Category Archives: Women

We Love You, Oprah!

Good evening!!

I got home this evening, and was VERY excited to see that my sweetie had recorded Oprah’s last episode!! So, I have spent the last 45 minutes watching and crying, and watching some more!!

I just LOVE Oprah, as I am sure a lot of you have too!! Oprah has been a constant in my life since I was 10 years old! Always bringing words of wisdom, comfort, laughter, and inspiration! A friend when I needed a friend, a momma when I needed a momma, and an auntie when I needed an auntie!! I have dreamed about being a guest on her show, and have dreamed about being in the audience during one of her greatest things episodes!!

What I think I love the most about her final episode is that it is just her, all alone, speaking to us. Speaking to me. I love that she speaks about God, capital “G”, and how important he is in our lives! It is so GREAT to see someone of such high visibility talking about “God”, and not calling him something safe, or PC. Calling him by name is so powerful, and I am not sure why I needed to hear that, but I find that I really did! Thank you, Oprah!!

Also, her message about it being our responsibility to know what kind of energy we are bringing to any situation, really hit home for me!!! This made me question, “What kind of energy do I carry around with me every day?” I know that I am going to be thinking about that all day tomorrow, and for the rest of the week! I want it to keep me conscious of what energy I am bringing into the room at work, at home, at dance class, with friends, family, or complete strangers!!

Oprah has made me want to somehow change the world, even if that is only through helping my small circle of friends and family! I want to leave an indelible mark on this world. I am not sure what that is going to look like, but I know that it is greater than I that would be accomplishing this!

I know that this is not the last we will hear of Miss Oprah, rather this will be the beginning of a new adventure in her life. I can sit here with confidence and know that no matter where she is or what she is doing, I can know that she has made me a better me for having listened to her, and observing her actions! I thank her dearly, even though I have never even met her. I pray for her in all of her future endeavors, and I KNOW in my soul,  that someday the two of us will meet, and I will be able to express my gratitude to her in person!!

Until that day, Oprah, WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU!!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Tarte!

Good evening!

I wanted to share with you some more pics of the FABULOUS little shop that I had my jewelry class at on Sunday, Tarte!!

Right from the entry way, this little shop is a welcoming feast for the eyes!!

Sparkles, and baubles, and trinkets, oh my!!

I just love the feel of their scrumptious fabrics, and yummy goose down pillows!!

They even make keys look tres chic!!

This gives me so many ideas for fun and creative ways to display my own jewelry collection!!

I could just go home with one of EVERYTHING!!!

Who knew mannequins could be so inspirational??!!

I just DROOLED over this large antique-inspired sign!!

Hello, please wrap this up, I will TAKE IT!!! 😉

What a comfy looking reading spot!!

Every where you look in this store there is more couldn’t-you-just-pee-your-pants ADORABLENESS!! I know that might be hard to imagine, but just go with me on that!! 😉

Isn’t this the sweetest little boutique??? The only downside to it, is that I wish I was at least 3 times as large!! This place is a cross between Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Amelie, and Penelope all rolled into one!! This is probably mu number 1 FAVORITE little boutique for FABULOUS treasures, and inspirational ideas for my own GROWN-UP-GIRLY-WONDERLAND!!!

Poor Jason, he is not going to know what hit him!! I sure do LOVE THAT MAN!! 😉

“Nothing bad could ever happen [Tarte]”!!! 😉

I couldn’t have said it any better myself!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Day of Collage Play!

Good evening!

I have had the most MAGICAL weekend, and it is still only Saturday!! I want to tell you all about my LOVELY evening with my sweetie last night, but I have decided, with his blessing, to save that story for tomorrow!!

You see, today I had a FANTASTIC mixed media collage artist class that I just couldn’t wait to share all about with you! I also know that all of the ladies from the class will be looking for the pics of their art projects too, so I wanted to make sure that I was able to get these up and out there into the universe so that our momentum would not die down!!

You see, I had heard about this class a few weeks ago, which I told you about earlier, but money was tight and I was thinking that I was not going to be able to make it! Well, when the class got closer, I was trying to think of everything and anything that might give me reason not to go!! You see, I was letting my inner critic get the better of me, and I was chickening out!!! Thankfully, my sweetie came to my rescue, told me to go to the class, and next thing I know it is 11 PM the NIGHT BEFORE class, and I am online searching for the Keizer Art Association online and I signed up for today’s Collage Play class!! WHEW!!! 😉

I wasn’t sure what to expect, seeing that I have never done collage before, but on my way to class I was getting more and more excited and couldn’t wait to get started! The class was being taught by Salem artists Linda West and Glenda Goodrich AKA “GG”!! I was the first one at class, like usual, and they were there smiling, and extremely friendly! I was still pretty nervous, as I have a tendency to be in these situations, but they were ABSOLUTELY WELCOMING!!

