I honestly can’t remember much about today. I’ve been keeping the same routine all week. I wake up, read to D, feed the kids, scrap, work, put N down, work out, work, work , work, and then do workbook with D, dinner, gratitude journal, kids down, process photos+blog, draw+paint portrait. that’s about it. so today was no different. Last night I was out so the portrait didn’t get done. So tonight I will have to do it though at this moment, I feel no desire.
I did take more photos and they are less noisy. Nathaniel’s really taken to this dog lately. Jake and I both think it’s so cute.
He’s gotten more mischievous too. He stands up on the couch and laughs at me.
And here’s a classic look of “what?”
He now says “ouch” so he will do things that hurt just so he can say “ouch.”
He loves sitting with David (it was PJ day in his school today) and watching him play.
He also loves to roar. They are both roaring here.
Here’s the classic look again.
And my stunning boy.
Yes the Christmas tree is still up. I might never take it down. I love it.
Off to rest a bit and make a todo list for the weekend. My mind is in that completely wandering place where I feel like I have a ton of loose ends and I don’t even know what to work on first. So I need to write it down so that I can see it and organize my mind. Let’s hope it works! I’m done with my initial set for CHA and my DT blog work for next week so I can breathe a bit since everything else I have to do is much more optional.
Here’s to a great weekend for all of us!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for a wonderful mahjongg night last night. It was so nice to be among goof friends.
2. I am grateful that it’s the weekend. This was a long week and I got a lot done. Time to regroup and rest, both of which the weekend is ideal for so I am glad it’s here.
3. I am grateful that I am done with some of the “must get done” items on my list. I always stress when I have deadlines so it’s nice not to have such strict ones.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I looked at Max’s Ninetendo DS {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I watched a little TV
3. I am grateful that I snugged up with mommy (I love love love it when he snuggles up with me.)
The first week of the year wasn’t as full of stress as it could have been since I’d already been exercising for months. I am really glad that I didn’t wait until January to start because this way I’ve already spent months figuring out my routine and got into the swing of things. And I can just keep going and focus on the task at hand: getting healthy.
My goal for this week was to raise the 2.5 miles a day to 2.6. I might seem like a tiny change but since I always felt like I was barely making it to 2.5, I was worried about it. However, when Saturday rolled around, I just did it and I’ve been doing it everyday since.
The weight loss was low this week but that’s ok. As long as I lose .4 pounds every other week or something like that, the Wii tells me I am on track. I know there will be ups and downs throughout the year and I am prepared for that. Even a small loss shows movement in the right direction and keeps me motivated to continue.
The highlight of this week was the trip to Anthropologie for my December item. I had already seen this skirt online so when I tried it on and fit into a size four, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I am truly ecstatic.
and here’s this week’s card:
Healthy for Life is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
This is a layout I made for My Mind’s Eye’s Holiday Showcase back in December.
Since I spend all of December doing my December Daily album, I often don’t feel like scrapping most of my holiday adventures. Each year, I make one layout that captures the holiday. This year, I put together all of my favorite photos from throughout December and made a collage on my page. This way I can pull out this one page and remember this year’s wonderful holiday season.
I’ve been tired but feeling so good. Having the pain leave still has me on a high. I wake up each morning and read to David, prepare their food and get to work on my CHA layouts. I have five done and one more to do tomorrow. Then I have a pink paislee assignment for next week and then back to cha work. so far so good. Lately, things are busy so I am focusing on the must get done items. reading to david, exercise, cha layouts, portraits, etc. everything else is pretty much falling on the floor. this weekend I will pick up a whole bunch hopefully and start getting caught up. Let’s hope.
So I’ve been doing a bad job on the photos. The fact that it’s dark doesn’t help either. I switched back to my 85mm today. Since it’s 1.8 and not 2.8 that gives me a lot more light. Let’s see if the photos improve.
I love how Nathaniel likes sitting with his brother.
Here’s me trying to get a shot of David again and him giving me a “smile” so he can get back on the computer.
I love these shots. Even with the blur and the bad color. There’s something about them that speaks to me.
And the last one. I didn’t get any good ones today. Oh well there’s always tomorrow.
