Great Advice from the Grandpa that's not mine...

the secret to not aging is that is that there is no secret....
I was searching for a video I did...and saw the little thumbnail for the , "THE BABY IS HERE" video...
and as I watch it and even as I type this...tears want to sprout from my heart and water the keyboard I'm typing on....
she was so tiny. so new. you can almost feel her heart taking in this new world around her. i just want to reach through the computer and hold her.

9 months later...she has grown and changed so, so, so much.....
A little grampa was sitting next to us at lunch, and was telling us stories of his grandkids, and telling us to enjoy each moment, because they aren't little very long, and he warned us: "it goes by too fast"....

IT GOES BY TOO FAST.

tears are seriously making it a bit hard to see what I'm typing right now....

each moment has gone by too fast...

who cares if your house is perfectly clean-

if your to-do list got done-

if your kids made a mess or broke something or lost something-

or if you had enough time after dinner to make sure every last dish was put away...

at then end of your life, when you see the value of every second you let slip away...

like the cute little Grampa we saw- you could feel it in his words and his face....

his urgency to ENJOY every second...because it's gone and you're older, babies turned to toddlers, kids and teenagers before you thought there was enough time to hold them in your arms.

like my little Jordan here....who know stands 6 feet tall...I miss that little face...I miss the moments when all he wanted was for me to be in his room....and now he asks me to leave his room, even when I just walk in to tell him dinner is ready. ha ha ha ha

Enjoy every moment, no matter how tiring it might be...it will be gone before we  know it...and we will be old, telling someone young with a baby...to enjoy every moment because "it goes by before you know it".....

I just want to jump back in time in this video...

and remember, no matter how frustrating today might seem...please enjoy every second, frustrating or not...it will be gone before you know it...and if you didn't enjoy it, good, bad, messy house, or not...
that fact that your alive is something awfully special...
huge hugs and enjoying every moment today... your kandee

I bet you don't remember:

How hard it was to learn too sit. 

one minute you're up...

(and quite blurry thanks to my awesome photography skills...they rank up there with my nunchuck skills- surprising at best)

the next you're down!

Kinda like life....but the lesson we can learn from my little Cupcake (AKA Elyse)...is:

"as long as you're smiling when you're down....everything will be alright, because eventually you'll be back up again!"

smiling whether we're up or down....

kandee and her cupcake

Come Away With Me...

(me and "Cupcake" Ellie Belle...all cozy in her sling, about to go on a walk)

The beautiful thing about being in nature is, it doesn't matter how much or little make-up you have on...
It doesn't matter if you have the latest hand bag or the coolest new internet gadget/phone/pad/kindle...
you just breathe air that smells so good you want to savor each inhale...

 Sometimes as I take a picture or just look around...I wonder about all the precious hearts that read my blog...all around the world....maybe they never get to see what I see...maybe they don't have big mountains to stare at like I do...
and so I take pictures to show each one of you whether you are sitting in a loft in NYC, an apartment in Chicago, a house in LA or on an island with palm trees, on what I could imagine to be any enchanting little place in Paris or you are sitting in Norway or anywhere from Estonia to Tokyo...
I hope you enjoy when I extend my my hand through the internet and invite you each day...to
"Come away with me"...if only for a few minutes....

The SAGE BRUSH....
was damp after an afternoon rain...
I wish I could box up the scent and ship it to your doorstep to breathe in...
It smells fresh and clean...and reminds me of being little, living in Los Angeles and getting to visit my grandpa that lived in the mountains...
It makes me think of cowboys and a crisp, fresh smell of sweet earthy-ness.

 I love sunsets here...they are glorious. And I feel that each day I get to see the sunset....it is a little gift from God saying, "Here's a little gift I wrapped up for you today...a beautiful sunset".

 I want to try to make a point of making sure I watch the sunset everyday, if I can...something amazing happens when you do, I think.

My silhouette with baby....on a lonely road, after the rain...

You are never lonely...you might be alone, but never lonely....because today I planted some extra love in your heart...
and whenever you need to....I'm here with my little patch of love on the internet inviting you to "come away with me".....

internet-ly holding your hand....kandee