Marriage Without Regrets

Today marks our 16 anniversary.....wow....a lot has happened in these years...

This morning I asked my wonderful husband if he would marry me all over again...his answer...."ABSOLUTELY!"

and I feel the same way..no regrets here....he is my true soulmate....worth the wait...

To any girl that is still single, do not settle and marry the next one you can find....WAIT!!  until you KNOW..and believe me, you will KNOW!  and you will be glad you waited, no matter how many years it takes...the wrong choice NEVER turns into the right choice....believe me, I know about that......

and ladies, share this with your daughters....to wait on the one God has chosen for them..it is easier than trying to turn a bad choice into a good one.. (usually does not work very well)

That's pretty much all I am going to say about this today...I hear the collective sigh out there..wink,, wink....

I will end with this line from a song ...sometimes you have to get it wrong to get it right..pretty much sums up my first marriage and my present marriage...

I take the lessons from my first marriage and apply them to this one as things I learned NOT TO DO!!

Happy Anniversary to us!    it is a day to celebrate.....Love never fails.......not ever, ever.....

Below is a picture of where it all began....kinda appropriate , don't ya think?  this time we planted the right kinds of seeds and fed it with love.......

The Romance of Valentines Day

As I pondered a blog about Valentines Day, I looked back over all of the pictures I have taken on this special day..only the digital ones...they are the easiest to get to.  One of the tables stood out to me...very simple and romantic....It's funny how the food I have cooked doesn't look so appealing in my pictures..the lighting was always way too dark....so, no food pictures today..

Yes, I am a true romantic...My Mama used to tell me I was in love with being in love...as if that was a bad thing...

I most certainly do love being in love.....

My grandparents must have shared this feeling with me....this heart necklace was given to my Grandmother by my Granddaddy on Valentines Day more than 50 years ago.....I always wear it on Valentines...

This year my dear husband is taking me out to eat at a very special restaurant here...I was so surprised when he told me he had made reservations for us.......so, this tribute to tables past is my contribution to this romantic day..

and the BEST thing about this year is....All I have to do to prepare is get dressed up....now that is true romance....

Happy Valentines Day!

The Light of Life

It is so easy to add a little romance to your life..and to your surroundings...these lights are simple and oh, so romantic...

 I absolutely love the 'blue hour' that occurs right before dark..I often grab my camera and take pictures..some good, some not so good....it is easier to take focused pictures with this camera but I still have a long way to go...

Early morning light....so peaceful....

and the cover of this old dictionary in morning light...isn't it beautiful?

If our life isn't what we want it to be...maybe we can just look at things in a different light and it will look very different to us ... we will get a better perspective of reality.....the little saying 'shed some light on the subject' comes to mind..

There are probably pieces of all of our lives that could use some light....maybe if we could just see that really tough issue during the blue hour it wouldn't look so bad after all.....or maybe we could just wait until dark and we won't be able to see it at all...it will disappear.....

Off to see some things in different light.....the blue hour will be here before I  know it...and I promise..it makes everything look beautiful for those few minutes ......even when it looks dark outside, my camera can still find the blueness of the sky...try it....you will love your pictures....

Being a Romantic

I enjoy romance........I think most girls do.....but mine is real and not a mask or an act......knowing who I am as a woman has helped me to define this.....my mama used to accuse me of being in love with 'being in love' and I felt like I was 'less than what I should be' when she said it...Over the last few years, I stopped running from that accusation and started to look at my life and my desires....and YES, I am in love with being 'in love'...We have a love story that God orchestrated....we let Him write our love story instead of our fabricating one.....and I think a lot of my life is the fruit of that love story written by the ONE who is LOVE..
so for the sake of romance everywhere, I am sharing some of the things that make up the romantic side of our home....and NO this is not X rated...  grin..

Lighting.....so important to romance.....

captured during the blue hour right before sundown

When we put up these lights in the backyard, it automatically felt romantic to me....easy and very inexpensive...


and cut glass goblets.....another element of romance.....even if just for the way they reflect light...

 I found these at Dollar Tree while shopping for Easter baskets..another beautiful addition to romancing the home.

and last but definitely not least......FLOWERS...roses to be exact..what can say romance more than roses?  and these came from Antique Rose Emporium...easy and long lasting.......

So there you have it.....lighting, cut glass, and ROSES!  just a few of the things that speak ROMANCE....that reflect the feelings of 'being in love'.......

Yes, I am a romantic at heart....and a lot more than I ever realized before releases that in my home...a romantic home...I like the sound of that......

Add some romance to your home..it is not difficult..the main thing is to begin with LOVE in your heart..and the rest just follows.....

Thank you for stopping by today...and I hope to see you again soon...

                                                                               Mona

Romance in bloom

Since it is Tuesday, it must be date night.....I am sure I have talked about this before but it is important enough to mention again..

My husband and I have a standing date EVERY Tuesday.....have done this for all of our marriage.........it says to each other..no matter what is happening in our lives, YOU are more important than anything else....

I copied a few pictures from Pinterest to express a little romance today...I hope you enjoy...

Source: adelto.co.uk via Mona on Pinterest

This outdoor setting is so beautiful and romantic.....

so is this intimate setting for outdoor dining...

and the table set with beautiful Haviland china..what could be more romantic?

I hope you put a little effort in your relationship with your husband  (or wife)  ..it's easy to forget that we were once on our best behavior as we dated....learn to act like that again.   Have you ever watched a couple as they learn to love one another ?  so romantic....

Treat each other as your "date"...........

I am glad you stopped by today...I hope to see you again soon...

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries....and Mama.

We have a tradition at our house...it has been going on for more than 10 years and I don't even know how it got started....maybe that romance bug bit me way back when and hasn't let go....maybe I caught it from my mama...after she died and as the years have gone by, I realize just what a romantic dreamer she was...and I know I am most definitely, certainly a romantic at heart...but I digress.....maybe on down this post i will show something my mama did for Valentines many years ago...

