karenika

A Book a Week – still life with bread crumbs

I read Still Life with Bread Crumbs because I like Anna Quindlen. I wanted to see if i liked her latest novel.

And i did.

It was a quick read. A small book about an older woman. Something you don’t read much in most novels (except those like Anne Tyler or Elizabeth Berg.) I really enjoyed the characters, the story, and Quindlen’s writing. Not a literary masterpiece but a lovely novel.

Fifty-Two Stamps – Week 6

Now that all my words are finished, I wanted to make something I could use in my Everyday Brave book or just in my daily planner, etc. I decided to make a little “celebrate” stamp where I could write a few things I can celebrate form that week, day, month, etc.

Here’s what the stamp looks like:

And here’s a closeup of it filled out:

i like cute stamps as much as the next person but since I plan to carve 52 of them this year, I wanted to make sure I make stamps that I will use again and again. Though I probably will end up with some cutesy ones too, of course 🙂

Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Note to Self – Week 6

For this first page, I used Tam’s lesson from Life Book 2014. She taught us how to make these very simple and beautiful flowers.

These are made using your fingers and without a lot of thought. I love the way they look. They made me really happy to make. So much so that I felt compelled to write “beauty is everywhere” on the bottom after I was done.

Because it really is, isn’t it? It’s everywhere. How incredibly beautiful is each flower. The magnificent trees. All the shades of green in each tree never cease to amaze me. I feel like I am surrounded by so much beauty and yet I take so much of it for granted. I do the same thing with my family, my health, my home. The things that are just here. Things I depend on deeply but don’t realize that they are such huge privileges.

I am so lucky. Beauty is everywhere around me. In nature, in the people I love, in the food I get to taste. In the body that houses my soul.

Everywhere.

Note to Self is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Everyday Brave – Week 6

This week’s page is one of my favorites. Just because it’s so different for me. Both of these pages were done as an assignment to the Sketchbook Skool’s storytelling klass. The left side was to draw ingredients for a recipe. I was making a lot of omelette’s at the time so that’s what I drew. I don’t like how the omelette itself ended up but I like the ingredients.

The right side is supposed to be directions to make something. I thought for a long time because I couldn’t come up with an idea so I finally went with something simple I do all day long: make tea!

And there we are. Here’s another week.

Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

David and Nathaniel’s Books of Happy Memories – Week 4

Here’s this week’s offering from David:

He has a card his friend Ari made for Valentine’s Day.

it comes out of the pocket:

And one from Nathaniel:

He has his handprint turkey.

it’s shimmery:

David and Nathaniel’s Books of Happy Memories is a two projects I’m doing with my kids for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Stories of Twenty-Fifteen – Week 5

Here’s this week’s story:

Title: Learning to Play the Guitar
Story:
David, I know I’ve written about the guitar before. I’ve made a layout about it even but I also know that it still makes me so very happy to think of it and I want to write more because I am not sure whether you will keep this up or not, but I still want to remember these awesome days.

Right now, you’re learning so many songs thanks to your awesome teacher and you love them all so much because they are all songs you’re interested in. You started with Eleanor Rigby which was so hard for you and now not only can you play it but you can sing along as you play. You can also play a few really hard songs. You asked her to give you the notes for Paul McCartney’s Christmas song and for the Avicii song that I like because you know I like it. You’re learning On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons because you love them so much and I know you’d love to play all their songs.

The other day, I was upstairs with Daddy and you were downstairs practicing and singing with Nathaniel. Daddy was so surprised that it was you playing because he hasn’t heard you as often as I have and he had no idea how incredibly awesome you are at it.

I know I always bug you to practice more but it’s only because I can see how much better it’s making you and how each time you play, I can see your eyes shining a bit brighter and I can see you being proud of yourself.

David, I have no idea how it is that I got to have this kid who’s kind, smart, loves reading and physics, and crafting with me, and music. How is it possible that you’re so good at so many things? You, my son, never ever cease to amaze me. Your tenacity, your ability to absorb new information, your willingness to learn, your excitement and joy. It’s all contagious my sweet boy.

I don’t know if you will end up sticking with guitar. Part of me hopes you will and that you continue to fill our house with wonderful music every day. But even if you stop, my love, I want you to know that you were awesome and it was just a pleasure to get to listen to your playing and your singing for as long as we got to. I want to thank you for filling our lives up with such wonderful joy.

