13): Mary, Reading & Traveling

By bobbi
August 23, 2013
5 Comments

I’m linking up with Jen today for 7 Quick Takes and because I am so on the ball today, I am linker #138. Out of the 200’s, baby! 😉

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My friend Maria sent me this article last week and I forgot I wanted to post it.

Pope to Consecrate World to Mary’s Immaculate Heart

Vatican City, Aug 14, 2013 / 12:03 am (CNA).- Pope Francis will consecrate the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary this Oct. 13 as part of the Marian Day celebration that will involve the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima.

“The Holy Father strongly desires that the Marian Day may have present, as a special sign, one of the most significant Marian icons for Christians throughout the world and, for that reason, we thought of the beloved original Statue of Our Lady of Fatima,” wrote Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

Continue reading…

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Here are some posts you may enjoy…

Speaking of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Annabelle has a great post – Blog Enthronement and Consecration to the Two Hearts.

Then her blog lead me to a great post by Sue – Confessions of a Former Hot-Tempered Mother.

I read this post from Rhonda, bookmarked it, printed it out and reference it when I start being ornery (as Brian calls it.) It’s stuff I already know but too often need a reminder. – R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Eleven Tips for Spicing Up Your Marriage

Then when you are done keeping things nice and lovely with your spouse you can visit my sis and get some tips for having Kids at Mass.

Lastly, speaking of kids, if you have a blog with kid photos, make sure to read Kierste’s post – {do you have a family blog? tips to safeguard your family’s online photo safety}.

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Photo Source: © http://10kmiles.com/

Okay, was that too much self-help reading? Then sit back and enjoy a treat. A friend of the family has taken on an amazing adventure! Basically, he quit his job and is traveling across the United States exploring and taking photos. This is what he says:

I was working a great job for a private school in Silicon Valley, but I just wasn’t happy. I have a work to live mentality and Silicon Valley has very much a “live to work” mentality. So I decided that instead, I just want to live and experience life!

I had this tugging in my gut for months to just drop everything and hit the road. The opportunity finally provided itself and I gave notice at my job. In August 2013 I will be hitting the road on a 10,000 mile journey throughout the US. I’ll be taking photos (which I would love for you to purchase to help me eat on this journey) and looking for hidden gems.

K.C. is blogging about his journey here – http://10kmiles.com and he’s on Facebook here. It has been exciting and moving to read. The traveler in me makes me want to go on a road trip, although the mother in me worries about his safety! LOL. And the woefully amateur photographer in me is in love with his photos. So gorgeous. Go check it out!

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For your random bit of humor… Have you ever wondered what celebs would look like if they were normal schmucks like us? NYC artist Danny Evans used photoshop to give us peek at what could have been. Frankly, I could not stop laughing. My long ago teen idol Johnny Depp went from dream to nightmare but it is interesting that they only way he could make David Beckham look bad was to change him into a businessman. LOL.

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Attention back seat shoppers, if you read my 5 Favorites post on Wednesday, you already know that I am looking for a sleeve to carry my Macbook Air. I have narrowed it down to two from Etsy.

I like the bright colors and design of this one and the fact that it zips all the way around and has sturdier protection.

On the other hand I also really like the color and design of this one, especially the zippered section in the front. However, the main compartment does not zipper and has a button opening instead.

Help an undecided girl out, which do you think would be better?

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Jen over at Suscipio is hosting the 3-2-1 Fantastically Fun Friday link-up without the link-up! “Huh?” you may say. Instead of linking your blog you simply answer her 3 questions in the comment box so bloggers and non-bloggers can participate and so it does not interfere with your already scheduled link-ups (Like Jen F’s 7QT.) So here is my contribution:

3 Things I’m Grateful For:

Brian finally got his scheduled changed so he no longer has to work the late shift (coming home at 7:30) and he has his weekends off now. Happy dance. (To the glee and embarrassment of my children.)

For a great (even if it was incredibly fast) summer that officially ends on Monday when the last of the kiddos are back in school. Then Matthew and I will be solo at home a few hours of the day. Now if only I could teach him to throw the dirty laundry in the washer instead of the toilet, we’d be golden. 😉

I’m thankful for another year of this crazy but incredibly blessed life.

2 Places I Would Love to Visit

I’d love to take another cross country trip but this time with my hubby and kids. (See what you started, KC.)

