Some voting news...

Woah. 

Let me repeat that.

Woah. Woah, woah, woah.

Those were some amazing photos. And by amazing, I mean splendid, incredible, awesome, powerful, insanely-good photos. I loved looking at each and everyone of them.

You all amaze me.

And since there were so many of your lovely photos, I'm switching the voting time over to Friday in order to give me more to time to properly organize and showcase each one of them. Trust me, it'll be good.

On that note...seeya Friday! And go and celebrate a little. Leftover cookies are always a must.

Love,
Hannah

Lovely Photo Wednesday - Lotta bit different this week! - Plus, it's someone's birthday...

<a href="http://manyrandommusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lovely%20Photo%20Wednesday"><img vspace="none" hspace="none" alt="Lovely Photo - Wordless or Not-So-Wordless Wednesday at Aspire" src="http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt255/ElvishAuthoress/LovelyPhoto.png" align="center" /></a>This week, LPW is gonna be up on time, and, because I forgot all about it last week (oh, goodness.) I've got some treats attached this time. Yup. It's gonna be a blast. Really. And since it's got treats attached, why not make it a party? Then we can have an excuse to have some cookies. Or I could make fudge. But I digress...

For this week only (or if it gets popular, I might make do it again) link up your photo and bloghop around as usual. Then, on Thursday, come on back and vote for your favorite photo from this week. The winner will receive a special treat. Like a fudge. Or not. What exactly is the treat? It's a surprise...but I promise you, it's good. You'll see come Friday!

Look who has a birthday on Wednesday...

Caleb boy. He's turning five on Wednesday. He's a real sweetie and loves giving; he picks flowers for my mom, "because I love you, mom." A darling face, precious grin, and he's known to walk into a room and say, "It's me, Caleb." As if we could forget you, sweet heart.

Never.

Link up your Lovely Photo, make sure to visit at least three other entries, and come back on Thursday to vote for your favorite photo. On Friday, make sure to head back again to find out the winner. Who knows, it may be you.

You Must Love Me...

Because even though I was a bad blogger and forgot all about Lovely Photo Wednesday...

Though in my defense, I did have a nagging suspicion that something was horribly wrong.

Okay, maybe not. But I did feel bad.

Anyways, back to what I was saying.

...Even though I wasn't a good hostess (and not the cheapo cookie kind) 30 people still linked up.

You're amazing.

Go have a cookie on me. Or a doughnut. Or some fudge. You deserve it--really.

I love ya.

Hannah

The LATE Lovely Photo Wednesday!

<a href="http://manyrandommusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lovely%20Photo%20Wednesday"><img vspace="none" hspace="none" alt="Lovely Photo - Wordless or Not-So-Wordless Wednesday at Aspire" src="http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt255/ElvishAuthoress/LovelyPhoto.png" align="center" /></a>Can you believe it? I forgot all about Lovely Photo Wednesday! Doh! Oh, goodness--and I don't have any excuses either. I got home from my writing class and my mom asked "Did you get your Wordless Wednesday up?" And of course, I hadn't.

So here is the very late LPW! Next week I promise I'll be better...and as a little treat--next week there'll be a giveaway attached, so stay tuned! That should make it all a bit better, right? I hope so! :-)



So link up, sweet friends! And I'm terribly sorry for being so late--stay tuned for a giveaway with next week's Lovely Photo as a treat for this week's lateness.

Welcome Fall...

It is officially Fall in my mind. School has started for all of our neighbors, as well as my family, ballet is beginning, and there's a crisp, chill in the air that can only be taken for the briskness of fall.

And I had my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season from Starbucks. That just confirms the reality of Autumn.

To celebrate Fall, I have a couple surprise up my sleeves. Yes, sleeves. I told you it was cold here! The first should be blatantly obvious, but if not, let me point it out to you.


Aspire has a new look! I tried to weave in the scarlet's and crimsons of autumn, but I can't be swayed beyond the blues. However, there are some brown tones--and I got a few gorgeous purples in there. But since I am loving those fall colors, you might see a few switcheroos in the next couple of weeks. Maybe. We'll see.

As for a second surprise, in the spirit of celebration, as well as a new season, I thought it would be fun to giveaway a blog design? How about it? Anyone looking for a new look for Autumn?

Here's how to enter... (giveaway runs from the 7th to the 19th)

Comment and tell me your favorite thing about Autumn--and why you'd like a new design.

For extra entries,

• Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know that you do!
• share this giveaway (facebook it, tweet it, blog it, etc...)

Make sure to leave a NEW comment for each entry; I want to make sure all of your entries count.

So what's your favorite thing about Fall? I know for one that I love the gorgeous colors and the showers of leaves...

One last fling.

Friday was the last day of summer in my mind. The last weekday before fall surges in and starts up again. And so we celebrated.

On Wednesday.



Wednesday was deliciously warm, with a slight breeze and golden, glorious sunshine. My sister Chloe, who'd been asking all summer to bike to Dairy Queen or Culvers--you know, the epitome of a summer--finally was able to. So I hopped on my bike and along with some friends, we biked to Culvers.



It wasn't a long trek. It wasn't particularly hard. The only noticeable "bad" thing that happened was when I accidentally jammed into my pedal before we left and got a big gash on my left leg.

I haven't biked for awhile, okay.



We got there and I went crazy--instead of getting my usual Culver's fare of a short raspberry and heath concrete mixer, I got a short raspberry and andes concrete mixer.

Woah. I know.



We sat outside and laughed and talked.



And ate our icecream. Don't forgot that part.




And it was nice to just sit down and goof off. To let any worries, stresses or frustrations that we had just slide and to enjoy our treat. Icecream has a way of doing that to you. That and chocolate. And coffee. Lets not forget coffee.



Double take. The sun is actually glinting off the icecream. How's that for some real goodness?



But then, I, with all of my genius ideas (such as making fudge), said that we should order fries. So we did. But they weren't really what we had expected...

They were huge. Really.



(names blurred for privacy reasons)


But we devoured them. Four kids and a teenager make for some hungry fry snatchers.





All in all, it was a very good summer day. A very good last fling.



And now, I'm ready for fall.



Are you celebrating the end of summer/beginning of Autumn at all?

Lovely Photo Wednesday - Come and Link up!

<a href="http://manyrandommusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lovely%20Photo%20Wednesday"><img vspace="none" hspace="none" alt="Lovely Photo - Wordless or Not-So-Wordless Wednesday at Aspire" src="http://i617.photobucket.com/albums/tt255/ElvishAuthoress/LovelyPhoto.png" align="center" /></a> It's time for this week's LPW! Hope to see all of your smiling faces in that linkup box below! I had a blast checking out all of the lovely entries last week and reading your darling words...or...not reading your words. Many of you went titless--for which, you deserve buckets of cookies. Or my good friend Morgan's rainbow-colored cake. But onto other matters...

If you're friends with me on facebook, you've likely already seen this photo. It was taken up on my vacation a month ago to Duluth with my grandparents, aunt, and brother, Brennan.

I miss Duluth. I really do.



This is just a taste of the photos from the trip--I know, it's been forever, but I'm hoping to get my post written about the vacation soon. It's just that sometimes the memories are so poignant that you're afraid that your words won't justify them. So you let them roll around in your head for awhile, until you've found the right ones to say. Or close.

But enough about me, I want to hear about you! Or more appropriately, I want to see your lovely photo! So join in and in the theme of i heart faces, make sure to check out at least three other entries. Spread some love and bloghop around a bit. I can't wait to see all of your lovely pictures!