So right before I went to bed last night, I realized I didn’t have my notebook. This is the notebook where I journal, sketch and write my daily todo lists. I live with this thing. I couldn’t possibly imagine having left it at home so I was sure I lost it. Let’s just say it put a sour end to a lovely day.
But I went to bed and despite Nathaniel waking up several times and a raging headache, I still woke up happy and after a bit of getting everyone settled, I went to the gym. And when I came back, we thought it would be fun to take a walk down to the beach. They had these golf carts that take you down to the beach and I knew David would want to ride one so we took it down to the beach.
Once we got there, everyone was happy. At least fascinated.
David was happy.
Nathaniel was watching the waves.
And his brother.
Who ran right into the sand.
And kicked around.
And laughed.
And went running.
The colors are off on this one but I still like it.
We walked all the way up the path and I took tons of flower photos on the way up. And then we went into the lobby and rested by the fire.
Then it was time to check out so we packed up and got out of there. We drove down to the Santa Cruz boulevard and Jake and David played video games while Nathaniel napped in the car and I sat with him and did my sketch. When he woke up I tried to get him to sit on the driver seat but he was mighty cranky.
They came back and we all walked to the boardwalk and the boys all had some food as we enjoyed the fresh air.
We walked back to the car and headed home and guess what? my notebook was here!! So it all worked out! The kids are now in bed (well David’s playing in his room but the little one’s in bed.) and we’re watching 30 Rock and I will then journal and do my art journal and blissfully go sleep. It was a truly sweet and wonderful vacation and, like always, it’s wonderful to be home.
I also wanted to say, thank you for your kind words about my “random thoughts” post this week. I didn’t mean to cause a ruckus. I actually feel much better inside than I ever remember feeling and I am not sad in any way. When I said “i might be a nobody” I meant that I am not a big name in the industry and thus a million opportunities don’t come my way each day which makes each of them harder to turn down. I didn’t mean for that to sound so out of proportion. Also, while I can feel not as talented as I wish I were, I don’t ever let it stop me and I still sketch and art journal and work on improving myself so I can be happy with me. I appreciate your kind words deeply but as you know it’s always more about how one feels about oneself. Which is why I am working on finding my way with art and sketching. I did it with scrapping and it’s been wonderful. I am also doing it with exercise/food so I can be more at peace with my body and that’s wonderful, too. So I know I can, I am just working on it.
Same goes for the “hang ups” from my childhood. I spent some time in a dark place over that but I am not anymore. For me, all these thoughts are coming out of paying attention and stepping back being more aware which is the first step to being free. I feel much more in a good place with all of this. Everyone has issues. These are some of mine. I am working on them and sharing them, analyzing them, thinking about them is all part of the process for me. I didn’t mean to worry anyone and like before I deeply appreciate your kindness but please know that I am in a good place. I have the most wonderful life. The best kids in the world and the most amazing, supportive and loving husband. I have a great job, friends, home, family and I love what I do in my free time. I couldn’t possibly ask for anything more. I am grateful every minute of every day and, it is because I feel so much happier that I can now notice these things, think about them and talk about them and work on them. Just wanted to make sure you knew not to worry.
But I am so touched by all your words. I am so so grateful. Thank you. It means the world to me.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for our sweet vacation. It was exactly what I hoped it would be.
2. I am grateful for another two days off to relax.
3. I am grateful I found my notebook!
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I watched TV{* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played video games with daddy.
3. I am grateful that we walked on the boardwalk and went to the beach.
Well, ignoring the glitch from the last two weeks, it appears we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming. The slow and steady weight-loss. I must admit that getting on the wii each week is not something I look forward to. I could never be one of those people who’s obsessed with the scale and the numbers. Just seeing them once a week is enough for me. I guess as long as they are declining, it’s all good. I will focus on working out instead.
Exercise is still going ok. 2.9 has been rougher this week, maybe because I am tired which is odd since I’ve been sleeping more than usual. I’ve noticed that my ease with the exercise is cyclical. Some weeks it’s super hard, then bearable, than more manageable. It’s never super easy but there are days where I don’t absolutely feel like I might fall over. And then there are days where I just don’t think I can make it. But you know what? I do. I always do.
