Gratitude

 Sometimes

like lately

when I tend to dwell on what's wrong

instead of everything that is so right in my life

I look outside

and see this

just beyond my window

 As far as the eye can see, this is our property

Such beauty!

And I so often look past it, seeing only shadows rather than light

My sweet friend Suzanne
of
Privet and Holly
  has a remarkably poignant, thought-provoking post up today
and it really got me thinking

About gratitude

and possibilities

and choices we make

and how beauty is all around us

and sometimes...

even within

Please go pay Suzanne a visit

Read this amazing post

and follow her beautiful blog

She's the writer I want to be when if I grow up!

And the Winner Is.....

Sometimes it pays to come late to the party.  ;-)

Chosen via Random Number Generator

   out of 402 comments/entries...

#397

Deb from Garage Sale Gal

You are the lucky winner of this fabulous book!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered, left comments, 

became followers and shouted my giveaway from your respective rooftops!

I'll be having another wonderful giveaway soon, 

so be sure to check back often!

Happy Wednesday!

Want Better Photos?

Any who among us doesn't, right?

 

Sometimes the photos come right out the camera looking just divine

 

And sometimes they don't.

Sorry, Winnie.

So for those times when you could use a little sumpin' sumpin' 

to spruce up those images, there's Photoshop!

 

But, as many of you well know, Photoshop can be a booger to learn.

I'm still struggling with it!

Hometown Girl to the rescue!

 

My sweet new friend Susan of the fabulous blog Hometown Girl 

is having a wonderfully generous giveaway, 

and she's offering one lucky reader this essential book on creating Photoshop art...

I've heard great things about this book, 

so be sure to pay the lovely Susan a visit to enter this amazing giveaway.

Let her know I sent ya!

Click HERE to enter.

Happy Sunday!

Cubby Holes

This is the desk where I blog.

I moved my laptop to give you a better view of this
fabulous cubby that I gaze upon while sitting here

hour after hour

telling my tales and visiting all of you and your wonderful blogs.

Now, I must preface this post by assuring you
that any dust you might think you see here is merely your eyes playing tricks on you.

So there.

I'm so glad we got that settled.

Anyway.

As I am wont to do, my mind wandered
and I began to see the blogging world as a giant cubby of sorts.

Each little hole 

each niche, 

nook or cranny, 

represented a different flavor in the blogging world.

In our particular genre, the lifestyle blogs, there are many sub-genres.

Or for the purposes of this post, many different cubbies.

There are the crafters

The junkers

The photographers

The renovation folks

The SAHM's (stay-at-home-mom's)

The beachy-coastal crowd

The humorists

The shop-owners

The mixed-media artists

The DIY crowd

The designers

and so many more who simply defy pigeonholing.

It's funny...

Because I thought I knew exactly which cubbies I fit into.

On any given day, I feel like I fit into all or none of the above.

But the more of the blogging world I explore,

the more of you I get to know and the more my horizons are broadened,

I begin to question

exactly where I belong.

Which niche is mine.

I thought I knew...

Less than a year ago when I began my blogging adventure,
I was the writer who dreamed of one day owning her own shop.
That much hasn't changed, but I've discovered so much more than I ever anticipated,
both about the blogging world in general, and about myself in particular.

I have grown.

I have learned.

I have changed.

And all three can be messy and uncomfortable, but so worth it in the end.

Right?

But still I wonder...

As I begin to peer inquisitively into different cubbies...into your cubbies

I ask myself

will I be accepted?

Or will I be suddenly transported back to high school...
ah, the days of cliques...(regrettably, do we ever really outgrow them?)

looked at quizzically, perhaps given the once over and sent packing

back to

my

own

little

cubby?

And then

a moment of clarity

Just as my charming cubby houses so many disparate objects,

so many different sides of me,

then so it follows that my blog can serve the same function.

My blog is a journey and an exploration of who I am,
much like I'm sure yours is as well.

So if you see me peering around the corner...

exploring your particular niche...

Please, welcome me as I will you!

Because we both might just discover

something new

and

altogether wonderful!

 I hope you all have a happy weekend!

