Happiness isn't real unless shared

Sometimes when I see people walking alone, usually kind of homeless looking, definitely friendless looking...

I imagine myself walking beside them listening to their story.

and I think how annoying that might be for them and how lucky they are that I'm driving really fast past them not affording either one of us the opportunity.

but even still...

I want to hear it.

Life moves too fast. I just want to corner people into wasting time with me.

Nothing weird about that.

I took a moment from my day...

wrapped it up in things you say...

...and mailed it off to you.


I have totally been holding out Newport Beach photos on you!

Oh I know... the nerve of me eh?







A little something someone has tried to convince me of recently...

overwhelmed= lazy.

needless to say... I have been so overwhelmed lately :)

Aaaaaand one more thing! (well technically about 7 more things)

Occasionally some giant hearted people like to flatter my soul by passing on a blog award to me.

*falling to the floor in shame*

and usually I fail at posting/passing along. But not today folks!! My friend Hayley over at Capturing Sunshine passed the 7 Random Things Kreativ Blogger Meme on to me.

What does that mean for you??? Excellent question! You get to read 7 of the most randomest things I can think of about me.

*cue out clicks* haha!

un. Once I bought a pretty chandelier to hang in my closet. Chad did not approve. it instead hangs over my bed, which i LOVE, and so I am left to wonder if Chad really is more brilliant than me... like he proclaims.

deux. I love not camping. and why jill, do you so love not camping?? because because because, not camping is just what it sounds like... not camping. yay!!

trois. I never tell Tommy what to do to my hair. Only to just make it pretty. If he says shall we go a smidgen darker and add some violet... well yes of course we should I would say. As was the case last week.

quatre. I took french in highschool. I went by Claire in my class. My friend went by Bernard. I got an F. I don't know what he got. I wish he were alive to ask him today.

cinq. My kids are watching scary movies right behind me as I type these lovely randoms out. It is 8:28 pm. 28 minutes past Lucy's bedtime. I feel some bad dreams coming our way.

six. Who wants to do the Napoleon Dynamite dance with me?

sept. I still really want a volvo C30. But I want it in that sporty blue color... which it does not come in. Chad says 4 seats is not enough for a family of five. what-EVER! it's fine.

and that's a wrap!

I found this really old absurdly horrible photo I took of my bed forever ago. You can sorta see said chandelier! The kids like to shine the flashlight on it and make rainbows on the walls and ceilings :)



and now for passing the torch...
(this means you have no choice but to share some majorly random fun facts about yourself with the world!)

Randomly picked out of a hat (not) but in no particular order... Kelly. Lori. and Kristi. :)

Sweet dreams my friends.

Truth is, I'm still holding out on you. i can't help it, I'm just so dang overwhelmed :) !!!!!

Asphalt. as in they're perched near it.

Yesterday I was so excited to scan my first ever handmade film image on to facebook.

I immensely enjoyed reading all the nice comments on it even though...



It's not prefect by any means.

And then off I giddily went to photog class this morning... where it proceeded to kick my butt. (the class, not the image)

I am not even kidding. I had a really hard time in class today. It was one of those Murphy's laws kind of days.

Even I have to admit I am glad its over :) know what I mean?

it's just that I am nearing the threshold of stress which one person can take and still also be sane. You. Don't. Even. Know.

It's not the photography. It just feels like it in the moment. It's all the 'other' stuff.

The stuff in which i dumped off my shoulders to a friend at lunch yesterday. I hate it when it all pours out. I hoped she didn't think me crazy and horrible and grumbly. I don't want to be those things.

Seriously bless her heart for listening. I couldn't possibly feel less judged.

She called me twice today. Yes twice. The first time she called it was 6am. haha! I bet you're wondering just what kind of friend rings your phone that early! (A very good one :) and then again unexpectedly later just because she was thinking of me all day.

and she said to me "I can't believe you didn't crack a tear the whole time"

I am admittedly surprised by that as well, but then again this isn't a new discovery.

