PHOTO DUMP DAY

Running Errands

This made me smile...

I'm raising a polite thoughtful little girl who holds the door for peeps...

Someday I'm gonna miss the backseat mess...right????

And this...

The sweet smell of summer flowers...

What She's reading...

Peaceful...

Thought these looked cool... 

Found Nemo...

My week in a blink-

This week ****

I ran 8 miles...

did Jillian Michaels core workout...

Yoga & Cardio class...

cleaned my pool and my house...

put away 6 baskets of laundry...

sat on the beach with "Gone Girl" and a 7 year old here and now girl...

watched my little girl catch fish with her net then put them back in the water...

watched my little girl make friends with everyone at the beach including grown ups...

had a talk with my little girl about making friends with grown ups she doesn't know...
nursed a boo boo that those misbehavin' monkey bars left my baby with...

cooked pot roast, burgers, hot dogs, chicken n stuffing...

hosted my daughters friend for the day...

listened to the sweet yet annoying sound of endless screaming and screeching in the pool...

enjoyed some love bites from my kitty...

shopped for graduation party supplies...

had a lunch date with my girl - tuna for her- grill cheese for me...

crossed the movie EPIC off our to do list... (up high, down low, too slow) I have a whole new perspective on slugs...

realized my oldest daughter has a whole life of her own now and will be gone off to college in less than two months...
realized how much more tired I am in the afternoons than I was 10 years ago...
watched deer eat away at my garden...
took photos every day...
realized how friendly I am yet how hard it is to obtain friends...
realized the end is coming to Dexter starting Sunday...

CSI - Case File 77

CSI-77

Ginas Designs

Scraps of Darkness

Hellooo!!! Today I have a layout to share and I'm covering a lot of bases with this one. You know how it is when the summer season comes along and you have children. Gosh between kids, kids friends, beaches, pools, movies- YIKES- little time to scrap.

So let's get to it shall we?

I'm playing along with CSI-77 this week. Been too long since I could participate in off site challenges so I'm happy to get in on this one.

I'm also using this layout for this weeks Round Robin at Scraps of Darkness. I'm following Sarah so my design is based on her fabulous one. You can stop by Scraps of Darkness and play along. You don't have to be a kit club member to join our challenges!

My papers are a mix of The Robins Nest "Giraffe" paper and BoBunny Mama razzi.

This is a photo I had taken at the zoo one day last year of a very graceful Giraffe I will call "Gisele" (I don't know why but I think that should be her name) Anyway- it was time for her vegetarian lunch and there was bounty of leafy greens available for her to munch on. Most people don't like to be photographed eating but she didn't seem to mind.

I used leaves,numbers, twine and fabric for my evidence.I used a lot of techniques that I don't normally use on this one and it was great fun! I used a lot of gesso on my background, modge podge, modeling paste, stencils and mists! OH MY!

Gina's Designs Peacock Feathers are used here. I sprayed then in Lindys mists in two colors then coated them in Diamond Glaze for a great glossy sheen.

My journaling is in the form of a catalog entry (I think) I tried. Wasn't quite sure what that was but it reads: "The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. Its species name refers to its camel-like appearance and the patches of color on its fur."

The journaling is in the envelope and that was also part of the testimony.

Hey thanks so much for stopping by to see what I have been up to. I appreciate your visits and hope to see you again!!!

**Waving bye for now**

Pickin Berries

I would love to paint a picture of a perfect day filled with the anticipation of our annual ritual "Strawberry Picking" at the farm.

Oh and the baskets we wove ahead of time just for this occasion... me being the perfect Mom never misses this event and after I have taken my "candid yet so perfectly posed" professional looking amatuer photographs with my awesome DSLR point and shoot we then head home clutching our overfilled hand woven baskets where we spend the evening making jam and baking pies...NOT!!!!

I am not the perfect Mom by a long shot and while I spend a great deal of my time feeling "less than" I won't put out there under the premise that I am perfect so that you in turn will fell "less than' compared to me.

I live perhaps 10 minutes from this farm. I have for 14 years- my dd is 7 and this is the first time we have gone there to pick berries. 

Maybe it's because the season is so short and I forget to go there before the berries are gone...

Maybe it's because I am lazy and not paying attention...

It could be that I didn't have any of these traditions growing up so I have to make everything up as I go along and I hit bump in the road on this one...

We went after school (hence the messy hair) a long day of first grade antics in the heat and being one of the last days of school. Me (not being perfect) didn't redo the hair and just let those rebellious strands escape the confines of the elastic prison they were in.

The basket...well that was actually more cardboard...purchased at the farm for 1.50. 

And our basket did not over flow at the cost of 2.50 a pound and no pie baking/ jam making on the agenda I stopped at 4 pounds.

The whole event took less than an hour and we have just enough berries to enjoy before they turn to mush which happens in just a matter of days (anyone with tips to keep fresh fruit fresh longer I would love to hear it)

I did however let my daughter know this was a "memory day" and hope when she grows up she will remember I took her "Strawberry Picking" when she was little.

 If not I now have the pictures to prove I did it 

jog her memory.

Hoping this is the first in what will be a tradition- someone remind me next year when it's stawberry picking season.

Any berry picking traditions in your family?