October 9th: I choose . . .

Serendipity.

This little vacation has been filled with happy accidents.

At the airport I asked if I could switch from and aisle seat to the window seat. I got the exit row with no one next to me. When we went to get our car, we paid for economy (Yes, we were being cheap. There are more exciting places to spend money than on a rental car.) When we went outside to pick a car, all of the economy cars were gone and we got a free upgrade.

We were supposed to go for a hot air balloon ride on Friday morning. It was rained out. Instead we met a nice waitress at a little diner, a great photographer, Robert Crispin, and then had a great day wandering in the Jemez Mountains.

Saturday we slept in (got up at 7 am). We decided to go back to the Jemez Mountains to see the Caldera and all points in between. As we headed north out of town, we saw balloons flying over the city. The pangs of what we missed tugged at my heart. We planned to come back for the evening glow, but took 7 hours to get up the road to the old volcano. We met several nice people, two Basset Hounds, one Cocker Basset mix, and a Golden Retriever who belonged to the Basset Family. (No kidding). We met a nice man who worked at Amanda's Trail Shop, and saw so much beauty around us.

Sunday would be the day to go to see the Hot Air Balloons. Another 4:30 am wake up call. When we got to the  Field, I suggested that we put out name on the waiting list to go up in the balloon. We were two of the last three people to go from waiting to riding.  There is no way to explain the sensation, the beauty, the wonderful time that I had. A few pictures might help a little.

Lift Off

Aliens

Touching the Rio Grande

So, to continue with Serendipity. The balloon pilot was Andy Williams from Galena, Illinois. One of his balloon chasers, Garrett, is the nephew of a patron at the Sycamore Library. Another crew member has her Master's in Library Science. It's a small beautiful world.

October 5th: I choose . . .

to stop and look at the wonderful colors again and again and again.

Red and Yellow Make Orange

Look Up

Tree Mandala

The Fall colors are here for such a short time. These nice warm fall colorful days are such a treasure. I choose to look at them and stop to smell the dried leaves and listen to the crunch beneath my feet. Don't forget to look up. The cerulean blue sky colored leaves and strong branches make such beautiful mandalas.

October 4th: Today I Chose . . .

to stop and photograph the beautiful fall colors.

What a beautiful warm fall day!

October 3: I Choose . . .

to share a kiss and an intimate moment.

Yesterday, the dogs alerted us to three deer in the backyard. It was the middle of the day and we had seen another family of deer earlier in the morning. Such a surprise. I have never seen a mother nursing her young. For them to feel so safe in our yard is such a gift. The mother had started to head down the back wood line and the guy that she is kissing was taking his time. She turned around, came back to him, and licked his nose. The other kid came back and they went in for a drink. She allowed them to drink for a couple of minutes before she pulled away.

I choose to keep my eyes open for wonderful moments.

October 2nd: So Many Choices

Yesterday was one full and fun day. I chose to participate in all of it. Now I need to make a decision; a choice. Which photo to I select as my one for the Scott Kelby Photo Walk submission? In the end, it is my choice, but I would love to hear what you think. I can only choose one image, and the groups goal is to submit an image that really depicts DeKalb.

 

Last night was a great night. Lots of fun. More pictures from the walk can be seen on my Flickr page. The night out came after a fun afternoon with family and a nice lunch at Ted's Montana Grill.

Julie, Joe, Jon and I went up in the Millennium Carillon in Moser Tower before lunch. What an interesting place, nice company and good exercise. Photos to come later.

October: I Choose . . .

To live by choice, not by chance;
to make changes, not excuses;
to be motivated, not manipulated;
to be useful, not used;
to excel, not compete;
I choose self-esteem, not self pity;
I choose to listen to my inner voice,
not the random opinion of others.


I choose to be me!


It took a little extra time, but I have a theme for October. I Choose. I choose to post when the opportunity arises. I choose to have fun and invite you along for the ride. Welcome to October.

I had been thinking about I choose for a while. Today a friend posted the above quote on her Facebook page. Sometimes themes and ideas choose you before you choose them. Thanks Susan for posting today.

Day 30: Happiness is . . .

The last day of the month. When I started this 30 day challenge, I had planned to use the concept "Happiness is a journey, not a destination." -- Alfred D. Souza as an excuse to go out and do photography then put up a daily post. I did take pictures everyday, but often it was with my cell phone camera. Things don't always go as you plan, but they always seem to go somewhere. It was a hard project because I began to realize that my happiness circle was relatively small. The simple things near me such as my husband, my dogs, and being out with my camera could easily provide for a happiness moment. That was OK, but I would think in the back of my mind that there were a few people reading my daily posts and I had to look around and see happiness in more places so my friends wouldn't get bored.

That was a good thing, I did find happiness in so many areas of my life.

To end this month, I will say when you find the laughter,laugh along with it.

In moments of joy, immerse yourself in it.

Happiness is a choice. No matter who you are or what is going on in your life.

You get to choose to find it and grasp on to it.

My little world of happiness often revolves around a few things. Each day those things keep me going and opening the door to more and more moments of happiness.

May you find happiness in all that you do.

I don't know what October will bring. I still have a few hours to figure that out.