Merry Christmas!

Updated Post! My gift to you is a link to Ed's great photography blog. He has loads of inspiring images to browse. I hope you've had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The link I wanted to show you on Christmas is here. Here's hoping the link works now!

Grateful Heart

It is with a grateful heart that I say Good Morning to you. I am one of many who enjoyed a wonderful day with good company and good food and shelter. I'm grateful for moving to a new city, that I love; into a new home near the shore; a pleasant walk on the beach with friends; sweet beautiful children, a nice, funny husband, thoughtful family, good health, so much abundance of material stuff that I can give bunches away and still have "enough;" a slice of the best pumpkin pie I've ever tasted made by the great chef in our family (see photo), my son's inquisitive heart, my daughter's thoughtful insights, my husbands quick humor, my Dad's unbounded knowledge, insights and patience, a whole family full of talents and qualities I admire and most of all that I am lucky enough to be here to enjoy it and a thousand other generous gifts this world has to offer when I make the effort to appreciate it. You have to accept a gift, by appreciating it. I appreciate it and I appreciate your stopping by. Thank You! Please read Stacy's blog, she has something wonderfully grateful to share, go to the link she has and see how you can share your gratitude in a meaningful way.

Closed Door #2

A year and a half ago, we left Keystone Heights to move to Sebring. We lived in this home for a year before closing this door too. It was a nice, calm, friendly, inland town. We rented a brand new house, while waiting for our home to sell. If you have an older home and you have not lived in a new one, know that new is not always better. Skimpy insulation is very annoying and costly. My old home was solid and very well insulated. Things were not perfect and new, but they were pretty reliable. This rental did look sharp though and it was nice to try out a new house. It was a good experience. I think we made the right move. I'm grateful to be able to release this door too.

Closed Doors

A few weeks ago, we closed these doors on our old home to open new doors for today. A lot of things were beautiful about where we were, but it was not where we needed to be. I am grateful to be able to let someone else enjoy this view and to move on to a new view of my own. It's very hard to pick something up, until you put something down. It feels good for me to move on and embrace something new. Enjoy what you have now. Fill your arms with what you love. Let go when you need to.

Right On Track

Moving right along, we decided to focus on what we wanted. We wanted to live near the ocean. We wanted to be done with the concern over selling our home. We accepted a low offer and sold our home. We found a new rental home near enough to the shore. We moved everything out of both homes into the new one. Now my task is to settle in and to release all the unnecessary items I have accumulated, to make room for living! Hopefully the storage unit I rented yesterday will help facilitate my effort Best get Back on Track! Drawing by me for my son's birthday card.

You Must Be the Change You Wish to See in This World

We are all in this together. If you live in the US, you probably voted. You cast your vote because you care. You care about yourself, your family, your community, your state, your country, your world. Your candidate won or lost. Now it is up to all of us to contribute to making our world, country, state, community, family and selves a bit better. How you choose to do that is very personal. That you choose to do this is very important. How can we be the change we wish to see in this world? Title quote by: Ghandi

Right Now

"Catch a magic moment, do it Right here and now It means everything." Van Halen Being Present requires a level of attention I am not accustomed to giving. I am loving it and feeling like a child again. In those present moments, I'm looking at the world in wonder and awe and wondering how to share this with someone else. It's just too good not to share. Sometimes the smallest beautiful details are lost in the hurry to our destination. I drive by this nearly every day. I never noticed. I went for sunrise walk one morning and liked the dew on the leaves. Several days later, I almost tossed the picture. It wasn't that great, but I liked the dew drops. Oh, yeah, wasn't that why I took this picture? I stopped and took closer look. Those drops are really interesting. They make me think of other worlds unexplored. They are perfect spheres reflecting what I don't take the time to notice. I noticed today and I'm grateful for my perfect moments.

Wish on a Scrap

I have really enjoyed Loreen's Scrap Space She has a really great site and I love that I have joined her Yahoo group. Look on the right side of her blog for the sign up link. I have ordered some awesome supplies at great prices through her and they are always doing something fun there. I've already ordered Glimmer Mist, Glimmer Screens, Bazzill in bulk, and some very cool strong magnets. It's worth a visit!

Finally Printing

I printed and I am joyous! I have never printed a digi layout before this. I am embarrassed to admit I have not been printing my digi pix at all! I took an entire online class (Library of Memories) with Stacy Julian at Big Picture Scrapbooking and even after hearing her tell me for four months to print my pictures...I didn't do it until I saw there was a sale at scrapbookpictures. It was the square pictures! The only printing I had done before this was a poster for my Grandmother's 90th birthday. It had 192 square photos in it. I had already processed these 2.5 inch pix and I was ready to do another project with them. I had already printed that poster through Kinko's and the pictures were good enough already. After I ordered the small square pix, I realized I also had 12x12 layouts to print. I just got those back and they came out awesome. I highly recommend this company. The shipping is very reasonable too! I am so delighted!

