The Moments Wrap Up

Since I've been traveling so much since October 23, I finished out the Moments Challenge over on Instagram and Flickr, but I did want to share one more shot from the challenge here! These were all the girls in boots in our class with Melody Ross at Serendipity. I'm the heart with wings boots lower left.  More about the retreat to come this week!

The Moments: Day 22, Painted Deli Paper

I use deli paper between the pages of my art journal when I'm working in it to try to at least keep a little bit of my mess from getting onto pages I've already finished. I'll reuse a piece until it's pretty much cover and I end up with some pretty neat papers.  I love painted deli paper! This piece has been sitting on my workbench. I actually backprinted a stencil onto it and then painted it. Not sure what I'll do with it as I kinda like it just the way it is!

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The Moments: Day 21, A Little Guitar...

I've been taking guitar lessons for nearly 10 years now. My guitar teacher and I have come to calling my weekly lesson my "once a week supervised practice" because rarely I pick up my guitar unless it's Monday evening. Part of this is just simply lack of time. There's just so much going on once I'm home that it's hard to find time to sit down and play. Another part of this is that I've always had terrible stage fright! Honestly! I've played paino since I was a kid and when I get warmed up, I'm still pretty good, but I rarely play for anyone. My husband has learned that if he sneaks up on me playing, he has to sit in the stairwell and listen so that I don't know he's there. Is that crazy? So since I'm not even anywhere close to being as confident in my guitar skills as I am on piano, my guitar teaching is really the only one who hears me play. I know I need to get better about that. I'm currently rockin' out, learning Bon Jovi's Dead or Alive. That opening lick isn't as hard as it sounds once you slow it down ... way down! And I do believe Jon Bon Jovi has gotten far better looking with age. :-)

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The Moments: Day 20, Halloween Shopping

"There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch." ~ Robert Brault

We did a little Halloween shopping today, so the girls had to try on just about every prop in the store. When I was a kid, I couldn't wait for Halloween! Though back in those days, it seemed a much safer affair. These days, I stick close to my girls' sides.  This year, Sarah's dressing up like a cat, with a hot pink and black leopard print dress, and Olivia's dressing up as a 70's disco queen.  Me? I found a really cool owl mask on Etsy.  How about you and your family?

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The Moments: Day 19, A Contradiction

"Do what you will, this world' a fiction and is made up on contradiction." ~ William Blake

I found this little contradiction of a pretty flower sprouting in a most unlikely spot, blooming out of the concrete and pulling away from a rusty old pipe at a nearby marina. I love little surprises like this. 

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The Moments: Day 18, Fashion Forward!

Though my girls are twins, they have very different personalities and very different fashion styles. Sarah is my crazy dresser. I love her color combinations and fearlessness. Olivia has more of a classic style. Most mornings we take our "Daily Dose of Awesomeness" photo on our front steps. I had already taken that full body shot and we were on our way to school when it hit me that a perfect Moments shot would be just the shoes and socks (or no socks!). So we pulled over near the cow pasture and hopped out and took this shot.

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The Moments: Day 17, A View of the Creek

"Poets who know no better rhapsodize about the peace of nature, but a well-populated marsh is a cacophony." ~ Bern Keating

Caught this shot this morning from the parking lot of Chowder Ted's, the world's best seafood dive, which just happens to be less than a football field away from my house. This is Brown's Creek, which branches off the St. John's River which you saw here.  We eat at Ted's at least twice a month. And we kayak deep back into Brown's Creek from our dock. If this were low tide, you'd see a sandbar out there, the perfect place to pull the kayaks up and hunt for hermit crabs near the marsh.

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The Moments: Day 16, Some Special Journals

These books went out in the mail today to the two special ladies I told you about in this post. My girls and I have been keeping Vanessa and Blaine in our prayers daily and wanted to make them something special to create some fun in while working through Blaine's treatment and the loss of Lance. I make these journals from books taken out of circulation from our campus library. Our librarians know not to send anything to the book recycler until I come take a look!  These started out as part of a 36-volume Shakespeare research set printed in 1969.  I pull out the original pages, create some art for the covers, and then sew in new signatures with either mixed media paper or water color paper. These two have water color paper in them, so Vanessa and Blaine can get as messy as they'd like to!

I posted these on Instagram today for The Moments challenge, but I wanted to give you the full shot here on the blog.  Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October.  

The Moments: Day 15

Do you have a candy addiction? This is mine: Bit O Honeys. Old school, huh? I recently posted on Facebook that I ran out of Bit O Honeys, and soon my mailbox was full of Bit O Honey deliveries. I felt the love! I had them in a bag under my desk for a while, but I soon realized that simply was not a very good idea. They could not be that easily accessible! So I put them in a lidded jar and moved them across the room. Much safer that way.

