by Sarah | Jul 12, 2015 | All About Home, All About Me, Blogging Life, Holidays, Photography, Redefining Perfect, Snapshot Sunday
The past two weeks have been absolutely insane between Eagling up for Denver, me working more hours than usual, and odder days than I usually do, and 4th of July.
Long story short–my camera sat on the shelf.
However, the week wasn’t a total wash. My cell phone got some action throughout the week…so it’s not a huge outpouring, but at least I didn’t ignore my pictures all together. 🙂
Week – 6/28/15 – 7/4/15
Me, hours before the Eagle Ceremony with my Mother’s Scout pins.
Some beautiful roses in my favorite color, a gift from my new Eagle Scout.
The first blooms finally erupted on my Rose of Sharon.
This guy popped up on the neighbor’s door frame.
Of course, it wouldn’t be the 4th of July without some of the requisite fireworks photos.
And that’s it for this week!  More to come next week…considering I get my camera back out 😀
by Sarah | Jul 7, 2015 | All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Photography, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
Hooray for the return of Top Ten Tuesday!  At least I’m saying that…if I’m the only one, don’t tell me 😀  I love lists of all kinds.
This one was especially fun for me because it meant I got to do a little photo shoot with the Monster High Dolls in the house 😀  We own a few (probably close to 40 all three of us combined–the girls & me), but I have a few favorites lying around here, and not all of them are mine.
I struggled with how to do this list, because it’s so hard to pick favorites. I finally decided on the good old alphabetical method – by name, not the line.
1. Avea Trotter – She’s from the Freaky Fusion show. I had to get the daughter of the centaur for many reasons – she’s purple, she’s part horse, and holy cow is she gorgeous.
2. Catrine deMew – from the Gloom & Bloom line. She’s fancy, she’s pretty, and I love the flowering touches in this line, I want the whole thing. 😉
3. Clawdeen – This one’s from the Scaremester Collection. She’s not mine, it’s Kennedy’s, and I’m totally jealous.  Clawdeen with short hair is to die for. She’s got this cute little leather jacket, and I just love her.
4. Clawvenus – Another Freaky Fusion doll, I’m a bit obsessed. Again, unfortunately, this is not mine, I haven’t got a single Clawdeen. I am a big fan of the crazy furry jacket here, and the addition of Venus McFlytrap’s “shaved” sections of hair.
5. Draculaura – Sweet Screams indeed. She was my first purchase for myself. The wrapped pigtails did it for me. Yes, I have issues. shush. She’s pretty.
6. Ghoulia Yelps – Another from the Sweet Screams line. Ghoulia has long been one of my favorite Monster High characters–and she (not this doll, but the character) was the first one bought for Kennedy. I like the Sweet Screams version because it’s super bright and colorful – and her shoes are gummy worms for crying out loud.
7. Jane Boolittle – Another from the gloom and bloom line. I really just liked her fluffy skirt, and her pink highlights.
8. Lagoonafire – Yet another from the Freaky Fusion line. Can you tell that’s one of my favs?  Lagoonafire is, alas, not mine at all though there are two of her in this house. Both Kennedy and Molly own one, but I do not. They bought her for themselves with their own money. I love her crazy color scheme, her flaming tail, and her hair curl. I have my eye on one for myself, yes I do.
9. Rochelle Goyle – Scaris style. Look at the Eiffel Tower.  Plus, pink & grey has always been one of my favorite color combinations. I also totally dig gargoyles, and she does gargoyle in a gorgeous fashion.
10. Vandala Dubloons – She’s a pirate ghost with a pirate ship. Need I say more? (From Haunted)
Honorable Mention!!
Her photo shoot didn’t go as well, because she was the very first Monster High doll brought into the house…before K really thought to take care of them so they’d stay as pretty. We long ago lost her glasses, and her hair is no longer curly and her pictures in the photo shoot, well…they didn’t come out so pretty.
So, I’m using an old photo from the first week we had her originally posted on Instagram.