Tomorrows a new day + someone cares, that right there is reason enough for me to put on a happy face and strive to find the good I seek.

Sorry I can't share more. Please don't guess. In a million years you'd never be right anyway.

g'night :)

if not for the shadows

how would you see the way the light falls?

and how can you say you love the light but not the shadows.

It doesn't even make sense.

The shadows help define the light... think about it.



5:30am | looking eastward down Elliott Road as the sun rises.

I found this photo the other day and it struck me as a bit strange... especially considering the circumstances of which it came to be.

AND IT BUGS ME. because what happened was a couple months ago we were having issues with our smoke detectors. You know how when the battery gets low it beeps very randomly... usually in the middle of the night making it that much more of a nuisance?

yes well, this wasn't that.

it was full on going off. Like my house was on FIRE.

This photo came to be on the first incident. it was approx. 5:30am. Chad doesn't even get off work until 6am. The kids were freaked out. I texted Chad numerous times... *crickets* Not knowing what was going on i decided to leave my 'used to be blue' house and go to my moms. We used to call it our 'little blue house', but it's faded to white and so it is now known as our 'used to be blue house' :)

I sent the kids out to the garage and I went back in for my camera. (indeed this is the part that bugs me)

I didn't think the house was on fire... but I didn't know. I mean it appeared not to be, but what if i missed something?

I grabbed my camera?!?!

what the heck! You see, the problem is that the camera is so super-de-duper replaceable. The images it's captured not so much.

Next time I'm grabbing the mac!!

and when I came out there was this note hanging from the door knob...



I love how they gave him my phone number! huh?! haha!!

I found the whole note hilarious. Plus I knew Chad would freak a little coming home to that which serves him right for not responding to wife texts with key words such as *fire* and *screaming bloody murder* at 5:30am.

haha. J/k about the serves him right thing. i knew he just didn't get them...

but incase you wondered, yes it does horrify me to see just how grubby my garage door/wall is! GROSS!!

p.s. if I start getting funky calls in the middle of the night... well, I doubt I will even notice because half the time I can't hear my ringer when I am awake... but still... don't do it.

Happy Spring!

I caught this bee buzzing around my yard the other day whilst I was out taking photos of some of my favorite things to show you!

I dare not zoom out for fear you see what my yard actually looks like right now which is a horrible weedy discombobulated mess! This way you just see the lovely, and skip the icky :)

Well anyhow... lately I've been thinking how much pleasure certain "things" in my life give me. No not love and life and/or anything gooey like that. No. THINGS... like actual simple pleasure things.


You know like my current flavor of perfume.

Meet Chloe.

oh she is so lovely. I first met Chloe perusing the perfume isle of Nordstrom last summer it seems. When you first spray this on it has a floraly scent. Oh but as it sits on your skin it transforms into this soft powdery floral thats sweet and soft and delicious.

Every time I walked through Nordstrom I would stop and get a sample. It was a good tactic till I suspected they were on to me. Then I got self conscious and would ask for different samples to go along with so as to throw them off track... most of which I abhor!

So happy birthday to me. I finally broke down and bought it.


oh and then there's these little lovelies!

Here's a little secret of mine. I LOVE to buy clearance food at Williams Sonoma. Have you ever bought food there before? They've got some good stuff! One of the best things to get there is Olive oil. Occasionally it will go half or more off original price and when it does I stock up like crazy! I really do. This is because its high quality, it's always in a dark bottle no matter the brand so it stores very well and it's oh so goooood :)

but this one time they had these little ginger chips half off. I though sure I will try them for $2.50... oh man, that little can in the picture has the very BEST recipe for gingersnaps on it!

