Festive Day.

Another shot from Winterfest that I

forgot to post. Dh and I had fun posing

under the festive arch out in the hall.

A popular spot to get a nice picture.

💗 Chy 💗

 

Cool Pic.

This showed up on my laptop today as part of the

photos that circulate when it's on. I've never seen

this particular one before but it captured my eye

and I had to save it to share. Isn't it the coolest?

~ Chy

Snowy Bench.

This is from last year when we had more

snow. It's my favorite photo from our tiny

Secret Garden. Our bench, the large pot

for flowers, and our shiny reflection globe.

Do you have a bench in your garden?

~ Chy

King George VI.

And finally, a photo print of King George

sitting at his desk in Buckingham Palace.

My kids were shocked we took this to

the booth as we're big fans of all things

British and love the Royals. But it was

$10 and will sell for $48. It includes an

incredible note on the back, handwritten,

from May 1st, 1939. Priceless really!

~ Chy

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Nine.

Five years ago, we were anxiously waiting

for this little guy to arrive. The Photo Challenge

prompt for today had me searching my brain,

then my hard drive for pictures to show life then.

He was on his way, his momma & poppa were

still a married couple then, we were over the moon,

& our kids were 25, 23, 21 & 17. Such a happy &

free time. Things changed not long after this tiny

being arrived Earthside. Not a good time then.

But life has a way of working out & the

happiness we had enjoyed has returned.

He arrived into an intact family & then it fell apart.

But now he & his brave & dedicated momma live

with us. We feel like the luckiest grandparents in

the world, to see him grow & change every day!

Not every gramma & papa get that experience.

What was life like for you five years ago?

Is it better or more challenging than it was?

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Eight.

"From where I stand".

Today's prompt for the photo challenge.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

watching my dd walk into the laundry room.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

seeing the wildlife outside our kitchen nook door.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

seeing a fire roaring & beautiful baroque music playing.

I imagine standing at our kitchen island &

watching our little guy play with his toys in the sun.

From where you stand, what do you see?

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Seven.

Photo Challenge prompt for April 7th

is "what nourishes me". I thought a

lot about this today & created many

posts in my head about all things love.

In the end, after spending quite a bit of

time chopping & mixing to make dinner, 

I chose to use photos of the lovely two

quiches I made for my family, with love.

How does this nourish me? I love to

create from scratch. And I love to eat

cheesy dishes. So it really serves two

purposes in the end. Not bad at all!!

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Six.

Tiny hand, not feeling well, holding on

to gramma's bigger hand, to feel better.

Touch works wonders, creates bonds,

feeds love, makes miracles. Love!

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Five.

Today, the Photo Challenge is to share my favorite color. As an artist, I love color! It's hard to truly choose just one so I have one pic that shows my color palette for the new house. The wall color we chose is called "Winter Gray" & we've teamed that up with an ivory color called "Camelot" & a green shade of sage called "Kittery Point". The last two colors are for our kitchen, great room, bathrooms & laundry room cabinets. I'm terrified to see what this will look like in the end. Hoping it all comes together. With warm wood floors, in my head, I think it will be fine. But oh the gamble we've taken! I hope in the end we don't hate our choices ....

What is your favorite color?

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Four.

Shadows was a bit of a challenge for the photo

schedule, until I remember we had a great one

from our recent special event for families who

have experienced the death of a baby or child. 

Love these shadows of myself & my husband.

Truly characterizes our roles in this vibrant program.

April 2015 Photo Challenge ~ Day Two.

 The prompt for the 2nd day of the April Photo

Challenge was favorite flowers. I have many but

chose these beautiful roses that my dh gifted to

me one day, for no reason at all. I love the soft

pink & the tiny white baby`s breath. Sweet!

The rosy fragrance & the colors lasted quite a while.

I was sad when they finally faded but dried the petals.

Looking forward to receiving another bouquet one day.

Name your favorite flower or flowers.

Capture December: Day Seventeen.

Hi everyone!

"Presents" is the theme today. But I had a challenge when it came to the Capture December Photo Challenge ... we have NO gifts under the tree just yet! They are hidden away and come out on Christmas Eve. We enjoy the season so much but the gifts are not our focus, although they are fun to give and even to receive. I did find this picture from last year, after a late sleep in, a lazy pj day, followed by a slow gift opening and then a lovely cornish game hen dinner instead of the traditional turkey feast. At the end of the day, we snapped this photo of the presents we had given and received within our family. It was a fun day all around. Looking forward to this year's celebrations next week!

Do you have presents under your tree yet?

Capture December: Day Sixteen.

One more post for today ....

Guess what the Capture December Photo Challenge is for today? Any ideas? Think "light" and "bright" and "outside!"

If you guessed "Outside Christmas Lights" you guessed right.

Our backyard during this festive season. 

