beautiful movements of grace

flowers here and there

longer days

a walk through new grass, with bare feet

tulips placed on a old farm table, just before supper 

kites reaching toward blue skies

the color of earth, deep under our fingernails, from the garden

a stolen kiss, from berry stained lips

spring has arrived, with such beautiful movements of grace.

i hope you enjoy every moment of it. 

one love~

Kim, PG, thank you so very much, for inviting me here.

textures by~ Kim Klassen

Hello, Kim and PG, two of my favorite people in all the world.

I’m so honored, humbled and thrilled to be visiting you today!

I hope this week finds you both inspired and blooming!

Me? I'm digging in the dirt!

I’ve been planting flowers every April since I moved out of my parent’s home when I was only seventeen…

It’s part of the legacy my sweet mother passed along...helping my own winter landscape to transition into spring.

I love everything about planting...the dirt under my nails, my knees slightly damp from kneeling and my bare shoulders burning just a little. (They haven’t after all, felt the sun in such a long time.)

When all the plants are nestled happily into their new beds, their itty-bitty faces seem to look at me full of gratitude.

They are I think, thankful for a chance to grow.

A chance bloom.

A chance to be who they were made to be.

After a long harsh winter, I'm thankful too.

We all need a season to bloom.

So Sweet Friends, that’s where I’ll be if you need me...

Playing in the dirt~soaking up the sun~thinking about doing a bit of blooming myself.

Ps…Sweet Kim, I used your Cream in my Coffee texture on my little photo ~ Thank you !

simply, thank you

where do i begin?

i thought of placing my photograph first... at the top of this post. but then i realized, i have more to write and say than i have to show, and what i want to say is what i want to leave you strongly with this week.

"thank you" is only a small phrase i can use to tell you what is on my heart. i am beyond grateful that you guys asked me to be your first ever guest blogger! and although i know i will not be the last, i feel honored to have been here at all.

when you approached me and asked, i thought i'd better read the e-mail again. i was sure my eyes were playing tricks on me. i mean, i had been visiting here long enough to know that you guys are both really good photographers and writers, so i thought, "huh? they want me to blog with them?"

but then i realized something... the biggest reason i am {and ever have been} drawn to your blog is the friendship that seeps from every pore of it's blogging skin. that friendship is way down deep, and it just shows like a bright light. it kept me coming back every single time. {and kim, i have to thank you for leaving your comment on my flickr photo one day. otherwise, i might never have discovered your blog here.}

so i want you to know a couple of things. first, i'm very impressed with the real kindred-ness that exists between you two. like i said in the very first comment i ever left here, i felt funny commenting at first... almost like i was eaves dropping in on the conversation of two friends. but then i realized something else... you two so evidently want to share that spirit of kindred-ness with others and make new friends. i felt it instantly! i think there ought to be more friends like you!

secondly, i consider you both like angels. i really do. you both came into my life at just the perfect time. i really can't even explain it, but i truly felt a strange protection and peace come over me when we would interact... either via comments or in e-mails. and i felt it from both of you. you're both gifted with the art of encouragement. i hope you will always use that gift as you have. somehow i think that you will.

okay... now for the photo. it's actually two. the one on the left was taken by me. the one on the right was taken by my twin sister.

i've been so excited all week to tell you that i am a twin. i had planned to tell you earlier... just because that is one of the most significant things about me and i wanted to share a little bit about myself with you two.

but then my sister left a comment here {on my first guest-post}. although she did not say she was my twin, i thought, "uh-oh! she let the cat out of the bag." but no worries. i'll share about our twinship anyway.

i have to say, she is one of my biggest inspirations for taking photos. i say that, because she was taking them long before i was. and i've always admired her photography. i remember just out of college, i had printed several photos that she had taken of various things in nature and stuck them to my walls to form a border around my entire bedroom. she may not know that, but i have always been her fan!

