as many pictures as I can.  My journey toward being a professional photographer is taken in baby steps.  This makes me more comfortable and there is nothing pushing me to go any faster. I want to figure out who I am in terms of what I like to shoot, how I shoot and where my comfort zone is.
I hope that I will have more to share here in the near future but that all depends on how crazy busy things get!  When I do get that photography website up and running I will post it here...if I still have any devoted readers.
Merry Christmas to you! Hope you are healthy and happy this holiday season!

A Colorful Bounty

I have been away from my blog for quite some time now.  Although, I have composed so many posts in my mind and have taken the pictures for them, getting it all onto the blog has been a different story!  We have been so busy.  One thing that we have discovered this summer is our local community Farmer's Market!  It is just up the street and they have it every Sunday.  It is on the small side and you can walk it in about 5 minutes!  I really hope that it grows and I would love to see more local growers from within our own city.  I have taken my neighbor and my family.  I hope to have a day when Hubs and I can take our bikes and ride to it...but that would require babysitting for the kids!
I have only purchased the food items there.  I am funny about craft items at markets. My first thought is that I can make that too.  Of course, I never get around to doing that but then I guess it means I never really needed that item.  Maybe near Christmas time I may pick up a few things as gifts.
I thought I would share a few pictures of our latest bounty since it was so beautiful in its coloring!
We are winding down our summer and starting or back-to-school shopping.  Hopefully once the kids are out of the house for a few hours I can give more attention to this blog!!
Hugs!
Le Anne


Love the colors!



So many things to do with these tomatoes!



Buttery, flacky goodness!



Only way I can get farm fresh eggs! (until I get my own hens!)



It's Crunch Time

Sorry I have been here for a bit.  It is busy season here.  Counting down to the last day of school means lots of room mom activities for me.  Planning our vacation.  Diva is still doing her competitions which means twice weekly practices.  Professor is finishing up his first year of cub scouts.  Hubs and I are trying to find time for our own getaways.  We are getting new floors throughout the entire house!  That is a chore!  I am packing and purging and throwing away 9 years of married crap (you know, the stuff people gave us at our wedding that we never used but moved three different times)!  We are planning a fundraiser yard sale for our gardener and his family so it helping to purge for a good cause.  So, we are busy right now.  A good busy but busy none the less.  So if I am not around that is why.
I will leave you with a picture of the Zac Brown Band concert that Hubs and I got to go to just last weekend.  It was so awesome!  They are our favorite band ever!  We were in the 6th row and dead center at the Hollywood Bowl!  I danced and sang the entire night...never sat down!  Oh, it was so amazing!

The picture is from my cell phone so it isn't the best! But I was snapping away all night!

Happy May!  I will probably talk to you all in June!

What Are People Coming To?!?

Today I got a sad phone call. 

It was from the wife of my gardener...the man that mows my lawn, trims my hedges, pulls my weeds, edges the lawn, turns the soil, fertilizes the yards, fixes the sprinklers and will bring in my trash cans from the curb on trash day.  He is a friendly guy that really likes to chat with me about anything and everything when he catches me coming or going.  He works hard and has been hit even harder by the economy.  We can see it from our window...he doesn't use a trailer to tow his equipment anymore.  His truck is a smaller, older model.  He no longer has help but does it all himself.  All of his equipment is now secondhand.  Well, as it turns out that last one, the secondhand equipment, is for a rather awful reason.  Some men stole his good stuff...right out of the back of his truck while he was mowing the side yard of a client.  What is wrong with people.  Manny is a really nice guy.  He is always offering to help with anything he can see that needs to be done.  He is just like everyone else, just trying to keep his head above water and the wolves at bay.
But that is not what the phone call was about.  The phone call that I got today was from his wife calling to tell me in a broken voice that he would not be here today to cut my grass, he was in the ICU.  My first thought was that this has all caught up to him and he had a heart attack.  But she explained that he had an accident on Monday.  Well, being the concerned person (or nosy) that I am, I asked for more specifics.  This is where it truly gets horrific.  This is where I lost my composure.  I lost my faith in human nature!
It seems that while he was on a job this past Monday, some men came along and stole some of his equipment from the back of his truck...AGAIN.  This time he saw it happening and approached the truck to talk to them.  He must have put his hand on the door frame in some way because he was holding onto the truck when the driver accelerated and drove away.  The driver dragged him down the road!  Dragged a man down the road just to steal his lawn equipment!  It still makes me cry to imagine the scene.  Manny came through this with broken ribs, a broken clavicle and a removed spleen.  He remains in the ICU for now and is awake.  This is all that I got from his wife, whom I do not know.  All she wanted to let me know was that he wouldn't be able to cut my lawn today. 
What I want to know is what kind of lowlife drags a man for a weedwacker?  I am hurting for this family.  So, if you can take a moment to say a quick prayer for Manny and his family.  They are going to have a rough road ahead of them.  He will lose so much income while he is in the hospital and during his recovery.  I hope that in the end of this tragic story there will be some sort of goodness.

