Vacation!!!

I'm off to the Oregon Coast tomorrow for a week of exploring and seeing something totally new to me. Woohoo!!! I'll finally have something interesting to post. Stay tuned........ Is it bad to wish I were going to Sanibel instead? Shhhh.....don't tell. Lol.

My Heart Belongs to Sanibel

My best friends are on Sanibel Island right now.  We work together and she takes my place when I am not there so we can't be off together for any length of time.  Can I just tell you that stinks to high heaven right about now.  All I can think about is how badly I want to be there.  This is Dawn and Sherry's first trip to Sanibel Island and I so wanted to be able to show them around.  Luckily, Dawn's daughter Gwynne and her husband Chris are with them and they spent a few days on the Island last year as a wedding gift from me.  STILL...I want to be there.......*big tears*

Naturally I am stalking facebook for any pictures that they upload.  And with all the strength I can muster I am not calling every five minutes asking "what are you doing now?"  "What are you seeing?"  "Where did you eat?"............you get the picture..lol

So what's a girl to do but go through her pictures from trips past.  I am sharing today some of the pictures that I took.

This is a shot from my bedroom window of our condo at Ocean's Reach.  Simple point and shoot shot using a zoom.  Isn't the water color absolutely beautiful?  It changed every five minutes and each change was just as gorgeous as the last.

This was an early morning shot as the sun lit up the clouds.   So pretty and serene.

Zoomed in for this shot - it didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped.  Do you have that problem?  i guess I should use a tripod for really zoomed in shots to reduce blur but who wants to lug around a tripod?  Not this chick! 

Another morning shot - that is the first thing I did upon waking.  Grab my camera and hit the window in the bedroom to see what the day was bringing. 

Well that's it for now - The French open is on and my favorite tennis player is winning the championship - must go watch!!  GO RAFA!!!!

Linking with dwellable

Sanibel Island on Dwellable

Vintage by Nina Giveaway

Hello Everyone, 

Rosemary at Villabarnes is having a great giveaway.  I have copied  (is that allowed?)  her post as she explains it so much better than I ever could.

But aren't those photos divine!!  I especially love the ballerina shot.  

And now Rosmary's post  - please visit her at Villabarnes to enter

 

Monday, June 4, 2012

Vintage by Nina Giveaway

Up until now, I've only had giveaways of my redesigns.  However, when my friends at Atelier de Campagne told me they had been chosen to be the North American distributors of Nina Hartmann's book, "Vintage by Nina", I was excited about having a giveaway for my followers.  Even more so when I exchanged e-mails with the talented Nina Hartmann.

All photos in this post are the property of Nina Hartmann and Maria-Isabel Hansson

Nina Hartmann is an internationally known stylist of interiors and purveyor of vintage treasures. For the past eight years, Nina has run the vintage and antiques shop vintagebynina.com, and has a showroom in Sweden. Nina's style, love of design, and unique vintage items, have made her one of the most respected and talked about figures of design and style in Scandinavia.

Nina is also quite generous. She has autographed a copy of her stunning book for me to give away.

Page after page of loveliness.

It has over 160 pages, and 300 color photographs. Even though the giveaway copy of Nina's book is in Norwegian, the photos speak for themselves.

Vintage by Nina is being translated, and will be available in it's English version this fall.  If you would like to purchase a copy or two for yourself, send an e-mail to infoatelierdc@gmail.com. Title your email Retail VBN

If you are interested in acquiring this book for resale, contact Atelier via e-mail infoatelierdc@gmail.com for details and info. Title your e-mail, Wholesale VBN. Pre-orders need to be taken ASAP, in order to get the book to you by mid-September.

If you would like an opportunity to win an autographed copy of the Norwegian version of  Nina's book, here's how:

1. You must be a follower of VILLABARNES, and let me know you would like to enter. Leave a comment letting me know if you are already a follower, or if you've just joined me.
2. For additional entries, share this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, etc.
3. Leave a separate comment for each entry. Example: If you share the giveaway on your blog, FB, and Twitter, that's three additional entries. Don't cheat yourself out of an entry.

