Birds of MN

One thing that's nice on the lake in Minnesota is all the birds that are on the lake. It's fun to just sit on the boat and see what you can see.

I got to see a red cardinal, but that little guy was so fast that I couldn't get a picture. They really are beautiful birds.

The first bird we saw on the lake was a Bald Eagle. When I was growing up I don't ever remember seeing them, but in the last couple of years we've been able to see one around the lake. If I hadn't of noticed this guy fly over the water I probably would never have seen him in the tree.

A heron flew over head, they're really pretty when they're just relaxing in the shallow water. I like how the look like their on stilts. But in the air they're just as pretty.

This year there were tons of Canadian geese. I especially like this picture with the baby geese, goslings, that still have their baby feathers. Canadian Geese on parade.

Lots more Canadian Geese - eh!

A tern sitting on top of a buoy.

And then a family favorite, the Loon. I love their coloring. Growing up they were hard to find, but there were lots of them this year. There must be lots of fish in the lake.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I just realized this year that everyone in my family are crazy bird watching people, haha. Everytime a Loon is in sight they all do the "Loon Call"

Cloud Pics from the Midwest

I remember a teacher in high school that looked at the sky one day and said look how beautiful. Ever since then I've noticed the clouds and when I see a cloud formation I love I have to get a picture.

Smooth water and partly cloudy skies.

I love the look of the clouds with the warm orange colors behind it.

Big fluffy white clouds with a rainbow underneath it, it's always special to catch a rainbow.

Just before the storm the clouds were coming in, but luckily a little sun shone through the clouds.

And I saved the best for last, at least in my opinion this was my favorite. I just love the variations of gray along with that bright orange. Wouldn't this be a perfect picture for a room inspiration for wonderful colors. I love it.

Hope you enjoyed my cloud pictures.

Back from the Midwest

I just got back from a trip to the Mid-West. Almost every year I go back to visit extended family and to see the fireworks on the lake. It was SUPER HOT! I don't think I remember a summer where it was pushing 100 degrees everyday.

I wanted to share some pictures this week from my trip. Today I think I'll share some sunset pictures. I always love looking at the pictures, brings me back to the lake.

This was the first night's sunset. It was a beautiful sunset although the water wasn't calm, it got windy every night when the sun went down, but I guess that's normal if the temps go down at night.

All zoomed in like.

Birds flying at sunset.

This was the next day, the moon was orange and I loved it but couldn't get a close up of it.

This day the water was a lot calmer, I love when the suns reflection hits the water and has a trail of color.

This was the last sunset I saw before leaving. If you notice all those clouds, it rained later that night...like poured with lots of lightning! It was actually nice because the temperature dropped.

It's always sad to leave the lake, but it's better to leave on a high note, right? Right.

If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God. ― G.K. Chesterton

Not as connected

A couple of weeks ago I decided to deactivate my Facebook account. At first I kind of had to say, oh wait I deactivated so I can't look at Facebook anymore, but after a while I had completely forgot about it. But then I got texts from people asking what happened to me and that they didn't see me on Facebook and wanted to know if I was still alive! I mean I've been on that website for almost 10 years...yeeesh. I do miss seeing peoples pictures, but I don't miss people's complaints and random thoughts. In the long term it was just a time waster. The people I do keep in touch with are going to contact me or see me in person. I have to admit there are some people that I don't get to see as much as I want to that I still care about but time and distance make it hard to keep in touch.

Overall I have to say I DO NOT miss Facebook, I've never been into twitter. Instagram is fun but it's take it or leave it.

I'm not saying that I'm trying to get anyone else to do the same, it's just what was right for me and I still have my sanity. I guess I was a little bombarded by the fact that every company wanted me to "like" their page or all the ads on Facebook seemed to know what I would search for online.

How do you feel about social media? I think there are pros and cons to everything.

National Parks

I absolutely LOVE National Parks. Yellowstone has to be my favorite, but it's really hard to have a favorite considering there's the Grand Canyon, and Glacier National Park and Zion and Yosemite and Petrified Forest... Yesh, okay maybe I just love them all!

This is a waterfall we hiked to in Yellowstone.


