Thank You Santa for Our New BFF!

There she is...Our new baby to help keep us cool in the New year.
Now I know why the guy who owns the air conditioning company we hired has the largest house in the county.
Yea, he now has a new boat thanks to us! 

TGIH (Thank God It's Houston's)

Holiday dinner with friends and fellow Santa helpers.
Merry Christmas Gene, Shari, Janice and Ted! 

Happy Birthday Josh!

Soon-to-be-DRIVING...Happy Birthday to you! He knows how to celebrate...SUSHI BOAT!

Merry Christmas 2011!

Christmas morning...like 12 midnight for the cousins and gifts!

My sisters with Baby girl and MJ. 

The cousins in a sort of Modern Family pose. 

Happy {Holiday} Hour with Tones and So

Last HH before the holidays. :-)
Bring your phones batches!

BeFrie Visits

Evanses Annual Holiday Open House
Joy, Geri Evans and I

Joy visiting all of her fans at the Orlando Citadel Corps

Our babies breaking bread (mostly rice) together. So sweet! 

Holiday Party Time at the J Dub

Love this man. 

So ready to party! Lovin' the hair. :-) 

Chris & Nicole wins Cutest Couple at the Holiday Party

And so it begins...Team Angel to the Rescue!

Love this time of the year...My family and I love volunteering at the Salvation Army Angel Tree program.  We've been spending the last several days when we have spare time to help get things ready to go for the families to pick them up.  We have only one goal - to ensure every single child receives a gift of clothing and of toys through the Angel Tree program. 

The program has become an amazing team effort and one that has taken a life of its own.  There are so many reasons to be thankful this year...For me, it's the kids and the families who are uplifted in their time of need through the generosity and the love of others. 

Good Sky Chatter

“One of the most important lessons I have learned over the past few years is how important it is to have time and space for being with what’s real in my life — to celebrate the joys, grieve the losses, shed my tears, sit with the questions, feel my anger, attend to my loneliness.”

Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms

For more, leap over here.

Women's Auxiliary Annual Stocking Stuffing Party

Mrs. Barnett and I stuffing stockings and taking a picture together.
Love Ashley's smile!

Jean + Danielle + Diane = three reasons to join the
Orlando Women's Auxiliary...Amazing women! 

Arlene from Salon Ciseaux stuffing 20 stockings at a time.
She's got this down and has a Master's in Multitasking. 

Happy 40th to the Landis Twins!

Chris doesn't look a day over 38 ;-) 

Joelle and Robb - Celebrating it up!

Robb, Holly, Stacey and Chris
The Birthday Twins and their beautiful wives.
Note: Holly is ready to have her baby girl. It's her due date so any minute now. 

11.11.11 11:11

Today is special...It's 11.11.11 and lots of people were talking about what they were doing on 11/11/11 at 11:11 or making a super wish. I was at the office...Not wishing, Not talking. I totally missed this once in a lifetime moment of all ones. So instead of focusing on the exact hour and minute of the day, I will celebrate 11 great moments of today (and maybe I'll still get a wish granted, 11/11/11 11:11 style):

1 - waking up at 4:45 a.m. and realizing that I still had 15 minutes until my alarm went off
2 - driving to work without any major traffic along the way
3 - walking outside and the temperature was a cool 60 something degrees
4 - wearing my red cashmere sweater for the first time this fall
5 - eating a cuban sandwich, guilt-free
6 - drinking a chai latte
7 - picking up my baby girl almost before the sun went down
8 - laughing at a video called "ninja cat"
9 - almost cleaning out my email inbox (so close people!)
10 - enjoying leftovers for dinner. (keeping it simple)
11 - staying in and watching movies with my family (ahh...just perfect.)

So what moments are you celebrating on this number one super-special day? You have one more chance tonight to make that wish...May it come true.

Happy Blogiversary to me! #6 Baby!

Today, this Sky Fishing Dragonfly blog turns six years old! Hard to believe More than 1,000 posts about life, love, family, friends, ups, downs, curves and stops have all been shared here...This tiny corner of the world where this Dragonfly is perched upside down for all to see.


In the last six years, I've learned a lot about what I know and what I didn't know that I knew. (cue James Taylor's "Fire and Rain") So, in honor of this blog turning six, here are a few lessons I've picked up along the way...(Only six even though there are more like six hundred):

1. Be thankful every single moment.
Living with a grateful heart will open life to so much possibility.

2. Be nice.
No matter where you are, live with compassion and kindness for the world around you.

3. Good friends are good for you.
I am here in this very moment because of amazing friends.

4. Place meaning on taking responsibility especially when it counts.
No one is perfect. Everyone fails.  It's important to admit it, apologize and move on.

5. Sometimes I just don't know that I know.
It's true. We're smarter than we think.


6. When in doubt, WRITE through it or blog it.
The power of writing has never failed me. Not once.

PRSA International Conference 2011 in Orlando, Florida

Opening Night Reception
Originally uploaded by PRSA National

Had a great time this year at the PRSA International Conference in Orlando. This is my fifth year attending and by far, it was one of the best professional development experiences I have had to date. The networking, sessions and keynote speakers were all fantastic. I got to see many close friends and colleagues from across the country and connect with new ones. It was truly everything you'd want a conference experience to be. So glad I didn't miss it. How could I? It was in my backyard.

