I LOVE Fall

It's the best time of year because it gets a little bit cooler, the clothes are better and then there's Christmas.  Oh and the great home cooked food too.

I finished my class which I was so happy to get behind me.  I don't miss the drive everyday.  I do admit I miss the people and nurses I met along the way, not to mention the patients.

We had our fair the week after our class wrapped up.  Crowded as usual and many friends and family were seen.  We had a great time.

Shelby wanted to carve pumpkins so they picked up 3 and we spent the weekend after the fair carving.  It was storming outside so the living room and newspaper with garbage bags it was.  I decided to paint mine.

 

The one on the left is a pirate and the one on the left is Simba.

I had surgery on Oct. 30 so no dressing up for me this year.  I'm feeling much better already and am glad it's over.  Onward towards my goals.

Where is the fall weather?

I love when the fall drinks arrive at Starbucks.  That means cooler weather is on the way.  Leggings and sweaters come out and boots go on.  Football season starts and we gather around the fire pit with friends and family to catch up.  Well....every thing's coming together except the cooler weather in Louisiana.  It's still been in the 80's and 90's here.  We've had a few cool fronts and a couple of days of 60's and 70's but then right back to the hot weather.  I hope we're not still in shorts for Thanksgiving.

I started my refresher course and most of the rooms were on isolation precautions so we had to do this before entering each and every time.  And I ran into a friend and fellow student that I graduated from nursing school with at one of the facilities that I did clinicals at.  So great to see her after so many years.  She is a wound care nurse now and her knowledge on this subject is unbelievable.  I learned so much from her in a short time.

Steps taken the first day of our 12 hour clinical at a very busy long term acute care hospital.

We went to the Blues Fest again this year, I only got to go one day.  Randy was excited because it was our first time to hear Keb Mo live.  We discovered his music on one of our road trips when we first met 17 years ago.  He sounded wonderful live.

Mom and I toasting just because we are healthy and alive.  Always cause for a celebration and a photo op.  So happy and blessed to have her with me.

And we did get a visit from the two lovebirds this past month.  They've been really busy.  I was so happy to see them.  We were all on our phones and I looked up and caught this shot.  They're so cute together.

My latest photo taken this week.  I've lost a total of 51 lbs. since March.  I'm so happy and feel so much better.  I believe if it hadn't been for Tru I wouldn't have been so productive this summer and I certainly wouldn't be going through this class and clinicals with hopes of going back to work in the near future.  It's all God's plan.  He wants me making a difference somewhere and he will lead me to that place.  I have faith.

On a sad note we lost our beloved Bailey.  She was with us for 13 years.  She loved Randy and she was his "baby".  She followed him everywhere he went, waited by the back door when she knew it was time for him to come home and paced when he was late.  He was her world.  We knew the time was getting close just by the signs she was showing.  We will miss her terribly and I still look around expecting to see her but she's not there.  I love animals and loosing them is a part of the process but it's an awful hurt to have.

Fall Update

Summer has flown by it seems.  Life is still moving pretty fast for us here.  The wedding turned out beautiful.  The newlyweds are doing wonderful.  They're back to work and enjoying their new life.

I took some time to relax and catch my breath.  I still haven't caught up on DLP and am not sure if I will until winter gets here.  I've been trying to keep up with Listers Gotta List and have caught up so far.  I am planning to go back and do the month of April and I will have all of the months.  I'm really loving the idea of it and the fact that it's like journaling but doesn't take too long at all.

My cousin gave up her crown on July 4th.  She's so gorgeous.  We attended the Ball.  I made her scrapbook for her year as queen in 3 days.  It was a lot of fun.  Her dress was gorgeous.

Her Mom and I are very close and enjoy spending time doing girly things.  We took a girls trip after the wedding and had a great time. 

Jenn and I at her bridal shower in Biloxi.  It was so nice.  They did the cake in the shape of a dress with white icing cupcakes.  I'll share more photos later, so many in this post.

Randy and I before we left the hotel for the wedding.  I wanted a photo of me with my makeup on since it was an outdoor wedding and it was 97 degrees that day.  The wedding was at 6:00 p.m. and it was so humid.  July in the south isn't a great time to be outdoors.

I love this photo.  She was so nervous.  She didn't want to walk out in front of all those people.  There were well over 100 people there and it didn't hit her until this moment that she had to walk down the aisle and say her own written vows in front of all of them.  I was fixing her veil and hair comb for her and trying to tell her it was going to be ok.

She was beautiful.  When I saw them walking I started crying so the waterproof mascara was a must.  He was smiling from the time he walked out.  When she saw the groom that's all she looked at.  He of course was crying from the moment he saw her.  This was the first time he saw her in the dress.

Snapped with my iPhone.  We haven't gotten the "real" photos back yet.  I'm patiently waiting for them.  We took photos for so long.  It was almost dark when we made it to the food.  It was a beautiful evening I'm sure they'll never forget.  Everything turned out wonderful.  A lot of hard work by a lot of people but we did it.  So happy for them.

I had lunch with my son on Monday.  He started his Sr. year of college last month.  I'm so proud of him.  He's come so far and I can't believe his college years are almost over.  My purse is happy they're almost over but it's zoomed by way too fast.