After every one arrived, they opened the class with GG taking us through a guided meditation, and it definitely set the right tone for the day!! This rang especially true for me, when she told us to tell our little inner critic that they could go find a nice shady place and go take a nap for the day!!!

The whole idea for this class was that we were going to play, and create mixed media collages using decorative and handmade papers, paints, ephemera, ink, all sorts of baubles,  trinkets, ribbons, buttons, beads and ANYTHING ELSE WE COULD GET OUR HANDS ON, quite frankly!! 😉 It was as if someone had walked right into my crazy filled to the brim craft room, and told me that I WAS NORMAL!!! 😉

These were some of my supplies! 😉

We had such a GREAT time!! They only rule was, was that there really were no rules except that we had to leave our inner critic at the door!!!

Both Linda and GG demo’ed all sorts of hints, tips, and new techniques!! and all of us ladies had fun ripping, and gluing, and glittering, and laughing as the day seemed to literally FLY by!!! There were 5 students in the class, and both instructors got to make some collages too!! I was ABSOLUTELY IN AWE of the AMAZING talent that was in that room!!

Before the day was over everyone had made all sorts of treasures!! So much so that we could have opened a gallery! We were really all quite thrilled at not only how much we had made, but at how good all of the pieces turned out to be!! There really was some INCREDIBLY talented women in that room!!! 😉

Everyone’s tastes and working styles were so different, but it was agreed by all that everyone that it was fun spending the day creating with other creative spirits!! I know for myself, it was quite the change from crafting by yourself!! There is something absolutely electric in the room, when you are all using your creative energy!! I think it was GG that mentioned that her and Linda have a once a month craft day where they get together and spend the day crafting! I told them that I was going to have to borrow that idea, because I think that if I am wanting someone to craft with their HAS to be SOMEONE out there who would want to craft WITH SOMEONE too???

Here is a Show-and-Tell of everyone’s handiwork!!

This is Maggie and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by some FABULOUS quotes that she had found!

This is Terri and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by this stone that one of her girlfriends had given to her. There is a shape of a tree in it’s markings!

This is Julie and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by her extremely supportive husband!

This is Vickie and her lovely artwork! She was inspired by her recent trip to Hawaii!

This is one of our lovely instructor’s Linda, and she was inspired by the neutral pack of supplies that she had gotten to create this first piece of art, and her second piece was inspired by her niece, who’s birthday is coming up!

This is our other lovely instructor, GG, and her art work was inspired by the nature theme of supplies that she had chosen and the 3D bird that she fell in love with that Linda had created that was also came out of her pack!

Here are my two art pieces. These were inspired by my love of all things red, and some of the great images that I found that I thought represented me and my journey to rediscover my creative self.

This class was such an AMAZING experience! I know I must be saying it over and over again, but it is ABSOLUTELY true!! It was so great to be in a class that was so freeing and open, and to be able to play again as if were all little girls back in kindergarten was pretty special!! I think the thought that summed up the entire day perfectly, which was said by Maggie, was,

“Art isn’t always well behaved!”

What a GREAT quote, and one that I am learning to hang my hat upon!!! Thank you, ladies!! I had such a good time “playing” with you today! I hope that we get the chance again in the near future!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

A Challenging Weekly Challenge!

Good evening!

As many of you may already know, I have been following the 12 week program, called The Artist’s Way. I am in week 5, and I have to tell you that doing this program may be ONE OF the BEST things that I have ever done in my adult life to in my quest to bettering myself!! I have been consistent with my Morning Pages, every singly morning, whether I want to do them or not, and I have gone above and beyond on making sure that I get my artist’s dates and weekly questions done EVERY SINGLE WEEK! However, I think that week 5’s challenge is going to be the one that REALLY tests my resolve!!!

This week’s challenge is supposed to help you listen in on what your inner voice is saying by avoiding any and all outside media. So, the challenge for this week is that I am not supposed to read any books, or magazines, watch any television, or movies, or play on the internet.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!

