Birthday!

Last day of June and it is always my birthday! >>>smile :)  My favorite Etsy team, the Blogging Business Artisans, does monthly challenges and wouldn't ya know, this month we are supposed to write about a favorite birthday or birthday celebration.

Well, when I was growing up, my family was not much into birthday celebrations, since my parents grew up 'dirt poor' (excuse the pun) in the dust bowl years with mostly nothing.  It just wasn't one of their family traditions. So our family just had a birthday cake, which mom made, and a present--usually just one-- at the dinner table.  When my kids were little, there were so many of them--six--that having birthday parties just wasn't feasible due to the sheer number of parties required.  I would have been doing a party every other month and our friends would have gotten tired of that really quick! Then when my husband died and I remarried my sweet hubby with four kids (three of them living with us!), parties were definitely out of the question!  I do remember several of the teens throwing their own parties for special birthdays like sweet sixteen etc.--with all of the work done by them, except I bought the cakes.  So much for the history part of this story!

Today, hubby brought me breakfast in bed--my favorite egg muffin and coffee; then when I got up, I found this on my work table:

I literally love cinnamon rolls!  There are lots of them so I can munch on them the rest of the day!  And my hubby is just so sweet to always buy flowers for special occasions!  Love these long stemmed red roses!!!  Thanks honey!

Oh . . . and he is planning dinner out this evening!  He's a keeper!

P.S. you can see what my other teammates are posting here.

June's Roller Coaster Ride!

I was catching up on my blog reading this morning, when I read a good post about how the blogger's month had been progressing.  I thought about my month and realized that it has been like a roller coaster ride!

It began, after a long slow period of research, a quick rise in prep work, and topped with being received favorably by a new client, talking with them about an order.  I was elated at having a new client after doing five months worth of research to get the account!

Next came a short incline with a short preparation for my very first 'First Friday' festival in my home town. The ride was smooth, though not exhilarating.

  The day after left me with an empty feeling, saying good bye to an old friend moving to the opposite coast.

Next was a steady climb, anticipating my 24th wedding anniversary, planning a trip to the beach; but before we could get there, one of my DIL's dropped a bomb on the family and literally devastated our large extended family!

There was an emergency ride to Seattle to do some damage control and provide some encouragement.

That short trip was the day before our anniversary beach reservations.

The beach trip was awesome, as you can plainly see by my previous post on this blog.  On Tuesday last, ups and downs were present in the same day with a contentious staff meeting and an uplifting evening ladies gathering.  Then, Wednesday was an extremely high HIGH, with our granddaughter, Klee, returning home from her year long exchange in Taiwan!

So incredibly wonderful to have her home!

Family reunited!

The very next day was a court appearance for my son and soon to be ex-wife--no need to mention an incredible low for me and our close-knit family.

I felt buried!

Now I have four days left in the month, where I am closing my oldest Etsy shop, contemplating closing the others because of changing Etsy policies, and ending with my birthday on the last day of the month!  I don't know whether to laugh or cry!

Ever had one of those months?

Beach Stroll

Spent our anniversary in Cannon Beach Oregon. A very peaceful, relaxing time--thought you might enjoy a stroll on the beach:

Riverside Lunch

Hubby and I often take time to find a quiet place by the river to eat lunch. Yesterday was one of those days.

While looking at a map a couple of days before, I saw a riverfront natural area park that I never knew was there! So we went exploring it's environs.  The weather was perfect, sunshine and  in the mid-60 degree range with a cool breeze.

We found a shady, peaceful spot  and hubby went back to get our camp chairs.

After lunch we went exploring . . .  and shooting, of course!  Enjoy my shots!

Main river in the distance 

Low water level between the shore and the Elk Island

Look close!

Nature area inhabitants!

  It was a wonderful day, just right for a selfie! 

Do you have any lunchtime traditions?

June evening memories!

It's June already and I haven't posted and we are already on the 7th day of June!

June is one of my favorite months--the starting of Summer!  I remember my childhood when we would roll in the grass on warm summer nights.   When we were finished with rolling around, we would lie on of stomachs and look for four-leafed clovers in the lawn.  Such carefree fun!

When I was older, living in the mid-west, the fireflies would appear in the dusty evenings.  We would sit on the porch, enjoying the feel of the heavy storm-threatening air and watch out over the grass for fireflies flying slowly and erratically, looking for a mate! Sorry no pictures of fireflies!

Now, here in the PNW, the sunset is very late, it is not dark til after 9 o'clock and sometimes I am too tired to enjoy nights on my patio (the one with all the plants!)

I really should take that time to just sit and enjoy the tree tops and the sky among my plants and flowers on the deck.  Great simple, quiet times!

Not my most flattering pose!

Patio flowers at night!

What are some of your June quiet times like?