You have till Friday, June 8th at 12:00 midnight, CST

***TO ENTER***

The winner will be picked by Random Number Generator

***GOOD LUCK TO ALL***

I won a Giveaway!

Yes, I did.  I am the proud winner of a lovely necklace from Della at Del's Shells!!  I won on Friday and I have my beautiful necklace in my hands today.  After I tore away the manilla bubble wrap envelope this is what I saw.

Sorry for the poor quality photo ( You know that kills my soul ) but I forgot my camera this morning and didn't want to wait to open the package, so this is what we have..

How does she keep the ribbon so straight when she puts it in the bubble envelope?  I don't know but this is my second package and they both had the straightest ribbon!  It's all in the details!! LOL

I love the turquoise shell against the white box.  Soooo Cute!!  It is packaged so cute you almost hate to open it..,.........Amost...........

And then you do open it and your treasure is inside this adorable little turquoise drawstring bag.  Details,,,details....so cutely done. I mean really cute!!  And then you do open it and pull this beauty out...

 

Once again I am so sorry for the poor quality shots.  I had to use my old iphone 3gs and the lighting here in the office isn't the greatest either.  But isn't she a beaut!!!

 

 The heart is made of shell ( I LOVE SHELLS !!) and it is so amazingly delicate.  The chain is brass with the little balls spaced along the chain.  And we have the freshwater pearl and crystal dangle.  It is so very pretty.  

Della, I can't thank you enough!! 

Please if you haven't done so already, pop by Della's blog and look at all the beautiful things she has made.  Her pictures are so much better than mine,  Tell her I sent ya!!

 

Flowers

I really want to do another post on Sanibel Island but I love these flower challenges so much that I just have to do the flowers and I don't have the time to do both.  I don't really have the time to devote to editing these pictures like I would like to do either nor do I have the experience, but that hasn't stopped me from participating in the parties yet!

I am running out of new material however, so I am going to have to take the time to get out there ( wherever THERE may be ) and start taking pictures of flowers.  I did get lucky with the arrangement being delivered to the office last week.  I was soooo happy about that!!  Nothing like having your subject brought right to your door. woohoo!!!

This was in front of the hotel that we stayed  at when we were in Gatlinburg last.  There was a little bridge over the creek from the hotel parking lot to the street.  They had little baskets of flowers on the walls of the bridge.  And as I take pictures of everything when I am on a trip, we had to pause a moment and let me snap.  All I did was crop the top picture - no other adjustments. For the shots below I went on picmonkey, in between doing things here at work, and made some really quick edits. 

And since I was doing these "on the fly" so to speak, I can't remember which edits I used.  So I can't tell you what I did for these.  When I say on the fly, I mean doing them really quickly when I needed a little break from doing my work.  You know, one of those quick,  I need a break kinda moments so I don't kill someome!! lol

 

What ever they were, I am sure that it was a simple click of the mouse and an even quicker adjustment and then hurry and save.  There isn't a big difference in the top photos but I saw this last effect on another blog and had to try it.   I may have made the edges too dark but I kinda like it.

I wish I had a better photo to share but at this late date in the week I gotta go with what I have on hand.  I love playing with the edits - can't wait until I have time to devote to learning.  I need to practice, practice, practice!!  And I need to step up my game if I hope to be in the same league as the rest of you.  I REALLY JUST NEED MORE TIME IN THE DAY!!  Know what I mean?
Picmonkey is free and pretty simple to do (obviously - if I can use it) Are there any other free sites that are quick and easy??

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL of  YOU MOTHERS!!!

I will be linking with

Flower Art Friday

Flowers on Saturday

Weekend Flowers


I do not know how to add buttons to my blog post - if anyone feels like explaining it to me I will be delighted to add the button to my posts!!!!

As always THANK YOU for stopping by and leaving the comments that make my day a little brighter.

Pigeon Forge TN - Old Mill

I am trying again to post "the one that got away".   I still don't know what happened to it.  Weird, huh?

Whenever I go to Gatlinburg we always make a couple of trips to Pigeon Forge.  Although if Pigeon Forge keeps growing it will be the same city as Gatlinburg.  I mean, you can't tell where Sevierville ends and Pigeon Forge begins anymore.  They used to be quite separated.  I'm not sure if I like the growth or not.

