Photo 365 #95: Connect

Connection in a digital world.  It’s an interesting concept, isn’t it?  All the social networks urge you to connect with others, though how deep that connection really is really varies.  For me, connection is about emotion, how those “friends” on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ and all those other places make me feel on a visceral level.  I’m happy to say that those friends most often make me feel a wonderful sense of community, that I’m part of something larger than myself.  So many of those friends help celebrate highs and sympathize with lows, and it’s hard to imagine life without them.

connection

I almost posted this image last week…

Photo 365 #73

We went to another Panther football game yesterday, and it was a lot of fun.  We tailgated in the afternoon before the game, we played a couple games of bean bag toss, and generally had a great time.

pantherband

Of course, the real reason I go to football games (other than to hang out with great friends) is for the band.  Back in high school, I went to home games because I was in the band.  Now that my marching band days are well behind me, I go simply to enjoy the pregame and halftime performances.  Once a band geek, always a band geek. 🙂

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Photo 365 #59

Went to an anniversary party last night for Seymour’s godmother and her husband (who are also one of his many aunts and uncles).  They’ve been married 25 years.

sarahcricket

Twenty-five years of togetherness has given them two children, one of whom is Cricket’s beloved godmother.  She’s expecting her first child soon.  Everyone is very excited, though I suspect Cricket will be in for a rude awakening when baby arrives, as he recently proclaimed that his godmother and hubby are his other mommy and daddy.

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Photo 365 #54

One of the things we did over the weekend to sort of celebrate our anniversary involved attending a football game at the University of Northern Iowa. It was my first time tailgating, and I had a lot of fun (despite the swarms of little black bugs).

image

Nothing says fun like a game of catch with the old man.

And the Panthers? They stomped the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles 50-7. Those seven points were scored late in the third quarter against the Panthers’ third string. It was a blowout.

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Run away!

Wait!  No, please don’t run away!  That was supposed to be funny…You know, and make you think of this…

Or even this:

rugenOr, better yet, this:

Running Away Final Cover

It’s release day for Running Away, the second book in Julie Hutchings Shinigami series, and I’m super excited to help her celebrate!  But what’s behind this pretty cover?

Photo 365 #45

Since Bubbles was gone last weekend, we let him have a few friends over last night to help him celebrate his birthday. They had a blast playing football in the yard, staying up late watching movies, and generally eating us out of house and home.

"Let's tell ghost stories!"

“Let’s tell ghost stories!”

But I have to admit I felt a little bad for Cricket. He adores his big brother, and he wants nothing more than to hang out with the big boys. But Bubbles needs time away from being the big brother now and then, and there’s no explaining that to a four-year-old.

Something tells me this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

(c) 2014. All rights reserved.

Photo 365 #30

I’ve been cleaning my office.

2014-09-07 22.38.58

These are two of the four tins stuffed full of notes that I saved from my high school years.  I read through a few of them and couldn’t help laughing; my friends and I were big fans of writing in code, one friend in particular, and I’ve now lost the key to one of the codes we used to use.  I found several notes written in said code and couldn’t read a single one. 🙂  There was, however, one note that utilized two codes, one of which I could read.  Unfortunately, only one word was written in that code, so I now know who the note was about, but I’ve long since forgotten what it was about.

Good times, great oldies.  Here’s to you, mis amigos! 😀

(c) 2014.  All rights reserved.

Photo Friday: Party time!

Gotta love a party, man.  In my family, September is full of parties: my grandpa’s birthday is today (he’d be 79 – miss you, Grandpa!), Bubbles’ birthday is a week from today (he’ll be 11 – how the heck did that happen?!), my cousin’s birthday is the following weekend, my anniversary is the week after that (five years sure have flown by!), and then the month ends on my mother-in-law’s birthday.  That’s a whole lot of activity to pack into 30 short days.

IMG_20130813_112118

And yet, today’s picture has nothing to do with any of those things.  Today’s picture is all about a party with great friends, thanks to a post I was tagged in on Facebook a couple hours ago.  These three ladies have been my best friends for…well, forever, and I can’t imagine not having them to talk to and laugh with, even if we no longer talk to or laugh with each other as often as we used to do.  Growing up has a way of making that happen, it seems.  And yet, on those rare occasions when we do get together, it’s as if nothing has changed.

Gotta love it.

I hope you all have a happy Friday and a fantastic weekend!  Don’t forget to see what Charnele’s got posted for this week’s prompt!

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Photo Friday: Lasts

I had so many fun ideas for a photo post about lasts.  See, I’ve got this post that’s been incubating for a week now, and it would be a perfect lasts post, but then I thought of this picture:

Oh, Gretchen, how we miss you!

Oh, Gretchen, how we miss you!

This was my last official day of high school.  Graduation day.  Both bitter and sweet, I find it hard to believe that it’s been twelve years since this picture was taken.  I’d love to say we all stayed in touch, but we didn’t.  Well, three of us did, and I couldn’t be more pleased about that.

Here’s hoping I get to see you lovely ladies soon!

Don’t forget to stop by Charnele’s blog and check out her post.  Have a great Friday, and an awesome Labor Day weekend!

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Photo 365 #18

Seymour’s cousin came over Saturday night so that we could go out on a date.  It was utterly fantastic!

sundayam

She stayed the night and had breakfast with us Sunday morning.  Happy fun family times!

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