Spring Time

Spring has been a fickle character around here.  One week she shows up with beautiful temps in the 80s and gets us all outdoors soaking up some vitamin D.  The next week she creeps in with damp foggy skies and barely reaches above 60 and forces us into our jackets.  For Easter she is treating us to some drizzly wet yuck!
We love the warm weather, of course!  I love the chance to put the ipod on the back patio and dance with the kids, get my hands in some dirt and create lovely little planters for my front porch.
So, I thought now that it is gray outside it would be nice to share some of the gorgeous colors that would greet you at my front door!
Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

Welcome!

I love to collect enamel ware.  This piece works perfectly as a planter.

Hello Mr. Ladybug.

Love the bright colors of these pots.

String of pearls hanging in a pitcher.

Mr. Toad is hiding from the sun.

I just love the color orange right now.

Love the ruffles of this mum!

I got blogged about!

Well, I have mentioned her here before, but I must say that Tara Whitney is one special photographer.  Not only can she take amazing photos but she writes so beautifully!  I remember reading her essays in our high school honors classes and just knowing that she had IT.  That special way to capture her readers and draw them in.  If you read her comments you can see that she can still do it, every other one says that tears were involved.  I am often wiping my eyes or my nose after reading her blog!
Today, we were her topic of choice!  I love being her topic of choice!  It is like being a celebrity just because I am featured on her blog.  I mean, Tara has gone to other continents to do her photography!  She has been a guest speaker for her photography.  Back before she was a world renowned photographer she was being published in scrapbook mags for her scrapbooking.  Before that?  Well, she was my high school friend and we rode to prom in a limo with a Jacuzzi in the back.  Ha!  We were something else back then.
Tara is just someone amazing because she is just so grounded.  I am just blessed to be someone that knows her and was photographed by her.
Go look for yourself!

Farther into the darkness

So, in my last post I asked if there was light at the end of the tunnel.  The answer...a giant resounding NO.  We are now a week and a half into illness.  Diva is still suffering from some minor effects of the stomach virus.  We are still doing daily loads of her laundry.  More surprising is the Professor.  He spent this morning hooked to an IV being re-hydrated.  My poor son couldn't take in any fluid yesterday.  He wouldn't even talk to us.  He was hit hard by the stomach virus but also suffered from a double ear infection!  Of course, we didn't know that until today.  Fortunately, Diva already had a doctor's appointment today for her kindergarten registration and I decided to try to get Professor in for a "same day".  I went with my "mommy's instinct".  Last night as I was drifting off to sleep with all of my anxiety, I had an image of Professor hooked to an IV.  So, I think that somewhere deep inside of me, I knew we were into something deep.  I was lucky to get an appointment time just before Diva's so they were seen together.  Hubs was going to pass on the IV re-hydration and see how we could do with an ounce of fluid per hour on our own.  I couldn't sit there without speaking up.  I knew that we needed to do something quicker for Professor.  The doctor told me later that it was the look on my face during that discussion that made him decide to go ahead with the IV.  It was my "mommy's instinct" taking over.  Within 15 minutes Professor began to stir and he pinked up.  By the end he was asking for food and water.  I still want to cry when I think about how brave he was.  He didn't even cry when they put the IV in.  There was quite a bit of blood on his hand and it didn't phase him at all!   The doctor said that both of the kids are way too underweight and need to start gaining some weight.  We are just trying to get the food to stay in them!  I am just thrilled that Professor is talking to us again and moving!  I don't know when we will see the other end of this tunnel.  I asked Hubs what he thinks God is trying to teach us.  Why is this happening to us?   Why are my kids suffering for so long?  Hubs thinks that God is teaching me patience.  I think that God is trying to get my attention regarding our family's diet.  How we can improve our diet and make our diet healthier and fatten our kids up.  I also think that He is teaching me to be thankful for everyday that we are healthy and to stop thinking ahead so much.   I tend to get bogged down in the things to come or in my own health issues and forget to thank God for the health we do have.  Trust me...I am getting the message. 

