I picked Clarity on a total whim, too. To be honest, the cover looked a bit creepy and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. But I really did. I enjoyed the story, I liked the characters and I found myself drawn to the book and didn’t want to put it down. I read the whole thing in a day and sometimes these are exactly the kinds of books I like to read. This was a fun read and if you like this genre, i recommend it.
I’m glad I read both this week and last week’s books. They’re what I needed to get back into reading. I was grumpy but now I am enjoying reading again. Since I read while I exercise, it’s hard to get into it unless the book is really flowing. And this one was.
Here are some more journal pages.
This is a simple one just cause I didn’t want to draw after the last few. It’s using pan pastels and says “spread your wings.”
And back to drawing. Watercolor pencils, rubons, stamps. Says “Never fear. Everyone wants more friends. Reach out.”
I decided to go pretty simple for this one. Just a floating balloon. Used watercolor pencils. Says “do not let your dreams float away.”
And for the last page, I visualized a door but it didn’t quite turn out the way I’d hoped. It’s watercolor pencils as well. says “You get to choose the doors you open and close.”
And with that my little journal is finished. I will post a video and all the pages together next week. Thank you for letting me share.
I am creating art journaling pages daily for June (and maybe longer). You can read more about it and the book I am using here.
This is one of the projects I did for Authentique Paper for CHA Summer.
Journaling Reads:
in 2006, almost a year after we moved to the bay area we started going to Lemo’s Farm for halloween. They have a little train, a lot of pumpkins, and a petting zoo. It has now become our yearly tradition. We go early just as they open and it’s not so crowded so we have a ton of fun playing!
As annoying as it was, today was a useful day. We woke up early and I exercised so that we could get out the door cause both kids had dentist’s appointments. It all went well, thankfully. Our dentist lets the kids take a little toy home so David came home with a tiny water gun (and Nathaniel picked a car.) He wanted to play with it immediately so went in the backyard to play. Nathaniel watched, of course.
Here he is filling the watergun.
I love watching him watch David. I love his focus and concentration.
And I love watching David play and be so happily involved in his own projects.
Then it was nap time. While Nathaniel napped, the repairman came and fixed our dishwasher (yey!!) and then Nathaniel woke up and we took a super-quick trip to buy me a pair of pants (I literally had none that fit.) And when we came home, my new fitbit was waiting in the mailbox. So all was ok again. I caught up on my work while the little ones played some more.
And I quickly just snapped two more photos. One of him.
and one of him.
Then I had meetings, Jake came home, fed the kids and now they are doing their nightly activities. I get to go to the movies tonight with a friend and I am really looking forward to it.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I get to go to the movies tonight.
2. I am grateful for an amazing gift I got in the mail today, more on this very soon.
3. I am grateful for a new pair of pants. Nice to finally have a pair that fits.
4. I am grateful my machine is working and I got a new fitbit. Life is going back to normal.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful I watched some pokemon lessons. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got a watergun from the dentist.
3. I am grateful that I played with my lego men.
This weeklong page was originally inspired by these lovely flowers. I love the happy color on this page. It’s all watercolors.
Since I did so little writing last time, I did a lot this week.
here’s the left page:
And the right side:
And here’s the filled page:
I love the simplicity of this week’s page.
Weekly Art Journal is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here. And you can find out more about the weeklong daily journaling here.
This morning, David decided he didn’t have enough Lego-men so I recommended we go through all of his bins and see how many he had. So the boys got to work.
Here’s Nathaniel smiling at me cause he knows I have the camera out.
A short moment for a nice hug. Love these.
Working hard, playing hard.
Nathaniel was excited to find so many toys for himself.
After naps, Nathaniel was in a super-good mood. Laughed and laughed.
and laughed.
here’s a typical shot of David lately. Smiles but will not look at the camera. Doesn’t even know he’s not looking at the lens. I have to ask him 3-4 times to get it right.
A pretty quiet day here. Working, playing, resting. I found out this morning that one of the Chrome team members in Seattle passed away in a car crash. One he had nothing to do with, just happened to be unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He had two kids; 5 and 7 and now he’s gone. I didn’t know him but all the people who worked with him say that he was amazingly kind, generous, bright and a true joy to work with. The world is a bit dimmer without him in it.
