POTD: Sailor's Delight

This was the view from my backyard tonight! We had an unusually warm day for this time of year. I just love a reddish pink sky! 

Everytime that I see a sky like this, I think of my husband who was once a sailor. He often says this:

"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in morning, sailor's warning!"

I've been a busy, busy girl!

I have to apologize once again for the lacking of blog posts! But....I've been a busy, busy girl lately! Between the boys and photography...it's been crazy! Last weekend I was hired to photograph a wedding and I spent part of this past week editing and organizing the photos. And yesterday I took Christmas photos of a cute little girl, so I'm currently working on those! 

My husband was "watching" the boys while I was at that wedding and Alex had an accident. I say "watching" in parentheses because we all know the quality of childcare when a man is watching the kids! lol Anway, as the boys were jumping up and down on the couch, Alex banged his eye off of the back of Ben's head! A few days later he got quite the shiner!

This wasn't the worst of it. The bruise got much worse over the proceeding days. Thankfully it is returning to normal! Poor kid! If you knew Alex and his personality, this wouldn't surprise you! He is an accident waiting to happen! lol

 As I mentioned, I photographed a wedding last weekend! It was AMAZING! And it sure helps when the couple is gorgeous! I had a total blast! Here are a couple of my favorite shots!

 The place where I photographed these was at this religious place called "Mt. Macrina." It is only about 15 minutes from my house and I never knew how beautiful it was there! Unfortunately I only had about 10 minutes to photograph the couple there, so I wish I had a little more time. And I wish I knew about this place at the beginning of Fall because I would have loved to have photographed my boys there! Oh well, there's always the Spring!

 Lastly, mama got a new pair of shoes! :)

I have been wanting these for a couple of years now and finally broke down and bought them! I knew a couple of people who has them and loves them. One of the groomsman at the wedding had them as well, and it gave me the push to buy a pair! They are supposed to be wonderful if you have knee and back pain. I'll let you know what I think about them!

I don't know what is scarier...the shoes, the striped socks, the striped pants, or my unshaven legs! lol With two boys, if I can shave once a week that is a luxury! lol :)

Oh and I would like to mention that I have a poll on the right side of my page. I need a little feedback. Would you like me to continue doing my Richard Gere "Movie Mondays?" I just feel like it's something that nobody really reads. Let me know what you think!

Happy Anniversary to ME!

This past week Chris and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! I am so lucky to have married the most wonderful man in the world! Here is a photo of the card that he bought me. Apparently the gift for your seventh anniversary is "copper"....hence the seven pennies that he glued to my card!

We didn't do the whole gift thing this year. I think we both realize how truly blessed we are to have each other...so no gift can compare to that!

This is probably my most treasured gift that Chris has ever bought for me. I'm sharing this with you now, because I have been wearing it a lot lately.

When Chris and I started dating he bought me this "St. Christopher" medal to wear. Saint Christopher is the protector of travel. Chris bought me a card and this necklace was taped on the inside with a note that said that he would always protect me no matter where I am in life! :)

I love how romantic he is, and how he puts soo much thought into the gifts that he gives!

I tried to get a photo of us the other day, but Chris was being too silly for a serious photo! He always has to do a silly one!

Here are some photos from our past! We've done a lot of great things over the 9 years that we have been together!

Here we are in Punxsutawney during the Groundhog's Day celebration (2/2/02).

The night before our wedding we attended a Halloween party and we dressed as Hugh Hefner and a playboy bunny!

Here we are on our wedding day...seven years ago!

On our honeymoon at Niagara Falls, Canada.

Here we are on one of our anniversary trips in Ohio. We had a blast ziplining!

I am so very thankful to have Chris by my side. He is my best friend, my soul mate, and a wonderful father! A girl couldn't ask for a better husband!

Movie Monday-Breathless

I am reviewing the movie "Breathless" this week! The movie also stars a French actress Valerie Kaprisky. The movie is from 1983 and is a remake of a the classic which is from 1960.
Richard Gere plays the character "Jesse." Jesse is an arrogant cocky man who goes on a crime spree while on his way to see the woman that he admires. On his travels he kills a cop, so there is a manhunt for him.

