Father's Day Cookies & 24 years ♥

My husband doesn't eat many of the "treats" that I make.
But he LOVES my butter cookies......

and I'm getting better with royal icing, thanks to some of the fantastic how-to video's over at University of Cookie! Bridget's "Making Royal Icing- video tutorial" was SO helpful!

So we decided for Father's Day, we'd make him some cookies.



Sunshine has been dying to learn how to decorate with rolled fondant.

So we picked up a few supplies
and some ready made fondant
and made little hearts for our I ♥ Dad t-shirt cookies



We are going to sign up for some classes at Michaels, but check out the flower she made all on her own with out an instruction!



What plans do you have for Father's Day?
are you baking anything special?

Sunday is also our 24th Wedding Anniversary!♥

This is part of what I wrote last year.........

I know that I love waking up next to you every morning. I love knowing that you’ll make me laugh out loud every day. I love talking to you and sharing everything with you. I love that you put up with me and all my flaws. I love that you are THE best Dad and provider for our family! I love that you NEVER let us down. I love that your family ALWAYS comes first. I love that you tell me I look fabulous when I feel fat. I love that you hug me when I cry. I love that you will go to the store when I don't feel like going. I love that you will pick up pizza when I don't feel like cooking. I love that you know me. I LOVE that you LOVE me. I love that it’s painfully obvious that our 2 kids are our 2 kids and they have good and bad features/traits/habits from each of us. I hope we have managed to set an example for our girls as to what a happy, successful marriage is.

~Love you honey!!!

You can read more about why I love this man here!

Hope you all have a WONDERFUL father's day!

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2010 St. Louis Race for the Cure

I recently told you how this year was the 10th year that our family has participated in the St. Louis Race for the Cure, in memory of my sister-in-law.

Today had a record breaking 71,000 people registered!!

It's an AMAZING place to be!
Look how there are people in the streets of St. Louis for as far as you can see.

This is a great video put together from one of the local news stations, KSDK.com

Every year we get a group shot of all the family and friends on our team that were able to make it that year.

My family + 2 friends at the finish line.

"There is no way to describe it other than a mass of humanity looking to bring a singular happy ending to thousands of frightening stories."
~Fox 2 News

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St. Louis Komen Race for the Cure- signed up!

Every year, on a Saturday in mid June the streets of downtown St. Louis are painted pink.

(there are people as far as the eye can see ahead of us and behind us)

I just registered my family for this year's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on June 12, 2010.

Each year since 2000 our family and extended family has participated in the St. Louis Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, it's one of the biggest in the country.

In 1999 my wonderful, funny, sweet, loving sister-in-law, Bobbie Brennan, was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. We all walked as a family to support her fight in June 2000. It was an AWESOME event! By March 2001 at 49 years old, Bobbie lost her battle with breast cancer. She left behind a loving husband, 3 children and missed out on seeing her daughter give birth to triplets, her first grand children(pictured here with The Bug Man). Bobbie's family and friends all still gathered in June that year to walk in Bobbie's memory, and we have continued the tradition every year since then!






The picture to the left is one of Hollywood's favorite pictures of her and Aunt Bobbie! ♥ It just show's how much she enjoyed and loved her!


Our team, Brennan-Nickel Brigade now walks every year in Bobbie's memory and in support of Teri Nickel, Bobbie's niece who fought breast cancer shortly after and has been in remission for several years now!

Our family has grown, Bobbie now has 7 grandchildren, and our team has grown! This picture was taken last year of part of our team along with our team banner.

It's such an overwhelming event to participate in. The SEA of people and pink walking thru the streets of downtown St. Louis is UNBELIEVABLE.

Even though most of us only participate in the 1 mile walk........we still get our picture at the finish line.

* Yes - Sunshine colored part of her hair pink last year *

After the walk, we all usually gather for a fun day at the park, a restaurant or someone's house. What ever we do, it's a fun day and awesome way to celebrate Bobbie's life!

The Susan G. Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure hit the ground running in 1999 - the first St. Louis race immediately earned the distinction of being the largest road race ever held in the city. The 10,257 St. Louis Race participants set and still hold a Komen record as the largest first-year event of any race around the globe. Today, the Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure is one of the largest in the Komen Race for the Cure Series and one of the top five largest 5K races in the world!


Over 66,000 people gathered for the 11th Annual Race downtown St. Louis in June 2009. The event raised over 3.2 million dollars in the fight against breast cancer, with 75% of those funds staying in St. Louis to help organizations provide breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs.

