Where did the days go?

It's been a wee bit, since I posted last and I am feeling a desire to start blogging again! Although I enjoy it, I don't really have an idea of a blogging theme. I talked to my girlfriend, who by the way, has a spectacular blog and always makes me laugh and her advice to me was, "do not worry about what you write, just write!"
I guess my blog will just be about life, it's a good theme and living is something I do everyday.
This past year or so, my life has changed dramatically. The dynamics of it have altered and what I thought would always remain the same, has surprised me and done the opposite of what I expected. This happens sometimes, and I suppose our reaction to it, is what makes us who we are!
One of the big changes has been my daughter leaving. She is grown up now and is getting married in a month. Wow!!! I rarely see her anymore, which was definitely not what I'd expected. But she travels and has a music ministry and so she is often out on the road. I had once thought she'd always live with us, or very near by....but life changes and people do too. haha!! She used to say she would live in our house forever or at least on our property and we'd have coffee together and play cribbage every morning. Silly me, I believed it! :)
My husband and I, along with our three teenage boys now run a non-profit youth center. We are open in the evenings, with the idea in mind to give the youth of our community a place to go, where they will hopefully stay out of trouble, feel as though they belong and have activities that are creative, uplifting and a little bit unique, as well as culturally diverse! This keeps us very busy, but has been a tremendous blessing, as well as, a huge learning and growing experience.
Aside from this, I try to keep up with my creative side. Without it, I'm certain I'd explode into a million bits. Everybody needs an outlet, it's much like therapy, yet less expensive and you usually don't have to leave your house. I like that! So, I'm in the process of knitting a yummy red cotton scarf, (yarn was a gift from my lovely friend). I'm almost finished with my deep chocolatey brown sweater, which reminds me, I really want to finish it before Fall, and the exciting big project, the project of my dreams....is painting a very large mural in the children's part of the Public Library. I'm very excited about this, I love to paint and draw and have always wanted to do something like this. It's taken me about 3 months so far, as I have very little spare time, but they've been so patient with me and I'm close to finishing it!
This is where I'm at right now!

Life changes, people around you change, how do you deal with the bigger changes in your life?

Inspired!

I talked to my wonderful friend the other day, she is oh so inspiring!! It's a blessing to have such friends, who encourage you and understand and if nothing else, will listen to you when you are down.
I have, for a very long time, wanted to do something, anything, creative with my art. What's the point, after all, of having a talent, if you don't share it or use it. I am now, feeling quite inspired and working on putting myself out there, artistically speaking. There are so many ways in this world to do such a thing and instead of consistently living in fear of doing this, I am going to embrace it. Run towards it, with arms wide open and preferably a bra on...haha.
What does it take to inspire you to move out of your comfort zone and into the unknown?
I am ready, the time feels right and I have a deep need, desire to move forward in my own creative abilities, to become me again, to rediscover the person that has somehow gotten lost in the everyday busyness of life.
I hope you too, will take that first step to rediscovering the beautiful you that may be hidden beneath the many hats you wear.
Peeling Carrots

A New Day

I love a new beginning. A chance to start over, to begin again.

I'm happy for 2010.
Why do we look at the New Year as a clean slate?
I'm not really sure where it all began, but I'm glad that somebody
decided it would be nice to have a fresh start.

Weirdly, I haven't set my goals yet for this New Year, they're still
brewing. I want to make sure they're just right, not overwhelming,
not undo-able (if that's a word), but just right!

What do you have planned for this year?

What Have I Done??

As you may recall, unless you're fairly new to this blog, I made a list for my 40th year of goals and nuggets of goodness I'd like to achieve. Some are whimsical and totally for the fun of it, some are more practical and good for my health and well-being and some are life-long dreams.

It has been almost two months since the blessed 40th birthday and my posting of the List. I thought I'd update you on what I've accomplished thus far.

*Become more organized: Happily I have rearranged my front room, which also happens to be my craft stash area, it's much more organized, cleaner and I like the layout. It is a small, narrow room that once used to be a porch until someone decided to turn it into a room. Sometimes it's a challenge to keep it clean, organized, comfy and suitable to be the first room you see in my house.

*Take an unexpected fun trip: I did this, as you might recall, back in May. I went to Whidbey to visit my lovely family and had a truly wonderful time and it was quite unexpected.

*Be more spontaneous: I am really trying to be more random and not worrying so much about planning every little detail of every day. Instead, I am trying to allow myself to enjoy everything I'm doing and not feel as though, I've got to rush to the next thing, simply because it's on my list.

*Add some low-lights to my hair: Wow, I did this too, while in Whidbey. My sister is a cosmetologist and fabulous at it. She did a bit of low-lighting on my hair and I've had many compliments...thank you, thank you!! Weirdly, I didn't know how to spell cosmetologist, I've always thought I was a good speller, but what do ya know, I was wrong. It is an odd word. You'd think they would study stars, not do hair/nails/make-up!! Hmmmm.....

*Help plan my daughter's wedding: Went dress shopping with her and we're working on details with her almost daily. Can I just say..Holy Cow!! Oh and more about this later! :)

*Enjoy every day, every moment, stop thinking about what's next and focus on now: I've been much better at this recently, as I've realized that today is what I have right now and I can't and don't want to spend my day worrying about tomorrow. But I will blog more about this later, as I have received a wonderful little book I want to share with you.

