Valentine Berries and Flowers

What a fun surprise yesterday afternoon - my beloved came home bearing gifts!!! 

I confess that I adore fresh flowers.  I know they die quickly, too expensive, so on and so forth.  But every time I walk in this room and see them I smile.  I love the way they smell and I love the deep red color. 

 

I also love that he knows me well enough that he started taking pictures of the flowers for me.  That’s some true love right there!

 

He also brought these beauties home – and you might notice in the 1st picture there are only 2 on the plate.  Yeah…      It was a gorgeous afternoon here, so we each took a strawberry and sat in the backyard.  Such a wonderful time sitting and talking together.

We did go out for dinner and had a nice time.  We had considered going to a movie dining theater, but there just wasn’t anything playing right now that we’re dying to see.

One last thought – so many people posted on FB yesterday about how it is a ‘made up’ holiday and they don’t need that just to show somebody they love them, that it should happen every day.  They are absolutely right!  But I also don’t think it’s a bad thing to slow down one day a year and remind those you love how important they are to you.

Friday’s Fave Five #177

Oh my goodness – Valentine’s Day coming up!  Weren’t we just singing Christmas Carols????

Time to share some of my favorite moments from the last week.  What blessings abound and it’s good to take a morning and remember them.  Thank you Susanne for providing us this time to share on your blog – Living To Tell The Story.

 

1. Salvation Army – Last Saturday my daughter and I joined a group from our church to serve lunch at the Salvation Army.  I’m not sure what we really expected, but I can tell you that it turned out to be extraordinary.  We were put on the ‘women’s’ team and served lunch upstairs to the women who lived there, mostly due to abusive situations. 

My beautiful daughter, in between the groups of ladies coming in for lunch.

Our church does a “1st Saturday” project where we go out and do something for the community every month.  This month was serving at the Salvation Army and it was so well received we’ve already scheduled another. 

And this month we added a little something – out to lunch after the event for fellowship.  What fun that was!

2. Time Spent With Friends – I got to go out with friends last Friday night and had the best time!  The more I am with these ladies the more I love them.  And lucky me, time with friends tonight as well!

3. Valentines for Brooklyn – I decided this year to do something a little fun for our granddaughter.  They only live about 45 minutes from us, but you know how it is with busy.  My plan was to put something in the mail to her every day in February up until Valentine’s Day.  I got a little late start, but have made it every day so far.

Now when I say we’ve sent something every day I want to be clear that it hasn’t been big, fabulous gifts.  We’ve sent cards – homemade cards, singing/dancing cards from the store, cards with stickers – and little gifts – box of conversation heart candy, valentine bead necklace, a pack of Valentine tissues, etc.  Small things, but she has been having so much fun going to the mail box each day to see what is there.

We love this little girl so very much and it’s such a simple, small thing to do and brings her big smiles.

4. Orchestra at Church – Last Sunday was the first time we got to see our daughter play during church service in the church orchestra and it was wonderful!  She and her brother both played the viola all through school, then the instruments sat.  When our church put out a call for orchestra members she talked to the director, joined and is having a great time!  Another girl her age also joined – and she plays viola as well so the girls are enjoying getting to know each other.  God is so good.  :)

5. Genealogy – This past week our son has gotten immersed in genealogy and is thoroughly enjoying it!  What that means for me, besides the fact that is incredibly interesting, is that we’ve spent much more time on the phone together than normal.  And what mother wouldn’t love that???

Card #1–I’ve Got My Eye On YOU Valentine!

I love it when you can send a card that has special meaning between the sender and the recipient.  That’s the case with this Valentine for our granddaughter.

The back story – we sometimes do Face Time on the iPhones with her so that we can see her and chat.  Papa and Brooklyn started doing a close-up of their eye and saying “I’ve got my eye on you” which made everybody laugh.

 

This was such an easy card to make – I used the Monkey Eyes 4 You set from Scrappin Doodles for the pink dotted background, the monkey and the hearts at the bottom.  The sentiment I just typed out.  I bought googly eyes to fit and that graphic is raised a bit on pop dots.

I think he’s just darling!

Valentine Sticker Soap Pump

I confess – this little project is so simple I’m going to do it for every single season!  And even though my husband isn’t standing with pom pom’s begging me to do each one, he’s a good sport and does use them.

 

Very, very simple and fast.  Just remove the sticker from the front of the soap pump, then add stickers and ribbon.  You might notice this is only half full of soap – well apparently we don’t use an entire bottle of soap in a month, so I pulled the stickers off the Christmas soap pump and just reused it.

 

Be sure to put a sticker at the top of the pump – it’s like the little crowning glory.   :)

Working Puzzles Together

Well look at me posting!  I tell you what – I didn’t think I was ever going to fully recover from all the holiday season goodness.  But here in a blink of an eye it’s going to be Valentine’s season tomorrow.  Where does the time go???  (And before I go on, does anybody else miss the goodhearted humor of Gomer Pyle?  What a lovable goofball!

