Welcome 2014

Welcome Two Thousand Fourteen!

Pictured above was the last adventure for 2013. My Family and I took a Midwestern Ski Trip to Weston, MO. Yes, you did read that correctly. I said "midwestern ski trip" to Missouri. :)

Snow Creek Resort is a wonderful little place located in Weston, MO that is perfect for a weekend ski trip for a family of any size. It isn't a resort in the sense of week long visits to a lodge on a mountain side. But it is a great little mini vacation location when you don't have time to spend a week at a Mountain side resort in Colorado or Arizona or further away.

Twenty-Thirteen was a good year. It had many good points and is now part of the past. With that change in numbers from 2013 to 2014 comes a new beginning. With that new beginning also comes room for new adventures. That is the part I look forward to. Adventures are what life's journey is made of...we each have our own to experience and hopefully share. Some adventures are great successes and others we'd rather had not happened. They each make up who we become and help us discover what we want and where we want to be or where we want to go in the future.

May "twenty-fourteen" offer you many new adventures of the successful variety and may many more dreams come true!

Happy New Year!

Fall -- Autumn -- Changing of the Colors!

Autumn is my favorite season. The colors that appear are in such seeming contrast and change so rapidly that I barely have time to plan a photo trip! But the weather and the scenery is FABULOUS!
I am looking to do some fantastic shoots this season....and it is Family Portrait season as well.
Join me whenever you get the chance!
Have FUN!
Celebrate YOUR Life!
...and the PEOPLE in it!

People are the scenery of life's journey.

Have an AWESOME day!

Thank You Card - Fitness

Well...I braved the elements yesterday and made my gym day. My partner on the other hand was smart and stayed home where it was warm and the weather was even more beautiful (because the snow is easy to enjoy when you are warm and toasty with a cup of joe tucked inside...which she texted me while I was on the treadmill). My workout was good. I did 2.25 miles on the treadmill at an incline of 1. I also opted for bootcamp with Diane who is one of the best trainers I have seen at 10 Gym and who is (I think) the only trainer to survive the company change from "All American fitness" to "10 Gym". she was rather surprised to see me there in her class area and actually asked if I was going to take her class. Of course I answered yes to her inquiry.

It is nice to be recognized. It was nice for me that it surprised her that I would take her class. She has been there for over 2 years because I have been a regular on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays since April of 2011. This April will mark my 2 year anniversary of a regular gym routine. That is an all time record for me...and hopefully will continue to be. My gym partner and I took Diane's bootcamp class a year or so ago...and let me tell you---it kicked our butts! However, yesterday...(granted --it is a year later)...the class gave me a great workout. It was a nice change up with my gym partner being gone.

Today, I am definitely feeling the workout..and in places I don't usually feel sore. this is a good thing. Diane didn't have us use any weights or props of any kind. everything we did in bootcamp was using our own weight. My traps are sore. My triceps are sore. My latts and obliques are sore. It was a good workout.
I told Diane I enjoyed her class and at least this time it didn't kill me. She returned the surprise back to me when she told me she hadn't seen anyone make the progress that I had on their own. I figure as a trainer you would see all kinds in the gym. I have to admit here that I haven't actually done it on my own. It takes that first year with accountability to someone to keep you in the routine. After that, hopefully you have figured out that your day is better, your stress is lighter, and you feel better about everything when you workout as opposed to when you don't. This then becomes your motivation. In my case, it has been my gym partner and friend who has worked right along side me for her own goals who has kept me accountable long enough for me to learn that valuable piece of information.

Thank You Diane for the recognition and for your own hard work for others....

Thank You Colleen for being my gym partner and giving me the short term accountability so I could learn the long term motivation....

Thank You to my Husband for being my extreme-long-term example and coach through all things fitness....

I am very blessed with friends and people in my life and it is the people that make the difference!
Have a great day!

Goals and Strategies

Summer is almost over...we have just over a month and one week before classes resume. My goal is not close enough to what I had envisioned. This is disappointing but not surprising. The exercise program has been good and consistent. My eating habits, while not bad, have not been the best of help. The two go hand in hand. So Now I have to play catch up. I know the muscle tone is there and I know the composition is changing at a decent rate. Now it's the last stretch of the run, the 8th inning is half over, and here I am....

Back to the old grindstone as they say....time to get serious again...redirect! I have August, September, October, and November....then it's too late. Well, ok let's face it....by the end of November the holidays are in full swing and it may as well be over. We all know how that goes.

Best of luck to those out there who are in the same boat...or one similar. 

Ren-Faire Time AGAIN!

YES! May is almost here! Actually this year I don't have to wait til May. 

The first weekend of the OKRF is April 28th and 29th! Yeah! 

I know some get tired of hearing about renaissance faires. This is one thing I enjoy outside of everything else and yet it incorporates all the things I love about life: people, friends, nature, fun, adventure, dressing up, etc.

Michelle makes the best corsets and outfits anywhere! You can wear them for steam punk events, ren-faires, comic cons, .....just AWESOME! And...SHE is the greatest person...sweet and remembers people and will talk to you any time. Not many shop owners as busy as her stay as sweet, upbeat and positive. She really enjoys what she does and it shows in her work and her personality.