Ghoulia Yelps – I don’t know why I always liked her, but K got her for Christmas the year I had surgery and every day K brought Ghoulia to me to keep an eye on me (because she was my favorite). And so the O.G. Monster High in this house must be acknowledged.
by Sarah | Jul 5, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, Photography, Redefining Perfect, Snapshot Sunday, Weekly Winners
As I miss the days of the Weekly Winners once hosted by Lotus, I wanted to start showing pictures again. Mostly because in the past few years as I became more involved in writing, my camera became a bit neglected. In hopes of reinvigorating my photography life again, as I’ve always loved taking pictures, and miss it.
I started by giving myself themes to follow, but have since decided to just go into it with my whole heart and show the best of the weeks shots and some of what happened in the week I’m showing.
Week – 6/21/15-6/28/15
A tiny inchworm we discovered outside. Tiny tiny tiny.
The Husband
Denver’s friend & mentor (& our neighbor), Marc, giving a touching speech at Denver’s Eagle Ceremony.
The Kennedy
My most interesting event this week – meeting the fascinating Mr Chen Guan Ming, the man riding a rickshaw around the world.
I did a full on photo shoot with my daughters’ and my Monster High Dolls. I LOVE these things, I admit it. My husband thinks it’s weird as hell that I love them like I do. I think they’re beautiful. These are just a few of my favorite pictures from the session.
Sweet Screams Ghoulia Yelps
Avea Trotter
Gloom and Bloom Catrine de Mew
Scaremester Clawdeen Wolf
And that’s it for this week!  More to come next week…considering I get my camera back out 😀
by Sarah | Jan 21, 2015 | All of Us, Blogging Life, Crap, Photography, Random, Redefining Perfect, Special Needs
The past 4-5 months have been a weird sort of crazy busy, mentally wiped, not-really-busy-but-can’t-function sort of time. Â I got a job last year, and started working far more hours than I was hired for and my brain forgot how to function, I think. Or I just needed to focus on words. Or I focused too much on words. It’s hard to say.
I have so much to cover, and I’m trying to organize the words for full fledged blog posts, trying to wrap my mind around how to write a blog post again instead of a book. I’m trying to figure out how to expound on my world and the crazy, amazing, chaotic developments in our little corner of the universe, instead of building new worlds and characters and telling their story.
I want to resume telling my story again (while still telling theirs, of course, because I will likely never cease writing).
While I work on composing the words, here’s a few brief updates, destined to be turned into posts of their own eventually.
- We went to Disney World this year. This will require several posts, including one about Make-A-Wish and the true magic they created.
- I wrote over 500,000 words last year.
- Published 8 books.
- Contracted 7 more (& have 3 more in edits for Indie publishing later this year)
- I started working again, for real this time. After a few brief stints over the past 5 years, I’ve been at this job 7 months now. It’s the job I said I’d never go back to, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
- The kids are now almost-17 (3 days!), almost-10, and almost-9. Â Holy crap, how did that happen?
- Molly’s behavior has improved (thanks to a little help) vastly. Her school year this year has been so different, I’m the happiest I’ve been in a while w/ the school district.
- My brother got diagnosed w/ Parkinson’s (an early diagnosis thanks to early recognition of the symptoms based on our dad’s symptoms).
- My husband had surgery last month.
- We have a Monster High obsession going on around these parts (and it’s not just K)
- Our rescue dog has been with us almost a year now. I still don’t know how we lived without her stinky, strange, sweet, not-listening, mama’s-girl butt.
- K & I have started to read through the Harry Potter series together. It’s so much fun to share so much with one of my girls.
- I’m sort of turning into a planner fiend. Here’s hoping that helps with my whole “get back into blogging” plan.
- I’m trying some “30 days of”. Don’t plan on posting about them until I actually succeed (or get close to succeeding) in completing one. Â I’m hoping I can do anything for 30 days. I’m doing one of the toughest ones first. If I can manage to succeed in this, I know I can do anything.
There is so much more, and I have wonderful lists full of posts to create. I only need to get myself into focus to create them. I think my brain needs the release of getting these things out in the open. Maybe then I’ll start to feel like my brain is back on planet Earth.
Now, if only I could find those elusive extra hours in the day to accomplish everything I need to in every day.
The past two weeks have been absolutely insane between Eagling up for Denver, me working more hours than usual, and odder days than I usually do, and 4th of July.