And here we are. It’s almost bedtime for the kids and I am going out to my friend Holly’s house tonight to play Mahjongg with a bunch of my work friends. People I love and haven’t seen in a long time. Excited. And then we do it all again tomorrow. Life goes quickly.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am deeply grateful to be in no pain. Still. I can’t tell you how grateful.
2. I am grateful that I get to go out tonight and be with good friends and just enjoy it.
3. I snuck out for a short period today and went to Anthropologie to buy my December reward (I buy a piece of clothing for every month that I exercised daily). They had a skirt I loved and so I bought it even though I was planning on buying tops only for a while. When I tried it on, the size that fit me was size four. Four! I can’t ever remember being a size four in my life. This exercise and eat well routine is definitely working and i am deeply deeply deeply grateful.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I did a wishing thing in art today {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we did workstations at school because the smart board was really fun
3. I am grateful that I did a timeline at school, i’d never heard of that and it’s cool
Ok, please bear in mind that the whole reason I am doing this project is because I don’t have inherent talent in this area. The while point of this is to practice practice and practice until I get good. Or as close to good I can ever get.
So with that here are my first six portraits.
First three drawings:
I take the drawing photos late at night right before I paint, so they are not the best. But I still like to have them as a before and after. Here they are, painted:
and then here is four through six drawings:
and painted.
yep, I have a long way to go. But I am ok with that. I have 306 more of these to make.
Constructive criticism always welcome but only if you can actually be constructive. No need to stroke my ego, I know these need a lot of work. I am ok with that 🙂
Six Portraits a Week is a weekly project for 2011. You can read more about it here.
I cannot tell you the amazing feeling of waking up without pain! I woke up this morning and I was so energetic and happy. I immediately got to work. I made food for the kids, packed lunch, and read with David all before 6:45am. Then he left for school and I did another layout for CHA. Then it was time for work. Nathaniel napped, I worked, I exercised, I worked some more. And I am still working. But it’s ok because I had no pain!!
Nathaniel was in a good mood. He learned a new word today “wawa” which he says for water. Success!
Here he is sitting with Jake, watching choo choo.
And then he notices me and give me a smile.
Then to Daddy. I love that you can see Jake’s smiling here even though you cannot see his face.
Lest you think I ignore David, he was not in the mood for photos today. Though, he did do his math workbook and ate his veggies and was all around wonderful.
But not Nathaniel. He was feeling happy!
And here we are at the end of another day. The days seem to pass so so quickly. I haven’t even glanced at my todo list for days now and I have so many unanswered emails. Please forgive me if you’re waiting for an email. I will reply, I swear. Tonight we get to go out on a date night thanks to my friend Holly who offered to baby sit. This means I have to finish my portrait in the next hour. So off to work on that.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am deeply grateful to be in no pain. It’s so amazing.
2. I am grateful that I get to go out tonight. A movie always makes me happy even if it means my todo list suffers.
3. I am grateful for all your amazing comments on my blog today. It made me so grateful and emotional to see all the kindness and generosity of spirit. Thank you so so so much.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played the xylophone at school {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that i will watch a movie with daddy
3. I am grateful that I did two more pages in my science book (where does wood come from, what happens when wood gets wet)
I rarely ever submit to anything. I am too saddened by rejection and it’s often so much work. Especially to submit to magazines. I also always journal on my layouts and my handwriting is not beautiful or often legible. Which does not make me a good candidate. So it’s very rare to see any of my pages in a magazine.
However, I had the amazing honor of being published in the November/December 2010 issue of Swedish Scrapbooking m. m. magazine. They picked up a few of my layouts and a minibook.
This is a CHA Summer layout I made for The Girls’ Paperie
mine are the two on the right, more The Girls’ Paperie.
the mini i made with Maya Road goodies.
And then they did a feature article about my layout a day in may adventure.
  
Even though I cannot understand a word of it, I was so incredibly delighted to see my work in print. I am deeply thankful to scrapbooking m.m. for making me so so happy.
Thank you for letting me share my joy.
Cutting for Stone was the January book for my book club. This book was already on my list so I was excited to read it.
but the beginning dragged and dragged and dragged. It took me four weeks to get through the first 200 pages. I was really frustrated and stopped reading altogether for a while. Which made me sad. And mad at this book.
But then it got better.
