Category Archives: Community

Cuppa Chat #4: Starting a Revolution!

Good morning, my Beautiful Creatives!!

I am just so FREAKIN’ JAZZED about this week’s Cuppa Chat video!!

I can BARELY CONTAIN MY EXCITMENT!!

Hoo! Hoo! Hee! Hoo! Hoo! Hee!!

Ok, I am feeling a little bit better now!!

This week’s Cuppa Chat was in response to me going back to last week’s Cuppa Chat video, video #3, and not liking what I saw in myself! I have a tendency to wear a mask when I am scared, or about to be raw and vulnerable! To find out more about what I am talking about, grab a “Cuppa” of something DELISH, and pull up chair…

How do you feel about starting your own PERSONAL REVOLUTION!!

Here is to our Beautiful Creative REVOLUTIONS!! 🙂

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Our First Official 5K!

Good evening!

I would normally wait until tomorrow to post this since it is already so late this evening, but I am just too excited to wait to share our fun news!

Tonight my sweetie and I ran the Willamette Valley Road Runners Salem Summer Solstice 5K at Minto Brown Park here in Salem! 🙂

Instead of sharing all of the juicy details in just words, I thought I would share the pics that my sweetie and I accumulated this evening! 🙂

This is my sweetie, who was soooooo excited to get to complete his first official 5K that it was hard to get him to not speed the whole way to the park!! I was impressed that I got him to hold still for this picture – he was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement!! 🙂

I would like to tell you that I was as excited as Jason, but in all honesty, I was here under protest! I was tired, I had already done almost three miles this morning, and it was less than an hour a way from my normal bedtime – not to mention, I was worried that I would either not be able to completed the course, or I would fall and make a complete fool of myself!! But, not to be left in Jason’s dust, I was determined to run the 5K too! 🙂

THIS is what he came for!! He wanted a NUMBER SOOOOOO BADLY!!! Can you see on his face how happy he is??? It is good to see him this happy!! 😉

Yep! I got one too!! 😉

I was more excited about the electronic tracking devices that they gave us to wear on our shoes! They measure your times as you cross the start and finishing lines! They were pretty nifty!! 😉

There were sooooo many people! That fact just jazzed Jason more, and made me more terrified, but I was excited to see if I could spot some new peeps in this crowd!! 🙂

They had all of the participants broken out into two crowds. The first was the 10K runners (next year, love, we will definitely be in that group!!), and here you can see those guys just taking off!!! Us 5K-ers took off about 5 minutes later!! 🙂

Jason caught me coming across the finishing line!! I was so tired. There were times that I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to push through, but there were little kids passing me up, and I knew I just had to keep going!!! I was excited, however, because I had ran my fasted mile this evening, and that was a 10 minute mile – I couldn’t even do that when I was in high school, and my fastest in the last couple of months was a 13 minute mile!! I am calling that PROGRESS BABY!!! 😉

I practically collapsed into Jason’s sweaty arms as soon as I spotted him!! I have never been so happy to see him again!! 😉

Jason is such a stud!!! He beat my time by about 10 minute – HE RAN THE WHOLE THING!!! I am just sooooo proud of him!! He TRULY is my HERO!!! 😉

After the run, the organizer had a ice cream sundae bar for all of the participants, and although I couldn’t eat very much, Jason was very VERY happy to enjoy almost his whole sundae!!! He knew he had earned EVERY SINGLE SPRINKLE!!! 😉

Tonight was such an AMAZING night!! One that I am sure neither one of us are sure to forget!! I really am proud of us!! I can’t wait to see what hurdle we tackle next!! 😉

Here is to a VERY FABULOUS EVENING!! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

The Barn House Show 2013

Good evening!

This past Saturday, I got to spend the day on my own with no responsibilities. With my camera in hand, and I headed out to Turner, Oregon to spend some time down at The yearly Barn House Show! I like to try and get out there every year, get inspired, and see if I can find any treasures to take home with me.

