Category Archives: Family

Getting Crafty!!

Good morning!

Have you heard??? TODAY IS FRIDAY!!! WHOO-HOO!!!

After work today, my sweetie is taking one of our nephews to his basketball game, and I will have the WHOLE EVENING TO GET CRAFTY!!!! YEAH!!!

I have caught the crafting bug, which right now could look like just about anything! Paper crafting, mixed media, crochet, sewing, decorating, collage, quilting, cross-stitching, painting, stamping, polymer clay, drawing, beading, wire jewelry, card making, glitter, glue, punches, fancy scissors, etc, etc, etc. The list can go on seemingly forever!!! I think I take after my mom, that way – she was the ‘Queen of Crafting’ “Hi Momma!!!” 😉

I did want to share a pic of something that I crafted that is totally new to me. I made this for my sister, Alex, as a going away present, so she could write about her life’s journey during the next few months!!

I had so much fun making this, and I have always been a big believer, and lover, of journaling!!! So, I knew that this would be PERFECT for her!!! I hope she LOVES it!! 😉

Anyway, as for today, I have a lot of work to do at the office, but it has been a VERY PRODUCTIVE week, even though it has been a little stressful, home life with my sweetie has been really AWESOME – he is being sooooo very patient and supportive during this crazy, busy work schedule, and I got to spend some time, twice, with my sis, Alex this week. So, all-in-all I am counting that as a GREAT week!!!

How has your week been?? I would love to hear about it in the comment section above!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

My Vision Board

Good evening!

Tonight I had the opportunity to spend some more time with my sister, Alex! We spent the evening finishing up our design boards. Last Thursday, I promised you that as soon as I was done with it, I would take a picture of my design board and share it with you.

So, here it is…

Ok, so I am not sure how well you can see this, but I can explain the gist of what I am dreaming of for 2011.

If I had to narrow this vision board down to one word, it would be PEOPLE. More specifically friends and family. I want a small tight-knit-group of girlfriends  that I can let down my guard with and just be myself while going out making memories, and having a blast doing things that girlfriends do!!! I would love to have a baby, or at least get the ball rolling in that direction. I would love to travel with my sweetie to Europe. I want to have my own business dealing in beautiful home furnishings, to take a ton of photographs to share, and I want to go hiking, camping, and get out and be all around more athletic. I know, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I have never had an outdoorsy bone in body, UNTIL NOW that is!!! Oh, yeah – how could I almost forget – I want my little farm, with it’s gardens and walking trails, and memories – you know, I WANT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! 😉 Ok, no – too much responsibility, but I am sure you get the idea!! LOL!! 😉

I want to do everything and anything that feeds my soul.
I want to be the me that I was put on this earth to be,
in the time that I have been gifted.
Now is the perfect time!! 😉

Do any of you have vision boards that you would be willing to share?? I would love to see some!! Let me know in the comments above! 🙂

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

A Snuggly Morning!!

Good morning!!!

I realize that it is only 7:20 in the morning, so it might seem early to be saying  this, but I must confess that I have already had  good day so far!!! I woke up with my alarm at 6, and decided that I wasn’t going to be in a rush today! I rolled over and asked my sweetie if he would be willing to wake up early too so that we could snuggle!! With me working so much right now, there hasn’t been too much quality time going on right now – just me coming home, crashing and burning!!! God bless him for being so patient and supportive right now!! 😉 Anyway, after talking, giggling, and playing with our puppies in bed, it was mutually decided that we had better get a move on if I didn’t want to be late for work!!!

So, here I am dressed and ready to head out for the day! I feel a good day coming for the entire day! Yesterday, I was able to get a REALLY LARGE task completed, which made me feel like I was ALMOST skipping down the 2 flights of stairs to head home last evening!!! WHOO-HOO!!!

Today, my sis, Alex, is going to meet me for lunch today, WHICH I JUST LOVE!!! and then later this evening her and her kiddos will come over again for dinner, and then afterwords we will do some more vision boarding!! As promised, I will then take pics of my vision board and post them here so you can see them! If she is cool with it, I will post her vision board too!!

