I ♥ Faces...PETS

I haven't participated in the photo challenges over at I Heart Faces for awhile now.  The recent themes left me struggling to find just the right capture.  Well, this week's theme is Pets and I knew instantly the photo I had to enter.  This picture is of our beloved Shih Tzu, Bella, who's almost 4 years old and a ball of energy!  She loves to run, explore and, most importantly, chase after her favorite ball.  I took this picture of her when we were out in our backyard playing fetch on a gorgeous afternoon.  I think it shows her exuberance for life and for having FUN. I mean, c'mon, who couldn't love a face like that?

Be sure and take the time to visit I Heart Faces and see all the other adorable pictures of pets.  If you're an animal lover like me, you surely won't regret it!

I ♥ Faces...Slice of Life

I always enjoy participating in the photo challenges over at I Heart Faces...it forces me to think outside the box, so to speak. Well, this week's theme is one I really love...it's called Slice of Life. You're not supposed to ask your subject to "strike a pose"...you're simply supposed to capture them in a moment of living LIFE! Well, I decided to enter this shot I took of Brittany and our 10 year old dachshund, Maddie. The two of them are BEST friends in every sense of the word. Now that Brittany is away at college, Maddie's world isn't quite the same. When Brittany came home from college for Thanksgiving , Maddie was beside herself with excitement! Brittany got down on the floor with her and gave her some much-needed attention. Maddie reciprocated by planting a big wet kiss across Brittany's face. It was a HAPPY reunion, to say the least! Be sure to pop over to I Heart Faces and take a look around at all the other photo entries...I know you won't be disappointed! Remember, my Shabby Apple Giveaway ends tomorrow morning! Just click here to enter if you haven't already done so!

I ♥ Faces...Sun Flare

I love the theme over at I Heart Faces this week...it's Sun Flare. Pretty creative, don't you think? Well, I knew immediately the photo I wanted to enter. I took this picture of Abby in the late Fall. The temperatures were just beginning to cool and it was such a perfect day for a walk at the park. We always like to venture off the beaten path and take a stroll on the grass. There's so much to see and take in...no better place to just clear your mind and get in touch with nature.


Now, you really must visit I Heart Faces...you will be incredibly inspired...GUARANTEED! Have a terrific Monday!


P.S. I may not have time to visit each of you today...Brittany is home and leaves on Wed. We have a big day planned with lunch out and lots of shopping! I'm trying hard to make every moment count! :)

I ♥ Faces...Anything But A Face!

What a fun challenge this week over at I Heart Faces ! Your photo entry can include heads, shoulders, knees, and toes, but faces don't need to be clearly visible. So, I decided to enter this picture of my daughter, Brittany (the one in the red uniform), competing in one of her first collegiate cross country meets back in September.

I captured this shot as the runners were making it up one of the last hills before the finish. It was such a hot day! Their calf muscles were bulging and sweat was dripping off their foreheads as the sun baked their shoulders. The sound of their running shoes striking the pavement was almost deafening. I really love how one coach is standing off to the side yelling at his runners as they passed...telling them to, "Dig deep!" It was definitely heart-pounding excitement every step of the way!

So, whatcha waiting for...get on over to I Heart Faces and check out all the other "faceless" entries! You're gonna LOVE 'em!

I Heart Faces...♥HEARTS♥

OK, so the theme this week over at I Heart Faces is simply HEARTS. You have to incorporate a heart (s) somewhere in your picture. I thought and thought about what I could do, so I decided to paint Abby's lips like the Queen of Hearts in the movie "Alice in Wonderland". I mean, why not have a little fun with it, right? Problem was that Abby and I kept getting tickled because we were going for the serious look and we'd crack up nearly every time I was about to snap her picture. Oh, well! I still like how it turned out...even if it did take us FOREVER!

Now, be sure to head on over to I Heart Faces to view all the other photos that have been entered in this week's contest...you'll be blown away!

"Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts."~Albert Einstein

I ♥ Faces...Innocent Wonder

I really enjoy participating in the I Heart Faces photo challenges each week because it helps me to stretch my imagination. I love this week's theme..."Innocent Wonder". Wow! There are so many different ways to approach it; my mind was swirling with ideas! Then, I thought back to a couple of summers ago when I convinced my girls to do a little photo session for me in our backyard. It was such a BEAUTIFUL day...who could possibly resist going outside?

I had my camera ready to capture every moment I could...kids have a habit of growing up, you know? This is a shot I snapped of Brittany admiring some flowers I planted in a pot on our back deck...it's my entry for this week. It looks like she's just drinking in their beauty! Ahh...the wonder of it all!


"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."

I ♥ Faces...Wintertime FUN!

Never in a million years did I think I'd ever see the kind of snow and ice we had here in the Atlanta area last week! We got close to 8 inches of snow in some areas! It was our first snow of 2011. Everything completely shut down and we couldn't venture out of our house until about Thursday of last week. Abby, in fact, has missed 5 consecutive days of school...tomorrow will be her first day back. Brittany headed back to college several days ago and, thankfully, made it back without any trouble.

While the snow was here, we enjoyed playing in it to the max! Sledding was so much FUN! Now, since I Heart Faces is having a Winter Wonderland theme for their photo contest this week, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to participate!

Here's a picture I took of Abby that makes me giggle everytime I look at it. My hubby threw a snowball at her and she turned around at just the 'right' time to get it square in the face. We all about laughed ourselves silly at how the snow got stuck behind her glasses...including Abby!

Now, be sure to check out all the other wintertime entries at I Heart Faces! I know I sure will!

...And She's Off!

Since I haven't participated in the photo contest over at I ♥ Faces in quite awhile, I thought today would be the perfect day! It's all about PETS this week, so I'm very excited!

Here's a picture of one of our dogs, Bella, that I took over the summer. My girls were playing with her in our backyard. They'd toss her ball and she'd go racing after it...ears flopping in the wind! She was footloose and carefree! Just looking at this picture of her makes me smile from ear to ear! What a great way to live!

Be sure to head on over to I ♥ Faces and check out all the pictures others have entered today of their beloved companion (s). I know I can't wait! Have a great start to your week!

I ♥ Faces...All About FEET!

This week's theme over at I ♥ Faces rocks...it's all about FEET! How fun is that?! Now, I thought long and hard about entering a picture I'd taken of my girls' feet when they were babies. Afterall, I do love me some baby tootsies! Instead, I decided to try something a little "off the cuff", so to speak. This is a picture I took picture of Abby's foot with a saying I came up with. She had the hardest time sitting still as I was writing on the bottom of her foot! She said it was so ticklish!

I've already visited I ♥ Faces this morning and the photos that have already been entered are AMAZING! If you have a thing for feet...it'll be right up your alley!

“Where we love is home, home that our feet may leave, but not our hearts."~Oliver Wendell Holmes

P.S. Thank you all so much for praying for our friend who was hospitalized with blood clots in his legs and lungs. Good news is that he's doing much better and should be released from the hospital today or tomorrow. The not-so-good news is that he'll have to be on a blood thinner for the rest of his life. He has a great attitude about it and looks at it as just a small bump in the road.

I ♥ Faces...Run, Run, As Fast As You Can!/What A Face!

Everyone is lined up at the starting line waiting for the gun to sound. Hearts are pounding with adrenalin! Strategies are being played over and over, again, in each athlete's head. BANG! The gun goes off and the race and excitement begin! This describes high school cross country meets, and, as you all know, I've been to many with Brittany now entering her 4th and final year of cross country at the high school level. Of course, we're all hoping she'll get a scholarship to run in college.