Do you have Outside Christmas Lights hanging up?

Capture December: Day Fifteen.

Hi again!

Photo Challenge picture for today's Capture December is "Favorite Holiday Song." Mine is revealed in the second picture. I love the various versions of this song, especially with children's choirs and can't help but sing along, loudly!

Carol of the Bells.

Do you have a Favorite Holiday Song?

Capture December: Day Fourteen.

Hi everyone!

Today's Capture December Photo Challenge is "Christmas Tree", so I chose this shot. It's not our large tree of course. Just the small one in the dining room. But one I love. So warm and light. A small tree to light a big room for dinner. 

Hope you like it!

Do you have more than one tree in your house?

Capture December: Day Nine.

Hi everyone!

The prompt for today's Capture December Photo Challenge is "Something You're Reading." And here's my new book, already tucked away under the tree for the holidays when we'll have long, lazy days to read. This was a gift to me from my youngest dd for my recent birthday. I've looked thru it a bit but purposely have set it aside for next week, when life slows down. I'm looking forward to a tea and a good read!

A new quilter, I'm still learning all the things I need to know.

This book looks like it's going to be a godsend for my studio!

What are you reading during these long, dark winter days?

Capture December: Day Eight.

Hi everyone!

Can you guess what the prompt was for today's Capture December Photo Challenge? See if you can figure it out!

Yup, it was "Ornaments." This is my favorite!

Do you have a favorite Christmas ornament?

Capture December: Day Five.

Hi everyone!

Today's Capture December Photo Challenge is titled "Today's Temperature" and I'm happy to share this shot of our current weather, without any complaints from anyone: 

A balmy -8, with sunny skies!!

What's the weather like in your world?

Capturing December: Day Three.

Hi everyone!

Today, with the Capture December Photo Challenge, the prompt is "Red." Ironically, we had made plans to meet with some of our theatre crew at a local restaurant "Red Robins." Before we got there, as we drove down the freeway, I asked my dh to remind me to take a picture of the sign, thinking that that the Red in the name would be a perfect photo. 

But guess what I forgot to do?

Yup, I forgot to take a pic of the sign!

Thankfully, I took a lovely shot of my drink ....

What was "Red" in your world today?

Sunday Night Chit Chat!

 

Untouched photo I took yesterday,

during our professional photo shoot.

 

Reading:

A friend gave me "Company's Coming: Making Cards". I'd like to start using all the scrapbooking materials I've been collecting for years and card making for Valentine's Day looks like a good place to begin my venture. 

Watching:

Hitchcock's "Sabotage" from 1936. Dh has found a channel that plays old movies on Sunday nights. It's become our routine to snuggle in bed, read, write and watch old movies for a bit before our busy week begins.

Listening To:

The dialogue on the tv and the wind that is starting to pick up outside. Snow is forecast for this week. The last few days we were able to have lighter coats on and the snow was melting in the sun. We even had a professional photo shoot outside yesterday, unheard of in January! Temps this week are going to range from -30 up to +5. Crazy!

Baking/Cooking:

Dh made yummy ham with creamed corn for dinner. I put together French Vanilla yogurt with organic sliced fresh strawberries for dessert. And Lavendar cookies for a night time snack.

Happy I accomplished this week:

We moved 3 large cabinets from the basement of our partner next door, a partner that is struggling financially and made the move to an upper floor to save on rent. They had no more room for our cabinets, so we spent almost 8 hours today, taking them apart, moving them upstairs and to our building next door, putting them back together, cleaning out our teacher's office, moving the cabinets in, organizing all the art materials, all the literacy materials, moving a smaller cabinet into the washroom to store the paper products, moved the change table out to be taken home by the family that let us borrow it for now, and finally, do a quick clean of the centre. So tired now but soooooo happy this big task is done. The best part? Our teacher has no idea we did this and she will be so excited tomorrow to see the new clutter-free environment that we set up today.
Looking forward to:

Day off tomorrow, board meeting in the evening, performance review with my boss on Tuesday morning, teaching childbirth classes to my son and daughter-in-law, painting real canvases with the preschoolers for the art show next weekend and do some shopping at Ikea. Except for the weather, promises to be a nice week.

Thankful for today:

A chance to sleep this morning, a fun photo shoot yesterday with great preview pictures that were sent to us, sunshiny day with melting snow, yummy breakfast in bed and scrumptious dinner tonight.

 

*BONUS QUESTION* What chore around the house do I dread doing the most? Cleaning the bathrooms. Thankfully, my girls each now have to do one and dh does ours. I use wipes to keep ours under control but he does the deep clean.

Linking up to Carla's "Sunday Night Chit Chat" over at My 1/2 Dozen Daily: http://halfdozendaily.typepad.com/my-half-dozen-daily/2013/01/sunday-night-chit-chat-3.html