Fun Favorites for March 23rd

A few of my fun favorites found yesterday! However I got sidetracked and didn't get them posted until today.

Until next time.....hope you enjoy your weekend, I plan to.

Debbie

Road Trip

One of my recent collage pieces "Road Trip" got me to thinking of all the places my blog visitors come from. I love receiving my blog stats every morning and seeing all the places some of you have traveled from. In just the past week the United States has been represent well.

Dayton Ohio, Atlanta Georgia, Farmington Michigan, Hickory North Carolina, Reeves Louisiana, Little Rock Arkansas, Tucson, Arizona, Assaria Kansas, Brandon Florida, LaFayette Georgia, Maitland Florida, Oak Brook Illinois, Los Angeles California, Louisville Kentucky, Langley Washington, Sheridan Wyoming, Nahunta Georgia, Boise Idaho, Waycross Georgia, St Louis Missouri,Etna California, Greer South Carolina, Denver Colorado, Virgina Beach Virginia, Eugene Oregon, Del Rey California. Owensboro Kentucky, Snyder Texas, Athens Georgia and on and on. Plus Australia, Thailand, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Canada, China, Portugal and more have all been by to visit.

Yes, these are IP locations along with some actual city and towns. Can you imagine taking a road trip and hitting all these places along the way. We could travel the Atlantic Coast between New York and the tip of Florida, the Pacific Coast between Olympic National Park and San Diego California, or how about Route 66 between Los Angeles and Chicago. Personally I would love to travel old US 80 between San Diego California and Savannah Georgia. These are just a few of the wonderful routes one could take. Do you have one that you love to travel?

I can only imagine all of the antique shops, flea markets and tag sales along the way. All I need is a list of great places to stop, a handful of cash, a credit card or maybe two, a tankful of gas and a nice breezy day.

Until next time.....Enjoy your day!

Debbie

Favorite Fun Finds

I was recently asked where does your inspiration come from. I have many things that inspire me and here are a few inspirational photos found on flickr.



Until next time....Hope these bring a little happiness and inspiration to you.

Debbie

Weekend at the Beach

These are just a few of my favorites taken last weekend at Jekyll Island, St. Simons Island and Historic Brunswick. My favorite is KC doing cartwheels....oh to have that much energy.

Until next time....Enjoy the little moments that come your way.

Debbie

It Comes Natural

I have been saving this postcard postmarked 1918 for a special project. Today is not a project, but it is special. Steve and I celebrate our 8th anniversary today. I had been divorced for several years and was not looking for anyone, plus I had a rather long list that he had to meet to even be considered datable!!

I was looking for someone involved in church, that would accept my 3 children as their own, they couldn't have children from a previous marriage, had to have been divorced atleast 15 - 20 years (I didn't want to deal with an ex or their children), he had to have a long standing supporting job, no alcohol or drugs present or past and the list went on and on. Everyone said, you will never find anyone that meets ALL of that list. My response was always, then I'm not interested in them.

A mutual friend introduced us via the Internet one night while IMing and we talked for 3 hrs. I still had my guard up, but felt Ricky would not lead me down the wrong path. After many nights of IMing we decided to meet. We dated for several months before the kids met him as I didn't want them to get attached. The night they all met it was as if Steve had been around all their life. We started going to baseball games, school activities, church and etc, which was a rather long drive for him. He was living almost 2 hrs away but drove down for everything he possibly could. Christmas Eve 1998 brought snow, freezing rain and Steve to our door. Roads were closed in places....he drove for over 5 hrs to get to us. We all spent Christmas and the next 3 days together with no electricity. That was a real test and we all passed!!!!

He surprised me with a ring a few weeks later and plans began to be married March 13th. We started our honeymoon off in north Arkansas once again snowed in with no electricity! He moved his things into our home as he did not want to uproot the kids from the only home, school and friends they had ever know. Major adjustments had to come....it was our home and now we had to make it OUR home.

Any man that can come into a ready made family with 3 children ages 9, 10 and 14, AND is still around 8 years later deserves a metal. We all know the preteen and teenage years can be trying on an easy day. He told his mother when she asked him if he knew what he was getting into that no he didn't, but did she when she and his dad had the 3 of them!!! He now has 3 children that respect him and ask him for advice daily. There are times they would rather disappoint me than him.

