WILW - on Thursday

Day late...again!  Please go check out Rachel's blog and friends. Also - PLEASE feel free to link up with her. We would love to grow our "What I'm Loving Wednesday" family.

This week:

*I bought Micah's new book, Dropped Third Strike this week. I have to finish a couple books I am currently reading but am SUPER excited to read it!

*A "dedicated to mom" picture from my Little Miss!

*Awesome weather this week for parking lot lunches

*These pieces of truth!

*Natural beauty!

*Finding a new place to eat

(and it was DELICIOUS!)

*Finding this amazing mural while walking around

*My Cubs are doing AWESOME!!!!

*Finishing editing this event - I'm happy with how they turned out!

*New photo shoots being planned and getting excited about them.

I hope your week is going well! What are YOU loving this week?

Reading Challenge

I plan to participate in a July 1 - October 31 reading challenge. These are the books I plan to read for this challenge.

Erin’s Reading Challenge 5.0
7/1/16 – 10/31/16

(there's a Facebook group if you want to join)

The categories are:

5 points: Freebie – Read a book that is at least 200 pages.
– The Summer Girls by Mary Alice Monroe
• 10 points: Read a book that starts with the letter "R".
– Rose Harbor in Bloom by Debbie Macomber
• 10 points: Read a book with five words in the title.
– The Lost Saints of Tennessee by Amy Franklin-Willis
• 15 points: Read a book that has a (mostly) blue cover.
– Beach Town by Mary Kay Andrews
• 20 points: (Submitted by Barbara A. Wild; she’s a twin and is a mother to twins.) Read a book with twins as characters.
- The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
• 20 points: (Submitted by Christina Mapes) Read a book from the following list of books made into movies.
– The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstein
• 25 points: (Submitted by Stef Thompson) Read a book set in a country you have always wanted to visit.
-Italy: The Italian Wedding by Nicky Pellegrino
• 30 points: (Submitted by Linda Young Zajac) Read a historical fiction book.
– One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

• 30 points: (Submitted by Ericka Blankenship) Read a music related book. (i.e. a memoir from a musician, singer, band, roadie, producer, groupie, music journalist, etc. OR a fictional book with a lead character that is a musician, music teacher, etc.)
- Life by Keith Richards
• 35 points: (Submitted by Ferne Merrylees) Read a book originally published over 100 years ago.
–Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

WILW

Hello June! How did it get to be June already?!

I'm linking up with Rachel and friends again this week. Make sure you check out their blogs!

This week I'm loving quite a bit!

*I ALMOST made my step goal for the month of May. Here's to a little better walking in June.

*New flowers in the yard. My Mr. and I picked up some new flowers to fill in some spots and go with what we have already. Our new lily popped open yesterday. I LOVE the color!

*It's the last week of school for Little Miss.

*Two awesome photo shoots over the weekend! I had a blast (despite it being hot & humid - hello summer...) and hope they did too.

*A long holiday weekend - I actually got to relax!

*Erin's June Reading Challenge : it's June 1, join in!

#readyourbooks

What are you loving this past week?

WILW

Happy Wednesday all!
Please check out Rachel and friends' blogs

It's only Wednesday....and the week has been full of ups and downs.

Little Miss's artwork. She's been drawing a lot!

 Little Miss's orchestra concert. The kids all did great!

Blooming flowers

 Taking Little Miss to the musical at her middle school. The cast was fantastic!

 

Little Miss's dance recital last weekend. She did awesome on her tap solo.

I know it's almost 10 months away but I am SUPER excited for this movie!

A long weekend is coming up and I have 2 photo shoots and yard work ahead of me. But that makes me happy!

My Mr's van is having troubles...again! We thought he was going to have to be towed home last night from 45 minutes away. Fortunately he got the van going and made it home.

I hope you are having a good week and a good weekend ahead.

Lilacs

It's May and the lilacs are in full bloom here!

There is something about them that I LOVE!

I love their perfume.

I love their beautiful blooms.

The purple ones are my favorite but the white ones are pretty too.

The scent of them makes me smile.

I remember my dad stopping on the way home from church to get some for my mom from wild lilac bushes. That sweet smell the rest of the ride home...

I like being out for a walk or driving down the street and you can just smell them.