And some more photos of me wearing some of the clothes I bought as rewards. I love this skirt and though it doesn’t show my thinner figure, I am going to enjoy wearing it now that the weather is nicer.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
One of my Pink Paislee projects for this month was to lift a member from the Live Pink gallery. Here’s my layout:
and here’s the amazing layout I lifted by Diana Brodeur
I am a huge white-space fan and the softness of this layout really spoke to me. I loved that it was asymmetrical and I also loved the little layered elements. So when creating my layout, I replaced her circle with a heart (I am too scared to mist, so I didn’t even try that even though I absolutely love the misting she did on her layout.) I then layered my ephemera.
While the layout has several elements I use on most of my pages (I stitched a border and around the heart and I put an edgie on the right top corner) I think the look and feel of it is definitely similar to Diane’s stunning original.
Journaling Reads:
My sweet son when you were born I fell so deeply in love with you that I did no think there was any way I could love you any more. But I was wrong . As you grow more and more each day, my love for you grows too. I am so proud of you and so thankful that you’re my boy. I love you more and more every day.
Details:
Early in the week, we thought it might be nice to do a quickie get away so we got up and I exercised, sketched, and then packed. Off we went on our car trip. An hour and half later, we checked into the hotel and went to lunch. Where the little boy colored.
And the big boy colored.
Then I took a mirror shot just for fun.
And one of my beautiful older son.
Then we came back to the hotel and the boys watched TV, this shows you why TV is not so great for you.
The other boy was awestruck, too.
As we relaxed the boys had fun sharing a chair.
They laughed and laughed.
And then David read to Nathaniel.
Which made both of us cry tears of joy a bit. It’s been the perfect vacation so far. A lot of relaxing and the kids are still up even though it’s well past bed time but they are enjoying it here, too so we’re making an exception for this one day. Short and sweet is how we like our vacations.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for being with my family and beautiful sunshine and ocean.
2. I am grateful for a day off work, relaxing and being present.
3. I am grateful for my husband who did all the driving as he always does.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I went on a trip {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with legos
3. I am grateful that I watched Jeopardy.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately again and like before I originally thought these would end up as individual posts but I can’t seem to find the time (or more like motivation) to sit and write it all out so I am going to try this quicker version instead.
17. I read a young adult book last week where the main character was in high school and she’s super popular. In the story, the girl is living her last day (she dies in a car crash) and then gets up the next morning to live her last day again (and again and again.) There are many plot points but the gist of it is that several small and big events happen on this one day and as she relives the day she changes events. The obvious part is that the small things we do (or don’t do) have profound effects on others (and us.) But the part that really really blew my mind was completely unrelated. At some point in the story, one of these super-popular girls (let’s call her L) does something mean (she writes something nasty and a girl’s name on a wall which then others copy all over the school.) Later on, as her friend is re-living her days she mentions that L had no ill-will towards this girl whose name she scrawled on the wall. The dead girl tells us it was completely random. She says in all likeliness L was testing a new pen and needed something to scrawl. It’s that random. That’s what struck me. I had a lot of mean friends as a kid and while some might have been a bit personal, most weren’t. They were random, they didn’t mean anything at all. Nothing. And yet, I’ve carried it and lived with it and defined myself around these meannesses for most of my life. I am sure I am not expressing this clearly because I promise you that it was life changing for me. It has shifted me to my core to have this realization and I am still digesting it.
18. Something else I noticed last week is that our dreams constantly shift and change. At least mine do. And it’s important to pay attention so that you don’t accidentally walk into some path that you’re actually no longer interested in. I had this realization because something I wished deeply for a year ago suddenly popped up in my life last week. It was an incredible opportunity, almost as if this person had read my wish list. And yet, when the opportunity came up, I felt no excitement. Actually I felt a little sad because I knew it had been such a dream and here it was coming true and I didn’t really care for it. It felt cumbersome. The important part here is to continually pay attention to the path you are walking to ensure it’s still moving in the direction you intend to move. Things change and if we don’t pay attention we find ourselves on a road we don’t really want to be on anymore.