He finally makes it to see his girl "Monica" played by Valerie Kaprisky. Monica is a french college student who is studying architecture. In the past Jesse and Monica had a four day affair in Las Vegas. One that Jesse would never forget.

Monica has big plans for her life, and Jesse isn't part of them. But he is relentless and constantly pursues her! Monica has no idea that Jesse is wanted by the cops and she winds up becoming pregnant and falling in love with him!

Even after she finds out about his crime spree she still stands by his side! But seriously..it's Richard Gere...I'd stand by him too! ;)

I normally do not like watching movies that are nearly as old as I am! BUT, this one was actually good. It kept my attention and to be honest, I was kind of liking the YOUNG hot Richard Gere! ;)

You know me...I like the "old man" Richard Gere, but this cocky arrogant character he played really attracted me to him! He constantly stole cars, and smoked cigarettes...it was HOT! lol I was totally digging this character!

Don't you just love the ruffled dress shirt!

I could see how an intelligent woman could be attracted to his character in the movie like Monica was! There was something exciting about him that was very magnetic.

There were a couple of scenes in the movie that I liked. Monica was in the pool and Jesse was upstairs on the balcony of her apartment. He ended up crawling down her macrame plant holder just to get to her in the pool! It was very romantic in a bad a** sort of way! lol You can view that clip here!

Remember macrame plant holders? I think I was in 2nd grade when I made one of those for my mother! lol

And the other scene of my dreams was that he pulled up to pick up Monica in a PINK convertible! It was sooo hot! That is my dream...Richard Gere picking me up in a pink convertible! lmao! ;)

Two things a girl cannot have enough of...Richard Gere and PINK! :)

I give this movie an 8 on the Richard Gere hotness scale. There WAS Richard Gere nudity! So that's always a plus for me! lol But I would recommend watching it! There was just something about his character that was sooo attractive! Plus if you have Netflix it's an "Instant Movie" right now!

Here is the trailer if you want to see a preview! Surprisingly I found it to be really good!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! We sure did! This year's Halloween theme was "Star Wars!" I of course had to be "Princess Leia!" Since I'm still not feeling well, I didn't feel like wearing her signature white dress. Instead I opted for a long sleeve white t-shirt with a winter vest over top! It's quite chilly here!
Alex dressed as Darth Vader, and Ben was a Storm Trooper! We got dressed a little early, so we went outside for a little photo shoot! Here we are ready to trick or treat!

Princess Leia was captured by Darth Vader and his Storm Trooper! The storm trooper (Ben) told me that if I escaped while he was trick or treating that he'd shoot me with his gun!

Every princess has to have some gas station coffee! lol I LOVE gas station coffee! And I drink at least 2 if not 3 of these a day!

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween! I love Halloween and I will greatly miss it! I guess I'll start planning for Halloween 2011!

Last Day of the Fall Soccer Season!

Today was the last day of soccer for Ben for the Fall Season! I'm a little sad that it's over for the year, but in a way happy because the temperatures are getting colder! Today was a tournament, so he played two games.

Ben loves playing soccer, and is always so happy to play! He's really good on defense, but this season he has proved to be a goal scorer! It's so funny to watch him at his games, he has so much energy and just jumps and bounces around...even when the ball is NOT in play! lol
There are some beautiful farm lands near the soccer area that you can see from the photo! It is so beautiful (especially in Fall), and reminds me of a painting!

Here is Ben and his little "girlfriend!" She was a classmate of his from his "old" school. And they missed each other soo much! Today she informed me that Ben just has to attend her birthday party in a few weeks! She is so cute!

Here is Ben's team with their trophies!

Ben was excited about his trophy, but more excited to go and play on the playground after his game!

We're looking forward to the Spring 2011 season-which starts after Easter. Alex will finally be able to play soccer! And both Ben and Alex will be on the same team! I cannot wait!

Fall/Halloween Party!

Today was Ben's Fall Party at school! I was so thankful to be able to help out at the party, because now that he's in public school you can sign up but that doesn't mean they'll pick you to help! Last year he attended Catholic School and they were very lenient with their school parties...the more that attended- the merrier! But public school is a whole different scene!

Here is Ben and a couple classmates enjoying their snacks!
I bought each child a pumpkin to decorate. Here is Ben's pumpkin. He said it's an Indian.