With the fall semester starting so has all the fraternity events.  Him and some of his "brothers".  Great group of young men.  I'm very happy he decided to go Greek.  It has matured him immensely and taught him to be a gentleman more so than he was before.

And an update on my weight loss.  The photo on the left was me in March of this year.  The photo on the right is me on June 30.  This was just 3 months.  It's now been 5 mths but I haven't taken another photo.  I'd lost 31 lbs. in this photo.  I was trying to find clothes to wear.  I only wear linen and all of my linen clothes are hanging off of me.  I'm rolling up the waist of my pants but they're so baggy.  My shirts are huge and most people can't tell I've lost any weight when I'm wearing my linen. I refuse to buy any new clothes until they fall off of me, not literally of course. lol  I found these jeans and this shirt.  I hadn't worn these jeans in 6 years.  The last time I put them on they wouldn't button.  Well they buttoned, I had no muffin top and the shirt was too baggy in the front of course.  The first thing I lost in 1 week was my large abdomen or "stomach".  I started with a sample pack and in just a week that was gone.  That and the energy I felt hooked me.  You can look at this photo and see the difference.  I didn't retouch it.  I don't have on makeup, I didn't even fix my hair.  My bed isn't even made up.  I posted it because I was so shocked when I put the two side by side.  I was in shock as you can see by my look on my face in the photo on the right.  I'm still going.  I'm down 45 lbs. now.  Yes I need to take another photo....

And this is what I'm going to be doing starting next week.  After 9 years I'm going to take a refresher course to reinstate my nursing license and I'm going back to work.  I'm hoping I can go back to school and get my RN degree.  I'd still love to do travel nursing if I can get my hubby to retire. LOL  I'm still working on that one.  We will see how that goes.  So since last Wednesday I've been going everyday getting fingerprinted, getting a physical, getting blood work, getting a TB test, getting books, buying scrubs, white shoes, pen light, scissors, getting vaccinations, getting more vaccinations and going tomorrow to be re certified in CPR.  Almost finished with all the above and I start next Tues. night.  For 6 weeks.  Then I'll be done.  Wish me luck....

It's been a busy few months around here.

I can't believe it's almost June.  Time is flying so fast this year.  I haven't had much time for art in the past month.  I've been busy helping to plan our daughter's wedding that is in July.  I'm thinking of paying my son to elope when his time comes.  Of course that's a joke because what Mother wouldn't want to see her only son get married?  He will be the last one of 4.

We celebrated Mother's Day and went to church that morning.  It was a wonderful day.

Then the following week I attended the Bridal Luncheon in Biloxi for our daughter and met her wedding party.  We had a great meal and enjoyed visiting.  We are on the less than 6 weeks countdown to the wedding.

That Saturday we went to see Shelby's girlfriend graduate from college.  Over 800 people graduated that day.  It took a long time but we are so happy for her.  She's a year older than Shelby.  Some happy news, Shelby finished this semester with a 3.5 gpa.  We are so proud of him!  He's officially a Sr. now and will start his next semester in August.  He's working full time this summer.  Only 3 more semesters.  Time has got past us.  It seems like yesterday he was graduating from Kindergarten.

Lately I have become planner obsessed.  I start out with a personal size Filofax and that worked for a little bit.  Then I moved up to an A-5 Filofax which was great.

Then I decided I really wanted to try the Travelers Notebook style.  I discovered Foxy Fix on Etsy and fell in love with all the dyed leather colors she uses.  So I got a regular size with extra room.  I LOVE it!

Then I discovered May Designs.  Their books fit the A-5 size Travelers Notebook.  Yes I ordered one in dragon fruit (fuchsia, hot pink).

Foxy Fix offers all different types of options which I love.  I'm even more excited about the book inserts I added.

I always take notes during our Paster's sermons.  So this lovely little book is from May Designs.  I will be using it this morning at church.

I also found this Humbled Hearts Day book.  It's a 4 mth. prayer journal.  It comes in 3 different styles and it's so awesome.  I think it's going to be a keeper for me.

I love planning so much that I joined the Planning Society monthly kit from Scarlet Lime.  Lots of goodies to decorate my planners with.

On a sad note, my son's Poppie passed away in April.  I continued to be very close to him through the years.  He was in his 70's.  He will be greatly missed.


I hope to get back to some art soon.  Maybe after July.....

More Art from D.L.P.

My latest pages from The Documented Life Planner for 2015.  I'm staying current with this one and it's fun to do the weekly challenges.  I've also started Bible journaling with a group on FB.  It took me a little while to be able to actually journal on the pages of my Bible I bought for this purpose but now I love it.  I'm also taking Kelly Kilmer's Making your Mark.  It's a month to month class and I'm hoping to catch up as I can.

The Documented Life Planner Project 2015

I had so much fun with this project last year that I'm doing it again this year.  This year we are using the Dylusions Creative Journal instead of the Moleskine.  I do believe the pages will be studier.  I did get another Moleskine for 2015 for a daily journal because I just liked the process of it.  Below is a photo of what my journal last year looked like after adding all the art to it.  The black Moleskine on the right is what it looked like when I first purchased it.  Quite a bit of difference.

Below I'm going to share my pages from the past 6 weeks challenges.  Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll try to update more often this year.