Well, that's about it so far....still working on that 40 lbs. thing, darn it! I am getting there, one small ounce at a time. Did you notice I updated my weight on the sidelines? It hasn't changed, only the date did, but at least it isn't more. Until next post, my dearies, always look
on the bright side of life!!

Craft It Forward

Good times and goodies to be had!!

This is a simple idea that is basically like Pay It Forward.

If you love to randomly receive nuggets of goodness in

your mailbox from bloggers who make handy little crafts, than this is for you!

The rules are simple:

1. Make a groovy little comment to this post...such as: what fabulous thing did you do for the 4th of July, or what is your favorite handmade item to make with your own two hands. The first 3 sweeties to post and then Craft it Forward, meaning to commit to doing the same thing on their blog, will randomly receive a handmade goody from me. Please leave me a way to contact you, such as your email address and as soon as I see you've posted to your blog, I will get in touch and find out how to send you a bit of fun!!

2. Remember, it doesn't have to be a hand knit sweater, you're not committing yourself to 50 hours of labor to do this. Make something simple and sweet, no need to overwhelm yourself. Just have fun with it. I'm really looking forward to it, I think it's going to be fun and I have a few ideas in mind already! Hooray!

Hope to hear from you soon!!

Thank you, Handmade by Jess for the fun idea!!

BTW: Our 4th of July was fantastic. We have a traditional celebration every year. We go out to the lake and reserve a private area with swings, a stairway down to the dock and a ramada with picnic tables. We decorate it with fun red, white and blue decor and my mother always brings some festive buttons to pin on, as well as, groovy necklaces with stars. Everyone brings an abundance of food and fireworks. The kids swim in the lake (some of them fully clothed) and some remember to bring a swimsuit and a towel. Others go for a little row around the lake in the canoe (me and my husband and yes my arms are sore). We swing, play games, play music, chatter on with people we see about once a year and then when the sky begins to darken, we set off the fireworks, sparklers...anything we can light!! :D It's been a wonderful tradition that we all look forward to every year. This year turned out to be especially wonderful, because it rained all morning and cooled everything off. What a blessing!!

I'm rambling now! Hope to hear from you dearies, I can't wait to make something especially for you, it'll be soooo fun!!

Carrots

Encouragement

Encourage: To inspire with hope, courage, or confidence; hearten. To give support to; foster. To stimulate.

This is the definition from my old dictionary, actually it was my husband's dictionary from college, but that's beside the point.

I love looking up words and seeing their true meanings. I like that this word basically means to give courage to another person. To help them to boldly step out and go where no man has gone before, or at least to encourage them not to eat another 2 lb. bag of M&M's. (who me, I would never do such a thing)

I was reading this morning and came across this little blip.

"All of us need encouragement-somebody to believe in us. To reassure and reinforce us. To help us pick up the pieces and go on. To provide us with increased determination in spite of the odds.

When you stop to analyze the concept, "encourage" takes on new meaning. It's the act of inspiring others with renewed courage, spirit, hope.

The beautiful part about encouragement is this: Anybody can do it. "

Strengthening Your Grip by Charles Swindoll

So today, I want to encourage you my friends. Go out there and go boldly. Stick to what you've begun or start again, if needed. Look back over your list of goals you've written down and have desired to achieve and begin today to achieve them. Jump back on your exercise or diet plan, it doesn't matter that you ate 10 lbs. of food at the 4th of July BBQ. Today is a new day, a new week. You can do it and so can I. Call your girlfriend and head out for a walk. Take your kids to the park and swing with them or go to the pool and do a few laps. Eat fruit. Watermelon is everywhere. And while you're out there, encourage those around you. It feels good!!

Have a wonderful, blissful, productive day!!!

Carrots of Courage

A Good Day!

Yesterday was a good day!

1. I took my boys to go visit their friends for the week, they'll come back Friday. Their leaving isn't what makes it good, I just enjoyed the 2 hour drive with them, they're really funny and I am happy they get to go hang out with good friends, they need that.

2. I went to the library for a presentation by a friend of mine on How to Illustrate A Children's Book. It was awesome and inspiring and reminded me that I truly desire to achieve that in my lifetime. Tim Raglin is the author/illustrator of several books, including one of my faves... Uncle Mugsy and the Terrible Twins of Christmas. His illustrations are phenomenal. You can check him out at timraglin.com. He rocks!

3. I got to go hang out with my friend Jackie, who is also rather inspiring and is always working on some amazing art project. She is the one with the fantastic blocks. I love them and she has designed a new set. We had a great time chatting, oh and she's the one who made the supremely, divine chocolate cake....yum, yum!

4. I came home and got to hang out with my daughter and chat with her about various happenings in our day and wedding plans for the future. It was lovely to spend time with her, these days it's a rare treat. I thoroughly enjoy her company and miss the days of her reading to me, while I knit some random item. Each moment with her is cherished.

5. And lastly, Marie called me. We haven't had time to chat lately, so it was a wonderful surprise to see her number pop up on my caller i.d. yay! As always, she makes me laugh and encourages me in everything. Friends are a true blessing. What would we do without them??

Hope you have a truly inspired and lovely day!

Carrots with a cherry on top!!