I had to get a photo of me and my new Halloween t-shirt! I just LOVE Halloween...it's my favorite holiday! So here I am with the boys. I think it's funny that they wouldn't put their Wii controllers down for one minute to pose for the photo! lol Silly boys!

Unfortunately I am still sick. All my running around today really made me feel worse and feverish! Why is it that I am sick for every single Halloween? Well at least I was for the last four years! Hopefully I am somewhat better before Sunday!

The Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend was really beautiful in South Western, PA. It was in the low 70's which is unusually warm for this time of year! But I'm not complaining! ;)


We thought it would be the perfect weekend to visit the pumpkin patch and get some Fall photos!

I always like to dress the boys alike since they are so close in age. I don't know when I'll stop! lol

I use to be the type of person who has said. "I can't believe people dress their twins alike! They are individuals, not the same person!" Then I had kids and that went out the window! lol

Two reasons why I like dressing them alike. #1 It makes for a nicer photo when they are in coordinating outfits. And #2 when you are at a zoo, an amusement park or other busy place, you can instantly pick them out in a large crowd. They are very easy to locate in a quick glance.
We had such a great time at this particular pumpkin patch. When you pay for your admission, they give you a big bag of marshmallows that you can roast on one of their outdoor fires! There were a couple of corn mazes, and the hayride dropped us right off at the pumpkin patch where we could pick our own pumpkins! It was sooo fun!

The boys didn't really like the corn maze. They were a little scared! I don't blame them because I was too...just a little bit...especially when the wind blew! Have you ever seen the movie "Children of the Corn?" Need I say more! ;)

Here they are at the entrance of one of the mazes. The wouldn't go into this one! I did but I couldn't find my way out! I had to backtrack!

Here's the one that they went through. At one point Ben started crying! He was so frightened!

And this happens to be my favorite photo! Of my three LOVES: Ben, Chris, and Alex! I couldn't ask for a more perfect family! :) I just love them soo much!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Fall! Hard to believe that Halloween is less than a week away!

I'm Sick!

I have been sick for the past few days! All I have been doing is lying in bed watching scary movies and snuggling with my dog Allie! Photo evidence is below! This has been my view lately, since I spend the majority of the day in bed!

I am postponing "Movie Monday" until next week. Even though Richard Gere movies are what makes me feel better when I am ill, my brain is too foggy to review any new movies. I'll have to go to my standby feel good movies like: Nights in Rodanthe, Pretty Woman, and Runaway Bride!

A girl cannot watch enough Richard Gere movies! RG to me is like Vitamin C! ;)

Anyway I am in need of some Vitamin C, so I'll probably spend tomorrow in bed watching some of my favorite movies while I recover!

More posts to come in the next few days!

Movie Monday-Cotton Club

I know, I know....I've been a really bad blogger and I apologize! Ever since school started with my son, life has become so hectic. Plus the Fall soccer season started and there are practices, games, and homework for school! Up until recently, it has felt extremely hard just to keep up with the everyday tasks of life!

I organized my house, totally. I mean cleaned closets, organized, and packed away the boy's summer wardrobe. I use to live in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome). But now that my house is clean, anyone can stop over anytime and I'm not rushing like a mad woman and hiding stuff in closets and under the bed! lol

Now that I am totally organized, I am finally ready to focus on some "me" time...including this blog! The past couple of weeks I've been focusing on my art and it finally feels good to create again! I'll share some of my work with you in the next couple of weeks. I also want to stock my Etsy shop so I can earn a little extra money for Christmas!

So onto Movie Monday! This week's review is about the movie "Cotton Club." It is from 1984 and stars Richard Gere (of course) and a very young Diane Lane. It also stars Gregory Hines, a young Nicholas Cage, Laurence Fishburne among many others.
The movie is about the Cotton Club, a famous club in Harlem. Richard Gere plays the character of Dixie Dwyer. He is a musician who plays in a band and happens to be at the right place at the right time...or so he thinks. He saves the life of a well known gangster and because of this he gets wrapped up in the gangster's life...which is a life of crime. Once he's in, he finds it very hard to get out!

Diane Lane plays the character of Vera Cicero, who is the gangster's girlfriend. It is one of Dixie Dwyer's jobs to keep her entertained for his boss.