It smells like spring to me!

TGIF!

The week is almost over. If I can just make it though!


Little Miss had a meltdown just before we left this morning because she didn't want to go to school because the kids are mean to her. UGH!!!! So she is sobbing in the car this morning (after I had yelled her to hurry up-yes, I will take my Mom of the Year crown and sash now). So we sat in the drive and talked, hugged and cried. I just hope today is an ok day for her!


We have her dance recital tonight and tomorrow nights. I always worry about her hair...I am NOT good beyond a ponytail or braid. Fingers crossed!


I work at the library tomorrow. The plan for Sunday is to go to the middle school musical.


What are you up to this weekend?

WILW

Good morning!!!! Happy Wednesday. It's time for another What I'm Loving Wednesday with Rachel and friends.

*Evening walks

*Dreaming of a house

*This:

*"Slug bug!" (Yes, my kids still play this while in the car)

*THIS!!!!!!

*An awesome photo shoot last Saturday. It was windy and cold but the horses and riders were amazing!

*An upcoming summer reading challenge

*The Cubbies are still on a roll!

What are YOU loving this week?

Travel Tuesday - National Parks

Happy Travel Tuesday!


For today's edition, we are "traveling" to Andrew Johnson National Cemetary in Tennessee. We visited in June of 2009.

His final resting place:

It's a peaceful place and up on a hill that overlooks town and the countryside.

Happy 100th anniversary to the US National Park Service!

Belated WILW

So...it's Friday! And I am finally getting my Wednesday post up. Please go visit Rachel and the other blogs that are linked up!


This week's love:
*My family - they drive me crazy, but it's a good crazy!
*My grandpa is taking an Honor Flight this weekend. He has been looking forward to it for months!
*Photography jobs filling a lot of what's left of May
*Silly texts
*Blogging friends


What are you loving?

Weekend - Mother's Day

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend!


The weather was GORGEOUS (sunny and almost 80) on Friday. [Is it just me, or is it hard to look at it through the windows at work and then you feel trapped?] So we went and got grilling stuff and threw dinner on the grill. It was SO good!!!!


I had to work at the library on Saturday. Again, another fairly nice day and it was pretty quiet in there. Little Miss spent the day with my parents and went to the prom Grand March for the school my mom works at and my cousins attend. She LOVED the dresses and guessed the boys looked ok too.


My favorite day was yesterday. Not because it was Mother's Day (happy belated day to all of you!) but because I got to spend the day with my 3 favorite people and go to a Cubs game!  It took almost 5 hours and 13 innings but Javier Baez hit a walk off homer. It was glorious! It was 9:30 by the time we got home last night; after the game; traffic and a stop for dinner.

We started yesterday with a free breakfast for mom at McDonald's.

Pre-game shenanigans:

An us-ie

View from our seats:

The Super Rope vendor finally made it to our section:

Home plate celebration!

13 innings of baseball on my scorecard:

And my husband is THE BEST!!!!! He bought me a Santo jersey!!

Now I've made it to a Cubs game this year. I'm happy!

How was your weekend?

What did you do?

Linking up with B Loved Boston for some weekending. Check her blog and others out.

Thursday 13 - Apps

I am linking up for another Thursday 13 party. I hope you will stop over and read some blogs or join in!

My 13 today are:

My favorite apps

I have an old ipad and an iphone. I use some apps regularly - I've been trying to get rid of the ones I don't.

Reading:

Kindle - I read a lot (obviously) and love finding books to add to this app.

Overdrive - I love that this links to my local library and I can borrow a book for 3 weeks.

Games:

Slotomania - Virtual slot machines, it's a great time killer

Solitaire Chronicles - I like all the card formations I have to work out of.

Fairway Solitaire - another solitaire game.

Social:

Instagram - I love sharing and seeing what other share here. I have 2 accounts, my personal is @cubsfan3410 and my photography is @photosbyjenmcgee

Twitter  - I find myself here more and more.

Pages - I like keeping my business Facebook page updated here.

Other:

Weather Channel - I like to know what the day is going to do...

Project Life - I recently found this. I like having the ability to do some quick scrapbook pages and be able to take it with me.