Now, over at I ♥ Faces, one theme for this week is "Sports in Action". You can imagine how many photos I've taken over the past three years at cross country meets. The problem is that I had so many pictures to choose from but, after much debate, here's the one I decided to enter this week.
I took this picture at the Georgia High School Cross Country Championships last November. Brittany is the farthest one on the right in the navy blue uniform, along with three of her teammates. She placed 17th out of 267 runners and her team finished in 11th place out of a total of 30 teams. What a thrilling day it was! You can just see the grit and determination on all of their faces. In just a couple of months, cross country season will be back in full swing...and I can hardly wait!

"Cross Country: No half times, no time outs, no substitutions. It must be the only true sport."~Author Unknown

There is, also, another theme over at I ♥ Faces...it's "Pets". I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to enter that category, too! Here's a picture I took of our Shih Tzu, Bella. Abby took a Hannah Montana wig and placed it on Bella's head. I think her facial expression says it all! Kind of looks like the "Trumpster", wouldn't you agree? :)
"Scratch a dog and you'll find a permanent job."~Franklin P. Jones

I ♥ Faces...Come Sail Away!

This time around over at I ♥ Faces, they're taking a week off from their usual contests and asking interested participants to share pictures of one of their family vacations and tell all about it. Well, count me in...sounds like FUN to me!

Today, I'm sharing pictures from our family cruise that we went on last summer aboard Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. To say that we had an unforgettable week is an understatement!

Here's the Freedom of the Seas in all her glory! She holds a total of 3, 634 passengers and is currently the largest passenger ship ever built. One of our first ports of call was San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was raining lightly when we disembarked, but we still wanted to get out and see some of the sights. Here's some of the brightly colored building we saw as we were walking around town.
We made our way to El Morro, which is a 16th century fortress that was designed to protect San Juan from seaborne invaders/enemies. In the early 1980's, the United Nations declared it a World Heritage Site and it gets over 2 million visitors per year. Right before we took this picture, there was a huge downpour and we had to seek shelter in one of the passageways. It was a very interesting tour. The walls were unbelievably massive!This is a cemetary on the other side of El Morro, looking out into the ocean.
Here's the girls posing in front of the ship prior to boarding after our day of sightseeing.These next pictures were made on our first formal night at dinner. The food would put Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, and Rachel Ray to shame! Take my word for it, it was to die for!

Here's Brittany...
And Abby...
Just us girls...
Chris and Abby giving us their "introspective" model poses...
Another day, we went to St. Maarten, Virgin Islands. The island was much busier and more crowded than what we had anticipated. Still beautiful, nonetheless.
The girls walking along Maho Beach...it's the famous beach where you can what 747's come in for a landing just yards about your head. The only airplane we saw while we were there was a little prop plane.This is an actual picture I found on the Internet, just to give you an idea of how close they get to you. I bet that's a pretty scary thing to experience. Can you imagine how loud it must get?Our final port of call was St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. It was absolutely gorgeous and so clean! As we were docking, we began getting "attacked" by a bunch of hungry seagulls. Chris and the girls would hold out food for them from our balconey and they'd dive in and snatch it right out of their hands! I wasn't quite brave enough to try it myself...they were very aggressive! Doesn't this look like a scene straight out of the movie "The Birds"?Here's some of the pastel colored buildings that lined the mountainside. We went on a catamaran snorkeling tour in St. Thomas and the water was so clear! We saw all sorts of tropical fish. Here we are heading back to the ship after a fun day on the water.
Every night, we'd come back to our room to find another "towel creature" left behind by our room steward. It was something different every time. It was the highlight of the day for the girls! So, as you can see, we had a wonderful time on our cruise! We were a bit depressed when we got home and there were no 5-course meals, our rooms didn't get made up by someone else, and we didn't find our beds turned down each night with a chocolate left behind on our pillows. We were spoiled rotten...and we loved every second of it!

“The great difference between voyages rests not with ships, but with the people you meet on them."~Amelia E. Barr