Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

L is for Lovin'...

Lots of Lovin'...

This coming Sunday, celebrates 30 years of marriage completed. I am so blessed and it is amazing to me to think that my hubby and I have been married more years together than not! :o)

 Our wedding photo was taken in West Allis, Wisconsin...and the one of our 29th Anniversary dinner was when my hubby and I used the gift card from our younger daughter Girly~Whirly for a dinner at the Melting Pot in Savannah, Georgia.

& Lovin' our 2011 family Christmas up at my dad's in Eagle River, Wisconsin...
My handsome hubby, me, my terrific dad, Girly~Twirly, her hubby Awesome, Girly~Whirly's future hubby Amazing, and Heartbreaker

Joining in with Ms. Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday 's "L" posts... 

(If you are familiar with my "M.O.D." aka mode of operation, when it comes to my blog posts...you know how "log-winded" I can get.... SO, after my lo-o-o-o-ng blog break, I am turning over a new leaf...I am going to try to put up shorter posts...at least, I will give it a try!_

Lovin' all the blessings during this new year ahead...
...our daughter Girly~Twirly's first baby's (aka our first grandbaby's) birth in March!
...our daughter Girly~Whirly's graduation from dental school!
...her wedding two weeks later!

Lovin' and blessed with all the art orders that I have completed and working on...here is one of those... (I appreciate all of you, dear blogger friends and appreciate your interest in the art I do).


Thank you so very much for stopping by and leaving your kind comments....they are a sweet surprise to me.  Happy Valentine's Day!


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Friday, March 18, 2011

...Wee bit of Irish...

...Wee bit of Irish... is a repost from St. Patrick's Day last year  and my entry for Jenny'sAlphabe-Thursdays "I" post~March 2010! But I am pushing the envelope a Wee bit...for this week's "W" post, since it does have "Wee" in it :o)

...I've never reposted before, but this week has been crazy busy at work (coming home later), number of drawing orders to complete and also my hubby and I had spent a wonderful time this past weekend and this upcoming weekend with our daughter Girly~Whirly and her boyfriend.  Hope you all don't mind. Next week may also have to be a repost of some of our son's music. Thanks for your visit and comments!

One more thing...I may not have a wee bit of Irish blood in me, but through my hubby, sister-in-law...I happily claim to be linked to their beautiful heritage.

Here it is~ (With a wee bit of changes)... 

A Wee bit of Irish...

...through family, friends and experiences in my neck of the woods...

My hubby is mainly of Portuguese ancestry...but they do have Some Spanish, maybe a Fraction of French...and somewhere along the family lines... there is a wee bit of Irish.

When he was a little boy (and after getting spankings or reprimanded...which he says happened often... and that he deserved every bit of it...well...except for the times that he says he got in the way of his brother getting a lickin', so ended up getting a lickin' too :o)... he would look at some old baby photos and "know" for certain that he had to be adopted!



He had light reddish/blondish hair and was very, very fair, compared to his older brother with dark curly hair, so he thought he was an adopted child that got all the spankings.



(Too funny to think about, especially, since you take one look at him and he looks like his dad and you can definitely see he is related through and through!)
 ~Check out this late 1970's family photo ~
(does anyone else remember wearing shirts with big collars?)
(My Mr. B is in the top middle)
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My sweet sister-in-law has quite a lot of Irish in her blood. My brother and SIL named their little girl "Brecken", which is Irish for "freckle"... How cute is that!
Here's this little Irish/Filipino/German/Chinese/Spanish sweetie~


(These are recent photos of our niece Beautiful Brecken and nephew Cutie Crew).

          

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This night scene postcard of River Street in Savannah, Georgia has a bit of the green shining through...

We live in a town right on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia.  Before moving here, I never realized just how celebrated St. Patrick's Day is in Savannah! ...but an example of this... schools in the area and surrounding area are closed on Mar 17th (they gave in to having St. Paddy's day off, since a lot of students end up going to the huge parade...).  

*****Added March 18, 2011 info from my original post on March 19, 2010*****
...Unofficially, this parade was first held in 1818 and the first official parade held in 1856 (A wee bit more interesting parade facts in this 2008 copy of the Savannah Now)... And on the news, leading up to this day, I learned that the elected Grand Marshall is selected through votes behind closed doors.)

