friday i'm in love....

April 12, 2019 Arlene Giddings

♥ with feeling my fitbit go off with crazy happy vibrations of finally
hitting 10 000 steps again. I have been on a bit of lazy kick. But this
nice weather (and the inevitability of future dairy bar visits) has
pushed me back into action.

♥ speaking of dairy bars…I made my first stop at a dairy bar
tonight as a reward for raking the lawn (with a rake that only had
about 4 teeth)…and ran into one of my best friends and her daughter
which made getting a turtle ice cream sunday THAT MUCH MORE FUN!

♥ this is so crazy. I just can’t even….

♥ filed under “things i must have or I will most likely die”…..

♥ the #the100DayProject I am trying this but not planning on posting everything
because then I end up getting overwhelmed and not finishing…but this is
one of the doodles I have done.

friday i'm in love....

April 5, 2019 Arlene Giddings

♥ i know i say this all the time but i can’t help…longer days.
i am completely, totally, painfully in love with longer hours of daylight.

♥ it’s almost LILAC TIME!!!! :)

♥ this trailer….

♥ how cute are these monster socks?

♥ and cause I can’t do friday i’m in love without something with polka dots,
look at these shoes! :)

♥ this salad sounds delicious…..

♥ this thing is sooooo cool!

♥ i am so happy that jean overall are making a comeback…
and luckily…I STILL HAVE MINE.
also…how cute is that dress?

♥ when your cousin lends you a book and drops it off in
a giant sesame street bag
and says that your other cousin
happened to throw in some SMURFS
and muppet pj pants….well, you realize you are pretty lucky.
:) :) :) :) :)

friday i'm in love....

March 29, 2019 Arlene Giddings

with warmer weather and longer days
and getting back out with the camera again.
i took that photo last weekend on an early morning drive
and just as i was taking it
a gust of wind blew up
and suddenly, it was like i was in a little bit of a snowglobe…
it was like magic.

and i like magic.

with my new adorably cute Agnes pez dispenser
that someone sweetly surprised me with….
and it came with lemony candy

and i like candy.

♥ with this forgotten favorite video

♥ with this house…..I WANT A TRAPEZE IN MY HOUSE TOOOOOOO.

♥ one can never have too many red dresses…

♥ nature kinda blows my mind a little bit….and yeah, he got it, if you were wondering.

♥ i need to do this….

friday i'm in love...(the one where I get totally off track)...

January 11, 2019 Arlene Giddings

♥ I love these little barns. And when I say I love them them,
I mean I love them with my whole heart…I love the pop of red,
the fact that they are all alone out there, but together…
a big one and a little one…that one tree…the worn paint, the doors…
I just love them. :)

I couldn’t tell you how to get to them
but I can tell you that I have taken dozens of photos of them
over the years. I kind of like that I am so bad at directions that finding them
always comes as a bit of a surprise to me…like seeing old friends at the grocery store
and being so happy that you pulled your cart/car over to catch up again.

I also love that I posted this on Facebook and so many people
not only recognized them but shared their love for them, too!
And one person even gave me a little bit of history about them…
which I love knowing. It just makes me happy.

Social media is a funny thing. :)
I know it has its pitfalls and downsides and dark sides…
but mostly…I love it….because it gives me the possibility of
connection
that a self proclaimed introvert like me
would not normally be able to make.

I’m getting off topic. :)

♥ Except that I am not really getting off topic. :)
The next thing I love is kinda related to social media, too.
For a long time, I only used my photography page for
sharing photography…and when I say photography,
I mean mainly paid sessions…and by that, I mean, mainly weddings.

And it was fantastic. I had great success with that page…
lots of interactions, connections, likes and comments
(and you know I like comments & likes! heehee)
but when the weddings stopped, I kind of stopped posting there.

I didn’t think that the people that followed my page for that
would be interested in what I am doing now…
haha….whatever it is that I am doing now…
dabbling….that’s what I am doing.
Picking at this, doodling that…little bit of writing,
a lot of random posts about mundane things in my life…
but I started slowly sharing little bits of that on my photography page
and, to my surprise and IMMENSE happiness,
not only did I not really lose any friends there,
I have actually started gaining some more! :)
And they comment and like and share and read my blog sometimes (hi there!!)
and we talk about books and cards and
where I should go on my next Friday adventure and
it makes me so incredibly happy.

Which makes me think about where to go next…
I feel like I would like to revamp that page a little…
but I would also like to revamp the blog…
and maybe start a Patreon page
which would give me another platform for sharing
some of the ideas that I have thinking about…
and might also help me be able to accomplish
some of the ideas that I have.
I feel like a Patreon page would force me to be
accountable and productive
and stop spinning my wheels and
jumping from one idea to another….
if I had paid subscribers waiting for specific things,
then that forces me to buckle down and focus…
but then…it’s about money…
and if you know me at all, you know I have issues
when it comes to pricing.

(I did my first wedding for 60.00 if that gives you an idea
of what I mean by that. Heh.)

Anyway…it’s a lot to think about and totally NOT where I
intended this post to go.

I wanted to tell you that I played Apples to Apples & Skip-Bo
for the first time last night and it was so fun, even though I lost.

And that I have a brand new bag of cinnamon hearts.
Oh…..and to say thanks for sticking with me for this long rambling muddled
post of a post. ♥

friday i'm in love...

January 4, 2019 Arlene Giddings

-with long aimless drives
through snow packed country roads…
music playing loud,
sun shining through the trees…
not meeting another car
for miles and miles.

-with Staples gift cards….
merry christmas to me!!!!
seriously so excited about this haul.
(and i had to get new erasers since my
cats are jerks and stole my one good eraser).

- with getting back to the bullet journal again…
i’m a little behind for 2019
but…whatever…heehee.
it’ll get done.

i am pretty happy with how the first layout
turned out for 2019 though!
(and it was SO fun to use crayons and watercolors together…
i am definitely going to do that more!)

-listening to this amazing album as
i drove around looking for good light and pretty pictures…
seriously, soooooo good….
and i am not just saying that because they are local artists
or because they are two of the totally sweetest people
or because she is totally the kind of girl you
wish you were cool enough to hang around with…
sweet and funny, talented and wears a leather jacket… :)
or because i went to school with Mike since
elementary school
and he pretty much gave me my first ever nickname…
(micerobe…because i was short, if you have to know)
but because i genuinely frigging loved it.
her voice, the lyrics, the music, how it reminded me
in some ways of bands/female artists i have loved over the years…
i am not sure why but jann arden comes to mind…
(someone else whose lyrics always, always drew me in)…

it’s available now on the their website (linked above)
& spotify/google play etc…
go listen to it…you can thank me later.
:)