Now I know what you're thinking, give us the stinkin recipe woman! Well let me tell you I would but I have my sneaking suspicions that you'd head on over to your local grocer and raid the crystalized ginger isle all with high hopes for the best fresh baked gingersnaps you've ever parted your luscious lips for. And that would be fine and good except for that one time I gave the recipe to my sister and she did exactly that. She claims they were good but not as good as the ones I make, which has me wondering... what is it about those little ginger chips made by The Ginger People that makes those cookies extra delicious? Maybe nothing, I don't know i've never used anything else but my advice to you is go get these ginger chips, you'll have the recipe. Make them as directed first... experiment with other stuff later. Decide for yourself if it matters :)



I love a great find! As you know i love to sew as much as i love to photo. A few weeks ago I got some cute things at a little local boutique type store in mesa called Domestic bliss. Among them was this beautiful antique heirloom french lace!! Oh how utterly divine it is! You may remember the dress I made Natalie for her baptism a couple years ago...

yes well I do quite love heirloom sewing, and that lace can be very pricey! I was surprised when they said I could have it all for just $5. hehe... they have no clue do they? Grandma died and it was part of her collection of stuff they were getting rid of. You wont hear me complaining :)


Ahh. the adenium obesum... or more commonly know as the Desert Rose. Saw this last month when we trekked up to the Boyce Thompson arboretum. It was love at first sight. i had to have one. Even after the employees swore they didn't have one, my determined searching proved to pay off as I found me one of my very own!


Pretty ain't she?! haha just kidding.

She's just a twig at the moment. I put her near some pretties to fancy her up for her photoshoot :) I have some serious high hopes. Like hopefully I don't killer her before she has a single bloom!!


We have a little garden (seriously quite tiny) over on the side of our house. Alive only thanks to the rain I'm sure.


Or maybe Natalie had something to do with it. She started us off by planting this pea plant from seed.


We added the tomatoes, leeks, herbs, and peppers later. Happy to report ALL DOING QUITE WELL at the moment.


I thought this was super cool. It's a doll Chad parents brought back from Argentina a couple years ago....

except shes in a new outfit! Yep, apparently Natalie sews! Who knew? I had no idea she was doing this but imagine my surprise when I found her all prettied up! Honestly this is an improvement to what she came home from Argentina in! So stylish. If you look close you can see that she actually sewed this with needle and thread! A girl after my own heart :)

While I was editing her photos I noticed something weird about her though... See in the first one how shes looking straight off into the distance? Happy and bright eyed but mostly straight ahead?


Well notice in this one my angle from above. Does she appear to be looking up at me? Can dolls do that?!


And what is this? Could she be scared for her life as a jubilant 3 year old takes hold and shakes her relentlessly?

I see worry in her face. Can that be? I swear she's freakin me out!

Sweet dreams all :)

Sing loud and proud

Woke this morning to the most glorious sky ever!

However it was hours and hours until I had a chance to photograph it...


still pretty but i wish you could have seen the 9AM sky rather than the 1PM sky.

seems to be the way of it these day. if conditions are ideal for photographing I am stuck in a car staring out the window in awe of the beauty I'm missing!


It rained here for 4 days straight. We are gushing with wet here. You can see how high the lake in my parents back yard is. Full to the brim... not often we see it get this high.



a view from the rooftop on my parents house... don't you tell on me!

Sing with me now!

"CLOUDS GLORIOUS CLOUDS..."

Lipgloss hair and WIND.

Today has just been one of those weirdo days. You know the ones I mean?

like for example...

at first my hair was going the normal mundane way it usually falls...

But it's chilly today and I spotted a hat on the floor where it didn't belong. I could have put it away but instead placed it on my head.

hours later i find myself needing some things from the grocery store. Bottles of water and fresh milk. ( I smelled the milk before I left and found it smelled too milky... i don't like that)

Wouldn't want people to think I'm crazy coming in the store with a big silly wooly hat and so I take it off.

and then my hair was going the other way. I tried to make it go back, but it insisted!

hat head I guess.

Stepping out of the car I find it to be far more windy than expected. And guess which direction my hair is going now?!

All directions at once. Pretty neato. Good thing i didn't want to look silly in the store. Taking that hat off really helped :)

and also as I was sitting on the bathroom counter attempting to dry the bottoms of my pants with a blow dryer for the second time today... I was reminded of something.

Something from my childhood. Made me laugh a little to think of it. It's so insane.

