And so it begins.....again.

Labor Day 2011

My Mom so lied to me….I looked up “Labor Day” in Wikipedia….it isn’t a day set aside to make sure everyone labors! To think of the countless extra chores I’ve done on Labor Day over the years. Actually... I’ve known for many a years what Labor Day is about, but it is true that my Mom would get us up to “labor” on some of the chores that needed to get done but then would always tell us if we got them done by “X” time we would go spend the afternoon at the beach. I can remember the beaches being crowded and thinking, “boy, a lot of people must have done a good job with their chores”.

Even now on Labor Day I can hear my mothers voice saying, “It’s Labor Day…let’s start laboring.” I still today I feel the need to get up and do a chore to start the day. All kidding aside, I am grateful for a Mother that taught me how to work. That it’s good to play and have fun but it’s important to get your chores done. May everyone enjoy their day and hey…do a few extra chores in the morning…it makes relaxing in the afternoon with family and friends feel even better!

Becoming......

I AM GOING TO BE A GRANDMA.....Pause....and soon, WOW. I am so excited for my oldest daughter, I am so excited for me! I have had several friends ask, “So what will you have them call you?” My answer, “Whatever they want!” They respond, “But you don’t want them calling you Grandma, it sounds so old. Wouldn’t you want something like, Mimi, or GiGi or one of the other more “hip” names for Grandma?” No, not really, I love the title Grandma or Grandmere…I’ve earned it and…. I am old, so what! I don’t date myself by a name or a title. As long as that little guy knows who I am and is excited to see me they can call me anything they want!

As I get older I do seem to reflect back over my life and see how I have changed. I hope I have matured and become better as I have aged, as you can get older without getting any better or wiser. The only requirement for getting older is not dying. Becoming mature and wise requires taking life’s lessons and learning from them. Instead of looking back with regrets on what I would have done different if I knew then what I know now, I am grateful for all that I have done and seen and learned that has lead me down the path of life and has been a part of me becoming who I am now.

I am me…a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a daughter… and soon to be Grandmother.I love the gospel. It is at the very essence of who I am. I love life, even its struggles. I am stubborn and I don’t take constructive (or any) criticism well, even from my Heavenly Father (which has led so some of life’s harder lessons) but I am really working on that.

I love to listen to good music. I love the beach. I can sit and watch the ocean for hours, lost in my thoughts with the sand between my toes the salt spray clearing my mind and my sinuses. I love to listen to the rain. I am one of those few people that really love the wind. I can get lost in a beautiful sunrise or sunset or staring at a starry night. I am in constant awe at God’s beautiful creation called Earth.

I’m not as adventurous as I once was. I like being consistence (aka boring). As I get older I often catch myself saying, “Boring is underrated.” I love saying my life is “blissfully boring” I am creative though at times I don’t always feel that way. I have learned that taking one day at a time is better than worrying about what might (or might not) come tomorrow. I don’t waste my energy worrying about what might be and I have learned to trust in God.

I have taken a line from Robert Frost to heart, “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life….. It goes on.”

I have learned that sometime you have to let go of things that seem important for something that is truly of worth. Some things in life are important and some are things are urgent and I am doing my best to learn the difference.

As I now get ready to start this next part of my life may I continue to learn from and enjoy life. I can’t wait to see what I will get to learn from this Grandchild of mine.

Rain, Ducks and Elephants

Don’t get me wrong…I love the rain. Living in Southern California none of the seasons are very extreme but we have gotten our share of rain this season. I love the sky after a rain storm. I posted this out on facebook the day after a storm even outlining one of the elephants that were running through the neighborhood for those who might miss it.

We have had a lot of beautiful post storm skies to enjoy. I enjoy the bright flowers that the rain makes pop up everywhere. Like these bright ones growing in what is normally a dirt lot.

But I looked out last week after another rain storm and found this in my backyard pool.

That right ducks. Now come on it hasn’t been raining that hard. Maybe they just needed a little break and if they had landed in the pond I might have let them stay a little while but after I snapped this picture I decided their rest was long enough and shooed them away. I’ve seen what the ducks do to the water down at Riverwalk and didn’t want any “deposits” in the pool.

Happy Birthday to Dr Seuss

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild,
  to pick up a book and read to a child."  Dr Seuss

Born March 2, 1904 as Theador Suess Geisel but known to all who love him as Dr Seuss. He would have been 107 today. We miss his creative spirit but are left with over 44 books and numberless quotes aka “Seussisms” that will live on.

Seuss described himself this way, “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities.”

I was so blessed that Elizabeth loved and I mean looooved to read. She started reading very young and never slowed down. I know this is going to sound outrageous but when she was younger and she got in trouble (which wasn’t too often) the only thing I could do that had a real effect was to put her on restriction from reading books. I know that sounds strange but you really have to find what motivates your child and this is what really worked for her.

