gardenia blooms…

whoa, i can't even believe it's been so long since i've written.  no worries, i'm still here.  good days and bad days, just like you.

today, mom showed up in the most spectacular of ways.

i got a text from my brother this evening.  (thanks kk for noticing mom saying hello) it was this picture…

can you read it?  it says, "there is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it."  

but that's not the most magical part.  it's the gardenia.  moms fave flower is blooming.  a little surprise in their garden right by the sign from her garden.  sigh.

ready for this one???? i've had a gardenia plant for years (in her honour, of course) that has never bloomed.  it even looks in major distress and i thought of getting rid of it.  well, look at her lovely blooms tonight…

mom, thanks for the reminder that you are ALWAYS with us.  your beautiful, kind & loving spirit lives within us every day.

and finally, thanks cuz Heather & auntie Georgia for the fun photo you sent of her this week!  just look at her smile.  it could charm a room, don't cha think???

i do.  and it did and it still does.  

grateful for the legacy of mom & daddy.

goodness we miss you. 

heart hands and smiles.  your amy leigh <3 & :)

wow mom!

wow mom!  it's your birthday!

what an amazing day your kids had today.  we honored you by driving the Buick and hanging out downtown.  YES!  Brian bought the buick!  she is gorgeous, look...  (Daddy is sooooooo smiling!)

  

i am pleased as punch that my brothee LOVES this car and got her back into the family.

our first honour of YOU was "box" wine, as it's your fave!  cheers!

lunch at the Nasher was awesome!  we even had your special number.

our day was filled with more art at the DMA, always being reminded of you...

just LOOK at this view of our delicious Dallas!

thank you Mom.  for teaching us to be grateful & loving.  we miss miss miss you.  happy birthday.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo 64 hugs.

i am...

humbled today.  feeling the love and loving it.

i decided to change my facebook profile pic last night.  sounds simple, but it's not easy for me to like a picture of me.

i read so many nice things from my friends today that i am truly humbled and grateful beyond belief.

after i changed said pic on facebook, i "discovered" Oprah TV.  i did not get the memo that she is still doing her thing (i watch re-runs of King of Queens and any ro-co that's on if we aren't already watching a netflix movie or Storage Wars).

she had Joel Osteen on several episodes as i watched and listened.  they are awe inspiring, those two famous people. "the words you speak can become your destiny."  it sounds really basic, doesn't it?  only saying good things about yourself.  positive declarations.  saying i am...

today i said, i am beautiful.

"dream big and pray bold." ~ oprah

a special thank you to Chris for capturing the true me.  heart hands and smiles  xox

nurture your free spirit...

what a wonderful weekend!  i missed my Martin (he was having fun at a boys weekend), but my time with Caroline made up for that, pinkfold.  giggle!

we attended Pinkalicous, the musical, on Saturday.  it's a series of books about PINK!  and we got to see it in action.

we dressed the part (duh) with lots of pink and glitter magic on AND we got the actors autographs!  what a special day...

i also got to see a movie this weekend with a bff... "the perks of being a wallflower."  LOVED IT!  the message I received from it is:  nurture your free spirit.  define what that means for you...but just do it,  please.

have you seen a dog LOVING the wind out of a car window?!  why should they be the only ones?!

just LOOK at the fun in her face! ( i promise, we were safe.  it was a slow drive down our street with moon roof fun.)

nurture the love you have for life everyday.  it will reward!  heart hands and smiles.  <3 :)

blessed...

it's my birthday.  i love birthdays!  not really sure why, i just do.  it's happy, it's a time to celebrate life.  you get to wear a tiara and you have birthday powers!  what's not to love?!?

this 45th birthday i feel blessed, beyond comprehension.  so blessed, lucky, grateful, loved.  best birthday ever!

balloons on the ceiling!  what could be better?!  smiles for miles.

saw this when we went shopping for steaks at the local butcher shop~it just describes my day!  (martin is making dinner tonight.  the mushrooms on the stove smell heavenly.)

loving that i am vintage now.  it's hip and cool, right?!

OMG~i got sharpies.  i love them.  so much.  words cannot describe.  happy color writing to me!

my sweet husband brought my fave flowers to work for me!

the MOST thoughtful gift from customers that i am now lucky to call friends. <3

3 generations of cooking for my kitchen wall.  sigh.

heart bowls to treasure from my forever bff.

a bottle of bubbly to start the evening.

my tiara is fixed!  let the reign continue!

have i mentioned how blessed i am?!?

gratitude is oozing from my soul.  heart hands and smiles. 

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

hearts always remember...

while time does heal, hearts always remember.
when i thought of what picture i wanted to post to celebrate mom, this was the one...

this is the pure essence of Alice.

signing off with a heavy heart, remembering my mom.  xoxo

happy birthday Mom

63 years ago, a star was born.

hello, Alice Zika.  baby of three beautiful daughtees.  (that's family speak, not a typo.)

her smile and radiant personality made you feel at home, no matter where you were.  she just did that effortlessly.   (i only aspire to have inherited this terrific trait!)

bringing joy and laughter with her always!  she commanded the room.

thanks Mom for just being you, always and forever.  loving you, your amy leigh <3

happy happy day of you.  it's your birfday, we gonna partay like it's your birfday!  (giggle!  you loved my birthday call with that silly song i love so much.  sigh.)

miss you to the ends of the earth...thank you for always being our biggest cheerleader of love.

forever friends...

one encounter
one small kindness
can make a difference

i had the honour of talking to one of my Mom & Daddy's high school friends today.  she called to tell me what a difference they made in her life.