that is why i was so excited to get into the art form too, and then walk down this photography road with her. after a while, we started our own little co-blog called ethereal. we really don't write to each other over there... we only post pics. but when i saw 2bbb, i thought, "oh, this is just the kind of thing i have always wanted to do with angela." {that's her name, but she also goes by gigi.}

anyway, maybe some day we will do something like this. i hope so. we lead busy lives, so perhaps that will never be, but i can always dream.

anyway, we're back to orange. my flower is paper. and just like a photo, paper flowers last forever. that's why i had to buy it when i saw it at one of my favorite gift stores. i'm not sure what her flower is called, but it was real, and it is exquisite, no?

alright... i best be winding down now. i'm sad to go, because i've had just the best time here this week! but i will always stop by to see how my honest-to-goodness true friends, prairie girl and kim k. are doing and what you've been up to.

thank you for letting me go on a little blog vacation. you just say the word when you want me to come again.

one girl whose socks have been blessed right off her feet,
~g.e.o.r.g.i

{i'm not adding the "a"!!!! that would be too much finality. and i'll be back, so you'll just have to wait on that letter! until then, you can call me georgi-girl... like my papa did.}

"friendship is the greatest of worldly goods.
certainly to me it is the chief happiness of life."
~c. s. lewis

well, good morning!
we made it to friday!

so, i've managed to bring you popping red, vibrant orange, and some bright yellow!
how about some soft color today?
soft pink in a spring magnolia.
it's been very spring-like all week here, and although gray and rainy, very very warm!
and you know what?
the sun is out with a vengeance this morning!
it's so bright, i can barely see my monitor!
WOO-HOO!!

so, let me get right to it.
i'd like to answer the questions you both posed to me.
what a delightful, whimsical list!
i do believe i will enjoy answering them all.
so without further ado...

kim, you first asked:

1. chic flick? thriller? horror? what genre do you enjoy most?

i'm going to have to say "chick flick". i have {like my mother and sisters, and a couple of my closest friends} fallen in love with the story of jane eyre. i've watched every film version that exists {i think seven or eight???}, and i've watched a couple of those versions probably ten times each. {the charlotte gainsbourg/william hurt version and the newest masterpiece theater version are the best, in my opinion... especially the latter. it is a MUST SEE!}

i also LOVE the anne of green gables series and any movie made from a jane austen book. i know, who doesn't, right???

2. are you messy or neat? or in between?

woh, this is a loaded question! my husband calls me the "slob from slobovia". i know how to be neat and organized. and when i am, watch out! i'm almost OCD about where everything goes and how it should stay that way. but then somewhere along the way, i release that control, and i just let myself be. then i start to develop many piles of clutter. yikes! you have me baring my soul, here! :)

let's just say, in between. or both??? if that makes sense. *wink*

3. if you could have dinner with a celebrity... who might it be?

i LOVE this question. i think i would have to say anthony hopkins or daniel barenboim. {he was the director of the chicago symphony orchestra for years, and is also a renowned pianist, in case you were not sure.}

okay, now for p.g.'s questions:

1. when you stir sweetness into your teccino ... do you clink, clink, clink your spoon against the side of your cup .. or quietly swirl the goodness?

i think it is the second of the two, but i'm not sure, because i never paid attention. i'm not quite dainty enough to picture it being the second of the two, but i also dislike noise, so i can see it not being the first. you've got me curious now, and i think i will have to pay close attention next time i have teccino, coffee or tea. {all i know is i LOVE cream and sugar in all three.}

2. if there was one blessing today that you are 'over the moon' grateful for, what would it be?

i can honestly say, it is having the chance to have met such beautiful and gifted women as yourselves and being allowed to be a part of your space over here this week. i mean it. i'm not just saying it 'cause you two are reading {or because you paid me that $50 to say it. *wink again*}. i am sincere when i say that it HAS been a blessing, and i AM grateful for it. {but more on that tonight when i post my farewell...}

3. if you could share just one blog link that simply makes you swoon, what would it be?