Moon Over Miami

We Went Down to Miami to visit family and celebrate two birthdays. My In-Laws are leaving Miami, which leaves my parents as the last family there still. We had a really nice time visiting Ed's parents. Afterward, we went to Toys R Us and got some extra gifts for DS. Then we visited my parents and went to the Chart House in the Grove for my Dad's 70th and my son's birthday (see photo). It is a great restaurant! When my Dad made the reservations, they asked him if we were coming for a special occasion and he said "It's my birthday." When we got there they had Happy Birthday and my Dad's name printed at the top of the menu. So we were all surprised. After dinner, we walked out to look at the bay. I love looking at Biscayne Bay when the weather is rough. The rain got the better of us, so we didn't stay long. The moon was up when we left, but you couldn't see it this time. The next day we went to visit my Grandmother in the nursing home. She is 90. It is nice to see her, but it is hard because she can't remember anything for very long. I have been sorting through her stuff in her apartment to rescue her memorabilia. I have so many questions and she just can't answer them now. It is quite hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. She didn't have any order to things. As she grew older and less able to manage that, the mess grew worse. Do your family a favor. De-clutter. De-clutter. De-clutter. Let your family share those memories with you and even help you sort it out. I offered years ago, but she was probably overwhelmed then. She is so sweet and everyone loves her. She was a Jazz Singer all of her life. When she lived in Marathon, they used to call her the "Sweetheart of the Florida Keys." When I call or visit I tell her the stories of her life, because she can't remember. She still likes to hear her stories.

Time is On My Side

It has been a long time since my last post! I realize that in one way we do have to act as if time is on our side and on the other hand we have to act as if we don't have a moment to spare. I feel both are true. In the time since my last personal post, I have flown to Vancouver, cruised to Alaska, walked over a suspension bridge, gone up in a very tall building and enjoyed the view, flown in sea plane, saw bears fairly close in the wild, flown in helicopter over high mountains and glaciers, stood on an ice field on a glacier, dog sledded, ridden a train up and down a historic mountain, cycled through a rain forest and a deserted gold rush town, cruised through fjords, watched glaciers caving, saw a whale completely breech the water, his entire body in the air, saw sea lions, otters, eagles on vacation, watched a hurricane, turn into a tropical storm before it went over my town, had a birthday, had a life changing event, printed a couple hundred photos and overcame a messy paper filled desk. I am afraid of heights so some of those things involved my overcoming my fear to enjoy the beauty of the moment and I am glad that I did it when I had the opportunity and time to do it. Enjoy the time you have and make it your own without letting fear hold you back. Have a wonderful day!

Hummie's World: Take a Sip of Tea & Help A Special Guy Win!

Hummie's World: Take a Sip of Tea & Help A Special Guy Win! Click the link and read Hummie's post to find out more. Watch this video and keep the hits coming through August 11th. Sorry I got this one linked up so late. It's a fun video and educational too. We have been away on vacation.

Library of Memories - Things We Do

This morning when Stacy Julian posted our last Library of Memories lesson she said to take picture of three everyday things. I decided to make a this LO. Wish the coffeepot was a bit shinier and colors matched perfectly. This is not about perfection. It's about getting it done. It's funny to do a LO about such mundane things, but I wonder what was mundane in my family 100 years ago Fonts: Garamond, Scriptina, BG paper from my Seven Summer-Licious freebie set.

Library of Memories - All About Us

I have been taking this years annual Library of Memories 16 week non-chronological scrapbooking class with Stacy Julian. As part of our All About Us, Personality page, I created this LO to share Ed's fun personality. It has just been snow much fun to play with the "Winter" theme here in Florida. I am amazed how much this class is changing the way I scrapbook. I highly recommend her books: "The Big Picture" and "Photo Freedom." Credits: Bon Scrapatit Designs/Linda Walton: Win'treeWeather 3S DAD Scrapkit: BGPaper11 and Snowflakes 1-4. Fonts: King and Queen and Garamond. Photos: Tasha and Ed Stanton

Hummie's World: Why Does Everyone Want Link Love?

Hummie's World: Why Does Everyone Want Link Love? This is an awesome post. I have been wondering about this for some time. It takes a little effort to understand, but I feel it is worth it. I have joined Technorati and Del.icio.us too! Hope this link works! If you are a designer, this is a must read post!

Christmas Card

NWR really helped me catch up on my LO's! This is for the Week 2 Wed. Challenge and my last for their gallery. Journaling block at bottom reads: "Every year we pose for a Christmas card photo. This year we had just moved in December. We were in a hurry to be done. Ed is a great photographer and he is practicing his art on us. He took oodles of photos and we were not happy with them. Edmund was getting tired, so Ed took one last shot. The best photo is this one that shows us as a family." Credits: Sweet Shoppe Designs: Carnival Kit (recolored); JSprague 4-Square template; Fonts: CK Alis Writing, Engravers MT, Century Gothic.

bc - before children

This is a retrospective of my time when I was 28, long before I had kids. Life was very different. I am grateful to be a Mom now, just taking a different look back. This was for one of the challenges in my NWR class. Credits: Photos: Ed Stanton, Carnival Collaboration Kit from Sweete Shop Designs, December Daily template by J Sprague, Jason Gaylor Japanese Foliage brush 007. Font: VTPortable Remington.

