Project 365 November 1-8

Day 124 - Butterfly...Again...

Was out at Woodward Park area and was walking around and there seemed to be thousands of Monarch Butterflies around these cute little purple flowers.  I took tons of pictures of the butterflies and only a couple turned out good and this is one of them.  I was trying to get them flying, but I don't know how to work my camera fast enough for these beautiful butterflies. 

Day 125 - Tiny Surprise
You can kinda see the yellowish ladybug hanging out on the flower.  I didn't even know she was there until I was processing the picture.  What a great little surprise!

Day 126 - Peek-A-Boo
The Sun is shining through these beautiful red leaves!  I was so excited to finally see some "Pretty Fall"!!  I love the way the sun is bursting through.

Day 127 - Attack of the Killer Bees (for real!)
Read Carefully...
This is a sign I saw while pulled over on the side of the road taking another picture just down the street from my neighborhood.  I've seen this place everyday for years and just assumed that it was a Caution for the AEP Power Lines.  But then I wondered why in the heck would they put little bees on the sign.  So I read the sign while I was out of the fence, out of my car, my windows were down because it was a beautiful day, and there was no surveying the area for these little mean creatures.  Crazy, huh? Who woulda thunk that Africanized Bees are just down the street from me in Jenks, America!

Day 128 - Jack Frost!
The first day of frost and we were headed to the early OSU/Baylor game in Stilly.  I got up and was going to get some donuts for the ride and couldn't resist!

Day 129 - Pistol's Firing!!
At the OSU/Baylor game, the Cowboys kicked some Baylor Bear Bootie!  Final Score OSU 55 Baylor 28.
FYI on my ESPN app for the iPhone, they always have some little tidbit of sports trivia and OSU/Baylor was today!  Said "Did you know that Baylor has lost 5 straight to OSU and has not won in Stillwater since 1939"  (The year could be wrong, because it's only on there for a second and then gone.)

Day 130 - Lola!!
This is our friends, Derek and Kacy, new Great Pyrenees puppy!  She is so cute and just a big puff ball.  They came over for a playdate with Remi.  She's only 9 weeks and almost half the size of Remi already! 

Day 131 - Abandoned
This is an Abandoned Barn that's close to my house that I have wanted to take a picture of for a while.  It sits pretty far back off the main street, but I always thought it would be a great picture.  I really like the way it turned out.  I also love the little hand prints.

So I'm caught up for now on Project 365.  There are some other pictures that I hope to post soon.

Project 365- Oct 25-Oct 31

All right! Finally!  Getting caught up!  Here is the rest of October's Project 365.  I will put up the rest tomorrow sometime, along with some randoms.  Hope you have a happy Tuesday!

Day 123 - Maggie Moo!

My parents black lab on one of our Field Outings.  Her and Remi are besties!

Day 122 - V
V is for Victory, Valour, Vacations!!

Day 121 - U
U is for USA

Day 120 - H
H is for Heaven, Home, Health

Day 119 - K
K is for Kelly, Kool-Aid,

Day 118 - Shake!
On our Field Day, Remi shaking, I like how her nose looks likes it spinning!

Day 117 - Cattails
On our Field Day...funny thing about these...Nellie, for whatever bizarre reason, licks her tail...and I mean goes to town on the tip of it.  Once she's done, it really looks like these!  It's so gross when she does it and I get so mad at her because she will then crawl up in bed and slap me with her nasty chewed up tail!!

Good night Blogger!

