394 Love Thursday

Its an excuse to share my atempts at heart ornaments. The red one helped to occupy me while Connor rode in circles in the driveway. My handwork leaves a lot to be desired :)

And I can't mention Love Thursday without telling you to check out Chookooloonks blog!

372 Good Ol' Irish Lovin'

My friend Julie found this potato in her bag of taters and immediately thought of me and Love Thursday. It took a while for me to make it to Oxford, and it got a little old and wrinkly ... guess it can still represent love (says the girl who gets older by the day, though thankfully the wrinkles have held off so far).

Happy Love Thursday!

May love find you early and stay late!

Check out Chookooloonks for more Love Thursday!

368 Love Thursday, Beach Style

Last Thursday we were in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I wasn't looking for hearts. I was enjoying time with the kiddos and my Mom. We went inside for lunch, leftover Subway sandwiches and chips. I looked over at my daughters plate and I saw this chip. I snapped a few pics, my Mom must have thought I was losing my mind (even more than usual), and I sat and stared at it. It took a while until I decided to eat it. My friend Kathleen talked some sense into me ... wel, she tweeted it, but it worked. A picture lasts forever, and chips are delicious. It was rather yummy :) After lunch we hit the beach for a little while. I had the kids to myself, so I didn't take too many pics. We s[ent most of our time picking up shells. I mostly sat in a small pool of water and dug my hand through the sand around me. One scoop contained this rock .... PERFECTION!

I was not looking for hearts, but they bombarded me at every turn. Love is everywhere. Find it, and let it find you. Happy Love Thursday! Head over to Chookooloonks to check out her Love Thursday and all the others.

352 More Love Thursday from the Zoo

Pollen Sparkles

My eye was caught by this Forest Pansy Redbud. Absolutely gorgeous with its purple flowers and red leaves. As the season moves on the leaves will change to green, and the flowers explode then fall away. Right now it is gorgeous!!

I am sure it will still be pretty when the petals fall away and the leaves all fade.

Love changes from season to season as well.

Sometimes it blooms and grows.

Sometimes it suffers winter's blight.

I hope that your love always maintains underneath it all.

Happy Love Thursday!

Check out Chookooloonks for more LOVE THURSDAY!

350 Love Thursday

I haven't done a Love Thursday in a while, but the past few days hearts have been popping out at me again. Chip and I took the kiddos to the zoo on Monday, and I found several hearts peaking out at me. This was my favorite. It seemed the most unlikely. The most hidden. Yet it was the first thing I noticed when I looked at this tank.

So, here is hoping that love pops up in your life today and everyday. Happy Love Thursday. Check out Chookooloonks for more found love. This week she lists the five things she is loving now.

329 Comfort Food

Sometimes the simplest things can show our love!

319 Love on the Kitchen Floor

And on my very dirty kitchen floor at that.

I turned around to find this image of love glowing on my floor.

Which only serves as yet more proof that love is everywhere.

In the most unlikely of places it will pop up.

Unexpected.

Brilliant.

Glowing.

Happy Love Thursday y'all!

Do me a favor...

keep your eyes open

keep your heart open

Sometimes you just have to let love find you.

Love Thursday is hosted over at Chookooloonks, please stop in, check out some links and leave a little comment love!!

(here is a hint: I love comments, too)

316 WAZZUP!

...................Yeah, I am not feeling it either.

I am in a slump. You know how I can tell? I haven't picked up my camera to just take a picture of something fun in days! DAYS I TELL YA!! If you know me, then you know this is a sure sign of BLAH! Yeah, that is a medical term.

And you know, there really isn't much to write about....

Katie has really mastered her bike FAST! Last week, training wheels. Today she called her friend Mia to come ride with her. These pictures are from Sunday, and she has improved so much! As soon as she overcame her fear of falling she was off like a shot.

Amd of course, Connor was chasing her down. Yes, he is still in pajamas ... don't judge me! And Daddy got a little bit of a jog in while he chased her around, so it worked out for everyone.

The girls had a sudden urge to make bracelets. I could not find my box of beads, but I did find a bag of buttons. I grabbed a spool of wire and cut them a few pieces, and I created a stop with a single button, and there were off. Katie and Mia each made a bracelet, but I only got a shot of Katie's. I think it turned out ADORABLE!!And it also gives me a little addition to Love Thursday! I did not even realize there was a heart shaped button on here, but I had to shrink the size of the picture, and there it was. Plain as day. I needed that little reminder that love is there. The reminder that love can be unexpected. Love can be hidden. So, let me urge you GO AND LOOK FOR IT! Love is everywhere. Even at those moments when that seems the least true I get little reminders thrown my way.