Via Flickr:
PRSA, International Conference, Orlando

Reason #376 There's a Fork in My Eye: Always a Critic, Never a Writer

image source: girlfromthehills

The problem with a lot of people talking about out there is that it's so much talk and less, or in some cases, NO writing. If you know how to do something better than everyone else, I respectfully request that you do it. Stop tearing down others, and participate!

Ahhhh...That feels better. Moving forward...

10 Reasons Why We Love Our Pool

1 - summer days are cooler
2 - endless fun from may through october
3 - it's pretty to look at all year
4 - it makes me happy
5 - after a day of canoeing, it's so refreshing
6 - mr. wonderful fixed the light...pretty at night
7 - the baby girl enjoys it
8 - it's the gift that keeps on giving to us and friends
9 - i love that i don't have to drive to it...it's right there
10 - it's ours, it's all ours

the plan and a hello..i missed you too.

so the plan was to share pics and fun moments of the last few months...since my baby girl turned three i guess you could say i've been on a bit of a hiatus. the plan was to give you just a glimpse of how this summer has been an adventure full of vacations, celebrations, changes, racin' and good talks with close friends.

BUT, instead, i just want to say hello. hello to my one reader or maybe two out there. you understand how life happens faster than can be explained sometimes or blogged about. you totally get that i wouldn't just fall off the edge of the web without letting you know where i was heading.

with that said, my inner writer and let's-talk-about-it-lorelie self wants to over-explain and let you know what i've actually been doing is journaling the old fashion way...you know...with a book full of blank pages and a nice rollerball black pen...sometimes colorful markers will jump in the mix. most of you know that it's a passion of mine...to write, to journal and lately, the ideas have been flowing. no. scratch that. POURING out of me. mainly ideas of what my next writing projects will be...outlines and characters. it feels good to get it down rather than letting it slip through my mind like so many other possibilities.

in addition to journaling, i've been cooking more which in the past, i would loathe but i'm stretching outside of my comfort zone and trying to warm up to the idea that it's a little fun to make delicious food that is fresh and healthy for my family. (having a flashback to the last time i went to a cooking class...i was miserable but even four years later, there is hope.) i'm even using cookbooks that have been bought by me at a bookstore...with my own money. miracles DO happen every day.

so tell me, what have you been up to this summer?

Britney Concert in Orlando

Chris, Shells, Soluna and I at Britney. Great show!

PRSA in Orlando and Super Intern

Attending the media roundtable for the 10 year in a row in Downtown Orlando.
Some of my favorite PR people - Jessi Blakely, Jen Wakefield and Pete Scott. 

Ali and I...Ali was our Super Intern...Super talented and she looks fab in green. 

Bowling with My High School Bowling Captain

Tina and I have been friends since we were baby girl's age. She was my first real friend outside of my cousins. We played together for hours, got in trouble too many times to count and learned a lot about how to deal with our brothers...She has three, to my one. Every Saturday, Tina's family had to go bowling. I remember this being a very inconvenient weekly occurrence per my "best friend playtime plans." Because of the commitment to bowling, she went on to be the captain of our high school bowling team and then even 16 years later, can walk into a bowling alley and hit more pins than most without any effort and a ball defect. Love this girl! It makes me so happy that we're still in touch and we can now enjoy watching our kids play together, get in trouble maybe a lot less than we did and how to deal with their cousins and future siblings.

In the House - Social Time!

Just a friendly little game of Win, Lose or Draw. Ha!

Ali, Ivette and Soluna - some of the lovely ladies I work with at my office. 

Visit to the Dentist #2 - baby steps

Second visit to the dentist and this time, she sat in the chair and played with "Mr. Thirsty" and even smiled while she sat and talked to the dental hygienist. This is yet another moment that says, "You're baby girl is not a baby any longer." I mean, the dentist. I don't even remember going to a cleaning when I was this young. Like most people, I dreaded going and now, I actually look forward to it and even more, I love it! My hope is that she'll look forward to it too.  She loves to brush her teeth and has even flossed a few times. Something tells me (maybe it's her beautiful smile) that she'll be just fine.

Tybee Island Time with Jenny and Friends

Glenna making it happen on Italian night!
Awesome ziti! Happy Birthday to Chris!

Finally...Tybee Island!

Friday - Kevin and Heather relaxing on the porch at the house. 

Saturday - Beach time with Jenny, Chris and Linda

Sunday - Gang's all here
(minus Mr. Wonderful who was wonderful enough to take the group pic for us)

Happy 4th of July!!

The baby girl and I in J-ville with friends for the weekend. 

Celebrating it up with our red, white and blue. 

Second Year at the Daytona 400...LOVE IT!

 

Rossicles joins the 400 festivities! Yayyyy!

Jon's friend, Jeff, and I meet again at the 400. 

The newly married man to my cousin Shells. I think the 400 is the perfect way to celebrate a honeymoon. :-) 

Goodbye 400! Thank you for a fabulous 2nd year of racin' and fireworks! 

Hope we get to hang out again in 2012. 

Summertime Means It's Time for a Cruise Party

Soluna ready to set sail. She's got the cruise thing down. The hair in the June humidity and perfect outfit...It all works! And, of course, she wins for bringing the best beverage of the evening. The Blue Cruise Party begins! Thank you to everyone for joining us as we celebrated the summer, our friend Ross and the idea of being on the same boat. It's good to take a step back and enjoy some fun among fabulous friends.

 Some of Ross-ome's friends who fell overboard during the gathering.

 Jason and his entourage for the evening. Yay for Johnson's!

The midnight crew...Thanks for celebrating with me!                  Shells is a natural when it comes to Cruisin!