Holiday Challenge

Thanksgiving has come and gone. For us it was a quiet day filled with togetherness. We slept late, cuddled, watched TV, cooked together and then we Decorated. Amazing how a few lights and a few ornaments can change the way your home looks and feels. Today while Brian worked I did some more decorating around the house and I remembered when my kids were little how excited they would get at the sight of the boxes from the attic marked " x-mas stuff " funny how neither one of them could read but they knew those boxes. For days we would hang lights and garland and listen to Christmas carols it was such a magical time and I remember thinking back then to save all that to memory because one day it would be something I cherish, and I was right as i decorated our home I started to remember all those little things and I found myself texting ( because you know kids nowadays don't call anymore....LOL) both of the boys just to tell that I was decorating and thinking and that I love them both very much and am very proud of them both.

This has to be my favorite holiday. I love the smells and the sounds the way everything looks and how different people seem to be. cheery and upbeat. I always secretly wished that it was Christmas all year long. One of my favorite things about this time of year is watching someone open a gift that was completely unexpected.

I have a bit of a challenge for everyone pick someone , anyone that you would not normally give a gift too and anonymously give them a small token , doesn't have to be expensive could be something you make or a letter to tell them how wonderful they are and know that you have given the most wonderful gift to someone this year and that is the knowledge that someone out there for some reason has done something nice for them unconditionally . It's amazing how much one act of kindness can change a life.

With the close of this post I challenge everyone this holiday season to " change a life"
Hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday season

These are a few of my favorite things!

Everyone in these pictures make up everything I am today. when I was younger growing up on different Air force bases I use to watch all these shows about Lawyers and Doctors in the big cities. I use to watch them wear fabulous cloths, listen to mature music and sip champagne. I wanted that life so bad back then. I use to pretend that my barbies were these really successful and fascinating people. Then one day I got it. I met the lawyers and the doctors and spent time in the big city. I even wore a few great cloths and sip champagne with people I thought were in important, But growing up hopefully matures us and I realized that the lawyers and doctors weren't really all that much better they just have bigger student loans to payback, and the city although still spectacular is much less magical then I had dreamed it would be and to be honest with you I'd rather have a really cold good bottle of beer as it turns out I really don't like champagne. I'd rather have a quiet evening at home with people who love me then an adventurous night with people that don't even really know me.
Quiet nights,kitty cats, good cup of coffee, my family, a good movie or a really great book, a cool fall evening , the day after a really heavy snowfall when everything is clean and white and the world looks brand new. These are a few of my favorite things.What are yours?

Great Giveaway

Please check out Cookie Sunshines great giveaway for breat cancer awareness. The picture is amazing and she's advertising for a great cause. Just click on the picture and enter. This is a great way to spread the word for such an important cause.

Something for Fun

So I was over at Living with my head in the clouds and came across this wonderful and fun post and thought I would join in!
Here are the rules: Get the book that is on your nightstand or wherever you happen to read. Open to page 56 and find the fifth sentence. Post the next two to five sentences and these instructions on your blog. You may not go find your favorite book...it has to be the one you are reading now!

Before she could help herself, her gaze traveled tword Gregori. His silver eyes made her queasy, but she forced herself to look at him. " I"m not intimidated, but I am sorry. I didn't mean to hurt anyone.
"No one was hurt , little sister" Gregori said keeping his gaze on Terry. " If were going to help your friend , we have to hurry."

So now you know what's on my night stand and I know what's ahead. If you'd like to play along I hope you will, and I hope you'll leave me a comment letting me know so that I can come by and see who YOU are spending YOUR free time with!