June 12 2010 is sure to be even bigger!

If you live in or near St. Louis, and have never participated, I highly encourage you to help make the St. Louis Race for the Cure another huge success!
If you can't be at the race, it's easy to make a donation.

"Imagine life without breast cancer"

This post sponsored by:

want to see your ad here? contact me

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I'm Lovin' It - My Mom

Welcome to the Party!! I'm Lovin' It is a party I host at the end of each week to celebrate things that makes us happy....things we are loving! Please share anything from a new(or old) product, to a recipe, a picture you took, a project, or even your children or family.....really anything that you would like to share that you are loving right now!!

Quick bit of blog news:

~ EDITED - VOTING IS OVER AND I WON!!! ~
I have been nominated over at i am mommy for "Best Overall Blog"
**The winner of each category will receive a $50 cash prize.......If I win I plan to spend a day using the $50 to perform Random Acts of Kindness. (inspired by this post)

Thanks so much for voting! It's a tight race right now, so every single vote counts!
Voting ends on Monday May 10 - one vote per computer

Click here to vote at i am mommy

Since Mother's Day is this weekend.........

I thought it would share how much I love my MOM!♥



My mom has been thru a lot in the last several years since we lost my dad, but thru it all she has remained strong! She has over come all of the obstacles life has thrown at her, and she never lets them get her down for long.



Each spring we like to go out and buy plants together. We made an unplanned stop at a wonderful nursery last weekend.
She made fun of me for taking so many pictures......
I told her it's the only way I can have plants and not kill them! lol



I want to share my favorite Mom poem:
~Author Unknown

Thank you God....

For pretending not to notice that one of your angels is missing and for lending her to me. You must have known how much I would need her, so you turned your head for a minute and allowed her to slip away to me.

Sometimes I wonder what special name you had for her. I call her "Mother." To think of not having her with me is unbearable. I don't know what I would have done without her all these years. She has loved me without reservation, whether I deserved to be loved or not. Willingly and happily, she has fed me, clothed me, taught me, encouraged me, inspired me, and with her own special brand of gentleness reprimanded me.

A bit of Heaven's own blue, her eyes reflect hope and love for you and her family. She has tried to instill that love in us. She's not the least bit afraid of work. With her constant scrubbing, polishing, painting, and fixing, she has made the house we lived in a beautiful home. When I'm confused, she sets me straight. She knows what matters and what doesn't... what to hold onto and what to let go of.

You have given her an endless supply of love. She gives it away freely but never seems to run low. Even before I am aware I have a need, she is making plans and working to supply it. You gave her great patience. She is the best listener I have met. With understanding and determination she always seems to turn a calamity into some kind of success. She urges me to carry my own load in life but is always close by when I stumble and fall.

She hurts when I hurt. She cries when I cry. And she will not be happy until she has seen a smile on my face once more. God, please thank the other angels for filling in for her while she is away. I know it hasn't been easy. Her shoes would be hard to fill. She has to be one of your GREATEST MIRACLES God, and I want to thank you for lending my Mother to me.

I love my Mom so much and I don't know what I would do without her and I want to thank her for everything that she has done for me ♥

I LOVE you Mom!

I've linked this post to The Inspired Room's Inspiring Finds
******************
Now it’s your turn, let us know what you’re lovin' this week! If you have something to share with us on your blog, add your link below. Just please be sure to:

1. Add the permalink to the specific blog post, not your general blog address in the MckLinky form below (need help with finding the permalink? click here to see a great post Darcy wrote on this!)
   
2. Include in your blog entry a link back to this post so that your readers can come and see what everyone else is loving today and have an opportunity to contribute! You can use the code below to add the banner to your posts or blog if you'd like.
   
3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and leave comments! That’s what makes a party fun!! You don't want to come to a party and have no one talk to you!!
   
4. Let me know if you have any questions, problems or need help!
   

The party will stay open until May 9, 2010 11pm CST.

If you want to play along don't forget to grab a button to place at the top or bottom of your post to show you are participating in I'm Lovin' It Fridays!
Simply copy the code below in the box and paste where you can edit the html in your blog post.

<a href="http://www.tidymom.net"><img border="0" src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k190/tidymom/my%20blog%20stuff/layout%20stuff/Imlovinit_button.png" /></a>

I'm going to try something new this week....... the thumbnail links instead of text links. If anyone has any problems or needs any help just let me know, you can leave a comment or email me tidymom{at}charter{dot}net




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Glimpses of Home

Emily, from Chatting at the Sky, is hosting a linky party this week called "Glimpses of Home."

