Annabelle sometimes looks like a Kangaroo

When Annabelle goes doo doo outside, she looks like a kangaroo in mid-hop!  Happily, I can say she goes exclusively outside now!!! : )

Biggles Teaching Annabelle

Annabelle just wants to play.  She wonders why Biggles is constantly hissing and hitting her head with his paw.

Yearning For Spring

Well I don't know about you but I sure am ready for Spring to come. Today is actually a sunny day even though the temperature is cold out. I've been going through several of my pictures that I took last spring and summer. I can't wait to get my camera out again and capture some fabulous floral and garden shots. I recently finished a lens (article) on taking floral photographs. You can view it here Tips and Pictures of Floral Photography
Here I've showcased some of my flower pictures on items I've designed for my store. I have a wide variety of wedding products, home and office products and all kinds of greeting cards featuring my floral photos. Here is a sampling below... come by Designs by Shell to see more.

A tragedy

 How could this be? Borders closing?  impossible!!!

 I couldn't decide if the people parked in the lot in front of Borders were grieving friends of our beloved store come to pay their respects or sharks excited by the lower prices and in a feeding frenzy tearing and devouring an innocent victim.

That was the check out line.  It makes me terribly sad to know this bookstore so close to where i live is closing.  Obviously people haven't stopped reading.   This bookstore will be cleaned out in no time.  I know that online is quick and easier and you can download hundreds of books on a Kindle, but the paper book with cool artwork on the cover just can't disappear.  Going to a bookstore with a coffee shop is an experience everyone should have.

Valentines Day 2011 (better late than never, right?)

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

Love is in the air



 Everywhere I look around                                                        

Love is in the air

Every sight and every sound

And I don't know if I'm being foolish

Don't know if I'm being wise

But it's something that I must believe in

And it's there when I look in your eyes…

– John Paul Young

Valentine’s Day is a day we set aside to think about love. We kiss, we dance, we eat chocolate, we smell flowers, and we see that funny guy wearing a diaper while gripping a bow. February 14th is Cupid’s day. In Roman mythology Cupid is the god of desire, affection, and erotic love.

Valentine’s Day can trace its roots back to the third century when a man by the name of Valentine was alive and either sent a love note from his prison cell signed from your Valentine to a young woman he fell in love with, or was out helping rescue tortured Christians from horrible Roman prisons. And then, some say the Roman Emperor at the time decided that single men made the best soldiers so he outlawed marriage for young men. Mr. Valentine thought this was unfair and secretly married young couples until he was caught and killed. The origin of Valentine ’s Day is a little murky. All we know is it is a day set aside for love.

Romantic love is exciting. (I'm a big fan) It’s featured on television, radio and in many popular books. Yet, we know that romantic love is only one type of love that humans experience. In fact, the Greek language has at least four words for love representing friendship, affection, romance, and unconditional love. And Webster’s dictionary states that love is the “affectionate concern for the well-being of others: the love of one's neighbor.”

A couple weekends ago there was occasion to celebrate love romantically as well as in the larger way of reaching out to our neighbors. A Chocolate Affair was a fundraising event held at and sponsored by Old National Bank downtown Evansville. There was music, dancing, chocolate, and pretty flowers. The money raised helps the Lampion Center, an agency that provides counseling, adoption, and community outreach services for children and families in Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties. The Lampion Center is one of many social service agencies that we are fortunate to have in our area.

While romance has its place in our lives, especially around Valentine’s Day, remember the other form of love and get involved in the many charitable organizations in your area. There are people that need us to care-- to be the best of what we are. Let’s love!

Spring Colors Spring Weddings

Well I've been working on several different colour themes and designs for weddings this last week. Hot pink or I've heard it called honeysuckle pink is one of the new fresh colours for weddings. Soft blues mixed with chocolate brown is another popular trend. These would both work well anytime of the year. Do you have a favourite colour theme that you love? There are so many options and beautiful shades to choose from. Here are a couple of lens (mini articles) on wedding ideas. Hot Pink Themes for Weddings and Elegant Blue and Chocolate Brown Wedding Ideas. Here are a few designs too!



Come by my store Designs by Shell if you'd like to see other colours and styles.

Valentines Day 2011

From Russia with love. Bruce was away for awhile, but brought back chocolate and Valentine's wishes : )  He also gave me an edible fruit arrangement knowing that I have to control myself with the calorie intake.  I have to say I dipped into the fruit right away--it wasn't totally sin free some of the strawberries and apples were dipped in chocolate.  Does he know how to please me or what?  What he gets from me is a quiet evening at home.  After being in Russia and eating out all the time, that's just what he needs.

