Weekly Photo Challenge: From Above

Weekly Photo Challenge:  From Above

My first granddaughter, Liza. I took this on a special outing I had with only Liza. We were at Jamestown VA in the Pocahontas village. Liza was grounding her own cornmeal just like Pocahontas would have done. I had so much fun with her, pretending to be Indians… although SHE got to be Pocahontas!

This was taken “from above”… in August, 2011, when she was only 2. I miss our time together.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Lunchtime

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Lunchtime

“It’s nice to just be a kid and hang out with your friends at lunch.”
Karlie Kloss

Liza (our oldest granddaughter) eating her lunch in her sleep! lol What a sign of the times, eh? The busy American life… too busy to slow down, stop and eat. We were on our way to visit Jamestown in Virginia and we had to stop and get some chicken nuggets from Wendy’s. Liza was SO hungry but just as sleepy as she as hungry. Here she is with a nugget hanging out of her little mouth.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Future Tense

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Future Tense

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

I pray that my most PRECIOUS, intelligent and beautiful granddaughter will always be able to dream and have the courage to follow her dreams.

Here she is dreaming about who knows what. Maybe she’s dreaming of her knight in shining armor who will one day sweep her off her feet… or maybe she’s dreaming of the day she’ll take over the world! lol The important thing is that she dreams…

10 years and counting! Our upcoming annual anniversary celebration to the Trout Lodge…

I’m so excited that I can hardly STAND myself right now!  lol  The hubby and I are going on our yearly Valentine’s Day weekend adventure at the Trout Lodge.  It’s run by the YMCA of the Ozarks (Potosi MO).  Like I said, we’ve been doing this every year since we’ve been married.  It’s a little pricey but SO worth it.  Besides our anniversary is on February 22 so we kind of use that for our excuse to spend a bunch of money.  lol  THIS year, we’ll be married 10 years!  TOTALLY amazing to me because I didn’t think it was possible that I could be with anyone legally, for 10 years!  lol  Pretty huge deal for BOTH of us!  lol

This is how the weekend will KIND of go…  We get to our private cabin, or condo (not sure what he reserved cause he always keeps it a surprise) and I’ll open the door and see the most BEAUTIFUL bouquet of roses.  Here’s  a pic of the roses he gave me in 2010 🙂

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After we get unpacked, we’ll probably go grab something to eat in their festive dining room.  They serve 3 meals a day, all included in the price.  Breakfast is pretty good.  The food isn’t GREAT but it’s not bad either.  There IS a Valentine’s candle light dinner served on Friday night and that’s always FANTASTIC.  There’s usually a sort of “lounge” type singer or in some cases a band singing love songs all the way through dinner on Saturday night.

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The dining room welcome balloons

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(a really bad pic of some really good spinach strawberry salad served at the Vday dinner)

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Hubby at our candle light dinner

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Hubby and I in 2008 sitting by the fire in the cedar lodge, waiting to eat.  Yeah, I’m about 40 pounds heavier here because I hadn’t gotten extremely sick yet.  Ben, however is 40 pounds lighter!  lol

After we eat tonight, we’ll probably retire back to our cabin and either read or play dominoes (for money cause I like to gamble OR for chores… whoever is the winner gets to decide what chores the other will do.  lol), or just hang out.  One year, I decorated our room with rose pedals and all that romantic schtuff…  I even had a rose pedal bath waiting for him.  How’s THAT for a good wife?  And he says I don’t put enough effort into it…. HOGWASH.  lmbo

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Here’s Ben in his ummmm, sexy, short shorts, preparing to lose dominoes 😉

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This is something of an event for Ben, as well.  He sets aside some extra special  “Ben” time to groom the extra long nose hairs.  I encourage this, for obvious reasons.

