Photo-a-Day five

Remember Today 2.20.11

{remember} doing a little soul searching, being at conflict with myself and my role/purpose. 

Why do we as mothers
need to face the struggle
of choosing
ourselves and our dreams
over the
care and raising
of our children? 

Having a hard time finding
a good balance
and striking
a happy harmony. 

Feelings of selfishness and guilt.

Why can't I just sit back
and enjoy these mothering years
and not want to search for more? 

These years are so fleeting,
and I know deep down
the time for me
to pursue my dreams will come,
but what if it won't. 

What if my time is now? 
What if waiting
will make it too late?

Remember Today 2.11.11

{remember} how much I love Fridays, and not to fool myself into thinking that if I don't go to Pilates I'll workout at home.

Remember Today 2.10.11

{remember} figuring out at dinner that I actually turned 37 today, not 38.  Happiness.

February's Word: Healthy

As I start off the month of February I am feeling tired, out of shape, dehydrated, and stiff.  I don't feel terribly awful, just a bit uncomfortable.  My pants are snugger, the scale is pointing to a number it hasn't since I was pregnant, and I know the older I get, the harder it will be to maintain a healthy lifestyle (especially when I don't consider my current lifestyle habits particularly healthy).

So in an effort to love myself in this month of L-O-V-E, my word is:




I will eat less sweets and more fruits and veggies. I will not eat when I'm not hungry. I will drink more water, and not ignore my thirst.  I will walk on the treadmill.  I will attend Pilates every week.  I will make time for some sort of physical activity everyday.  I will go to bed by 11:00 pm.  I will look forward to the effects all this has on me by the end of February.

Resolution Check-In

Well, we're one month into twenty-11, so let's take a look at how my high hopes for the year are doing, shall we?

1. create everyday--{check} this will be my "safety" for the year, the one that above all else will stick
2. remember today--{umm, almost check?} I'm not at 100%, but I'm a lot better off than I was last year!
3. be more efficient and productive--{check} I think I'm doing pretty good here, as long as you can count playing Cover Orange and Cut the Rope on my i-pod as productive!
4. drink more water--{ugh!} you would think this would be a no brainer, but I struggle so badly with this one
5. exercise regularly--{nope} I did go to Pilates once this month; if number one is my safety, this one is my "reach"
6. have more patience--{yes!} number one is helping a great deal with this.  Loving my life helps, too!
7. catch up on unfinished projects--{kinda} "catch-up" was my word for the month of January, and I had high hopes of completing lots of unfinished projects.  I didn't anticipate how many new projects January was going to throw at me.  I did manage to get all my 2010 photos organized and backed-up, no small feat, really. Which brings us to number 8:
8. organize and back-up photos monthly--{yup} January is caught up too!
9. learn something new every week--{hmmmm} I bet I have, like the other day when I learned about QR codes and created one for my blog address (see above)
10. send more cards--{whoops!} gotta get better at this one!
11. teach more classes--dropped the ball on this one 
12. read one book a month--{check} but admittedly, it was my second reading of said book
13. complete 120 LO's this year--{yippee!} 10 down, right on track for the year
14. complete an art journal--{uh uh} did one page, but I really want to fit this into my creative routine--working on this for Feb.

Well, the year is young.  There's 11 more months to perfect my resolutions!

Remember Today 1.17.11

{remember} discovering that one of my pages is featured on the tumblr page of Write.Click.Scrapbook.  Yippee!

Remember Today 1.14.11

{remember} a long, jam-packed, exhausting day that began with a call from my dad that my mom was in the hospital to have her gall bladder removed, and ended with me collapsing into bed and reading two pages before conking out.  And everything in between: cleaning up the house, computer work, shopping a fab clearance sale at JoAnn's, hitting the grocery store for home-made ice cream ingredients, dashing home for lunch with Maddox, visiting a friend to talk shop about the makings of her creative space, prepping the boys for Logan's snowboarding lesson, packing for a crop, hosting the 4-hour crop, tucking the boys into bed, a late dinner at the computer, and more work.

Remember Today 1.13.11

{remember} how happy I am with my decision to purchase this little guy:

Christmas money well spent.

Remember Today 1.9.11

{remember} taking a much needed bubble bath while Perry put the kiddos to bed.

Remember Today 1.7.11

{remember} how much Logan loved his first snowboarding lesson, and how badly I need to buy some nice warm boots (and remember the hat, scarf, mittens, hot chocolate, and the camera next time!).

Remember Today 1.5.11

{remember} how difficult it is to get a good self portrait shot.

 

 Collage made with Shape Collage (try it, it's free, and very fun!)

Remember Today 1.3.11

{remember} that it's easier to keep a clean house clean than to make a dirty house clean.  Wonder how long I'll be able to maintain the declutteredness?

Remember Today 1.2.11

{remember} how good it felt to be a white tornado and get this house in order before the boys all return to school tomorrow. 

My stUdio went from this:

to this:

Tomorrow it will be time to destroy it again!

Hello 2011! {and hello to you, long lost little blog}

Somewhere along the way, this little blog got pushed to the way-side,
shoved into a dusty corner and forgotten
to other more seemingly important tasks.
And I miss it.
I miss taking a moment to reflect on the beauty of the day;
to jot down something that I learned,
or a reminder of how each day is a gift,
or a snippet of a moment that would have otherwise been forgotten.