SIDE NOTE: I don’t know if any of you know this, but my sweetie always makes me breakfast in the morning and brings it up to me while I am blogging in the morning, so I can get breakfast and my blogging done – DOES THAT MAKE ME SPOILED????? Ok, yeah – it does!! Anyway, this morning he brought up THE MOST delectable of breakfasts – scrambled egg whites, and a small le tartain!!! a le tartain is a section of fresh baguette sliced down the middle, to make two halves, (Parisian baguette, not American), spread with butter and jelly – it is HEAVENLY!!!!

Anyway, I am going to go and finish getting ready for work – I may actually be early to work today – WHAT A NOVEL CONCEPT!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Sunday of Bliss!

Today has DEFINITELY been a Sunday of BLISS!! I knew when I woke up after sleeping in, next to my best friend, which I am blessed to be able to do every morning, that today was going to be a FABULOUS day!!!

While waiting for my sweetie to wake up, I got busy finishing the  book, The Lost Symbol, which I did. That book was very interesting – probably Dan Brown’s most controversial book to date. Nothing I have ever read of his have ever caused me to change my beliefs, and of course his books are works of fiction, but Dan Brown writes in such a way that you are forced to think about what your reality and what you believe.

By the time I finished reading, my sweetie was also awake, and was too reading the same book himself. Next, we headed to the office, so that I could do some crafting, and Jason started looking for pictures for his vision board. Apparently the success that my sis and I had last week in creating our own vision board has inspired my sweetie to create a vision board of his own! That makes me EXTREMELY happy!!! I think visualizing your future is a very healthy thing, and ESSENTIAL to making your dreams come true!!!

Jason made us a delicious Italian dinner this evening, and he is TOTALLY in his ZONE cooking, baking and trying out new recipes!! I really LOVE that man!!! 😉

Right now, I am watching a documentary about dreams, as in sleeping and dreams. Apparently 2 Nobel Prizes, and countless medical breakthroughs have come from things that people dreamed about while sleeping. It is rather fascinating! I didn’t realize that when you are in the stages of REM sleep, all of your muscles are absolutely relaxed, almost putting your body in something like a paralytic state, I never knew that! This documentary has inspired me to put a journal next to my bed so I can start writing my dreams down.

As for what is to come this week, I know I am going to be really busy this week at work. My co-worker and I are facing the 11th hour right before a very large 2 week go-live right now, and we have A LOT OF WORK TO DO BEFORE next Monday, which is the big go-live day!!! and I just remembered that I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 7:30 am, so I had better make sure I get to bed early tonight!!! 😉

As for now, I am going to spend the rest of my evening spending time with my sweetie and continuing on with my Sunday of bliss!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Megan’s Day!

Today is a day of celebration!!

My niece Megan is celebrating her 8th birthday today. It blows my mind to realize how quickly she is growing up. The first time I met Megan, I was on the east coast for a business trip, and Megan and her family were living in West Virginia at the time. After my business was completed, I had a couple of days of vacation time added on, and Megan, and her mom and dad came and picked me up from near Washington DC and we made the drive all the way back to their place, which if I remember correctly was REALLY QUITE A DRIVE!