 The Jolly Rogers are my favorite pirate group ever! I have to catch at least one show every now and then.... I try for one show for every day I am at faire but that doesn't always work out. Schedule conflicts happen. However, I do have their cds and can stop in and say hi now and then :D

OKRF wouldn't be the same without that scottish rogue that heckles and hassels ren-faire patrons all in good humor and fun to get you involved in the whole faire experience! He is sweet and jovial and makes the celtic corner a must visit! I look for him every visit to fair....

This photo is of a Eurasian Eagle Owl which you can see at the Royal Gauntlet: Birds of Prey show!
Meet the King's Master Falconer and his crew. The birds are an awesome site and the flights and educational experience are lasting memories meant for the entire family!

As this weekend draws near, I get more and more impatient! Come and join us!
See the castle website here: www.okcastle.com  for more information. The Castle is on facebook too! Find  Royal Gauntlet, Damsel in this Dress, and The Jolly Rogers on Facebook also!
If you happen to visit OKRF, leave a comment here...leave a comment even if you don't!

Spring Break!

Spring Break is a time to party for most....or that is what it brings to mind for most. Why? spring break is that wonderful time off for vacation during the school year....for those in school or college anyway. It brings to mind movies and images hollywood has created of beaches just opening for the season or skiing in 60 degree weather in ski pants and bikini tops (for some girls)....

For me personally, I can say spring break is a time of family and vacationing or a quick get-a-way. this year, spring break week was a week of projects and get-it-done items. I have to admit, usually that bores me to death and I can't wait to escape the monotony of every day life. this year, however, it felt good to get some old things out of the way in preparation for today and tomorrow!

I have a new flower bed around my tree. I have a clean flowerbed in my front yard. I have plans for more landscaping that can now take place. I can also say, we accomplished it as a family. The party for us comes this summer through that actual three months (or two and a half months) of no school time. I have no idea where we are going this year. I only hope it is somewhere we have never been!

If you enjoyed spring break and are looking forward to summer....post a comment here! Tell me about it.

Safari's Sanctuary is a local animal rescue facility. They are located in Broken Arrow, OK. Like any rescue organization, they require ALOT of help through voluteers and donations and any other way you can support an animal rescue facility. I started this blog because I had a marketing assignment and Safari's Sanctuary was my subject for that assignment. Visit their website at: http://www.safarizoo.com/
Help any way you feel the need....help is always appreciated!

Lori has always been a wonderful hostess to guests and to the animals. Let her share her passion with you as you visit her rescued pals!

You can also check out Safari's on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Safaris-Sanctuary-Zoo/154293717972672

Saint Patrick's Day

Everyone wonders about holidays and where they originated.

It's a great way to share bits of history that make history exciting to children. Why? Probably because they don't realize these little facts are bits of history. St. Patrick's Day being the most recent holiday that coincides with this blog was originally a Roman Catholic holiday. It celebrates Ireland's patron saint and was originally observed only in Ireland; It was in the 1700's when Irish immigrants in the U.S. started the first St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City.


So how did the wearing of green become the thing of this holiday? It's said that blue was originally the color associated with the holiday but over time green took over in popularity. This could be due to Ireland's nickname as "The Emerald Isle", the green in the Irish flag and the clover that St. Patrick used in his teachings about Catholicism.


In reading about this springtime holiday of Erin, I found some other interesting facts as well.


We have all heard about the war between Protestants and Catholics. Sometimes it is hard to understand all the ramifications of it and how big the division really was or is. Not having been to Ireland myself, I am stuck with what I read. In Ireland, the tradition where Catholics wear green and Protestants wear orange on this holiday is still followed by some.


I also found an interesting fact that ties this tradition with some history of the Irish flag.


These colors are associated with the religious sects and are represented on the Irish flag; Catholics with the green, Protestants by the orange, and the white on the flag is symbolic of the peace between the two.


People in Ireland do not wear as much green or celebrate quite as wildly as revelers do elsewhere according to my findings. However, there is apparently a legend that wearing green makes you invisible to leprechauns that will pinch you if they can see you.....Hope your Saint Patrick's Day was a wonderful celebration however you chose to pass the holiday!

Side Tracked

Time tends to get away from us all at one time or another.

I tend to find myself easily sidetracked with alot of different interests. Maybe that is one reason my resolutions never come to pass. This year that is changing. I have managed to keep myself in the gym... yeah!! So far that particular goal is working out great. Maybe I am not looking forward to that possibility of "I told you so"-s from anyone who reads any of these posts.....

 My blog posts have fallen behind so this week I am playing catch-up and trying to get things back on track. I did a photo walk alone around Broken Arrow on Main Street and found a few photos to post hoping this would set me back onto the path I chose. My blogs have always been sporadic til 2012. I guess in a way maybe they still are...but at least this year there are more of them.

I have found a few subjects I didn't know were right in front of me like this lion-head. I know it looks like a door knocker....and I would love one of those!! But this is actually on the clock on Main Street in Broken Arrow by the Historical Museum. I loved this little surprise! So I thought I would share it here with you.

Small town walks .... and that walk called life.... still hold a few small yet very worthwhile surprises!

I say " Keep them coming!"