HBW!

meet my Transformer..., originally uploaded by msbellee.

...from Optimus Prime.

Taken at the McFarland company picnic. I just loved this pic!

A Picnic at the Park

My sister invited me and Kevin to her company picnic last Friday at Ashe County Park. She does this for us because her husband can't usually attend, so we are always happy to go. (Thanks for the invitation! We had fun!)

This year there were two bounce houses that Kevin enjoyed immensely. Everyone brought their kids and Kevin had a great time playing with them. There were burgers (including veggie burgers), hot dogs, and tons of great desserts; but mostly it was an all around fun and relaxing time for everyone. Of course, I took lots of pictures, but I thought I'd post some here to give you an idea of the fun we had and the beauty of Ashe County Park. Please do visit my set on Flickr to get the full scope of things though.

Needless to say, a fun time was had by all.
Surrounded by natural beauty and lots of good clean fun...
I hope we're invited back again next year!

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer (or fall)!

Until next time....

HBW!! ~ Queen Anne's Lace

HBW!! ~ queen anne's lace, originally uploaded by msbellee.

Happy Bokeh Wednesday everyone!!

Just popping in to say hello with a cool Queen Anne's Lace macro. It's one of my favorite wildflowers ever. When I was a kid I used to pretend these flowers were my magic wands. I told that to Kevin and now he pretends it is his wand too in a very Harry Potter-ish sort of way!

We've only got about 2 1/2 more weeks left here in the mountains and then we're going to the beach before Kevin goes back to school. I'll miss this place so much. It will be a very sad day when we go back but at least I took a ton of pics to remember the summer and how much fun we've had.

Check out the blueberries we picked up at Old Orchard Creek Farm (the old Swansie Shepherd farm on Little Horse Creek). Kevin was very sweet and picked me a daisy so I put it in my bucket. I thought it made a great picture!

We've been wading in the creek, watched a toad outside on the porch every night, gone bike riding, and basically just had a laid back, enjoyable kind of summer. We've caught lightning bugs and watched the sun set. We've gone on walks and just had a good ol' time. This is how life should be.

So I'll leave you with these pictures. These are the horses in downtown Lansing across Horse Creek. They were the nicest horses and Kevin had a great time petting them and feeding them grass and clover. Maybe he'll get to go riding too!

I hope everyone has a great rest of the week!

Until next time....

Hello from the High Country

peek-a-boo, originally uploaded by msbellee.

Hi all! Just wanted to pop in and say hello. We've been busy here in the high country. Most days are spent outside playing. I've taken a ton of pictures and will add some here when I get more time. Please feel free to visit my set here on Flickr where you can see butterflies, hummingbirds, mountains, etc.

I had to post that funny little butterfly. I thought it looked like an alien. It was on the butterfly bush at my sister's house. It was just loaded with butterflies and smelled sooooo good! I had a blast following butterflies all over the bush. They didn't even seem to care that I was taking their picture. They were too busy drinking up the nectar to pay attention to me!

Well, that's it. Just a quick hello to let you know we're here and having fun! I hope summer is going well for all of you too!

Until next time....

Customer Appreciation Photo and Rain

I was thrilled to find an email this morning from the lovely customer who purchased my keishi pearl and blue-green amethyst necklace. She sent me a picture of herself wearing the necklace along with a beautiful pair of earrings from Jasmin (beakee on Etsy).

Thank you so much for sending me this picture. It really made my day and I was so pleased to see it on you. It goes so beautifully with Jasmin's earrings!

~~~

Since arriving in the mountains, it has rained almost every single day. Besides that, I was sick for the first week and am still sniffling and coughing. It's been sort of difficult to have any fun so far. Even though we need the rain due to the drought, it makes for boring days when Kevin can't go outside. So yesterday I let him go outside in the rain anyway. I mean, why not? It's just water. Here's a little video of him out in the rain.

One evening we took Kevin's new bike up the Jones road. He rode it up as far as he could and then walked it the rest of the way. Since it is a gentle slope it was really fun for him to ride it back down the road. If I can ever get the video to work I'll put it here. For now, you can see it here.

The 4th of July fireworks were really cool. We sat in a parking lot along with many other people and watched them from a distance. I got some pretty good pics of them. You can find them here. You can also see some of the other pics I have been taking here.

I took the 'long way home' from the grocery store one day and took some pics of the countryside. This is one of the most beautiful places I know of. It's so dear to me. Each time I come home I'm painfully aware of how much I miss it.

I'll have more pics to come. Hopefully we'll find something to do.

Until next time....

On the Road Again

Well, I'm off for the mountains today. It's that time of year when Kevin and I head for the hills to stay with Granny for a while. :) I'll be so glad to see her and get out of Charlotte. And wouldn't you know that I can feel myself getting sick. Sinuses.... :(

I made these earrings a couple of days ago. Yummy, delectable AAA lilac pink amethyst. I just adore them! They're cushion cut rectangles, puffy and thick with beautiful faceting that makes them just glitter. The clarity is pretty amazing too. I've hoarded these stones for a while and finally decided to use them. There will be a necklace to match but it is not quite finished yet. Can't decide whether or not to sell them as a set or separately. Sets don't usually do well for me, but these are so gorgeous and pretty unique from what I can find, I'd hate to see them go to two different places, you know what I mean? What would you do?

The photos of the earrings are challenging me (what else is new?). I'm not totally satisfied with their color (what else is new??). This is basically a sneak peek to get your opinions on selling them as a set. As soon as I finish everything I'll be posting about them with all the details and pics though. (I just had to show off the stones! ;) )

The next time I see you I'll be in the beautiful High Country of North Carolina, in the mountains of Ashe County!!

I hope everyone has a great day!

Until next time....