R - Ready, Log-in, IComLeavWe(eeeeeeeeee)♡ !

Well, today is the day!  How time flew by, and as with other things in my life, I thought I had planned ahead, I thought I will be completely focused when the day commences for an event I have been looking forward to.

Here it is, and I am completely unprepared, feeling the strong tug of being a blog hermit, welcoming the company that comes my way but too scattered to feel confident and show "my face" around!

Yes, it is the blog commenting week fest for April!!!  I have to be, as I always end up with many endevours,  spontaneous as I go along with my first try at a week long active commenting in the blogosphere.

This wonderful idea was initiated by Melissa Ford, book author & blogger of Stirrup Queens.  You could read more about it by clicking the link IComLeavWe or on the blue badge with an illustration of the cute dog, at the right hand side of this page.  For the list of participants for this month, please click here: IComLeaWe April 2011.

This week, with the help of this event, I will practice to not over-think  and will just go with the flow. ☺

I would love to meet a lot of participants, hopefully make new blogger friends, spread some lurv because as Melissa beautifully put it, "Comments are the new hug!" and those who knows me longer, knows that I love giving (((((((((♡ huggies ♡)))))))))).

Writing this post before or right after lunch time is I hope a habit I can consistenly practice; the stress of leaving it until after the end of the day, I feel will lead to me abandoning the 365 project(s).  Eventually, I might  adopt the idea of Jen Daiker of unedited of having a fix time of publishing blogs.  I saw this feature of sharing the fixed schedule of blogging days at Karen Walker's page author Karen Walker...following the whispers.

I purposely put the links of the three wonderful female bloggers above not only to share my joy in reading them but because it is also my way of bookmarking them, since I would definitely love to comment on their blogs today.

Also, while writing this I am making a mental schedule of the visits to all the lovely bloggers, who have thus far commented on my blogs, whom I have promised to comment to but have not managed yet due to everyday life!  Many thanks to all of you; each one of you have given me the kick I need on days that I would rather skip!

Sending a huge thanks to Arlee Bird of   Tossing It Out, who spearheads the A to Z Blogging Challenge April 2011.  My initial motivation in participating in the blogging event he put to life, was to put a bit of dynamic to my 365 blogging and self-portraits projects (I need all the help I can get to make it through 365 days of blogging! ☺).

What I did not expect was the positive energy I will be getting from the random visitors, who are also participating in the event, or found this blog page through his page.  It was very heartwarming, and I hope this week, through the IComLeavWe, I could give back the simple joy I have thus received, and pay it forward.

Well, I'll be logging off for now, and when I log back in again, I am hopefully refreshed and have lots of positive thoughts and energy to spread around! :)

Inspire, and be inspired fellow bloggers!

If you are participating in IComLeavWe April 2011, please do say hello and share why you are participating! And if you just happen to know about it, what do you think of the idea?

Postscript to this blog:

I had to remove and put an re-edited version of today's 365~ self-portrait because I failed to acknowledge that littlest  took the photo I present today!!! How could I fail to mention that!?!

If you would like to see more pictures taken of our 3 year old bundle of energy and joy, please see the posts with the tag LittlestLens.

Paradise

please click on image to have a better view ☺

With today's 365 photo, I affirm what I have been feeling since we started living here in the Netherlands: I am grateful for, and love our new home!

postscript to this blog:

Littlest took the image on the upper left corner of the collage. ☺

Cadoodlenoodle

please click on the image to see a better view of the yellow with blue stripes camel

Today, another 365 ~ self-portrait shot by the littlest, and the word for the day is suggested by the eldest.  As I have mentioned before, my personal projects do tend to evolve into family undertaking.

The eldest has been so VERY helpful the whole week, that I gave in to her request of letting her choose the word of the day.  She created the word cadoodlenoodle, meaning being watched by a camel, while cuddling after having eaten noodles, when she saw the shot done by the littlest.

If you look closely by clicking on the image above, you will see a toy camel on the sofa just beside P's head.  It is actually a musical camel that we gave the eldest when she was newly born (11 years ago!).

P cooked noodle soup tonight, and it was what I ate before I settled on the sofa for a film evening with the family.  When I said out loud, "Ugh, still need to make a picture for tonight!" Littlest mesmerised attention, which was focused on Percy Jackson, got sidetracked.  She excitedly say, "Littlest camera!" and with those words she reached for the camera, and pointed the lens once again to my direction.  As her way, afterwards asking me to look at it, "Want to see, Mommy?!"

The image is unedited except for the text added.

To start the weekend right and to end the day with a smile, some quotes for affirmation:

Art is whatever you can get away with.
John Cage 

 I am not strange, I am just not normal.
Salvadore Dali 

From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.
Dr. Seuss

Wishing you all a restful and rejuvenating weekend!

Littlest' Lens

Please click on the image to have a better view

Today's post is another attempt to move my blogging time to the a.m. part of the day!  Here is hoping I will be able to be consistent on this the entire week because I do NEED to sleep earlier than way past midnight.

I took a  couple of pictures on my way back home after bringing back the girl's to school.  The weather outside is fantabulous!!!  It is still cool though, but what the heck, the sun is out beaming wonderful sunshine!

Never did I imagine that sunshine will be a cause of celebration in my life having grown up in a tropical country and growing up with the habit of taking an umbrella to shield myself not from the rain but from the sun.  Life can be entertaining when you muse about it from different perspectives of your life.

Speaking of perspectives, the littlest shot today's 365~ self-portrait!  Sooo proud of her.  This is not the first picture she shot of me.  She actually took a picture of P last week or two weeks ago.  I'll post it some other time.  I guess, this is one very lucid example that when you want your young to be creative, the best way is to simply practice creativity yourself, and they'll follow.  Littlest (3 y.o) asked me very politely "Mom, take a picture?" and then  took the camera in the hand like she's been doing it forever, and manipulated it that  after taking the simple picture, she was able to view the result right after and showed it to me for approval.  Did I say, I am so proud?!!!

I could not help tweaking the image a bit in picnik (I used the Threshold feature in edit mode) to make it appear as if I was frozen (couch+chill + relaxing~ cool chillaxing) because I felt blah and it showed on my complexion; I am making a mental note today to start moisturizing my dry face, which I neglected in the couple of weeks I was sick.

It was great being back on the saddle again.  I had a mini-anxiety attack as I woke up, thinking about the bike route to the girl's school.  The nausea felt so bad but luckily P knows better now how to talk me out of it.  Lucky for him since he could sleep in, and not bring them in my stead. Kidding aside, I am RELIEVED that my panic and anxiety attacks are getting more under control.  More on that some other time. 

taken on the way back home from a visit in Loosdrecht, 5 May 2010

I am simply full of bliss that I am well again, and I cannot repeat that enough after the terrible two weeks!  Cannot wait to tank some sun, and so I am ending this entry with three quotes to affirm the day positively (also to shoo away remnants of negative thoughts I suffered from while fighting depression, which is always the side effect of being ill for a long period):

I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as making a ’life.’
Maya Angelou

 Love and do what you like.
Saint Augustine

I know you’ve heard it a thousand times before. But it’s true – hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don’t love something, then don’t do it.
Ray Bradbury

Wishing you all a magnificent week!