Is There Light?

As my readers know, haaaa haaaa, "my readers", I crack myself up!  Hi there girls.  Oh and hey, Sue, thanks for the comment...really felt the love!
Anyway, as you know sometimes I use this blog as my outlet for the times when being a stay at home mom gets the best of me.
So this is going to be on of those posts.  A "cleansing" post if I may be so free with that word right now.

Is there light at the end of this tunnel?  Will my kids actually go back to school?  They are pretty much going to miss the entire week.  I had to sit myself down and come to terms with the fact that I could not rush them into health.  I could not Clorox their immune systems clean.  Just when things were looking good the Virus would come up behind me and smack me on the head with a new symptom.
For the last two nights Diva has awaken at 2am to christen her bed with vomit.  Her and I then end up downstairs on the couch.  I would find myself jumping at every noise she made, ready with the basin if she needed me.  Well, last night I awoke at 3am all on my own and rejoiced that Diva was still asleep.  But that is where I cursed myself, because then I was up.  My mind was running and I wasn't going back to sleep.  So, night three...no sleep...equals...MIGRAINE! 
*Poor Hubs, I actually cried on his shoulder this morning that I wanted a Starbucks coffee to be delivered to my doorstep.  I may have been delirious at that point.  Mind you, I have not seen the light of day since Saturday!  Sweet man that he is, he went and bought me a big giant cup of Starbucks before he went to work.
If only the day had gotten better from there!  But alas, the coffee was my high point.  It bolstered my energy and stamina for what came next.  Did you know that a child that lies flat on her back and vomits water looks very much like a geyser?  That was my brief observation before said geyser hit me in the face and chest.  So, after two showers, a Bissell Spotbot treatment for the couch and floor and a good long nap for the Diva, we are doing much better.  The couch cushions are sunning themselves dry in the beautiful weather outside.  The kids are playing a bit.  My migraine is gone although I still have hideous dark circles under my eyes.
Oma and Papa were sweet enough to drop off the Rapunzel doll and DVD for Diva and some trucks for Professor.  Of course, they could only talk to the kids through the window because I refuse to share the Virus with anyone! 
I really hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  Next week is our spring break!  I need to get out of here!

*Update* My dear friend, M, who doesn't even read this blog, did drop off a Starbucks coffee for me this afternoon!  I opened my door to find Professor's makeup school work and a coffee for me sitting next to my hyacinths!  She is one special lady!

If I Still Had Face Book....

If I still had FB these would be some of my status updates:

What ever happened to the 24 hour stomach flu that I suffered from as a kid?  Why do my kids get a 5 day stomach flu?

Thank God, my washing machine has a "sanitize" setting on it.  It has been very useful.

Does my child have an internal vomit setting that goes off at 2:30am every morning?

At least I got to go to the Salvation Army Thrift before all hell broke loose!  I found some nice crockery bowls too.

Now I really want to find a "flour sack" table runner to set the bowls on.

You know, Yogi Ginger Tea taste like black pepper.  But if it settles my tummy then I will suffer through.

Why do my kids get sick when I have plans for  Mommy Time?

Hmmm, my cats have learned to let themselves out the screen door.  They are supposed to be indoor cats.

Hey Cats, go scratch a tree, not my couches!

Mmmm, I love the smell of Hyacinths.  I have them all over the house and front porch.  I am ready for Spring!

I miss my friends.  One moved 3 hours away and we never said goodbye.  Another works and we just don't make time.  And the others, well we are friends because of our kids and we still don't find the time to hang out.

There is this friend that I met through our kids and she is the most generous lady.  She brought us a care package yesterday.  It had a book for me, a magazine for me, silly bands for the kids, a card game for the kids and two cans of soup.  She also picked up the Professor's make up work and homework packet.  I really like her!

I am going to really "hate" Scooby Doo shows by the time the kids go back to school!!!!  I don't want to hum the theme song in my sleep anymore!

So, you see, I am seriously bored and may need to get back onto FB just so I can write nonsense and believe people find me entertaining because they comment on it.

Now, off to wash some pillows.