Gratitude Challenge

Happy Sunday everyone!!  We've had a good weekend.  I got off early Friday and was able to go around town and start enjoying some of the Pretty Fall I've been waiting for, took some pictures, hung out with Mike, and played with Remi.  Saturday, we got up early for the 11:30 OSU Football game!  We beat the Baylor Bears.  Rick and Mel gave us there Club Seat Tickets, so once we got there, I got to enjoy the start of the game with a Mimosa!!  Perfect way to start the morning! Then we came home and napped and then went out to celebrate Mike's birthday (Oct. 26th, he turned 30!!!).  His birthday falls between Homecoming weekend and Halloween weekend.  He doesn't dress up, so we don't do the whole Halloween party stuff since it's kinda his day we do what he wants.  So we waited a weekend and met up with several friends at The Grill on Riverwalk.  We had a great time even though the service wasn't too hot.  Today we are lounging around, had some Dixie Cream donuts, waiting to meet little Miss Lola (a friends new puppy), and enjoy the beautiful day.  I plan on getting some 365 pictures up this evening also, but for now here is the Gratitude Challenge.

Gratitude Challenge day 4 say write about some of the negative things you are thankful for...

Well, I know that there have been negative things happen in my life...but thankfully I usually look at most everything glass half full-and with the gratitude challenge, it's helping me to continue to see things in a positive light.  By the grace of God, I haven't really had "bad" things happens in my life so far, and I am very grateful for that.  Sure I've had things not go my way, but nothing that I truly feel is life changing.  So here are a few of my 'negatives'...

Mike's Poker Night-Sometimes I get a little jealous when he goes to poker night, because I am being selfish and don't want to share him...that's okay, right?  I'm mean he is fantastic and I just like spending all the time in the world him, but I guess I should share too.  But anyway, the reason I am grateful for poker night is because it does give me time to myself too.  I love getting to catch up on all my DVR shows, editing some pictures without having to share the computer, and sometimes when Mike is gone is when I get into the cleaning mode, so I turn my old school Shakira or Tom Petty and clean while jamming.  And it's also good to have time away from each other too. 

Daylight Savings Time-Not a fan of daylight light savings...even though we 'fall back' and get an extra hour of sleep...I dread the early early sunsets.  But I will be grateful that it will be light outside when I go on my early morning walks now.  I may even go more often now.

Wednesday Playground Time at Work-I work at an inpatient behavioral health facility and we don't have great access to the outdoors for the kiddos...which I think is AWFUL!!  But DHS came and said we have to give opportunity for outside time.  So we put into the schedule on Wednesday for outside time for everyone regardless of levels (there are a few precautions we take were kids may not get to go on that day).  Well being one of CTRS's, we were picked to be in charge of it.  So now, I GET to stay late and take the kids outside to the playground on Wednesdays.  The down side is I have to stay late, usually leaving between 8-9 at night, keep in mind that I'm also getting there around 8:00-8:30.  I still have all my groups, assessments, paper work, filing, and other things that come up.  So it makes for a really long day.  On the UP side, the side I am grateful for is I believe that everyone needs to be outside.  It's so therapeutic on its own.  The kids ABSOLUTELY LOVE it too.  It's so fun to get to see the kids be kids (or at least practicing to be 'kids'), in a much more informal setting.  The kids look forward to it every week and they know that I am taking them out, so I get to be the good guy.  Another UP is that since I do have to stay late...I now usually get to leave early on Fridays and that is SOOO much fun to get out around 2-3 sometimes!

Family Quarreling-I'm not going into detail, but there were some Family issues that were just horrible and I always knew in the end that it would be great just because we wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.  So it was finally resolved and now, we don't have  to worry about it and we've moved on and we are so grateful.

Mike's Parents Living in Florida-They moved there about 10-11 years ago now for Rick's work.  It's sad not getting to see them as often as we'd like or for them to just being 15 minutes away for dinner or for an awesome night of Spades or Hand & Foot.   But I am grateful, because Florida is a great place to go visit!  The last couple of years we haven't been there, but they come here quite often, which is nice.  Another reason it's great is that they have Oklahoma State University football tickets...nice ones too.  So they don't make it for EVERY game and the graciously let us have the tickets.  Hopefully grandkids may sway them to move back in the future!