Not only did he have 3 children, he had a wife that was self supporting, very opinionated, did not like to ask for help and could do most anything she set her mind to do. I didn't want to ask for anything and he wanted me to! I loved working outside the home, but an opportunity came 6 months after we were married that gave me the chance to work from home with my art on a full time basis and Steve encouraged it. He has been there through all the ups and down of trying to get an art career off the ground. He has pushed me when I didn't want to be pushed. He has held on lightly when I was heading in a direction he saw trouble. He has listened, he has questioned, he has given advice when asked and when I didn't want it. No matter what he has supported me.

This past weekend was my time to do whatever I wanted and we spent Saturday hitting antique shops, flea markets, yard sales and visiting the beach. We again went to the beach Sunday for the afternoon. He does not mind the shopping, he just does not like it when I am walking along and all of a sudden I come to a complete stop right in front of him because I spotted something!!!

We have no big plans for the day or night....he's at work, I'm home doing my thing and this afternoon we will follow the tennis team to Savannah. Our plan is to visit the beach again this weekend Saturday and/or Sunday for a sunrise or sunset and who knows maybe both.

Thank you Steve for 8 absolutely wonderful years.

Until next time.....I am working through the 300+ photos we took this past weekend and will share with you soon.

Debbie

A Warm Hello

On our way home from another wonderful day on the beach (I'll share all of that later) we stopped by the Post Office. Tucked between a few bills, MEHC and our Netflix was an envelope with my name printed oh so very nicely with pretty little flowers stamped about. Inside I found this gorgeous handmade note card from my friend Teresa with the nicest handwritten note on black linen embellished with cream and black satin ribbon and a perfect blossom made from the linen cardstock and telephone directory pages.

Thank you Teresa for your thoughts and good wishes.

On another note....we had a great weekend of sun, sand and surf. It was wonderful stepping (mid-calf is as far as I could go) into the Atlantic Ocean even though it was rather chilly. Surely out of 300+ photos I can find a few to share. KC was trigger happy!!

Until next time.....I am back to taking care of paperwork and website/blog updates that are behind.

Debbie

Tattered, Torn & Yellowed

Imagine you are sitting at the tennis courts watching your daughter and her team mates play and someone comes by and says "I have something for you, some old books. I mean really, really old. Let me get them for you." He comes back with this trash bag which holds a really old and worn manila envelope. As he pulls the findings out your eyes widen and dance with delight as he is once again telling you these are really old, torn, yellowed, falling apart, etc. I could not believe it....

There were three "The Literary Digest" dated

October 15, 1910

September 26, 1914

September 11, 1915

Plus a wonderful Remington Centennial Historical Souvenir Book - One Hundred Years of Progress 1860 - 1960 filled with photos and writings.

The Indianapolis News dated May 13, 1932 filled forty-eight pages of photos, ads and writings all for Three Cents.

Last, but certainly not least was another newspaper Celebrating Our Hoosier Heritage dated September 25, 1988 with 50-years of photos, articles, ads and more. On the front page of the Business and Industry section was a photo of the children of the founder of the paper from the late 1800's.

Those of you that know me know the older, the more worn, tattered and yellowed the more I love it.

We have gotten to know Coach Waymire over the past 8 months while KC was taking tennis lessons. He has been a wonderful adult influence to our daughter not only teaching tennis, but life lessons along the way. He is the kind of teacher every child would love to have. Over time he learned of my art, visited my website and most recently my exhibit. It was my respectful simplicity with an occasional humor thrown in that he found of interest. He said the books and papers had been sitting on a bookshelf and he knew I would make good use of them.

Once again I have been blessed with such rich treasures that I will use and cherish.

On another note....look for my "Friday Fun Finds" starting next week. These will be things that inspire and brighten my day.

I am getting ready for Peaches to the Beaches this weekend, a 212-mile yard sale that links peach-growing counties in middle Georgia to the beaches of Georgia's Golden Isles with community sites in 20 cities and towns and individual sales along the way. The sale runs along US Highway 341, the Golden Isles Parkway in Georgia.

Until next time.....My walking shoes, comfortable clothes, stash of cash and my great tote I bought from Debra are ready to go.

Debbie