Wednesday morning I drove 45 minutes from my Airbnb in Crested Butte to the Three Lakes trailhead in Gunnison National Forest. I stopped a couple of times to take photos. I drove along Keebler Pass, much of which is a … Continue reading
Everyone is complaining about the snow…but I still think it is so beautiful! Here are some photographs I’ve taken in the last few days in my yard with a variety of light. Let’s replace the complaints with gratitude…
Shortly after sunrise this morning…
An hour later…
I pray that homeless people find shelter during this extreme cold! Make it a great day!
I’m a lucky girl! I’m a lucky girl! Goin’ to Memphis for the very first time in a couple of days with a girlfriend. What fun we’ll have…new people to meet…new things to see. We’ll be within walking distance of the famous Beale Street and the Riverwalk. If any one has any recommendations of places to eat, things to see…please share.
Here’s a photo from the other night…
Sending you all positive thoughts, prayers and happiness!
Life is good! I have so many wonderful things to be grateful for! I was contacted by the PR for Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Indiana after I marketed a blog post of my visit to their casino onto their Facebook page. They would like me to be their guest for dinner, dancing and overnight…for both a date night and with girlfriends (up to 10)! Woo hoo! So, I’m in the planning stages of that…checking with friends to see when they’re available. Seems to make you quite popular on Facebook!
And…I’m buying a real DSLR camera in the next few days…a Nikon D-5100 with a 18-200mm lenses! I’ve been using an Olympus PEN for the last year or two and can’t wait to have a “big girl” camera!
Here are some photos from the last week in my life. Driving on country roads on my way to the Dirty Girl Mud Run in Clarksville, Ohio at sunrise…
Across the street from that beautiful barn…some cool landscape…
I went to lunch with a girlfriend that I haven’t socialized with in almost 5 years at the Dilly Cafe in Mariemont, Ohio and encountered this very unique individual at the restaurant. He was conversing with a couple of men and I kindly interrupted and requested permission to take his photograph because of his uniqueness. Notice the “Pull & Pray” behind him. He obliged…
My Easter Day today was great! My son and his beautiful girlfriend (pictured below) spent the night and after a leisurely morning with coffee and internet time, I prepared some mushroom omelets and toast for breakfast. He’s really tall–like 6’9″–so he makes her look shorter than she is. We attended a new church today that’s very near our house and it was quite interesting. To give you some background. Although my family didn’t attend church, I attended church with a girlfriend when I was 12. And through the years have gone to a variety of churches…all different denominations…Presbyterian, Baptist, Church of God, Methodist, Catholic, Jewish, etc. I have my own personal beliefs, as everyone does. Anyway, the preacher at this particular church was quite loud and full of spirit. He was so loud on the microphone that I had to plug my ears with my fingers throughout much of the sermon (but I could still hear him). He would start off at a somewhat normal pitch and within a few sentences of each point would be almost screaming. He said that he knows that hell is real because on YouTube he saw a video showing a team of scientists drilling into the core of the earth and their drill bit began to wobble after they were deep into the ground. There are only two reasons a drill bit wobbles…either it is bent or you’ve reached an area without any matter…such as a cavern. They placed a microphone down into the hole and heard human voices screaming. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not poking fun at religion…merely repeating what I heard this morning. Enough about that.
I’m sure most of you have multiple Christmas celebrations…with all of the divorced families and grown children splitting their time between families. I enjoy being able to have lots of opportunities for spending time with family and friends! My first celebration was with my son and his girlfriend last weekend. He is spending Christmas with his father, step-mother and sister in Texas. He was excited about seeing his 14-year-old half-sister and I’m so happy that he’s happy!
I received a really special gift from him this year…one of my favorite photographs that I took in Namibia, Africa…framed!
Friday night we spent a wonderful evening with my long-time girlfriend from middle school and her husband. She prepared a delicious fish entrée and then we had game night…a couple games of pool and Wii bowling. Downstairs was decorated for a party their teenage daughter was having the following night.
The photo on the top right is after we arrived home…Randy bringing wood in for the wood burning stove. That’s how we heat the house in the winter!
Saturday night we had lots of fun at a friend’s (more like family) house, along with my brother, his wife, and my niece and nephew. Lynne…the hostess had decorated the table so festively…
We had a different wine with each course…
After the gift giving and white elephant…we sang songs…mostly Christmas songs using a Karaoke machine that hooks up to your I-pad, that Lynne received as a gift.
I was a bit obnoxious with my camera…snapping photos throughout the evening. But, hey…that’s my thing!