Day 5 says to take five minutes to write about how grateful you are for all of the wonderful things that you currently have in your life. Don’t long for what you don’t possess—instead, take stock of all the blessings you already enjoy.

mike, mom, dad, brother-casey, home, melanie, rick, sil-joanna, pets-remi & nellie, tv, dvr, computer, internet, iphone, health, job, OSU, opportunity, freedom, friends, fun co-workers, sports, pi phi, photography, family, get-togethers, gameday saturdays, lazy sundays, my bubble, beautiful weather, walks, water, blogging, vacations, naps, sunshine, panoramic sunroof, chocolate, movies, dinner nights, dates....I know there are so many more, but this is what I got for now.

Gratitude Challenge Day 3

Write about something you feel grateful for in your life today.

As the day went on, I kept finding things that I was thankful and grateful for.  But I will stick the my initial gratefulness.  My friend, Gina, and lil' sis from back in the Pi Beta days, have started walking on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.  It's great!  A little exercise for us and the pups and some catching up on what life brings us.  Well, it wasn't COLD, but it was a little chillier for my comfort this morning at 6:15. 

So I am grateful for the chilliness in the air, because we walked faster and therefore my walk was more productive than just a strolling walk...in fact, my back is a tad sore...maybe from the walk, I don't know.  But I am also grateful for my Lil G that goes walking with me in the wee hours of the morning before its even light outside.  Thanks so much Gina!  Love our walks and talks together!


I also did this with my kiddos at work today and some of their answers were so sweet...here's what some said:
~communication-talking to people that will help me ithe future. To talk because I don't really like to talk about my feelings in public and today I got to do that and it felt great to get some of the stress off me.
~grateful for a phone call tonight from my mom
~grateful for living today
~grateful for gettin on green so I can go on a 6 hours pass!
~grateful to help old people cross the road, because I don't want them to get hurt
~grateful for having people to take care of me because I guess I'm important to some people and glad that they care about me.
~shark boy and lava girl...(don't know who these characters are yet...but I probably should find out)
Just love them!

ABC's of Gratefulness

Gratitude Challenge Day 2

So like in my post yesterday, I have committed to 21 days of being grateful.  I hope to open my eyes to the world around me and not take everything for granted.  I have led a pretty easy life...unlike some of my kids at work.  I am reminded how blessed I am for having a family that loves me and supports me.  I do need to stop and remember the little things too though.  So there's my commitment and day 2 is to make an ABC's of Gratefulness

America

Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.  I am so grateful to live in this wonderful country.  Even when others say bad things about it, I'm still not moving to any other country to live.  I tell'em if you don't like it go somewhere else.  They never have anything to say after that :)

Biscuits and Gravy

My all-time favorite food growing up and now.  My mom makes the best gravy and I am still learning how.  I am so thankful I grew up on this yummilicious heart healthy food!!

Children

Nice ones and Mean ones too.  I love working with children, they keep me young at heart and my mind pure from all of the hate and negatives in this world.  If you know me, you know I live in my 'Kelly Bubble' and everything is wonderful in the bubble.  My kiddos at work, help me stay in that bubble, because majority of them have already gone through so many terrible things, that I couldn't imagine going through at their age.  I also love all my friends children.  It is so much fun to watch them grow and change into their own person.  They are just wonderful.  And Mike and I hope to have a few of our own in the future. 

Dogs

Especially Labradors!  I know I may be bias, because I grew up with Black Labs, but to me the are the best creatures God could've created for me.  Remi, our 1.5 year old black lab, is just the joy of my life...I don't have real kids yet, so my furkids are my life.  She makes me smile when I've had a 'ruff' day.  And I absolutely love her tail...it's ALWAYS wagging.  (I do love our 3.5 year kitty, Nellie, just as much too)

Luna and Panda on the left...my brothers dogs, Maggie Moo Black Lab in the back, and my little stinker Remi up front.  I just love them!!

ESPN
Really, I am thankful for it because it makes my husband so happy and he deserves to be happy!