Quarantined

I told my friend this morning that if she drives by and sees a black flag flying in front of our house it means we have been quarantined.  I think that the stench of Clorox will permanently be burned into my nostrils.  No amount of glove wearing or hand washing will remove the faint bleachy smell from my hands either.  I am almost tempted to bathe my kids in too.
Why? 
Well, we have been hit hard this year!  Hit by every ugly, icky, nasty bug that is out there.  They attach themselves to one of us and then spread through the family at an alarming rate!  We have missed birthday parties, dance practices, after school play times, days and days of school and yard sales due to these nasty bugs.  But let me tell you...this one is bad!  It involves the tummy and...well, I don't want to gross anyone out so I will just stopped there and say that we are doing lots of laundry.
Diva got it and shared it with Daddy and then Daddy shared it with the Professor and now Momma has it!  How am I supposed to take care of cleaning up after all the sick kiddos when I am sick.  Well, with lots and lots of Clorox spray and gloves.  In fact Hubs is picking up more gloves and Clorox at the grocery store as we speak.
I was thinking of a picture to add but...really...what kind of picture do you put with this post?
I think I might go wrap some crime tape around my front porch now.  I don't want anyone near my house.  This virus is wild and crazy and looking for a new host!

Sweet Treat

Sometimes a girl deserves a little sweet treat!

Diva had her first day at a new preschool today.

Following tradition, we had an ice cream treat after school.

She mixed "Hawaiian Delight" with "Cookies and Cream"

and topped it with sour worms, white chocolate chips and

regular chocolate chips.

Whatever her little girl heart desires!

Forgive the wonky photos.  They were taken with my phone.

Top 10

I will get to the Top 10 list in a moment but let me explain my idea for it first.

I did something today that has been building in my mind for awhile.  I made amends for a "falling out" that happened over a year ago.  I cannot even remember the exact details for the collapse of the friendship.  I remember that it got mean and that it got gossipy amongst other friends. I remember that I quit a bunco group because of the divisions that it caused.  I let it fester and occasionally spoke of it for a few months and then let it go.  Whenever I saw the woman around the area I would avoid eye contact and give a fake hello if even that.  But something in me changed in the last year and especially in the last few months.  I have realized that I am as much to blame for the falling out as she was, if not for the initial fracture then for not trying to fix it.  I didn't value this woman and that friendship enough.  I didn't value myself enough at that time in my life to trust myself to reach out and try.  So today I got her number and reached out. I made my apologies for my part in the demise of the friendship.  It was a friendship that I wished had not died and I told her as much.  She accepted it gracefully and said she did not hold a grudge and said her goodbyes.  She did not apologize for her part in it.  Did I want her to say an apology?  In my thoughts I told myself that all I needed and wanted was to say that I was sorry for my part. I told myself that I did not need her to say that she was sorry for anything.  All I wanted was for her to hear me out.   But honestly, yes, deep in the recesses of my heart and mind I did want her to reciprocate.  Perhaps I caught her off guard and she could not do it on such short notice.  Perhaps she does not feel that she owes me any such apology.  I cannot assume to know how she feels.  It is behind us.  I did come away from that phone call feeling less fulfilled that I hoped.  I wanted to walk away feeling cleansed.  Instead I walked away feeling somehow sad and a little raw.  Did I over talk?  Did I reveal too much of myself?  Did I give away too much emotion in my voice?  Oh well, now it is done with.  I have said my apology and it was heartfelt and it was real.  I went into it with true intention of letting things go and moving on.  I am now alright with not getting one in return.

So, what is the "Top 10"?  Well, it is the Top 10 things that I am going to try to do everyday as I live my life.

1. Realize that I am human.  The things that I say and do will not always come out perfect.
2. It is never too late to make an apology.
3. "Crow" doesn't really taste that bad and a helping every now and then is alright.
4. Sometimes it really is best just to sit back and observe the situation around me and keep my mouth shut.
5. I do not always need to be the group spokesperson.
6. It is not good for my mental health to re-evaluate every single thing that I say and do all of the time.
7. The moral decisions will be hard to make but they are good ones.
8.  My children are my audience and I should never forget that.
9.  Sometimes just the action itself is the reward:  buying the stranger behind you in line their cup of coffee
10. Tomorrow is another chance

Maybe I should make it a Top 11 because I do want to make amends with all of the people in my life that I have hurt inadvertently or on purpose.  Although I hope that the latter is a shorter list. 
I don't know if this is doable.  I don't know if it is even something that I should do.  If it is a "can of worms" I am ready to open up.  I guess it goes back to #6 and thinking about what I have said and done to people and whether I need to apologize for those things.