Tomorrow, we’ll wake up, whenever we want.  We’ll probably go horseback riding or on a scavenger hunt.  Something we ALWAYS do is play ping pong and SOMETIMES mini golf (in the cold).  We’ll walk around the woods and the lake, looking for awesome shots to take.  We COULD sign up for archery or make mosiacs (yes Ben will humor me, because he loves me, and help me create some pretty special mosiac art… lol). We might even get to go trout fishing, although they’re probably not biting in the cold 😦  Plus, they make us “release” which is NO fun for me at all. I usually set aside some time for either an hour long massage or a pedicure OR both. When it gets dark, we might go on a carriage ride or even just sit by a campfire, snuggled up and listening to someone else tell ghost stories.  Before our special dinner, we’ll do the wine and cheese tasting.  After dinner, there’s always dancing.  The band is usually pretty good 🙂

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The first pedi I ever treated myself to.  I was SO proud and couldn’t stop admiring my toes!  lol

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This was 2008 and I didn’t have a good camera BUT it didn’t stop me from trying to get a good shot!

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Ben’s waiting in line to get me some MORE wine!  lol  Check out those empty glasses.

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Just some of the pretty things we see!  It’s supposed to snow and I SO hope it does this year like it’s done several years in the past.  Can’t wait to bundle up and put another log on our little fire.

We won’t have internet connection OR even a TV.  It’s not allowed there.  At first, we didn’t like that aspect AT ALL.  We’ve grown to look forward to the complete break from the outside world. Most of the time we can’t even get phone reception.  That’s just fine by me 🙂

Here’s hoping you all have another FANTASTIC weekend and that you’re able to make special memories with the one’s YOU love!  Happy Friday Everyone!  See you back on Sunday night 😉

Following your dreams…

“The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Wow!  What a powerful statement!  We all have to admire someone who has the courage to pursue their dreams.  It takes a lot of courage to follow your dreams.  I know this because every time I think I’ll actually do what I think I may have been born to do, I end up talking myself out of it.  I’m not sure why.. maybe the fear of rejection.  Life is made up of so many disappointments and what if my dream is just another one of those disappointments?  But then I realize that living and trying is REALLY what life is all about.  Experience is what life is all about and with some experience comes rejection.

A bit ago, I started following a blog called Bucket List Publicationswritten by a lady named Lesley.  She had entered a contest called The Biggest Baddest Bucket List,
where she COULD win a trip of a lifetime.  Here’s what Lesley says she’ll win, “The prize is unbelievable. It’s an all-expense-paid trip around the world, $10,000 spending money during the trip, and $50,000 cash when you return home.”

Lesley is asking for people to promote her because this is one of her dreams.  Well, I did the minimum, I voted and Facebooked it.  Actually I voted every way I could.  Today, I have a message from her that asks me to do more.  lol  Now, I’ll have to admit that at first, I was like, Ummmm, NO.  That was selfish me talking 😉  I’m pretty friendly and I like to help anyone I can but I have my own dreams to follow and why would I want to give extra time to someone else’s dream?  I don’t really know her and I don’t see her anywhere except on that blog.

HOWEVER…  I couldn’t get it out of my head.  I went out on my back deck this morning and had my cup of coffee and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Here are my thoughts…  I admire her for having the courage to reach out to people she doesn’t know.  Could I do that?  I’m actually having a very hard time asking people to support my daughter in her attempt to raise money for a mission trip to Nicaragua!  My daughter is 14 and is working HARD to raise money.  I’m helping her but I have an aversion to asking others to put themselves out and help!  It’s time that THAT changes.  Rejection “aint nothin but a lil thang!”.

Bottom line is that I admire Lesley for reaching out.  It shows me that she’s really hungry to reach her dream and she’s working SO hard for that dream!  Did I mention that she’s also a young mom and has a baby at home?  If I can do ANYTHING to help this lady reach her goal, I’m going to do it.  It doesn’t take but a little time to ask, right?

Now the question is; Will YOU help Lesley?  All it takes is a little vote.  You don’t have to make a post like I did, if you’re not inclined BUT wouldn’t it be fun to know you had a part in seeing someone achieve the completion of the dream of a lifetime?  I’d personally like to see someone I even REMOTELY know win one of these things 😉

Here’s the link, you can watch her video, or not.  I did and it’s pretty cool!  Beside her video, there’s several ways you can vote and each one counts.  Lesley’s “My destination” page.

Thanks for reading and know that I’d more than likely do the same thing for you!  Depending on how hungry for your dream I feel you are!  lol