It's All Up in the Air

EXCUSE MY MESS.... still WORKING ON MY BLOG!

Your life is like a balloon...if you never let yourself go, you will never know how far you can rise.

- Linda Poindexter

This week I'm discovering the simple pleasures in attending a fair. 

 

I remember as a child attending a fair and the overwhelming excitement when you walk in past the ticket gate!!!  Right away you would see things you wanted to buy and places you wanted to stop first!!!  I liked the site of a friendly clown or a mid way vendor selling balloons.

They would be bunched together like a large bouquet of exotic flowers.  Floating together the different colors and shapes would attract me. Then there was the dilemma of choosing the perfect one.  Oh the joy of someone  tying  the string of the balloon to my wrist.   Magically the balloon would bob and weave as I pulled my arm up and down in all different directions.  You could always see the balloon bopping above all the heads in the crowd. I was special!!

 

A balloon is a flexible bag which can be inflated with a gas, such as helium, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, or air. 

 

And of course, there would be sadness as I got in the car  after a long day of walking at the fair and mistakenly untie the balloon and it would leave the backseat and slip away up into the sky..... floating up to the heavens above!

 

Yesterday I spotlighted a county fair here on my blog, but in doing a little research.... there are so many different types of fairs.... there are even all different kinds of Balloon Festivals and Fairs.

 

google images 

 

The above link is describing those huge hot air balloons that are part of everyone's bucket list.  Top of the list of Balloon Festivals to visit?  Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta in October.

 

In late summer just at dusk, we've had  the pleasure spotting 2 or 3 hot air balloons fly over our house at a time.... it is quite a site to see and hear that up close!

 

Love is like a balloon,

easy to blow up

and fun to see grow

But hard to let go and fly away.

 

A simple pleasure.... going to a fair and getting a balloon! 

 

Lets All Play Fair

Please excuse my mess.... I create here.... my BLOG is under construction


This time each year in our hometown
The county fair comes our way
Where the folks gather round to be happy and spend their day...
Brian Wilson  the Beach Boys

google images

Week #32 LIFE'S simple pleasures - the fair

A fair is a gathering of people to display or trade produce or other goods, it is also a place to parade or display animals, it is often associated with a carnival.

 

We have never been to our county fair here in Illinois (we drove by one yesterday, but I don't think that counts!), but we have been to all kinds of fairs in Wisconsin and Tennessee.  We've also seen the animals and farm equipment, eaten deep fried food and cotton candy, watched exciting demolition derbys,  listened to on-site radio shows and live concerts, and ridden fun Ferris wheels and played games at the mid way!!!

 

Life is like a county fair
some rides are more fun
than others,
and some are more frightening
than others.

There are all kinds of fairs ~ county fair, country fairs, state fair, Renaissance Faire, World's fair, art fair, street fair, music fairs, book fair, craft fair.... sometimes festivals and flea markets are considered fairs.

Let's all go to the country fair,
there's blossoms and ribbons and hope in the air.
The harvest is in and we have time to spare,
and the best place to be is the county fair.

Have you seen any grand champions cows or chickens lately??

 

Under Construction

Please excuse all the changes... I'm trying to reconfigure my blog.  New changes will be completed soon.... but things are a little wonky for the time being!

Is the Beach Calling You????

 

For some reason, I have been keeping this tiny shell in my purse.  It fell out the other day when I grabbed my wallet.  I don't know what beach it is from.  Gulf Shores, Hilton Head, Lake Michigan?  I love the commercial where people pick up this huge conch shell and they put it up to their ear to hear the ocean, and a sweet cherubic voice says.... it's the beach calling!

 

I have the largest collection of seashells.  I keep it all on the beaches of the world, perhaps you've seen it?

Week #31 LIFE'S simple pleasures - summer time

 

The summer solstice where the days are the longest and the nights are the shortest.  Schools are on a break to take advantage of the warm, hot days.  Teenage jobs cater to recreation.  More families travel and go on vacation.  People spend more time outdoors.

 

There are a lot of things you can do in the summer time.  It is one of LIFE'S simple pleasures.  I can combine numerous simple pleasures from the beginning of this year and do many of them in the summer time...

 

I can enjoy a cold beverage at the beach, a waterfront bar, or under an umbrella in my backyard!

 

I can find a best seller beach book read... or enjoy an old classic.

 

I can feel the warmth of the sun and the SHINE it brings to my day.

 

I can listen to the birds chirp about their business.

 

I can watch people at the beach or the ice cream shop.

 

I can sit on my front porch and just watch the clouds go by. 

 

I can collect seashells and put them in a glass jar and decorate my bathroom.

 

My favorite thing about summer is having a valid excuse for my excessive sweating

 

And so with that... enjoy the rest of your summer.  It is one of LIFE'S simple pleasures!

 

Brighten Someone's Day

Hey Good Lookin, what ya got Cookin?

What are the smells and the sounds you feel when you think of summer time???