I've really been in the mood to go to a National Park so I wanted to see what was available near me. Most big National Parks seem to be towards the west coast, but I did find one on the list, Acadia. Acadia is in Maine, which really isn't that close to me, however, it's a lot closer to me now that I live in New Jersey. I have never been to Maine but I've always wanted to go and what a great way to visit by checking out their Parks!

This is a time a camper van would be awesome because stopping along the way or checking out the smaller parks would be awesome, but tenting it is fun cause then you can hear all the scary creatures running around outside. haha My sister freaked me out on one camping trip. On another camping trip we could hear coyotes howling at night. One cool thing about being so far north is having the light of day last forever. I love that about summer time in the northern most states.

Well hopefully this trip will come together and I can get some great pictures to share.

Any National Parks you can think of that you enjoy??

How about National Monuments? Mt Rushmore is an amazing thing to see, it's off the highway quite a ways, but I think it's worth seeing and learning about it.

Nail Colors

I went to the store for some new nail colors. I've been looking at all the "in" colors until my hand looked like a rainbow. Some things just did not work for my skin tone, such as yellow and green. I did end up liking a blue color which is what I used for my toes.



I had never used the NARS brand of nail polish and thought it was pretty good. I like when the color is thick so you don't need twenty coats to make the color in the bottle get on your toes. The color is from their Thakoon collection and the color of the polish is Koliary (not easy to remember) it's a cyan blue that's very pretty. I originally thought I wanted the light blue color, Kutki, it's more a cloud blue, very light colored, but opted for more brightness.

Pardon my super white feet that never seem to tan.



This color is my favorite. It just goes with my peaches and cream skin and makes it glow. I was really impressed with this brand as well. As was the same with NARS, I had never used London Butter before and was really impressed. This one could really go on in one swipe. It's a nice light salmon pink that's creamy instead of having shimmer. The name of the color is interesting as well, Trout Pout. I would definitely get another of this brand.

I may go back and get this really pretty glittery nail polish by Deborah Lippmann. I love the way the glitter ones look, but getting the polish off is such a pain in the neck.

What's your favorite summer nail colors? Do you stick with the classic colors or do you like to venture out and try the trends?

Rambling

So I have yet to post anything in June and the first week is already over, sheesh I'm slacking.

Yesterday I did a little reorganizing of the kitchen and cleaned all the stuff that hadn't been cleaned in a awhile, like the toaster oven. Holey Moley how many crumbs did that thing have. I had my fresh fruit displayed right near the stove which I think was harming the fruit so I moved it away where it can stay cool. I also took stuff off the counters that I never use, more space to put stuff that I do use more frequently. Now if I could only get motivated to do the closet, it's like a stock pile for junk yard pickers in there. It's one of those projects that you hate doing but once things come together and start looking organized and clean it makes you smile to look at. I'll have to remember that.

A couple of cooking shows started this week. I love Hell's Kitchen and Master Chef. I don't know what it is about it. I mean I can't smell or taste the food. I guess I enjoy watching people's technique and what sort of dishes they're making and hopefully maybe I can make them. Sometimes I tend to try the hardest recipes. Which, speaking of recipes, I made this recipe the other day for Mexican Style Shredded Tacos and it was fabulous. (http://onestopcook.wordpress.com) I did not crisp the corn tortillas and I wish I had or maybe next time I'll get shells or even better some fabulously wonderful thin tortilla chips from the "International Isle." I have to say I LOVE that isle. Coming from California I think I get used to the variety of foods available, but her in New Jersey it's a different variety. A lot more Greek and Italian....NOT THAT I'M COMPLAINING!!! <3<3

On another note, I was thinking about having a small herb garden, but I was reading that the herbs need at least 8 hours of sun... This poses a problem for me, the side that does get sun has huge trees in front and the back gets some morning sun and maybe some mid day sun as well and I'm not the type to go hunting around for sun to make sure the little herbsters get their needed sun. I also have a little window sill, but every time I put a plant there it gets knocked down by either a cat or a dog and there's dirt everywhere. It only took me 3 clean-ups to say no more! haha

Well, anyway, not the most exciting post, but had to start somewhere. Enjoy your Thirsty Thursday and have a wonderful weekend, I'm hoping it's full of sun! haha