here it is, a brand new year. time goes by so quickly, especially as i opened this blog to begin writing again and saw my last blog was last july!

so much has happened. we are now grandparents of a beautiful baby boy. my own baby boy is a resident of a city four hours away. my oldest son and his wife (and our grandson!) are in their first house just minutes away. we had a wonderful Christmas season. and, in november, as this photo illustrates, my husband and i traveled to argentina. it was only my second trip there, and i have practically no understanding of the language, but, as you can tell, i found ways to communicate-much to the dismay of my husband...i call it humor and i think it's the universal language. i miss these people...

in retrospect, the past few months have been all about relationships, a big thing for me as i used to be a bridge-burner...some of the relationships chose me. some i chose. some i took to a more "uncomfortable" level (which, by the way, ALL relationships used to be uncomfortable for me). some of the people closest to me, now live far away. some are young. some are older. some i shop for. some i share lunch with. all are helping to change my life. and for this, i want more...

i am a southern girl. there are rules that must be followed. correct ways to do things. wrong ways to dress. right ways to make sweet tea. one staunch rule is that you don't put shoes on babies until they need them. then, it's shoes from j rays shoe store in mobile. this is how it's always been.

so, i'm soon to have a grandson.

we just returned from a quick little trip to nyc with our oldest son and his wife (our grandson's parents...). first stop, fao schwartz baby department. my tattooed son spotted these and apparently was smitten. "yes, they are cute. but not for babies," i scream but only in my head and to no one in particular. "they are baby shoes," is what comes out of my mouth and is met with an "of course" or two. but, upon closer inspection, they are packaged in the cutest little shoe box and wrapped with the tiniest bit of cheetah-spotted tissue. and, after all, we are in nyc and are feeling quite metropolitan...

so, here's a picture of my grandson's shoes...

snapshots of my life...

that's what my blog is about. some people that i love and respect have blogs of such commendable content. spiritual lessons they are sharing with their dear readers. travels they've taken. items they have for sale on a thriving web site. me, my posts are fluff. they are bits and pieces of a random life. and i don't say that embarrassed or apologetically. life is made up of our choices. we've made decisions in our yesterdays that make up what we are experiencing today. sometimes there are things that may happen out of our control, but the choice comes in what we choose to do with those experiences, how we choose to view them. i've made choices, good and bad, wise and not-so-wise over the course of my life and i've learned from them ALL. my life isn't your life. your life isn't my life. we can, and always should, learn from one another.

thus, the photo from "my room" that i've posted for today's entry. my memo board hanging on the closet door. it's filled with bits and pieces of my life. random thoughts. photos of my favorite people. places i've visited. quotes from old books. a "sash" from my pals. this is me.

yes, i'm here. and not because i made myself be...

thinking about random events and things that make up my life again. thinking about pretty items that were gifts or hand-me-downs (isn't that a lovely phrase?) or purchases from anthropologie. and thinking of my "work room" that used to be caleb's bedroom (i say work room because i don't like the word "craft" when applied to me. i don't exactly know why...). it is ordered chaos. it's the place where i work on and store projects and gifts waiting to be delivered and vintage children's books and estate sale finds and odds and ends of this and that. and ribbons. and photographs. and blank canvases cause id REALLY like to learn to paint-and to sing. this room both overwhelms me and inspires me. but the clutter is purposeful and therefore pleasant. the pups don't like to stay in this room with me cause it used to hold jordan's drum set, which they hated, and actually is in a neat stack in the closet. they'll come in for a peek to see what i'm doing or to take a quick rest, but it's not their favorite room. i think it's mine though...

a snapshot of my life. that's what i envision a blog to be. mine is just that, but from a lovely kind of view.

today, i took the "snapshot" thing literally. on a recent trip to atlanta, i purchased some red, white and blue cupcake accessories to use for the 4th of july. they really were pretty so i styled them for a photo to use for today's entry. which, by the way, is my 14th entry. i did it! 14 day challenge to myself from myself. why did you do it, you might ask? because why not. that's kind of my motto right now. why not. think about it.

maybe i'll post tomorrow, maybe not...

so, i don't know if i've mentioned it before or not, but i like to shop. i really like to shop. not for the gratification of spending money although i'm not a particularly a window shopper. and i don't shop to fill some unmet-need-type area in my life. to me, shopping is a way to see and learn different places; the trends, the people. some shops take me to areas of particular cities that i might not otherwise visit. the act of shopping allows me to, when the time calls for it, to find gifts perfectly suited to someone, gives me almost personal entry into another's life that i might not have accessed. shopping with someone (which i did today. 2 someones. 2 dear to my heart someones. 2 much younger someones who did not irritate me in the least bit even after traveling and shopping with almost 20 hours!) gives me a "cheat sheet" into who they are. quickens deeper relationships. pretty deep stuff i know, but because shopping floats my boat and i do it often, i've actually given it a great deal of thought. looking forward to doing some more...

i'm kinda liking this challenge as i need work in the self-discipline area...

an uneventful day as i was trying to rest for a bit of driving tomorrow-taking a 4-ish hour drive to a shopping day and then headed back that night-but, the day gave me an exciting turn and rained...a good and needed soaking. not too long, just right. the pups and i went out to investigate afterwards and found one of my favorite shady spots with my handy iphone. it looked so refreshing, the top of our cement dog, faithfully holding my basket of cement flowers, a darker shade due to the rain, under the branches of my baby crepe myrtle, with a teeny bit of caladium peeking through. just thought it was a lovely image for today's entry into the world of creativity, and seeing my world through different eyes...