I didn’t realize what a crutch these things have been for me until I tell myself I am not allowed to do any of these things!!! I think I have used a lot of these activities to just “numb out” over things in my life.

How many of you do that?

Is it only me??

Let’s just say, it may be a very long week!!!

I know that every step of the process so far has been, just that, a process, and so far I have learned something new about myself all along the way!! So, for this week’s challenge I thought something that might get me through this challenging week would be to have some activities on hand, so that I don’t have to try and figure out what to do at the last minute – a la “I’m bored” style!! Not that I would really have anyone, but my poor sweetie to whine to about this, but I digress!! 😉

Some optional activities for this week will be:

  1. Writing
  2. Drawing
  3. Painting
  4. Cleaning
  5. Organizing
  6. Kissing
  7. Swimming
  8. Walking
  9. Cooking
  10. Baking
  11. Skipping
  12. Dog walking
  13. Photographing
  14. Miniature golfing
  15. Sculpting
  16. Bowling
  17. Dancing
  18. Stretching
  19. Sleeping
  20. Meditating
  21. Day dreaming
  22. Recycling
  23. Volunteering
  24. Making Love
  25. Twirling
  26. Laughing
  27. Card playing
  28. Any game playing in general
  29. Dressing up
  30. Playing make believe
  31. Making a video
  32. Playing with makeup
  33. Listening to music
  34. Blogging
  35. Decorating
  36. Furniture arranging
  37. Collaging
  38. Nature walking
  39. Yoga
  40. Mani/Pedis

That is a pretty healthy list, and some of these things really excite me to think about being able to do this week!! There will be no need to “Numb out” this week, I can just get out there and

LIVE, LIVE, LIVE my life!!!

You know what Auntie Mame always says,

“Life is a banquet and most poor sons of bitches are starving to death!”

OK, so I realize that is a movie reference, but I didn’t watch it, I am just recalling it, so I think that counts as being compliant!!! LOL! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

I’m Getting Married in the Morning!

Good evening!

Ok, I’M not actually getting married in the morning, and it isn’t ACTUALLY in the morning, it is on 9-10-11. But my BFF Dawn is getting married, and her sis, Heather is Dawn’s Maid of Honor, and I get to be her Maitron of Honor!! We are so excited!! 😉 We spent the day up in Portland taking pictures of the place where she is wanting to have her wedding, and to go search for the perfect wedding dress! So, I wanted to share some of those pics that I took from our day!!

The first thing we did was headed to Camp Kuratli out in Boring, Oregon (yes, that is really where it is located). We all grew up out there, and that is where Dawn and Erin met! So, they are thinking about getting married in the Tabernacle out there.

It is mostly the same as we remember, except for some minor details like the layout of the stage.

but those same old orange chairs, we are going to have to get creative in decorating to hide those uhm…ugly chairs! 😉

The ceilings are IDENTICAL to how we remember them from when we were younger!

We were just a little shocked and taken aback by just HOW BROWN this room is!!! I don’t remember it being quite so brown!!

Hmmm…I wonder if we can call on a Fairy Godmother to put her wand to work and create some wedding magic!! 🙂

Next on to wedding dresses!! We ended up going to this little boutique up in Portland, and for the life of me, I can’t remember what it is even called, but they were very friendly and were even able to make some time to let Dawn try on a few dresses. It is prom season right now, so the place was

H-O-P-P-I-N-G!!!

Here is Dawn dressed as a ballerina! Isn’t she cute?? 😉 No, this is her getting ready for the dresses to be delivered. Her criteria was a knee length, flowy, champagne colored, strapless dress that she could pair with a black sash around her waist.

Taking a break while chatting it up on the phone!!!

Here is dress #1. Very creative idea, the outer layer of this skirt kind of reminded me of fancy war camouflage netting!! Fun, just like Dawn! 🙂

Here is dress #2. Can we say Grecian goddess? But, maybe a little too “boobie” for her special day!! 😉

Dress #3. We are getting closer, the bubble skirt on this was really great, and she really like the cut of the bust, plus I really like the detail at the waist.

Dress #4 was MY FAVORITE!!! A little vintage! A little Glam! and ALL CHIC!! 😉

I just LOVED the detailing at the waist on this one. Unfortunately the tulling was REALLY itchy on this one! Dawn’s arms would have been red from rubbing against this skirt all night!

Here is dress #5. Another bubble skirt option, and I liked the delicate slope of the bust on this one, but something about it just wasn’t right.

