Just Pencils!

These pictures absolutely amaze me - they are designs/sculptures that are built out of ONLY pencils! And the message at the end is a great one - one that I need to read DAILY!

A PENCIL MAKER TOLD THE PENCIL 5 IMPORTANT LESSONS JUST BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE BOX :

1.) EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL ALWAYS LEAVE A MARK.

2.) YOU CAN ALWAYS CORRECT THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE.

3.) WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU.

4.) IN LIFE, YOU WILL UNDERGO PAINFUL SHARPENINGS,
WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE YOU BETTER.

5.) TO BE THE BEST PENCIL, YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF
TO BE HELD AND GUIDED BY THE HAND THAT HOLDS YOU.

We all need to be constantly sharpened. This parable may encourage you to know that you are a special person, with unique God-given talents and abilities. Only you can fulfill the purpose which you were born to accomplish. Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot be changed and, like the pencil, always remember that the most important part of who you are, is what's inside of you.

Road Rage!

Maybe I'm just a little gittery about driving after having an accident a couple weeks ago, but this just seems like a tragedy waiting to happen. I was driving to work the other day behind this truck. After I realized that there was NOTHING holding all of that CONCRETE in the back of the truck, I quickly changed lanes and sped by him.

What are people thinking?!?!

And this one is just for your Friday viewing pleasure......I pulled into a parking spot at work and this is what I saw in front of me:

I love it! I'm sure hell is quite full and jam-packed these days, so I guess if it's full you can return from where you came!

Arboretum Wildlife

As I always find wherever I go down here, Texas has some wildlife that I have never seen before (of both the plant AND animal varieties)!

Cindy was grossed out by this pumpkin/gourd thing. We decided that it was the 'elephant man' pumpkin!

I just LOVED LOVED LOVED these tiny pepper things! They were so little, cute and bright! I want to plant some in my shrubs!

This gourd thingy was odd because it was exactly in the shape of an apple, but super oversized. It was about the size of a bowling ball, maybe a little smaller. So cute!

The arboretum is just SO well maintained - gorgeous photo ops EVERYWHERE you turn!

I'm not sure if this next one is a berry or a flower??? They were gorgeous and I wanted to pick some and take them home. They are like big raspberries or something....but I think they are a flower. Very weird, but so pretty.

And of course, the lily pads were so cool! This was the most perfect water lily hanging out all by itself!

I am obsessed with moving water, waterfalls, fountains, etc. It's just mesmerizing.......

A vibrant purple water lily!

And when I saw these two, I just thought they looked like a couple hanging out together.

Little Orange Houses For You & Me

I decided to dedicate a whole post to the pumpkin houses themselves at the Dallas Arboretum. They were too cute NOT to!

Here's me in front of one of them. They each had a storybook correlation with a big book outside each one, telling the story it was themed after.

Here's a shot from inside one pumpkin house and you can see the next one.....

Here's Miss Cindy!

Cindy thought this one was gross, but I loved it. It was made out of all gourds and weird colored/shaped pumpkins.

Here's me in the doorway of the 'mutant' pumpkin/gourd house!

It was beautiful! But Cindy thought the pumpkins looked like they had diseases..... haha

Here's me in the 'normal' pumpkin house.....

We both really liked this one and couldn't WAIT to get pictures in the window!

They were just so perfect and autumn-y!

Here's me in the window of that cute house.....

And the entrance/exit of that house......

This is further into the arboretum at the Texas Old Time Village (or something like that). I was hiding in a shack!

They were adorable little replica houses....

Pumpkin Fun

A couple weeks ago, Cindy and I visited the Dallas Arboretum to see the pumpkin houses that we had heard about. It was so beautiful and fun!

Here are some stats on the arboretum at this time of year, for their Storybook Pumpkin Village:

~150,000 fall flowers in bloom
~40,000 pumpkins!
~The only one of its kind in the world.
~350 varieties of chrysanthemums, salvia, coleus, marigolds, ornamental grasses and impatiens.

Here is Cindy near the main entrance:

It was decorated so fabulously!

Here's me in front of the first pumpkin house. They were so adorable!

I can see how they came up with the number of 40,000 pumpkins - I don't think I have EVER seen that many in one place before!

It smelled great and the sun was shining - a fabulous day for it.

Here's Cindy, trying to find a good location for pictures!

I guess you could even pick out a pumpkin and buy it right there. They must be replenishing their supply often......

These are my favorite shots from the whole day - surrounded by cute pumpkins!

They created a bunch of little scenes near benches that were PERFECT for photos!

And then we HAD to take pictures by this bridge over a little pond.

And as much as it was fall (and I really wanted to wear that sweater), it was pretty hot in the sun. Here's me taking a break in the shade.....