Sunshine and Mangos

See how the sun is shining through the Mango tree and see how wonderful those mangos look? I was just remembering how nice the sun felt in Puerto Rico and how delicious those mangos are! Pure sweetness.

Thank God it is Friday! I'm going to Madscrapper and get some major work done tonight on my mom's 1st album. I hope to 100% get it done tonight and ship it out Monday... here's hoping.

Oh how I'd like to be on a beach somewhere right now... throw up a hammock and lather up with some sun screen and soak up the sun... I hope we have a sunny weekend!

btw... these are both pics I took while visiting in Puerto Rico in May.

A Bowl of Greens...

Mmmm... Good....
Went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday. So glad I got up early. I usually sleep in.
Had to get those Mat-Valley peas if you know what I mean!
Oh and of course... the greens too, lovely collards, turnips and mustard.
Had creamed peas on Saturday, collards on Sunday and Monday
and tonight was Mustard w/Turnip... so so yummy.
Now I know most of you out there, your first reaction is !yuk!
But I'm tellin' you, these things are Delicious. Nothin' better than a bowl
of greens with cornbread and a cold glass of sweet tea!
Kinda made me feel like I was back at my Grandma Williams house...
I can hear the conversation now...

"See Lee! (my grandpa's middle name)... I told you we was gettin'
company today. Soon as I cooked them greens, I figured
well probly Myrtis and her babies is comin' cause they like
them greens and cornbread the best... 'specilly that Lisa 'nette!
Now you younguns come on in here now, Myrtis put those bags down,
come on in the kitchen.. I'll warm up them greens..
sit down, let me get y'all some bowls and you babies can eat and have some tea...
After all that drivin' I know y'all are hongray.
I got some buttermilk too if y'all want a bowl of cornbread with buttermilk?
Sure glad y'all come to see us old folks.
Now y'all tell grandmaw what y'all a been doin'?"

And you can believe it or not, but most of the time when I visited with Grandma,
she knew I was comin' and she would most likely have a pot of
greens and some cold cornbread and sweet tea.

Now that's what I see, hear, smell and taste every time I look at a bowl of greens.

55 degrees and its July!

Yikes can you believe it! 55! this morning and its July! ok... I know that most say the summers are usually like this but I was spoiled with a couple of really nice summers and I want them back! I need at least 90 more days of Saturday.. no clouds, temp in the 70's, gorgeous sunshine.. it was perfect. And then yesterday, the sky falls. Ya think that if its going to do that it would wait until a person went to work at least. So now, I'm thinkin' that I'd better get finished with this sweater I started in January. Knitting is a nice winter sport, but if I want to wear this thing this winter I'd better get to crackin' !

There's a reason I don't get bored... keep my projects open and one always going.

Happy Monday!

Lovin' the Flowers

Not only do I love flowers but so does Purrcules. He's an inside kitty (doesn't have the shots or the claws for the outside) and every time he senses that we might be headed outside, he darts for the door. He's quick too. Somehow he gets out that door before us. I think he even enjoys the back deck as much as we do too.



I feel kinda like the Purc, every chance I get I want to enjoy the summer while it last. I was just out raking the yard, and yes, Alaskans can do that at 11pm! and was just thinking how much I really do love the summer. I love the smell of fresh cut grass! And have you ever smelled stargazer lilies... oh you have not lived! and mixed with the cool fresh mountain air... well there's just no substitute.

Messin' Around...

I was just messin' around with Elements. Not professionally done by any means, but just havin' some fun. Two reasons why I purchased Elements was to learn how to create my own paper for traditional scrapbooking and to create more custom backgrounds for digital scrapbooking. I like both. However, I'm just getting into the digital scrapbooking and I'm loving it. Here is one I created today. What do you think?

Tag, I'm it ...

So I got tagged by Carrie and feel compelled to play along.. 8 interesting facts:

1. I'm from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. I dearly love it and miss it very much. I moved from there to California where I married Hal and then on to Alaska when he separated from the military.

2. I absolutely love being in multi-cultural settings. I like meeting different people than myself and I like to learn about their cultures and where they grew up and how they came to be what they are. I truly love diversity. Coming from a very southern upbringing, I had an unusually open-minded mother who encouraged leaving your "mind wide open."

3. I kept a journal from the time I was about 8 years old until I became engaged to Hal (20 years!). I burned them all before moving because I wanted to start a "new life" and I have. Hal is the best husband/friend a girl could ask for.

4. I play multiple instruments and come from a very musical/artistic background. I was a "band geek" and still am and played a variety of instruments, clarinet (primarily), bass clarinet, baritone, xylophone, bells, drums, and I taught myself the piano. I'm still working on the piano, but I can pick up a tune and play along on most instruments I know how to play, including the piano.

5. Now this one may seem mean and unusual, but I do NOT like animals for pets. I like them in the wild just fine and in the environments for which they were intended. My family had every kind of pet that you can image growing up and since my 2nd pet left us, I've not ever wanted one again. My husband has a tabby cat, Purrcules and I like him very much and will be very sad when he leaves us, but if it were my choice, we would never have gotten a pet. I don't even like fish... Now I hope you don't think me unlovable, or not nice.. but that's just me.

6. I love to create, be it sewing, scrapbooking, drawing, cooking, gardening, knitting, refurbishing older things, if it's creating, I like it. But sometimes I'm hard on myself and quite critical of my own work.

7. I'm eclectic. I like a variety of things such as in music.. metal, r&b, classics, pop, old soul hymnals, rock-n-roll, the blues, bluegrass, folk, zydeco.. and in decor.. modern, contemporary, pop, country, french, old english, colonial, western, cabin like, new country.... I could go on and on.. :)

8. Other things to note: I'm blunt most of the time (in younger years got me in trouble with employers and personal life), but I'm softer around the edges now. I encourage organization and being clutter free. I can give an opinion when asked and keep a neutral open mind about it. Sometimes I give advise on the "fly."So funny... the other day I was in the public restroom in the food court at the mall, and this itty bitty girl (must've been about 18) was trying on a size 2 jeans and was talking to friend trying to figure out how she could keep the 2s and not get the 4s... I told her to wash 'em in cold, don't put them in the dryer, simple as that.

WIDE AWAKE!!

I'm just too excited for words, darn it! Now I can't sleep. I blame Layla and maybe that cup of coffee.. but coffee never seemed to bother me before.. or it could be all these ideas rolling around in my brain that need to get out. The two photos above I did with Adobe Elements 5.0. I love Love LOVE Elements! They are both the same picture, I just edited the same photo twice differently each time. The color in the first picture is just how my trusty little Nikon captured it (no adjustments) and the second one is thanks to the hue/saturation level adjustment made. Which one do you like the best? I learned this technique from a video I saw online. That's where I learn everything now. My internet bill is well worth the education I've received. Too bad I can't put it on a diploma somewhere.. hmm... gotta work on that one.

I'm getting excited about SCRAP PINK and the classes I'm going to teach... that's what's keeping me up tonight! Gosh darn it. Better turn out to be a good class since I'm losing all this sleep and to think I almost nodded off two times at work today.. I just can't seem to get enough S.L.E.E.P. Hopefully, this blog will work as therapy and I will get to snooze soon.