“I vow to let go of all worries and anxiety in order to be light and free.”  -Thich Nhat Hanh

Life lesson that it took me close to 40 years to learn: you can still get flowers even if you’re single.  You just give them to yourself.  They’re just as beautiful and smell as lovely. Maybe even more so.  (Especially when they’re 10 stems for $2.50!) Another gift I gave myself was unintentional. Tanner’s Christmas…

Fifty-six of these lovelies have fluttered into installations scattered around different parts of town,  each made by different artists with unique perspectives, materials, and color palettes. These three are in our neighborhood.  I hope to see the rest of their buddies before they fly away in May.  (Yes, that’s snow. In mid-March. Much of the…

“We took a walk outside for AP Gov. And got lollipops.  Today is gonna be a good day.” This is a text that I received from Drew this morning.  Fresh air and lollipops. What more do we really need? Seriously, I have the best kids.  But the above little lollipop-loving guy is pretty neat, too….

An adorable birthday gift (wrapped in the paper from yesterday’s post) has me looking forward to keeping watch in the office parking garage for our seasonal residents. Wonder if the robins will come back to the same pipe? This would make four years in a row.  Sure hope so. Little miracles make going to work…

It started in Oklahoma with these sweet little signs of spring (above). But then I remembered that it’s been a lot warmer in Oklahoma, so I decided not to get too excited. The heavy skies and chilly winds that greeted us when we got home confirmed it. Nope. No spring yet. But then today I saw…

Road trip with the boys took us to Oklahoma City… home of the Oklahoma City Thunder! We don’t have a professional basketball team where we live, so we’d never seen a game before. So we took to the road. Oklahoma City was the ideal choice because Drew’s idol is Kevin Durant.  But we saw lots…

Nothing like waking up to a warm kitty wrapped around my head, rumbling like an old Ford in my ear.  (I actually made an audio recording of Violet purring this morning, but I can’t figure out how to upload it.)

Those who matter really don’t mind. Thanks, Dr. Seuss. So, as I indicated yesterday, I did/said something that was totally me. So much so that I wasn’t so sure how comfortable I was with it. Long story short, my impulsive actions yesterday resulted in one heck of a birthday gift today: Tanner and I got…

“Be who you are and say what you feel,  because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.”  — Dr. Seuss Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss.  The above quote is one of my favorites from Seuss — and some advice that I’ve always had a tough time following. I’ve been working so hard to…

…a fun quote from Tiny Buddha: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.” – Albert Einstein …purple tulips and these little white flowers whose name I can’t spell or pronounce. Let’s face it — it doesn’t make the bouquet any less pretty. And they make a perfect sendoff for…

A blog called Shadowhouse Creations has got to be one of the coolest things I have seen on the web. I’ve not scratched the surface of the available textures and I’m probably not even doing it right, but this artist blogger offers free textures for download that you can apply to your photos. Seriously. Free. Just…

I own a panda Pillow Pet.  And (surprise) guess who loves it.

My boss is going to be out of town on my big birthday, so we celebrated a little early with a potluck lunch. It was really lovely. We all brought in a dish (the boys did the heavy lifting — thank you so much, fellas) and it was way better than any lunch at a…

I know that we’re supposed to be content in all situations, but I am so itching for an adventure. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen, learned about or experienced something totally new outside of our zip code. It’s really driving me nuts. And watching this wonderful movie about Phil Keoghan’s trek across the…

Notice anything strange about the big cuddly pile of kitties on my bed? Specifically, something strange to the left of the photo? That’s Murphy. And my leg. That cat can nap comfortably anywhere and on absolutely anything. But I love listening to both cats when they nap. Murphy sounds like microwave popcorn when it’s almost…

Long, blustery trek at Castlewood State Park with the boys today. One of my favorite places because…  … of this view. It never gets old.  Lots of folks enjoying the 70+ degree day. Folks with kids, hard core hikers and bikers, dog walkers… and this guy. The guy who stopped to enjoy the view with…

Long, early hike with Drew. All kinds of kudos to my boy for going with me — it was early, cold and lightly sleeting when we got there. But he set out without complaint. And when we finished the first trail, he wanted to keep going.  Nothing extraordinary to report visually, but it was wonderful…

…but a lovely pike position by Murphy. Minimal splash upon entry.  What a weird animal. Seriously, does that look comfortable to you? 

(photo by David Goldman, AP, from the article link below) Zoo Atlanta had their 100-Day Panda Naming Ceremony today with considerably more fanfare than usual. Jack Black revealed the baby’s name as a cross-promotion for the next Kung Fu Panda movie that is coming out in a few months. So guess what, the baby’s name…

Rummaging through some old photos…these were some favorites.  This is my lame way of keeping myself partially distracted during the Westminster Dog Show. If I pay too much attention, I start envisioning what each dog would look like curled up at our feet on the living room floor or trotting along side us when we…

This is a likely option for weekend plans…just chilling out.  Oh, I am so happy it’s Friday. 

Some colleagues and I met at a neat little place for a small celebration earlier this evening.  Those are swings at the bar! And this booth was kinda fun, too. Above photos were taken with a new Hipstamatic lens that came out today. I’ve been looking forward to that for quite some time. But I’m…

While rummaging through a bookshelf, I stumbled across “Picasso & Lump: A Dachshund’s Odyssey.” It wasn’t what I was looking for at the time, but I’ve been thumbing through it ever since. When I first bought the book several years ago, I was intrigued by the story. I’m not a fan of Picasso’s work, but I was…

Pancakes and hash browns for breakfast.  Creme brulee cupcakes this afternoon. (Oh, these are good.) Jewelry-making this evening.  Golly, I’m feeling productive today. And I really, really like it. Although I’m trying desperately to avoid watching the Super Bowl, I have caught a commercial or two here and there (thanks to my kids and the genius…