I wanted to share with you that I had the chance to do a guest post yesterday on Lemon and Raspberry’s New Year’s Day Blog Party! What a fun way to start 2013 and so much available in one day.
Amy always provides lots of information and motivation for all kinds of business and personal projects throughout the year and this is the way she kicks it off.
You’ll find tips and inspiration about Memory Keeping, Blogging, Photography, Travel, Marketing and just general creativity and productivity. She also provides creative prompts for journaling the details of your life.
My post is called Memory Keeping with a Purpose. If you have a few minutes stop by and say hi to Amy, check it out and tell her that I sent you. She’s running a free mini online workshop and several giveaways as part of the New Year’s Blog Party, so sign up to participate or for a chance to win one of the prizes.
Today Terry and I celebrate 35 years together. This is a picture of our wedding invitation, created by our precious and talented friend, Gary DeLacy. It was printed on a 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch piece of clear plastic and we couldn’t understand why our parents complained about the small font. Now we understand.
We won’t actually be doing much celebrating today, but will enjoy some special time together later this week. You see December is a great month for a wedding, but a crazy month for an anniversary. There are always so many other things going on and so many other things to spend money on that we’ve often celebrated in January or February. But this year we’ll have a chance to get out of town for a few days and just hang out together. No big presents, no big parties, just time together, which is my favorite kind of anniversary celebration.
So in honor of the big day, here are 35 things I love about my husband…in no particular order
he’s willing to go on all kinds of adventures with me.
he loves Jesus
he loves our kids
he loves to read and was the most creative reader for our kids. He did voices and everything!
he keeps me warm when I get cold
he’s a talented musician – guitar, mandolin, harmonica, bass, banjo…
and humble about his gifts and talents
he’s so smart about all kinds of stuff and he’s really good with numbers
he loves astronomy, history, music, sports, food…
he loves chocolate almost as much as I do
he’s a funny guy
he’s stuck with me for 35 years
he encourages me to follow my dreams even when they’re things that he wouldn’t dream of doing.
he loves to drive on road trips
he always willing to drive (so I can fall asleep on the way home)
he takes good care of himself
he has always taken good care of our family
he’s really good at setting up technical stuff, like connecting the cable box to the TV and receiver and Roku and all
he’s steady and strong
consistent and committed
he works hard at his job, but doesn’t make it more important than his family
he loves to travel and has always been committed to making it a priority for our family
when we were dating he drove all the way across town to pick me up for church even though he lived a block from the building
he does all the yard work even when it’s 115 degrees
he laughs hard with me about the silliest things, even to the point of tears
he kills bugs and takes out the trash
he’s good at researching purchases, trips and all kinds of stuff
he let me have a cat (for 21 years) even though he wasn’t a Cat Person. He fell in love with that cat too, even though he wouldn’t admit it for the first decade or so.
he lets me host big get-togethers with friends and family even though his ideal size group is about 6 people (including us)
he’s great at grilling AND always helps with clean up
he goes to musicals with me and doesn’t make fun of them, even though he thinks they’re kind of silly
he’s romantic
he lets me take pictures of his food when we’re out for dinner, and he stops and waits when I want to take pictures (without complaint) wherever we go.
he’s flexible and accommodating
he loves me so much more than I deserve! (of course, you can probably tell that)
I’m so thankful that God brought us together. I think I’ll keep him around for another 35, if he’s willing.
O.k., here goes! Journal your Christmas 2012 has begun. Attempting to do a blog post each day in the month of December. Already resigning myself to the fact that it won’t happen every day, but maybe I can post a photo and a caption at least to document the day. Then later I’ll put it into a Blurb book like my clever daughter did last year. Although she was doing a different project, called December Daily. At times I’ll be focusing more on documenting traditions, holiday activities, etc. with Shimelle and her gang at Journal Your Christmas. I’d love to have you join me.
Thanks so much for stopping by. In case you haven’t heard, I started a new blog and soon will have some other snazzy additions as well. I’ll still be posting here periodically, but I’d love to have you come over and visit me at TravelingwithPurpose.com and tell your friends, too.
I’m sharing regularly over there on these topics and even more.
Learning for Fun while Traveling
Service-oriented and Volunteer Travel
Money-saving Mondays
Travel-related Gift Ideas (just in time for the holidays)
Travel Inspiration – Photos and Quotes
Travel Gear Reviews
Travel-related contests, giveaways, etc.
Please sign up for my newsletter there, so you won’t miss a thing. I hope to see you soon!
Well, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been posting here much lately. I’m sorry to neglect this blog, but I’m happy to announce that I’m launching a new blog focused on Traveling with Purpose!
I will still be posting here occasionally, but for the near future my focus will be on getting the new blog going and building a community there. I would appreciate so much if you would help me in any or all of the following ways:
Visit the new website and share it with your friends who love to travel
Sign up on the site to receive blog updates and/or the TWP newsletter
If you are aware of any great organizations that offer either service-oriented or short-term educational travel, please let me know so I can contact them and share about them on the blog.
If you have suggestions or ideas for the site drop me a line as well.
I look forward to staying in touch both here and at TravelingwithPurpose.com.
Just for fun, here’s one of my favorite pictures from a recent trip to my hometown of Vermilion, Ohio. This is the view from the pier just a short walk from where we stayed in the neighborhood of Mitiwanga. It’s filled with “beach cottages” of all shapes and sizes. So quaint and nostalgic. I love being there. (click the photo to enlarge and see my sister on the steps)
And below is the cottage that we rented for an impromptu family reunion. We took the trip with my 88-year-old mother who wanted to go back one more time to visit our extended family (mostly from my dad’s side). We had aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd and 3rd cousins and friends all drop in for open house gatherings. I’ll bet we had nearly 50 people there on a single day. What a blast it was!
Thanks for stopping by and for visiting my new blog and helping me get the word out. I appreciate you so much!
On July 23rd I had the extreme privilege of attending a James Taylor concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre just outside of Denver, Colorado. If you’ve never been there, you should make plans to go. There’s just something magical about listening to music outdoors, especially on a cool Colorado summer evening.
James Taylor just happens to be the ONLY musician that I like enough to sign up for his mailing list. He’s so amazing! You know, its not that he’s an outstanding vocalist or flashy instrumentalist (although he sure knows how to put a band together), but his songs come straight from the heart and he’s authentic. Every time I’ve gone to one of his concerts, I feel like I’m sitting in the living room sharing good music with friends. And since my husband is a musician, I really know what that feels like. It’s pure joy!
So, several months ago when I got an email saying that he (James, not my husband) was going on tour and would be playing in Denver, I talked my husband into getting tickets for my birthday (which happens to be in July). Our son lives in Boulder and we knew we’d be going to visit him sometime, so we planned to be there for the concert too…AND since I’m on JT’s mailing list, we were able to get tickets before they went on sale to the public, so we were in row 14! The photo above is from near the top of the amphitheatre. That’s a long way up!
This is the walkway that leads to the seating area. It’s a bit of a hike, but not too bad.
The pics below show our location in relation to the top and to the stage. It was a perfect spot!
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take in my camera, but we did have Kevin’s pocket camera to take these pics. He and his date, Hattie went with us too.
Despite the fact that it looked stormy that night and was a bit blustery, we didn’t have any rain (like they apparently did the following night) and the concert was only affected by wind sometimes blowing through the microphones. Oh, and one of the roadies had to sit next to the drum set to make sure the cymbals didn’t get blown over. (you’ll see that in the video below)
James and his band performed amazingly well considering the distraction from the wind (and potential storm). I did notice though that he’s reminding me more and more of my dad. You see, he’s tall and thin and built like my dad and he’s bald like my dad and this time when JT was “dancing”, with his somewhat awkward moves that make him so endearing, I could totally see my dad. I LOVED it! So he’s not only a wonderful performer, but also a fond reminder of my dad, who passed away over 30 years ago.
Just to give you a little taste of what it was like at the concert I recorded one of my favorite songs, “Sun on the Moon” with Kevin’s little camera. The lighting is way too hot on JT and my hand is a bit shaky, but I love the rhythm, arrangement and the harmonies in this song. And check out the cheers when JT starts “dancing”. Gotta love this guy for his down to earth performances. Nothing flashy or overly choreographed here.
The last pic here is the band taking their bows. It’s hard to tell, but it really is James Taylor and his band.
Funny thing too, we found out later that another couple we know from Phoenix was at the same concert. Only we didn’t find out until after we got home. It was a spectacular night and makes me smile just thinking about it. Wish you could have been there with us!
This week we said goodbye to our dear precious cat. Shredder was 21 years old and lived a long, happy and healthy life. She was beautiful, smart, lovable and just plain cool.
We adopted her in 1991 when Amy was 9, Kevin was 7 and Terry was not a cat-lover.
For years Terry tried to convince us that he didn’t like cats, but in the last 8 years Shredder adopted him and he couldn’t help but fall in love with her too.
He made the ultimate sacrifice (as a non-cat-lover) when he drove over 8 hours from California to Arizona with Shredder in the cab of our moving truck. She escaped from her carrier and was totally freaked out. The only way she would calm down was when he was petting and talking to her. His voice was soothing. So that’s what he did for pretty much the whole time. He talked to her about the towns they were driving through, the scenery and his favorite sports teams…and whatever came to mind for 8 HOURS! Ever since then they’ve been great buddies. They took naps together on Sunday afternoons… Terry in the recliner and Shredder sneaking up on his lap. She loved to “talk” and he’d have chats with her at various times when he didn’t think anyone was around. In the winter Shredder would sleep right between the two of us or she’d lay right on the top of the blanket on Terry’s legs (which drove him nuts because he couldn’t move).
She had such a sweet disposition and a mind of her own, as most cats do.
Our daughter and son have lived away from home for several years, but now we truly have an empty nest. Our home and our family will not be the same without her.
