Amazing August

August 31 -- Wow, it's gone already.  It was an Amazing August to be sure.

It started with Adele, who put on a great performance at the Oracle Arena in Oakland.  Scoring those tickets ranks way up there on my lucky list!  Then I went to the Scrapbook Expo in Santa Clara with my niece, where we both won prizes.  Hers was the Golden Ticket drawing, which seems extra special with the passing of Gene Wilder (Willie Wonka) the other day.

Adele

My niece, Donna, the Golden Ticket winner!

  

I had to send my hubby to Oregon on an emergency visit to help his mom and while he was gone I participated in a vendor fair.  Not a huge success for me financially but every one I do gives me more confidence and experience.

My display at the Vendor Fair.

Bill got home in time for us to go to the Giant's game with our youngest and her boyfriend.  She had given her dad tickets for Father's Day.  We had a great time.

At the ballgame with Rachel and her boyfriend.

Melissa Etheridge

Then came a week with two concerts, Pat Benatar and Melissa Etheridge first and then Peter Frampton a few days later.  Our times at the Mountain Winery are always special, but even more so when we can share them with good friends.  We were lucky enough this season to go to two concerts with the Beltrami's.

At the winery with our friends, Paul and Amy.

Neil Giraldo and Pat Benatar

Peter Frampton

Throughout the month I was participating in the August Break prompted by Susannah Conway.  It was a treat to post a picture a day based on a single word or phrase and to share those pictures with others taking part.  Always interesting to see other people's perspectives on the same word.  My last three pictures were these:

August 29:  Favorite mug:  I have three of them at the moment.

Disneyland and I both turned 60 in 2015 and my daughter got this for me to commemorate it.

I do believe that everything happens for a reason.  

This one was made for me by my youngest daughter.  

August 30 - Evening light

Since they elevated the train a few years ago, the trains that go by in the evening are fun to watch from our living room.

August 31 - August was...Amazing

In addition to these happenings, here is my full moon picture from August 18:

And my August selfie:

So that was a quick recap of my Amazing August.  I've linked some of the more detailed posts from the month in case you want to check them out.

For September, I'm going to be participating in Bailey Jean's Blog-tember as I did last year.  I'm also gonna try and incorporate some writing prompts from Mama Kat.  Hope I can manage it all.

How was your August?  Amazing or Awful?  Love to know!

Amazing August

August is quickly coming to a close!  Can't believe it is the 28th already.

For my August Break photos, here's what I've been submitting:

8/21 - Today is...a good day for cleaning out my drawers.  Got rid of one bag full of clothes I no longer wear.

August 22 - Squares - Keeping my mind sharp.

August 23 - My face

August 24 - Three - My three children - all grown up now!

August 25 - Oranges...I'm a washi tape addict.

August 26 - Peaceful.  This is where we were married 32 years ago, Vista Point at Zephyr Cove, Nevada.  

August 27 - Little.  I love this little guy my husband picked up on one of our walks.

August 28 - I am...in my happy place when I'm in this room!

 Just three more days left in this month.  Even though I haven't done a separate blog post for each prompt, I am happy I have been able to at least find a picture a day.

Happy Sunday all!

Amazing August

August 20 - My how time flies when you're having fun!

I have been following along with the August Break prompts but I've just been posting a picture a day on the Facebook thread because, well, what can you say about red?  Here are some of the pictures I've used:

8/8 - Favorite taste:  Mint Chocolate Chip in all shapes and forms!
    

Favorite Taste

8/9 - Red

8/10 - Yellow

8/11 - Green

8/12 - The Secret

8/13 - 6 o'clock -Time for Baseball!

                                                 

   8/14 - Love is - Friends and family walking the Golden Gate Bridge with me for my 60th birthday. 

8/15 - Unicorn

8/16 - Breathe   Yes, the Backstreet Boys!  Can't help it, love their harmony.

8/17 - Bedroom Window - Caught the almost full moon there.

8/18 - Five Years Ago:  We went to a lot of concerts that year.  Most memorable:

Sade

Met Ross Valory from Journey at the Bob Seger Concert

Heart sang Reign O're Me

And it started raining.  Magical!

8/19 - My Hands          

Hard at work on the keyboard most of the time.

8/20 - Clouds

Clouds covering the full moon

Now we are caught up for the moment.  Still a little over a week to go in this August Break adventure.  Some pretty interesting topics coming up.  Feel free to join in or follow along.

I am getting ready for my second attempt at Blog-Tember as well.  Just can't shut me up it seems!  Any of those prompts bring something special to your mind? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear.  

Amazing August

August 6 & 7 --

Yesterday was a busy day for me so I am combining it with today's prompt and then I won't feel like I am behind.  

The prompt for Day 6 in the August Break was "I'm reading..."

I started this book what seems like a Thousand Days ago, but was really only last month.  It is interesting, but while it was fast moving in the first two chapters, I am now up to the Bay of Pigs time period and it is a little slower going.  Plus, I only read at night in bed, so I'm only getting in a few pages before I fall asleep.  Maybe I'll try to take a break in the middle of the day and go sit on the back porch and read for a bit.  Perhaps that will make it easier.    

Today's prompt is "Beneath my feet."  