I'm into quotes from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (translated by Richard Howard)  These days.  This one seemed fitting for Valentine's Day.




"Nothing's perfect," sighed the fox. "My life is monotonous. I hunt chickens; people hunt me. All chickens are just alike, and all men are just alike. So I'm rather bored. But if you tame me, my life will be filled with sunshine. I'll know the sound of footsteps that will be different from all the rest. Other footsteps send me back underground. Yours will call me out of my burrow like music. And then, look! You see the wheat fields over there? I don't eat bread. For me, wheat is no use whatever. Wheat fields say nothing to me. Which is sad. But you have hair the color of gold. So it will be wonderful, once you've tamed me! The wheat, which is golden, will remind me of you. And I'll love the sound of the wind in the wheat..."

Skiing at Big White

This past week my husband and I took a little trip to Big White Ski Resort, just passed Kelowna, B.C. We had two gorgeous days of skiing! (he snowboards) The mountain wasn't busy at all, so no line ups or waiting to get on the chairlifts at all. I did 24 ski runs in the two days and my husband pulled off about 31 runs. It was cold but the sun was shining and the fact that we were moving most of the time kept us warm. What a blast, I totally recommend a trip to Big White if you've never been. Of course I was able to capture many awesome pictures. I have already put several of them on cards, postage, magnets and prints to sell in my store. I thought I'd share some of the winter scenes on products for you to see here! Enjoy! For more stop by my store Designs by Shell.

A Chocolate Affair

I know all about chocolate, the rich creamy flavor we want to savor in our mouths.  How it's aroma and style flirt with a person's senses until finally he/she succumbs to it's temptation.   Last night it was  A Chocolate Affair.  There was dancing, champagne, and a whole lot of that sinful, deep colored stuff called chocolate.  But, hey, it's all good because the money raised went to the Lampion Center.  No need to feel guilty--it was for a good cause.  Those five extra pounds were worth it!

The picture is of my friend Chef Aimee Blume.  She brought about fifteen of her students to this event.  It was fun to see them all lined up in their white jackets ready to serve and answer questions about the wonderful chocolate delicacies they had displayed on the table for people to eat and drool over.

 If a person didn't eat the chocolate, he/she definitely did a fair amount of drooling.  I just took pictures and talked to people so I went home dehydrated.  I know for a fact that Aimee is a marvelous chef because I've tasted her work before.  In fact that's one of the reasons I could only look and drool last night.  I had too much of her wonderful, rich chocolate over the holidays : )

 The woman singing is Gina Moore.  Her voice is as deep and rich as the chocolate that surrounded the Wayne Henning Atrium at Old National Bank.  Gina has a good reputation around here so I knew a little about her and wanted to meet her. I did.  What a warm person!                  

                                               

The Lampion Center provides counseling services.  They've been around for quite some time.  Here's what they said about it on the back of the brochure we were given at the party:

"Providing Hope, Empowering Individuals for a Brighter Tomorrow...since 1885!

 The Lampion Center provides counseling, adoption, and community outreach services for children and families in Posey, Vanderburgh and Warrick Counties.  We are dedicated and passionate about meeting the needs of individuals in our community.  We bring hope for a brighter future.  by attending this event you just made that possible for someone...a neighbor, a friend, a co-worker, a strudent, a child. Thank you!"                                                                                                                            



Champagne




Friends Ross and Joan Cecil

 

                                                                Me and Gina Moore!

Poem: House By the Side of the Road By Sam Walter Foss

   The House By the Side of the Road

                  By Sam Walter Foss

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn

In the peace of their self-content;

There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart,

In a fellowless firmament;

There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths

Where highways never ran;

But let me live by the side of the road

And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,

Where the race of men go by--

The men who are good and the men who are bad,

As good and as bad as I.

I would not sit in the scorner's seat,

Or hurl the cynics ban;

Let me live in a house by the side of the road

And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,

And mountains of wearisome height,

That the road passes on through the long afternoon

And stretches away to the night.

but still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,

And weep with the strangers that moan,

Nor live in my house by the side of the road

Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road

Where the race of men go by--

They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,

Wise, foolish--so am I.

Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat

Or hurl the cynic's ban?--

Let me live in my house by the side of the road

And be a friend to man.