I'll be trying to catch up on household chores,
and as I'm woefully behind on visiting all of you,
I hope to pay many of your lovely blogs a visit this weekend.

As always, thank you for your friendship
and for deeming me worthy of a read now and again.

I love y'all.  :-)

What The???

I need some help from my more blogger savvy friends...

I went to follow a new blog, 

and was met with this rather rude message:

"You are already following the maximum number of blogs (300). 

Unfollow some other blogs first."

I'm sorry, jigga wha?

I know of some people who say they follow 

upwards of 600 blogs, so why the cut-off for me?

And because I know it's the 11th commandment 

that one cannot post without pictures, here ya go.

Now....HELP!

A Fabulous Care Package

My bloggy BFF,
Debra of Common Ground
  had been threatening to send me a goodie box for quite some time....
but this past week, girlfriend finally made good on the promise,
and man, was it ever good!

Oh! And all these new pics were taken
with my lurvely new Nikon D5000!
Squeeee! I love it!

Because every girl needs a crown,
she gifted me with this gorgeous creation...

 

 So beautiful! And my little tiny dancer looks just perfect inside, I think.

But dear Debra was only getting started!

She knew that I had fallen in love with a vintage print
she was selling in her booth a few months back, so what did Debra do?
She went and had a copy made for me, that little stinker!

 look closer...

I am so in love with this achingly sweet image!

Now I just need the perfect frame for it.

And because dear Debra knows that I have two Siberian Huskies
that I simply adore, she tucked this little fella in, too...

So who said my blog was going to the dogs, hmmm?  ;-)

Moving right along...

Have you noticed my new header?

It features not only more wonderful gifts from Debra,
but also an incredible recent purchase
from my beautiful friend Adrienne of The Flying Bee...

 Killer watch faces courtesy of Debra,
stunning ceramic hands from The Flying Bee Etsy Shop.

Thank you, ladies!

But there was one last goodie tucked in to my care package.

Do you know what this is?

How about another view?

It's a massive hornet's nest!
That's right, Debra actually mailed this baby from Missouri to Texas!

Now before you turn your nose up and go ewwww, 
just look at how visionaries like my friend Theresa
of Garden Antqs Vintage has used these wonderful nests in her vignettes...

So much bloggy love tucked into one little box, right?

Oh, and one more thing...
Just look at the charming tussie mussie I won from Melissa at Piney Rose...

Before I sign off, I just want to make sure
that you've entered my great new giveaway!

I'm giving away this amazing book to one lucky follower.
Click

HERE

to enter.

Have a beautiful Thursday!

French Country Style at Home Giveaway

Happy Wednesday!

I am so pleased to be offering this wonderful new book
for my next giveaway...

French Country Style at Home
 

 by Sébastien Siraudeau

From the publisher:

This enchanting volume unlocks the door of French homes tucked away in the country, from a farmhouse in the Cévennes to a castle lost in the heart of the Morvan mountains.

The writer and photographer Sébastien Siraudeau has already uncovered home inspiration from France’s guesthouses, antique shops, and flea markets in his previous books Vintage French Interiors and French Style at Home. Now he turns his experienced eye to the hidden gems of interior design in the French countryside and unveils the wealth of decorative inspiration they have to offer.

The vibrancy of these hidden retreats is demonstrated beautifully and, as the pages unfold, the reader is struck by a wealth of inspiration from the colors, seasons, and stories that have formed these subtly elegant creations

Wonderful, right?

So, why the giveaway?

What am I celebrating?

Well, I long since passed 200 posts,
and there aren't any big events on the horizon.

Maybe it's an I've won so many stinkin' giveaways myself lately 
that it oughta be against the law and it's time to give somethin' back sorta giveaway.

Naaaah, I think I'm gonna call this a just cuz giveaway.

Fair enough?!

Simple rules to enter:

1. Leave a comment here for one entry
2. Be or become a follower for a second chance (leave a comment letting me know you follow)
3. Post or blog about this for a third chance (again, leave a comment letting me know!) 

 I'll be drawing the name of the lucky winner next Wednesday, May 19th.

Good Luck!