Snow Fun

Snow fun is a rare chance in Florida. In January we had fun playing in a pile of imported "snow." Papers: 07, MCO Beautiful Journey 02 (recolored), MCO Scalloped Paper Mask, K Pertiet Sanded Overlay; Embellieshments: MCO_Boho Flourishes 03, MCO Topper, Leora Apron Strings 2 pldlabel , JHE Twilled Phrases blank, brush: 1166757445_Grunge by in vogue, JSprague DauphinAlpha; Fonts - Century Gothic, vtRemingtonPortable (will add more credits later when I find out who MCO and JHE is)

Mother's Day

Last spring we went to the Village in Keystone Heights for Mother's Day. We enjoyed a delicious meal and just plain fun. This is my week 3 LO for my NWR class with Jessica Sprague. Credits: J Sprague: Red Solid paper; K Pertiet: FairyDreamer 8 paper, Botanist No 7-2 paper; SnapFrames, On the Edge Fluorishes 3-6G & 2-1G, Jack-n Me Alpha blank, Katie Quotes, Brown Stitching; MaryAnn Wise: A LA MODE Brushes Scroll3

Thankful

We enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving together last Fall with Ed's family. I feel thankful to have such wonderful people in my life. I created this for my NWR Week 2 Lesson with Jessica Sprague. Credits: Photos: Ed Stanton, J Sprague: 4-square Template, GrungeFrame1, K Pertiet:_Papers: Cotton Easter red, Graph Notepaper, King Me 6; Tag: Stick Pinz Round; Overlay: Graphic Sun Prints 4a, Fonts: Asman from DaFont, Century Gothic and Lithos Pro.

Explore

Last Summer we had an incredible vacation in Bar Harbor. We cycled the Acadia National Forest carriage road and had a delicious lunch at the the Jordan Pond restaurant. My son enjoyed exploring the shoreline of Jordan Pond while my DH took photos. I created this LO for my week 1 assignment in Jessica Sprague's'"Now We're Rockin'" class. It was awesome. I am so glad I took her class. Photo: Ed Stanton; Papers: Crushed Bubbles 9, Idea 8; Distressed Diva Distressed Edge Overlay by Trish Jones; September Afternoon Alpha: M. Fenner. Rounded Corner Brush and Stapled Heart embellishment by J Sprague. Paper Reveal No. 2 template: K Pertiet; Valentine Brushes: Jason Gaylor, Fonts: Century Old Style & Gothic.

Awesome Wacom

I got my Wacom Intuos 6x11 Special Edition tablet up and running in a flash. I wish everything installed that easy! It is a dream!!! I have been playing, but I don't have any freebies yet. This one matches my widescreen monitor. I have always wanted one of these and it is just so cool. I still don't have a printer working yet :). I'm trying to think of something fun to do for the weekend. Do you have plans yet? Think quick, it's nearly here. Have a wonderful day!

Settling In

I'm happy that I found a dance studio and drama classes for my DD. I am still working on soccer for my DS, but it looks like he is not old enough until the Spring session next year. We went for a bike ride in the neighborhood yesterday evening. It was fun. I saw a show about how much air conditioning changed our society. I think it is so true. When I first drove around the neighborhood, I did not think many children lived here. They are all indoors! Is your neighborhood like that too? We had a few winter days. I had to make a run up to our house for sale and it was a cold sleep. I didn't realize the thermostat had been set to 50. Went to sleep and woke up very chilly because I was not dressed for that temperature! I jumped up and down, reset the thermostat, covered the kids, got dressed better and jumped back in bed. DS got up early and was curious about everything we had left behind. I heard the neighbor kids outside playing. Their Dad had left the sprinklers on to create a Winter Wonderland for them. The icicles were beautiful!

A Wonderful Year

I see a wonderful New Year waiting to be enjoyed. Every day is a chance to make it better. Last year was busy. I didn't take the time to say Hi, how are you today? We are settled in at this house for now. Our lovely house is still waiting for someone to come settle in there. I am learning a new town and I think I know every house for sale within five miles of where we live. Christmas was fun and visiting my hometown was fun too. I got a new computer which means photoshop should load lightning fast now. We have fast DSL now too. I went to my old house where we had dial up and the phone company called to see if I wanted DSL. Too funny, it finally came after I was already gone. I am thinking of trying out Atomic cupcake. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? I got a mega cutter called a Klic n Kut, must sit down and get it to work now. It looks awesome. Hope you are enjoying this wonderful Wednesday!