The Barn House show is held every year at the Turner Memorial Tabernacle! This building is HUGE, and I often dream about purchasing it and turning it into my sweetie and my dream home!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAW!! That would be AWESOME!! 😉 and check out how BLUE that sky was!! 😉

I love this chippy little sign, and I saw it as soon as I walked in – how fitting!! 😉

I think these bottles were faux mercury glass! I had just stumbled onto some instructions on how to do this, and I may have to give this technique a try. So pretty!!

Who knew that an old painted, rusty ceiling tiling could be so beautiful??? I LOVE this!!;-)

This chair is JUST SO ME!!! I love the sexy, curvy shape, and I simply ADORE the zebra stripes!!! 😉

Being a bibliophile, I just LOVE finding unique bookends, and these ones are so industrial-chic!!! BRAVO!! 😉

I just LOVE this oversized wall clock!!

This bag is tres cute! I need to learn how to sew me some ruffles!! 😉

I love these signs!! I dream that one day my sweetie and I will be able to say, “Welcome to our farmhouse!!” 😉

My sweetie thought this marionette was creepy, but I have ALWAYS LOVED harlequin clowns, and I just FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM as soon as I saw him (that applies to both my sweetie and this cute little clown)!!! 😉

Every single one of these items could EASILY find a place in my home!! 😉

I really never knew I was such a industrial-chic kind of girl, but I really just LOVE the mix of architectural details, rust, and a bit of chippy paint!!

Who couldn’t use more glittered feathers in their life??? I know I could!! 😉

I LOVE these brooches!! 😉

AIEEEEE!!! I LOVE these ones too!!! 😉

These last three pics are all from one of my FAVORITE vendors down at Aunt Bee’s House – you might recognize a couple of these quilts from my post on Aunt Bee’s House a couple of weeks ago!! To see more of that, click Here!

Who knew that metal siding could double as art?? I need to get me some of this!! 😉

I love this vintage button bracelet!! I could use this in my accessory wardrobe!! 😉

I have always wanted an oversized mirrored armoir like this!! It always reminds me of the book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe!

I had such a great time at The Barn House Show, spending the day seeing all of the vendors’ booths, and all of the treasures for sale, and the weather truly could NOT have been more perfect!! I ended up taking a few vintage magazines home, as well as a stack of vintage crochet books!! SCORE!!! 😉 I really do look forward to going every year, so if any of you are in the area, and would like to go with me I think that would be a BLAST!!! Don’t you??? THE MORE THE MERRIER!!! 😉

With that said…

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Looking for Beauty at Aunt Bee’s House!

Good evening!

I am so very excited to share this post with you this evening, but before I get too ahead of myself, I wanted to tell you a little bit of back story on this post! Last week, I went to one of my FAVORITE shops here in town, Aunt Bee’s House! Aunt Bee’s House is a large marketplace for people to rent space to sell their home furnishings, decorative items, gifts, and other beautiful treasures!! When I find that I am needing to get some retail therapy, some inspiration for doing some decorating in my little condo, find a new color combination ideas for my next arting project, or if I am need of a unique and perfect gift for a friend or family member – Aunt Bee’s House is my go-to place of choice!!

Well, anyway I had gathered up the nerve to introduce myself to the staff, and ask if I could take some pictures so that I could post them on blog, This Artsy Life. That may not sound like a big deal, but me being eternally shy and having a tendency to want to remain invisible when I am out on the town by myself, I was pretty dang proud of myself!! Well, of course the staff of Aunt Bee’s House being SO AMAZING, welcoming and friendly, they said “yes” immediately, and off I went – snapping away!!! I was such a happy girl, and I think I came home with something like 200 pictures!!

Needless to say, it was a GREAT day!! 🙂

Well, long story short, I got home placed my camera card in my computer, and my computer essentially ate all of my pictures!! UGH!!

I would love to tell you that me being the new brave and outgoing Christina, I turned around went right back and started the process all over again, but alas that is not how it went down! 🙂 It literally took me another week to gather up my courage again to go back and ask if I might take those pictures again!! The FABULOUS staff so graciously said “yes” again, and again I spent a lovely afternoon just snapping away!! Finding all sorts of treasures and beautiful items to delight the senses. I can’t believe it had taken me so long to get back there!! I REALLY LOVE THIS PLACE!!! 😉

Soooo…

Tonight I am very happy to share with you some of the pictures that I took while at Aunt Bee’s House.