The idea is to capture a glimpse of your home that makes your space home to you.

So, I'm going to be HONEST today........
I'm not ALWAYS "tidy"



This is exactly how my desk looks this morning.

It's actually how it looks MOST mornings.

I eat the SAME cereal every morning with my coffee, while I catch up on my favorite blogs, twitter and facebook.
(notice how I don't even bother to carry the cereal box and bowl back to the kitchen...yep, every day)

Both my cell and house phone at my reach.
My note pad, camera supplies......the lap top.

I'll pick it up thru out the day....because all of the clutter will get on my nerves....
but it will look just like this again tomorrow morning.

I LOVE being home every day and I love my space, I love this room.

Head over to Emily's and link up glimpses of your home!

Be sure to read this post while you're there......be inspired!

I Heart Faces - Jump for Joy!

The theme this week at I Heart Faces is “Jump for Joy” and Kelly Moore is the guest photographer judge.

I was so excited for this week, because I knew just what picture I wanted to enter!

I took Sunshine and two of her best friends outs out for a little "photo shoot" a few weeks ago and we got a great "jump shot".

******************************

I also wanted to thank everyone for all of the WONDERFUL Birthday wishes yesterday!

You all are AWESOME!!

Want to see what my family got me?

Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens

Tamrac 3536 Express 6 Camera Bag (Black)

♥ I had the perfect birthday! ♥

Be sure to head over to I Heart Faces to see all of the other GREAT entries!! Should be a really fun week!
(I've got my post up a little early.........the linky party doesn't go up until late tonight)

WFMW- Blog help Edition - Pictures & Collages

This week, Works for Me Wednesday is a themed edition

"Blogging tips"

There is one type of question I get asked almost more than anything, time and time again. So I thought this would be the perfect time to address it!

"How do you make those cute picture collages on your blog?"....."What do you use to edit your pictures?"......."How do you get words on your pictures?"....."How do you watermark your pictures?"....."How do you get those cute frames around your pictures?"

Do you see a pattern here? Everyone wants to know about my pictures! LOL

I have one word for you people................

PICNIK.com

Seriously........it's SOOO easy! Picnik is a FREE online site that is easy to use. I fell in love with it so much, last year I upgraded to Picnik premium, so I have access to everything they have to offer!

I upload pictures to Picnik straight from my camera, but you can get them from your computer, photobucket, flickr, facebook....numerous other places where you may have pictures stored.

The first thing I do with every picture is "Auto Fix" - if I don't like the way that looks, then I go to "Exposure" and auto fix.

Then I go to "Colors" and pick "Neutral Picker" and click the dropper on something white. If there is nothing white in my picture I try the auto fix, but I usually don't like that, so I will play with the slider until the color looks right to me (it's not usually that far off because I REALLY try and set my white balance when I take pictures.

From there I crop my picture if it needs it.

After that - just play! Don't be afraid to try settings and ADJUST them, I rarely ever choose an edit that I use with just one click - I will fade it or something. TRY lots of things, you can always UNDO.

I love to use the Touch Up section for faces - but again, don't use an edit with one click.....slide the fade bar.....most of the time subtle is better.

Text and Frames - are well,.... text and frames - don't be afraid to adjust colors and sizes, even on the frames. I use the frame Boarder the most. Where it says "outer color" click that black box- see all of the colors you can change to! you can even get a dropper and pick a color from your picture. Adjust the thickness. Choose "Caption Height" and adjust the size and this will give you the box below your picture, where I add text, like in my Sweetheart Cherry Cake picture here.

The premium features that I love and use most are the advanced edits - you can adjust curves, levels, dodging, burning even cloning.....I use them all, I adjust them to my liking......again, I rarely ever click and I'm done....I ALWAYS adjust it! Levels is a great way to brighten up a picture if it needs it......in the Curves there are some GREAT B&W adjustments, Sepia and others (more than what you can do in the free edits)

Black & White with a little color

This is a favorite edit of mine, make a picture B&W , then slide the fade to where you have light color back - Click Apply. Then make the picture B&W again, then THIS time click the brush next to the fade bar - an effect painting box will pop up, make sure the "effect" tab is clicked, adjust your brush size, and paint over an area in your picture where you'd like a little bit of color to show. When it looks the way you'd like it - Click apply!

That's how I got this picture

When I'm finished I resize and sharpen - make sure you're picture is zoomed into 100% when you sharpen (I usually sharpen to 2 or 3 on the bar). Then save your picture to any where you want!!