The first time I saw her, I think she might have just turned one. At the time, I was really, REALLY afraid of babies, and I was TERRIFIED of BREAKING HER, so I had told myself before they had picked me up that I was not going to hold her, just in case I might accidentally hurt her!! Well, the car that we were traveling in was really small, and because Megan’s car seat was buckled into the middle seat belt, I ended up with this very tight spot wedged between the car seat and the car door. After I wedged myself in, I just couldn’t stop staring at Megan in awe. Here was this tiny baby, with pudgy cheeks, and arms, baby blond frizzy hair, rosy cheeks, and all she could seem to do was stare at me back,  with her quizzical stare (the one that she still has whenever she is busy people-watching) as if she were saying, “Who are you?” Well, part-way through the drive to their house, I had managed to stop gawking at her like some crazy person, and I had turned away to watch the passing scenery. I felt this tiny warm little hand grasp the end of my first finger. Shocked, I looked back at her, not sure what to do, and as she smiled so sweetly up at me, I smiled back at her, and I could just feel everything that she was thinking without her even able to utter a word – joy, curiosity, love, happiness, peace, trust. WHAT A MOMENT! LITERALLY, one of the BEST MOMENTS OF MY LIFE!! I TOTALLY melted! I know, without a doubt, that was the exact moment that I fell in love with her and knew that we would always be close – even living almost 3,000 miles away from each other, at the time. I broke my oath to myself about not holding babies, that day. AS SOON AS WE GOT OUT OF THE CAR!! I NEVER WANTED TO PUT HER DOWN!!! I was even trying to figure out a way to sneak her into my pocket so I could sneak her on the plane and she could go back home with me to Salem!! LOL! 😉

I still well up with tears thinking about our first MAGICAL encounter, I am just SO IN LOVE with that sweet little Megan of mine, and the sweet Megan who is still so curious even as she grows a year older little by little! She now lives in Salem, matter of fact, only about 10 minutes away from me, and I am thankful that we still remain close!!

Megan,
I am so thankful that God gifted you into my life,
and I am SO VERY HAPPY we get to celebrate your 8th birthday today!!!
I wish you a long, joyous, healthy, and successful life –
YOU DESERVE TO HAVE THE VERY BEST!!!
I love you, Miss Megan!!! 😉

 

and to the rest of you…

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Friday of Action!!!

Good evening!

Do you ever have one of those days??? Of course you do, we all do! Well, I have had one of those days!! I am still in the mix of doing my 10 hour work days (give or take an hour or so), and I am sooo thankful to be home!! WHEW!! I am actually sitting for soooo long each day (I work as a computer programmer), that I can almost feel my spine compressing on itself. It is such am unpleasant feeling, and painful. I don’t know how people with serious back problems make it through ever day. It has made me realize that if I don’t take my physical health more of a priority, I am going to be very sorry!

You know what they say,

“If you don’t take care of your health, you will take care of sickness.”

So, I have to get with the program – SERIOUSLY!! I must lose at least 100 pounds, but I would be happy with losing 20 pounds to start, just to get the ball rolling! I must lose weight, get strong, fit, flexible, and healthy, and I want to do it in a fun, healthy, and permanent way!!

I want to:

Swim
Hike
Twirl
Tap dance
Kayak
Travel
Canoe
Kiss
Snorkel
Belly dance
Strip aerobics
Zumba
Yoga
Pilates
Tai chi
Chase
Climb trees
Rock wall climbing
SingTake a trapeze class
Make love – frequently
Trampoline
Jump rope
Tag
Hopscotch
Run
Jog
Play
Laugh
Jump
Swing on a swing set

Well, I am sure you get the idea!!!

There is this young, fit, healthy, vivacious, young woman hidden inside of this body, and she is just screaming to get out!!!

Come on, Baby!! It is YOUR TIME!!!! 🙂

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Carpe Diem!!

Good morning!!

The first thing I heard on the radio this morning was “Carpe Diem!” What a FABULOUS sentiment!! Seize the day!!!! It got me to thinking, what can I do today to seize the day???

I have a long day at work ahead of me, so at work I can seize the day by deciding to have a good day, or deciding to look for the fun in my job, or maybe I can hum a happy tune all day, just so I feel happy, in the moment!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

In my physical life, I can remember how fresh, and delicious dinner was last night, and look to eat like that all day. I can make my physical self more of a priority, and get those things done that I have been procrastinating on, such as exercising – swimming could be a lot of fun!?!?! Or maybe a nice walk through our neighborhood! or even just getting out of the house – what a novel concept!!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

I am going to seize the day for sure, by making sure that my finances get paid, including money going directly to my savings account!!! It is going to take me a little while to get out of debt, but I have done it once before and it is GOING TO FEEL GREAT when I have done it again!!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

I also am going to try and make a point to reach out to my friends and family today to make sure they know that I love them, and how much they mean to me. I don’t think I express that often enough, especially since I don’t live close to most any of my family.

