I never understood it.  I always got my point across and I thought I had wonderful handwriting.  So what if the teacher thought my "W" was an "L"? (don't ask).   After admitting that fact, I guess it is possible that my handwriting is unattractive.  OK, actually it's horrible.  So horrible in fact, if you've ever received a handwritten note from me, I'm willing to wager I had to tear up the first version and rewrite again, maybe even a third time (somewhere Mike is cringing at the thought of me wasting paper).  Sometimes I leave Mike cute sticky notes around the house and half the time he'll smile and wonder "what on Earth did she mean this time?"  Both my sisters have very pretty handwriting, so much nicer than mine, that they actually addressed my wedding invitations for me because, let's face it, if I had written them the guests wouldn't have made it to the ceremony.  

But, after all these years, I've stopped caring about it.  Everyone types these days...texts, facebooks, blogs...you can practically go an entire lifetime without actually seeing someone's handwriting.  Unless you have a penpal.

I always loved the idea of penpals.  A few times during elementary school, our classroom would be chosen to have a penpal from another local school or sometimes from a different state.  One year I had a penpal from Japan...I thought I was so cool.  I even told people on the playground that I could speak Japanese.  Anyway, I digress.  I even convinced my Nana to be my penpal.  Even though she lived just 15 minutes away, I loved getting letters in the mail from her.  She would always type her letters on a fancy, old fashioned type writer and I would illegibly scrawl something back to her and usually include a newspaper clipping about how bad the Atlanta Braves played against the New York Yankees (with the former being her favorite team).

Paula has been my "grownup" penpal since we graduated high school (you know, before facebook was invented and blogging was in vogue).  I would always look forward to checking my dorm mailbox for letters from Paula, to see what was going on at her college and her dorm and what her major was like.  And now we still write letters back and forth and I love it because in the midst of the texting, the blogging and the facebooking, it's nice to know people still take time out of their day to think about you.  :)

Happy Groundhog's Day!  I love little Punxsutawney Phil...and his irony of declaring an early spring in the midst of a blizzard.

Sweet doggies of mine  :)

He walked into the room holding a book.  I was immediately drawn to the bright green color and the fact that there was a hole in the top right hand corner of the book (yes, yes, I work like a child sometimes).

"What's that about," I asked.  "Why don't you read it and find out," he said.  

Most people yawn when hearing someone talk about golf.  Most people leave the room when a golf tournament is on TV.  My dad is an avid golfer and always has been.  My sisters and I can attest that my parents TV has probably logged more hours on the Golf Channel than anyone else I know.  Therefore, it does not bother me.  In fact, I like watching and playing (most times, unsuccessfully) golf.  

Growing up, my dad used to take me to the driving range and unless you've actually stepped foot on a golf course then you can't complain about golf..."Oh, it's so slow.," "All they do is swing and hit a ball." Ha. Try putting my friend  :)  

There is something peaceful and graceful about a golf course.  In college, I used to work as a beverage cart girl at a few local golf courses and it was probably one of my favorite part time college summer jobs...it was great to work outside every day but it was also so relaxing to cruise around a quiet golf course listening to the sound of chirping birds and the occasional "whaaack" of a club face striking the ball.

I started reading this book and figured it would be all technical.  You know, "new ways" to grip the club, "try this stance and hit like Tiger," but it turned out to be more spiritual and about the major mental aspect of the game.  The book discusses how we overthink and overanalyze the game but I realized how you can match this discussion to anything in life...work, personal life, etc.  The book can be a little cheesy at times but I found the simple reminders to be helpful: keep faith and stick to whatever method works best for you and to not rethink it when the next big fad comes out (which happens a lot in the photography industry).

Thanks for letting me borrow the book, Dad.  Hopefully I'll be home again soon to return it in person.

The weather in the past few days has dramatically changed from 17 degrees and snowing to 62 degrees and raining.  It rained today and I felt it suited the first day of a new year and new decade...a clean start, washing out all that was good and bad of 2010.  

Mike and I made a quick drive across 8 states in 3 days to visit family and friends on the East Coast...this cross country trip was a bit different than the past two years (start of last year and the very first cross country trip) as we didn't stop every 45 minutes and take pictures like we were professional tourists (which I am, by the way).  No, this trip was all business...making good time, efficient dog potty stops and limited i'm-a-tourist-and-want-a-picture-of-this-country-store stops.  

Bear and Charlie got along much better than expected....   :)

Then we got what every Southerner wishes for (other than fried chicken, ACC wins and pearls)...snow on Christmas day...

Charlie experiencing his first ever snow...

Happy New Year  :)