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The Moments: Day 14

Not exactly a Best Shot Monday this week, huh!  I'm still participating in Daisy Yellow's The Moments Challenge through October. And since the goal is to capture one of your every day moments, well, this is what I see from my desk at work. Not the loveliest of views since we've had this scaffolding up for about a year now, but at least I have a window!

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The Moments: Day 13

"While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about." ~ Angela Schwindt

I love this quote. I think what my daughters teach me most is to remember to slow down and savor the little moments. Sarah created quite the menu for our tea party spread this afternoon. She set out our best dishes and had the menu waiting for us on the kitchen counter. We often get to use "invisa money" in our house. I wish it worked for shoe shopping!

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October. It's reminding me that photos don't have to be perfect to capture an every day moment. 

The Moments: Day 12

"The Earth laughs in flowers." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

If I have a greatest addiction, it's my morning McDonald's drive thru sweet tea, half cut. I'm not a coffee drinker, but my morning's just not right without a big cup of sweet idea tea. These little flowers greeted me at the drive thru this morning on my way to set up for the Riverside Arts Market.

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October. It's reminding me that photos don't have to be perfect to capture an every day moment.

The Moments: Day 11

 

"Follow the river and you will find the sea." ~ French Proverb 

I came home to the river once again in the backyard today. This isn't highly unusual on full-moon high tides, but we are eight days away from the full moon, so I was a little surprised to see this today. And yes it's very true that if you follow this river, you will find the sea, oh, about four miles away as the crow flies.  I have been blessed to live no more than 45 minutes away from the beach my entire life.  I am a Florida water-baby through and through with my family roots in the Florida Keys.

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October. It's reminding me that photos don't have to be perfect to capture an every day moment.

The Moments: Day 10

"There is one order of beauty that seems to make heads turn. It is a beauty like that of kittens, or very small downy ducks making gentle rippling noises with their soft bills, or babies just beginning to toddle." ~ T.S. Eliot

We have a lake at the front of campus and quite a large flock of ducks and geese. Since they are fed pretty regularly by both students and staff, they aren't very camera shy. I came across this Mama and babies today. These little ones are so stinkin' cute!

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October. It's reminding me that photos don't have to be perfect to capture a moment!  

The Moments: Day 9

"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain." ~ Unknown

We had a rainy day today, as evidenced by the school bus I was sitting behind at the stop light this morning. I've been having fun with this challenge and am finding that I'm much more mindful of things happening around me. I love the way the light that has just turned green is reflecting under the bus.

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October. It's reminding me that photos don't have to be perfect to capture a moment.   

The Moments: Day 8

"Seeds of discouragement cannot take root in a grateful heart." ~ Joel Osteen

The girls spotted this pretty leaf filled with water droplets right when we were getting ready to hop in the car to go to school this morning. It's a philodendron leaf, and honestly, I'm not sure how this particular philodendren popped up in this particular spot next to the drive way. We have some very large ones in our side yard, but we've never planted any where this one has taken root and is now about four feet tall. Goes to show that the smallest little seed can take root where you least expect it.

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October.  It's reminding me that photos don't have to be perfect to capture a moment.    

The Moments: Day 7

"May the wings of the butterly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond."
~Irish Blessing

Meet Buttercup! She lives in our front yard. Since I participate in quite a few arts festivals, I have the opportunity to come across lots of fun art. Buttercup was created by a husband and wife metal work team out of Tallahassee, and her cousins, Roscoe the dog and Porkchop the pig, hang out on our front porch.

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The Moments: Day 6

"Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air..." ~ Emerson 

We finally made it out this morning for a morning boat ride! This is more monumental than you may think. Yes, we live on the river and have a boat and boat lift. However, up until about two weeks ago, the boat had been sitting on the trailer in the driveway for two years. Two years, I tell ya! I had about given up it ever seeing water again when I came home from work one afternoon to find Benny and the girls waiting for me on the dock...with the boat back on the lift. We didn't go too far this morning, but it was wonderful to get out on the water and feel the salt air blowing on my face.

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The Moments: Day 5

"I love you to the moon and back..." ~ Sam McBratney

Found this sweet little tag leaning up against a mini owl painting about my jewelry bench. I do believe that is Sarah's handwriting. I'm a lucky Mama.

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The Moments: Day 4

"What feeling is so nice as a child's hand in yours?  So small, so soft and warm, like a kitten huddling in the shelter of your clasp." ~ Marjorie Holmes 

This was Livvie's last few moments with Josie and Jonathan this morning before I took them in for adoption. The tears came just afterwards! We've had a special eight weeks with them as we've helped them grow big and strong enough for adoption. They were adopted today at our Mega Adoption event by a young girl not much older than my girls. Fostering is one of those things that is heartbreaking and rewarding at the same time. You fall in love with you charges only to set them off on a new path to a happy forever life!

Jump in on Daisy Yellow's The Moments  challenge and share a moment from your day every day in October!