As I said it is about a famous jazz nightclub called "The Cotton Club." Gregory Hine's character auditions to be one of the club's entertainers and he makes it in! If you have never seen Gregory Hine's perform, it is worth renting this movie! His tap dancing is amazing! There is a lot of jazz music, dancing, and singing...it's really entertaining.

I was actually dreading watching this movie, because it is so old and it's not a typical Richard Gere romance movie. PLUS, he is young in this movie and if you have read my blog you know I prefer the old man Richard Gere! lol But I was very surprised, it was a great movie to watch!

I give this movie a Richard Gere hotness rating of a 7. The movie was to depict the olden days. The days of the flappers. I have been trying to see what era this movie was from, but I can't find any info. Anyway, I rate it a 7 because I love the ways men dress in the olden days! Very sophisticated! And plus RG plays a few instruments in this movie and that makes him super sexy as well! lol

A little RG factoid: He is a pianist and writes his own music. He wrote and played the piano piece in Pretty Woman. If you notice he plays many different intruments in different movies, and it's really him playing them!
It is an instant download right now if you have Netflix so you may want to try it out! Also you can view a clip of the movie here. Just remember to turn my music player off of the right hand side of my page.

More posts in the next couple of days so be sure to stop back! Have a great week!

Movie Monday- My Dog: An Unconditional

For my movie review this week, I watched the documentary called: "My dog: An Unconditional Love Story. It's about famous New York celebrities and their dogs. It's not totally about Richard Gere, but he does have a few interviews in it about his dog. You can rent this movie from Netflix and it's an instant movie right now! I found this documentary to be very touching. Anyone who has a dog knows the unconditional love that you experience with them! This documentary isn't for you if you are not a dog lover. The documentary is from 2010 and many celebrites star in it such as Glenn Close, Lynn Redgrave, Richard Belzer, Edie Falco, Greg Louganis, Christopher Meloni, Isaac Mizrahi...and a few others.

Each celebrity tells you their story about their dog and what it has meant to them. Richard Gere says that he is the Alpha Male to no one in his family except his dog!

One of the most touching stories was that of the actress Didi Conn. Remember her? She was pink haired "Frenchie" from Grease. Well her son has Autism and people with Autism often fixate on one thing. Her son's fixation is on dogs! As a child he had sleeping problems and the problems ended once they got a dog! He bonded with his new dog and became best friends with him! His sleep problems finally ended because his dog knew he needed him and layed by his side in bed each night! One funny thing about their story was that the boy's dad said to him. "Please talk to me about something other than dogs. Ask your dad a question." The boy replied: "Dad, what's your favorite breed of dogs?!" lol What a cute and wonderful story about a boy and his dog!

This was a wonderful group of stories that really touched my heart! And of course I cried....but in a happy way!

Here is a photo from the documentary of Richard Gere, his dog, and his wife Carey Lowell. My husband walked in when I was watching this movie and exclaimed: "Is that his wife?" "She's that cute girl from Law and Order!" And I said "yes" and I added, that she is much cuter than Cindy Crawford! My husband exclaimed: "He was married to Cindy Crawford?!" And I said: "Where have you been?!" LOL

I give this a 9 on the Richard Gere hotness scale! Any guy who pours his heart out about his dog gets a higher rating in my opinion! :)

You can watch a preview of this movie here.

I have always had a dog in my life. There is something about them that is so wonderful. I always have said that I get more attached to a dog than I do people! And it's because dogs love you in an unconditional way and people do not.

I got my first dog "Spunky" when I was 5-years-old. I remember very clearly going to pick him out that day. I remember my mom saying we were going to get tires for the car and to take my blanket with me. I remember going into the house and seeing a lot of poodles. And I got to chose which one I wanted to take home! He was black and brown. I have a few photos of me and Spunky, I'll have to scan them in sometime soon!

This is my current dog Allie. She's a chihuahua mix. Her and I have a bond because we are the only two female in the house with three boys!

