Tuesday Treasury Shoutout: Moonlight Photography and fPOE

A big shout out thank you to Deborah of moonlightphotography for including one of my classic cars series in this gorgeous purple themed treasury. There I am first row, first spot with my 1946 purple Ford Coupe! This treasury also includes quite a few lovely ladies of the Female Photographer's of Etsy team. Click here to visit this treasury and be sure to check out all the items and Deborah's gorgeous work.

First Day of Third Grade!

Okay, so yes, the first day of third grade was LAST Monday, but that's just how behind I am! The girls had a great first week.  Livvie was a little more nervous that Sarah, but once she got through the first day, they both did really well the rest of the week.  Now if I can only get them to warm up to the idea of taking the bus to school in the morning that would save me 30 minutes every morning, and it stops right at our driveway!  Wish me luck.  Today we had the first of classes at the College, so it's been a busy day...and a busy couple of weeks, but I hope to get back to more regularly checking in with you soon. I have lots of new jewelry and photos to share with you! Have a great week.

The Difference in a Year

This past week has been my usual week off with my girls before school starts. It’s always proceeded by our annual trip up to the Chattanooga area to visit my great Aunt Livy for her birthday. This year she hit the big 9-0. It’s an eight hour drive one way and a relatively short trip, but worth every minute of the drive for Aunt Livy. I adore my Aunt Livy; she’s been my rock for as long as I can remember. She taught me how to play poker when I was seven, and according to my husband, how to cheat (he’s a very sore loser). She shared with me her love of photography, and her love of animals, dachsunds in particular. And she’s been my history, our family storyteller.

This year, for the first time, I heard the weariness in her voice. After we took the picture above, I sat down next to her and just talked quietly for a few minutes, asking her how she’s really feeling. And for the first time, she told me she’s finally feeling her age, and she feels like her body is breaking down. That literally broke my heart. I know the day will come when I no longer have her in my life here on Earth, and Lord knows, I’ve been dreading that day but I’m just not ready for it yet. Each year when we say goodbye, I say a prayer that I’ll see her same time next year, and drive away with tears in my eyes. You can read more about Aunt Livy in some of these posts.

After our visit, spending the week with the girls at home was just what I needed. We truly accomplished nothing more than just hanging out. And it was just what we needed! We cut up several Glamour magazines and made funny little collages, we went to the beach twice, we ran errands, we ate out at our favorite lunch spot, and we drove up to the Gate station every afternoon for an Icee. A perfect summer week. I took the picture above of the girls while we were in Chattanooga, sharing their Icee tongues. I took the picture below last year while on the same trip. What a difference a year makes! And tomorrow is the first day of third grade!

Mix it Up Monday: Classic Cars with Pop

I'm a car geek and one day I will have a beautiful classic car or truck...one day.... Last week's Tuesday Treasury Shout Out inspired me to go back to the series of photos I took at the Fort Olgethorpe classic car show last August. And now I'm just under the wire to catch Mix It Up Monday with one! This is a fabulous Chevy Studebaker, which I've digitally enhanced to give the photo a pop art feel. I plan to do that with this whole set, but so far this one is my very favorite. What do you think?

Tuesday Treasury Shoutout: Cyberlily's Cool Cars for Mommy

I think this is my MOST FAVORITE TREASURY EVER! You may not know I'm a car geek, but my Harvey Series photos should give you some indication. I also have a whole series of fully operational classic car photos I need to edit that I've taken at various car shows. One day I will have my own curvy classic like one of these. Thanks so much to cyberlily for including my Miss Jasmine, here, third row, first spot. Hop on over to this link to see this treasury is all its clickable glory.

Mix It Up Monday: Graffiti Series

Happy Monday! Those of you that are hooked up with me on Facebook know that I have a knack for constantly being stopped by trains. On my morning and afternoon commute, I cross seven different working train tracks (each way!), so whenever I’m stopped once again, I’ll take a picture and post it on Facebook.

Now the benefit of these many stops is that, yes, there are a lot of trains around my side of town…since we are near the port…and what does lots of trains mean? Lots of graffiti! When I’m at a crossing, I try to capture a moving graffiti shot, but my best captures come from standing trains. And there happens to be an abundance of them on one particular section of North Main Street near the CSX yard. This summer, I’ve been stopping there on Friday mornings to catch whatever happens to be resting there, creating a series of graffiti shots. Now I’m finally getting around to editing them all and sharing them with you! Here’s the first in my graffiti series. The challenge for me is to figure out what they are saying. I’ve learned that graffiti artists have a language all their own. What do you think this one is saying?

August/September Free Bling Giveaway!

Time for my monthly Free Bling Friday giveaway! Random.org picked comment number 32 as the winner of my July Free Bling, so congratulations to Susan from Ringgold, Georgia! This is rather a funny coincidence! I emailed Susan after she registered because my great aunt lives in Ringgold (a VERY small town), and we visit her each August for her birthday. Yay for Susan! I'm heading your way on Thursday!

For August, I'm still in a green mood. These little stunners feature some lovely handmade silvered green lampwork beads topped with Czech glass, all wrapped up with sterling silver findings. To be eligible to win, simply visit either of my Etsy shops (here for jewelry and here for photography) and leave a comment in the comment box below with the link to your favorite piece along with a way to reach you and where you’re from by midnight Thursday, October 6. Want more entries? Tweet, blog or Facebook this giveaway and leave another comment with the link. The next winner will be drawn via random.org Friday, October 7. Don't want to miss a single Free Bling Friday? Click here to sign up for free weekly email updates or subscribe in the reader of your choice over there in the right column. And be sure to join my Facebook Fan page for Fan specials. Thanks for stopping in!  *Note: since I had a blonde moment and totally forgot to share this on my usual giveaway sites, I'm extending!  Open to US residents only.

Catching My Breath...

Happy Thursday to you! We’re still trying to get our bearings after our four-day whirlwind visit to New York City. Combining a work conference with a family trip is a bit of a challenge! Benny didn’t venture very far away from our hotel while I was in workshops and he was solely in charge of the girls, so each day when I finished up, the girls were very much ready to do something fun. And since they were with me, it gave me an excuse to do all the truly touristy things I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t. I highly recommend the night time double decker open top bus tour! We also took the girls on a carriage ride through Central Park on their birthday (just before the highly anticipated visit to FAO Schwartz). I haven’t had a chance to edit our pictures yet, but I hope to get to that this weekend, so I’ll have some to share with you next week.

Tuesday, I took the day off work to get everyone unpacked, do laundry and just catch my breath. It also gave me an opportunity to photograph some newly completed jewelry pieces! I’ve listed 12 new pairs of earrings, six in my Blue Bells series, like the one here, and six in my Pink Ladies series. Hop on over and take a look! Last chance to register for July Free Bling is today!