19. This is a bit similar to the one above but another lesson I learned is that just because someone else is giving you an opportunity doesn’t mean you should take it. For me, especially in areas where I have less confidence, it’s really hard to turn down an opportunity. I always think “who am i to say no?” I feel like I am not qualified or important enough to refuse this person. The more important the person, the harder it is to say no. And, yet, just cause someone wants you doesn’t mean it’s a right fit. Just cause an opportunity came doesn’t mean you should take it. I’ve learned to step back and look at the opportunity carefully, think of the commitment in time, effort, stress and also the rewards and then make my decision. I might be a nobody but my time and effort are still valuable (especially since it means I will not be spending it on my loved ones.) Another lesson learned the hard way.
20. Another book I read this week taught me the lesson of how so many things that happen to me are actually smaller than they seem. The way things work is like this: something bad happens, i decide it means this one thing,from then on anything that’s even remotely related feeds my original idea of what it means and I let it grow bigger and bigger and bigger until it consumes me. For example: let’s say I am a writer wannabe. I send in a story, it doesn’t get picked up. I decide it means I’m not talented. From thereon, any even slightly negative comment on any message board, or from a friend just feeds my story that I am not talented. “She must have meant that I suck.” When I see another friend get published, it also means I’m not talented. It couldn’t possibly mean she worked night and day and submitted ten times more often than I did. Because my story is that I am not talented and I’m sticking to it no matter what. See the signs of self-sabotage here? I create a bad story and then I feed it forever. I realized how when I do this, I am basically looking for opportunities to feed my story. I make everything and anything about me. I don’t have to take responsibility anymore because it’s all happening to me and it’s all part of my story. Whereas if I didn’t have this story/idea, each event would be a single (likely) small and random instance. I wouldn’t even notice some and I would pass by the others. This taught me to pay attention to my stories. To how I am feeding them. To back up and pay attention so I can stop.
Random thoughts are occasional blathering by me. Here are part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 .
Remember when I talked about Andrea Joseph last week? Well, if it’s at all possible, I’ve gotten even more obsessed that I was last week. I’ve been saving all the sketches she’s done that speak to me and using one a day to make my own. I am nowhere near as talented as she is but she’s the first person who inspired me this much in a long long long time. And I am deeply grateful that I am sketching daily all thanks to her.
On Friday, I decided to try my hands at this and here’s my version.
and then on Saturday I did the can of sardines:
and Sunday I tried the Adidas sneakers. Here’s the drawing:
and shaded.
on Monday, I wanted to do something less time consuming since I have work but I didn’t want to skip it, so I did the travel toothbrush:
Tuesday was all about the zipper. This one is much harder than it looks.
I have a long long way to go but I have finally found my happy place where I have her sketches to inspire me so I can really really practice. After I’ve done a whole bunch, I can venture to do things in my house but I am so in need of practice and I am deeply grateful to Andrea for her amazing inspiration. By the way, if you think she’s as amazing as I do she has an etsy shop. (I don’t know Andrea at all, just a fan.)
Here’s to more and more sketching!
Today was a weird day where I was wildly unproductive for no reason. I did the basic stuff and that was it. I guess some days are just like that and thankfully we’re taking some time off the rest of the week, obviously I need it.
I know this photo is blurry but I love it. It’s Nathaniel’s “smile” to the camera.
And here’s the other boy smiling.
And here he is “really” smiling. See those eyes smiling?
Nathaniel watching his brother play on the computer.
And his brother focusing hard.
I have book club tonight and I am going even though I haven’t read the book, even though it was my pick and even though I really should be packing. I am going. That’s that.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for book club. I always enjoy it.
2. I am grateful for a quiet day when I obviously needed it.
3. I am grateful for fun art videos which I watch as I exercise.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I am going on a trip tomorrow {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I finished one of my workbooks.
