Where did 2012 go? I can still remember New Year's Eve 2011 celebrating on the couch with my hubby and thinking how cool it was that I was texting Casie in Florida! Casie from The Name is Casie that is! She was the first blogger that I got the chance to meet in person and I hope there will be many more bloggers to meet in person and hang out with! There are so many friendships I've built online and can't believe how lucky I am that I have this life and get to interact with bloggers from all over the world. Just this year I have gotten really close with a wonderful Mama named Tairalyn over at Little Miss Mama, but sadly she lives all the way in Vancouver, Canada...but I know one day we will meet in person. It's just crazy though how you can build a friendship and trust online with someone you've never met. Years ago I would have never thought to even talk to anyone online or even trust that they were who they said they really were. But now it seems that blogging and facebook has really changed all of that...and I'm grateful for it!

Another amazing woman I met after hosting a giveaway with her is Katie from Vintage Vinyl Journals...you have to check out her online shop. She takes old, unplayable vinyl records and turns them into journals! She contacted AWS (All Women Stalk) about doing a giveaway with us and I found out she lived right in the next town over from me! How cool is that! After we worked together on the giveaway for AWS, she was doing a show with some other vendors at a local restaurant so I went over to meet her and check out her journals in person! Now we are really great friends and we are in a few local clubs together.

I'm very grateful for meeting Katie because the beginning of 2012 wasn't looking so great for me. We have lived here for 2 years now and I still didn't know many people yet other than my husband's friend's wife. My best friend lives about 2 hours from us and my family lives about an hour. I just felt like I was stuck in the house all the time since I was working from home or that the only time I got out was when my stepdaughters needed to go somewhere. Yes, I would go see my family once in a while, but our weekends always seemed consumed with whatever the girls had to do for school, birthday parties, etc. I didn't have someone I could hang out with and just be one of the girls and most of the moms of my girls' friends weren't someone I really saw myself hanging out with. But when I met Katie she helped me get involved in the community and even volunteering for different projects. When we're hanging out I just feel like this is someone who I can relax with and feel like myself, be the Philly girl that I am...not the suburb mom I sometimes pretend to be! Who would have thought that someone who wanted to do a giveaway with AWS would turn out to be a wonderful friend and one I know will last for a life time. Thanks Katie for helping me come out of my shell in the suburbs!!

Ps here is one of her journals that I won in a raffle...the photos from my phone don't do any justice to her amazing product...so check out her site Vintage Vinyl Journals!

Who Doesn't Love Fall!

I recently joined a local photography group and our first assignment was to take "Fall" photos so we could compare and see what everyone's idea of Fall was. I really enjoy taking photos and hope to one day be a bit more professional about it. I may not know technical terms or even know what taking "raw" photos means, but I like the idea of asking others in the group about my photos, and what I can do to get a better shot next time. It seems like most of the group has taken a class or two about photography, so perhaps I'll learn a thing or two from them! Here are a few of my favorite photos from this month's assignment, next month we'll be sharing photos of "texture". I have a few ideas for this, but I would love to hear some of your thoughts.

 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look...see ya next time!

New Blog Design!

An amazing big thank you to the lovely Lindsay over at Jennie called Jane Designs for my gorgeous new blog design! She is so sweet to work with and keeps you up to date with how the look is coming together! Another thank you goes out to Chelsea over at Yours Truly, she designed my new signature that will show up on all of my new posts...of course I had to include an owl! But a very Big Thank You goes to my sweet friend Stephanie over at The Vintage Modern Wife for being so amazing and for hosting an awesome giveaway that I won, which is where the new blog design and signature came from! She has really done a wonderful job with her own blog and right now she is celebrating 500 followers with another giveaway! So head on over and check out her blog!

I want to thank everyone who reads my blog, leaves wonderful comments, and makes me feel like I can write and talk from the heart. I can't believe I started my blog five years ago in 2007 and although I don't update as much as I would like to, I still have amazing followers who stop by and leave sweet comments. Now that I have a new look and a personalized look I'm really hoping to write more and get my little blog going...maybe one day I'll have 500 followers like Steph!

Before I say goodnight... I just wanted to touch a little on Hurricane Sandy.

Last week it hit the Northeast pretty bad and NJ, NY, and a few other states including my own got the worst of it. I have experienced some pretty crazy snow storms, but I've never experienced a storm quite like Sandy before. The winds were horrific and frightening, at one point we thought we might have to head down to the basement. When the power went out at 9:30 pm on Monday night I wasn't sure what to expect next. I'm just glad that my husband was home from work and that we were all together in the house as a family. I'm not sure how I would have handled myself if he wasn't home, I probably would have been on my cell phone with him all night long freaking out! The next morning our power came back on, but my inlaws' did not so they came to stay with us, and the girls didn't have school for the entire week! But we are very blessed compared to what has happened in other towns and states. Some are still without power, some can't go home, and some don't know how they are going to rebuild.

It breaks my heart to see the shores of NJ, places I've traveled to and vacationed at since I was a baby. In some parts the boardwalk and rides are no longer there or they are sitting in the ocean; broken and destroyed. I just couldn't believe when I heard about the town of Breezy Point, NY and how they have lived through members of their community dying on 9/11 and now many of the same families have lost their homes from a fire that went out of control during the storm.

I know many of us don't have the funds to donate money, but if you can volunteer or look through your closet and see if there are any sweaters, jeans, or blankets that you can give to these families in need, please do so. We have some old clothes that we were going to donate to our local thrift store, but this weekend I'm going to see if there is a place to donate them to for a family that was effected by Hurricane Sandy.

 

This was a roller coaster at Seaside Heights, NJ.

 

This is a subway station in NYC.

 

This is the devastation that was left in Breezy Point, NY.

 

(Photos Source)

 

Their homes may have been destroyed, but let's lend a helping hand so their spirits never are.