We used to have this little red playhouse on our side yard. Once when it was cold and rainy (much like it was today) my sisters and I fetched an extension cord, hooked it to a blow dryer and plugged it in... through the rain we carried the blow dryer into the little red playhouse. It was our heater.

WE ARE BRILLIANT

No matter what I do the bottoms of my pants keep getting wet. This started Saturday at the reunion, it is now Thursday.

I just want dry pants!!! Is that so wrong?



That cake is just waiting for Stacey to come sit on it.

Top 10 reasons :

(I haven't got Wendy's wedding posted or started my photog blog or done anything else really)

10. We're remodeling the girls rooms.

9. constant stream of photo editing.

8. Got sick, lost voice, gained 2 pink eyes.

7. Laundry that just won't quit.

6. I can't remember the names of those photog books I wanted to read. (blasted memory)

5. ran out of cookie inspiration.

4. dance dance and more dance. Hooray for dance!

3. staring blankly at computer.

2. Lucy needs a drink (again)

and the number 1 reason...

1. Spending waaay too much time blow drying the bottoms of my pants

:)

if I say "cheerio" is that British or Canadian?











P.S. ~ I heard on facebook theres a tornado watch for Scottsdale. I get all my news from FB.

P.S.S ~ I thought we didn't get tornados here??

Lori, you crack me up!

Now I am well aware not

everyone will

GET

our humor here.



especially concerning

certain candy items

we found at

the

candy booth...


I am positivley positive

most will find this in

bad taste...



yah well it was late.

our feet hurt.

Our kids we're grumy.

and we were having fun.

in fact I dub the

photo booth

the most entertaining

RIDE

at the

whole

fair!


Me, Lolo, Savannah, and Lucy, having the time of our lives...

note the sad baby faces and nail biting...

or at least me and lori having the time of our lives!!

it is.

one day not too long ago my sister told me my kitchen table looked like something she had see at a city park. all graffitied up and whatnot. She's right you know. That is exactly what my kitchen table looks like. My kids are the tag team.

You can see what she means in this photo of Lucy enjoying a light mid-sunday snack.



Lucy radiates precious soul. the name lucy means { light }

it's true you know. She is a little light in the bleak.

also a while back I used to make cornbread alot. This went on for months. I do have the best recipe ever and well I'm not one to ignore food-like greatness. So we ate alot of cornbread and it was good.

except for that which stuck with me.

I said to my mama... mom, I think all this cornbread is making me chubby.

her gentle response... ever heard of corn fed?

yes!

haha. Thanks mom that's just what i needed to hear.

and cornbread was no more at my house... except for sometimes. but almost never.

And what was the point of this post?

nada, I was just bored!

p.s.~ Do you like Weezer?

the limit is the sky

I came home to this today...



and what was inside all those boxes you ask...

...

prettier boxes!



I got the organization bug a few days ago. I'm over it now.

The boxes are still here though...

{ I'm in trouble with Chad aren't I? }

i ❤ Chad

I just saw this on T.V. and I couldn't stop thinking that the boy looks like Chad when he was little. Or rather what I think Chad looked like when he was little. Hard to know for sure since I sadly don't have any pictures of him as a little boy.



But I thought it was funny. My favorite part is where she whips out the balloon.

If anyone has any picture of Chad as a little guy PLEASE send it to me!

i will ♥ you forever. and so will my blog readers because I'm pretty sure we all want to know if I'm right. AND also I'm pretty sure everyone want to put their 2¢ in...

am I right?

CASE NO. 274

just a little idea how my day is going.


It's going to be a very VERY long summer.


In cases like this there's really only one option...



Oh boy.


please note - starting again tomorrow will not re-grow hair.

I dream in architecture

This morning I was reading in my Phoenix Home and Garden magazine I got in the mail yesterday.


This is last months by the way. But I love this magazine. It is brimmin with beauty. I think even if I didn't live in the Phoenix area I would still subscribe.