"your mom was the FIRST person i met at GW.  i went there to enroll my junior year all by myself.  the principal called her over the intercom to come show me around.  i'm pretty sure she had her cheerleading uniform on.  she was beautiful, and so kind to me, always."  (well, i may have put a few of my own words in there, but you get the focus of this amazing conversation.)

now...45 years later, she is my friend, reminding me what amazing parents i had.  we agreed that my brother and I are so much like them.  always hosting, loving and guiding the people that we encounter every day.  never meeting a stranger, because we enjoy making everyone feel at home.

feeling most gracious today for forever friendships, especially the ones that span generations.

she also reminded me that i have some treasured photos!

heart hands and smiles for miles...

small town...

we live in Dallas, yes Dallas.  (i will never forget meeting a man that said everyone "says" they live in Dallas, but they actually live in the 'burbs)  our zip code is 75214, proudly.

but, we are so VERY lucky to have a small town feel here in yummy East Dallas/Lakewood.  tonight is a perfect example of why we love it so much...

we decided to go out for a beer and a bite (we are home-bodies people, so this is big for us ;).  why not head to Taco Joint that recently opened up where our neighbors son Brandon works?!  we got to see my boyfriend Brandon, and his friend Drew that works there too.
awesome number 1

we sat at the bar and got to meet Wyatt the bartender who is 22, giddy to be married almost a year (proposed in the sand in Florida!), heading to dental school and just a really, really nice guy.
awesome number 2

met Marissa (said with a roll in her beautiful accent from Spain) and Jim who travel the world and are clearly in love, that are house-sitting for her dentist daughter & son-in-law.  (small world here people with the dentist thing...i used to be a dental assistant you know.)  we talked and talked about England, Spain and Dallas.
awesome number 3

some crazy Mother nature winds came through while we were there and almost swept away small children and their food on the patio.  (just a BIT of exaggeration here)  but, helping in the quick escape and clean up made me appreciate our neighborly way here in East Dallas even more.
awesome number 4.

we had fantastic food for cheap! just look at these tacos...YUM!  awesome number 5

Wyatt gave us koozies!  awesome number 6

they have a salsa bar! and yummy margaritas!  awesome number 7 & 8

all in all, what an awesome evening!  simple life lovelies are good.  so good.

heart hands and smiles  xox

daddy love

sympathy~
noun:  a relation of affinity or harmony between people; whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other.

i dislike the word sympathy for some reason, but i'm not sure why.  it sounds lovely, doesn't it?...

looking through my "daddy box" tonight.

what an AMAZING man my daddy was.  that smile, that charm, the way he could talk to anyone (i mean anyone).  no wonder my mom was head over heels in love with him!

sigh.

feeling grateful for family and true blue love that lasts years on our earth, but an eternity in heaven.

missing your smile daddy.  all my love, your amy leigh

p.s.~look at the amazing sunset from Father's Day festivities...we are sure you helped with that canvas!

here's to Mom...

...I know Alice is smiling with us...

It's always an adventure here with Martin's projects.  Today he decided to make a gate for our front patio.  As creating does, the idea began to change as he constructed it.  After consulting my advice (and not really wanting the answer i gave him) the answer came to us!

We used mom's "Our English Garden" sign that Martin's dad made for her.  perfection.  <3

And I'm happy and proud to report that my gardenia, her fav flower, has given us a few blooms of beauty.

WOW MOM!  (she loved when i did this.  please note: making the M's & W's with my hands and the "O" with my mouth.)  smiling...

happy Mom's day.  xoxox

heart hands and smiles (and a few tears too) 

got wake?

i received the nicest card today.  a co-worker thanked me (yes, me) for being patient and kind.  i consider myself a "bull-in-a-china-shop" most of the time, so to hear this made my day.  i need people like her to slow me down.  after all, life is a big balance beam.  we all need one other to keep steady.  thank goodness for the amazing people in my life that balance me out!  (oh, and if you have seen my new profile pic on facebook, she also gave me the precious pink, heart-eyed, full of fun koosh ball!  wow, does she know me?!)  smiling as i type this...

have you considered your "wake?" you know, like the waves that follow a boat.  it ripples out into this beautiful "pattern."  everything you do & don't do matters.  everything.  thank you my friend for reminding me of that today.  i am honored that my "wake" has made a difference in your life.  sigh.

i pulled this pic off of pinterest because i love the words.  "the fruit of the spirit...peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self control and gentleness."  it is mostly Galatians 5:22-23 as it says, but there are a few extra yummy words in there.  <3

we all need reassurance, but know that YOU matter.  everything you do and don't do affects those around you.  i am so grateful for the amazing people in my life.

heart hands and smiles

hold tight...

of all you love.

life has a "funny" way of reminding you.

listen to life... love is all there is.  (along with being gracious and kind and patient and a million other "little" things)

hold tight.  hug huge amounts, it helps.  i have first hand knowledge.

heart hands <3

(sending prayers and love to c, d, s, mm & h.) xox