Highlights of the Week (#4)

this past week went soooooo fast. anyone else feel that way?? my most favorite thing that happened---I got to see my cousin and her husband! they flew down for the weekend because E is in a wedding. before they drove down to Vero Beach though they spent a couple nights at her parents' house. my mom and I drove down after work on Friday to meet them for dinner at Disney. I love seeing them and wish it happened more often. *sigh* 

at any rate, another HotW was trying a new restaurant. I had a coupon for a fondue place so last night the family went with me to check it out. basically it's just like The Melting Pot restaurant except way cheaper and not-a-chain. oh, and it's fantastic. we all ate way too much but it was seriously good stuff. I love trying new restaurants and all the better when they're local, non-chain places. 

and oh yeah, I finally upgraded to an iPhone. I've been wanting one forever but the timing was just never quite right. but, I finally made it work and I picked it up on Thursday. I love it!

have a great week!

Highlight of the Week (#3)

there are a lot of things to highlight from this past week. the beginning of the week began with much cooler temperatures than we've experienced in several weeks. it was fantastic! along with perfect temps, we've had just plain gorgeous blue skies every day. there's nothing better than to walk outside, look up, and see the most beautiful blue you've ever seen...and not a cloud in the sky! 

right outside the garage is a big, beautiful gardenia bush and the blooms started appearing just this week. the smell is so heavenly. *sigh* I just adore it. 

two of my favorite TV shows, The Big Bang Theory and Revenge, had new episodes this week and they were both fantastic. sadly, these shows will be disappearing for the summer in just a couple of weeks. but, I suppose that's alright...I mean, summer's a great time to get outside in the evenings and do lots of fun things. one of my favorites that I'm looking forward to enjoying this summer: mini-golf. I love to mini-golf even though I'm really not very good. 

finally, it was my birthday yesterday. even though I don't like the number I turned this year, I am thankful for the many good things in my life. and, not only did I enjoy a free ice cream treat on my bday, I got to spend it with some family members...the most fun people I know!

enjoy your week everyone!

Highlights of the Week (#2)

it was an interesting week for me. glad it's over. wouldn't want to repeat it anytime soon. among my favorite things this past week: claiming my free birthday cupcakes from my absolute favorite cupcake place, Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly. if you live locally, you should totally check it out. follow the link for all the important details. 

Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly

let's see, I also enjoyed listening to The Hunger Games soundtrack on repeat. like, a lot repeat. it kind of makes me want to watch the movie over and over again. either that or read the book yet again. it's just so good. wanna listen? check this out:

The Hunger Games soundtrack

and finally my definite favorite highlight from this past week: going to a local blueberry farm to pick some berries! I brought my mom with me today and we spent about an hour there. between the two of us we managed to pick about 3 and a half pounds of blueberries. I also sampled a glass of fresh, homemade blueberry/orange blossom lemonade. it was outstanding! I would love to find out the proprietor's recipe. at any rate, my mom also bought a homemade blueberry pie and I enjoyed a warm slice tonight as an after-dinner treat. so delish! again, if you live in the area you should definitely take time (soon though) to check out this local blueberry patch!

Lake Catherine Blueberries: Groveland, FL

enjoy your week everyone and I hope you have plenty of highlights come your way!

Highlights of the Week...

so I decided to start a new weekly (hopefully) feature here on the blog. every Sunday I am going to post about my favorite moments from the week. for this first "Highlights" post I have two moments to discuss. first, my biggest crush from high school became my facebook friend. wheee! I was beyond elated. I mean, it just brought back those intense feelings one only has during those crazy teenage years. I would never wish to re-live those years of high school but it sure is nice to reconnect with people from those years on a whole new level. 

apparently I have used up all my free picture storage here on google so I won't be able to add any pictures to this post. grrr. that's frustrating. guess I'll have to either start paying for extra storage or will have to figure something else out. I mean, this is a photo blog so it's imperative I be able to post pictures. 

rant over. now, my other highlight of the week happened when I ran down to EPCOT for a quick trip. I had to pick up a gift (only available in the park...thank goodness for annual passes!). after I purchased said gift I stopped in the butterfly garden to take some pictures...b/c well, I just love me some butterflies. I got some great pictures...sadly, you won't be seeing them today. at one point I saw one butterfly carrying another one. that is to say, I think  the one butterfly was stuck to the underside of the butterfly that did the flying. it was quite the sight...hopefully I'll be able to share that picture soon. I also got a lucky shot of a butterfly with his tongue out! that's only happened to me one another time and I feel so fortunate that I was able to capture that again! 'til next time!

I enjoy being a tourist...

I just came back from a long weekend in DC. my cousin and her husband live in Arlington and they invited a bunch of us to visit for a few days. we spent most of Friday in the city playing tourists. it was J's first time in DC so he wanted to see all the major sites. the weather was chilly and the skies were overcast but we made the most of it. also, most of the cherry blossom trees were bare already because of the early spring. but we managed to see a few and they were quite beautiful. I thought I would share just a few of the pictures I took...

here's a view of the Capitol behind a cherry blossom tree

the next three pictures were taken inside the Botanic Garden center

after lunch in Chinatown we headed towards the White House...it's kinda big...haha

next up on our tour of the city, the WWII Memorial...I got the Washington Monument in the shot as well

we stopped to see the new Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial. all I can say is...powerful.

our last day there we drove out to the Air & Space Museum which was awesome. here's a photo the Enterprise rocket.

okay, so this final picture wasn't taken in DC. this is one of the baby birds that hatched while I was gone. their nest lives in one of the light fixtures by the garage. so cute!

 

Kiddos: part 2

today I present you with my favorite photos of "Angel" and "Buddy" taken outside. they love to be outside as much as possible and I love, well, I love taking photographs in natural light. so, this was a win-win situation. and aren't these kids just gorgeous?!

Kiddos: "Angel" and "Buddy"

I started working for a local family about 5 months ago. I provide homeschooling as well as a little nanny-ing. They are a wonderful family and I really enjoy the time I spend with them. I recently spent an afternoon with the kids, "Angel" age 5.5 and "Buddy" age 4, having a photo shoot. They had a great time picking which clothes they wanted to wear and any props they wanted to use. Because they helped pick everything out, including which "locations" we used, they remained into it far longer than I expected.

I took a ton of pictures. And then I narrowed it down. And narrowed it down once more. Finally I was able to settle on my absolute favorites. There are still so many that I'm going to share them in two separate posts. Today's post includes photos taken during our indoor "location", i.e. their house. Enjoy!