Monday, July 30, 2012

Tuesday.....around the world. "Crazy for bubbles"

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Absolute, unabashed joy!!!  What is summer without bubbles and lots of them. And when they're huge like these ones......even better.
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Bubbles 028 wm
Hey....I get more as excited as they do only I have to hold the camera still to catch a few shots. The size of these  bubbles alone were awesome.
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Still lots of summer left on the calendar AND in my girlies. 
Happy last day of July!
xoxo 

Join in or just take a peek at some other happenings this
Tuesday.......around the world.

 


Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Tuesday.....around the world - "More flowers"

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One very cool thing about having a Florist as a Bestie is I get to pop into her Floral Studio anytime I want and capture some of her beautiful flowers.
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I recently did a shoot of some of her wedding and bridal arrangements (swoon) and I'll share those once she gets them up on her website. (I won't "out" them until she has the chance to....though I'm mighty tempted.....)
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Just look how the middle point of this rose comes to a peek. You could almost miss this because of the captivating color and design of each petal.

I've planted many rose bushes in my garden through the years, and besides just gazing at them or strolling by and breathing in that intoxicating fragrance - what I love most is to take a rose petal.....place it right up to my nose and breath in very deeply. The petal kind of goes up your nose....but it's so soft....like puppy's ears....on the inside. 

It's just one of my little "things".
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Enjoy a little tour around the world now.



Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Tuesday...around the world. "Monkeying around"

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With a slightly looser schedule and the kiddos home for the summer....our closets and drawers were calling out to us so loud,  we couldn't ignore it any longer (though we gave it our best shot.....)!

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And you know what happens when you start cleaning out, sorting, purging etc? 
You find.....TREASURE!!!
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And what could be better than finding mama's old hats and shoes?
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Maybe that's where the expression - "hitting the mother lode" comes from.

I seem to recall doing the same as a kid. Opening my mother's old trunks was like finding the jewels of the Nile.


Not much has changed.
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(I'm posting these pictures....not for their quality, obviously, but for their joy factor which hits the top for me.)

Enjoy a little trip around the world now.


Sunday, July 15, 2012

Sunday Snapshot

Flowers 133-2 wm
I have yet to find a flower  that doesn't absolutely fascinate me.
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What an amazing engineer who designed these beauties I found in a friends backyard. 



Ni Hao Yall


Nikon D300
Lens 28-75mm f/2.8
F2.8
1/160
ISO 320
75mm
Flowers 137 wm
Maybe I should rename this post...."Short and sweet Sunday"! 

But sometimes....words are superfluous...don't you think?

Have a great start to the week.
xoxo



Friday, July 13, 2012

Favorite Photo Friday - BFFs

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(Milana, above, looking pretty in her party dress....chewing her fingernails which is her habit lately. Hmmm....must try and break that.)
 
It was a week of birthday parties and celebrating good friends here. Dahlia and Milana have the most amazing friendship with Angel and Georgia.
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(Georgia as she turned 4 this week with her bff - my Milana.)
 
When my dear friend Helen and I traveled to China together for our first daughters, we never imagined how close our girls would become. They were friends in the same orphanage and have become inseparable ever since. 
They just adore each other!
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(Angel and Dahlia - BFFL's as they like to say. Best friends forever for life.)

So even though our second trip to China brought our two families to different provinces (much to our great disappointment) we never could have anticipated that our second daughters would fall in love with each other so intensely like they have.
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(Georgia getting smooched by Milana. It's funny, but both my girls are huggers and they hug intensely. We have so many pictures of their hugging and kissing...I need to get them all together in a collage.)

It's really the most amazing bond and attachment that only seems to be growing deeper. We could not have wished for more.
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(why yes....that is a tattoo on Milana's little arm. They had been playing around with them the day before and I'd washed them off at bath time only to discover, too late, that I'd missed this one. I hate dislike tattoos on kids, especially little girls in pretty white dresses, but...oh well....at least it was a cute little birdie and not a skull. )

Great friends are so important (I can't imagine my life without mine) and we're so very glad our girls have found each other and have become so close.


the long road



It's Friday!! I booked off this week - no shoots, so I thought I would catch up a bit. Ummmm.....NOT!! But I made a dent into the pile of work waiting for me at least and even got a bit of housekeeping done too. Both girls have been home for 2 weeks now so it's harder to get chunks of time alone but...it's summer and our schedule is looser - even got to sleep in a few times. Woohoo!

Happy Week-end !
xoxo
 

Friday, July 6, 2012

Favorite Photo Friday - "At the beach"

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Summertime........
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......and the livin' is easy!
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Fish are not jumping........but the girl's definately were when we finally got to the beach over the week-end.

Our few days away to a lake with very good friends and their kids was the highlight of Dahlia and Milana's year last year. It's practically all they talked about.


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And it looks like this will be another family tradition. 

I have more pictures of our little excursion to post and share......but for now, I hope everyone had a great Canada Day celebration and a happy 4th of July.



the long road

(And anything else you might be celebrating.) 
xoxo


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Hi, I'm Wanda. I am a happy woman, wife to Danny for...oh....lots a years and finally Mom to THE most adorable little girl from Hunan, China - Dahlia. And now we have been blessed again with another daughter, Milana, from Zhejiang, China. (The 2 best things I've ever done!) We live in the Montreal area. After a loooonnngg wait for Dahlia's little sister Milana (pronounced - Mee-lana, like banana), we finally brought her home in August 2009. Dahlia came to us in Nov 2004 (at 20 months of age)and a year later we began the application for another baby - at the time the waiting period was around 8 months. Almost 4 years later (say what!?!)we, at last, brought Milana home. This began as the story of our journey to bring Milana home and life with her big sister, Dahlia. It now continues as we live as a family of four!
God. My (growing) family. Hangin' out with my girlies. My wonderful friends (you know who you are!). To laugh (out loud and a lot!). Music. Painting. Hugs. Long chats with my buds. My garden. To read (ha...when I can!). Sunshine. Spring, Spring and more Spring. Building things. Cooking. Decorating. Parties (ahem). The internet. Life. Movies. A.I. Dancing with the stars. So you think you can dance. Travel. Umm..did I say laughing my head off. Oh Gee...everything actually!!
the long road
the long road
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