I think of fresh popped popcorn at a county fair and the ice cream truck coming down the street.  Having fun and squeals of delight jumping into a pool or a lake.  A scent of sun tan lotion mixed with bug spray.  Cicadas chatting in the trees. The hot pavement that smells of tar melting.  The fresh newness of the school supply section in Target!!

 

There is also camping out and cooking out.  Bonfires and firing up the Barby.  In the summer time I like to grill out.  A leisurely dinner on a Saturday night.  The food is fresh and it tastes so good.

 

 

Week #31 LIFE'S simple pleasures - summer time

 

I've made some fun creative greeting cards before with summer themes.... but I can't seem to find them when I need them.  One is a really cute Weber grill with the steam flowing out the vent on the round cooker with wheels.  And the other one is a cute S'more character.  But all ya gotta know is.... if you think it... I can create it for you!!!! Customized greeting cards are my specialty!!  But they will cost ya more than a boring old grocery store card!!!

 

Vegetarian - Indian phrase meaning bad hunter.

 

Brighten Someone's Day!

With a Cherry on Top!

You can't buy happiness
but you can buy ice cream
and that is pretty much the same thing!

Week #31 LIFE'S simple pleasures - summer time

As an adult, summer still means, lazy afternoons, flip flops, the beach, a good book and ice cream!

Ice cream has gone gourmet, it now is know as frozen custard, frozen yogurt, sorbet and gelato.

We went to one of our local hangouts where you build your own frozen yogurt cup. They have a choice of about 6 different flavors you can swirl into your cup and then you can go crazy with toppings like: crushed cookies, fresh fruit, chopped nuts, crushed candy bars, cereal, cheesecake crumbles, any kind of chocolate, Carmel & butterscotch chips, sprinkles, syrups and sauces and whip cream!  And even the cherry on top!!

Yum!  or should I say YUMZ!!!!

The family of 4 in line ahead of us probably had never been to this type of ice cream parlor before. Each one made an exquisite frozen yogurt cup topped with ALL of their favorites.... their total bill was over $25. (*I know I'm frugal.... but an ice cream treat for a wee one costing over $6 I think is a bit extravagant, but that's just me!) I remember when..... you could get ice cream cones at McDonald's for .25¢

 

 

Ice cream is BIG business in the U.S. I read that on average each person consumes 48 pints per year.  Some laugh, but think it should be made into the 5th food group! What's your favorite flavor?  I don't have a favorite... I like to always try something different.... variety is the spice of LIFE!

I just read in a book for my book club, the main character made a point that really stuck with me... and it relates to the reason I've picked the topic LIFE'S simple pleasures for my blog this year..."Having surrendered to a simpler life, I am finding excitement in little things, that others might find dull."

 

I know that some of the topics I find to highlight here on my blog can't be relateable to everyone.  My hope is to point out that we truly can enjoy the little things. Probably I write this statement most of all....to remind myself.

 

 If the simple things in life don't put a smile on your face, then you will never be truly happy.

 

LIFE is simple, when you live simply!

 

Just a reminder: When you see large bold text, it is a quotation that I found.  If the author is listed I will certainly give credit, some quotes are 'unknown' or 'found' in a google search.  Most all of the creative greeting cards you see here on my blog are for sale.  I'm a very small business with a big desire to Brighten Someone's Day!!!!

More than a Grain of Sand

And for every child on the beach that day
Stands a castle tall and proud
And the warm wind crawls through the castle walls
And the night folk wake as the warm wind calls
~ David Hess Lyrics    Sandcastle sung by Elvis Presley

Week # 31 LIFE'S Simple Pleasures - summer time

 

We officially passed the halfway mark of Summer, can you believe it's the last week of July!   However, some think summer is only Memorial Day to Labor Day.  Ha! That's too short of a time.... I like June 21 - September 21.... the actually 4 months of the season.

 

You wouldn't think it's summer with the cooler temperatures we are having in the Chicago suburbs.  But there has been nothing 'normal' about our summer temperatures.  Per usual, it gives the locals something to talk about, the weather.

 

If you are new to my blog, WELCOME!

 

For the last 31 weeks I have been exploring LIFE'S simple pleasures 2013.   Thus my tag line, whimsical paper crafts with a twist on LIFE.  I try to incorporate an experience, with my interest in telling a story, combining it with pictures I've taken and enhanced with photo shop and bring in a little whimsy with some of the creative greeting cards I hand make.... to add a little more SHINE to the corner of my world and Brighten Someone's Day.

 

I've been trying to incorporate every day things by:

 

L-learning more about them    

I-inspiring others to explore around them 

F-feeling with all my senses

E-evolving and gradually developing new interests

S-shining, realizing the impact of little things

 

trying to find FREE or inexpensive things in and around my LIFE.

 

Well, this week I'm going to explore a few things  that come to mind when I think of summer.

What comes to mind when you think of summer?  Obviously, the first thing I thought of was the beach and sandcastles: A castle like structure built of wet sand, as by children at a beach!

 

You can shake the sand from your shoes, but it will never leave your soul.