From Chaos Comes Happiness

I love the sound of leaves crunching under my feet. I love to feel them up against my legs as I walk through a pile of them. I prefer to have socks on to avoid as much itchiness as possible . . . but some days, unplanned walks in the woods are the very best thing for the soul. I've mentioned before how blessed I am to live where we live - not only because we are in the Midwest (which welcomes the seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall with open arms), but because we are just minutes away from a most lovely nature forest preserve. It is heavenly. I find myself taking a drive through it weekly . . . just turning down the street that leads straight into the path of peace . . . more often than not. Mostly without even realizing what I am doing. During many of these afternoon drives, I pull over and step out into the quiet for a quick walk, to just . . . breath. Sometimes I get my best deep breaths of air - in those woods. It's kind of like my heaven on earth. It...

Where, oh where, do the days go? I missed Christmas here on the ol'blog . . . the busyness of the season took hold, and the time completely got away from me. Before I knew it, I was putting away Christmas presents and thinking of the New Year! Oh, how bad am I? I do hope you and yours had the most loveliest of Christmas holidays!   We certainly had a wonderful one in our happy chaos home. From major family visits, to good food and lots of laughs, I am in a bit of a holiday fog right now. I'm anxious for the new year to begin, feeling like it's time to move on and start anew. Oh, how I love the New Year! I thought it was time to do something creative again, too . . . hence the new header. Back to the basics for me. I haven't had my little "Annalee" on my blog header for quite some time. She was calling me, so I had to add her in today. Not sure how long I'll keep the layout this way, or the font, or the header, but it works for now.  I just needed...

My friend Sherri over at The Tightwad Chick wrote a great post this week on "Smelling the Roses" (you can link to it here ). I absolutely LOVE Sherri - not only because is she my favorite hot-headed Italian, but she happens to be my next door neighbor, who constantly cracks me up and makes me smile! She is a hard working lady, who does absolutely EVERYTHING for her kids, and I am constantly in awe at how she fits it all in. She is constantly running from swim practice, to football practice, from work, to grocery shopping. From here to there. I don't know how she does it. Her post this week was about how fast the summer is going - and how she hasn't taken the time to STOP and smell the roses. She goes on to list a bunch of things she plans on doing to STOP . . . they each tug at my heart strings. Well done, Sher!!! SO, I'm joining Sherri on the "Stop and Smell the Roses" theme. . . and making my own list. Here are my plans for the remainder of summer...