Anyway one of our "must" stops is to The Old Mill.  It is just a little ways off the main drag and I think it is so pretty

And it actually is that - An Old Mill.  I think they still ground things to this day.  I know they have a restaurant and it is a must visit if you like country cooking.  I mean, com'on, you are in the heart of country, TN,  you gotta have some country cookin'.  This is the place to get it and take some gorgeous photos while you are at it.

If I remember correctly I think you can walk to the Candy Store featured in my other post and to a few gift shops when you park in this area.  I love it!!

I love anywhere that you can park and walk to get something good to eat and then go out and hit a few gift shops and then have a little something sweet in the candy shop, all the while having photo opportunities after photo ops with all the pretty surroundings!!

These first three shots are unedited so I took a quick moment to hop by picmonkey and hurriedly applied orton to this picture since I've heard a couple of you sing the praises of "orton"  I must admit it did make a pretty picture.

Can you tell the difference between these last two pics?

Okay - one more effect and then I must get back to work.......This one is called "gritty"  I am going to post this before it disappears!!

Oh my goodness!!!  What a week it is turning into already!  Work has been crazy and then there is life in general and things we have to do at home...you know, like laundry and cleaning...yuk!

 Aren't these supposed to be calming?

Then perhaps I should bring him from home and put in my desk since I am here 10-1/2 hours a day!!

Isn't he pretty!!  His name is Henry and he is a new addition.  We have upgraded his bowl home since I took these Friday evening. Will try to take more soon.

As it is this is going to be a 5 minute post, sorry, I just had to post something... I miss you guys!!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU and THANK YOU to everyone who commented on my previous post.  I get a smile on my face with each email that says I have a comment and I feel terribly that I haven't replied so ( I know how tacky - but better than nothing - right?) this is kinda a mass reply.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR VISITING!!!  Makes my day!

Flowers on Saturday (#6 for me)

I have been working on a completely different post this week at work whenever I have had a spare moment. The pictures that I wanted to share are stored on my work computer and I had placed them in the post and was working on the commentary here and there when I had the time.

I came home tonight and finally sat down to finish it. I opened the draft with the title I had given it and did a double take...blinked my eyes several times...moved the cursor up and down, back and forth and even sideways ...made several mouse clicks in different areas of the box....and finally just stopped, slack-jawed and stared...yes, stared in disbelief at an EMPTY box. No pictures, no dialog, no ANYTHING.. NADA...but a title. What the heck? Where was my post that I have been working on all week.  SERIOUSLY...where?

Has that ever happened to you?  My post is gone, totally and completely gone.  Now I could understand that if I had only worked on the post once -I would think that I had forgotten to save it somehow.  But I have worked on it several different times throughout the week, so something should have been in the darn box!  I repeat.."What the heck? "

Okay...deep breath...exhale...and moving on....My contribution for Flowers on Saturday.....( I love this shot )  All of the photos for this post are unedited...straight out of the camera.

If you recall from last week, I mentioned that it was Derby time here in Kentucky.  One of the florists in our area dropped off an arrangement at the office.  I think they are trying to obtain our corporate account and we have all enjoyed their efforts at persuing us.  The arrangement is really beautiful and Derby themed.  Notice the horseshoe on the vase?



The arrangement contains primarily roses and lillies.  The Kentucky Derby race is also called "The Run for the Roses"  The winning horse is draped with a large garland of perfect red roses in the winners circle after the race.

Lesser known is "THE OAKS" race.  This is a race run on the Friday before Derby Saturday.  This day has become the favorite day for us locals to hit the track.  Today was the 138th running of "The Kentucky Oaks" race.  This event has also become just as big as the Kentucky Derby so us locals may have to come up with a lesser crowded day to claim as ours. 

The actual Kentucky Oaks race is run strictly by fillies - no boys allowed.  The winner of the Kentucky Oaks race is draped with a garland of "star gazer" lillies.  Hence the term "Lillies for the Fillies".