I know it is a little late (or it is right now, although I started writing this hours ago) but stop by Chookooloonks to check out more Love Thursday posts and pics. Leave some comment love and make someones day (especially mine)!

My brain is tired and I am going to stumble off to bed. My mojo will find me soon. I hope ...

303 Love Song

No hearts this week (that I can think of off the top of my head) but who can argue that MUSIC can't fill our hearts?! I know that I have found several new-to-me artists that have perfected filling my heart with song!

Sara Kamin

Jann Arden

Dawn Langstroth

Kiss Kill

... And one of my West Coast friends assures me that this counts as a Love Thursday post since it is still Thursday where she is, so HAPPY LOVE THURSDAY! Check out Chookooloonks for more snippets of love today.

296 Making the Love

NO! Not that! Get your minds out of the gutter! Tsk Tsk Tsk!

I had a sudden urge to play with the paper clay that has been floating around on my desk for months. It has been inside, outside, and back inside. Connor has been dying to get his hands on it. So, I obliged. I pulled out a small chunk just to see if it was still workable. Luckily, I recently made chocolate pies so I had some tins to put the clay in. I might have to make a few more pies just in case I decide to get crafty again. Yeah, for the crafts! I was real technical with my creations. I rolled out the clay using a glue stick. I grabbed the first cookie cutter I could find. I snagged the stamps that have been sitting on my table waiting to be taken to their home in my "craft room". And this is what I came up with ... and then I remembered it was Love Thursday! Perfect! I had stamped Katie's initials in one and started painting it silver. I was thinking necklace, but she saw it and immediately wanted to put it on her pink Christmas tree. I am more than happy to share the love with her! So, how are you spreading the love today?

Head over to Chookooloonks and check out Love Thursday!

291 Rorschach Love

I don't think I captured any hearts this week, at least not on my camera. I thought about setting up a shot, but I couldn't find the heart shaped locket I was looking for. I decided I would create a heart. I pulled out my art journal that never gets used (I know ... *GASP*) and started looking for a blank page. I found one, and spread the pages wide... AND THERE IT WAS!

Love unexpectedproving, once again, that love is EVERYWHERE! Love can squeeze in from anywhere. Through the smallest of cracks it can enter our heart and grow. Love WILL find you, and it will find a way to survive and grow.

Happy Love Thursday!

Check out Chookooloonks for more Love Thursday!

...and of course, I turned this into a journal page.

287 Love Thursday

Squeaking this one in under the wire. This week might be pushing the bounds of your imagination. Seconds before I took this picture there was a perfect heart in the clouds, but you can still make out the basic shape. I truly do find reminders EVERYWHERE that love is all around us, if you know how to open your eyes. You can't walk through life with your eyes closed to love. Well, you can, but I wouldn't recommend it!

Love Thursday is hosted by Karen at Chookooloonks. Stop in and also scroll through her comments and click on through to other images and words of love. And PLEASE, if you feel moved, SHARE your own bits of love. It doesn't have to be a picture. It can be a poem, a story, or a haiku.

284 Half-hearted

Just a little reminder to LOVE with ALL OF YOUR HEART!

Happy Love Thursday!

Visit Chookooloonks for all the Love Thursday links :)

281 Love Lessons

Sometimes love is a little rough around the edges.

Sometimes love turns us upside down.

Finding LOVE is always worth the search.

Remember to look for love daily, to appreciate what you love daily, and to TELL the people you love that you love them (even if it isn't in words).

Happy Love Thursday!

Visit Chookooloonks for her take on love and read through the comments for more links filled with love!

276 Love Thursday

Happy Love Thursday!

Check out other testaments to the power of love at Chookooloonks!

Hope you don't get "tricked with love" :) You will have to follow the link and watch the video to get Alex's take on love. Hope you always experience the "nice" love.

273 Love in the Street

I am not sure what this is, probably gum. I came across this little bit of street art while walking Katie to her friends house. Thank goodness for camera phones (and also, I apologize for the pic from my camera phone). My neighbors think I am weird enough without hauling my camera out to take pictures of a blob of gum in the street. Well, most of my neighbors. I do have one neighbor that would probably grab her camera and come out to see what I am taking pictures of ... and take pics of me taking pictures of the street and laugh her butt off at me for years. Did I say neighbor? What I meant to say is friend! Because who doesn't want to be friends with the girl who is just as weird as she is?! Seriously, how often do we come across people who share our passion? I am lucky enough to have one within a camera toss from my house. (my heart hurts a little thinking about throwing a camera)
So, Candy ... this blob of gum in our street is for you. A girl after my own heart.
No no ... the blob on the left!
The blob on the right confuses me. Sometimes I think, stork delivering a baby. Sometimes it looks like the illustrations of the Emperor in Mulan (or that type look) - beard blowing in the wind. Pelican diving for fish? Santa Claus?
But that blob on the left ... definitely a HEART!
Happy Love Thursday y'all! Visit Chookooloonks for more Love Thursday .... ummm, love.