Either back to Rome with the kids (Brian and I went for our first anniversary) or to Austria, where my mother-in-law is from and the pictures I’ve seen are gorgeous or actually the whole UK… (Did I mention I have a hard time of narrowing things down?)

1 Place I Love to Go

There are so many spots of gorgeous nature here along the coast that I love but I still can’t resist slipping away every once in awhile and going to sit inside the movie theater to be swept away in a good story. (In fact, if you texted me last night and I didn’t answer, it was because my phone was on Cinemode. ;-))

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I know I almost never miss Cari’s Theme Thursday photography challenge but since the topic was Food and I just posted a recipe with strawberries…

and I just posted a recipe with blueberries…

that I thought I’d skip this week and join next week’s theme “Shadow” instead.

Have a great weekend!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

7 Quick Takes (8/3/13): OJ Baths, Penpals & Catholic Posts

By bobbi
August 3, 2013
5 Comments

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I’m linking up with Jen for this week’s Saturday Morning Quick Takes. I wasn’t going to write a Quick Takes this week but I could use 30 minutes of destressing time so I’ll set the timer and punch out some really quick Quick Takes. Ready, Steady, Go!

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I can tell it is going to be one of those mornings. I opened up a new orange juice and just as I was about to serve it I had to stop and help Matthew with something. Later I went back to the orange juice and without thinking gave the container a good shake…with the cap off. Yeah, so I had a nice orange juice bath and the counter top and everything on it got a lovely OJ spray. Everything else just went downhill from there.

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It’s funny but as I was going through a particularly difficult moment yesterday, you know when you are feeling like you going to lose your mommy mind, and I thought about an email I just wrote to another mom and sharing how all these little mommy crosses we have to carry is the road to our sanctification. As I was stomping around the house mad at something I kept repeating to myself, “This is my road to sanctification, this is my road to sanctification…” Funny that it is a lot easier to offer this advice to someone else rather than to actually live it yourself! Luckily my harried moment ended and all was good again. 😉

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I was reading a post from Call Her Happy which led me to the blog The Big White Farmhouse. Ashely of BWF has this cool blog with a homey feel that makes you want to be a better homemaker. She is also a lover of old school mail and has set up the Pen Pal Cirlces where participants are grouped together with 3 other moms and you exchange letters with each other. Real letters – stationary, stamps, an envelope in the mailbox that is not a bill or junk mail. Swoon! I signed up and if you are interested go over and sign up too! The form will be online until Aug 4. After that you can just email Ashely directly and join. 🙂 Fun!

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I was looking at my calendar and it said that it is now August. Is that possible?? The kids will be back in school in a couple weeks and this month I will turn another year older. Ugh. (Let’s not think about that. The OJ bath was enough fun for one day.) Well, a new month means the Holy Father has new prayer intentions for us to focus on during August.

GENERAL INTENTION: That parents and teachers may help the new generation to grow in upright conscience and life.

MISSION INTENTION: That the local Church in Africa, faithfully proclaiming the Gospel, may promote peace and justice.

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Today is also the First Saturday of the month so it is time for Convert Journal’s New Evangelist Monthly.

This is an informal, dynamic, crowd-sourced “meta-magazine” showcasing the best posts faithful Catholic bloggers publish each month. Here you will find many different, but faithfully Catholic viewpoints, insights and perspectives.

You can link up your favorite post of last month. It can be about the faith, family life, motherhood, whatever. The main thing is for it to be from a Catholic perspective. This month I linked my conversion story My Journey to God. If you are a Catholic blogger, add your best/favorite post too! 🙂

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Okay, my time is up so I better say good bye. Have a great weekend. I’ll leave you with a recent photo I took. (The photo challenge theme was “wildlife.” I think a bee could be considered wild. ;-))

7 Quick Takes (7/26/13): Patron Saints, Catholic Fiction & The Walking Dead

By bobbi
July 25, 2013
5 Comments

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This is Day 5 of Jen’s 7 Posts in 7 Days Challenge. I am also linking to her weekly 7 Quick Takes. 🙂

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Happy feast of St. Anne and St. Joachim! St. Anne is my patron saint and my name sake (Bobbi-Ann) so this day has always been a special feast day for me, especially when I was single. St. Anne and Blessed Anne Maria Taigi were the two I asked to intercede for me in finding a holy husband. They did an excellent job. 😉

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Speaking of St. Anne finding me a man, Grace shared her how-we-met story and put a link-up for people to share their stories as well. My sister posted hers and it is so sweet. E & V are a perfect match! I feel like I have told my how-we-met story so many times that I am like this…

and you’re like this…

But on the off chance that you haven’t read it yet, here’s the link. 😉

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Brian was telling me about a website that he loves – Catholic Fiction.net. It is a great source for finding out about Catholic novels and since he reads all the time, he is always going through various Catholic fiction books. If only I could get him to do some reviews! Anyway, I was excited to see one of the books I am reading right now featured on there. It is Mysterious Albion (Vatican Vampire Hunters.) So far I am loving it. If I get it done in time I’ll review it for next week’s “What We’re Reading Wednesday” hosted by Jessica.