NEW BEGINNINGS

I love the Fall. To me it's the most visually dramatic time of the year. Spring usually comes in slowly in between the rain showers you notice that the grass seems a little greener and the trees are slowly starting to bloom again and here and there you see flowers popping up it's gradual , calming, springs rolls right into summer the days are brighter and longer and warmer but Fall , one day you wake up and WOW the trees have this kaleidoscope of colors and air is cool and crisp and if you stop long enough and take a deep enough breath you can almost smell the promise of snow in the upcoming months. Fall has always brought with it the promise of change. The start of a new school year, new shows on TV, new holiday season and a new year that closely follows. It always seemed like the a perfect time for new beginnings. Take on new things and let go of the old. I guess looking back Fall has always been a mixed emotion time for me a very nostalgic time. Some of the biggest events in my life (happy and sad) have happened in the Fall. I guess I've always felt like Fall was my season. So as I sit here writing what I hope will be something you all enjoy reading , I'm staring at the most amazing tree with its orange and yellow and light green leaves I'm thankful and ecstatic for all the wonderful people and things that I have in my life, Sad and remorseful for the those that have been lost to me and nervous and excited for all the things yet to come. I've been slowly building up to make some changes in my life and Brian and I have worked hard to hopefully make these dreams come true. So in following suit with the way my life has always been this Fall has the potential to once again hold some amazing New Beginning for us.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2005

September 24,2005 at approximately 2:00pm three of the most important men in my life ,my dad and my 2 boys walked me down a church aisle where at the end of that aisle awaited the wonderful man that became my husband, best friend,lover and soul mate.

We were surrounded by family and friends. There was music, dancing good food and tons of well wishes. we were given some amazing gifts that day but the most amazing thing that I got that day was my husband. He is charming, handsome, full of ideas and energy , always being silly and fun and he's my rock. We've been thru some ups and downs in the time that we've known each other not so much in our relationship but with our health and financially and he's always there to say " it'll be okay" he's up when i'm down , he always brings out the positive and somehow no matter how goofy and turned around I get things he never gets mad. His motto is " lets just focus on how to fix it not on what went wrong."

Alot of people come and go in our lives and i'm honestly blessed to have him in mine. He completes me and makes me feel whole and I like who I am when i'm with him.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY HONEY I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memories

Have you ever heard an old song, smelled something or tasted something that brought a flood of emotions and old memories back to you? For me it's the smell of pine wood buring in a fireplace, no matter where I am or what i'm doing the smell of a fireplace immediatley takes me back to my grandparents home on the lake. My dad was in the service so we moved around alot but one of the greatest places we would go would be my grandparents summer place in Maine. The days would be spent swimming in the lake, diving off the raft, napping on the sand. In the evening we would have fires in the fireplace outside and cook fresh corn and roast marshmellows. There was always alot of people around , aunts , uncles , counsins that would come to see us when we would go home for a visit. At night we would spend hours playing flashlight tag, chase ladybugs or just sit and listen to the adults talk to each other and tell stories. For me these were magical moments and when I think about family this is what I think of. My parents are amazing people and gave me a lifetime of wonderful memories to pass onto my children. Thru them and these memories that I have they taught me how to be a parent.


I was going thur some old pictures and happened across this one of my 10 year old neice when she was much younger. I wonder if the smell of the fresh air and clean linen will give her that feel good giggly feeling of a memory when she gets older?
Please feel free to share a memory or two, I would love to read them.

Sing, Sing A Song

Music has been a huge part of my life ever since I can remember. Mom and Dad use to play there old doo wop albums and there was never a lack of Christmas carols around during the holidays. For me it was 80's rock when I was in high school , followed by a huge stint of country music and now it's an array of just about anything. Songs wheter it be an oldie but goodie like " Teenager in Love" by Dion and the Belmonts or todays better known " Vida la Vida" by Coldplay tells a story. If you've ever heard that old joke " what do you get if you play a country song backwards, you get your wife back, your car back etc. etc. ....this referes to the fact that those songs have told a story about love and loss, happiness and tragedy. Music, Books, and Life all have that in common there are all stories , the telling of an event that has happened in either a real or fictional persons life.
I hope you'll join me from time to time as I write this blog Thur book talks or pictures or funny antidotes that happen in the lives of the wonderful people that I've gotten to know and the people that I have yet to meet.

On a personal note, it's great to be back i've missed blogland and I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I know i'm going to enjoy writing it.