There are participants in the parade from across the United States and Ireland. Some local military units were present in the parade this year...last year many units were still in Iraq or Afghanistan.
*****

This taken from ABOUT.COM contributer Sheridan Alexander:
"The St. Patrick's Day celebration in Savannah is the city's largest annual celebration including the second largest St. Patrick's Day Parade and by many accounts the largest St. Patrick's Day street celebration in the United States. Likened by some to Mardi Gras gone Irish, the spirited St. Patrick's Day festivities in Savannah go on for several days, attracting roughly 400,000 Irish and honorary Irish visitors each year in addition to local revelers. The comparison to Mardi Gras ends when it comes to displays of public nudity, however, which in Savannah according to authorities can "get you arrested."


...A humongous crowd on Riverfront Street, after the parade.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Savannah Waterfront Association

The fountains flow with glistening green water.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade Committee

This week is also Spring break for Heartbreaker... so with some good college friends, they'll get a chance to experience some Idyllic Irish Imagery...around Savannah. On Saturday, they arrived to our home and stopped to eat dinner on their way to the condo on Tybee Island.  And then after spending St. Patrick's Day in Savannah on Weds, they came to the house for dinner.  (Night time on Riverfront Street can get too crazy.)
(I love the last photo silhouette of the 8 boys taken on the beach at sunrise).
~~~~~~~~~
I am joining in with Jenny for
&
Alicia for 
*****Some added, recent photos of our kiddoes :o)*****

Although we would have loved to have Girly~Twirly and her hubby down by us this past week, they had a wonderful, well-deserved vacation in Florida (since he started his first year of residency and she has been a very, very busy dentist). I don't have any of those photos yet, but here is one of the two of them when they were celebrating their 2nd year anniversary in Jan 2011.


*****
And this week is Girly~Whirly and her boyfriend's spring break from dental school (He'll be a dentist this May and Girly~Whirly will be a dentist next May :o).  I will be taking photos while they are here, but for now am sharing this one of the two of them taken in February 2011.


*****
 And our son and some of his college buds didnt make it down to Savannah this year. They had to head back to Lexington after watching the basketball games held in Atlanta...so close!
One of the guys had to get back for a work interview. They had a great time.
(M, Heartbreaker, J, P, W)
I took this photo of a photo on his facebook :o)
...hm...I see a little shaving has not been done :o)

*****
Here's a Wee bit of Celtic/Irish inspired artwork.
(Click on each to see a closer view)










May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.
~an Old Irish Blessing~



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Thursday, January 6, 2011

M is for More Merry Memories...

M is for More Merry Memories...

Girly~Whirly is back at college...
Heartbreaker is back at college...

Don't have a photo of them back at school...

but I do want to share this photo of Heartbreaker wearing the wonderful Knucks that I ordered from Jen!


Thanks Jen!
They are perfect for when he plays his guitars and banjo :o)

& here are some photos taken at their Thanksgiving dinner with their big sister :o)
Girly~Twirly & Heartbreaker

Mr. B and I were up at my dad's for Thanksgiving. And so our three were able to have Thanksgiving dinner together.  Our older daughter's hubby was working his residency shift at the hospital.

Girly~Whirly & Girly~Twirly

& here is a photo of Girly~Twirly (aka theluckiestmrs) & her Mr.

celebrating their 2nd anniversary on New Year's eve.

My hubby and I are back to our regular routine of work...

We still have our Christmas tree up, so will be putting that and the ornaments away.


I have today off from cleaning pearly whites :o) ...so I am working on more drawing orders, but came across some loose Christmas photos...which led me to looking at some other past photos.

...which led to me posting some of those photos here in a slideshow.

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Thank you also for your patience on announcing the names drawn for the Personalized Sketches giveaways.

Like I have mentioned in the past giveaways of the art that I do...I would have loved to selected more to give. So, those of you who had left comments to enter and are not one of the following names that were picked (picked by the "not-fancy" method---by hand :o) ...I will have to look into the random.org method), please contact me if you are interested and those that left comments - I would like to extend 10% off of one drawing order.

These are the names drawn:

For one 8x10 single image of your choice: Permanent Posies's comment: "I would LOVE to win your drawing. I am torn because selfishly, I would want something drawn with my last name. But, I think I would have something drawn for a friend for mine who is graduating in May from Seminary as a gift. I so love your work."

For one of the 8x10 Calligraphic Monograms: Mrs. V's comment: "Hi Maria, Thanks to my Mom I am commenting on your blog :) I will post each additional entry separate as well! Thanks for hosting this, we LOVE the photo you did for us."

For one of the 20% off certificates: Cheryl's comment: "Wow! So many birthdays in December. How do you hold it all together?  That family tree rocks!"