Stories of Twenty Fifteen is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

You Choose – Week 5

It was only fair that I tackle abundance next since I did all the other three in previous weeks. This was the perfect picture for it. I love how it looks and it reminds me that there’s plenty to go around. The text says “I open my hands to blessings.” Blessings. There are so many of them. Enough to feed me and everyone around me.

I am so grateful for the abundance in my life.

here is a side look for the shimmer; i wanted to keep this really simple as it’s my goal with this project:

here’s to remembering how my cup overflows.

You Choose is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

A Book a Week – We are Water

I read We Are Water because it’s Wally Lamb and I love Wally Lamb. Love him.

I actually listened to this one on audio and it was really well done with multiple narrators, one of which was Wally Lamb himself. Fair warning: there are some triggers in the book. I don’t want to give away the plot or spoil anything but I want to say there’s one very disturbing character the book and this is the kind of book I usually would not pick up just for that reason.

BUt I am glad I picked up this one. Wally Lamb never disappoints.

Fifty-Two Stamps – Week 5

This is the final week of carving the Core Desired Feelings words. The final word is: open. I probably should have started with this one as it’s the shortest word and not super complicated.

Maybe because of those two facts, this one ended up being bigger than the others. Not too big but definitely bigger.

here’s to being open to the gifts of the universe this year!

Fifty-two stamps is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Note to Self – Week 5

For this first page, I used Kate Thompson’s lesson from Life Book 2014. She is magnificent with drawing faces. Me, not so much. But I felt like trying anyway.

This whole page is painted gold and is really shiny. I am not sure why I didn’t take a shot of it sideways so you can see. But just imagine it. 🙂

In the spirit of bravery, I wrote down the lyrics of the Alanis song I was listening to at the time. It says: I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone. You live, you learn. You lose, you learn. You cry, you learn. You live, you learn. You scream, you learn.

To learn, you have to live. And if you live, no matter the result, you learn something from the experience. As with my word, I want to be brave this year. I want to bite off more than I can chew. I want to try harder, do more, work harder. I want to learn. I want to push myself. I want to learn about what I am capable of. I want to scream, cry, laugh, live.

I want to feel alive.

Note to Self is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Everyday Brave – Week 5

This week’s page has some shimmer on the left side. It’s one of those pages I built as I went along so the items don’t really make a cohesive picture together. But I still really like how it looks.

On the left is my sandal. I added some shimmer to it because, in real life, it has some shimmer.

maybe you can see some of it here:

In the middle is the halloween pumpkins that were hanging outside my neighbor’s house when I made this page. And then to the right are my birthday balloons that my friend Holly gave me when I turned forty. I love how colorful they are and how they have patterns too.

And there we are.

Everyday Brave is a project for 2015. You can read more about it here.

Weekly Diary – February 1 2015

Still not taking many photos. I feel like January went in a blur. I have been brave and taken risks and done so many more things than I usually do. But I also felt more hectic than I’d like to at times. I think I need to work a bit more on organizing my days better, chunking up my time better so I am not context switching so many times in a short period. I also need to just go to bed early, no matter what. Eight hours of sleep is a bare minimum for me. I need to honor that.

Here’s to hoping February feels a bit more settled.

In the spirit of keeping tabs on my priorities and goals weekly, here’s some of what worked and didn’t work this week so far:

Worked Well:

I got caught up on some of the art I hadn’t finished in the last week.
Still doing well with the skin cream.
It was a tough week for food but I still tried more than usual.
I really love teaching math to the boys.
I spent a lot of time with David and Nathaniel, working and playing.
We had a successful benefit pre-party.
Organized a social at work and one more coming up.
Bought both boys some books and took them out to celebrate for having such good feedback from their teachers.
Did more research into middle schools.
Did better on sleep. I went to sleep at 7 two nights in a row.
Finally bought presents for David’s birthday.

Needs more Work:

I am still not journaling but I have a plan, now.
I did not exercise this week. I feel really sad about this
I didn’t drink enough water or take my vitamins.
Still feeling disorganized and not-grounded.

So for this upcoming week, I really want to focus on coming up with a plan. Be more focused. Feel less frazzled. Feel more in control. And if I can also exercise, I’d consider that a big bonus.

Here are a few more photos from this week:

Nathaniel has started reading more and more and it makes me so happy to see it.