…one of many love notes from Mother Earth. Right back atcha. ♥

Tanner and I saw this sweet little couple while walking at Powder Valley yesterday. Aren’t they cute? Being the sappy romantic that I am, I snapped this photo (much to Tanner’s embarrassment) and then we walked in the opposite direction. Eventually, however, we crossed paths again. Nodding towards the trees with the screaming cicada inhabitants…

Where to begin.  So we made the trek to Springfield for the state high school championships – the last of Drew’s high school career. As I pointed the car south, I was like any other parent, hoping, dreaming and praying for a wonderful experience for my children. After all, the kids have been playing tennis…

A work conference this week has meant early mornings, busy days and late nights. But the host hotel was altogether lovely, both in terms of surroundings and service.  Utmost attention to detail went into every corner and into every action.  Chandeliers, smiles. Down comforters, evening turn downs.  Alabaster accents, unfailing anticipation of questions and needs. …

A cat digital camera.  And another cat camera.  ♥ 

Fresh flowers and made-from-scratch lemonade cake for tomorrow…love it when we have birthdays in the office.

Rain + Five-Minute Window for Prom Pictures + Silly Teenage Boys = You Take What You Can Get. Drew with his date and good friend. She was such a great sport. She marched right out onto the wet grass in her prom shoes and smiled beautifully. We didn’t even get the five minutes outdoors with…

Most of the time, I like being an adult…until I think about summer vacation. I wonder if kids know how good they have it?  Three months of sleeping, sunshine, fresh air and fun.  There is one more drawback to being an adult:  how old my kids make me feel when they say something like this:…

Pretty little flowers in our window box look like they have Cootie antennas.

An early evening stroll with Tanner around the neighborhood, detouring through some cute little streets, stopping to admire some big ole blooms. Our final stop, the neighborhood Chinese place.  Hello, Lucky Cat.  My fortune kind of creeped me out:  “There are some big changes ahead for you.” Well, my older son’s last day of his…

Things are too busy right now.  Too busy to create, too busy to bake.  Too busy to take a walk, too busy to take notice of beautiful little things along the path. Too busy to take photos of the gorgeous blooms in our neighborhood.  This was taken out the car window. It doesn’t count. And…

This…. …always tips me off to something like this…  …out the back door. 

…for my two favorite boys.  This is one proud mamma on Mother’s Day Eve. 

plus Dr. Marten’s = ♥

Scenes from a lunchtime trip to a supercool, totally eclectic clothing store that my boss introduced us to. “Store” doesn’t seem like the right word. This place is visual overload in the very best sense.  It took me awhile to actually start looking through the clothes. In the end, I found a pair of pants…

Dogwoods have lost their blooms, making for some lovely confetti along the path. Paw paw blooms have just opened, making for a delicate canopy overhead. I had a chilly stroll around Powder Valley, making for a relaxing evening. Green, lush, damp, beautiful. 

Prom tuxedo shopping with the boys led to the discovery of three more butterflies at the mall.  But this one was a little…different. That’s a cocoon, right…?  Nice to greet May with new butterflies and lots of sunshine. (For the first half of the day, anyway.)  A shopping story.  Outside the fitting rooms at a store,…

Look who was kind enough to stop by and chow down on the weeds in my garden today.  Don’t be shy, little buddy – you’re welcome any time.

Drake University is among my younger son’s top school choices for next year, if not his top choice.I so wish we would have done our campus visit last week during this… The 2011 Beautiful Bulldog Contest. Meet Lucy, the winner and Drake’s mascot for next year.  Links to photo credits are listed below each photo….

See this sculpture? This bad boy is made out of recycled shoeboxes.  He was created by artist Christophe Roberts — check out his site here. I read an article that quoted the artist as saying, “I always felt like making something out of nothing is the best kind of artwork a person can come up…

Such a good mamma. 

Hello, Buddha man.  If I had extra cash burning a hole in my pocket ($99 – yikes!), you’d be blessing my garden.  Alas, I don’t, so I’ll keep looking at your photo and enjoying the peace.  I seriously wanted to hug this statue right in the middle of the store. Or at least pat his…

Celebrating a birthday, the office went to a new place for lunch on Friday. Inside and out, it looked and felt like it belonged in another country – in a really good way. The weather was icky, so I didn’t take many photos. Because the ones I did take were hurried, I figured they were…