For one of the 20% off certificates: Alicia's comment: "I didn't know you had a FB page! Yay! I "like"!"

**********
I try to share some past orders on each post, but do like to wait until they are received. ...and it takes me forever to get the samples in the format I like to share them in with the close-up and overall view together.  I have more to post, but for now will share this one:

I received this email from a past customer: "I bought a Chinook print from you in 2006 after seeing you at the Christmas bazaar at Ft. Rucker, AL.  I've had a hard time locating you!  I need another print of a Harley Davidson motorcycle with the name "Danny" used in it for a Christmas present.  Please call me at..."




From Diki's email: "Thank you so much!  It is beautiful (as I knew it would be!) The packing was perfect, no damages at all.  The print has already been taken to the frame shop!
Thank you for the extra business cards, they have already been passed around!"

Diki, I appreciate you looking and searching for me. And am very happy that you found me! and thank you for thinking of having your husband's Harley drawn as a gift.

& these monograms were recently completed:
Drawn for the newlyweds "JOHNSONs"
-the bride "RYAN" and the groom "ROBERT".


Drawn for the "soon-to-be"  Mr. & Mrs. "MILLER"
-bride "KELLY" & groom "TYLER".


 Joining in with:
Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday meme .

.I am way behind in my visits, but hope to get around to some blog reading in the next few days.

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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It's an "OFF" day...

"Off-day" , definitely NOT as in: 
The Free Dictionary's meaning:
1.

off-day
 - a day when things go poorly; "I guess this is one of my off-days"

But as in: 
1. I'm OFF from work today :o)
2. My hubby is OFF today too! 
 
Let's see...lots of fun things to possibly do...especially with our two kiddos that are able to be home for Christmas, since they'll not be leaving until tomorrow... 

I'd love to get one of these luggage sets (I love to see what CSN has to offer.  I have to say that the All-Clad pot I purchased recently is just as I expected and came soooo fast!)  It was great to have to make a humongous amount of our turkey, beans and vegetable chili and low country boil for our kids).

oops...back to what I would do with some new luggage...
...take a trip...with all our kids...to anywhere...Europe, Asia, Mediterranean, Carribean, Africa, Australia, Americas...um...not to sure about Antartica though.

So far, we have had a wonderful Christmas eve...


And we stayed awake late, so that Mr. B could open up his birthday gifts...


Had fun just hanging out with each other...




opening gifts with Girly~Twirly and her hubby (in another state) courtesy of today's technology...through IPhones!


listening to Heartbreaker on his new banjo...



eating out...

 and eating out again...



So...don't know yet what we'll do today... maybe cruise around downtown Savannah...look for some After-Christmas deals...   although it would be pretty amazing to get up, on the spur of the moment and fly out to some distant shore...  spending our "OFF day" with our kiddos is extra-special, just cuz we are together...

What would you do if your family were together? Where would you go? 

Hm...better get OFF the computer...cuz soon we'll all be heading OFF to spend an awesome day together!
**********
Here are a couple more orders...

From Diane:
"...I think that design is great and he will love it. I would like to ask you if you could possibly put the 101st Airborne insignia on it also? I have been looking at this for his birthday, Dec 26th, for some time but was afraid I had waited too long. I am so glad you are able to do it and hopefully I can even get it framed before his special day. I will let you know how he responds to it!!..."


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Velma sent this request:
"...We were thinking of giving the sketch as a congratulatory gift to someone who will soon be appointed as a department head (and we loved what you did for our former boss, Mike, that Lee had given him).  We'd like to keep a tropical theme, I think, but I'd love to see what you were planning on sending me.  I had looked online for a photograph of tropical flowers, but I don't know how I'd send the image to you.  I was thinking of perhaps an anthurium with an anthurium leaf?  Something along that line...."

We'd need the product by the end of the month...is that doable?


Thank you Velma, for thinking of these as a gift. And for your email and feedback:
"I received the sketch over the weekend in perfect condition.  It's beautiful!  Thank you very much..."
"This is a perfect gift with a personal touch that makes it extra special. It turned out beautiful, and Maria is a pleasure to work with. Service was very fast and reliable; and Maria was most helpful. Thank you from Hawaii!"

If you are interested, feel free to enter for one of the art giveaways. This ends on Dec 31st @ midnight. For more info, please take a look at my Dec 18th post.


 Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas! 
...and here's a greeting for the upcoming new year... Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! (Happy New Year!)

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Saturday, December 4, 2010

J is for Joy...

It was so wonderful to spend time up in Wisconsin with my dad.

