Collecting Moments...

I am a collector of moments.

I collect them like precious stones, tucked away in deep pockets of my memory. A lost tooth, a special outing, a sunrise, a sunset, a trip down the sledding hill all by themselves. I love my iPhone and Instagram for this very reason, this collection of moments frozen in time on my camera roll.
 

But where do all of these photos go? Do you print them out? Save them on your computer? Do they just sit in your camera roll? If you're like me, they do. I have one word for you. GrooveBook. (OK, that's two words made into one).

GrooveBook is a free app for your iPhone, iPod, iPad, or Android that takes the pictures directly from your camera roll and straight into a 4x6 photo book. One hundred photos, with perforated edges so you can easily tear them out and share them. The best part? The book is FREE. All you pay is $2.99 for shipping. That's less than a cup of your favorite morning coffee.

Right now, if you use my special promo code: RUNNERGROOVE you get the first book AND shipping free. FREE!

Download the app, GrooveBook, upload the photos, use the coupon code, RUNNERGROOVE, 7-10 days later, you're holding your special book of collected moments in your hand.

Questions? Go here. 

 *all photos taken with my iPhone.
**the best quality photos are the ones edited with no filters
***all opinions are my own

Little Boys and Raging Rivers...

We sometimes go on nature walks by the river. It happens to be raging right now, due to the melting ice.

Rivers scare me...a lot. The truth is I used to swim in a river when I was a teenager and thought I was invincible. We would boat down it and lay by it and someone set up a rope swing from a tree branch and people (not me) would swing off it and propel themselves way out into the deep.

This one hot summer day, a group of us went to the river to lay in the sun. There was a group of older guys swimming there. One of them dared the other ones to try to swim across it. One of them made it all the way across. One of them didn't take the dare. And the other one tried. He swam and he swam and that current was so strong.

We all stood there in the hot sand and watched. We were laughing and joking and were a little bit nervous. We thought he was joking at first. He started yelling for help. It turned into panic. I can still see his arm waving in the air. We panicked. We yelled someone help him! I don't remember which of his friends saved him. I don't remember seeing him being saved. I just remember he was saved. I do remember feeling not-so-invincible anymore. I never went in the river any higher than my calves again after that day.

Rivers scare me even more today because I have these kids; these kids who will one day feel invincible like every teen does. These kids who will most likely be dared to do some very stupid and scary things that could turn out very badly.

I can only hope these kids will have a good head on their shoulders and not try anything death defying. I hope that they will be the onlookers and not the dare takers. I hope they will be the ones that say no way to the dares.

In the meantime, I will be the one yelling stay back from the river! If you fall in you're gone!! I will be that mom who warns her kids of danger and tell them stories from my youth and tell them how very lucky I was to witness a boy being saved instead of seeing a boy get swept away in an instant. They will roll their eyes and say whatever, but deep down it will sink in. I can see the look in their rolling eyes that it's sinking in.

I know I can't protect them forever. That's just as scary to me as the raging river.

Beautiful...

I think there are a lot of beautiful things in this world, and I've learned and am still learning to find the beauty in the little things. I find things in nature to be beautiful when someone else may not. There used to be a deserted field in our town that would produce thousands of dandelions every spring and summer. It was a sea of yellow and every time we drove past it I would tell my husband how very much I loved it. He would chuckle and tell me that they were just weeds and a lot of people don't like these weeds. But to me, it was beautiful.

Maybe I loved this field because dandelions are the flowers that my children routinely pick for me on our walks.

 I make a very big deal out of these preciously picked dandelions and put them in a glass full of water that goes right in the center of our table. I don't throw them out until they are brown and drooping. That field of dandelions is no more, as they tilled it up and built a parking lot to replace it.  I still get a twinge of sadness whenever I drive by the dandelion graveyard.

I got a mean comment on one of my Instagram photos that I posted.

Something to the effect of you think this $*@# is beautiful? I deleted the comment and then I deleted the photo and then I thought about it and wondered why someone would take the time to leave a hurtful remark? If they didn't like it, they could have very easily scrolled on through.

 I wanted to snap back at them with an equally rude remark. But what good would that have done? I thought about this...Be kind to unkind people, they need it most. Whoever came up with this quote must have been a saint, because those words are hard to live by. I'm learning, slowly, I'm learning that good can prevail; kindness can win; and it starts with me.

Instagram is my happy place. It's where I go to see photos of what others think is beautiful. Their children; a sunrise; a sunset; some pretty flowers; a glowing smile. It's my documenting the everyday things; the little things; the little joys; the things that make me smile and maybe even make you smile too. It's my place to see the beauty in a sometimes messy, complicated, chaotic world.

There is beauty everywhere. I will continue to snap my photos. Others may not think they are beautiful, and that's OK. To me, though, there is beauty in those moments frozen in time; those moments worth remembering.

Open your mouth only if what you're about to say is more beautiful than silence.--arabic proverb

Weeds...and a photo dump

Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.--A.A. Milne

I am completely humbled by my children's and husband's love; especially when I feel like a weed.

 We took a nature walk on Friday. There was snow. A lot of snow. But it was melting, and the sun was out, and I wasn't freezing, and there was laughter, and snowball throwing, and piggyback rides, and lots of picture taking.

It was one of my favorite days this winter.

I took a minute to look at these weeds; they were brown and stark against the pure, white snow.

Kind of beautiful in their own dormant way.

My own dormant stage is coming to an end; I'm ready to flower and bud and bloom again in the warmth of the summer sun.

I'm ready to shed my layers of coats and hats and mittens and trade them in for shorts and sandals and muscle shirts.

I love being outdoors, but I'm no winter bird.

I just fake it for the sake of my kids.

I asked if they could all line up for a picture...

They shook their tail feathers...

and did a dance...

and this is what I got...perfection.

Follow the fearless leader.

*the first picture and last 4 pictures were taken with my iPhone.