Family

I adore my family.  They have been nothing, but the best.  My mom and dad always put my brother and I first and gave more than they really should've when times where hard.  They always wanted it to be better for us than it was for them (I think all parents maybe like that).  My brother, Casey is serving in Afghanistan, and I am so grateful and proud of his decision, because the rest of us weren't real thrilled when we found out that's what he had chosen to do. But it fits him perfectly and he loves it and is doing great. 

Dad, Mom, Casey, and Me...At the airport sending Casey off to Japan

Girl's Night

Girl's just wanna have fun, right?!  I love having fun with my girlfriends, wish I did it more often.  But we regularly meet up for dinner and drinks and just gab the night away.  It's so refreshing when I get to catch up with them.  Thank you Amber, Amy, Alayna, Jen, and Tiff for my girls night.  And to all my other girl friends that I don't get to see or talk to that often, I am so thankful for you and you being a part of my life.

Home

We bought our home in October 2008.  It felt like home immediately, we love everything about it...I especially love the kitchen and the back yard...its HUGE!  But thanks to my mom, because I don't have a lick of decorating scense, has helped Mike and I add some decor...its amazing how just adding some knick-knack stuff and pictures can really turn your house into a HOME. 

In-Laws

Yes, the Lord blessed me with fabulous In-Laws and I love them just as I love my own family.  They welcomed me into their family several, several years ago when Mike and I started dating (back in 1999!!).  Joanna, my SIL, was only in 8th grade (I think, maybe 9th) and I had been over to their house after only dating Mike for a couple of months and she and her friends asked me when we were going to get married!  So she knew something.  But they are wonderful.  I am just sad that Rick and Melanie live in Florida...sure its a great vacation spot, but we always have such a great time when they come into visit.  Maybe when they have grandbabies, they will move back!

Joanna and I at a wedding...are we cool or what?!

Jesus, my Lord and Savior

I am so grateful that He died on the cross for me.  I remember when I was saved...I was in 10 grade at an FCA meeting.  After letting Jesus in my heart, He has forever changed my life.  I am grateful for all the blessings He has given me, for what He has kept from me, and for what He has in store for me.

Kisses

from my hubby and my doogie!  A hug and kiss can always make things better for me, even if I get mad at Mike, he can always make it better if gives me a big ol' smooch!

Laughing

It's one of my most favorite things to do.  I think that besides Water, it is the best natural medicine you can get.  My favorite is when I laugh til I cry.

Mike

My Wonderful and Amazing Husband!  I am so thankful that God picked him just for me.  He keeps my on my toes and always gives me a great laugh.  I know there are times I don't stop to thank him like I should for being him.  He is wonderful and I love him so much!

Nature

I'm so thankful that God left us the beauty of nature to enjoy while here on Earth-oceans, lakes, leaves, grass, mountains, animals, trees, rivers, clouds, all of it.  I can't even imagine the beauty He has for us once we get to Heaven.

Oklahoma State University

ORANGE!!! I am so thankful for OSU.  I met so many wonderful people while I was there and made life-long friends and memories too.  I also found my passion while I was there too, Therapeutic Recreation and now I am a Recreation Therapist and love my job. Go Cowboys!

Photography

So thankful for photography, I have always loved it, but more recently it has become more and more of a passion of mine.  It helps me 'stop and smell the roses' if you know what I mean, I am more observant and really more grateful for all the small things that may seem silly, but I try to look for the beauty in even those and click away!

Quotes
I love reading quotes.  I am inspired by them so easily.  Sometimes my quotes are lyrics, Bible verses, things my kiddos or friends say.  I have so many favorites for many different reasons and they help me get through hard times and fun times too.

Rainbows

I'm thankful for the sign of God's promise to never destroy mankind again by water.  And I have seen so many beautiful rainbow the last few months. This is one of my favorites.

Sunshine

I am thankful that the sun will shine on me everyday.  It keeps my spirits high.