Which of course made me smack myself for worrying about the stupid dishwasher or fitbit. Worrying and pouting and being a total spoiled brat about stupid things when the whole world can end in a moment. Who cares about the stupid machine. Who cares about most anything I spend most of my time worrying about?
I was also reading this list I saw on Pinterest and I noticed that the very first thing that jumped out at me was “Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.” This is what I want for myself. This is what I love most about Jake. He is that person for me. He’s my light and joy. And I want to be that, too. I want to be positive, enthusiastic, exuding joy.
Not the whiny PITA I’ve been lately. I believe it’s crucial that I focus on this with all my might.
If I owe you an email or comment response, I apologize, I’m going to catch up super-soon, I promise.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for two beautiful dresses that came in the mail. Dresses I ordered online without trying and from a store I’d never purchased from before. They fit like a glove and looked super nice. Color me happy.
2. I am grateful for my kids and all the time I get to spend with them. I’m the luckiest person in the world for getting so much time with them.
3. I am grateful for a new set of three books I’ve been reading. I normally don’t read series in a row but I haven’t wanted to put this book down for a minute since I picked the first one up.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we sorted my legos and got lego men. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we’re reading Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books.
3. I am grateful that I played with Nathaniel.
This is a project I did for My Mind’s Eye for CHA Summer. It uses the beautiful Lost and Found 2 collection.
Journaling Reads:
I absolutely adore this picture of you my son. it’s one of those stories that is at the core of why i scrap. you are sitting at your high chair t eat and you make sure to turn around and sneak a look through the small hole in your chair and see what the rest of us are up to. now you do this all the time but soon it will be gone forever. but this page will help us remember this moment forever.
Details:
When I woke up this morning, the kids were playing together.
They’d lined up all the cars and made tracks.
Nathaniel was so excited to see David play with him.
he kept watching his big brother.
And David concentrated a lot.
Nathaniel copied him.
and watched him make corrections.
he then got up to get more parts.
then I went to exercise and shower after which it was picture time. I snapped one of my boys as I set up.
We got a bunch of sweet photos.
and a lot of tickle-time ones.
I love all the different kinds of laughter we get during tickle time.
as we were done, I snapped a few more. One of the love of my life.
And one of my big boy kissing and hugging his Daddy.
The rest of the day went downhill from there. The fitbit broke and then the washing machine broke. I’ve learned over time that I do not handle these things well at all. Small things go wrong and I fall apart. I feel overwhelmingly annoyed and tired and frustrated at relatively small hiccups and ones that can and will be fixed. Which is super frustrating and even though I know it, I cannot seem to help myself. So the rest of the day was spent pouting, grouchy, and trying to just make it through. What a waste.
Now the kids are down and I will sit with Jake and watch a movie because I need to step off this stupid mood. This week will pass, I will get a new fitbit, the dentist and other appointments will come and go, the dishwasher will be fixed somehow, and life will resume to normal and I will be happy. So I might as well try to embrace it all now. It’s all a part of life and ruining my days and precious moments is a stupid choice to make.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for some sketch time today. Despite the grouchiness, I did sketch and exercise.
2. I am grateful that Jake washed the full load of dishes by hand. He’s always too kind to me.
3. I am grateful that a new fitbit is soon to be on its way to me. So, so grateful.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that mommy downloaded my pictures * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played cars with Nathaniel.
3. I am grateful that I got to play on the computer today even though I was not supposed to.
David says:
I gave this story five stars because I thought it was interesting that they stopped criminals from stealing a valuable treasure and robbing a bank.
I didn’t like the villains were too smart and they weren’t caught. I thought it was creative of the midgets to hide the belt in the air conditioning! They also disguised themselves as Cub Scouts and gnomes. I couldn’t guess either of those.
My least favorite parts were the thieves robbing the bank and when they put Jupiter and Pete in the burlap sacks. My favorite part was when Jupiter figured out where the belt was and gave it back. I also liked the part where Hans threw Rawley in the water.
