One College Graduation Down, One to Go!

My girl Sarah officially walked across her college graduation stage last Friday evening. It was a super long day that started with a small ceremony for her major in the Classics department. I thought that was super special! She was part of the College of Arts and Sciences graduates ceremony, and by my count, there were nearly 2,000 graduates on that floor. But the smaller Classics ceremony earlier in the day let each of them shine individually. The faculty introduced every graduate, and each received a crown wreath in true Classics fashion. Then we headed to El Jalisco for a quick dinner and celebratory margeritas before heading to the larger Commencement ceremony at the Tucker Center. 

As most grads do, Sarah wanted cash, but I wanted her to have a little something to open other than a check, so I made these earrings for her. I'm super happy with the way they came together and I hope she loves them as much as I do! Sarah graduated with a bachelor's in Classical Civilizations and will begin pursuing a master's in Information Science in the fall. Liv graduates in August with a bachelor's in Environmental Science after her final internship summer, so we've got one down and one to go! Liv will begin pursuing a master's in Aquatic Environmental Science in the fall. If you've been reading this blog from the beginning, you've watched them grow up! Thank you for following along!  

Sunday Gratitude: Traditions

 

One of our Christmas traditions is to take the dogs to hike the Black Rock Beach trail on Big Talbot Island on Christmas morning - tides allowing! Occasionally we'll have to go later in the day if the tide is too high in the morning. It's our Christmas present to the pups. We've been doing this since the girls were little, before they could even walk the dogs! But since they've gotten big enough to walk them, I've taken a photo like the one above. The pups have changed over the years - I wished they lived longer - and the girls have gotten quite a bit taller, but today, on this Sunday Gratitude day - I'm so grateful we have kept up this tradition. My girls are 21 now, and I know these days are precious as they continue to get older. Have a favorite holiday tradition of your own? Drop me a note in the comments!

 

 

 

Happy New Year Best Shot Monday!

Happy New Year! We've been home in Jacksonville for the Christmas break, so we're enjoying all the things we love to do at "Home Home," as we call it. One of those is going to the shelter here to photograph the shelter pups, and I had helpers this week!

Usually my girls volunteer with the cats or behind the scenes at the shelter - whether in Jacksonville or Tallahassee - so it was fun to have their help with the dogs. Sarah is pretty hesitant with big dogs, but clearly Elliott won them both over. I love this series of shots. Such happiness here. From all three of them! May your 2020 be filled with just as much joy.

Best Shot Monday: Sweet 16

Yeah, I know it's Tuesday, but it's still Best Shot Monday for me! (Day late and a dollar short as they say around here...) My Daily Dose of Awesomeness hit their Sweet 16 Monday! They've taken advantage of the living in two places thing this year with one small gathering in Jacksonville last weekend before we headed back over to Tallahassee, and then two gatherings this past weekend - one each! - with their Tallahassee friends.

Goofy pictures are always my favorite ... here, Liv above with her friends in Tallahassee.

And here above, Sarah with her friends in Tallahassee.

And these four have been together since three-year-old pre-school. I remember the days when my parents split up and my mom, sister and I moved to the Jacksonville area. There were no cell phones, texting, social media or email then, so with only letters to keep us together, I lost touch with my friends when we moved. I'm grateful these girls have the technology we have today to keep this beautiful friendship going. Can't believe this gang is now all 16. As the old saying goes, time really does fly. I started this blog with they were four, and here we are at 16.

Best Shot Monday: Marchers!

Any high school marching band geeks out there? I was in marching band all four years of high school and loved it. I played clarinet in symphonic band, but I marched on the color guard, alternating between twirling rifles and flags. My girls are upholding the tradition! Olivia picked up a baton about three years ago and discovered she had a natural affinity with it. She's already advanced to her senior competition team in just three years. It's also done wonders for her academic focus as I think now she has something really important worth studying for: twirling!

Sarah plays the clarinet both in symphonic band and marching. She started playing in 7th grade, so she's in her fourth year of playing and second year of marching. She's told me that with band, she's really found "her people." And she's happy that I was in band and understand the "band fam" concept and all that it entails!