I am so glad that when Rebecca was little she wanted to be like her big sister and Elizabeth helped her learn to love to read. I don’t know if she loved the reading with her sister or just her sister’s attention but either way she too developed a love for reading (but restricting her from books never worked, she had different motivators). I recently purchased the cutest little print from Cinnamonink that I just love and I am going to frame and hang with some framed pictures of the girls when they were little reading together.

Long ago I donated the books that the girls had when they were younger to charity…but I held onto the Dr Seuss ones. They are sitting on a shelf just waiting for the next generation to enjoy them as they will never go out of style.

Some of my favorite Seuss quotes;

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are  the one who'll decide where to go..."
             from “Oh, the places You’ll Go!”

"The more that you read,
the more things you will know.
The more that you learn,
the more places you'll go." From “I Can Read with My Eyes Shut.”

“I have heard there are troubles of
 more than one kind.
Some come  from ahead and some come from
behind.
But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!”

I didn’t even know this was a Seuss quote until Rebecca put it in her wedding sign in book. 

 “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep     
  because reality is finally better than your dreams.”



May we all enjoy a few Seuss-isms today

Baby It's Cold Out There!

OK let me clarify… For Riverside California…it’s cold out there. We had a couple of storms come through that brought us cold rain and stormy weather but as the clouds cleared out and that cold front dropped in we’ve had a bit of a chill going on. Snow levels dropping and some area that their last real snow fall was in 1941 got to make some snow angels in their front yards.

No snow for us but close to freezing. Low thirties here...really? I kissed Glenn goodbye at about 5:45 this morning as he was leaving for his Sunday meetings. Next thing I know he’s coming back in grabbing a rubber paint scrapper. His windshield was iced over. Who’da thunk you needed an ice scrapper in your truck here?

I couldn’t help but snap a quick picture of him scrapping his windshield before I darted back into the warm house.

But the sweetest thing was this… when I left for church at 8:45 this was on my windshield just in case I needed it. The sun was up and I didn’t but what a sweet guy.

I pulled over and took this just before I turned left into my tract on the way home from church today. As you can see the snow level is lower than normal. What a beautiful view

February 14, 2011 aka Valentines Day

Glenn and I have never been into doing something “big” for Valentines Day. My girls can testify that I have said more than once that I would rather have someone who shows me that they love me by things they do every day of the year then to have a big production a couple of times a year. We knew someone like that and it didn’t work out so good for their marriage.

For us it is the little things that we do for each other everyday that speak our language of love. Like how I mentioned in passing during the last rain that I needed new wipers on my car because mine were not cutting it. A couple of days later I turned on my wipers and low and behold they were perfect. Glenn had gone by Auto Zone, picked up new ones and exchanged them out without ever saying a word. Now with every swish of the wipers I was reminded what a great guy I have and how much he loves me. I could go on and on but you get the idea.

So no big plans for the day but since Valentines Day fell on a Monday and that’s usually a night we get together we decided to just spend the evening at home and watching a movie. I didn’t want to make Glenn sit through a “chick flick” love story so on recommendation from Rebecca we rented “Red”. It was a great couple movie. Plenty of shooting and things blowing up for the guys and an underling love story for the girls.

I did do up some homemade chocolate dipped strawberries because strawberries were on sale and they are one of my favorites. We really splurged on the calories for the evening and had some of the peanut butter pretzels cookies that I made yesterday too.

A quite evening home with my sweetie, watching a movie, eating strawberries… a perfect evening, any day of the year!

Sweet and Satly

Who knew that these ingredients....

Mixed like this...............could be this good

Really… pretzels and white chocolate chips with a sprinkle of sea salt on the top in cookies? Yes really!

I have found a new favorite cookie. I won’t be making these very often, mainly because…I will eat too many of them! I LOVE the sweet and salty mix. They satisfy many cravings at once. I will be making a recipe card for the file on these. If you want to make your mouth and mind (but not your hips) happy, try this sweet and salty cookie recipe.

Double White Chocolate and Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies…with Sea Salt
1 stick softened butter (8 tablespoons)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup white chocolate chips, to melt
1 1/4 cups creamy peanut butter (reserve 2 tablespoons to add to melting white chips)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup broken pretzel pieces
1 Cup additional white chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Melt white chocolate chips and 2 Tablespoons peanut butter over a double boiler until melted. Add melted chocolate chips and remaining peanut butter to beaten butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Place flour, baking soda and salt in bowl; mix to combine. Add to wet ingredients until just combined then pour in pretzels and additional white chocolate chips. With a cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. With the palms of your hand, gently press down each cookie to about 1/2 inch in thickness. Sprinkle each cookie with a touch of sea salt. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges become golden and slightly crisp. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet before removingfrom baking sheet.

Enjoy!

Healthy Love

This is such a cute idea and such a healthy way to say I love you this Valentines Day. Glenn and I are trying to eat healthier and that’s always a challenge around Valentines Day. I have printed these out and have stuck them on all the fruit hoping it will make it a little more appealing.