She is the alpha female in my house. She often herds me around by barking and biting at my feet! She is in love with my husband and I often wonder that she loves him more than I do! lol

She tolerates my son Ben, but absolutely dislikes my youngest Alex! If she is lying in my bed and he walks into the bedroom she barks and tries to snap at him. The bed is her domain. She even gets a little cranky when she is sleeping with my husband and I try to climb into bed! My husband goes to bed early and the dog will try to sneak upstairs so she doesn't have to sleep in her kennel. When I get to bed she is laying on my side of the bed near my pillow and dislikes it when I try to move her! lol

Like I said she's the alpha female in the household! lol

This photo was taken at my parent's camp. She absolutely loves it there!

What kind of bonding stories do you have about your dog? I would love to hear them!

Great Yard Sale Finds

I haven't blogged in over a week and I am very sorry! Things have been busy with Ben's school, soccer, and Alex's gymnastics class. Plus the doctors appointments and everything, my head has been spinning.

I do however have good news. Ben's heart is fine! YAY! Thank you everyone for all your well wishes, positive thoughts and prayers!

I wanted to post about the wonderful day I had today and the great things that I bought!

I am so lucky to live close to Kimba from A Soft Place To Land! If you read her blog you would know that she was clearing out a lot of her fantastic pieces, and I went to her yard sale today!

And let me tell you, it was by far the best yard sale of the year! Lots of great pieces, and I cannot wait to incorporate them into my home!

And I am so sorry Kimba for not introducing myself. I woke up at 6 got a shower, barely did anything with my hair, got the kids ready and I was on the road! It took me about 40 minutes to get there, but it was definitely worth it! I'm the one with the kids that were watching Star Wars in the car! lol

As you can see in the photo below, I got a metal planter, a of white couple of plates, and a magnetic board in the beautiful blue frame.

Isn't that blue magnetic board fabulous? It's covered in fabric and completely jumped out at me! I have great plans for that little board, and I cannot wait to share them with you! I just love that color, so fresh and relaxing!

The metal planter might end up being another fairy garden or a planter for the Cats & Kittens plants that I love! And the white plates will eventually have a vinyl monogram on them!
Look at that lovely green frame! It is sooo beachy and I just love it! I am going to put a photo from the beach in it once I get some glass for it. And can you believe that she had a pink frame similar to this and I passed it up! Yes I did! And I do regret it! lol I'll probably be going to the local goodwill stores over the next week trying to find it if no one bought it! lol

And I love this chippy white frame with the stitchery that says: "If the shoe fits!" I love Halloween and witches so this is just perfect for my home! And it's already on my mantle! Here is some scroll work plaques and a black metal frame. I think they are eventually going to go in my living room since it's accented in black. And this black bird cage is just one of my favorite finds! It's making me reconsider my bird themed loft/meditation room! It would look perfect in there!

And can you believe that I got all of these goodies for UNDER $20! How awesome is that?!
And lastly here is the strawberry pot that I got. I've always wanted one of these for my Cats & Kittens succulents, so I was happy to score this as well! Don't mind the house wrap still on my house, we are going to get siding really soon and I cannot wait!

The raccoon rock isn't from Kimba, it's a rock that I painted a few years ago and he just hangs out on my front porch.
Does anyone having any recommendation for planting Cats & Kittens? Should I wait until spring until I plant them in this pot? I know they do well in the Winter so I thought that they'd be fine in this pot on my front porch? Any suggestions?

Movie Monday-Intersection

Sorry that I'm a day late with my movie review. Because of the holiday weekend, I was very very busy. But late last night I stayed up and watched the movie "Intersection." It's from the year 1994, and also stars Sharon Stone.
This movie was a remake of an old French movie. I should have figured that it would suck! lol

As you can see I didn't like the movie. Richard Gere plays a married architect who is having an affair. He struggles with which life he wants...that with his wife, who is also his partner, at his successful Architect Firm...or his mistress whom he really loves.

Just when he thinks he knows what he wants, it all changes at an intersection.

I think the reason that I didn't like this movie was that the whole movie was made of flashbacks. That in itself wasn't bad, what was bad was that the flashbacks were all out of sequence! lol

It wasn't so much as confusing, but stupid really! It reminded me of a Lifetime Movie. Actually most Lifetime movies are better than this one! I wouldn't really waste your money renting this movie. If you have Netflix though it is an instant movie to watch right now.

I give it a 3 on the Richard Gere hotness rating. I don't like his mid-nineties look....again too much like Fraggle Rock!

Hopefully next week's movie won't be soo bad!