I also liked that because Jupiter found the belt Taro’s dad will now get to keep his job and not feel ashamed.
Reading a book a week with my six-year-old son David is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
We had a quiet but lovely Saturday here. It started with sleeping in a bit and then exercise of course. Then family photos. Here’s a shot from when I was setting up.
Here the kids are negotiating for the remote.
some laughter.
an almost-perfect shot.
and tickle-time!
after that, David set up his legos in different settings and took photos of them.
and Nathaniel watched him of course.
then there was napping, art journaling, wii, and working. when Nathaniel woke up, we went out to lunch/dinner. And picked up David’s car that we’d painted last week.
I took the opportunity to capture those amazing eyes.
and the car turned out pretty cute, too.
Nathaniel went back to playing with his current-favorite toy. A fire truck we’d bought years ago from Costco (that David had broken long ago.) He loves to press the button that makes the “raising ladder” noise and lift up the ladder is the noise plays.
Between that toy and the two huge Tonka trucks, Nathaniel is super-happy. He’s playing with them right now as I type this and David’s enjoying his last moments of the Wii. Jake’s taking a quick nap in his office and I am watching Bones on the computer as I type. Life is so very wonderful when it’s simple like this. My plans to night are to art journal a bit, to help Jake with some work, journal (which i REALLY have been neglecting) and to read, of course.
Happy Saturday!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for good books. I’ve been reading a lot lately and it makes me so happy.
2. I am grateful for the yummy goat cheese sandwich I eat when we go out.
3. I am grateful for our simple yet truly wonderful life. Others might think it’s boring but I am so content.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played the Mario Party 8 game on the Wii * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got my ceramic car.
3. I am grateful that I played with my legos, setting them up and taking pictures of them.
jake
A super-busy week for Jake as he had two day-long meetings this week and of course several other small ones. He’s now almost fully moved into his new office which is closer to the house. He also came home for lunch on Wednesday so I could go to work. His tax class is now over, as well, which means he gets Wednesday nights back (as soon as he’s done with the paper.) That’s about it for my awesome husband.
karen
A relatively uneventful week for me. I did a lot of work and even went to the office for a brief lunch to meet a new team member. I’ve managed to read three books this week mostly because they were all the “I can’t put it down” type. I also finished prepping all the leftover pages in my weeklong art journal. I need some time to get more organized which is something I’ve been putting off but other than that, and the journaling I’ve been neglecting to do, I feel relatively content.
david
David’s been waking up once or twice a night to go to the bathroom now and he’s doing great. He’s also working on learning the multiplication tables with me. He spends time doing his gratitudes and math daily and watches a lot of Pokemon movies. He’s also been playing with his legos a lot and has started setting up scenes with them so he can take pictures on the phone. We seem to need to “have a talk” daily but, in honesty, David’s a truly wonderful kid whom I am deeply grateful to have in my life.
nathaniel
Nathaniel is doing great. He’s playing with trains and trucks and cars and talking in almost-sentences. He understands almost everything I say and he also spends a lot of time telling me his opinions. When we put him down for his bedtime, he loves for me to read him a book and then looks through the book himself. He’s still sucking his thumb and using his blanket and loves to watch Thomas. We all love him so much.
Us Right Now is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
And we’ve made it to the end of another week. Time is passing so so quickly, I am constantly flabbergasted at how quickly the days go by.
I didn’t snap as many photos as I’d like today. This morning the boys got to watch a movie and they were snuggled up on the couch together which was soooo cute..
Nathaniel is more and more obsessed with trucks. He says “truck truck” all day long.
and picks them up and takes them along with him everywhere.
and i did manage to get this stunning shot of my David. I love this boy so much.
David’s at soccer class with Daddy now and I am taking a quick break. Back to work for me. No plans for the weekend however which means a lot of resting and relaxing. Yey!!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for the weekend.
2. I am grateful for good, fast-paced books that have been keeping me so happy lately.
3. I am grateful for the kindness and generosity of my family. I am so blessed and I really am focusing on remembering that more and more often.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I watched a lego movie * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played on the computer.
3. I am grateful that I had soccer class (and there was no one there but me!)
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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