GIVEAWAY !!! ***$50***

Yes!!! This GIVEAWAY is being sponsored by

 Hometalk and is for a $50 Gift Card

to Lowe’s Companies!

I think we could ALL use some home improvement spending money!

I was lucky to win a gift card from

Sue at Sullivan and Murphy Blog.

Our next home improvement project is to paint our front door!

I had to search for these ‘old’ photos so look past the Christmas decorations! And notice the plain….dull….boring…white door!

Our house is truly a Lavender Cottage

….it’s purple! heehee!

Many homes in Florida are painted cool pastel colors and ours is a light shade of lavender. So if I spend my home improvement money on paint, what color should I paint it? I have a color in mind! I’ll see it anyone else thinks of it!

When you visit Hometalk you have access to a group of awesome panelist by clicking HERE.

 

Onto the FUN part of the GIVEAWAY,

the RULES!

The first one is mandatory…

1. Be a follower and leave a comment.

And these are for extra entries!

Leave a separate comment for each one that you do!

2. Go to the Hometalk facebook page HERE and from there you can enter the weekly $250 home and garden giveaway.

3. Join Hometalk…it’s FREE…HERE.

4. Blog about the Giveaway or put this button up on your blog.

GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN!

Tell ALL of your friends about it

with Facebook, Twitter and blog posts!

If we have over 500 entries in this giveaway, the amount on the Gift Card will be increased to $100!

So let’s get the WORD out!

 THANKS Hometalk !!!

Fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains

We are always happy to get back to our condo here in the mountains of Western North Carolina to look out over our beloved mountains!

Imagine our surprise when we walked onto the balcony this morning and saw THIS amazing view!

We went to the North Carolina Arboretum on the last warm day of Fall!

It’s always a beautiful garden to walk through at any time of the year! (no enhancement on these photos!)

 

I’m joining Mary at the dear little red house

for Mosaic Monday! Hope you’ll join us, too!

Are the leaves all gone at your house?

They’re going FAST here!

Come back next week

for a BIG GIVEAWAY!

I’ll have some ‘spending cash’

to GIVE AWAY!!! ♥

Where do 35,000 people park?

EVERYWHERE!!!

  

I’m going to hop around a bit and go back in time to the Festivals I went to last weekend!

McIntosh was by far the BIGGEST festival I’ve ever been to!

 

35,000 people from all over the country pour into the small town of McIntosh for ONE DAY of shopping!

All of the vendors are selling hand made items ONLY!

So there are some incredible arts and crafts!

Aren’t these mosaics gorgeous!

I saw a LOT of things I wanted but I only bought a few things!

It was overwhelming to me!

Have you ever seen SO many wonderful things that you had trouble knowing what to buy! I have to be careful with money so I made my selections with care!

I bought a sweet little Raggedy Annie doll

from Sandy… the Olde Country Cupboard !

My girlfriend, Kat KNEW I would get one!

And some Spa scented tarts from Samantha … Samantha's Accessories !

I could not pass up this gourd that looks like a pumpkin!

It was an amazing Festival!

I can’t wait for next year! (I better start saving my money!)

Have you ever been to a Festival this big..

or seen puppies this CUTE!!!

Help me solve a MYSTERY!

We drive the back roads through Florida, Georgia and South Carolina before we reach North Carolina.

It takes a little longer but it’s a much more enjoyable trip!

We saw these beautiful purple flowers and

even took the time to stop and take a few photos! (This is the only one I altered.)

When we saw this field I said, Look at that Maize!

But is that what it is?

When I google, Maize, the plants I see don’t look like this!

So what do you think this mystery plant is? It was only about 3 feet tall and appeared to be fully mature. But WHAT is it? I know someone will know!

UPDATE!!!

Don’t we love our blog buddies! They are always a wealth of information! Rachel knew the mystery crop is Milo…. Rusty Milo! According to Wikipedia, they are in the Sorghum family and grown for feed grain! Here’s some Google pics…a couple look like MY photos!  Thanks Rachel !!!

(I don’t know what the purple wild flower is either!)

Well…that didn’t take long either!

Cyndi wrote, “The purple flowers look like Liatris to me...common name Gayfeather. I have some in my garden. Hope this helps!”

Mysteries solved!

Thanks girlfriends!

That IS a Monarch Butterfly I hope! heehee!

I woke up in a new world this morning!

My Dad used to tease me and say that I woke up in a new world every day! I think it had a little hidden meaning! heehee!

But today I DID wake up in a different part of the country!

We traveled to the mountains of Western North Carolina to enjoy the last of the pretty Fall leaves and the cool weather!

 

Our first stop this morning was a drive over to our house.

 

We’ve moved into a condo

but we still own a house here, too.

Let’s walk around back….

This is a huge Butternut tree!

 

And a pretty maple out by the shed.

I walked all around taking photos in the cool morning temps!

We even saw a hawk when we drove into the driveway but I missed that pic!

Then we went to our favorite restaurant, Papa’s and Beer!

Now it’s time to read my emails…again…

and spend a little time visiting!

Give me a few days to get caught up!

Remember…I woke up in a new world today!

Do you think he meant that as a compliment?

I sure do miss my Dad…especially in the Fall!

Enjoy your day! ♥

Let’s have some fun with photos!

I take a lot of photographs...I know we ALL do!

You can’t blog without photos! It’s no FUN!

We don’t have time to work on each and every one of our photos but it’s FUN to work on some of them, especially those we want to put in our sidebars!

I saw some neat photos that Debbie had worked on...HERE!

And that gave me the idea to show a little step by step process for making a photo special!

I took this photo....

and opened up Picassa and clicked on the photo to enlarge, then clicked on picnik. (this is a good time to walk away and get a glass of water or a snack. picnik takes a little while to open)

So now we are in picnik....

click on Effects

go to Vignette and do a little magic there,

then go to Focal B & W and place the circle of color that you want to highlight and apply,

Go to Frame, go to Border and choose your outside and inside colors and the width of the frame.

Now it’s time to add the Text...

I used Love Ya Like a.... and changed the color.

Then added Text again.

And VOILA! Wendy is prettier than ever!

I used some of the same techniques for these!

Enjoy Blogging....

I’m joining Kim at Savvy Southern for WOW!!!

Have fun with your photos!

(and let me know if you work some magic on YOUR photos!)

Is it TOO early to bag the Thanksgiving Turkey?

This is NOT what you think of when you think of Florida!

Imagine my surprise when I saw these on the side of the hill

on my way to Walmart.

We live in a community of LOTS of houses but there are some wooded areas around and some green areas. So these wild turkeys must have walked through the neighborhood on their way to the woods!

I am so crazy about taking photos that I turned the flashers on my car and pulled over just a bit....and took a bunch of photos! Everyone that had to go around me slowed down to look though!

 

I get so excited seeing wildlife! Don’t you?

I’m joining Mary at the dear little red house

for Mosaic Monday!