Here is my thing...my bid to romance EVERY Valentines Day......

Strawberries dipped in chocolate......

you can find a recipe here..I didn't put the chile in mine...

And here is a really special Valentine that I found in my Mama's things after she was gone..when I was going through an old chest in her garage....a Valentine she made for my Daddy.....

Enjoy it...

I hope you put a little bit of effort in what you do for the special person in your life..it doesn't take much but the rewards are tremendous..they will feel special and you will feel good for making them feel that way....Everybody needs to be loved...so express your love...Let the people in your life know that they are special to you....

Happy Valentine's Day y'all......let that romance awaken in you!!   it's in there somewhere..  :-)  I promise...

thank you for stopping by this morning....I hope to see you again soon...

Antique Rose Emporium

When I get this email confirmation in my inbox, it makes me smile...

Item                                         Qty      Qty      Qty  Expected
 Number    Description                        Ord.     Shp.     Bck.    By 
---------- ------------------------------ -------- -------- -------- --------
2013       Alchymist                          1.00     0.00     0.00
105        Chestnut Rose                      1.00     0.00     0.00
2104       Maggie                             1.00     0.00     0.00
1106       Penelope                           1.00     0.00     0.00

This is an order for roses from  The Antique Rose Emporium      ....

Almost by accident this tradition started on our honeymoon in 1997...April is just a beautiful time of year to get married and also a time to celebrate spring and all things green.....and blooming....and just anything that goes into the ground and grows.....

On our way home form our weeklong stay in the Smoky Mountains, we stopped at a little herb garden..Penny's..located in Mountain City..it is long gone..loved it...and great people owned it too..anyway, I was looking for the sweetheart rose named Cecile Brunner..they gave us directions to the Antique Rose Emporium that was in Dahlonega at the time...so off we went....and after driving for a while we got there.....and bought this special rose...My Grandmother had grown it and I had memories of it from her house ..I thought it would be the perfect flower to remind me of our honeymoon ...cause I might forget it about it...wink, wink...
..I planted it along the fence in our backyard and it flourished...

But it didn't want to move when we bought this house so I had to buy another one.....one of my all time favorite roses.....

This is the rose that started it all...my favorite...Cecile Brunner..the sweetheart rose....

Here are the roses that are growing all over my yard..the ones that I have collected from ARE over the years.....

Aren't they beautiful?  these pictures were taken last April in my garden...

I just needed to share something beautiful and hopeful this morning..while the weather is gray and cold and yukky..there is HOPE that spring will return.....

Dig deep...and find those roses in your life that gives you hope of a brighter future...that silver lining that says..YES.....the seasons change...they do not stay the same always...
I hope you have enjoyed my roses this morning...for an even more in depth look at beauty, go to ARE website and have a look around..  I have always had good success with their roses.....

Thank you for stopping by this morning...until next time.....
                                                                  
                                                              Mona

Hidden Treasure

Most of the things in my house have a story behind them....so that means there are a lot of stories in this house ....
because there are a lot of things....these things do not hold my heart but there are lots of memories and sometimes just a glance at an inanimate object brings back the memory of a special someone and their smile or their touch..and that usually brings a smile to my lips....so most of this stuff serves a purpose...to trigger a memory.. and cause me to pause and think of them...and what they have meant to me......
so, this is just such a story....I hope you enjoy it......

After my mama died, there was the dividing of her rings and giving them to me and my sister...my brother had already gotten his ring from daddy on his 30th birthday...but I digress...anyway....there were 2 rings and 2 girls..I had always wanted the ring that had belonged to my Grandmother Lewis but the question arose and instead of causing an argument over it, I said I would take either one...and then I prayed....I wanted Grandmother's ring..
When my Daddy handed me the ring much later...it was the very one I had prayed for....my Grandmother's ring..there was a lot of history and heritage that came along with it...she was the oldest daughter and I am the oldest daughter..and my daughter is the oldest granddaughter.. I think of her whenever I look at the ring that she wore on her hand for so many years...and then my mama wore it too until her death...

Imagine the surprise when I was visiting with daddy and he said I have something I might as well give to you because it was your Grandmother's rings.....he handed me a little box and inside were these absolutely exquisite rings.....her wedding band and the original wedding ring.....

this is a picture of the carved engagement ring from around 1910  or so....
mand here is the prat of the story I just love..after all I am a romantic at heart and I love a good romance story..especially if it is true and I know the people involved...

Grandmother's daddy gave her a diamond and she had a new ring made..she took the diamond from her engagement ring , along with an additional matching diamond and the one her daddy gave her and had a new ring made..the one I always saw her wearing...

my grandmother's engagement ring

heirloom rings

her platinum wedding band

to know the story behind something makes it so much more valuable than the thing itself.....
Here is a family heirloom that I had no idea even existed until a few years ago....it is one of my favorite pieces along with my very own wedding band......

the new set

Here is the moral of this story..there are some things in life that we have no idea about...there are gifts beyond our imagination....surprises too good to be true but they are TRUE........


This is the story about a ring, well, two rings that were meant for me but I didn't even know that they existed....all I had to do was be receptive...and in the presence of my father and hold out my hand and receive what he was giving to me...it was his choice to give it to me....and then I was so very thankful....we have gifts for us that our Father wants to give to us....it is by grace that we get them..the key is being in His presence and receiving what He is so willing to give to us..

I think of my Grandmother often...I think I am a lot like her....I can sometimes sense her smiling at me..and can still remember like it was yesterday..driving over to her house and going in to see her...all by myself......

The impact she had on me is far reaching...she didn't really care about following the crowd..she was an original..