On a typical day, beneath my feet are two foot pedals that I use for my transcription business.  One is for the work that I can receive digitally through files sent via email on my computer.  That's my right foot.  

Under my left foot is the old fashioned mini-cassette type recorder pedal.  No, I don't listen to both of them at the same time, but at least my calves will be of equal proportion :)

Also usually during the day I have to make a delivery of the reports I have been typing, so under my feet are the pedals of my car.  Note, I do change from slippers to regular shoes on most occasions

Yesterday, however, under my feet was the number 11 on the floor of the Scrapbook Expo that my niece and I attended.  She had just won the Golden Ticket prize so when we heard that they were going to be calling a number and we both were standing near 11, she graciously allowed me to stand on it in case that was the number called.  IT WAS!  

My prize was a pack of scrapbooking paper and some embellishments.  Not as exciting as her Golden Ticket win, but we both came out with something cool, and best of all are the great memories of the day!

Now I'm all caught up and can start next week under no pressure!  

Hoping you are having fun reading my little jots in the August Break.  

 

Amazing August

August Break - Day 5 - Midday.

Usually I'm working and midday means eating lunch in front of the computer.  Nothing exciting there.

However, today we got some fantastic news about getting relief from the student loans we took out so our daughter could go to college.  I decided to go out on the back porch and sit for a few minutes in the sun and thank God/the Universe/the Angels for our good fortune.

We recently cleaned off our back porch and got rid of some junk in the back yard and now I actually have a pretty nice place to sit.  I'm hoping to be able to get out there more often now as we continue our beautification process around the house.  

While I was sitting there, I was thinking about our good news.  Apparently because my husband is now on Social Security Disability, that may entitle us to have our student loan debt released.  If I read it correctly, we would not have to pay back any more of the approximately $22,000 we currently owe.  We have had it deferred since she is still in school and I have been making payments on it monthly but that is just barely covering the interest.  I still have to read the fine print, but just the thought that we could get out from under that mountain of debt, and perhaps be able to have our daughter not have to pay any of her portion as well, made me very happy.

I have been doing a lot of soul searching lately and have been working through two different courses, one with Liz Lamoreux called Inner Excavation and the other was Manifesting with the Angles with Laurel Bleadon-Maffei.  It may sound like mumbo jumbo to some, but I really believe in the power of positive thinking and that the angels/Universe/God listen to us.  

At any rate, as I was sitting on the porch midday today (you knew I'd tie it in somehow, didn't you?), I had my phone with me and I decided to turn the camera on myself and randomly snap some pictures.  No posing, no judgment, just snapping away.  

Bill saw the one in the bottom middle and asked why I was laughing so hard.  "Because I'm HAPPY," I said, and in that moment I knew I meant it.  

So excited to see what comes next and how I can spread some of our good fortune out to others.  Karma, right?  

Amazing August

August 4 -

The prompt for today in the August Break is "Sweetness."

Yesterday was my mom's 93rd birthday so we took her out to dinner.   She is holding a Sunset Passion Colada.

I tried to get her to have some sweetness for dessert but she wanted an Irish coffee instead!

At 93, I think she is allowed.  

Short and sweet post today!

Amazing August

August 3 -

The prompt for today in the August Break is "Handwriting."  I have a love/hate relationship with my own handwriting.  Sometimes I really like the way it looks and sometimes I get too sloppy.  I write a lot in my journals and those I don't get too upset about but if I am making a card or something to sell in my shop, if I write messy, it could mean that I have to start all over again.

I have some notes that my husband has sent me over the years.  This one was taped to the coffeemaker one morning over 20 years ago because we were living in a rented house at the time.  At that time we were working different shifts and rarely saw each other.

 

Being a card maker, I so appreciate the "snail mail" idea and hope that sending a personal note in a card does not go away.  

Last night we were able to see Adele at Oracle Arena in Oakland and she was AMAZING!  

There was a really cool moment when Adele asked everyone to put their camera flashlights on.  It looked like this:

Again, pretty amazing.  She is such a cool entertainer, even bending down to allow those who had seats near the stage to take "selfie" pictures with her in the background.  Unlike Cher, who we saw a couple of years ago, there were no costume changes and she never left the stage, except to walk from one area to the other.  She captured us all with her voice, both in song and in the stories about herself that she shared.  She even stopped singing after she had started a song to allow people to come and stand closer to the stage.  She waited a few minutes for people to move forward and then she started the song all over again!

I knew that today's prompt was handwriting so I had my eyes open for something that I could use to tie the two together.  I thought I had something with this picture:

But it was just a hand, not handwriting.  Then, toward the end of the concert there was an explosion of paper bits coming down:

We were too far away to get any of them and that bummed me a little because I like to put that kind of stuff in my concert album.  However, as we were heading to BART to catch the train back home, a woman near us had a handful and she gave us a few.  Imagine my surprise when I looked at them and saw this:

Now, I'm pretty sure that Adele did not sit down and write these out on each one of those millions of pieces of paper falling from the rafters, but I could imagine her writing a few to have mass produced.  There was my tie-in to today's prompt AND my souvenir for my scrapbook!  Terrific ending to a great night!   

I have some video of Adele as well but I'll save that for another time.  Hope you are enjoying my little musings.  Leave me a message and let me know what you think.   Did I make the reach from Adele to handwriting?