Here we go!! 🙂

This is what you see when you first walk in to the shop! The colors of these quilts are so happy and joyful, that I think that quilting may become my next hobby/passion!! Oh man, what is my sweetie going to think about that??? 😉

I am really loving teal painted furniture!! Hmmmm…I wonder how my sweetie would feel about having his dresser painted teal?

I love this little vignette! 🙂 The lamps, the bowl of green apples, the books, the horse, everything!! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!!

I love the juxtaposition of this stripped wooden vessel and the red vintage books.

and how about these two large gears??? Aren’t they just AMAZING???? I am SERIOUSLY thinking about going back and bringing these two manly studs home!!! 🙂

Who knew that oil can could be chic? Well, apparently they can be!!! 🙂

I am LOVING this headboard! The colors, the restic-ness of it, and maybe just the ingeniousness use of recycled fence posts!!

These are decorative storage boxes that looks like books with tapestry covers! VERY SPRINGY!! 😉

I love this vignette too! The books, plant pot, bird, and yes even the doily!! Who knew that I was going to have to start thinking about getting a doily?? My mama would be very proud!! 😉

I LOVE this LOVE sign!! 😉

Aren’t these just the cutest?? They are weighted pillows! I could see myself using these as a door stop for my front door!! SO SWEET!!

This is SUCH an INGENIOUS way to display simple ribbon roses!! I may have to give this project a try!! 😉

I am a SUCKER for colored glass vessels, and this BLUE is just STUNNING!!! 😉

I may need a whole slew of these to decorate all over our place!! I just LOVE rustic stars, and the glitter really adds a but of glam!!

This mannequin FASCINATES me!! Whoever gets to take this love figure home is my hero!! I LOVE THIS!!!

This little lady was kind of tucked in the back of this display, and as soon as I saw her, I knew she just needed to be brought forward and with a little bit of rearranging she is now the ROCK STAR of this vignette!! 😉

Here is another vignette that makes me happy to look at! I am really digging the message of this teal sign. “Thank God for blessing me much more than I deserve!” This has become my motto on almost a daily basis!! 😉

I am just CRAZY about this white chippy dresser!! TRES CHIC!!! 😉

I am so impressed by this paper wreath!! Someone has some SERIOUS patience!! 😉

I love this rack!! I could see this in my place being used as our mail rack…or maybe a medicine rack…or maybe a spice rack…or maybe as an organizer in my art studio…or maybe as a…or as a…!! I KNOW, IT IS A SICKNESS!!! 🙂

This is a message that I am going to try and apply to my life this week!! Enjoy the Little Things!! 🙂

Here is another one of those FABULOUS quilts!! See what I mean?? I love this design and the colors!! I would LOVE to have a new, homemade quilt for our bedroom!!! Sooooo cheery!!!

Well, there you have it!!! I hope you have enjoyed all of these pictures, as much as I had taking them!!! If you happen to be in the Salem area, I would highly recommend visiting Aunt Bee’s House!! I KNOW there will be THE PERFECT treasure waiting there JUST FOR YOU!!!

Thank you to the INCREDIBLE staff at Aunt Bee’s House for letting me share your lovely shop with my readers. I am greatly impressed by everything about your shop, there is such a welcoming, homey feeling that is evident as soon as you walk in the door!!!! I will most DEFINITELY be back in again!! 😉

To my readers, I want to make sure you know that I am in no way compensated by Aunt Bee’s House, and all of the opinions expressed are solely my own!! I hope you enjoyed all of these pictures!! 😉

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Time for a Change!

Good morning!

I am not sure if you have noticed, maybe you have, but I really haven’t been blogging here as much as I used to.