But anyway it reminded me of last night when i was telling Mia that i dream in architecture. And what i mean by that is I literally, in my sleep {DREAM} of the most lovely structures I've never seen in my life. Never meaning, not something I've actually seen outside my dreams.

I mentioned to her that perhaps I was an architect in a past life... but wait, I don't believe in past lives. Or wait, do I? Maybe i do. Not reincarnation... no. Then something occurred to me that never had before.

What did we do before we came to earth??????

All that comes to mind is that we had spirits, we had a heavenly mother and father, there was a war and... i got nothing. oh wait, and we chose our families.

So if we chose our families I am assuming we knew and loved other spirits. Surely there was some sort of community.

How long were we there? What did we do? Did we have skills? Do they translate to {talents} here on earth? Did I miss the boat when I didn't go to school for architecture?

Oh I'm so mad at myself if that's the case.

I wish that my conscious brain could tap into what ever it is that my unconscious brain taps into to bring me the most amazing dreams. I'd be famous by now.

Or maybe God is just being kind to me. Knowing i crave beauty and architecture in the place I live... and also knowing that may never happen for me in this life. I get beauty in small doeses around here. Tomato colored chairs and what nots and stuff.

Speaking of beauty...

Anyone out there want to knit this for me? You see I don't knit. yet... perhaps someday, but for now I do not. And well you see I was looking up knitted hats on Etsy and mine eyes were filled with many lovely things. This being one of many.

Or if you have a mannequin head you want to donate to the photography cause, that would be accepted as well. Preferably without the O.J. mustache :) And also I find hair to be highly desirable in a mannequin head. Katy... do you think I'm creepy like the Dos Gringos people???

Who here wonders what I want with a mannequin head?

Do you think I've gone off the deep end?

Do you dream in anything particular?

If so... what?



Are you super glad I posted this picture of Lucy so we didn't have to go a single post without seeing her sweet little face??

Me too lollacw! (laughing out loud like a crazy woman)

oh and by the way I found that dress... stay tuned :)

i could see from the zipper being half open, there was nothing inside.

I thought it pretty pathetic of myself that I didn't even attempt to get dressed today!

it was the first thing that went through my brain as I came into conciousness.

{brain} get up... take a shower.

{body} nope.

Even when I had to hop on a bike to ride with Kassidy to school. nothing.

I hope no one spotted me. I was trying to ride fast but I had a scooter attached to my handlebars. And even if I didn't Kassidy was riding S-L-O-W. As we started down the street, Kassidy with her luggage on her back ... {I can't know why she insists on taking luggage to school} I say, What about your viola?

oh yeah.

there is nothing like waiting in the middle of the street on a bike in your pj's, hair askew, with a scooter straddling your handle bars wearing mismatched knee high socks for your daughter to emerge with her luggage, viola, and bookbag.

You need luggage and a book bag??

Like I said I hope no one spotted us.



This is the photographer's equivalent to *sound check*.

cue the lighting.


or wait, is it cue the fairy princess...


In other news today, I cleaned my closet out. Don't mind that it is actually much messier than before.

I am living in a small house... somethings are just going to have to go!

You can't believe the treasures I found! This isn't regular closet cleaning. This is go through every bucket in there cleaning. Including my cedar chest full of what I must have at one point deemed really important.

like my headgear.

of course I tried it on for Chad. Wouldn't you have?

and that dress from the 90's I got from guess with the people making out all over it. I should take a picture of that before I get rid of it.

No wait, what I should really take a picture of is me wearing that dress from the 90's, and my headgear, AND my dinkles from marching band. Now that would be a cool photo!

cue the dorky band nerd please.

Don't worry I'll keep you posted. not.

Words To Live By

"It's never too late to be who you might have been." George Eliot

All season long I've been hearing Lucy's sweet voice belting out her rendition of what Santa says!

"Ho Ho Ho, who wants Christmas!"

Babe, I ask myself that every single day!! Kidding. Sort of.

I love Christmas...but I could definitely do with out the stress and expectations!



Anne Taintor says it best as usual!