Wordless Wednesday: A Charleston Steeple

A Charleston, South Carolina Steeple

Photos ©2009 Anne Rains Photography, All Rights Reserved.

If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

45 Life Lessons We Should All Learn...

My awesome team leader, Janice Baldwin, sent these life lessons to everyone this morning. It was written by Regina Brett, a columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. In the e-mail it talked about how Regina had just turned 90 years old; I had never heard of this woman before so I did a little research. I found her website: ReginaBrett.com and as it turns out she just turned 50 in 2006...so the e-mail floating around is inaccurate as to her age, but still contains a wonderful amount of life lessons we can learn from.

According to her website, the following article is being turned into a book titled: "God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life's Little Detours" --it will be released April of 2010.

So without further ado...here are the 45 Life Lessons we should know by Regina Brett:

• Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
• When in doubt, just take the next small step.
• Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
• Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
• Pay off your credit cards every month.
• You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
• Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
• It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
• Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.
• When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

• Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
• It's OK to let your children see you cry.
• Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
• If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
• Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
• Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
• Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
• Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
• It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
• When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

• Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
• Over prepare, then go with the flow.
• Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
• The most important sex organ is the brain.
• No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
• Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
• Always choose life.
• Forgive everyone and everything.
• What other people think of you is none of your business.
• Time heals almost everything. Give it time.

• However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
• Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
• Believe in miracles.
• God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
• Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
• Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
• Your children get only one childhood.
• All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
• Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
• If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
• Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
• The best is yet to come.
• No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
• Yield.
• Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

I think that Regina really knows what she's talking about! All of these tips and lessons are great ways to live your life and reminders that we only get one shot at life here on Earth. Which one was most meaningful to you?

For me, as a Christian, my favorite one is "The best if yet to come!" This one means the most to me because while this life is great, I know that I have an even better one in store for me in the future--eternity in Heaven with my Savior and Lord! Life on Earth is just preparation for eternity spent with God.

In fact, I'm reading an awesome book on Heaven by Randy Alcorn simply titled "Heaven." I am just beginning it but so far it's been very good--I'm learning a lot and it's one that I would recommend every Christian to read.

So, please tell me, which Life Lesson means the most to you?

P.S. In case you're interested...all the photos were taken by me while on my study abroad trip to Australia...a truly beautiful place! I would highly recommend a trip there if you've never been!!

Photos ©2009 Anne Rains Photography, All Rights Reserved.

If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

Wordless Wednesday (A Day Late!): A Street with a Story to Tell

Wordless Wednesday...sorry for the delay! I titled this A Street with a Story to Tell because this beautiful cobblestone street is very old and is part of Savannah, Georgia's River Street. It's a really neat street that runs beside the water and has several shops, restaurants and hotels to enjoy.
Photos ©2009 Anne Rains Photography, All Rights Reserved.

If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

Wordless Wednesday: 900 Year Old Oak Tree!

This photo was taken at the Middleton Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina. The plantation guides told us the tree is about 900 years old!! Some of the limbs are being held up and supported by cables!

Photos ©2009 Anne Rains Photography, All Rights Reserved.

I hope this information has helped you! If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

Wordless Wednesday: Playing with Picnik

Okay…I’m breaking the rules here a little because today’s Wordless Wednesday is not exactly “wordless”. But today’s photo is one that I took into Picnik.com and added a lot of effects to…I think it turned out pretty cool. If you’ve never played with Picnik.com you should take a look at it–you can do a ton of cool things to your photos. Besides just the standard photo editing features of cropping and removing red-eye, this program also allows you to add text to your photos, enhance the colors and add borders, along with so much more.

Go ahead, try it out…you’ll be hooked

P.S. Besides playing with the colors some and adding a border, I also added the effect HDR-ish which made it really neat looking :-)

If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Has Sprung!

Photos ©2009 Anne Rains Photography, All Rights Reserved.

If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

I Scream, You Scream...

...We all scream for ice cream!! I don't know about you, but ice cream is one of my very favorite treats! I could eat it everyday...so of course I was very excited when the ice cream and dessert shop, Scoops, came to the nearby city of Dacula, Georgia.

This wonderful dessert place has pretty much any type of candy or ice cream that you can imagine. It has several counters full of mouth-watering chocolates, fudge, candied apples, giant cinnamon rolls, as well as a bazillion (okay, maybe not that many) flavors of ice cream! (The picture below is just ONE of the cases of yummy treats)


In addition, the walls are lined with candy, from every flavor of jelly bean you can imagine, to every kind of sour or chewy candy you could want. It's a child's dream...and probably every dentist's nightmare!


There are booths to sit and hang out in, rocking chairs out front so you can relax and stay a while and a party room in the back where they do children's birthday parties. How fun would that be?! As you can see, this place has a great atmosphere--with all the bright colors around it's hard not to be cheerful!

So, if you are ever in the Dacula, Georgia area and get a craving for some ice cream, you'll just have to stop by Scoops! It's located at: 2300 Liam Avenue, Suite 200, Dacula, Georgia 30019

As Always, Thanks for Reading!

If you are in the market to buy or sell your home in the Bethlehem or Dacula area, I would be happy to assist you! My passion is helping people find their dream home and stepping them through this exciting journey. I serve the Walton, Barrow and Gwinnett county areas. Call or text me today!

Photos ©2009 Anne Rains Photography, All Rights Reserved

Savannah Collection...

Downtown

Flags

Black & White Stairs

©2008 Anne Rains Photography

Last weekend I had a photography show in Savannah, Georgia. It was for the arts and crafts festival on River Street. I sold some photos and met a lot of really nice people, so I'm really glad that I went. I was also able to take a few photos while there as well. I've included three on this post, but the others are also on my Photography blog. You can check them out at: http://annerains.blogspot.com. Please take a look at them; I welcome any feedback you may have!

These prints, as well as any of the others on my photography blog are available for purchase; I have a variety of sizes and they can be matted as well. To order, simply e-mail me at annerains@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful day! Enjoy :-)

New Photography Business!

Well, I thought I should let everyone know that I've started a side business selling my photography. Here are just a few of the ones I have so far. The top picture is my favorite! It was taken on my honeymoon to Charleston, SC. This particular photo was taken at Middleton Plantation, an absolutely beautiful place--we got lucky that the azaleas were at the height of their season when we visited. I just love all the different colors in this photo.

I took the next photo on our recent trip to Negril, Jamaica where we stayed at the Couples Swept Away all-inclusive resort. The picture of the caves was taken while on a catamaran cruise; it was so beautiful there! If I wasn't such a chicken I could have swam in the caves...but being a little afraid of creatures such as sharks and jelly fish I chose to look at them from the boat!

The last photo was taken while I was on my three week trip to Australia for Study Abroad. I took this cute little guy's photo at one of the zoos we visited on the Gold Coast. He posed just perfectly for me! Too cute!! By the way, koalas are as cuddly as they look; I got to hold one and he just curled right up to me and held on :-)

If you would like to look at my other photos please visit my photography blog at: http://annerains.blogspot.com/

Thanks for taking a look! Have a wonderful day.