I started ChristinaVille on April 4th, 2010, can you believe it has really been that long? My intention for starting ChristinaVille was to have an outlet to share my day-to-day ramblings with whomever would listen. I didn’t really have any other goal outside of my own personal wishes, and in the last few months, I have been really convicted that I need to be blogging, not just for myself, but for others. I am a firm believer that we are here to learn from each others experiences. I have been having a hard time with the fact that my blog name is ChristinaVille. I know, silly right? but hear me out – ChristinaVille is a monicker my family gave to me a long time ago because I always want things done my way; I guess it is the plight of being born the oldest to 5 girls. Evens though I still struggle with wanting things done my way a lot of the time, I want my message to encompass more than me.

More than anything I want to help women realize that their wildest dreams can come true, and they can truly have the life that they desire. To help make that happen, I have decided that I will no longer be updating ChristinaVille, and have started a new blog called This Artsy Life. I will however, keep ChristinaVille up on the internet so all of the many hundreds of posts that I have written thus far will continue to be available to anyone interested in reading them.

My goal at This Artsy Life is to create a space where women can find resources, and encouragement to go after their dreams, while living a creative, art-filled life. It will be an evolving process, and even as I speak about it now, I am not sure how I will make it happen, but I know in my soul that this is the next step in my evolution. It is my job to be brave and take it.

Starting over is scary, but I think that having a clean slate is going to be exactly what I need to get from where I am to where I want to be.

I would be so honored if you would join me there, and subscribe to This Artsy Life. I know that I still have a lot more to share in my life, and I would LOVE for you to be a part of my journey!

Thank you so much for so many FABULOUS days! Here is to many, many more!! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

The Big Gala!

Good evening!

This is going to be a short post this evening! I have a to-do list that seems to be a mile long, but I promised my sister, Alexa, that I would share some pictures as soon as I was able to locate them. Well, I found them!! GO ME!!! 😉

My sweetie and I

I should probably tell you what these pictures are from. For those of you who may not already know, my sweetie and I had gastric bypass surgery this past year. My sweetie has lost 150+ pounds, and I am floating around a 95 pound loss. Anyway, every year the center where our FABULOUS team of doctors, nurses, nutritionists, physical therapists, psychologists, and counselors all do their day to day magic, host a big gala for all of their patients who have had the surgery.

My sweetie looking dapper in his tie! 😉

Needless to say, this was our first year going, and I have to tell you I was really nervous because I had no idea what to expect! Everyone gets all dressed up, and goes to the convention center here in town for a formal sit-down dinner. There is a professional photographer there and you basically get to share your stories with others, see you how your friends are doing, and pretty much just show off the newer slimmer, trimmer you!! It was like prom night for formerly obese people – ok, so that may not sound so glamorous, but trust me IT WAS!!!

Myself & BobbieJo! One of my FAVORITE peeps!!

We really did have an amazing time!! I look forward to going again next year, after I have been out of surgery for over a year! I can’t wait to see what I look like then!!

Anyway, we have not gotten our professional pictures yet, but I will be very happy to share those with you when I get my hands on them!!

Here is to a FABULOUS night! 🙂

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

Good evening!

Whew! Things have been fairly busy here, but I wanted to stop in the middle of my to-do list filled evening to touch base with you and let you know how everything is going here!!

This past weekend, my sweetie and I got the opportunity to go with our sister, Nette, and our niece and nephew, Megan and Morgan, and a few of their little friends to a really cool pumpkin patch out in the country! It was pretty cool in that they had a really large and intricate corn maze, tractor rides, pumpkin chucking, corn shooting, a zip line, a pitch black maze, mountain ‘o hay bale, and all sorts of neat things for the kids to do!! Jason and I really did have a lot of fun! It was perfect weather, the sun was shining, and the kids all had a great time too!!

In all honesty, I am still really beat from this weekend, and I have what feels like a mountain of things on my to-do list that needs to get done tonight, because my busy week is really just getting started!! So, instead of cutting it too short, I thought I would take this opportunity to share some of the pics from the pumpkin patch with you!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

A Splash Bash Kind of Sunday!

Good evening!