These photos were taken by Roger Day. He's a photographer in Tallahassee who offers up his photos for free to parents! It's the most wonderful thing! He shoots a game, including halftime, and then uploads his photos to his website for parents to download. Such a generous service. I've caught a couple good shots of the girls from the stands using Bertha (my 18-300mm zoom), but Roger has a pass to be right there on the field to capture shots like these. I'm so grateful! His website is www.freesportsphotos.com. Thanks Roger!

Best Shot Monday: The End of Summer

Yes, the end of summer is quickly approaching ... not in a regular calendar sense, maybe, but most definitely in a school calendar sense. I caught this shot of Benny and Olivia sitting on the dock with the dogs not long before we had to head back over to Tallahassee for the start of band camp. Yep, band camp. (I know those of you of a certain age and movie generation might now be saying in your head, "This one time... at band camp..." My husband says it all the time now!) As the redheads head into high school, they will both be participating in marching band, Sarah with her clarinet and Olivia on drill team. Because they are incoming freshmen, that meant THREE WEEKS of band camp. The first week was freshmen only, 8am-noon; last week we finished up full band, 8a-5pm; and this week they have afternoon rehearsals 3pm-5pm. School starts on the 14th!  Hard to believe my girls are heading into high school.  It may be cliche, but it's so true. Time surely passes quickly!  

Best Shot Monday: Proof

Proof.  That's what Livvie said this is.  Proof that she "flew and caught" at camp. Last week my girls participated in Florida State University's Flying High Circus Camp. FSU's Flying High Circus has been in existence since 1947 and was first started by Jack Haskin as an activity in which both young men and young women could participate together.  1947 was the year FSU switched from the Florida State College for Women to the co-ed Florida State University you know today.  And they do circus camp!  You can read more about FSU's Flying High Circus here.

I knew this camp would push my girls, and that's why I enrolled them. I feel like it's my job as Mama to give them opportunities to push themselves out of their comfort zones, and this camp certainly did it.  Olivia is typically far less cautious than Sarah, so she was all about the high flying trapeze and the cloud swing. Sarah preferred the challenges that were a little more grounded .... and that's fine. That's what both Sarah and I had to learn. Of course, as Mama, I really wanted to see her up on that flying trapeze, and while she did try it a couple times, she felt far more comfortable a tad closer to the ground.  I think we learned a lot from each other this week, Sarah and me.  She learned that she really is stronger and braver than she thought she was; she did get up there on that flying trapeze three times after all.  Even if all she felt comfortable doing was swinging from her knees, SHE DID IT.  SHE GOT UP THERE!!! 

The last day of camp, they did a showcase where parents could come see the different performing events their children wanted to show them. Olivia, of course, wanted to show me the flying trapeze, as did most of the kids there, so while she was waiting in line for her turn, Sarah walked me around and showed me her moves on the trampolines, the tight wire, the juggling ring, and the static trapeze.  She's a very graceful girl and she was able to demonstrate that grace with these initiatives. Click here to see a quick video of her on the static trapeze. It was very clear to me that she was very proud of what she'd accomplished in one short week. And that was awesome to see.  After Sarah and I walked around a bit, Livvie finally was able to make her way up the line and to the top station of the flying trapeze ... where she flew and caught.  Click here to see it.  Her excitement was akin to the first time she rode a real, adult-sized roller coaster and came off jumping up and down screaming, "That was AWESOME!!"  That's my daredevil. 

So what did I learn?  I learned that my girls have grown up so quickly and are reaching the stage where they are independent in their decision making, and that is something I must respect.  I grew up an athlete, my husband grew up an athlete, so naturally we have the desire to push our kids to try athletic things.  But in pushing, we are also trying to remember our boundaries ... and respect theirs.  And remember that these are two little individuals that, while made up of a combination of our DNA, are still individuals ... with their own boundaries ... and fears ... and expectations. The good news is that both the girls are excited to go back to circus camp next year.  Olivia is already thinking this is something she'd really like to get involved in when she goes to college at FSU.  Sarah?  She says she'd like to do circus camp for a few years, but she really has her sights set on being an FSU Marching Chief. And that's just fine with me. After all, I was a band geek too. :-)  (And I really wish FSU did circus camp for adults...)   