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I’ve added Comment Luv to the blog so if you are a blogger and you leave a comment please add your blog link. When you do your latest blog post link will show up under your name. That way I (and others) can visit your blog as well. I especially love to visit the blogs of new visitors. 🙂 Once you’ve typed in your link the first time, it should automatically come up when you visit again.

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I don’t watch Brittan’s Got Talent but a friend had this clip on her Facebook page and I watched it. Ohmygoodness, it actually brought tears to my eyes. So beautiful! It is worth the watch.

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Here are two other videos if you are a Walking Dead fan. I binged all week and finally finished season 3 so I’ve got zombies on the brain. The first is the hilarious Walking Dead Bad Lip Reading Video. (Note – Only watch this is you are already a WD fan. Otherwise, skip it.) La-Bibbida-Bibba-Dum 😉

The second is called Zombie Story: A Mind Blowing Comparison of Toy Story and the Walking Dead. Pretty funny… and coincidental?

Have a great Friday! Thanks to Jen for hosting! 🙂

7 Quick Takes (4/5/13): New Cameras, Star Wars & Anne of Green Gables

By bobbi
April 5, 2013
3 Comments

Brian just left for work after a week long vacation. I was spoiled having him at home and now I am slightly depressed that he is back at work. Sigh. So to get my mind off of it I am linking up with Jen for 7 Quick Takes while the kids are playing outside. (They don’t return to school until Monday.)

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After two years of waiting and saving I finally got my new camera! So far I had been using my iphone or my old point and shoot camera but I wanted a big girl camera. With the help of my bro Rob (he’s the one that took my main blog banner photo of the bee and red flowers), I finally narrowed down my choices and picked the Nikon 5100. As soon as I got it out of the box (and charged the battery) I started snapping photos of kids in their pajamas and random things around the house. Of course Brian and the kids thought I was crazy but they’ve learned to live with it by now. Here are the first shots I took using the basic autofocus.

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Because I am such a newbie and have so much to learn, I seriously need to read up on some of the basics of photography. (I only recently found out that raw has nothing to do with how to cook a steak.) I know I can go online and read stuff (I’ve been viewing a few You Tube tutorials) but I want a physical book that I can mark with notes and dog ear pages. Any suggestions? Remember the key word is NEWBIE. I’m thinking a “Photography for Dummies” kind of book.

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Speaking of the You Tube, right now the boys are obsessed with Star Wars and particularly Star Wars Legos videos. These two are their current favorites.

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In the evenings Brian and the boys turn off all the lights in the house and take out their glow in the dark light sabers for grand battles. It is hilarious. Meanwhile, Bella and I have our own bonding time after we put the Jedis to bed. She stays up for an extra ½ hour and we watch a movie together while I straighten her hair or fold clothes etc. I recently introduced her to Anne of Green Gables and she was reluctant to watch something so old but she agreed since it was at least in color. (And not the dreaded black and white, or worse, a British period drama like Downton Abbey. Ah, the folly of youth. ;-)) Well, long story short. She fell in love with Anne of Green Gables and dusted off the book set I gave her last Christmas. We’ve gone through Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel and last night we started the old TV show Road to Avonlea. (Was anyone else in love with Gus?)

I know they are also remaking Anne of Green Gables into a 13 part TV series by Breakthrough Entertainment and it was slated to be made in the summer of 2013 but I haven’t heard any other news since last year.

