They say it's your birthday

It's my birthday too, yeah!

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years."

i heart faces: "We heart kisses"

This week's theme at i heart faces is We ♥ Kisses!

Some of you may have seen this picture before, but I just had to share it again for this photo challenge ~ it's one of my all-time favorites!

Sweet sister kisses!

Lessons on Life

"By watching dogs and seeing how natural they are, how relaxed they are in the world, you start to notice how relaxed in the world you aren't." - Dean Koontz

Hope everyone has a nice, relaxing weekend!

My Kind of Place

Since February is the month of LOVE I decided it would be fun to participate in each of the weekly photo challenges this month over at "I *heart* faces." This week's topic is "Places I Love- My Story in Photos."
I'm a pretty low-key gal. Little things make me happy so you'll definitely understand why the place I'm about to show you is my kind of place.

Welcome to Nelson's Resort...

Located on Crane Lake in northern Minnesota just south of the Canada border.

I first visited Nelson's two summers ago with my family...

You see, not only is Crane Lake probably one of the most beautiful and peaceful places I've ever been,

but it also is good for fishing...

and has amazing sunsets!

But to top each of those things, Nelson's Resort holds a special place in my family's heart. Back in 1937, Nelson's was the setting of a true love story. One summer a 30 year old young man (who loved to fish) took a weekend trip up to Crane Lake. That same summer a 21 year old girl was working a summer job cleaning cabins at the very same resort. Long story short, they fell in love and the rest we can say was history! That couple was my grandparents. From 1937 forward, they took many trips back to Nelson's & Crane Lake and starting in 1956 they passed on that tradition. My dad always talked about the many family vacations spent in northern Minnesota while he was growing up. Finally, after years and years of talking about it, my family and I booked a trip for the summer of 2008...71 years later.

After we got back from our week-long vacation at Nelson's Resort I started to go through all the pictures I took and I told my dad how neat it would be if we had pictures from back when grandpa and grandma used to go. Well...lo and behold...after digging through boxes and boxes of black and white photos we came across a whole stack of "Crane Lake photos" nicely labeled by my grandma. What I found in that stack was amazing! It was neat to go back in time and feel the same emotions captured in those photos. Luckily my grandma was a photo nut just like me! (I love the first picture below!)

Here's my "Story in Photos": Past vs. Present

Can't wait to someday go back for a few more sunsets!

As you can see...my kind of place is not the glitz and glam and big city lights, to me, a true place is about the people and the memories. Nelson's Resort's website says it best... "a 75 year history of making memories."

P.S. Go check out i ♥ faces for more great photos!

Missing in Action

Confession…

I’ve been busy. It never fails this time of year is always busy, busy, busy. Busy is the constant theme of my life right now but I guess that’s what I get for being a “bean-counter.” I’ve been working way more than forty hour weeks, which is no fun, so… in my spare time, before and after work, I spend minute after minute planning and dreaming of a job that doesn't take me too far away from the people I love and maybe even my pajamas! Wondering what some of my daydreams consist of? I'm thinking a future work-from-home office similar to this doesn't sound too bad!

There have also been a few things tangling up my thoughts lately and I wanted to make sure I was more present for those things so…I took a little blog-vacation. Vacations are supposed to be fun…but not this one, because I missed blogging! So, I'm back! Feel free to let me know ya'll are still out there blog-world! :)

Oh yeah, and maybe, just maybe, I was in a slight state a of mourning after last week's roller coaster football game and just didn't feel like blogging....I hope you understand!

So…here’s to a new year, a new month (Happy February!- *aka* month of LOVE & my birthday month!), and some new, fun blogs!

Oh…and here’s to my new toy…

Happy early Birthday to me!

Wordless Wednesday

Out with the OLD & in with the NEW!

Except with our bathroom remodeling project it was more like...

Out with the GOLD & in the the BLUE!

Here are some before...

during...

and after pictures!