I feel Empowered

Last night was my first free class of TaeKwonDo. Dyllan and I both signed up for one months free, just had to buy the uniforms. Our classes started Monday and Dyllan has gone both times. He loves it! But it kind of puts a "kink" in my regular day time routine as his class is at 3pm and mine is 7ish.
It's so cute to see him in his uniform and doing all the pint sized moves! Yesterday they had the little kids doing warm up exercises like yoga and knuckle push ups.
For my (first) class last night, they had us warm up by doing a light jog in a circle, then jogging backwards, then jogging side ways. We also did stomach crunches, some yoga stuff and sprints. Then my training for the night included sparring, stances, front rising kick, front kick, front turning kick, and ended with practicing fighter stances in front of a mirror complete with more kicks.
Doing some of the defense kicking moves and blocking made me feel empowered. I saw this practice in a new light and wondered why more Mom's I know are not taking it for "self defense" as well.
I slept like a rock.

Soft Spot

I have a serious soft spot for things that are old and rusty. Especially this house that looks the same every time we go up to the cabin. I always like to think of what memories it must hold. If only the walls could 'talk'... I'd contently listen.

Photo's from our Vacation

Here are photo's from our stay in Glencoe,( Calaveras County) northern CA. We stayed at a friends log cabin. On a average, it was over 100 degrees, with no cooling ocean breezes that we were used to. It was fun though, and quiet.
Feel free to click on any pic for a close up and enjoy!

Blackberry and wild flowers

Dyllan blowing a giant wish Faerie and view of the cabin

Back porch of the cabin, (perfect for watching nature)

Front porch and extra sticky flowers, like glue!

Brian and Dyllan and little yellow flowers I only saw early in the morning. They were always gone once the heat of the day settled in.

Photo's by Brian,
Early evening doe, (Dyllan and I saw the very new "bambi" earlier in the day!)
Birds at the feeder.

More by Brian, look at the colors of the hummingbirds!


Twilight. My favorite time of the night. These little guys, (4 to be exact) roosted in the roof of the porch and I loved watched them fly around at dusk!

That's all for now...be sure to come back again to see photo's of our trip!

July giveaway Celebration!

I wanted to wish you all a Happy 4th and hope you have a wonderful holiday!
As for my giveaway this month, I'll be sending out red, white & blue celebration kits filled with scraps, vintage clip art and embellishments.
This will be going on all month long and I'll randomly be picking the winners as comments are made on any posts I do for for July!
It's my way of saying "thanks" for supporting my blog!
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Congratulations to Buffi G. for winning the June craft book! Hope it brings you 'creative' luck!

Mad Hatter Winners and Giant Wish Faeries!

Last night we arrived from our 5 day family vacation up in Glencoe which is in Calaveras County, CA. It was so blazing hot! On average..105 degrees and the log cabin had no air conditioner or ocean breezes. But we had fun. I'm still tired as I suffered many bug bites during the trip. Over 20. I don't feel much like going through all 500+ pictures I took, not counting Brian's or Dyllan's...hope you forgive me! I promise to post all and everything with in the next two weeks!

If you are wondering what I'm holding...it's a "wish faerie" and both Dyllan and I were in heaven blowing and making wishes! They were huge! I finally got wise and on the 2nd to last day, grabbed a double zip gallon bag and filled it with wish faeries of all sizes...small to extra large! Brian looked at me like I was nuts...but I can plant them at will so Dyllan and I can enjoy the wishes and our Toirtoise can enjoy the dandelion greens!***

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Now on the the Mad hatter Party winners...thank you all for coming by to visit and giving me the most helpful feed back for my shop! I'm so grateful!

Congratulations to the following....Michelle of Creative Writings 101 for winning the Paper Crown!
and
Carolee of King of Mice Studio's for winning the shop GC!

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I will be posting the winner of June's craft book giveaway on the next post when I reveal July's giveaway!
Thanks again!