Thank you all again for your prayers, support, kind words prior, during and after his 5 heart bypasses.
It is such a Joy to know that the surgery is behind him and he continues to recover.

I pray you all had as Joyful a time with your families this past Thanksgiving.

Here are a few photos while we were at my dad's home. I will only post a few here. And later, I'll get more beautiful photos in a slideshow.

My last post shows us only one month ago when we were visiting with my hubby's family who all live in Hawaii...beautiful warm tropical temperatures.

My hubby and I arrived at my dad's and it wasn't too cold...there was only a teeny-tiny bit of evidence of snow that had fallen previously... But on the second morning that we were up at my dad's (just a month later)...we look out the window to see the beautiful new fallen snow! Amazing :o)

~taken from the lake looking up to my dad's home~


~this the picture window from the living room~
(looking out onto the lake)

 ~this was taken from inside the house~
(looking out my dad's bedroom window onto the front deck)

**********
Thanksgiving Day
An early dinner at Whitetail Lodge.



 Dinner in this gorgeous location with great neighbor friends.


 The log's used to construct this building are real! They were huge!


And it was so good to stop on our way up north and spend the night at the home (after the 15 hour drive to their home, it was a good stop, before another 12 or so drive from there to my dad's) of our daughter (Girly~Twirly, aka the LuckiestMrs., aka Dr. B) and her hubby (Awesome J, aka the LuckiestMrs' Mr, aka Dr. B :o).
...and then also spend time, eat an amazing Thanksgiving part II meal, and spend the night on our return drive back to Georgia with them, our other daughter (Girly~Whirly), our son (Heartbreaker) and our son-in-law's parents at their home. 

**********
Here are a few orders that I was able to get done before we left.  Thank you for your interest and orders. 
Will post more again.

Nancy ordered this frog for her second grandson.  Her first grandson has one that was a giraffe drawn with his name.
"This sketch turned put as beautiful as the last one and I was so surprised at how quickly it arrived. Thank you so much--I love it."
***** 
This one I was able to ship out from the post office in my dad's hometown. (I hoped that since he lives closer to Canada, it would not take as long as the last orders I shipped to Canada from our home in southern Georgia. ...and wow! It surely was a lot faster! Shipped it on Nov 24th, received it on Dec 2nd.)
Stephanie ordered this for a gift to her husband to display in her husband's Pharmacy.

"I received it today!!  It is SO AMAZING!  I love it so much and I KNOW that my husband will love it.  You have been so great to deal with and I knew right from the start that I could trust you.

Thank you for sharing your talents and for being the great person that you are!  I'll be ordering more art from you in the future and I will definitely let others know about you!!"

*****
These two sent to Tracy in Canada took so much longer. Shipped out Oct 23rd from Georgia...into Foreign Customs on Oct 29th, and arrived on Nov 11th.

Tracy ordered this one in memory of their precious unborn granddaughter.

(color may not be the same as the original, since I took this and the previously shown frog with my camera...our scanner does not scan the color)

and this Eagle was her second order.

"...What a strong tube that is,it protected every thing!
I love love love the drawings!!!
What wonderful gifts they will make this Christmas,the Eagles beak is perfect!
The rose is more than I expected, the colours are perfectly done,just the right colour red.and thank you for adding all the names...thank you so much."

I ship all the orders in a heavy weight shipping tube; however, I do ship orders sent outside of the continental United States in an additional PVC tube within the sturdy heavy weight tube, for extra protection from crushing or water damage.

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Linking on with:
Jenny's
for this week's letter "J".
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J is for Joy and also for Jesus! 
Our family enjoys celebrating the birth of Jesus.
(My hubby was also born on Dec 25th :o)

Hope all of you are enJoying this special time of the year with your loved ones.
Thank you for your time in leaving your comments. I will be sure to come and return your visit.

(My dad does not have a computer up at his place, so I did not do any computer-related things, such as blogging...so I do appreciate all of you checking in and I look forward to catching up :o)
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Now, it is catch-up time around the house, back to work cleaning pearly whites, drawing orders, and getting Christmas gifts wrapped and sent.

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Oh! One more thing...it gives me Joy when I am able to get computer-related things to work...so with the awesome help from Addy, another dear blogger, fellow-etsyer (she creates yummy cakes), fellow Georgia resident, I was able to change my ridiculously lo-o-ong facebook url for my new facebook business page to something short and sweet...well...at least, shorter.

Please take a look. And if you have a facebook account, please become one of my page's "fans" by hitting the "LIKE" button for my page:  www.facebook.com/PersonalizedSketches  ...this will be where I eventually will post more past orders into separate categorized albums.

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