Morning Glory Studio

10 daily doses of happiness...

I don't think I take the time to think about all the everyday things that manifest themselves in my life and contribute to my overall well-being and thus, happiness. So, this week's Ten on Tuesday prompt is an extra special good one 'cause it encouraged me to pause and reflect:

1. Morning Solitude and Quite Time (MSQT), without a doubt. Each day, every day! My favorite time of the day, with pen and journal  in hand, the quiet of the early morning, and my thoughts...
2. with MSQT, my libations of choice: a glass of ice cold H2O, and therefore, the...
3. ice crusher and water dispenser on the refrigerator - really missed when we were without power several weekes ago...
4. orange juice and
5. the microwave which makes it possible for me to brew ...
6. a cup of hot green tea...
7. my iPad  so I can listen to classical music in the background and take with me from room to room in the house
8. iPhone, especially the camera...
9. my new desk calendar - changing the date daily sortof grounds me...and
10. Norman generally greets the day singing; I never know what song from the '30s, '40s, '50s will strike his fancy but the chosen one is usually always worth listening to. This morning : "Taking a Chance on Love." I think I must get a photo with my new iPhone...

Thanks Carole  and Beth for this prompt; it's good to pause, especially on a hot summer day.

Cheers~

hello monday | 11

hello monday...grateful that the power was only out for 12  overnight hours, unlike many in the area who are still without during not so comfortable heat and humidity...

hello monday...grateful for windows and cooler morning breezes, especially since it appears that the power outage affected the A/C, only discovered late yesterday afternoon...at least we can stay relatively cool until this afternoon's service call...

hello monday...grateful for spending several days this past week weeding more than 500 books from my personal library. lovin' the space and the sense of a lighter load...

hello monday...grateful for rediscovering a few books I kept to reread...can't get rid of everthing...

hello monday...grateful for my iPad and Pandora, with me always, in/out of the house...

hello monday...realizing that we are six months from or to Christmas...can you believe that?!

hello Monday ... so glad  for another fresh start! What fresh start are you looking forward to this week?

 

Cheers~

happy may day!

I'm not sure where the month of April went... Yesterday, we had, hopefully, our last taste of coldish weather -  cool enough to turn on heat in the AM and today, we're having a typical Washington DC humid day...forecast in high 80s; I'm so not ready for that.

Be that as it may, I spent the last week in April capturing  a Week in the Life . I took all my photos on my iPhone because:  a) I really need to know how it works; b) I downloaded the Instagram app (for it and the iPad) and I might possibly learn how that works (though it looks like a pretty easy app to learn, if anyone has any tips, please share - thanks).  I kept notes using Ali Edwards' templates. Now, all I need to do is pull the notes + photos together. I'm leaning toward incorporating the week in my Project Life album. I like how Elise approached it...seems really doable and sensible. Still cogitating but hopefully, I'll get it together over the next couple days.

May is shaping up to be a busy month. I'm looking forward to all the adventures in store...some I have planned and the others, serendipitous. And, having said that, let me get on with today -  lots on the agenda.

Enjoy your May Day.

Cheers~

i heart pink lady apples...

with  a piece of dark chocolate too, just for a kick of additional sweetness.

Here's to your health and a Happy Valentine's Day!

Cheers~

P.S. (Happy Birthday again, Adele!)

happiness is...

...completing jury duty by 1:30 pm today. it's finished. we all felt comfortable with our decision even though  initially we had differences.

...knowing that  I won't  be called again for jury duty  for another two years... and then I  will probably be "too old" and can be excused because of age ;-))

...getting home early enough to focus on my "oh, gee, tomorrow is Dec 1!" list. I feel refreshed and relaxed.

...receiving this in the mail

(the story: my former virtual assistant, Laura, coined the term "vugs" for virtual hugs. her husband Jeff made this for several of her VA friends and one for me for my birthday. ) Big thanks  and VUGS, Laura and Jeff, I love it!)

Now, it's time for me to get busy with my December list.

Cheers~

 PS. November is NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month- with the goal of posting once a day everyday. I managed 26 of 30 days...and that makes me happy, too.

oldies but goodies...