I’m sure I will be making us a little treat for the day but having the valentines fruit to snack on will make the holiday healthier overall and I won’t have to feel so guilty when we do splurge on a little treat.

For the printable download go to this blog link:
http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2011/01/naturally-sweet-diy-valentine/

Groundhog Day

Well today is Groundhog Day. Though, not a true holiday still a fun day to give us something to look forward to as the Holidays are over and the cold days have set in and spring seems so very far away.  Now here in California, we have some cool (but still sunny) days nothing to complain about and nothing compared to what the rest of the country gets in the winter so an early spring is probably more important to them… we here just have fun with the idea of a groundhog being able to predict the weather.

Every February, millions of cold Americans anticipate the emergence of Punxsutawney Phil from his Pennsylvania home, Gobbler's Knob. Phil then has an important decision to make. If Phil sees his shadow, he returns to his hole, to face a longer cold winter. If no shadow, spring will arrive early! That always seemed backwards to me as if the sun is out and he see his shadow it would seem that the sun is going to be out and therefore an early spring, but since when do things have to make sense. Well today 2/2/2011 Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow, so come on spring!

I am not a Bill Murray fan but love the movie Groundhog Day. In it Bill plays Phil, a weatherman who during a hated assignment of covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney. He finds himself repeating the same day over and over. After much self destructive behavior he finally does some self reflecting and when the loop is finally broken he is a much different man on February 3rd then he was on February 2nd.

The plan for tonight is bagel pizzas and watching a showing of Groundhog Day. Glenn has no scheduled meeting so unless something unexpected comes up I might get a quite evening home with my honey. (A day I wouldn’t mind repeating over and over!) Hope you have a wonderful day and don’t forget to thank Punxsutawney Phil when spring comes early this year.

**Both photos from Wikipedia

Happy New Year!

No resolutions for Moi…but I do have a New Years Word!

The heck with New Years Resolutions- there like saying I’ll drive to Pudunk Idaho but with no GPS or road map. I always need to create a way to focus my thoughts & energies. Otherwise I just bounce from shiny thing to shiny thing! I need a plan…I need a WORD! This New year I have a theme or a word. It will be my north star, my soul’s compass guiding me to how I want to live this year, where I want to go and helping me become who I want to be.

I very much like entering the New Year this way. Not just some goals or resolutions to make and break, but a new attitude, a real focus for my year. So decide on a New Years word. It might even help to look up the exact meaning. Then WRITE IT DOWN! Post it where you will see it everyday. Move it over in your mind often to keep it fresh. When making decisions and choices say your word, does this choice or decision fit in the focus of your theme for your year? Embody it, embrace it, live it! This word will become the GPS to where you will go and what you will be this year.

I love the idea of having a New Years Word. Everyone should have one. Need some word ideas to get you started?

Creative, Clarity, Empowered, Faithful, Grateful, Happy, Joyful, Open, Vibrant, Enough, Zenful, Peaceful, Simplicity, Inspired, Kind….
RELEASE…This is my word for 2011!
release- verb: to set free from restraint, confinement; to relieve from something that confines, burdens, or oppresses

RELEASE…release clutter… release negatives…just release …. The list goes on but you now know what my New Years word is. My North Star, guiding word that everything will be measured through in 2011….release.

May 2011 be as awesome as 2010 was!

Steven and Candace Happy 5th Anniversary

I have so much to get caught up on after the holidays but just couldn’t miss wishing Candace and Steven a happy 5th anniversary. Here is a short video I did to remind them of their special day. I can’t believe how quickly the time goes. It is interesting to look back and see how much my work and shooting has changed and progressed in the last 5 years but also to see how this couple has grown and changed.

There are still happily married with two adorable little kids, a boy and girl. If you go to my album titled Abby and Family you can see some pictures of this adorable family that I got to take about 10 months ago.

Many couples that I have the privilege of capturing their wedding day memories once they have their photos and albums, unless they stay local and contact me for family pictures or something I really don’t know what or where they are or how their lives are going. (though this seems to be changing with Facebook). With Steven and Candace it was different. I have known Candace and her family for the last 12 years and have watched her grow into this amazing woman and mother.

Steven and Candace got married in January at 4PM coming out at 5) which if you looked out your window today you know that didn’t leave much light. You will see that after the family and group photos I got to really test my skills and we were shooting in very low light. Not bad except we didn’t want to shorten up the depth of field as we still needed shots with the temple in focus. It was a lot of changing setting but I got some of my favorite shots of them as the sun went lower in the sky. In the pictures at the end with the golden windows behind them, those are the window of the celestial room at the Redlands Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day where they got married.

Because this is a couple that I have known for years and love them and their families I had to take a picture of myself with the couple just for me.

I hope I’m around to wish them a happy golden wedding anniversary.