WARNING: this is going to be a photo-centric post. OK, you have been forewarned!!! 😉

Today was our church’s annual Splash Bash, which by the way, just happened to be my sweetie and my first, Splash Bash!! and let me tell you…it was

SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

So what is a Splash Bash? Well, it is a community get together at our church, where there are 5 large water features brought in for the afternoon. Then everyone in the community is invited to join us for some Summertime fun, getting wet, having a delicious dinner and some yummy desserts, spend some time getting to know each other, and generally just have a CRAZY-ZANY DAY OF FUN!!! 😉

The weather today wasn’t as hot as it has been this past week, which would have normally been a downer, but it turned out to be really quite a great day for our water-filled day!!! It was overcast, which meant it was not too hot to be outside, and there weren’t any sunburns to be had -YEAH!!

So, I took so many pictures of today, and really am excited to be able to share them with you, so let’s get this party started!!! 😉

There were these 5 AMAZING blow-up features that were brought in for the afternoon! 3 of them were water features and 2 were regular blow-up type rides, where kids could climb, slide, jump, and play!

I did not get wet today – being a “Dry Girl”, and wanting to take pictures – I knew that getting wet was not going to be feasible without ruining my camera! Seeing this ride kinda made me second guess my decision to stay dry!!

You had to run, jump, slide, splash, and try not to fly off the end of the slide!!! That appeared easy for most of the people that were playing on this slide, however, when it came to the big guys playing on the slide – they really had some difficulty stopping and would occasionally go flying off the end!! There were between 3 and 5 adults standing at the end of the slide to try and “catch” the men before they went flying! It was quite funny for all of us bystanders!!! 😉

Jason patiently waiting, and wet, in line for his turn! 😉

There was no falling gracefully when it came to this slide!! It was also funny, because when a larger person jumped down the left-hand-side, and a small person was waiting on the right hand side for his turn to go up – the right hand side person sometimes got catapulted into the air! Kind of two rides in one, if you ask me!! 😉

Here is Jason and Bethany, trying to stop Zach from flying off the end of the slide!! Beware if you should happen to be standing behind this group because they splash created when the slider hit the wall was HUGE, and you were almost guaranteed to get wet!!! Lesson learned the hard way! 😉

See what I mean? This was Jason and his splash!! 😉

Here is the fearless BoobieJo!

She really impressed me with her ability to fly down this slide!! She had the most graceful slide out of most anyone who slid down this thing!! At least she was able to stay right side up!!! YOU GO MISS BOBBIEJO!!! 😉

They also served dinner, and afterward had a HUGE buffet of pot luck desserts!! It was soooo hard to behave myself and enjoy a treat in moderation!! Thankfully Jason was there, and was able to help me keep my dessert intake into perspective!! Thank you, Love! I couldn’t do it without your help! 😉

If the awesome rides were not enough, they even had these cool water shooters that, of course, my sweetie found and quickly proceeded to get into a water fight with these really little kids, who just thought he was the coolest adult every!!!

Jason even jokingly started to refer to this cute little guy as his “arch-nemesis”, and would feign pain and fear whenever this little cutie was able to figure out how to work his water shooter!! LOL!!! Jason is the cutest oversized ‘4-year-old’ that you have ever seen!!! 😉

Then the calvary AKA, Zach, came in to save the little kiddos! and Jason and him spent the next half an hour or so hiding amongst the large rides, and trying to ambush each other and douse the other with cold water!! I apologize to any innocent bystanders who may have been harmed in this afternoon of fun! I try to keep him check, but alas, there are times when he has the uncanny ability to just run amok!! 😉

This is the face of a man who knows when he has been beat!! LOL!!! 😉

and of course, just to prove that I was really there, I decided to slip this little pic in to the mix!! 😉

It really was a great day, and maybe, just maybe, next year I may even convert and become a ‘get wet girl’ instead of ‘dry girl’, but I am NOT going to make any promises!!! With that said, we are both pleasantly tired and ready to have a nice quiet evening at home!!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

We Found Our Church Home!!!

Good afternoon!

I am sooooo excited to write today’s post!! To say that my sweetie and I have had a good day is SUCH AN UNDERSTATEMENT!!! Just look at these two happy faces!!!!

