Buy Local, Feel Good

Welcome!

                                               Original Magnet by Becky Arnott

Did you know that shifting your buying to locally-owned businesses can make many millions of dollars difference a year to the local economy?  For every $100 you spend at a national chain, the total economic impact is only $13, yet the same amount spent with local merchants is $45!

Greg and I try to spend locally as much as possible whether it's at restaurants, pet stores, health food stores, or whatever. 

Even when we travel out of town, we always look for the local restaurants, etc.  Besides, what's the use of traveling somewhere new or different if you're just going to visit the same ol' chains that are back home?

One of our favorite places is McCreary's Irish Pub & Eatery in Franklin, Tennessee.

                                            Photo taken by our waitress, Anna.

                                      This shepherd's pie was sooooo good!


F.Y.I
McCreary's Irish Pub & Eatery
414 Main Street
Franklin, TN 37064
615-591-3197
http://www.mccrearyspub.com/

You might want to check out my new blog, http://www.spiritphotographs.blogspot.com/ .

Positive thought: Support your local businesses.  You'll feel good about helping your local business people and economy!
Thanks for visiting!  Until next Sunday, Becky

Room with a View

Welcome!

Those of us who go to the dental office of Drs.Gillis and Harter feel very fortunate as we have a beautiful view (like the one above) from the window as we're having our teeth worked on!  An office like this (Every patient room in the office has a different view of this exquisite garden.) is what I call people-friendly.  This is a great example for any business that is health-oriented (or for anywhere else really!).

This makes me wonder how we could all make our lives, as well as the lives of those around us, more people-friendly.  Food for thought!

F.Y.I. 
Malcolm E. Gillis, Jr., D.D.S.
Elizabeth Gillis Harter, D.D.S.
1201 Hatcher Lane
Columbia, TN 38401
Telephone (931) 381-9044

Also, if you're the least bit interested in, or just curious about the paranormal, you might want to check out my new blog, "Spirit Photographs" at http://www.spiritphotographs.blogspot.com/  which just started this weekend.

Positive thought: (From a sign in the dentists' office) : "Keep you face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow.  It's what the sunflowers do."
-Helen Keller
                                                       
Thanks for visiting!
Until next Sunday, Becky

Changes

Welcome!

There's one thing you can always count on, nothing ever stays the same.

                                                 The Butterfly, a Symbol of Change


I've enjoyed writing this blog for a year and a half, but it has also taken a lot of my time each week.  Because of other projects, I even considered cutting it out all together.

However, one day while in the shower (when many of my ideas come to me), I decided that I'd just abbreviate my blogs, to make them into what I call mini blogs.  That way I can continue with this blog, and still have time for projects like my new blog about the paranormal which will start soon.  (I'll tell more about it in next week's blog post.)

The mini blog posts will be somewhat like my previous posts (the positive lifestyle, places to visit in our area, and the arts) except they'll be more to the point. In other words, they'll be short but (hopefully) sweet.  I think I've got some pretty neat posts lined up, starting next week.

                                                                      Photo by Greg


Thanks to all of you for continuing to read my blog posts and for the nice comments which several of you have sent.

A positive change:  I'm going to attempt to make my own healthy liquid soap which should be a lot more economical than regular liquid soap.

Positive thought:  Change yourself (your thoughts and feelings), change your life!
Thanks for visiting!  Until next Sunday, Becky

The Coffee Company

Welcome!

On the way to a wedding, Greg and I stopped by The Coffee Company in Elizabethton, Tennessee for a quick lunch. 

This is a great place to enjoy a gourmet meal at a reasonable price.

                                                    The staff is friendly and helpful.


The menu includes a wide array of appetizers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and, of course, coffee.

                               Yum!  Healthy, tasty, and you sure don't leave hungry!


There are desserts, as well, including scones. A German woman makes their scrumptious baked goods.

My brother, Nick and my mother, Jean joined us for a delicious meal, and fellowship.

              My mother celebrates her birthday July 9.  Happy birthday to Mama on Monday!