Shutterfly - Photo storage and I can order/make things on the fly

Podcasts - I love listening to podcasts. Right now I am enjoying: Wait Wait Don't Tell Me; Satellite Sisters; Thrilling Adventure Hour; Serial just ended; and a couple of photography ones.

Amazon - I like shopping on the go.

What apps do you like?

WILW

It's Wednesday! I hope you will join in the link up over at Randomness with Rachel this week!

*Star Wars Day

*My husband being understanding during a stressful work week

*The Project Life app - SO fun! And quick scrapbook pages

*Extra hugs from my kids

*New clothes

*Baseball

*Looking through old pictures and putting together photo books

*Upcoming photo shoots & photo specials

I hope you are having a good week - please link up with Rachel and tell us what you're loving!

Weekend's over...

Happy May!


This weekend FLEW by! The weather was crummy - it rained all day on Saturday. It rained yesterday from about 5:00 and on. So... There you go!


Today I'm linking up with B Loved Boston for her weekend recap party. Pop on over and read some awesome blogs!


Friday:
I came home to find some fun mail from a fellow photographer friend... This super cute shopping bag. LOVE it!!!!

We ordered pizza then had dessert with some friends at their house.
I started a new book at bedtime.

I am loving it so far!

Saturday:
My Mr. and Young Mr. went to work for a little while in the morning. Then we headed out for a few hours of "errands".
We had lunch at Chick Fil A then because I had received this email a few days before...

I took my own bag and went shopping. Confession time here: I can not dress myself. My Mr. picks out what I should try on and buy. He put together a few super cute outfits and I can't wait for it to warm up just a hair so I can wear them! Little Miss also found a couple of shirts and a new wallet.

My haul for $75

When we got home, the boys went back to work. I did some Project Life layouts

They got home late and we all crashed out early.

Sunday:

Mr. & I went for about a 4 mile walk around town. I enjoy our walks - we talk sometimes and sometimes we don't. It's nice to just hold hands and walk.

Other than that, we took naps and didn't do much else all day. I watched the Cubs lose in extras...

Meanwhile, in the ongoing "I want to dye my hair" saga. I have finally agreed she can use hair chalk now & then. It washes out in 1 or 2 shampoos and isn't as harmful as color. She is pacified for now...

How was your weekend?
What did you do?

Another page...

I know it's still April, but I wanted to post my "weekend" post.

Wishing you all a GREAT May!

Friday Letters-Bye April

Dear Friday, HELLO!!!!!!!


Dear This Week, you have been a LONG one! What the heck...


Dear Weekend, I am looking forward to the few plans that we have and am glad it's not an overloaded weekend.


Dear April, Bye....


Dear Bloggers, I am loving your posts this week.


Dear Photo Clients, you rock!!! Thanks for spreading the word.


I hope you all have a great weekend!

Book Review-The Inn at Rose Harbor

Today I am linking up with Blog2Blog Book Club

The April book is The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber

I give this book 4 stars.

Synopsis:

Jo Marie Barlow first arrives in Cedar Cove seeking a sense of peace and a fresh start. Coping with the death of her husband, she purchases a local bed-and-breakfast—the newly christened Rose Harbor Inn—ready to begin her life anew. Yet the inn holds more surprises than Jo Marie can imagine.

Her first guest is Joshua Weaver, who has come home to care for his ailing stepfather. The two have never seen eye to eye, and Joshua has little hope that they can reconcile their differences. But a long-lost acquaintance from Joshua’s high school days proves to him that forgiveness is never out of reach and love can bloom even where it’s least expected.  

The other guest is Abby Kincaid, who has returned to Cedar Cove to attend her brother’s wedding. Back for the first time in twenty years, she almost wishes she hadn’t come, the picturesque town harboring painful memories from her past. And while Abby reconnects with family and old friends, she realizes she can only move on if she truly allows herself to let go.

A touching novel of life’s grand possibilities and the heart’s ability to heal, The Inn at Rose Harbor is a welcome introduction to an unforgettable set of friends.

Your general thoughts – I enjoyed reading this. The characters felt like old friends.

Your favorite thing – I enjoy Debbie Macomber's writing. She is enjoyable and easy to read.

Your least favorite thing – Unfortunately, this book was pretty predictable in the storyline.

I hope you will stop over at Blog2Blog and check out her blog and the other link ups.