It has been a FABULOUSLY BLESSED day!!! 😉

Many of you may not know, but my sweetie and I have been searching for our church home for a LONG time now!! Having, myself, grown up in the church, and having met my sweetie while in church, I have seriously felt that we needed to find a church home. A place where we can find other Christians to call friends, and to grow spiritually in the body of Christ. I am so happy to report that we think we have FINALLY FOUND it! OUR CHURCH HOME!! 😉

This church is called Relevant Life Church. It is a small church that I happened to stumble across while looking at one of my girlfriend’s pics on Facebook! Can you believe it??? I couldn’t either, matter-of-fact this church has been here FOREVER, and I practically drive by it every day to get to work!!! 😉

What impressed me right away was when we walked in, there was such an atmosphere of love and acceptance! It was very easy to feel God’s love in this building!! Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. They made sure that both my sweetie and I knew where everything was, to make sure to answer all of our questions, and to help us feel right at home!!!

My sweetie and I were both impressed with the pastor and the sermon. Pastor Kevin has a way of delivering the message which helps make the lesson feel personal to you, and very applicable to your everyday life! After the service, when one of our new friends, Bethany, asked us how we liked it, my sweetie quickly replied, “Did you hear me snoring?” “No,” she replied, looking at him a little oddly. Jason responded, “Then I didn’t fall asleep, it was a good sermon!” (I just love that crazy man!!) 😉

I also loved that after the service, almost everywhere you looked there were small groups of people praying for each other. The feeling in the building is so hard to describe, but the best way that I can describe it was a feeling of unconditional love, joy, and acceptance!! This is what I have been praying for!

It was also obvious to us that this is not be one of those churches where you either have to be really old, or married with young children to fit in, which Jason and I are neither!! The ages of everyone there really varied, and those that were there had an air of artsy-hipster-let’s-have-fun kind of -people AKA OUR KIND OF PEEPS!!! 😉

After the service, my sweetie and I were fortunate enough to be able to go out to lunch with a few people from the church. There were 7 of us in total, My sweetie, myself, BobbyJo and her husband, Mark (who we also happen to know from the bariatric support group we attend), our new friends, Bethany, and her husband (who happen to be the church’s youth pastors), and another first time attendee visiting from out of town, J.B. We had so much fun just gabbing away!! We ended up there visiting for sooooo long! It was really like we have been friends forever, and just needed to sit down and catch up!! I am really excited that I will have some new friends to go antiquing, used book store shopping, discount bag/vintage shopping, or maybe even camping with!!!

God really is sooooo good, and I am truly feeling so happy, and sooooo very blessed that I happened to stumble upon this little gem of a church!! I can’t wait to go again next week, and make sure that I didn’t dream this place up during my sleep!! 😉

In the meantime, I am going to go enjoy the rest of this lovely sunny day with my sweetie!!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Back in the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have been busily and happily arting away in my little art studio, and am very happy to finally be able to share something that I have finished with you! 😉

This piece is made on a square of plywood, my sweetie cut for me, and the materials I used were: acrylic paints, tissue paper, stamps, ink, gel medium, and fine tip marker.

This saying is something that I have been really focusing on while taking my Brave Girls Club class, “The real you is still in there you just need to give yourself permission to come out and play”. It is something that I really needed to hear, and something that I have always known, but had somehow forgotten along the way. It was a message that I am so thankful that I have stumbled upon again, and am actively working on putting it to good use in my life!

This piece came about because I wanted to paint something happy! I also wanted to play with some new techniques I have been learning, and one of those that I am really, very glad with the way that it turned out, and that is the little doodles that are all over the piece. I think the doodling really adds a little more of me into my art.

I actually started this piece over many times, remembering that I could always change something that I didn’t like about it at any given time. This was something really hard for me to do, because I am such a perfectionist and always want to have everything done perfectly the first time. I think, in doing that, this piece has really helped me give myself permission to love the imperfections that may come out, they may add so much interest that they become your favorite parts!

After this piece was finished, I was so excited about it, I put my bravery muscles on and took it to display at work, and I am so glad I did! It is really exciting to look up from a very technical job, and see something that you were able to come up with in a 100% creative way!

Life is good!!

I would love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments section! I am hoping to have more to share in the next few days!

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently