Creativity Catch Up

FLUID

I would call this fluid movement.

FLY

I sure hope I didn't jinx anything by taking this shot. I usually fly this flag from the first Notre Dame football game of the season to the last game.

ORNAMENT

Something that lends grace or beauty is the definition of ornament

I'm sure that this little girl thinks this crown is a beauty.

As Promised....

Here he is. Smiling Jack. Happiest little man ever.

Grow

Let me first apologize for being behind in my boot camp assignments. Things are a little crazy busy around here right now. This is my work for the "grow" assignment.

This is my daughter and her two girls. I tried to get the baby in there too, but he wasn't cooperating.

James Taylor is one is one of the few men that I have loved longer than my husband.

JT and I go back a long time. I just saw him in concert again last month.

This is probably my favortie song by him. It takes me back to my dating days with my husband.

You Capture / Fun

Most of the family went to Wisconsin this past weekend for my cousins 30th wedding anniversary party. We found out that Natalie is much braver in the pool than she was in the fall. We got back to the hotel and Lizzy went right to bed and Natalie couldn't wait to hit the water. She had no fear at all. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. What it was was fun!

I'm pretty sure there are some fun things going on over here.

Heavy Metal

Today's prompt was "heavy metal".

This was a little hard.

My first thought was to take a picture of a Mettalica album.

But, that would require my having to find a Mettalica album, plus the fact that it would be a lame attempt at the assignment.

I'm not sure these are great, but they'll do.

The iron wagon wheel that I use for my clematis.
The fence.

The iron bird bath.

Boot Camp

Today's prompt was "multilayered". I've been thinking about this all day since I first read about it at 1:00 a.m. this morning. I thought about food such as sandwiches or lasagna or multilayers of clothing. But, it finally came to me this evening. This man right here is as multilayered as they come. He is my husband, a dad, a grandpa, a son, a brother, a son-in-law, a brother-in-law, an uncle, a friend, a golfer, a fisherman, a worker, a pool shark, etc, etc, etc. I could go on forever. Do you see it? Can you see all the layers? I sure can!

Creativity Boot Camp

I'm participating in Creativity Boot Camp. Yesterday was the first day, and while I'll leave the journaling part of this private, I'm happy to share my creative works.

I chose photography for my medium. I have a new Nikon D3000 that I got as a Christmas gift from my husband. I'm trying very hard to get really good with it and I thought this was the perfect opportunity for that.

Yesterday's prompt was Ivory.

This was the first thing that came to my mind and we were in Wisconsin till late in the day, so I didn't have a lot of time to think about it.


Today's prompt was picnic.

The first thing I thought of was Teddy Bear Picnic. I found out this morning that I am teaching two weeks of preschool enrichment starting tomorrow. I've been scouring the internet for ideas and one of my thoughts was to do bears one week. I thought a teddy bear picnic would be fun for the kids.


Teaching summer school the next two weeks is going to throw a little monkey wrench in my plans for all my free time for the Creativity Boot Camp. I am still commited to doing it though. I have been very excited about it and I'll find the time to do my best job.

And Random I Go.....

So much has been going on around here, I don't even know where to start. Maybe I should start with the cuteness of my grandson. Guess who learned how to smile? You guessed it, it's smiling Jack. Isn't he just the cutest little guy ever?

Last Monday, I went into Chicago for the James Taylor and Carole King Troubadour Reunion concert. Words fail me to tell you how great this concert was. Two and a half hours of pure bliss. They were both onstage together the whole time and did two encores. Carole King is 67 years old and you would never guess it. Certainly not by her looks or her voice. She sounds as good as she did in the 70's. James Taylor was as awesome as always. I've lost count as to how many times I've seen him. He might be 62, but he is as cute as ever.


I was a little disappointed with the Biggest Loser finale. I had hoped that O'Neill would win the $100,000. I was also hoping that Koli or Daris would win the whole thing. I didn't like Mike from the start. Oh well, I guess you can't always get things your own way.