Jessica Brogan's Inspirational Card Swap

The girlies and I are participating in Jessica Brogan's Inspirational Card Swap again this year. We have so much fun with this. Our cards aren't anything extravagant, but it's fun sending little pieces of us out into the world and seeing what we get back in return. Olivia's cards are above. She got a little painterly this year! She used water and spray inks to completely cover large sheets of paper and then glued her playing cards to the back so the pretty inky side was on the front. Then she added this stamp she liked and some foil tape for a little sparkle.

Sarah, above, picked out a variety of her favorite scrapbook papers to use as her background. She then added the "Count the Happies" stamp. Don't you just love that?! And then some of her favorite flower stickers.

I knew I wanted to go back to using one of my photos this year, like I did in the first swap I participated in (see them here). I had the image in mind but was thinking of a different quote, a line from a Sugarland song, but the line was a bit long and I couldn't figure out how to make it fit. Then out of the blue, when we weren't even talking about our cards and she didn't even know what image I was thinking about using (those are her feet waiting to take off on the swings at Coney Island), Sarah said this line from Peter Pan, and I said, "That's it! That's perfect!" If you aren't familiar with it, those are the directions to Neverland. I added the quote to the image digitally, then sized down the images and printed them two up as 4 x 6 prints. I added the stars and rhinestones as a little bit of star shower and fairy dust. :-)

We're sending these off to Jessica today and looking forward to seeing what we get back in the mail.  Subscribe to Jessica's newsletter on her blog to learn about her next swap. They really are fun!  Here are the cards we did last fall. 

Best Shot Monday: Finding our New "Normal"

Wow, I can't believe it's been a month since I've found time to pop in here. August has rushed by like a whirlwind, starting with back-to-back travel for work followed by our official move to Tallahassee in mid-August and the girls starting in their new school. I captured this shot this past Friday, on the last day of their second week of class. We had a rough start as expected, but they seem to be adjusting pretty well now. They've made friends on the bus, in their classes and in the neighborhood. One of Mama and Daddy's biggest adjustments has been the girls' ability to just run out the front door and hop on their bikes for a while. They are loving their new-found freedom to do that; Benny and I are still accepting it!

The adjustment is still on-going for the adults in the family. Benny is adjusting to life as a retired, stay-at-home dad, driving around town exploring and just trying to learn how to navigate this new life we are living. Though we are still keeping him pretty busy around the house, I know the day will soon come when the girls and I run out of projects for him and then the true test will come! I'm envisioning lots of fishing trips back home. I finally finished unpacking my art and jewelry studio yesterday...unpacked but not yet organized. That's my next step, and I really need to get it done as having no art or jewelry play time has really been wearing on me. I need that outlet.

I've now technically been in my new role going on nine months now, yet this whole adventure still feels very surreal. I never thought being back in my college town would feel so odd, but I suppose it's the realization that I'm no longer just visiting now that the girls have started school here. Though we are still essentially living in two places, going home to Jacksonville as often as we can, I do miss home. I also really miss being on campus and working with students daily; that's truly what I miss most in my new role.  I've certainly had my challenges with some of the issues I've inherited in my new position, but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and hope to have those issues behind me soon, able to fully start fresh with my leadership of the organization. I'm also desperately missing my volunteer time at the shelter, but I haven't had time to visit the shelter here to get set up as a volunteer.  On my list of things to do!  Hopefully once we start getting in to that same sort of groove here, we'll start to feel a little more acclimated. Every night, I continue to say the same prayer: "Lord, please help us continue to successfully make this transition." Whether or not it will ever feel "normal," we'll just have to wait and see. 

Best Shot Monday: Birthday Celebration

My girls celebrated their 12th birthday this weekend with three friends each. Party started at 2:30pm on Saturday and the last one went home at Noon on Sunday. I was ready for bed by 1pm on Sunday. :-) The photo above is the full group on our dock.

Since they started middle school this past year, this was the first year they had zero classes together ... which meant two entirely different groups of friends! Above is Sarah with the three friends she invited. I saw them sitting there and couldn't resist this shot.

Above is Livvie with the three friends she invited. Molly was happy to join the group!

And lastly, the whole group with their feet in the water. This was a little bittersweet for me, and though they never admitted it, I'm guessing a little bittersweet for my girls too. Though we'll still be coming home for summers and as many weekends as we can, we move to Tallahassee in two weeks. The next adventure will bring a whole new set of friends, but thankfully, with social media and the internet being the way it is today, my girls will have a much easier time keeping up with their Jacksonville friends than I did when I moved several times as a kid!