Do any of you think about these kinds of things?  Or, perhaps am I destined for the looney bin?

Which Way Is Up?

I am back after a rather long break.  I haven't been posting much lately.  I have been writing a post but when I come back to it, I don't like it and erase it.  There just doesn't seem to be anything interesting to it.  But today I need to write just for me.  So, if you want to go now that would be alright. 
Our family has been very busy with  illness, school, dance competition, cub scouts and life in general.  I am just trying to keep my head above the water.  Here are some cute pictures to keep you entertained.

Diva in her squirrel costume for competition!

Professor won first place in his den race

for his pinewood derby car.

These two kids have been quite the troopers for the past few months.  Working hard at school and their extracurricular activities. 

Can you believe that the Professor built his own car?  Granted, Hubs, used the saw to cut the car out.  But Professor designed it and sanded it and polished the axles.  Hubs showed him how to use a spray paint can and he painted it himself.  He placed the stickers on and helped Hubs hammer in the nails for the tires.  So, it did irk me a bit when some of the parents were making comments such as, "congrats on that win, Dad" or "nice job there, Dad".  We are firm believers in letting the kids do their own projects and being proud of the outcome of their own work...win or lose!  So, therefore, CONGRATULATIONS, PROFESSOR, ON WINNING YOUR FIRST PINEWOOD DERBY RACE!

As for Diva, she has been dancing her little tooshie off.  We have been teaching her that the focus of competition is on having fun and not winning.  So, imagine my delight when I overheard her playing with her toys and telling them, "now, before you go on stage, remember, it isn't about winning but having fun!"  It totally made my day!  I do have issues with dance competitions in some aspects, the makeup and some of the other dancers' costumes and routines are too risque for our taste.  But, Diva is too young to notice any of this.  I did have a run in with another mom from another studio who thought it was perfectly within her right to step on Diva's garmet bag and almost onto her costume since they were in her way on the floor!  I held my tongue because we represent another person's business and instead I gathered Diva up and left the area.  But let me tell you, I was blowing smoke out of my ears!  I don't like the entitled egos that walk around the competitions.  Will Diva dance in competition next year?  I don't know.  She loves dancing.  She's dancing ALL.DAY.LONG at home.  She talks about dancing and she choreographs her own dances.  She is made to dance.  But, I don't like the environment that she could end up in.  Fortunately she is at a studio that dresses the girls in age-appropriate costumes and has them doing age-appropriate moves (no four year olds gyrating their hips here!).  So, I am okay with it right now.

So, now you know where I been lately.  We are having a lot of fun and family time!

Thanks for checking in.

Wake UP and a giveaway

My brain is a buzz with so many things.  Things to remember and things to learn.  I want to remember that the Professor's teacher's birthday is next week and I want to do this for her along with baking her some cupcakes, white chocolate covered strawberries and a jar of Swedish fish (her fave candy).  I also have to remember that I need to have the entire class of 28 kids sign her card before the weekend!

 One thing that I want to learn is how to take beautiful pictures like this lovely lady over at The Rusted Chain.  I am having a friend come over next week to teach me how to calibrate my camera to my computer to my printer so that something might come out the way I see it through my lens!  Speaking of this adorable blog.  Beki is having a giveaway!  Oh, did I forget to mention that she also makes delicious jewelry?!  Go check out her giveaway right now!  I could really use that Savor Moments necklace...do you think that if I wore it all of the time then some energy would seep out of that sweet cuppa by osmosis?  I hope I win it but if not then I can still go order one!  Isn't that the loveliest blog?

Here are some of my own works in progress to keep you coming back!

Love ya!

Sugar and Sunlight



Diva playing on the slide in the late afternoon inspired me to pull out my camera.

Love the sunshine in her hair.

Golden goodness.

Playing with the sun flair.

Diva and I shared an early Valentine's Day treat

hot cocoa

cookies

smiles

Love her shirt...Puppy Love...since she acts like a puppy all the time

Love the scalloped edge of this cake plate

Yumminess

Love Pink, Love Birds, Love-Birds

The chipiness of this bowl is my favorite part

 



Love

Yesterday I posted about discovering my old high school friend, Tara.  I sent you on over to her blog, Just Be Blogged and I expected you to spend some time poking around and admiring her style.  That is what I do every time I visit...which is every morning (more like 4 or 5 times a day)!  She always amazes me with what she sees through her lens.