I only have three days of school left. I'm happy and sad about that. I couldn't have a better job. Working with three to five year olds is wonderful. They love you and all they want to do is make you happy. At least that is how most of them are. There is the occasional little stinker. What I am not looking forward to is the 8th grade graduation ceremony. It is a tradition at our school for the faculty and staff to sing a song with the graduates. I really don't like it. I'm not a performer and I don't like getting up in front of a church full of people to sing. The saving grace to it al is that we all go out afterwards.


We are going to Wisconsin this weekend for a 30th anniversary party for my cousin and his wife. It should be fun. Baby Jack is going to make his big debut. He is going to be a hit, I'm sure. Natalie and Lizzy are going to have a ball with all the kids there and in the hotel pool.


I don't have a free weekend from now until the middle of July. We have six graduation open houses, two birthday parties, a bridal shower, a wedding and Jacks' baptism. That doesn't even include all the festivities of the 4th of July. It is going to be a very busy time.


Team Shrinking Jeans is gearing up for their mini marathon in San Diego this coming weekend. I am so proud of them. They have raised over $40,000. for blood cancer research. I am really excited because my amazing friend Christy has got me set up to receive eight to ten text messages during the race to keep me updated on her progress.


It's time to think about getting ready for bed. I'm still trying to get to bed at a reasonable time. I'm also trying to get up by 5:30 and exercise before work. Three more days and I can exercise a little later. I'll still do it first ting in the morning though. Too many excuses later in the day. Good night!

You Capture / Sky

I enjoyed You Capture this week. I took quite a few pictures, but only really liked a few.

I really had fun tonight taking pictures of the full moon. The moon was in the trees, so depending where I stood there was a different formation of leaves and branches. I really liked this shot the best.

I took this one before work a couple days ago.

I love how the sun is shining through in this one.

I love this sunset one too. We were coming home from our daughters house on Sunday and the sunset was beautiful. Unfortunately, you couldn't see it from our house. I grabbed the camera and got back in the car and drove till I could get the shot.

Now it's your time to head over to Beth's and see what everyone else saw in the sky.

The Shrinking Days of Summer

A new challenge starts today over the the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans.

It's called the Shrinking Days of Summer.

This challenge is eight weeks long. We are starting today and ending on July 21st. Weigh in will be on Wednesday as usual. We will have mini challenges every week to work on that will be fitness-related, health-related, mental well-being or whatever. We will have from Sunday to Saturday to work on them. There is also going to be a new "family" challenge that is going to start and run with this challenge. We'll get details on that later.



I weighed in this morning and I am a little disgusted with myself. I wasn't expecting much because things around here have been crazy and I've done little to nothing in the fitness area. I couldn't even tell you the last time I exercised in earnest. I fell asleep last night waiting for the tworkout to start and woke up after it was over. I haven't missed a tworkout in ages. I was not happy. I missed the season finale tworkout!!!!!



So, here's my plan for this challenge.......

1. Exercise no less than five days a week, but shoot for six.

2. Get back to drinking a decent amount of water every day.

3. Try to stay focused with getting more sleep at not.

4. Exercise first thing in the morning. That way, I have no excuses for not doing it.

5. Eat right. I have been toying with joining Weight Watchers online. Now that they are doing the family challenge with us, I'm thinking about it more. What do you people who are on it think about it. Is counting points nerve wracking or is it hard to figure out? Give me some feedback please.

6. Do every mini challenge!

7. Walk every Friday with my friends Mary and Rhonda. This is going to be fun. Every week, one of us is picking the place to walk. Being we all live in a different city, we'll be seeing places that we may not have known about. We are even talking about taking the train into Chicago and walking the city.



That is my plan ladies. I still have the last week of school to get through. I'll do my best till it's over, but come June 4th, I'll be blazing a new trail of glory. I am going to do this. I feel so much better when I do things right. And why wouldn't I want to feel good when I am off for the summer. I think that is a no brainer.