First Sunflower Blossom of 2014

It finally happened! Yesterday, May 14th, we were at 61 days for our second DIY garden of sunflowers. That was quite the day! On May 12th, we wrote about how the bud was emerging into a yellow blossom. Then, two days later, I noticed that the yellow bud had finally opened to reveal itself. It's not one of those mammoth blossoms, but it still is quite pretty!

FIRST SUNFLOWER BLOSSOM OF 2014

The First Sunflower Blossom of 2014 ~ JaguarJulie
Arrived on May 14, 2014

What is really awesome about the location of that first sunflower blossom? Would you believe it is right in line with my view outside my home office window? I mean, when I look to my left, outside the adjacent window, I can see it!! It looks like this ...

The First Sunflower Blossom of 2014 ~ JaguarJulie
Arrived on May 14, 2014

It is really quite thrilling to finally have a blossom appear after nurturing this flower garden for 61 consecutive days! Much love and attention has gone into the garden; probably more attention than I spend on myself.

The other thrilling part about the whole thing happened on May 14th as well. After tending to my garden, I came inside, fixed myself a cup of dark-roasted Costa Rican coffee with my Bella One Cup coffee maker. And, then I came into my home office, opened the window and gazed out at that first sunflower blossom of 2014, and opened my inbox.

SQUIDOO LENS OF THE DAY

Holy Smokes! My DIY Garden of Sunflowers lens was being featured as the Squidoo Lens of the Day on May 14th - the same day I saw my first blossom. We just had a full moon; and the planets had aligned.

SECOND SUNFLOWER BLOSSOM OF 2014

It just keeps on keeping on ... today, May 15th, as I did my walk through of my garden, I spied the second blossom emerging!!

The Second Sunflower Blossom of 2014 ~ JaguarJulie
Arrived on May 15, 2014

This second sunflower blossom just happens to be an Autumn Beauty. You can see the pretty orange and reddish colors.

After all the traffic and attention my DIY Garden of Sunflowers lens received for being the lens of the day, today it jumped to the top spot of all my lenses, knocking out my formerly top page, Stuffed Cabbage : The Best Stuffed Cabbage Rolls Ever!

Last, but not the least, I was thrilled to receive in the mail today, my signed copy of Kelli Ellis's Do I Look Skinny In This House? How to Feel Great In Your Home Using Design Psychology. It arrived in the knick of time for me to hurry up and get my skinny on!

What a day ... or two, eh?

Who is Jaguar Julie on Squidoo

Who is Jaguar Julie on Squidoo? This Lensography, Jaguar Julie Lensography, hopes to answer that question as inquiring minds want to know!


I took on the name of "Jaguar Julie" when the Jacksonville Jaguars first hit town! That name became the name of my "brand" that has been primarily marketed online. Several years ago, as a supporter of Mark Brunell, our former quarterback, I sold his NFL, Premium Collection, Limited Treasures collectible bear. When Mark Brunell left town for the Washington Redskins, I later donated hundreds of these collectible bears to his local charity which benefits children.

This lensography was featured on March 7, 2008 as Lens of the Day [LOTD] making it the first of its kind to be a LOTD. No, my lensography was NOT the first lensography as there are many other lensographies to be found on Squidoo.

So, what did the honors of LOTD do for my rankings? Thanks to the wonderful people of Squidoo [there are so many cool people behind the scenes that I love each and everyone of them and would love to invite them over for dinner anytime], most importantly to all my wonderful visitors [xoxoxo] who visited my lens, and more particularly to those who took time to leave a 5 star rating [an extra xoxoxoxoxo], bah to those few who DID leave me a ONE STAR RATING* [God knows who you are!], LOTD took my lens to #1 in People! I forgot to thank God -- hey, did you know that Seth Godin is Squidoo King and actually has "god" in his name??? -- mom, dad, and those wonderful Dominican nuns with the rulers!!!

Yes, LOTD took my lens to #1 in People, and also helped to take my lens to #10 overall ranking amongst all lenses and #3 in top giants lenses. Thank you to the graciousness of Squidoo for picking my lens after TWO FULL YEARS of knocking my brains out coming up with ideas and burning up the keyboards, along with suffering through my first hard drive crash!!!

Stop by and visit me sometime ... maybe you too will be inspired enough to build your own Squidoo lens? Come on, what are YOU waiting for???

* P.S. If you are feeling regrets or a tad remorseful, you can go back and up those stars!
P.P.S. I want to adopt Gil !!! xoxoxo

SquidWho is Jaguar Julie

SquidWho: A people-powered Who's Who on the Web is giving other so-called people who's who on the internet a run for their money! Have you checked it out yet? Well, if not ... let me introduce you to SquidWho through this particular lens ... a subject that I know a lot about!!!

Who Is Jaguar Julie? So, just who is this Jaguar Julie you're surely asking yourselves?

A little more about me from my newest blog, Blondes that DIY.

Well, you have come to the right place for an 'organized' look at what makes Jaguar Julie tick! She's been around for more than a few years on the internet, but not long enough -- we guess -- to have a Wikipedia listing! Darn, we'll just have to fix that now won't we! HOW DO YOU GET A WIKIPEDIA LISTING ANYWHO HORTON???

A compilation of the chapters or segments of Jaguar Julie of which she is most passionate:

• BzzAgent ...
• Giant Squid and SquidAngel ...
• LOTD ...
• Lensmaster ...
• Lensographer ...
• Groupmaster ...
• Head Chef ...
• Online Seller ...
• Photographer ...
• Webmaster ...

And now that Jaguar Julie Ann Brady has retired! She is somewhat of a master gardener and yard person. Plus, photographer, designer, writer et. al.

Squidoo LOTD Jaguar Julie Lensography

A Squidoo LOTD: Lens of the Day!  Jaguar Julie Lensography. Well, here it was on a rainy and blustery Friday morning as I was working diligently on updating many of my well over 300 Squidoo lenses that I get this dear email from Lewis :-) -- that's LewisSmile you all. "Woohoo! Congratulations on lens of the day :)" says he. "Woohoo … another LOTD? I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for more love … once is not enough!" says I. Not knowing what to make of this wonderful honor, I happened upon my Squidoo Dashboard, and there it was ...

Wow, how cool to find that my Squidoo Lensography, Jaguar Julie Lensography had earned the honor of the day of LOTD, Lens of the Day, for March 7, 2008. Read more about it LOTD: Lens of the Day.

Oh, did you know, this is my second time to have a LOTD. My first was in June 2006 for a true story about my experience with identity theft and what I did to help catch a couple of crooks. To Catch a Thief in Under 40 Days details the headache of an experience and gives you a number of pointers in how to act quickly to nab the bad guys!

How in the world did Jaguar Julie get to have 2 lenses of the day? And how can I have one too?

P.S. Hope you enjoyed a visit back to some fond memories. For posterity, I did pen a page on my Google blog about my writings as a Lensmaster.