October in Review

October was a pretty FULL month! 

youngest daughter turned 12

lots of time with friends - both here at our new home and back near Portland

tried 2 new wineries in the area

planted 5 new trees

ran 21.5 miles

read 8 books

played 6 gigs

(4 with family band, 2 with community orchestra)

played/practiced violin 41 hours

I'm linking up with Little Things Thursday

July in Review

Another month has come and gone...

July was a big month for us! After looking for a new house in a nearby town, we finally found one that is a great match for our family. So, our home for the past 8 years is now on the market (see photo above). I'm sad to be leaving my garden, but very excited about the potential at the new place.

July blooms in the garden include:

zinnias, cardinal flower, coneflower, black-eyed susans, dahlias, marigolds and succulents

3 gigs (Lavender festival, farmer's market, Gresham Arts festival)

read 12 books

celebrated 22 years of marriage

trip to Suncadia

VBS

I'm linking up with 

Wednesday Around the World,  Pictorial Tuesday and Image-in-ing 

May in Review

May was all about getting the garden in order

2 yards of mulch and 1 yard of dirt

3 days of shoveling and transporting and planting

It's hard work, but I enjoy the work, and I really enjoy the results!

May's garden saw honeysuckle, clematis, daylillies, roses, 

peonies, lupine, azaeleas and rhododendrons.

My photography focus for the month of May was macro.

The photos I'm including in the post were some of the photos I took. 

I learned how to take photos in full sunlight (like the photo below and 

the last one in this post), and have a natural, dark background.

I planted sunflowers, morning glories, moonflowers, zinnias, poppies, 

marigolds and cosmos from seed. It will be fun to watch them 

grow over the next several months.

Stats:

16 books read

2.5 miles ran

3 days in Sunriver

0 gigs

6 pounds lost 

I'm linking up with Little Things Thursday

April in Review

April was the month of blooms around here. 

Everything from tulips to cherry trees....

from lilac bushes to rhododendrons...

from wisteria to azaleas....

It's all in bloom and it's taking my breath away.

We played several times during the month of April. 

We played at our Saturday evening church service, one week...

then again the next morning at another campus.

We played at Stave and Stone Winery twice, 

and also at Transform African Ministries banquet dinner.

I ended up running a total of 40 miles...I was on track for 50, 

but had to take a week off due to a stiff hip. It hasn't gotten much better 

so I'm still on a self-imposed running break.

I also hit an all time record of reading 16 books in one single month. 

At the beginning of the year I had placed 5 or 6 books on hold at my library. 

I waited months for them to finally be available to me, 

and they all came available in the same week!

April was also all about building a rainbow...one photo, one day at a time.

This was my fourth year of participating in this challenge and I'm please with this year's result.

I'll be posting my rainbow on Thursday, so be sure to come back!

I'm linking up with 

Wednesday Around the World and Image-in-ing 

February in Review

February... the shortest month has come and gone. It was wet and sunny, warm and cold.

 

The weather was absolutely crazy. We had many signs of spring, and also several reminders that it was still truly winter. On the days it snowed, we woke up to a couple inches (significant accumulation for these parts), and by afternoon it had melted and was 50 degrees. 

I'm not a huge fan of snow, but I was happy and grateful for the chance to practice my macro photography of snowflakes. In the photo above I used my dslr macro lens and in the photo below I used my iphone and ollocip attachment. The photo above was also my most "like" photo of instagram for the month of February.

February was a good reading month for me. I read a total of 15 books - 9 of which were Newberry Award winners (children's books). I also read my first book about the Enneagram and discovered the fascinating world of Enneagram types.  I really enjoy personality typing systems and the Enneagram is so exciting to me. 

My running goal is 40 miles each month and I was short again coming in at 36.5 miles. All things considered (foot treatments and weather prevented me from running many days), it wasn't too bad. 

As a family we saw some great movies (Mully, Paddington 2, Wonder and Peter Rabbit), we volunteered at a Compassion event, and we spent some time in central Oregon.  

We also had some visitors from New York - my husband's oldest sister and her daughter spent a few days with us. 

And now it's time for March....we have some very exciting things in March. I'm calling it the month of tickets because we have tickets to fly to Boston, tickets to fly to Maui and tickets to see Hamilton!

I'm linking up with Little Things Thursday

January in Review

January...the first month of 2018 has come and gone. I keep a journal and record highlights and blessings of each day, but I thought it would be fun to try to recap each month and its highlights here on my blog.

We started off the year with the incredible blessing of receiving this full-sized violin for my daughter. You can read the story here. She loves playing it and has grown so much as a violinist this month. 

The new year also started out with one of the most gorgeous sunrises I've ever seen. I was up early reading and drinking my coffee when I noticed a pink glow coming in from every window in the house.

We also celebrated a milestone birthday in our house...our oldest daughter turned 13 and our journey as parents of a teenager officially began.

Our birthday traditions are simple...we keep celebrations within the family and when our girls were 10 they each had their first big party with friends. Since 13 is such a milestone birthday, it was our daughter's second birthday party with friends and we started with a couple hours of bowling. It has been YEARS since I last bowled and it was so much fun.

For the actual birthday, we had special visitors. Grandma (my mom) and Grandpa came to visit from Texas! We had fun recreating this photo from at least 10 years ago.

Because of the weather, time of year, and some health issues, we spent a good amount of time inside this month. I had a strong start to my reading hear and managed to finish 10 books. Half of those are considered childrens' books, but I'm on a quest to read as many Newberry Award Winners as possible. I also still read aloud to my girls, and I read what they are required to read for our homeschool literature selections.   

When it came to violin, I practiced daily and focused on Bach's Sonata No. 2 in A minor. I have fallen back into a wonderful practice routine and look forward to picking up my violin each day. I'm not pressuring myself to practice a certain amount of time each day...just enjoying the challenge of learning some beautiful music and sharpening my skills.  I also managed to run 36 miles.

We had a very mild January, and I'm excited to see signs of spring already. We have buds on trees, bulbs poking through the ground and perennials starting to green up and produce new growth. And now we move into February....what will it bring?

I'm linking up with Good, Random, Fun and Seasons

Wednesday Around the World and Image-in-ing