Honoré here: Most mornings, Norman greets the day singing a song or two. He absolutely loves and knows the lyrics to all the popular songs from the 40s, 50s, 60s, especially those of the jazz and big band singers and songwriters. Yesterday, he was singing "Just You, Just Me,"  a Nat King Cole tune. And one totally unfamiliar to me; you can hear it here.

That spurred him to pull out a bunch of Nat's albums - and those of other songsters: Sarah Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, June Christy. We had a couple hours of wonderful music and then, I had to leave for a knitting class. We hadn't played any oldies but goodies on a Saturday morning in quite awhile. It was a nice change of pace and sets the stage for pulling out our Christmas albums and CDs, later this week. 

What favorite oldies but goodies haven't you listened to in a while?

 

Cheers~

thankful for...

a wonderful day.  family. friends. sunshine. good food. too much food. 

bone tired. goodnight.

11.15.2011...

Honoré here: This is what was in the bag:

This wonderful Scotty dog pin, handmade by Sean Brown, a Colorado artist and given to me by my friend Margaret, for my birthday. Don't you just love its little quilted coat? I have a fun story to share with you about me and Scotty dogs...but that's for another time. 

Today has been just perfect, filled with lots of well-wishes from family and friends. I am loving every minute. Thanks everyone for making it a super memory.

Cheers~

bitter & sweet...

Honoré here: Today, Norman and I took the Benz through DC inpsection - a dreaded task  - long lines; fear the car won't pass; etc. - required every two years.  Tho' an '89, the Benz only has 51,000 miles (apparently the previous owner only  drove it back/forth to the grocery store (much like we do ;-)). Norman's had the car two years and this is it's second inspection. I captured this photo of us waiting for the car to come through the line...

...holding our breath for the results. Didn't pass the emission test! Bitter! So, in the next 20 days we'll have to to get the problem corrected and the car re-tested. Smile!

In today's mail was the sweetest thank-you card from my friend Kathy's 5 year old granddaughter. This bit of unexpected happy mail makes me smile, hey grin, from ear to ear. This morning's misadventure became totally irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Smile!  Indeed! 

 

Thanks loads, Samantha for your colorful and sweet card. I love it!

Cheers~

leaves and pickets and neighbors, oh my...

Honoré here: We and our neighbor  have a white picket (vinyl) fence on the front of our yards...it's one continuous line. A while back, a car or something crushed an end picket on our fence and another came off due to a windy rain storm - the pickets are held on by a not-so super glue...so, there was a rather obvious gaping hole on our end of the fence. Luckily, I was able to retrieve the picket that had fallen off due to the storm. A couple months ago, Norman and I set out to replace the pickets and to get a couple extras, as insurance. We took the picket with us to the big-box hardware store and left it there with Eddie, who assured us that he'd take care of the picket and also, get us some more.

A month passed. No picket. Then we got a phone call saying the picket/s had arrived. So when we went to  get them, lo and  behold, the wrong picket! We were a wee bit chagrined, to put it mildly. We found Eddie, expressed our dismay and frustration, etc. He assured us he would handle the re-order personally (he also happened to be the supervisor) and that we would be compensated for our troubles.

A few more weeks passed and  we had a big wind storm, rain, and lots of leaves fell. So, Norman raked our leaves (including the neighbor's who had gone away)  because they were wet and very slippery to walk on. On Wednesday, this week, our neighbor was out raking more leaves and we, on our way out, stopped to chat since we'd not seen him since his return. In the course of the conversation, he told us he'd found an extra picket and would put it on our end of the fence. We shared that we had some extras on order - we hoped - and told him our sad tale. When we returned home, we had a message that the second order had arrived!  

Today, we went to get the pickets. They are about an inch shorter than the original but we figured we could live with that. After all, who would know the difference on a galloping horse? And besides, the pickets were free (our compensation for all the mix-up and time)! So, armed with four new pickets and our original one, we drove home. As we pulled in front of the house, we saw something rather strange: where there had been a gaping hole because of two missing pickets, there was only one empty space. Yep, you guessed it: our neighbor had put the found picket on the fence!

So, now we have to only put our picket up and we'll have a complete picketed fence plus a few extras...

Cheers~ and here's to leaves and pickets and good neighbors!