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

But, I think MOST OF ALL, I am going to live my day in grattitude! Be thankful for all that the good Lord has provided for me and my loved ones. Thankful for all of the blessings, and the lessons and opportunities in the struggles!

YES! TODAY IS GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY!!!

Oh, and maybe my camera will get her today! 😉 Once it does I am going to flood this place with pics!! OH, I CAN NOT WAIT!!! ;- )

I would love to hear some of your ideas how you can go about seizing your day today!! Please let me know in the comments above!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

A Night of Vision Boarding!!

Good evening!!

I just got finished spending an EXTREMELY FUN evening vision boarding with my sis and niece!!! I am a firm believer in the power of vision boards. I think that is because a vision board forces you to think about what you want, make decisions about what is important enough to actually make the cut (hee! hee! hee!), and it causes you to spend time cutting, designing, and gluing a board that is completely and totally focused on your dreams! I don’t think that vision boards are magical in any way, but I do think that it helps your subconscious remember what you want, and in turn help you see signs that point you in the right direction to get those goals! Ok, maybe that does sound a little magical, but I know for me – they work!!

Here are some sample vision boards (note: these are not mine, I have found these from various sources on the web.) As soon as my new camera gets in, I will take pics of mine and give you a play-by-play!! 😉

Aren’t they just interesting?!?

I just LOVE looking at other peoples’ vision boards. They can tell you so much about people. What they value, want to experience, learn, do, be, have! I think vision boards are highly intriguing!! That might just be because I am highly curious and people really interest me. It is amazing how much time and effort people are willing to put into these things (including me)!!! BUT it is EVEN MORE AMAZING how helpful these AWESOME TOOLS are!!! They are so unique, and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT to the creator of the board. I would highly encourage you to get out some magazines, scissors, glue, a sheet of paper, and see what you can come up with for yourself!!

I can’t wait to be able to share mine with you! Soon, soon, soon!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Tired Thursday!

Good morning!

YAWN!!! I am soooo tired this morning!!! To say that I have not slept well, is quite the understatement! I am not sure what is wrong with me, but I have just been tossing and turning for a few nights in a row now! I am going to have to take something before bed tonight to help me sleep the whole night through!!!

As for today, however, I just KNOW that this is going to be a GREAT DAY!!! Today is the day my sis, Alex and her kiddos come over. Us girls are going to make VISION BOARDS, which you have to know – I JUST LOVE!!! WHOO!! HOO!! Being a visual person, vision boards help me bring my goals to my current reality, and they have been proven to be a great resource in helping  you achieve your goals. My sis and I have gotten magazines out the wazoo, and I have been collecting pics seemingly FOREVER!!! I think we will have SOOOOO MUCH FUN TONIGHT!! Kind of like KIDERGARTEN FOR GROWNUPS!!! WHOO! HOO!! 😉

I am so excited! I have a camera ordered, and it should be here any day now. I MISS TAKING PICTURES!!! My old camera had some gotten itself stuck on macro, so that I can only take really, REALLY close up pics – NOT HELPFUL in my day to day life. Photography has become a hobby that I am absolutely PASSIONATE about!!! I just LOVE PICTURES!! Pics of all sorts of random things, moments, people, buildings, landscapes, creative vignettes, fashion, jewelry, shoes, books – it doesn’t matter – I just LOVE taking pictures!!! I sometimes even fantasize about getting an old Brownie camera and learning how to take pictures with that, or building my own pin-hole camera and seeing what kind of pics I can dream up! and the ULTIMATE would be to have my own DARK ROOM!!! Do people even have those any more?? Do people really even do actual film much??? I don’t know, and I don’t really care!! It just seems so mysterious and romantic!! I really need to get myself into a photography class of some kind. Anyone know of any good resources here in Salem??? If you do, please let me know in the comments, above. Thanks!