Sunday Gratitude: A Week in the Life

We split this week between Tallahassee and Jacksonville, and it really was a tale of two cities! We took the dogs with us to Tallahassee this time, their first visit to our Tallahassee house. Isabelle did fine, though at first she was not very happy with the location of her crate, which she loves in Jacksonville. Molly, on the other hand, refused to have anything to do with anything! Poor girl wouldn't even eat! She just stayed in her crate and hid. By the end of the third day, she finally ventured out into the yard on her own, even if just for a few moments. Hopefully, once we are settled over there, they'll both adjust a little more quickly.

On the east end of the state, the part of our week in Jacksonville was lovely, particularly Saturday and Sunday. Though I lost half the day Saturday to a garage sale that totally bombed (I should have remembered that the last time I had a garage sale, it also totally bombed and I asked Benny to remind me never to do it again), the rest of the day Saturday and much of the day Sunday (after a much overdue visit to the shelter for some photos!) was spent on the river. We had both manatee and sea turtle visitors this weekend. The manatee just lumbered on by so I wasn't able to get a picture of him, but the turtle hung out for quite a while, both Saturday and Sunday, munching down on the algae growing on our floater. We've named him Squirt.

The girls also had their good friend Hailey spend most of the weekend with them as well. Good times on the river. Hard to imagine we'll be moving in about three weeks and then won't be able to see this every day. I picture a lot of weekend trips home in our future.

Best Shot Monday: Sunny Pete!

 

Olivia is turning out to have quite the eye for photography! She captured this photo of Pete catching some rays in a bin of books. I admit I get a little nervous when she grabs my most expensive camera, but this shot was worth my worry.  This was taken with my Nikon D7100 with an 18-140mm zoom at f/5.6.  And no, she didn't figure that out on her own; she's not quite there yet!  It was shot in auto mode.  :-)  Great job, Liv!

Best Shot Monday: Beauties in Boca

 

We had a wonderful week in Boca Grande this past week and, as tradition calls for, did a little photo shoot on the beach our last night there. Here's my favorite of the "pretty smiles" shots. These girls are starting to look so grown up.  I just want to stop time!  As tradition follows, we also got quite a few goofy shots, which I'll share later this week once I have a little more time to edit. I didn't get a chance to write my Sunday Gratitude post last night, so I'll do that later this week with more pictures! Thanks for stopping in! 

Best Shot Monday: Girls and Graffiti

We had a day trip over to Tallahassee last Saturday for the family to check out the house I've found for us. All thumbs up, so hopefully we'll be signing a lease soon! While we were there, we went to the Artigras Festival over at Railroad Square Art Park. The festival still has some growing to do, but it has the potential to be a great one if they can work out the parking issue.

The benefit of having to park several blocks away and walk was that we got to check out some great graffiti! I think this photo not only shows great graffiti, but for those of you not following me on Facebook, it shows how the Daily Dose of Awesomeness are definitely diverging in their fashion senses. Sarah is most definitely still my little fashionista, while Olivia is taking a trip down the uber casual route. I swear the girl would live in flip flops if I let her, no matter how cold it is outside. I guess I can't say anything there as I'm a flip flop girl myself, but I'm in socks and sneaks or boots when it's cold!

Since this quick trip gave us the opportunity to spend a little time in Tallahassee experiencing one of its many fairs and festivals as a family, it served to give the girls a little dose of what's ahead for them beside football games and Barnaby's pizza.  We are all still apprehensive about the move and very sad to be leaving our little spot of paradise on the river for a while, but I think everyone felt at least a little better after seeing the house we'll hopefully be living in. Baby steps, I guess.

A Little (um, Big) Christmas Gift for Ted

Over these past couple of weeks, Benjamin has been slaving over a picnic table.  Not eating, mind you, as would normally be the case, but creating a custom picnic table for our dear friend Ted of THE Chowder Ted's.  Benny built the table and then his friend Brian provided him with the projector to project Ted's logo onto the table for burning. The redheads and I pitched in from there, helping to burn in the logo as well as adding our special notes on the table.  We delivered it to a surprised Ted yesterday morning. So, Chowder Ted's fans!  The Warren family has reserved seats at that table in the back!  We're grateful to Ted and the whole Ted's family for giving us our favorite neighborhood seafood joint!