love this question, too! i have to say, there are SO many i love. but the one i always go to and am always amazed by is bloom, grow, love. i ADORE her photography and her ability to write such short and sweet posts to go with her photos. every time i go visit, i'm blown away by her artistry. there is just something about her work that is magical to me. *sigh*

this was a blast! thanks for asking and allowing me to share some things about me. way too fun!

okay, my friends. i'd like to come back later tonight and post one more thing. so i best be getting ready for work now. i'm to stop on the way and meet a friend for starbucks. she called and said she has a little "just because" gift for me! OH, MY! how cool is that?

you, kim... and you, prairie girl... you guys rock! love you two!

big big hugs!
~g.e.o.r.g. . .


{oh, thanks to kim, too... for getting me hooked on textures! and to the generous flickr friends who share their textures with us! i posted another texture pic on my photo blog, too... if you'd like to see.}

{a very easy thing to do when visiting here, i must say.}

it's once again gray today... that makes every day this week a gray-sky day.
but as the song says, gray skies are gonna clear up!
they always, always do... literally and figuratively.
i thank God for that!

so please except these smiles today.
there's one for each of us.
and all three for each of your lovely visitors.
i took this photo at trader joe's {my favorite grocery store} last year.
the hubby thought i was off my rocker when he saw me bring my camera with me into the store.
but if you've ever been to trader joe's, you know there are so many wonderful things to photograph there.
this was in the wine aisle, as i'm sure you guessed.
i'm not a big wine drinker, but these happy faces were just too... well, happy!

so guess what i found!
the RECIPE!
{from that pastry that i photographed in my last post...}
i have it!
it's always been right under my nose?
i just got off the phone with my dear friend {who i call ese}.
she is the one who served me the dessert when i went to visit and see her new baby girl.
she told me that the recipe is in the baking with julia cookbook.
i almost leaped for joy, because i remembered i have that book!
okay... you might think i'm uber excited because i have the recipe.
and i am!
but the really really exciting part of this all is that I WORKED ON THAT COOKBOOK!
"worked?" you ask?
yes, i worked on the production of it.
after the design/layout files for that book were essentially done, they came to the development house {or prepress facility}
that i was working in at the time when the book was published.
basically, i just worked on the pages, making sure the fonts were right and the high resolution photos were linked.
then i made print-ready electronic files of the pages so the book could be printed.
because i worked so diligently on its 480 pages, i got a free copy of of the book after it printed!
i always loved when that would happen.

{cookbook image via barnes and noble}

it's a gorgeous cookbook with some wonderful photography!!!

i was not even into photography at the time, but i remember being very taken with the images that i did see come across my screen.
i also remember as i was working on it one page at a time, i found myself thinking, "i will never be patient or talented enough to bake like this!"
like i said, i am just not a baker.

but this is one recipe i will definitely have to try!
her cookbook gives the pastry a different name... sunny-side-up apricot pastry.
if you have the book, the recipe is on page 192-194.
because i'm not sure if copyright laws would allow it, i thought it would be better
to just point you in the direction of the recipe, rather than type it out and post it here.
sorry. :(
but now you know!

well, this is already one long post!
so i will save the other things i wanted to say for friday morning.

but i can't go before i say this...
talk about inspiring!
it's YOU TWO that are inspiring and constantly WOWing me!
i'm sad for this week to wind down.
i'm having way too much fun.
and i found that i have a whole lot more to share than just what i've been able to.
that's okay.
i'll just keep sharing on my blogs.
and in the future, i would be honored if you both would come over to jorjah-b and guest blog there like i've been able to here.
maybe you could each post some recipes with your amazing food photos.
i think my readers would really like that!

have a truly HAPPY {and thoughtful} thursday.
~g.e.o.r
{...how sad i'll be when we get to 'a'}

{p.s. the sun eventually came out yesterday! hooray! maybe it will again today.}

good morning to you both.