270 Love Thursday - Hearts of Gold

I forgot to ask Mom what these flowers are called, but I found this week's Love Thursday shot on my Mom's carport. The buds are perfect little hearts, filled with gold (awwwww). My trip to Atlanta was filled with love, and with many images of love. I am well stocked for the next few weeks with more being added all the time. Remember to look around you daily, there are little reminders of love everywhere, and they don't even have to be heart-shaped (anything chocolate usually works). Do you have a picture to share, or a story, or a favorite song? I would love to hear about it, and so would Chookooloonks! Check out the other Love Thursday participants in the comments section.

edited to add : Mom says this is an Angel Wing Begonia :)

264 Love Thursday

I have missed a few weeks, but I have been taking my pics all along. At least now I have a backlog of love ... and how could that be a bad thing?
This heart shaped stone was in the driveway in front of The Little White House in Warm Springs, GA. There were several, but I am pretty sure that people were a little scared of the crazy lady taking pictures of the driveway, so I just took the one. I will share more about the Little White House later, but I had to share my found heart.

HAPPY LOVE THURSDAY! if you are feeling the urge to share the love check out Chookoolonks where all this Love Thursday stuff began!

259 Love Unexpected

Part of Love Thursday is the lesson that love is EVERYWHERE, and so this week I would like to share two pics of love found in unexpected places. (I missed last week, so you get a twofer)

The Memphis Zoo has bamboo planted at every turn. People have taken the time to scratch their love into the stalks. MANY MANY initials and hearts. I wonder if that will give our panda's indigestion and heart burn .... I can't help it!! I had to say it! I was trying to pick up my poor sad DIRTY living room when I found this speck of Play-Doh on the floor. Just a random piece that Connor had discarded in his attempt to destroy the world.

So remember to look for love ALL around you. And remember to tell people you love them, and SHOW them you love them, too! Life is short as we learned today especially. Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer at the age of 62. Michael Jackson went into cardiac arrest and died at the age of 50. LIFE IS SO SHORT! Embrace it, live it, and don't be afraid to LOVE!

Love Thursday is hosted by Karen Walrond at Chookooloonks. Please stop in and share your Love Thursday moment, or just check out hers and the other links in the comments.

251 Love Thursday

Right now, what am I loving? It happens to be the same things that I am loathing. The weather. The pool. Summer Vacation.

So far the temperature has not been outrageous, but it has been SO HUMID that I think I might melt. But the really annoying thing is that I do NOT melt! If anything the heat and humidity has made me want to eat more. We went to the baseball game of a couple of Katie's little friends and I almost died! I showered before we left, but you never would have known. I was sweating buckets, and so was everyone else!! It is miserable! If it would just RAIN and get it over with then this humidity would roll away.

We finally got the pool up for Katie. It is lopsided. The tubes for the pump are cracked. We had to throw out the chlorine tablets and they have not been replaced yet. Did I mention it is not level? But, it is up and Katie is in HEAVEN! She would stay in that pool from the time she woke up until she prunes up so much she can't move. She also wants to spend that time with her friends. And Connor wants to be in the pool, too. You know where that leaves me? In the pool. Playing lifeguard. The main rule we need is NO HORSEPLAY! Those girls are nuts!! One day they were playing High School Musical which consisted of them yelling "Two Faced Backstabber!" at each other. OHH, the things they are learning on tv!! Connor wanted a float, so we got his float. Now he has discovered that he can stand up and the water is below his chin. So now I spend all my time walking along behind him, waiting for him to tumble into the water. My back is killing me! But, for those few instants of peace and happiness ... I am pretty happy the pool is up.

Summer Vacation - oh, how I loved it when I was a kid. Now I am not so sure. I do love having Katie home with me, but I am getting tired of having to provide constant entertainment. There are art projects, and tv, and swimming, and pouting, and crying, and complaining. It is non-stop!! Yes, my Mom is laughing her rear off right now, thinking about me not wanting Katie to head off for school. Of course now I look forward to those hours of non-Katie time. Guilt free Connor time. I miss it!!

Now I just have to stop being the Summer Scrooge!

Check out the other Love Thursday pics at Chookooloonks -

Quite honestly, I am tuckered from all the sun. I can't type straight so I am headed to bed. Happy Love Thursday everyone!!