Best Shot Monday: Christmas Morning 2014

We have a Christmas morning tradition of taking the dogs to the beach after the gifts are opened (which is usually by 6am!)  We wait until the sun comes up, but we are still at the beach normally by 8am so we have it completely to ourselves.  Most times, we go to Big Talbot Island and take the Blackrock Beach trail to what's known to us locals as Boneyard Beach. The shot above was my favorite of the morning. Not really sure why! I think it's just the angles of the image, maybe?

Each year it gets more and more difficult to access the actual beach, and you definitely have to time your visit with the tides.  Erosion has taken its toll, but erosion is what makes Boneyard Beach what it is!  The steps to the beach have been gone for a few years now, so at this point, it's a shimmy down the bluff.  Livvie loving on Molly above.

And yes, we usually look like we just rolled out of bed. You know how Christmas morning goes! Who has time to put on makeup and do her hair? Nice shot of Isabelle's butt here. :-)

Benjamin hates to have his photo taken, so shots of him are always a bit, um, different.

This shot is a tradition as well...the girls walking the dogs.  Our visit this year was a bit bittersweet, as we don't know what we'll be doing next Christmas!  With our move to Tallahassee summer 2015, we'll see what next Christmas brings.  If we end up deciding to not rent out our home here in Jacksonville, we'll probably come home for Christmas break!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and joyous holiday season!  May you have a happy, healthy and adventurous 2015!

A Sweet Little Christmas Wish List

I found this on Sarah's desk Monday night and absolutely love her list.  Santa's already taken care of items five and six, and item seven will be an easy addition to item six.  Item eight?  Well, given that we already have two new furry feline additions to the family in Spartacus Pete and Zoey, I don't think adding in one more at this time is the right time, but who knows.  If a sweet little orange tabby were to show up at our doorstep late one night, I'm sure we wouldn't turn him away!

It's items one through four on this list that really struck me, particularly item four.  Oh, my sweet child.  While items one through three, though heartfelt, might set her up for the pageant set (um, no...), it's four that tugged at my heartstrings: "that mama's new job and the move work out well."  I'm on the road to Tallahassee this morning to "officially" start this new job, and yes, I'm very excited.  Professionally, I know it's going to be a great new challenge for me, and I feel very up to the task.  The mama side of me still struggles with uprooting my family for this move, but we're going on faith that we're being led where we are meant to be led.  Though nervous, or nervous-cited as Sarah likes to say (that's nervous and excited combined!), we are getting ready for our new adventure! 

Best Shot Monday: Look, It's Not a Dog!

Just in case you were starting to think the only animals I photographed were dogs and cats at the shelter, I bring you ...

A goat ... quite the poser in the goat petting area at the Jacksonville Zoo.  Don't you love his grin!?

... And a bird ... peeking around some brush ...

... And a beautiful little redhead feeding the birds.  Have a wonderful week!

Best Shot Monday Times Two

Happy Monday!  I thought I'd share a little behind the scenes of the Happy Shack for Best Shot Monday this week.  My girls are in 6th grade this year, so they've started getting electives.  Neither of them were scheduled for any of the electives they asked for, but they seem to be enjoying them just the same.

One of the electives Olivia got was Chorus. When I saw this on her schedule, I was sure she was going to hate it as she is definitely not the singer of the two. At any given moment in the car, you can hear Sarah singing along to whomever is on the radio, be it Taylor Swift's latest pop or AC/DC's Back in Black.  But Livvie?  Only if she's making fun of the song.  But surprisingly, Chorus is now one of her favorite classes (along with PE...are you seeing a theme here?...both easy A's?)  Last week, she had her first Chorus concert, and I dare say she looked like she was actually enjoying herself!  Here she is between her friends Adrianna and Emily. It's a blurry cell phone pic, but I still love the smiles. 

One of the electives Sarah got was French.  We are all actually enjoying this, as Sarah is speaking little dabs of French to us at all times. I'm quite certain we'll be ready to go to Paris by the summer.  We came across this Eiffel Tower lamp in World Market over the weekend and she asked me to take a picture of it and text it to her so she could show it to "Monsieur" for extra credit.

I hope you have a great week!   Want more Best Shot Monday?  Click here.