Moon Over Miami

We Went Down to Miami to visit family and celebrate two birthdays. My In-Laws are leaving Miami, which leaves my parents as the last family there still. We had a really nice time visiting Ed's parents. Afterward, we went to Toys R Us and got some extra gifts for DS. Then we visited my parents and went to the Chart House in the Grove for my Dad's 70th and my son's birthday (see photo). It is a great restaurant! When my Dad made the reservations, they asked him if we were coming for a special occasion and he said "It's my birthday." When we got there they had Happy Birthday and my Dad's name printed at the top of the menu. So we were all surprised. After dinner, we walked out to look at the bay. I love looking at Biscayne Bay when the weather is rough. The rain got the better of us, so we didn't stay long. The moon was up when we left, but you couldn't see it this time. The next day we went to visit my Grandmother in the nursing home. She is 90. It is nice to see her, but it is hard because she can't remember anything for very long. I have been sorting through her stuff in her apartment to rescue her memorabilia. I have so many questions and she just can't answer them now. It is quite hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. She didn't have any order to things. As she grew older and less able to manage that, the mess grew worse. Do your family a favor. De-clutter. De-clutter. De-clutter. Let your family share those memories with you and even help you sort it out. I offered years ago, but she was probably overwhelmed then. She is so sweet and everyone loves her. She was a Jazz Singer all of her life. When she lived in Marathon, they used to call her the "Sweetheart of the Florida Keys." When I call or visit I tell her the stories of her life, because she can't remember. She still likes to hear her stories.

Time is On My Side

It has been a long time since my last post! I realize that in one way we do have to act as if time is on our side and on the other hand we have to act as if we don't have a moment to spare. I feel both are true. In the time since my last personal post, I have flown to Vancouver, cruised to Alaska, walked over a suspension bridge, gone up in a very tall building and enjoyed the view, flown in sea plane, saw bears fairly close in the wild, flown in helicopter over high mountains and glaciers, stood on an ice field on a glacier, dog sledded, ridden a train up and down a historic mountain, cycled through a rain forest and a deserted gold rush town, cruised through fjords, watched glaciers caving, saw a whale completely breech the water, his entire body in the air, saw sea lions, otters, eagles on vacation, watched a hurricane, turn into a tropical storm before it went over my town, had a birthday, had a life changing event, printed a couple hundred photos and overcame a messy paper filled desk. I am afraid of heights so some of those things involved my overcoming my fear to enjoy the beauty of the moment and I am glad that I did it when I had the opportunity and time to do it. Enjoy the time you have and make it your own without letting fear hold you back. Have a wonderful day!

Library of Memories - Things We Do

This morning when Stacy Julian posted our last Library of Memories lesson she said to take picture of three everyday things. I decided to make a this LO. Wish the coffeepot was a bit shinier and colors matched perfectly. This is not about perfection. It's about getting it done. It's funny to do a LO about such mundane things, but I wonder what was mundane in my family 100 years ago
Fonts: Garamond, Scriptina, BG paper from my Seven Summer-Licious freebie set.

Library of Memories - All About Us

I have been taking this years annual Library of Memories 16 week non-chronological scrapbooking class with Stacy Julian. As part of our All About Us, Personality page, I created this LO to share Ed's fun personality. It has just been snow much fun to play with the "Winter" theme here in Florida. I am amazed how much this class is changing the way I scrapbook. I highly recommend her books: "The Big Picture" and "Photo Freedom."

Credits: Bon Scrapatit Designs/Linda Walton: Win'treeWeather 3S DAD Scrapkit: BGPaper11 and Snowflakes 1-4. Fonts: King and Queen and Garamond. Photos: Tasha and Ed Stanton

Hummie's World: Why Does Everyone Want Link Love?

Hummie's World: Why Does Everyone Want Link Love?

This is an awesome post. I have been wondering about this for some time. It takes a little effort to understand, but I feel it is worth it. I have joined Technorati and Del.icio.us too! Hope this link works! If you are a designer, this is a must read post!

Christmas Card

NWR really helped me catch up on my LO's! This is for the Week 2 Wed. Challenge and my last for their gallery. Journaling block at bottom reads: "Every year we pose for a Christmas card photo. This year we had just moved in December. We were in a hurry to be done. Ed is a great photographer and he is practicing his art on us. He took oodles of photos and we were not happy with them. Edmund was getting tired, so Ed took one last shot. The best photo is this one that shows us as a family." Credits: Sweet Shoppe Designs: Carnival Kit (recolored); JSprague 4-Square template; Fonts: CK Alis Writing, Engravers MT, Century Gothic.

bc - before children

This is a retrospective of my time when I was 28, long before I had kids. Life was very different. I am grateful to be a Mom now, just taking a different look back. This was for one of the challenges in my NWR class by Jessica Spraque.
Credits: Photos: Ed Stanton, Carnival Collaboration Kit from Sweete Shop Designs, December Daily template by J Sprague, Jason Gaylor Japanese Foliage brush 007. Font: VTPortable Remington.