The Kentucky Oaks race was won today by a filly named "Believe You Can".  Don't you just love that name?  I do, not only because it is inspiring, but because I drew that name in one of the office pools, so she is a winner and I am too!!  It was just a small pot ($2.00 per horse so I won about $28.00) but a win is a win and it made me happy.  I also drew names out of pools for tomorrow's KY Derby race so keep your fingers crossed!

On another note - Do you guys ever have trouble uploading your photos to your posts?  I have been trying for over 30 minutes and still haven't been able to upload another picture that I want to share.  Nor is this the first time that I have had trouble doing so.....ugh!!!

Wow.....success at last.  Anyway, that explains the significance of pairing the roses and lillies at this particular time in Louisville KY.

Lillies of the Valley and greenery are the only other things in the bouquet.  We have this in the entry foyer and everyone who walks by comments on how lovely this thing is, even the guys!!

My goodness, this is going to sound like I am complaining but that is not my intent.  I love blogging, truly love it.  But it has taken me over two hours to get this post together and I have pretty much been working on it without interuption.  I did have the issues uploading the photos that added to the time.  Being new at this I guess I just didn't realize how much time it actually takes to do this.  And I haven't even made the actual linkups below with my post.  Nor have I visited others at the parties yet.

I am just mentioning this in case there are other newbies reading this and I want to give thanks and kudos to all of you who manage to post more than once a week. Kudos and thanks to those of you who host the linky parties and visit each and every person who has linked to your party.  You guys are amazing.  Amazing!! I so admire your dedication.  I hope to become more like you as time goes by.

Thanks to everyone who stops by - I hope you like what you see!!!  THANK YOU for making my day!
 

I'll be linking with....

Flowers on Saturday

Weekend Flowers

Your Sunday Best

Sunday Snapshot

The Simple Things

Some Love for Tennessee

My goodness -  it seems like ages since I last posted, and while in reality it has only been a week (not counting my quickie post on  Sat) it certainly feels like so much longer.

I feel like I have been so neglectful!  I have been blog hopping when I can so you wont feel like I've neglected your blog.  It's only MY blog that I've shown little love these past days.
I was quite ill for a couple of days last week.  That put me way behind at the office which totally stresses me out.

I am at the office for 10-1/2 hours each day Mon thru Thur and then 8 on Friday and 4 every other Saturday.  Add 30 minutes each way for driving and an hour an a half each morning to get ready and that is pretty much my day in a nutshell.
My quickie post on Saturday showed some pictures that I had taken on a sister trip in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge TN.  I thought I'd share a few more photos from that trip for those of you who may have never been to that neck of the woods.

Another reason I love to go to Gatlinburg, besides the obvious "Great Smoky Mountains", is the streams.  I love water.  Just about any body of water will do.

I love the sounds it makes as it races over the rocks or the trickle of slow moving water as it meanders downstream.

I love the dancing of the light as it plays on the water and dazzles like diamonds.



I know these are not the greatest photos of the streams.  They are rather old.  I cannot find my latest shots, but I will and then I will share those.  They capture the beauty of the streams so much better than these.

I love to travel and I love nature. I certainly hope you do as well and will join me on my return (through sharing the photographs) to places that I love.

THANKS so much for stopping by.....

LINKING WITH

Debbiedoo's Newbie Party

Favorite Photo Monday

More the Merrier Monday

Flowers on Saturday 5

Wow - I am really getting behind on my posting.  Usually I have a post waiting in the wings.  I was sick and missed two days of work this week and didn't even turn a computer on the whole time I was home in bed.  I am very behind at work so this is going to be a short one.  Without further ado.....

My Flower Shots

I wish my whole backyard looked like this.  I took this outside a candy store in Pigeon Forge TN a few years ago.  We had a sister trip and stayed for a long weekend in Gatlinburg TN.

I just love these types of flowers.  Blackeyed Susans, Cone Flowers, Daisies and all types like that.  Do I have any in my backyard - uh - that would be a no.  First I have three dogs who think they own that yard.  Second, I had to fix up the front yard first.  We did a pretty good remodel of the front yard last year.  I will try to see if I can find some before shots.  It was a disaster but it is sooo much better now.  Okay, I am at the office and MUST do some work now.

Linking with:

Flowers on Saturday

Weekend Flowers