Well, I am getting ready to head out for work! I am praying that today is not too stressful! We are short handed and being asked to do a lot of work that really is not in our job description, which means there is  A LOT OF LEARNING GOING ON!! 😉 Which, I always appreciate!! I just hope they don’t find out that I am making this crap up as I go along!! LOL!!!

With that said…

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Day 19 of 60 Day Life Makeover!

Good morning!!

I hope what they say is true, that ‘slow and steady win the race’. Today is day 19 of my 60 Day Life Makeover – I bet you thought I forgot about that! 😉 Today is day 19 of my Life Makeover plan, with means the first third of that time has passed!! It has been a while since I posted anything on my progress for this, so I thought today would be a good day to do that!!!

Just a reminder, here are my 60 Day Life Makeover goals:

  1. Lose 20 pounds
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings
  3. Find a church home
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom
  5. Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love

Progress Update:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. Well, so far I have lost 2.2 pounds. The problem in this area is that I have let myself have too many, ‘Oh, who cares?’ moments. So I have to keep picking myself up off of the floor and jump back on to my own bandwagon, so to speak!! I JUST CAN’T GIVE UP ON MYSELF!!! With Jason doing all of the food prep in the house, that is working out really well for me, as long as I am the one continuing to decide what is on the menu! 😉 Now I have just got to get myself re-committed to my swimming – being as heavy as I am, and with all of the over abundance of walking I did last year to train for the 60 -Mile Walk, my knees, ankles, and feet hurt almost constantly – so swimming it has to be for the time being, which is kind of nice because I like swimming!!!
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings. The idea behind this goal was to find a way to make money, outside of my job, to create this extra money. So far, I have been able to create $166.73, so far, mainly by selling my belongings through eBay. Although I am not LOVING doing this – it is actually costing me A LOT of money, and time to manage this – I have to find another way. So, I am back to researching at this point.
  3. Find a church home. Having grown up in the church, it is important for me to feel like I belong to a church family. Church hopping has been not too productive yet, but we have been out there again, which feels pretty good!! I just have to stop letting being in a bad/sad/grumpy mood (or the mood du jour) keep me from getting my butt out there, and GET GOING!!!
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom. Believe it or not, I am still working on my FIRST ROOM!!! Now, that may not be too surprising to those of you who have seen my craft room/office – it is a HEAP-A-MESS!!! AND I DID start with my ABSOLUTE SCARIEST ROOM, but I think for the most part, I have gotten all of the piles under control. Right now, I am just getting these piles either donated, recycled, trashed, or put away! I think the biggest success I can say about this room is that it is FINALLY being USED!!! It is no longer the MYSTERIOUS CLOSED DOOR!!! I have a long way to go, but I am optimistic that it will be a clean, organized, clutter free space – I just have to be diligent!!!
  5. and FINALLY, Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love. This goal will not only make me happy, but it will REALLY help with goal #2. I haven’t done ANYTHING on this goal yet, but I was watching the Nate Berkus show last evening, and he had a guest that he called the Dumpster Diva, and I GOT TOTALLY INSPIRED!!! She basically goes out once a week, in a van, and picks up all sorts of free furniture and stuff that people have tossed, and she completely refinishes it, WHICH IS SOOOOO WHAT I WANT TO DO!!! Her home was BEAUTIFUL, and apparently she has a whole group of girlfriends who she does this with. She calls this junk night, they meet for dinner someplace and then they head out TREASURE HUNTING!!! Now, I don’t have any girlfriends that I can think of that will do this with me, at least not yet, but the idea of recycling other peoples’ trash into treasures, sounds DIVINE!!! After the show, all I could think was “I CAN DO THAT!!!!” I can, and I will!!!

So there you go!! I have a LOOOONG WAY TO GO, but I am proud of myself that I haven’t quit!!! With that, I am going to go finish getting ready for work, and I will post more later!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