After lunch, we made a stop at one more place, and we were able to find her THE PERFECT dress, however it was so late in the day, no one thought to toke a picture of it! DANG!!! Our Bad!! 😉

I would have to say that we did have a lot of fun hanging out, catching up, giggling, seeing the old camp, and searching for the perfect wedding dress!! No worries Dawn, finding the perfect dress is, at least for me, the hardest part, and you did that IN ONE DAY!!! 😉

You go girrrl! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Finally Friday!!

Good evening!!

I wasn’t sure that this day would get here, but now that it is, I am soooo thankful!! I really need a break from work!!

My sweetie and I spent some time down at Borders this afternoon, and of course, I bought a little too much!! HOWEVER, all of my purchases were well thought out and pre-planned, so I don’t feel guilty!! 😉

Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to make a correction to yesterday’s blog!! The person who left me the “Smile” note and the paperclip was my other co-worker Julie!! Who knew that they BOTH had perfect handwriting!! LOL!! (Julie AND Chris!!) I am going to have to work on my penmanship!! Thank you for the VERY LOVELY note Julie, YOU REALLY made my evening, and I am still smiling just thinking about it!!!

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!!

Now that I am trying to find the art in everything, I wanted to share a few pics of things that have inspired me in the last few days!!!! I would like to thank both Chris, and Julie for letting me raid their desks to get some of these images!!! 😉

I am just GA-GA about this color this season!! This orange is such a HAPPY color!! 😉

This little wand was from my niece Megan’s birthday a couple of years ago, and EVERY TIME I see it, it reminds me of how much I love that little girly of mine!! 😉

This is the top view of a really pretty paperweight I have on my desk at work!! This green has always been such a calming color for me, so thankfully, I have this color EVERYWHERE on my desk!! 😉

This was from Julie’s desk, and it EXACTLY matches one of Chris’ pictures on her wall! I just thought that was funny!! Most women who share an office “cycle” together, not us – we all seem to dress like triplets on accident!!! 😉

How could I POSSIBLY leave out my Eiffel Tower??

This is a little pottery box of Chris’ that I am almost CONSTANTLY playing with because it is just SO CUTE!! 😉

I have always LOVED glass paperweights, and this is the one that is on Julie’s desk! If I remember correctly, she actually MADE this!! SO IMPRESSIVE!!! 😉

I am sure that this last one, which just happens to be the front of a card that Chris received from one of her customers is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!!! I just LOVE how these seemingly unrelated colors just go soooo well together, just like me and my friends, and co-workers Chris, Julie, and myself!!

Have a GREAT weekend girls!

We’ve DEFINITELY EARNED it!!!

😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Surprising Evening!

Good evening!

Let me just start out by saying, I am soooo thankful it is Friday tomorrow, because I am not sure how many more bad days at work I can handle without getting a break!!! In my office, my boss hands out colored, and funky shaped paperclips if you have done a good job, and a red one if you’ve made a big boo-boo!! We display our paperclips like medals of valor or something!! LOL!! So, it is kind of a fun competition between our team! Now, we don’t really get paperclips very much, we are all just too busy to really even notice, but my co-worker Chris and I were talking about it the past few days, how it really would be nice to get a few more handed our way! Silly, right?? Anyway, I was having one of those horrible, wrotten, no good, yucky days, and this is what I saw on my desk when I got back to my office, which was after EVERYONE else had already gone home!!

This simple little sign literally MADE MY DAY!! I left knowing that someone loved and cared about me enough to remind me to smile, and then when I looked closer, I realized that Chis not only left me this sweet little sign (it is in her perfect handwriting!!), she gave me ONE OF HER PAPERCLIPS!!!! OH!! When I realized that I had to sit down, because it had made me a little verklempt!! Thank you, Chris!! You probably didn’t even realize this seemingly small gesture meant to me!! I owe you one, friend!! 😉

Tonight I had my belly dancing class!! Are you sick of hearing about that yet?? I am finding that I am catching on to the moves a little bit better every week, and although I am struggling a little to flow smoothly from one move to the next, I am still having such a GREAT time!! 😉 The class is an hour long, which is just long enough to get me on an endorphine high and I go home feeling ultra jazzed!! What a FABULOUS feeling!! 😉

At the end of tonight’s class, we got to choose which type of belly dancing we wanted to go into – there are three main kinds (I think): tribal, cabaret, and oriental! However, don’t quote me on that, I think that is what our instructor said!! I am choosing to go into tribal-type belly dancing! It is more free flowing, more gypsy-like, you get to more freely express yourself in your costuming, and the dances are more of an improv, follow-the-leader-with-subtle-clues  type of dancing. She once described it as, you all could have grown up in the same village, so your costume fabric is similar, but you dress and dance a little more freely and it is more representative of your own personal style. Right now, my own personal style is the goal – so that is where mamma is going!! YEAH!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Lovely Tuesday Evening!