And, as is often the case, I got hooked and by the end, I loved the book and I am really glad I read it. I do think half he book could be cut without much quality loss but I loved it nonetheless.
Well the TMJ did not get better this morning. In fact, it was so bad that I didn’t think I could make it through the day. I called my doctor as soon as they opened and he squeezed me into his lunch hour. By then, I’d already had 4 advil and I wasn’t feeling any better. After the visit, I already felt a little better right away and then gradually my pain got better and better. I still have it a bit but it’s considerably duller. Unfortunately, he said it might be the pushups so I’m not allowed to do them for a while.
Here are some smiley shots from the little one.
I love that the Christmas lights are still in the background.
And I tried to get David to smile, too but he’s still got that awkward one.
Though I did get this.
Today wasn’t so productive so I am going to try to catch up a little tonight. Do one more layout for CHA and then do my portrait. I’ve been making those nightly. Got eight so far. They are getting better but I still have a long way to go. This month’s focus is all CHA though. I have about 12-15 projects to do at least. So I better get to it. And David and I finished our book today so tomorrow we start a new one. Yey.
Ok I will go get to work. I hope this Tuesday has treated you well.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am deeply grateful that the doctor squeezed me in. He skipped his lunch to let me come. It was very kind.
2. I am grateful that I feel much more optimistic than I did this morning and that I get to play with so many beautiful products for CHA. I am a truly lucky gal.
3. I am grateful that I have even more fun stuff coming down the road. This year has started off busy but I am trying to pace it all and make sure it doesn’t get out of hand. One step at a time, right?
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i am not sick like Maggie is {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got to work on my science book (solving a question)
3. I am grateful that I did a page on my animal book (cottontail bunny)
I am taking Ali’s One Little Word class at Big Picture Classes. The first lesson was posted yesterday. In the class, they’re making an album but I want to use the prompts for my art journal. So I altered this week’s lesson to have it fit into my journal.
Here it is:
I’ve already talked about my word a lot so I won’t bore you with it anymore. One of the things I discovered last year was how much I love color. I want to bring more color into my life. My tendency is always to go to white and browns and black so I am purposefully pulling more color into my life since I know it makes me happy.
I used paint and mists on this. I never use mists. But I am trying to use my art journal to stretch. That’s the point isn’t it?
And there we are. Did you make a page this week?
I went to bed early last night with the hopes that I would wake up at a reasonable hour and feel rested but alas, I woke up feeling even more tired. It’s been a month without the TMJ doctor now and I can definitely feel the difference. I’m hoping this week I will start treatments again and can stop the pain. I had to take 5 advils just to get through today. But I still managed to do my exercise, read to david, make a CHA layout (though it’s not one of my favorites) and David and I even did some workbooks. I still have to do more stuff. I need to make my portrait. I might have to work some more on the layout since I really do not like it a lot.
Here’s the little boy. He was so cute, a few seconds after this, he patted next to him so I could sit down with him. I love him.
I asked David if I could please take a photo of him today since I didn’t have a good one in two days.
And then Nathaniel graced us with this when we were doing our workbook. He always likes to come by when we’re together so that he’s included too.
Now the kids are in bed and I am going back to work tomorrow and I am too tired to even think about it. but tomorrow’s a new day and I will have a positive attitude. I will choose joy, I will tackle it all with grace and patience and kindness. (or so i hope…)
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I am hosting at write.click.scrapbook all week. It’s a huge honor to be a part of that group of amazing women. I hope you come visit me and even leave comments.
2. I am grateful that I got my hair treated today so it will be less frizzy. We’ll see if it worked but i am going to be optimistic and assume it did.
3. I am grateful that things are slowly going back to routine. I am a routine-girl through and through.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that i got some fuzzy grams {* his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I got to watch ghost busters
3. I am grateful that I did a math workbook with mommy
This layout is made with the December A Million Memories kit.
Journaling reads:
If you were just to look at the first picture you’d think Nathaniel is hugging and kissing David (which, to be fair, he does often) but then you see the second photo and you realize how you are so wrong. That’s how it is with out little boys. They can be sneaky. But I love my boys and I love capturing these moments even though they expose the bad boy moments. I love them and all but it’s good to remember looks can deceive.
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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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