To make a collage -
Go to Home, choose Collage
At the bottom left you will see you can choose where you wish to get pictures from that you want to put in your collage.
Choose the layout you want.
You can adjust the spacing and other things.....
I almost ALWAYS change the color! - You will see a black box next to "spacing"
click that black box and you can choose any color you wish for your collage back ground color. (I usually choose white - but I sometimes pick a color like I did here.) This post has a great example of a few collages and a picture with round corners (you do that in frames)

Collage examples


Rounded corners (this option is in frames)




To watermark your picture......Add Text (I usually do white or black) and then fade, I usually fade close to 80%.

It's all THAT easy!! Just play around......don't be afraid to try things!

While we are talking about pictures, I wanted to share something.....
Back in December my bloggy friend Robin convinced me to take a picture every day for a year...it's called a 365 project.

We started on Jan 1 and have joined a few Flickr 365 groups.

The goal is to see how your photography improves and be able to look back at the year and see it thru your lens.

Well, with one month down.....I'm having SO much fun!

I'm learning more about my camera!

Making some awesome and creative Flickr friends!
I'm learning to look at things differently and be more creative!

For the month of January, I tried to stick to black and white or very little color.

I thought each month I could share with you some of my favorites!
(I may set up another blog for this sometime, but for now they're all just on flickr, but you can leave comments, or constructive criticism)




I'm trying to make it a bit of a journal. Most days I try to take a picture of something that represents the day, along with a few self portraits thrown in each month.

If you would like to give a 365 project a try....it's not too late, you can start any time!

The Flickr groups Robin and I have joined are : Project 365 and Shutter Sister’s 365.

Check out Robin's first month here

Here’s a mosaic of my whole month!

1. Jan 1 2010 (1/365), 2. Jan 2 2010 (2/365), 3. Jan 3 2010 (3/365), 4. Jan 4 2010 (4/365), 5. Jan 5, 2010 (5/365), 6. Jan 6, 2010 (6/365), 7. Jan 7, 2010 (7/365), 8. Jan 8, 2010 (8/365), 9. Jan 9, 2010 (9/365), 10. Jan 10, 2010 (10/365), 11. Jan 11, 2010 (11/365), 12. Jan 12, 2010 (12/365), 13. Jan 13, 2010 (13/365), 14. Jan 14, 2010 (14/365), 15. Jan 15, 2010 (15/365), 16. Jan 16, 2010 (16/365), 17. Jan 17, 2010 (17/365), 18. Jan 18, 2010 (18/365), 19. Jan 19, 2010 (19/365), 20. Jan 20, 2010 (20/365), 21. Jan 21, 2010 (21/365), 22. Jan 22, 2010 (22/365), 23. Jan 23, 2010 (23/365), 24. Jan 24, 2010 (24/365), 25. Jan 25, 2010 (25/365, 26. Jan 26, 2010 (26/365), 27. Jan 27, 2010 (27/365), 28. Jan 28, 2010 (28/365), 29. Jan 29, 2010 (29/365), 30. Jan 30, 2010 (30/365), 31. Jan 31, 2010 (31/365)

If you want any help using picnik, just leave a comment and I'll answer you via email, if you give me your email - and I'll try and post in the comments too so other's can see the answers.

Cullen turns One!

One of THE BEST things that happened to me this year was ♥Cullen♥

My family surprised me with him for my birthday! I know they are reading this and laughing because they tease me that the day they went to get him I told a friend "Gosh, I hope they are NOT getting me a dog!" LOL

You can see all of my Cullen posts here

Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.

~Roger Caras

He's my best little bud, he's always by my side!

He waits for us to get home

He's always ready to play

and he sits up like a pretty boy when he wants attention

He turns ONE on Christmas Eve!

♥ Happy Birthday Bud-Bud!! ♥

Cullen is a full-size Yorkie with floppy ears, he weighs about 11 pounds.

He is my fur-baby.

Cullen is passionate about squirrels

He loves to chase them, and retrieve them when Dad hunts them (Mom thinks this is YUCKY)

He does NOT like car rides, and gets sick every month he goes to the groomer.

He knows how to ring the bells on the door when he wants out, and will bring you any of his toys you ask him for.

He loves to share food with Dad and cuddle time with Mom.

Sticks! how could I forget sticks, he LOVES to find sticks in the yard and run as fast as he can with the wind whipping his ears behind!

I have been blessed to have such a dog to love..........and one who loves me unconditionally!