A bit of love

A bit about love. I LOVE this shot of Mia. I know it's soft, but I love it so. This is the look that I fall in love with every day, but not the look I capture often enough.



Today, when asked how many chongos (ponytails) she wanted (the answer is usually one or two) she said '5.......or maybe 11' How random was that? I LOVE that answer, and I LOVE that little girl. You can't see them all, but she's sporting 5 :)

For more love, head on over to Shutter Sisters

Mia Hearts Dandelions - Wordless Wednesday

(my first shots in RAW)

more peeps are wordless at HERE
I'm also sharing HERE

i drum

my loving husband gave me an early birthday gift a couple of weeks ago. a new djembe! actually a new to me djembe. this drum comes from a wonderful woman, Lynn. Lynn had been hand drumming for years, but sustained a hand injury and wouldn't be able to play a djembe again...she's fine and has moved on to her love...the duns. this drum was displayed at Mae's home...not my sister, Mae, my drum teacher, Mae. i fell in love with it, but not it's price tag. Daryl noticed my interest in the drum, so he contacted Mae about buying it. 'absolutely NOT' Mae said....'Tanya has to pick out her own drum...one can't just be bought for her...it's a very personal choice'. she did give Daryl Lynn's info....a few days later, i found myself in front of whole foods playing this lovely drum. Lynn told me what she knew about the drum...it's from West Africa and is sacred. the carving is of kundalini rising...

you can see it better in this shot. in an email to Daryl (that he shared with me), Lynn wrote, 'It is like kundalini rising when drumming, you know what I mean?'...no, he didn't, but i do :)

the goat skin is beautiful...with the obvious spine down the center...very desirable in a djembe

here's a close up..you can actually see some of the goat hair....it's that beautiful? it's said that each drum has three spirits...from the tree, the animal and the drum maker. i love that


here's my lil snapper, thrilled to get her hands on both of mama's djembes...the smaller one is now hers and she's just delighted.

so, tonight was the first night of the next series of drum classes. Leah Ann also drummed...all the others couldn't make it this session. we were joined with 2 women that had taken 3 previous classes...i was a tad intimidated...so in awe. there were also 2 newbies..and i'm soooo glad. Mae had us doing much harder/faster rhythms, and i needed the time it took Mae to teach the new students to catch up with my parts. it was difficult, but that's what it's all about stretching yourself. my drum sounded fabulous and was so much easier to play...the wide base enabled me to get a good tilt without worrying it would fall over. i was able to close my eyes and let it flow. i'm SO ready for next weeks class and the drum circle i'm going to with Lynn next friday....did i mention she's a Djembabe? :)

thanks for the beautiful drum, Babe

Reunited

I've been an official Gleinser for a little over three years now, and I just LOVE it. This is such an amazingly warm, loving and fun family. Daryl, Mia and I drove from our weekend fishing get-a-way in Port O'Connor to Victoria with Pawpaw and Nana (Daryl's parents/my in-laws/Mia's grandparents) for the Annual Gleinser Family Reunion. This was the very first family reunion I've ever been to. I've only seen them in movies. We had a BLAST...especially Mia...yes, cake was involved.

oh, here's a shot of the cake decorated with a photo of the very FIRST family reunion in 1912 or something

Meet Bessie, the oldest and most beautiful Gleinser. She turned 101 this past February

Here's Bessie when she was a little younger

Mia was the youngest Gleinser from Goliad (2 bros came from Austria...one settled in Victoria and the other in Goliad...hence the Victoria Gleinsers and the Goliad Gliensers) Here she is accepting her award :)

She was so eager to open up her shiny new silver dollar!!!

This is Maddy, the youngest Victoria Gleinser

here's that cake again

Paul decided to eat AJ (top left in the picture)

Paul sure was a character..I'm in love with him

who wouldn't fall in love pocket knife wielding, suspender wearing man?...he IS a Gleinser

everyone had a great time catchin up

over dominoes

and cards....

Charming Uncle Leo and Beautiful Aunt Mary in the background

I think these are the Victoria Gleinsers...they're a little confused...LOVE this shot

door prizes and auction items were donated by family members

This item makes me smile

a gorgeous quilt with shots of the, um Victoria Gleinsers...it went for over $200

I bid on a set of three pumpkins...got 'em for $12

Tom/Pawpaw bid and won a decorative pipe cover....Mia was enchanted :)

Here we are....the Goliad Gleinsers

(I'm fourth from the left...Daryl is behind me to the left and he's holding our Mia. To my right, in the white is Nana and the tall gentleman behind her is Pawpaw)

I'm not budgin' ~ Best Shot Monday

Here's Mia sitting on a front step after a playdate. She clearly does NOT want to go home....would rather go back inside and play with Zephyr and the rest of her pals.

head on over to Tracey's for more Best Shots

My lil honey bear

Mia LOVES Prench toast...yes, it's French toast, but I so love the way she says it that I don't have the heart to correct her. The tactical error I made this morning was leaving the honey out after breakfast. Instead of quickly washing my lil honey bear up, I let her have some tasty fun while I snapped a couple of shots :)

Rock the Vote...please

You may have noticed that I've been posting some of my shots in more national forums...I'm having a BLAST with photography. Well, I entered one of my shots in the Splash Me! photo contest at Melody's super review, contest and giveaway blog What I Think. One of the coolest things is the Melody and her boys picked the finalists...how cool is that?!?! Another super cool thing is that MY shot was PICKED as a finalist!

I have a one in four chance (pretty fab odds!) to win the following 'The winner will receive a HP Photosmart A536 compact photo printer! The three runners-up will each receive a 50 free photo prints gift card from Snapfish.' Wow! I just realized that I'm gonna will something! This totally blows my mind. Is that silly? Another super cool thing is that fellow Texan friend, Christina, is also in the running! The two other finalists are Jaimee and Krista...don't know either very well, but LOVE their blogs and photos :)

this fun shot of Mia catching water at the sprinkler park is my entry

Melody said 'A note to the finalists...all is fair in love and photography...get out there and promote your photo. Blog, beg, whine or offer chocolate, but get your friends over here to vote.'

So, I'd LOVE for you to go HERE and vote for ME! :) Now, for those reality show watchers (you know who you are) you're more than aware how much votes count. I've seen a couple of the top contestants get voted off because peeps thought 'oh, they'll get votes'....hmm I guess that goes for political elections as well... :) Please go here and vote for me...#3...see that even rhymes! Please don't put it off...click right HERE , got to the bottom and comment by saying you vote for #3. Don't' worry...you won't get any emails, spam or be bugged in ANY way. I've been commenting on this site for a while with no problems at all...Melody is lovely like that :)

Seriously...vote for your fave...to see votes for any of us will make our day :)