More Sunsets

Something good that's come out of all that haze over the Prairie.

Sunday's Smokey Sunset

I spent the afternoon in the mountains picking huckleberries yesterday and knew we were going to have a fabulous sunset given the haze of smoke in the air.

It was a short-lived show, but it was fantabulous and it happened right as I was driving across the Rathdrum Prairie.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from last night:

Hollyhocks in bloom

My purple hollyhocks are the saving grace of my neglected garden. I love the hollyhocks. 

Class of 2010 Senior Portrait Specials!

Seniors -- Call by Aug. 1 to book your senior portrait session and SAVE big time.

Cheers!

T.

Mental Health and Feng Shui

Read my article about the connection between mental health and feng shui in InHealthNW Magazine on newsstands now or online:

Be a Healthy Homebody -- By Taryn Hecker

Barbie's feeling the pinch, too

You know kids hear plenty of adult-talk about outrageous gas prices when their pretend play consists of making Barbie rideshare and carpool.

If the Barbie VW Bug wasn't topless, there's no way Faith could have fit all of her Barbies, a Bratz doll, the Little Mermaid into one car.

There's a lucky Ken in there, too. I think she crammed him in the trunk.

Letting the claws come out

Me, with Spider, the tattoo artist

Yesterday I woke up as a 30-year-old.

I didn't feel much different than I did the day before. I was a little surprised by that because so many people, from the clerk at the grocery store, to my friends and relatives had told me tales of how hard 30 hit them.

I was a little excited for 30, the dawn of a new decade. After all, my 20s offered up some spectacular adventures (like marriage and motherhood and a journalism career), but the tailend of the decade was a little rough (divorce, motherhood and losing my job).

I came out of my 20s this week making a commitment to myself: To fully embrace the adventures in store for me in this new decade, let go of mistakes of the past and, No. 1, to put an emphasis on faith and spirituality like I never have before.

For years I had debated getting a tattoo on my birthday -- a crab to represent my sign, Cancer. I thought the crab -- how it skittered backward and side to side to avoid confrontation -- was representative of my character.

Was.

Things have changed.

The tailend of my 20s shaped me in a way that made me rethink a lot of things, including giving stock to horoscopes. Yesterday I finally got my tattoo. Still a crab. But only as a reminder that I don't want to be one.

As a reminder to myself to keep moving forward -- confront life. Keep on, keepin' on.

Not to skitter side to side and be afraid or bend backwards, but grab life with my claws, hold on tight to the people and things that are near and dear to me and, overall, trust that God has a plan for me and it's all good.