Yippee!!! Happy Mail!

Today has been a gorgeous day!!  It started off with my cat waking me up, no doubt wanting to make sure that I didn't miss seeing the beautiful sunrise....I'm pretty sure his hunger had nothing to do with it.

After doing our morning routines and chores, the kids and I decided that it was much too beautiful outside to stay at home.   So,  we decided to head to the park downtown, that runs along the river.  I took A LOT of pictures, but I chose only a select few to bombard you with.  :)

I think weather vanes are pretty sweet.

A tunnel under the bridge. 

This is a pretty awesome bridge, I have a drawing I did of it.  It used to actually be train tracks and they transformed it a few years back into a walking bridge.

Look at that glorious sky.

Duck, Duck, Geese!!

Wondering under the trees.

Z kids, waiting for me to catch up.  

Lamp posts, does anyone else have an obsession with them?

Back up to the bridge. 

Yes, another one...It reminds me of Narnia.

I like the way this turned out.

Zared likes to climb every tree possible.  Isn't that what trees are for? :)

One last quick shot of the gorgeous clouds before we head home.

Then to my wonderful surprise, I got home and the package I have been anxiously/excitedly waiting for, was there...in my mailbox, waiting for me to bask in it's glory!!  :)
About 3 weeks ago, one of my lovely blog friend's, Laila, and I decided to make an art trade.  She is multi-talented.  She draws, paints, crochet's, knits...you name it, she does it.  And it is all very beautiful.  One of her goals this year was to make art trades every month, I didn't know this when I asked her about it, but it all worked out very well and I'm so excited about my goodies in the mail.
I will share pictures with you..

This is the outside of the package, she decorated it with these lovely patterns.  I am going to keep this.

It was most fun to see the few additions to this package that were unexpected.  These are a few pages from a book, written in 1933 in Norwegian and Danish.  I can use these for a background for a picture.  :)

She also wrote me a lovely note on her own handmade notecard, isn't this beautiful?

A bonus piece of art from Sandra, she is Laila's young friend who loves to create as well.  I will definitely be hanging this one up.  

And the gorgeous pot holders that I traded for, they're so very pretty and colorful.  She crocheted them and they are lined on the back with white stitching.  Very pretty, I'm looking forward to putting these in my kitchen above my stove where I can see them everyday.  She also made the sweet little tag too.  She is so talented.
Thank you so much Laila, I am so, so happy with my lovely goodies!!  

What a truly happy and beautiful day!

How is your New Year?

At our house, we have been working on setting goals and keeping them, changing perspectives and making things happen, instead of waiting for things to happen.

How is your New Year going so far?  Are you sticking to your resolutions, goals, new habits?

Changing perspectives, I decided to play with altering some of my photographs.  I see this a lot lately and thought I'd play around and see what I could come up with.  I need to figure out my photoshop program, I might be able to get more creative with that.
Hope all is well with you!

The edge of night

We are small compared to some.

Perfectly Aligned

Serenity

Looking for bears

Purple Sky

Disappearing

Endless Journeys

Silent Sundays: A Quick Post

This past week has been very eventful.
I was sick, but feeling  better, although now my husband is sick.
We had snow, then an abundance of rain, which caused flooding in our area and in our basement....good times.  It is mostly dry now. (our basement)
But on the bright side, I've been drawing, painting and I am in the process of a lovely trade with a blog friend.  Hooray!
Now for pics!! Enjoy and may your day and week be filled with magic.

My favorite walking place is totally under water... :(

Winter

Finally finished it!   Uncertainty

A new pic.  I decided I would like to draw something everyday.  

This one is in the process, not quite done, so just giving you a sneak.  

God Bless and Have a Groovy Week, my friends!!

Happy Wednesday! WOYWW

One of my blog pals does the WOYWW (What's on your work desk Wednesday!)  Her name is Patsy and her blog is Heartworks, she is very lovely and passionate. I am inspired by her blog and her happy heart.  If you get a chance, you would be blessed by visiting her.
The WOYWW is run by Julia, who's blog is Stamping Ground.  Also, another awesome blog you should check out and hop in and participate on Wednesdays.  She is very crafty and creative and always has fun posts that are inspiring.  (It's also nice to see I'm not the only one who's desk is constantly cluttered with projects.)
I took a picture of my desk and realized I still have a lot of unfinished projects.  (UFO's)  Some that have deadlines.  I really need to get these done.

I am working on a sketchbook project that has to be done by the end of this month and mailed on the 31st.  I got this sketchbook at the end of October and didn't take much time to draw in it.  I wasn't feeling as inspired as I thought I would. Now I'm down to the end of the wire and feeling a bit overwhelmed, but realizing I need to let go of myself and just enjoy the process.  I tend to have an idea in mind of what I "HAVE" to do, and really it's just me, who has those expectations on myself.  It's silly.  I'm I the only one who does this??

The painting on the right is for a friend who has asked me to do this for her.  I have struggled with it, because I again, have these expectations, instead of just letting go and freeing myself to do what I know I can.  

The picture of the girl with the wings, is a bit of a self portrait.  A struggle to believe I can fly, even though the wings are right there.  But I'm getting there.  :)  

I started this last night, because yes...I need another project.  :D 

A blog friend suggested I make a scarf using the colors of the sunrise in my last post.  Yesterday, I wasn't feeling well, so I sat on the couch and watched movies all day...knitting is therapy and so I went thru my stash of yarn and this is what I came  up with.  It's a bit groovy, but I'm liking it.  I think I will make a hat to go with it.  It's been awhile since I've made myself a hat and I do love making them.  Maybe even some fingerless gloves, we'll see how motivated I am.  :)  I still need to finish a couple of sweaters.  BAH!!  

Yesterday's sunrise! 

I'm going to bombard you with sunrise pictures...if you don't mind.  

My lovely husband took me out for a drive last week, at 6:30 am, so I could play with my camera and capture the sunrise.  I took about 50 or so....pictures. 

So, enjoy!!  The sun rises everyday and it's always a blessing!  

Have an amazing and joy filled week!

Silent Sundays: More Pictures...I Can't Help It.

Sunday is almost over, but it's still here, so I'm doing a quick post of pictures.  

I had the chance to get out this week and take some more naturey photos, I'm having fun figuring out this new camera and playing with all the settings.  

On a side note, I am also working on art projects.  I have a few things that have a deadline and so I'm trying to get them done.  Why, oh why do I procrastinate??  Bah!!  

Happy Sunday and all week to you!  Hope your New Year is going splendidly, so far!

The rising sun.  

The waterfall, same one from a few months ago, lots more water this time.

Figuring out which path we want to take.

This is a glorious knitted hat/beard that I bought on Etsy, for my son.  I love it!!

I love the mossy trees here.  So fuzzy and wonderful.

Mr. Chumly lives in the tree behind our house.

The top of the waterfall.....vertigo anyone?

It's a bit more calm from this view.

Standing on our front porch watching the sunrise...lots of colorful sunrises recently.

Foggy day today!  :)

The boys are boarding down the foggy road.

Another glorious day!!

And lastly, me and my hubba bubba!