My husband was a bit melancholy because all of our parents have passed away. It can be a difficult time for people…but I read an interesting article recently that helps people control and redirect their thoughts. Basically…imagine there is a computer in your head along with a trash bin that you can drag negative thoughts into. I’m usually quite optimistic, so I don’t need to utilize the technique extensively, but it’s amazingly effective.
Christmas day we’ll go my cousin’s in the afternoon and then to the neighbors’! We’re blessed to have such good friends and family!!
This weekend has been wonderful! Saturday we started the day with our usual three-mile trail jog at the nature center. There were beautiful wildflowers weeds everywhere, so I picked some to bring home. Breakfast was a yummy smoothie with strawberries, banana, Greek yogurt, coconut milk, oatmeal flakes, honey, 1 cup of ice, and some Chia Seeds. I discovered the Chia Seeds at Trader Joe’s and was impressed by the amount of fiber, Omega 3, and Protein in 1 tablespoon!
That afternoon we rode the Harley to the Milford Street Festival. We stopped along the way because Randy wanted a photo with this tank…
We stayed at the festival for about an hour and stopped by the booth of one of Randy’s friends…Steve Black…who makes cool jewelry out of spoons and forks. A lot of the pieces are Harley and breast cancer (ribbon) related.
There were a variety of booths including face painting…
This parrot was cool…
We stopped in a gun shop and I thought this would make an artsy photo…
And this wall looked cool. The three different colors and textures really popped!
We rushed home, changed clothes and left for our next adventure…Bob’s Pig Roast. It was in honor of his deceased wife who had died from cancer. Everyone donated $10 to the American Cancer Society…so $2700 was collected!
This is Bob…
I took about 150 photos, but picked out just a few to post. This is my friend Shari. I took 7 photos of her with my flash on and she blinked every single time. So I turned the flash off and…voila…
This was the beginning of the party…before most of the group arrived. The port-o-lets were for the guys and the inside restrooms were for the ladies.
Randy, Frank and I were toasting with three different beverages in a wine glass. Wine for me, beer for Randy and water for Frank!
It was a busy and FUN day! I’m grateful we have so many nice friends! We’ve had beautiful weather, but it is cooling off this week. Hope your weekend was great and wishing you a wonderful week!!
xoxoxo
After some ibuprofen, a hot shower, and a nap, I’m beginning to feel better since jogging my half marathon today! Normally, I don’t get sore after a long jog (the longest before this was 10 miles last weekend), but since it was only 35 degrees this morning, I’m assuming that is why it affected me differently… anyways…it was an experience and I’m glad I did it.
It’s kind of like childbirth, I remember I was wishing it was over a number of times, but looking back, it seemed to go rather quickly. I finished in 2 hrs. 15 minutes, which is the time I predicted, since I normally jog 10 minute miles.
For breakfast, I had whole grain cereal with banana and almond milk, and water. We drove an hour and 10 minutes from a suburb of Cincinnati to Clayton for the race. There was one in town last weekend, but I was out-of-town and there is one this coming weekend, but I’ll be out-of-town again.
This is me pre-race…
My husband took photos of me and although he has many talents/strengths, photography is not one of them. These are the best of the many he took…most of them are blurry. But, I’m not complaining, I was thankful he came to cheer me on! I’m fourth from the left in the photo below. I think there were about 200 people total. I’ll get the results sometime in the next couple of days.
We started about a minute later.
The terrain was beautiful, rolling roads through rural Ohio with pretty trees and farms along the way. When I would get caught up in my head thinking… analyzing…etc., I would look around and be in the moment, thinking I love the feel of the sun warming me (a bit) and thankful that I am able to run (so many people can’t because of being out of shape, past injuries, or worse)! I bought some goo to eat once (at mile 10) for energy. It tastes like chocolate icing. Some people don’t like to take it because of the texture, but it did seem to give me a boost.
The girl next to me in the photo below was beside me for the last 1/2 mile and I told her we could help each other go faster. Anyway, she started to pass me right before the finish line, so I amped it up…that’s why we’re laughing!
Right afterward, I could barely breathe or walk. I’m glad I didn’t stop running the entire time, except for 30 seconds to eat the goo, or I might not have been able to start again!
After stretching some, below is my celebratory photo! Tonight, we’re going to a Halloween party, so a few drinks should loosen me up a bit more! Happy Halloween to everyone and to all a GOOD NIGHT!!
Sherry Lachelle Travels 