For more of their complete menu, products, services, etc., please check out their web site below:

F. Y. I.
The Coffee Company
Owners: John & Lisa Bunn
444 East Elk Avenue
Elizabethton, Tennessee 37643
(423) 542-3438
(800) 358-2709
http://www.experiencingcoffee.com/
Open : Monday-Saturday-7-5PM
Lunch: 11-3:00

Positive thought: Connect with loved ones this week somewhere special for a meal or other activity.
Thanks for visiting!  Until next Sunday, Becky

(Wo)man's Best Friends

Welcome!

This blog post is in praise of our animal friends, using both words and pictures.

"Every living creature on earth is special."
-Sue Monk Kidd

"Although other animals may be different than us, this does not make them less than us."
-MarcBehoff

"Animals don't hate, and we're supposed to be better than them."
-Elvis Presley

"Animals are the bridge between us and the beauty of all that is natural.  They show us what's missing in our lives, and how to love ourselves more completely and unconditionally.  They connect us back to who we are, and to the purpose of why we're here."
-Trisa McCagh

                                                           Peacocks by a Pond


"Horses make the landscape look beautiful."
-Alice Walker

"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself."
Josh Billings

"Dogs come when they are called, cats take a message and get back to you."
Mary Bly

"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods.  Cats have never forgotten this."
-Anonymous

"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language."
-Martin Buber

Kallie and Mitzi enjoying their 5th birthday present, a video just for cats.

"A kitten is, in the animal world, what a rosebud is in the garden."
-Robert Sowthey

Please support your local animal shelter.

Thought to ponder:  "There is no religion without love and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham."
-Anna Sewell

Have a happy 4th of July!
Thanks for visiting!  Until next Sunday, Becky

Busy as a Bee

Welcome!

"Busy as a bee" might seem like one of those Southern Appalachian Mountain sayings  (Please see the January 15, 2012 blog post), but actually those words come from Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."  In any case, they aptly describe the way Greg and I have been the past few months.  It seems as though there are not enough hours in the day!  (Sound familiar?)  Greg is busy with his job, and I have been working on several business projects.

I've been doing quite a bit of organizing lately.

Also, portraits have been keeping me pretty busy.

Not long ago, I put some of my art work in a local arts and crafts shop.

Another project is a book that I've written that will, hopefully, be published soon.  I plan on having another blog in a few weeks devoted to the subject of that book.  (Please stay tuned!)

Although we love what we do and are very busy, we still take time out for rest and fun.  We might sit on our front porch, go to a park, visit somewhere interesting, or go eat out somewhere special.

Positive thought: "Take time to smell the flowers." (Based on the old proverb, "Take time to smell the roses.")

Thanks for visiting!  Until next Sunday, Becky

Summer Magic

Welcome!

And, welcome, Summer! (on Wednesday, June 20)

"the beautiful season...Summer...
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"It was June, and the world smelled of roses.  The sunshine was like powered gold over the grassy hillside."
-Maud Hart Lovelace

"And what is so rare as a day in June?"
-James Russell Lowell

"Summer afternoon-summer afternoon, to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language."-Henry James

"Breathless, we flung us on a windy hill, laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass."
-Rupert Brooke

"Let us dance in the sun, wearing wild flowers in our hair..."
Susan Polis Schutz

"Each fairy breath of summer, as it blows with loveliness, inspires the blushing rose."
-Author Unknown

"I drifted into a summer-nap under the hot shade of July, serenaded by a cicadae lullaby, to drowsy-warm dreams of distant thunder."
-Terri Guillemets

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time."
-John Lubbock

"A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows."
-St. Francis of Assisi

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken."
-James Dent

-Happy Father's Day!
-to my dad who is in spirit, to Greg's dad (who is 98 years old!), and to all fathers everywhere.

Positive thought:  For a more magical life, you might want to read Rhonda Byrne's wonderful book,  "The Magic."
Thanks for visiting!  Until next Sunday, Becky