Good evening!

I wanted to start by sharing with you my art project from this past weekend!! It turned out rather nicely, if I may say so myself!! I completely changed what I was going to do from my original design, but I am soooo in LOVE with these happy colors!!! It is official that glass fusing is NOT my medium! I really don’t have the patience for this art, and although it did turn out beautifully, I am going to keep looking!!

I am so thankful to be home tonight!! Work is a little on the stressful side, so to get back to my haven at home is pretty nice!! My official plan for this evening is to go for a nice swim, take some random pics, and to do a little magazine reading!! Doesn’t that sounds DIVINE???

I hear that the new publication of Where Women Create is out!! I went to one of the local craft stores to find it, and no luck! So, you know what that means, I am going to have to have a Border’s date this weekend!! I am sure that Jason won’t mind!!!

Speak of the devil!! My lover just got home!!! and he is carrying McD’s!! Ok, so much for healthy meals, but at least it is only a happy meal!! That is something right!??!? 😉

Talking about having to keep searching for my artist’s medium, I have a couple of new adventures coming up in the next few weeks! The first thing is that in two Saturdays I have a mixed media collage class that I am going to take with the Kaiser Art Association. This pic is an example of what kind of art we will be doing in this class:

Then the next weekend is the a vintage home show, The Farmhouse Show up in Turner, Oregon that I will be able to take a Ton of pics of, and hopefully come home inspired and maybe with a couple of new treasures.

Then, I am taking another art class, but this time it will be a Jewelry Metalsmithing, soldering, and Cuff Bracelet Class given by Terri Brush Designs. Here are pics of two of the designs that we will be learning how to make:

See what I mean??? AND if I can figure out how to finagle it, I want to go to ANOTHER home show in Spokane, Washington the first week in June!!!

If all that weren’t enough, I am doing some research now into a women’s artist retreat over in Idaho! I KNOW that I need to go to that, I just have to work on the logistics!! Mamma can’t be in two places at once! So, we will see!!

Well, with all that said, I am tired, and I really need to go hit the hay!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Monday of Positivity!

From Tiffany's "Happy Girls are the Prettiest Girls" Shoot

Good evening!

Work did get a little bumpy today, but I knew that it would, right? And it did, of course! There are a lot of changes going to be happening in the next few months, but that is alright. I know that everything is going to turn out alright, it always has and always will.

I have to tell you that all of this tapping into my creativity has given me hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel for my life! I feel like I am learning what my true purpose for being placed on this earth for. I can not yet articulate what I am thinking, but I am learning that it is ok to be creative, and to use my creativity to somehow make the world a better place. I honestly didn’t think that was possible before. I thought creativity was something that you stole moments of while your life takes a break from chewing you up! Sad, really!! I realize that I don’t have to be “chewed up any longer” that I am allowed to take time for myself, without guilt, to replenish and recoup what is the best of me, so that I am ready and able to better take care of others!! That, my friend, is called growth!!! LOL! 😉

I had quite the surprise right before I left the office today! Sometime last week, I had taken a leap of faith and had e-mailed a couple of my FAVORITE photographers/bloggers, not really thinking that any of them would EVER write me back. It was more for the action of stepping outside of my box, and doing something I wouldn’t think I could do. Well, today, quite unexpectedly, I got a return e-mail!!!! When I saw the name of the person sending it, I can not tell you how excited I was to see her name – I literally started jumping up and down inside of my own head!! YEAH!!! WHOO!!! HOO!! I can’t believe she wrote back!!! Anyway, it was Tiffany Kirchner Dixon of The Fancy Farmgirl, and she very graciously answered all of my questions, plus gave me some very lovely encouraging words of advice for getting myself started with photography!!! To say that I was jazzed, was a HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT!! It gave me proof that I was on the right track. I am still not sure what my “art” is, or how it is going to manifest itself, but I KNOW that I am heading in the right direction!!!

