Keds Sneaker Giveaway

I'm giving away the shoes on the left at my Pretty By Nature blog. They Keds new Green Label Sneakers.

If you'd like to enter, please look here. The shoes are made out of organic and recycled materials. Pretty cute, too.

So far, I don't have a whole lot of comments, so your odds of winning are pretty good. The giveaway is for North America, only.

Image credit: Keds.com

Kitty In A Box

I had to show you this before I went to bed. I looked at the box sitting next to me and look who is in there...... Kitty. Earlier, Sarah found her in the box and she brought her out to the living room. She left the box on the couch and apparently it's one of her new favorite places. She fits into the tiniest spots. There's this area in Bay's closet and it's about the size of a shoe box. She climbs in there at least once a day. You can't even see her at first.

She likes to sit on the towel shelf while Bay showers. Bay says that she mouths, "Help me, help me..." to Kitty when she is in there and Kitty looks all concerned. What a personality this cat has.

I told Jackie today, I said, they've only been with a few months, but I cannot remember what it was like to not have Greg and Kitty as part of our family.

The Things That I Remember

I was talking to an old friend tonight. He told me that he had a crush on me back in high school. He said that he liked "my attitude." I can remember moving a lot in high school. So much of it was almost physically painful for me, being shy, feeling that I did not fit anywhere. Apparently, I was good at hiding this.

When I try to picture it, me walking the halls, this boy seeing me the way he did.... Well, it would have been nice knowing that at the time. Not easy for kids to share feelings like that though. It was nice to hear it today. He gave me a compliment the other day, said he liked my picture on Facebook. It was nice to hear that, too. I've felt invisible for awhile.

I really enjoy talking to old friends. I love the shared history, going through the list of memories, Hey, I don't remember that? Do you remember this?? We all hold onto different things. So many of my memories are tied to a boy.

There's a whole lot that I let go of, just can't recall, and I think it's because of other crap that was going on at the time. Things were challenging when I was a kid and even when they were quiet, I did my best to screw them up on my own.

I wonder what my kids are going to hold onto? I bet it will be things like camping at the beach. I know they both tell funny Uncle Matt stories - Bay is partial to his "My Humps" performance. Maybe some creek stories will be in there....... I know they are going to have lots of Kitty memories. She's a funny girl.

Okay, I'm off to bed.

Nature Notes: Upper Bidwell Park in the Spring

Today I've got another Nature Notes blog entry. Nature Notes is the creation of Michelle from Rambling Woods.

Yesterday, I took a short hike in Upper Bidwell Park. I love this hike. It's a fairly steady uphill climb, not uncomfortable, but good exercise. This time of year, it's very green, lots of wildflowers.

In the Summer, it's much warmer and gold in every direction. The first weekend that Steve visited, we did this hike. He called it a "Death March," but he laughed when he said it.
As we hiked up the hill, I found myself growing comfortable with him again. It was the beginning of falling in love with him, after more than 20 years apart.

I'd say that 9 times out of 10 I've hiked this alone. I've run it many times and I always feel a mountain goat scrambling up and then I fly back down. One time, I ran by these woman who were my age and one called out, "You go, girl!"

The below shot is looking to the West. That ridge of rock you see is right around where the basalt rock starts. The creek lies below the line. I'll take some photos of that area soon.

More wildflowers. I wanted to lay on my belly to get a different view of these, but it was so busy up there and it's not like the front lawn when I'm trying to get shots of the clover.

I love the wildflowers, but oh man is my head a mess from my allergies. Not as bad as poor Max, though. He's very uncomfortable and he takes allergy medicine all year.

The shot below was shot near the bottom of the trail. You can see the fields of flowers. I start the trail with a worry. Some issue that has bothered me all day. With every step I examine the problem, try to work out the knot. By the time I get back to the bottom, I always feel better. I can leave it on the hill.

Ruby Tuesday - Ruby Ashlee

Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Today I have my niece, Ashlee, at her birthday party. She is a little shy and had a hard time getting going with the presents. Didn't bother me, it's her day, after all. Here she sits on the lap of her pretty Mommy, Shawna.

Doesn't she have the sweetest profile? Her little nose and you can't really tell from this shot, although if you've read my blog before you might have seen another shot, her eyes have this little tilt upward at the outer corner. It's like when she was created, the creator said, oh she's cute, but if we tweak this (little nose) and we tweak that (up-tilted eyes), she will be truly stunning. And so she is!

After the party, she came over to our place and spent the night. She's a fun sleepover guest. She always leaves me beautiful works of art.

If you'd like to take part in Ruby Tuesday, then please click here.

Amelia On the Prowl

Amelia on the prowl..... I love this picture of her with her little tongue sticking out. We are all so crazy about her. Today, I heard Bay greet her with, "Hello, Lovely Lady," which cracked me up because that's what I call her.

I said, "We sure are a family of nicknamers." I used to have a ton for the kids, but now it's down to the following:
Max - Handsome Man (well, okay Max still has a lot of them. I call him Sweet Baby a lot, Handsome Prince, Honey-bunny)
Bailey - Sweets, Beautiful
Greg - Honey (and it's funny because if I call anyone else "honey" he says, "What?" He's used to his nickname already)
Sarah - Cookie, Sarie, Sugar, Sug

My niece, Ashlee, came over for a sleepover last night. We celebrated her birthday earlier in the day, so it was an honor to have her over - she picked us over new toys. She spent a lot of the time she was here doing art. She is very creative. I need to scan some of her artwork to share.

Well, I have to cut this one short. It's the tale end of Sunday evening and I've still got stuff to do.

I'm Giving Away 2 Books

I'm giving away a Green Beauty book, Called Green Beauty Guide at Pretty By Nature. If you'd like to enter, please visit and leave a comment.

Also, if you are a viewer of the show, Millionaire Matchmaker, on BRAVO tonight, I'm giving away a copy of Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Sanger's, Be Your Own Matchmaker book.

That's it for now. Thanks!