After I contacted her and we emailed back and forth for a year or so I made a decision.  Hubs and I were going to get our family photos done and it had to be Tara.  There are so many things about my family that I wanted to capture in a still frame.  Moments I want frozen.  I filled out Tara's questionnaire and explained these things to her as best I could but I didn't know how well it could be done.  Ha, let me just tell you now, Tara can do it!

Tara captured all of the moments I wanted and those I didn't even know I needed until I saw them on the screen.  She saw the love that we share with each other and she got it.  Man, she even got a look that I gave Hubs in one shot that I didn't even know I gave him anymore!  Look for it in the slide show...#75.  It reminds me of the days when we first started dating, when he was my whole world and I wanted to spend the day just staring at him.  Who knew I still did that?!  She got the shots of Diva's freckles and curls and multi colored eyes.  She got Professor's endless-pools-of-blue eyes, his tongue-in-teeth concentration, gappy grin that will be gone soon.  She captured us in our home surrounded by the things that we love.  The kids playing on the piano that used to be pounded on by my brothers and me when it sat in my Granny's house.  The kids at their homework table drawing bridges with their rainbow colors of crayons.  She captured us in our neighborhood with the things that makes our community important to US!  The oranges, the green fields and mountains way off in the background. 

Tara is a mysteriously talented woman.  I feel happier knowing her and blessed to have my families images captured by her artistic eye.

Please enjoy the slide show.  I would love to hear which ones you love.

Here is the link:

http://tarawhitney.com/clients/leanne/
password: home
Turn up the volume, she added lovely music too!

Kismet

kis·met

n.

Fate; fortune.

It was kismet that I was perusing photography blogs one day in 2009.  Kismet that my eyes were seeking art, beauty, truth, real life and photography all wrapped up in a blog.  Kismet when I stumbled upon a cute little blog she called Just Be Blogged with a sweet little heart in a house symbol.  Kismet when my eyes paused over the name, Tara Whitney....Huh, I knew a Tara Duff in high school that dated a boy named Jeff Whitney.  I scrolled through to find a picture of the author/artist/master mind of this cute blog and then my jaw hit the keyboard.  There sat my old friend, Tara Duff...now Whitney.  Yep, she married that cute boy from high school.  She was now this beautiful-world-traveling-rad-talented photographer!

I wanted to wave my hand from the back of the room, "Hi, Tara, hi, its me, LeAnne.   Do you remember me? We sat in Mrs. Jackson's English class together. Please-please-please remember me!"  It was like  some kind of celebrity sighting.  Guess what!  When I did email her, she did remember me and she called me a dork for asking!!!!  I loved it!!!!  She is so down to earth and real and amazingly talented.  Seriously!People travel across the country to have her photograph their families!!!!  I SWEAR!  Well, maybe they were already going to be here and they plan her into their vacation...at least that is what the wives tell the husbands to get them here!  So, it was kismet that got me to her blog and put me back in touch with my old high school friend, Tara.
So, please go take a minute or 20 to look at her fabulous blog, http://tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/.

Something Beautiful

I have something exciting and beautiful to share with you tomorrow!!!!

Just Want To Put It Into The Universe

I am having a moment of superstition or something like that.  I am thinking that if I put this out into the universe then it will last and last and last.  I FINALLY FEEL GOOD!!!
Now, Universe, take these words and let them float away and circle around and become permanent and true and lasting.  I am tired of being sick.  I have suffered through countless migraines in the last month.  I have suffered through full torso ring worm.  I am just now, like right this minute, feeling better after suffering a stomach bug.
So, Universe, take these words and give them wings and let them become my daily mantra!
Thank you.

A work in process

Hi, I am a piece of work.  Ha!  That can be taken so many ways...and I guess it could be true on most days.  But today it means that I am in the process of moving my blog from Word Press back to Blogger.  I was feeling very limited over at Word Press.  I have been away from Blogger for quite awhile and now that I am back there seems to be a lot to learn.  So please be patient with me while I learn the ropes again.  I want to figure out how to show off my photos and make this blog work for me!  I want it to make me sound witty!  I want it to make me look like I have a creative life!  Ha!
So, I will be in and out getting it all pretty.  So please come in and give me your input.  I need all the advice I can get!
Muah!!!