oh, no!
three gray days in a row here.
how 'bout some comfort food and drink to enjoy inside where it's warm.

at least it's not snowing...
and we are almost half-way through the work week!
YIPPEE!

i must admit, i'm not quite prepared for today.
i had something else lined up.
but it's okay to take a detour every now and then.
i was going to post this photo at some point anyway.
just a repeat on the sweet theme from monday and the orange theme from yesterday.

so... i wish i had a fabulous recipe for this delicious pastry you see... this dessert that could even serve as breakfast.
you both are always generously posting recipes and instructions for your foody fans.
but i can not seem to find the recipe anywhere.
perhaps i am googling it under the wrong name?
{i was told it's called 'le petit monde d'oiseau'... french for 'little bird nest'??}
so i call upon you both or anyone who stops by.
can you help me out?
point me in the right direction?

have you had it before?
if not, it's a pastry filled with custard and apricots and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
i had some while visiting a friend recently {with teccino herbal coffee!}.
it's really quite enjoyable.
YUM!
{eh-hem... yes, i know it's not allowed on a raw food diet. but i could make an exception now and then, right?}

well, i hope your day is shaping up just grandly.
can't wait to see what you both have today.

xo,
~g.e.o

...we haven't time -- and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time.
~georgia o'keefe
hello there, my friends.
it's unusually quiet this morning.
i don't know why.
a beautiful haze hovers over this area,
and the sun is so soft yet so bright through the haze.
does that even make sense?
it's very dreamy... must be why i simply did not want to wake up this morning.

well, today's post will be a bit shorter.
i have a busier day than usual.
but i wanted to take the time to stop.
to look.
to tell others to stop and look too.
i hope we never stop noticing the big things
no matter how small they may seem.
may our lives never be too busy for that.

tomorrow, i'll tell you a little more about this flower,
and in doing so, a little more about me.

thanks for the green and bright pink yesterday!
you colored me cheerful immediately.

happy tuesday.
~g.e {...wait for it... wait for it}

GOOD MONDAY MORNING, sweet kim and sweet prairie girl!

i can't tell you how excited and delighted i am to be spending the week over here with you two.

it's foggy outside here where i live, and lets face it... it's a monday morning, so i'm a bit foggy inside, too. but i'm waking up by the second as i type and as i think of the fun week of guest blogging to come.

i thought i would bring you two {and everyone else} some color this week. were you aware that last week was color week on flickr? apparently i missed the boat on that one. oh, well. i'll try to make up for it this week.

so today it's STRAWBERRIES... fresh, sweet, organic, wholesome strawberries.
why strawberries?
well... a few reasons.

one. you two are just as sweet. you really are. you both have brightened each day of mine since i've met you.

two. it's going to be near 50 degrees here today! it's got me so plum excited, i think i'm jumping right out of winter, right on past spring and right into summer's sweet strawberry days! i'm a sun and heat girl. i love the newness and blooming of spring. but i could easily skip right on by to get to those sunny, warm, humid days... you know, where you sit by the pool with your feet in to keep cool and sip ice-cold lemonade with a strawberry on the rim of the glass? ... sigh...

and three. i'm starting a new eating lifestyle. i'm switching to a raw diet. of course, this might be difficult to do 100% of the time, so i'm sure it will be somewhere under 100%. but i'm going to try to incorporate raw food into my meals as much as i possibly can. thus the strawberries i bought last week {and couldn't resist photographing}.

i found a cookbook... wait, scratch that. i found this great UNcookbook a while back called raw. it looks like it has some great recipes for making this kind of diet change not only doable, but enjoyable! i look forward to using it. {and as you might imagine, there is some great food photography in there!}

well, now i've gone on and rambled like i had hoped not to. i'm just way too chatty for my own good sometimes.

thank you, again for inviting me here this week! what an honor to be writing and posting my photos amongst your words and pictures. truly!

have a great monday start to a great week!
xo
~g

{hey... i just realized, this week we're 3bbb!}