Thank yous

I'm thankful when someone notices something I've done and says thank you...maybe its not the actual words, but it may be a kind smile or a friendly wave or even a hug. 

USMC
I am so thankful for all the men and women that represent and keep our country safe.  My brother being one of them and several of his friends.  I keep them in my prayers daily.  I have a favorite shirt that says Got Freedom? and on the back it says Thank a Marine.  Sometimes it gives me chills when I think about it.  Thank you to all how have served and are serving now.  God Bless you all!!

Vacations

Mike and I haven't toured the world yet, but it's something that we look forward to doing throughout our lives together.  We've been to places with our parents, but our first real vacation just the two of us was our Honeymoon to the Bahamas...thanks to his parents, we got to stay at The Atlantis Hotel.  It was wonderful.  Then we took our next big vacation to St. Lucia....by far the most beautiful place I've ever seen.  We both didn't want to come back. 

Weather

I am thankful for it all, I love the snow, rain, wind, lightning, thunder, sunshine, clouds, All of it! This was my first attempt of capturing lightening in May 2010.

X-tra

anything...frosting, pictures, time, cookies...

Young Spirited

Keeps me in my "Kelly Bubble" and a child at heart. 

Zoe

Okay, so I saw this somewhere else and then Wikipedied it and it said it's from ancient Greece and means "Life" in Greek.  So I am thankful for my Life.

Gratitude Challenge

grat·i·tude \ˈgra-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd\
noun
-the state of being grateful: THANKFULNESS
-the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful: He expressed his gratitude to everyone on the staff.

(Saw this through Kelly's Blog, who saw it through Britt's Blog.  I liked the way Britt did her gratitude)

I can't believe that November is actually here!  Sometimes I wonder where LAST years Halloween went, let alone just two days ago Halloween!  But November may be one of my favorite months just because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday...I really love them all...but how can you not love the act of thanks? 

Working with my kiddos everyday at work can be a gruelling long day and at the same time so dang rewarding.  Yesterday, I had them write letters to my brother and his unit (who are currently deployed to Afghanistan).  We talked about respect and how thankful we are for the men and women who have served and currently serve our wonderful country.  The letters were fantastic and the drawings that the littler ones did were just precious!  I wish I would have copied a few of them to post, but I didn't.  Anywho, they absolutely loved getting to do something wonderful for others.  I think that charitable acts is a WIN-WIN situation.  My kids loved that they were getting to something meaningful for others. 

So back to GRATITUDE...I ran across the Gratitude Challenge today and it made me stop and think.  Here I am encouraging my kiddos to be more grateful and I need to practice what I preach, right?  It is very easy to take things for granted and since Thanksgiving just so happens to be in November, what better month to take some time to appreciate the big and little blessings in our lives and to become aware of how truly blessed we all are. I am going to take part in the Gratitude Challenge and I invite you to join in with me! "The Gratitude Challenge is created to help to take note of the brighter side of life. Sharing gratitude for everyday experiences can revitalize our commitment to living life in a sensational way." So join me and spend a few minutes for the next 21 days to count all of life's little blessings.

I am also going to have my kids do a rendition of the Gratitude Challenge starting tomorrow.  Maybe they will have some fun things to share and help open my eyes even more of what to be grateful for.

Epiphanie Bag Giveaway!!

I'm not giving it away....I'm trying to win the giveaway!!  Pamela Topping is doing a giveaway for the oh-so-beautiful Epiphanie Bag! I have had my eye on these for a very long time...basically since I bought my camera.  But they do have a nice price tag to them, and I'm just not ready to spend the moolah yet....hence entering the giveaway.  I've always liked their Lola Bag, I love the color and the best part is, it just looks like a great trendy purse!  But they now have a couple of new ones I see that I like too! Let's see if I get it!!  Keep your fingers crossed.  And for all you fabulous ladies out their that love photography too and need a gorgeous bag, enter here.

Happy Monday!