Tiffany’s blog (I feel like we are at that place now, you know, first name basis!!) is ABSOLUTELY SCRUMTIOUS!! I love the ebb and flow of her postings, reading about her family, and perusing her DREAM-LIKE photography!! I KNOW that my sis, Alex would REALLY like her work too!! PERFECTION!! The photo above is one Tiffany’s and you can see more of her photography here!

I have to confess that even though that was the MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE to my day, I was soooo thankful to get home today! I had been hankering to get home the entire work day, kind of like a little kid pining for recess during an especially difficult math test!! My sweetie and I finally scheduled some time to have some quality time for right after work! It has been a while since we have both been able to get away from all of the work and distractions of life, and just spend some much needed time together! It is ALWAYS so much fun to spend time with him, sharing out laughter and dreams! He is just such a genuine human being, and he really had this way of bringing out the playful kid out of me!! He is my own personal gentle giant, and really makes my life so much better!! Thank you, Love! You mean the world to me!!!

Well, before I ramble on for the rest of the night, I am going to close up shop for the night so that I can go climb into bed with my love and do some reading before we slip off to la-la-land and have some SWEET DREAMS!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Catch-Up Tuesday!

Good evening!

I have to tell you that today has been such a very good day!! REALLY!!! The sun is shining, Chris and I have help at work now, which is DIVINE!!! Plus Julie really is VERY SWEET, so she has been a joyful addition to our team!!

I am sorry that my posts have been a little sparse the past two days! I had gotten caught up in a book – yes, I still do read, EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE!! I just finished reading  City of Fallen Angels, by Cassandra Claire, with my girlfriend, and co-worker Chris. She had finished it before me, which meant I HAD TO GET IT READ so that we could discuss!! WHEW!! So that is what I have been busy doing.

Ok, I got the last few pages read right before bed last evening! and can I tell you???

WHAT A HORRIBLE ENDING!!!

There is a movie that came out in 1982 that my mom used to watch A LOT when I was a little girl, it was called The Pirate Movie. Well, at the end of that movie, the main character, Mabel, who had been having a pirate dream for the length of the movie, realized she was getting a bad ending. She start calling out, “I want a happy ending! I want a happy ending!!” and the dream froze and, long story short – she got her happy ending!! Well,

I WANT A HAPPY ENDING!! I WANT A HAPPY ENDING!!!

For those of you who haven’t read City of Fallen Angels yet, Chris and I are both sooooo dang frustrated that we have to wait probably another year before we get to find out WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!! UGH!!!

What is a girl to do??

Hmmm… I could always start another book???

😉

As I said earlier in this post, it is so nice and sunny here today – the first real feeling day of Spring!! FINALLY! This cheery, warm weather has started me dreaming about my farm again!! I am so ready to go out and find my farm! Today would be the most DELIGHTFUL day to go out and play in the gardens, take a nice leisurely walk, and spend some time laughing with my sweetie in the great outdoors!!

My sweetie is out working on a roof for a customer, and so I am home alone for dinner. I had a pretty big lunch today, so I have decided to do a light fruit and veggie based dinner tonight – kind of like a mini cleanse!! I have had a lovely pear, a nice crisp apple, and some freshly sliced strawberries!! Later, when/if I get hungry again, I have the makings of a fresh, crisp, green salad, which should be DELICIOUS!! if I get really hungry, we have some fresh baguette in the kitchen too, that I can tear a chunk off of!! Or maybe I can add about an ounce of cheese to the mix, for some calcium-rich protein! YUM! We’ll see! (NOTE: this is my attempt to live spontaneously! WILD? I KNOW!!!!)

I have decided to start buying only organic produce. It is more expensive, but I think in the long run, it can only help us by not consuming quite as many chemicals as we have eaten in the past! So, we have been eating organic produce for a few days now, and I have to tell you, that I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of a lot of these foods. They just taste better. More flavor, richer, somehow!! It has been less than a week, and I am already hooked!! Go figure!! Thanks for the words of encouragement, Sis!!! 😉

Tonight, I am going to do a little more reading, but I think I am also going to go take a nice walk out in nature, and just soak up as much vitamin D as I possibly can!!! Doesn’t that just sound lovely???

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Note to Chunky Dunkers: I can’t wait to see all of you at our Chunky Dunker’s Club, here tomorrow night!!! It will be great to talk about our ups and downs in our efforts to getting fit and healthy!! If anyone would like to join us – I should have the night’s post published by 6:30 PM! The more the merrier! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