3. I am grateful for mommy and daddy.
I made this layout a few weeks ago for something that didn’t pan out. I love these Compendium cards and was glad to get to use them. All products are from beautiful The Girls’ Paperie. The two-pager is something unusual for me and I don’t think I will be doing it often. Or like ever again… Heh.
The journaling is using your word stickers, and it says:
“I need to remember how you enjoy yourself and have fun with my art, too.”
Forever was one of my kids’ book club books. As a young teen, I loved and adored Judy Blume and read many of her books. But I had never read this one.
And I didn’t like it.
I can’t even really put my finger on why. I felt the characters weren’t as developed as I would have liked. I never really liked the main character as much as I wanted to. The writing felt too simplistic. The big change in the story wasn’t really expected in that it didn’t fit in with the character of the girl, in my opinion and kind of came and went all too quickly. I guess maybe that was the point.
I know it’s a young adult book but I still figured I’d enjoy Blume more than I did. I have one more of hers scheduled in book club so let’s see if that one fares better for me.
This is the lego we built on Sunday night, David wanted me to take a photo so I can preserve it.
Have I mentioned that Nathaniel adores stickers? Have I also mentioned he sticks them all over himself?
After naps and work and meetings and some yelling over nose picking that resulted in a lot of bleeding, we decided to sit outside for reading time. So, I couldn’t resist taking some shots with the beautiful light.
He laughed.
And laughed funny. But he’s so handsome. His eyes are so stunning. I can never get enough of them. ever.
Nathaniel was scared of the grass but we walked him across gently and he played while we read.
He was also being his cute little self.
I couldn’t stop myself I just snapped.
and snapped.
Besides the drama with the nosepicking, it was a quiet day. I exercised, finished my book, sketched, worked, and spent time with the kids and booked a short holiday for us. I am feeling exceptionally tired today so chances are that after the kids are in bed I will work on my art journal for a bit and then go right to sleep. I have some emails to return so if you’ve been waiting for one I am so sorry I will try to reply tonight. Other than that I think I am pretty much caught up with life. Let me know if you’re waiting on me for anything.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that we might be going on a nice, short, sweet vacation.
2. I am grateful that I can go to bed early tonight. I think I really need it.
3. I am grateful for my husband. I love love love him so.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that in five days it will be Easter {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played on the phone.
3. I am grateful that we read our book outside.
And here’s another one of my weeklong pages. This one was inspired by Pam Carriker.I love her journal pages. It was also my first sepia page.
here she is — closer up:
I just added some fabric for fun. Stitched it on the page:
Since it was sepia, I decided to journal in sepia too. Here’s the left side, filled:
some details:
Right side:
some details:
And here’s the filled page:
Here’s the left page:
This is one of my favorite pages so far. I love the sepia look.
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.
David’s on spring break so both boys have been home this week and while I work, they’re keeping busy. The little boy got creative with his toy fork.
Sticking it right inside the lego box.
And making as big a mess as possible in the smallest time possible. He’s great like that.
David worked on his workbooks.
And then made some faces for me.
He loves making faces.
And wearing funny glasses.
His brother asked him to put socks on him which he kindly obliged.
Then he put the glasses on him, too.
Which definitely made his day.
And then while David played, Nathaniel read his Thomas books.
All in all, a quiet day, I did all my daily work first thing in the morning and I will try to get some blog posts done tonight. We’re thinking of maybe taking a super short vacation later this week so I want to be ahead of the game this week. Oh and I did a lot of work work, too. I got another Beta out and actually caught up to my mail which is a miracle.
Plans for tonight include art journaling, blog posts, and possibly furthering my pinterest addiction. How was your Monday?
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for how kind and quiet my kids can be and how they let me work when I need it.
2. I am grateful I got a lot done and feel ahead of my todo list. Phew.
3. I am grateful for kind comments. They always always always mean the world to me.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played chess with daddy on the phone {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that mommy got a new phone game for me that has 80 games inside.
3. I am grateful that i will play robot odyssey for daddy.
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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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