out fer a rip...

September 2, 2018 Arlene Giddings

On one of my beach days this summer,
I went to Victoria by the Sea
(which is one of my most favorite places...
but...not at the height of tourist season...).

the rocks make me think of rippled chocolate. I just want to eat them.
(but...I won't.)

I went to the beach and hung out there for the afternoon,
then ended up in Canoe Cove...
and drove through Bonshaw on the way home
which was where I saw those adorable sheep
and could have sat by the
side of the road watching them
for the rest of the day....
if that wouldn't have been creepy for the people
who lived in the house that owned the sheep.

and then there was the dirt road
on the way home...
that even had a DIRT ROAD INTERSECTION.
:) :) :)

this photo makes me think of fairy tales...I keep waiting to see little red riding hood...
(but...not the wolf).

friday i'm in love...the long weekend edition

August 31, 2018 Arlene Giddings

no links this time.

just words.

i think we all know that i love summer...
the beaches, the boardwalks, airshows, dairy bars,
dirt roads, starry nights, sunshine...all of that sweetness.

but i also love september.

(and not just because my birthday is in september)(heh)

but because
september feels like a new beginning...
a mini-fresh start...you know...before the REAL fresh start of
january and a new year.

but this is kind of like a reset button...
where i think about picking up on all the stuff
i let slide as i made time for beaches and dairy bars....
where i start thinking about new routines
and maybe getting up earlier
and hey, maybe i'll try that keto thing everyone is talking about
and remember when i said i was going to do yoga everyday
and hey, have you seen my bullet journal anywhere?

so here is a little list of what is making me feel
kind of excited about september (in a geeky kind of way):

fall leaves!
hikes
yoga
bullet journal
make chocolate chip cookies
writing group
have had some requests for handmade cards :)
might try my hand at family photos again
apple picking
board game nights
listening to music
watching movies (finish my Marvel list)
make an apple pie
take pugsley for walks
read lots more books (on book 35 right now)
try to get some prints ready to sell (maybe at a craft fair)
would like to try to do some "nursery room" paintings...like...of farm animals maybe?
maybe try to make a coloring book
finish the 365 robot series
sort out my life

yeah...i kind of like september. :)

wordless wednesday...

August 29, 2018 Arlene Giddings

2 truths on a tuesday...

August 28, 2018 Arlene Giddings

truth #1

this...well....this is the best sundae i had all summer.
this one wins.

and truth #2...

these cows kind of freaked me out.

at first, i was like
oh look!
cows!
and i pulled over on side of the dirt road
to take some photos of them

and then, they noticed me...
they started
looking
at me...

and then
they started walking towards me...
slowly
but steadily...
and all of them started doing
it once like
some kind of horde of zombie cows...

and i'm not gonna lie...

the truth is they
kinda freaked me out a bit.
:)

whatcha readin' {book 21::goal 24}

August 27, 2018 Arlene Giddings

I am so happy that I read this book.

Sometimes I see a book like this
and I think that I really want to read it
but then, once I start, I realize it's the kind of stuff
I already knew or it's a little too "out-there" for me
to be able to make any kind of connection with.

But not this one.

This one was talking my language.

Plus...he made me laugh.

And a lot of it made sense to me. I found myself taking notes
and nodding my head. The whole idea of not giving an f
is not about giving up...it's about being aware of where you are
wasting your precious f's. And using them on the things that matter
(ie not on the guy that accidentally cut you off on the way to work
this morning).

And this.
This gets me every time.
The whole "backwards law" thing...
how accepting your negative experiences
is actually, then, a positive experience....
and that chasing positive experiences
can actually be a negative experience.

I know, right.

It's like that whole "This sentence is false" thing.
If that's true...then the sentence is actually true...
which kind of makes it false
(but then, that makes it true)
but if it's false, then...IT'S STILL TRUE.

OK. Not really the same thing.
(I may have breathed in too much jet fuel over the weekend).

So anyway. This was a good book.
I found myself thinking about it long after I had read it...
and talking about it with 18
(especially around driving offenses that set him off the deep end)
(hence the reference earlier to maybe not wasting your f's
on the guy that cut you off).

I totally recommend this book, if you like this kind of thing.
It was one that was totally worth the hype in my mind. :)

4.5 out of 5 ♥♥♥♥♥'s

NEXT UP: BONES OF THE DRAGON - MARGARET WEIS & TRACY HICKMAN