celebrations of love

L - iphone / T - iphone

A special Valentine delivery for me and a surprise party for Taylor.
I'm not a girl who cares for red roses that much but he knows I like spring tulips. He's smart to remember.
Taylor turned 22 on the 12th, Sunday. But she had to work and couldn't come home. I felt kinda sad when she called me Saturday and said she was making her own birthday cupcakes and was going to take them to work for her birthday. I was glad that her co-workers helped her celebrate her special day with a surprise cake as well. / i have the best co-workers ever.
I hope you have enjoyed a day filled with sweet surprises - kisses and flowers too.

twinkle / sparkle

L - iphone / L - Nikon

Well it's official now - the holidays are here upon us... and there is a ring on my hand.

Saturday was the opening night of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens Holiday Lights - it was my birthday too. So he took me on stroll around the gardens all aglow with red, blue, pink and green. The night air was pleasant but cool enough to enjoy the warmth of a fire while we roasted marshmallows. The weekend ended with a ring on my hand. : ) I'd say the holidays are off to a great start. Hope yours are as well.

(the ring is so much prettier in person than I was able to photograph it)

baby girl / all grown up

solo post - L

Happy 21st Birthday Taylor!

Here you are today, 
all grown up and so lovely too. Such a warm and gentle person, 
so special in every way. 
Your childhood sparkle and charm still shines through today. 


My wish for you, on this very special day, is that all the dreams you hold within your heart 
come true and bring you happiness from which you'll never part.

She is still every bit the light in my life as she was the minute she was born. It's hard to believe my baby girl is now an "adult".

sunny hours / another year

solo post - L, Nikon

"I count none but the sunny hours"

just a reminder to self : not a good thing to try on skinny jeans on your birthday - just drives home the fact that you are old and maybe you shouldn't get your haircut on your birthday - having the hairdresser say, "you've got a lot of grey hair here do you want me to color it for you? " doesn't make you feel any younger. And hint: self portrait with the camera out of focus makes you look a little younger.

20 years of joy

solo post - L

Someone on FB wished me a happy day today, as well as Taylor. And I appreciate that. I think this is as much my day for celebrating as it is hers. My daughter has brought me more joy than I could have ever imagined possible. So I celebrate this day she came into my life 20 years ago.

When they told me I had a baby girl I wasn't really surprised but when they said, "and she has beautiful red hair!" I couldn't believe it. I always imagined I would have a quiet little girl with soft brown curls. Never in a million years did I imagine I would have a red head. I thought, "are you sure she's mine?" Yes, she's my daughter. And she isn't quiet like me (but for this I am glad). She has some of my traits (hope the good ones), and some from her dad, and I guess from someone generations back who had red hair. In her 20 years she has grown from guidance and support from both sets of grandparents, gained knowledge from many, many teachers, matured through friendships and heartbreaks - learned to stand on her own two feet in more ways than one and has developed into a beautiful young woman inside and out.

Taylor you are uniquely wonderful and strong, a most loving daughter, and I thank God for you every single day.

green / grin

L - iphone pic at work / T - phone pic at dorm
A lot of women have a weakness for shoes - I have to admit I have a weakness for coats. Spring is almost here, yet I bought a new coat last weekend. Well it's still cold outside and isn't this a great spring color? / yeah for packages in the mail! i got a belated birthday gift today from my friend who is at the college of charleston. we have always created playlist cds for each others birthday - i'm glad she didn't break the tradition, and she sent this cool alice in wonderland plate? (when i did my alice in wonderland series photos she posed as the cheshire cat for me.)

`But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked.
`Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: `we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.'
`How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice.
`You must be,' said the Cat, `or you wouldn't have come here.'

The joy of my life

solo post by L - T at age 2 / age 18

Happy Birthday Taylor!
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
- Dr. Seuss
Tomorrow is T's birthday - she'll be 19.
I'm not the mushy type and unfortunately I'm not eloquent either, so writing a birthday wish is hard for me. This will be the first year we haven't been together on her birthday. I don't know if that will bother her as much as it does me, but it's made me a little sentimental so I got out old photos. Remembering...... the Old MacDonald birthday party I had for her when she was 2, and the Nursery Rhyme party when she was 3 and we played "pin the mitten on the kitten" (my mom made her the 3 little kittens, stuffed dolls). When she was 7 I took her 6 friends to the circus. When she was 10 we had an old-fashioned bowling party - I made her a cute red felt skirt with a black pom-pom poodle and a black satin bowling jacket with her initials on the back - she wore her hair in a high pony tail. The other girls wore 50's attire and they had a blast - lots of giggles that night. When she was 11 she asked for money, in lieu of gifts, and donated $200 to help animals at Noah's Art, an animal rehabilitation center. When she turned 16 it was a big deal of course. I rented a limo to take the girls to the Hyatt Reqency downtown. The girls, in their fancy dresses, rode to the top of the town and had dinner up on the spinning blue dome, it began snowing as they had their photo taken with the limo driver once they arrived home. Inside I had a chocolate fountain with strawberries and angel food cake for dipping (they devoured it in less than 10 minutes I think.) Lots of chatter that night. Now she's an adult for the most part and parties don't include the parents. But as parents, their day is always special to us. In fact, I think as parents, our children's birthday is certainly more special than our own. For me, I know, the day she was born, was the day pure joy was brought into my life. She has been a continuous source of pride and delight for me and I grow more proud of her every day.
Sorry, Taylor, to have embarrassed you. Happy Birthday!!

kodi

Feb 3, 2008

One year ago, this week, we brought home a little kitty and named her Kodi (short for Kodachrome). I had wanted to give Taylor a kitten for her 18th birthday before the 3 boys fighting for her attention each gave her one and we ended up with 3 kittens on our doorstep Feb 12th. She had been saying for months that she wanted a solid gray cat just like the one she fell in love with over the summer. But then she found a cute little calico that she just had to have. We drove all the way to Macon to see this kitten. The lady had a lot of kittens but the one Taylor wanted to see was being shown at some show that you had to pay to get in. I didn't want to pay the price for both of us just to see that cat. So we decided we would check back with the owner at a later date. On the way home, just for fun, we stopped at our local Atlanta Humane Society. They only had 3 kittens, but there in the play room was a sweet little gray kitten getting all the attention from a little 4 yr old girl. Taylor was in love but just knew that little girl would talk her mom in to getting the kitten. But she didn't - instead Taylor talked me in to getting it for her. She was a sweet tempered little Russian Blue (it's what the papers said anyway) and I knew we would be taking her home - after all that little kitten made the cutest little baby sound you ever heard, how could I resist?
Kodi was the perfect birthday present for Taylor's 18th but what do I get a 19 year old? I have about a week to decide.

And now Kodi is my company. She is a very talkative, playful, sometimes too frisky, little kitty.

surprise / for you

I had a wonderful day - taken out for a nice lunch at seasons52 then came back to a decorated office with streamers and confetti and cake (with 5 candles), didn't have to work late, came home to lovely surprise - a beautiful arrangement of flowers from my brother in Maryland and now I'm going to relax and watch a movie - nice / haha, i had to go through two drafts of this because i forgot i had to write backwards. happy birthday mom!