 

Here’s where some of our evenings are spent now – our kitchen table with a 1000 piece puzzle – what was I thinking?  I loved the sound of evenings doing a puzzle together, but I’m quickly discovering that I should have started with fewer pieces.

I don’t remember doing family puzzles growing up, but since I have one of the worst memories ever I called my mom to ask her.  She said no, we didn’t really do that.  So where I got this idea I don’t know.  But I’m so glad I did because Keith got to talking about some of his childhood stories while we sat and worked the puzzle.  Very good evenings, conversation with the one you love – priceless.

I will admit that we need to get moving on this so that we can scooch the puzzle to one end of the table and start eating again at the other end.  Right now there’s like 10 million pieces at the bottom of the picture that you can’t see.

 

The colors in this upper corner remind me so much of a Monet painting and it makes me giggle every time I think of that.  I’m about as far from high brow as a person can be, so it’s not very often I have a “Monet Moment.”

Please don’t burst my bubble if you don’t agree with my assessment of the colors…….   LOL!

{Review} Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey

Chasing Mona Lisa
by Tricia Goyer and Mike Yorkey
322 pages
Revell Publishers

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:   It is August 1944 and Paris is on the cusp of liberation. As the soldiers of the Third Reich flee the Allied advance, they ravage the country, stealing countless pieces of art. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring will stop at nothing to claim the most valuable one of all, the Mona Lisa, as a post-war bargaining chip to get him to South America. Can Swiss OSS agents Gabi Mueller and Eric Hofstadler rescue DaVinci's masterpiece before it falls into German hands?

With nonstop action, Chasing Mona Lisa is sure to get readers' adrenaline pumping as they join the chase to save the most famous painting in the world. From war-ravaged Paris to a posh country chateau, the race is on--and the runners are playing for keeps.

Read an excerpt, watch a video and find out more here. http://www.triciagoyer.com/historicalfiction.html#ChasingMonaLisa

 

MY REVIEW:  In a book that definitely should be Hollywood bound, the authors deftly send us back to the Nazi German occupation of Paris during WWII.  From the very beginning of the book we are kept on the edge of our seat during this adrenaline pumping story.

Through the mad rush to see who reaches the Mona Lisa first we meet both the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ and there is never any problem deciding who to root for.  This seriously was a book I hated to set aside and kept saying to myself “Just one more chapter and then I’ll……”

Another plus to this book was learning about the tremendous effort during the war to protect and preserve the great art classics.  This is something I knew absolutely nothing about and it was so fascinating to me.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:  Tricia Goyer is the coauthor of The Swiss Courier as well as the author of many other books, including Night Song and Dawn of a Thousand Nights, both past winners of the ACFW's Book of the Year Award for Long Historical Romance. Goyer lives with her family in Arkansas. For more about Tricia and her other books visitwww.triciagoyer.com

Mike Yorkey is the author or coauthor of dozens of books, including The Swiss Courier and the bestselling Every Man's Battle series. Married to a Swiss native, Yorkey lived in Switzerland for 18 months. He and his family currently reside in California. For more about Mike  and his other books visitwww.mikeyorkey.com

 

Win an iTouch SPY Prize Pack!

Enter 1/16 - 1/31. RSVP for Party today!

Win an iTouch SPY Pack in the Chasing Mona Lisa Giveaway from @triciagoyer
@mikeyorkey!

Chasing Mona Lisa is the continuing tale of Gabi Mueller and Eric Hofstadler (first introduced in The Swiss Courier). This time the due are on a relentless quest to save the most famous painting in the world  - the Mona Lisa. You can help Gabi and Eric with your very own spy pack when you enter The Chasing Mona Lisa Giveaway!

One passionate protector will receive:

• iTouch (The must-have device for any spy. Camera, Maps & Music.)</ li>
• Starbucks Gift Card (For all those late nights.)
• Moleskin Notebook (For those important notes.)
• Invisible Ink Pen (Don’t want anyone reading those important notes.)
• Chasing Mona Lisa by Tricia Goyer & Mike Yorkey (Great handbook and intriguing tale for any spy-in-training!)

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends at noon on January 31st. The winner will be announced at the Chasing Mona Lisa Facebook Party on 1/31. Tricia and Mike will be hosting an author chat (on Facebook and Live from Tricia's website) and giving away their books and a Book Club prize pack! (Ten copies of the book for your small group or book club AND a LIVE Author Chat for your group with Tricia and Mike.)

So grab your copy of Chasing Mona Lisa and join Tricia and Mike on the evening of the 31st for an author chat, spy training (do you know how to pick a lock? ) and lots of giveaways.

Don't miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 31st!