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Speaking of movies, for Easter Brian requested a copy of the movie Milagro De Marcelino Pan Y Vino (2010). It is a remake of the movie the 1955 Miracle of Marcelino. He really loved that 1955 movie, and in fact, when we were trying to decide on a boy’s name while I was pregnant with Andrew, Marcelino was one of the top names on the list. It didn’t make it as a first name but it made it as a second middle name. (All the kids have two middle names.) So our first son’s full name is Andrew Joseph Marcelino. 🙂 Anyway, back to the movie. Here is the synopsis from Amazon:

Friars of a poor war-ravaged monastery find an infant abandoned on their doorstep. Having nowhere to turn in the wake of the war they decide to raise him in the monastery. The child grows into a rambunctious boy fond of playing jokes on the friars with his best friend Eleuterio. Marcelino yearns for a mother as he observes the deep bond Eleuterio shares with his mother. Marcelino’s curiosity leads him to the attic of the monastery: the one place he was warned never go to. While there he is drawn to a statue with a face so full of love that he is compelled to visit it often. Marcelino is too young to realize that it is a statue of Jesus. Thinking the statue looks hungry he sneaks bread and wine into the attic and offers it to the statue. Because of the faith of the child an unexpected miracle occurs.

Brian started watching it and said it was good so far. This weekend, we’ll watch it together after the kids go to sleep (it’s in Spanish with English subtitles so we have to be able to read in peace. 😉 I’ll let you know what I think. In the meantime, here’s the trailer.

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Don’t forget that next week on Tuesday (4/9/13) is the first RoL Pinterest Party Link-Up. You can share a post where you take one of your Pinterest pins and actually make/ create/ cook/ bake it. Not on Pinterest? No problem! Link up your original idea so we can pin it to our boards. It can be a recipe, a craft, a home school project, a themed party etc. Don’t have time to write a post by Tuesday? Feel free to link up an older post of something you’ve already done. It will be a great way to share some of your old posts that haven’t gotten much traffic lately. I hope to see you there!

Oh, and by the way, on Wednesday I shared the two logos I made.

Logo 1

Logo 2

So far the second one has received the most votes. Leave a comment if you want to let me know which you prefer. 🙂

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The kids are coming inside so I better wrap things up. I’ll leave you with one last photo.

Okay, okay kid. I’ll put the camera away. 😉

7 Quick Takes (3/15/13): Pope Francis, Google Reader, & Oz

By bobbi
March 15, 2013
3 Comments

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What a week for Catholics! I don’t think non-Catholics really understand the love we have for our Holy Father and the sadness we felt when the Chair of Peter was empty and the jubilation we felt when we saw the white smoke.

When I saw Pope Francis walk out and give his little wave and then just stand there and stare, I was uncertain what to think. Was he overwhelmed? Shy? (Are there shy Latin Americans?) Stern? But as soon as he opened his mouth and particularly when he bowed his head asking for our prayers, well, he completely won me over. I loved him already.

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So thanks to the Holy Spirit for guiding the Cardinals.

Thanks to the Cardinals for prayerfully voting.

(And thanks to Catholic Meme for keeping the smiles coming.)

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I went to Target the other day (which has the surprise element of the statement “I breathed the other day”) and I was tempted to buy this for the boys’ Cars collection but I couldn’t deiced if it was sacrileges or not. LOL.

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The other big piece of news for me was that Google Reader is officially shutting down this summer. I had heard rumors but hoped it wouldn’t actually happen. I am really bummed because I love the clean, organized simplicity of GR. I have been looking at a few others including Feedly and Bloglovin but it’s not as easy to keep track of all my subs. I’m working on a post here of the pros and cons so I’ll keep you posted.

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Over the weekend Bella and I went to see Oz the Great & Powerful. It was such a fun movie and we enjoyed it but I hope parents realize that it is not really a “kid” movie. Bella is 11 and although she was not scared, she had trouble sleeping that night thinking about it. It is on the darker side and the flying monkeys can be overwhelming for little guys. And I must say that I was really disappointed in some of the trailer choices for the movie. I could rationalize most of them but the Great Gatsby? Seriously? I handed my purse to Bella and told her to dig out the candy at the bottom to keep her eyes off the screen.

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Okay, my time is up but I have to leave you with one more Pope Francis meme. 🙂

Source

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Have a blessed and restful weekend!

Revolution of Love

Do small things with great love.

Category Archives: 7 quick takes

7 Quick Takes (8/23/13): Mary, Reading & Traveling

7 Quick Takes (8/3/13): OJ Baths, Penpals & Catholic Posts

7 Quick Takes (7/26/13): Patron Saints, Catholic Fiction & The Walking Dead

7 Quick Takes (4/5/13): New Cameras, Star Wars & Anne of Green Gables

7 Quick Takes (3/15/13): Pope Francis, Google Reader, & Oz