Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Beauty Everywhere!

I stated in my previous post that I wanted to focus on beauty throughout November and heading to Colorado this weekend was the perfect way to find true beauty.

My daughter and I went up to the Rocky Mountain National Forest to do some hiking.  We packed water and some snacks and off we went.  Sometimes I think I overestimate my abilities because I had no fears and it truly didn't dawn on me that I would be hiking in a Mountain as in (a) the air is thinner in the higher elevations, (b) at some time I would be hiking UP the mountain.   Hiking up the mountain was a LOT harder than I anticipated! We started out going down 3.6 miles and then stopped for some snacks.  Then it was time to hike back UP 3.6 miles.  I had to stop several times just to get my breath.  But I made it and I'm really happy that we did it together.  The scenery was too beautiful for words and even the pictures I snapped on my IPhone can't convey how breathtaking the scenery was. 

We stopped at the Red Rocks

A pic of the snow covered mountain

Part of our hike

My daughter taking pictures near a little lake
 

A herd of Elk

I asked for more beauty in my life and got a boatload this past weekend.  The chance encounter with the herd of the beautiful Elk was the tip of the iceberg!

It will be a while before I'll be able to top this one!

Friday, November 6, 2015

Heading To Denver

My daughter booked a flight to Denver a few months ago because she was planning on meeting up with a bunch of old work colleagues to celebrate one of the group’s new store opening.  Unfortunately my daughter was the only one who actually took it seriously enough to book the flight only to find out that the grand opening of the friends store has been postponed, a couple of other’s flaked out because they couldn’t get the time off and one is just MIA.  They all work in retail except for my daughter so her schedule is the only one that is fairly consistent.

She has another friend she planned to meet up with during her visit but she didn’t want to impose over an entire weekend.  When she told me she wanted to do some hiking my motherly instinct got all churned up and I worried she would be abducted out on the trails all by herself.  She’s 24 years old and travels quite a bit for work and I know that she can handle herself but we live in such a scary world that I couldn’t let her be alone.  So I’m going to fly out on Saturday and meet her there.

I’ve never been to Denver, I’m not much of a traveler mainly because I’ve always found other things to do with the money, like survive, but I’m not getting any younger and I want to experience some fun things along the last leg of life’s journey, (hoping it’s going to be a long last leg)!

I’m looking forward to this quick weekend trip.  The Denver film festival is this weekend, there’s an art festival and of course hiking.  We bought some clothes for hiking last night although we didn’t get the Bear Pepper Spray as my son suggested.  We will scope out the locals and see if that is necessary along with the mountain lion issue he brought up.  I think he’s just trying to scare us but I did find the information below on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife center. 

 I’m not sure I want to run into a bear this weekend.  Unless it is a Chicago Bear winning a game for a change, but then I wouldn’t run into one of them in Denver this weekend since they’re playing the Chargers on Monday….but I digress!

Wish me luck!  The last part says tell an Adult.  I am an adult so who am I going to tell!  


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Creative Energy - Finding Beauty in an ugly world

I hate starting out on a negative note but living in a suburb of Chicago means you don't have to look too far to find the face of evil. 

The other day a nine year old boy was gunned down in Chicago.  He was playing basketball and died with his ball right next to him.  What monster would do such a thing?  The children in that area are never safe and they have nowhere to turn. 

It made me think of my son when he was nine.  He had a normal childhood, he could walk anywhere at any time, he could ride his bike safely anytime of the day or night.  The police in town know who all the kids are, they know the bad ones and the good ones.  We don't live in paradise there are still a number of crimes committed but for the most part it's as safe as you can get being only a 20 minute ride from the city.  Drugs and violence will always find a victim no matter where you live but those incidences are against the norm in our town, whereas in parts of Chicago it has become a way of life.  I only wish those Chicago neighborhoods could clean themselves up.  Innocent children shouldn't have to die while playing on the street.  I grew up on those streets but they weren't nearly as mean as they are today.

I thank God everyday that we were able to raise our children in a town with very little violence.  We really couldn't afford the homes in the area but found an old fixer upper that did us well over the 10 years we lived in it.  When it was time to look for a new home we almost left town but my daughter begged us to stay because she was only a year away from high school and didn't want to have to make new friends.  We ended up with a small house because we sold at the time the market was high.  We sold high but had to buy high to stay in this town.  Here we are another 11 years later and the kids are grown and about to fly the nest.  Now we are setting our sights on a new area because we don't have to worry about schools and proximity to the city. 

So this morning I decided to look for something that symbolizes beauty.  Something to help spark some creativity in my day.   As soon as I walked out of my door to get in my car she caught my eye.  A lovely little rose blooming for the last time before the cold weather sets in and the plant goes to sleep. 

It was foggy this morning and the sun was just starting to rise so the light was lovely.  I snapped the picture and love the vibrancy of the colors.  I didn't have to alter the picture in anyway.

I've decided that I'm going to try to look for something of beauty every day for the rest of November.










Tuesday, November 3, 2015

A Return to Blogging!


Time to start Blogging again! 

I can’t believe it’s November and the last time I did a blog post was April!  That’s just crazy.
No recaps just yet.  I’ll save those for later posts because I PLAN to post more often!

For now I’ll just start November with my latest projects to be completed. We’re planning on moving in the spring so I’d like to post some pictures as I go along. 
I’ve updated my window frames in my bedroom.  Painted the room and now just need to get some new carpet.   The old carpet has been through 12 years of living, children and a dog and it shows.  I’ll throw some pictures on the walls and be done. 

My new home is going to be on a lake so I’m going to decorate in country/farm chic/shabby chic/French country, but most importantly Coastal!   I have come to realize that as I’m getting older I really don’t have a style.  I just like what I like and whatever that is that's my style.   We'll see how that comes about in my new home. 
In October we were invited to a bon fire at a farm and had a wonderful time.  One of the women had an apple orchard so she brought a truck load of apples and handed them out.  My daughter brought home two big bushels.  So I made 2 apple pies, a tarte tatin and the rest are in the freezer to be served for Thanksgiving. 







This time of the year is always a lot of fun but I’m really really going to miss summer.  I took a new job that is a 1 – 1 ½ hour drive from home during rush hour.  It’s not the best way to spend ones time and I’m not looking forward to the drive when it snows.  But I’m a Midwesterner so I’ll just have to deal with it.   Unless of course I can find a fancy new job in a warmer climate, then I’m outta here!


Good bye Summer.....