I miss looking back over the photographs of the everyday bits and pieces from our lives,
photographs of people who will look completely different in a year or two,
pieces of our lives that will never be quite like this again.

So this year, this brandy new, fresh and open year
I am making a promise to myself and to this blog
to dust off the {remember today's} and get back to posting here.
I promise.

January's word: Catch-Up

Last year I took on a word for the year.  I though about it, reflected on it, pondered it, strived for it, and held it close all year.  It worked out ok, but partway through the year I felt a bit locked in.  I wanted to work on other words, I wanted to focus on other areas, I wanted more.

This year, I have decided to take on a word of the month.  For the month, I will focus on this word, I will carry it into my daily living, I will sleep with it by my side at night, I will work with it and mold it into my being.

I'm easing my way into the year with an easy, not deep, no-nonsense, nothing glamorous or dramatic, word.  My word for January is





Maybe it's the feeling of coming off of the holiday rush of craziness, and that I feel like I can breathe a bit.  I feel a sort of energy around completing tasks that have been pushed aside.

Here's to January and catching-up!

the way i feel today

do you ever feel
so filled up
by the feeling of
possibility
that your heart feels
like it will burst open? 
and when it does
it will spill out all
your hopes and dreams
right onto the floor,
but before they hit the floor,
your dreams will sprout beautiful
butterfly wings and fly
into the sunset filled sky,
and as night falls
and the sky darkens
to reveal the stars,
your hopes and dreams,
the possibility
of your potential,
will dangle from delicate strings
strung on the glistening stars.

Do you ever feel this way?

This is how I am feeling today.

It. Feels. Wonderful.

today i...

1. made a fabric covered journal
2. made flowers out of dryer sheets
3. made a new art journal out of boxes from our recycle bin (think crackers, waffles, cereal, etc.)
4. made a mini journal from a kleenex box
5. made sculpey clay animals with the boys
6. nearly finished a layout with MLS product
7. started a layout that uses a bandana as its background
8. started an art journal page

all in all a very productive day.  just wanted to make a note of it.

i'm in production mode, and want to savor every bit of it.
i know it won't last.
not being pessimistic,
just realistic.
it's just how it goes...

oh, and i threw an UNO's deep dish pizza in the oven and called it dinner!

Time flies (and a touch of creative ADD)

photo credit: dictybloke @ flickr

Has it seriously been over a month since my last post here?  Shameful. Really.  It's not because I have nothing to say.  It's not because I've been too lazy (ok, maybe just a little), but I've been busy: crocheting, scrapbooking, cleaning and organizing, schlepping the kiddos around, testing (this one's top secret, sorry), and just doing the general living thing.  And time is not my friend lately.  It's too easy to get lost in a sea of blogs bouncing around from one to the next, or surfing for songs at Playlist (check out all the new tunes I've added to mine--lots of new-loved artists!), or researching html gobbledy-gook to make my blog look better, or adding some layouts to the CK gallery (that's how I spent the better part of tonight).  It's all too easy, and then I look up at the clock to find that it's nearly midnight, or it's already time to fetch Maddox from school.  Yes, time is not my friend lately.  There's simply too much to do and not enough time to do it all in.

And as if that wasn't enough, I can't seem to focus on any one project.  I want to do it all--mobiles, flowers, embroidery, sewing, scrapbooking, photo organizing, blogging, designing, cardmaking, crocheting, banners.  All of it.  And often I find myself flitting from one thing to the next and really accomplishing absolutely nothing at all.  Not to mention the utter disarray of my stUdio.  A fabric drawer partially dumped on the floor--an organizing session derailed.  A slew of projects and scraps strewn across my work surface.  A rug littered with pens, papers, thread, and itty bitty bits of paper.  Yup, I am an utter and complete mess.

Someday I'll get back on top of things.  Someday.  But for now, I'll just sit here at my computer, listening to my tunes, and dreaming about what I want to be when I grow up (that's a post for another day!). 

Here's a line from a Jason Mraz song that I really like: What a beautiful mess this is, It's like picking up trash in dresses.  And I'll just leave you with that.

100 Things I Love

Some blogging friends have created lists of 100 comforts. They have inspired me to do the same, so in honor of Valentine's Day, here are 100 things I love (in no particular order):

1. hugs from Perry just when I need them most
2. smiles on my kiddos faces
3. walks along the beach in Maine
4. the Marginal Way in Ogunquit
5. hot honey vanilla chamomile tea with two vanilla creamers
6. ice cold Newman's Own lemonade
7. climbing into bed after a long and exhausting day
8. the sound of the dishwasher running on a rainy day
9. a clean house
10. eating a dinner that I didn't have to cook
11. lots of time to create
12. reading a good book for long stretches at a time
13. sleeping late b/c Perry got up with the boys
14. the smell of rain in springtime
15. the smell of sunscreened kiddos in summer
16. the smell of fallen leaves in autumn
17. the smell of burning wood coming from a chimney in winter
18. Jelly Belly jelly beans
19. any candy, really
20. free time to spend however I want (usually creating)
21. overhearing the conversations my boys' have when they're being kind to one another
22. creative sparks of energy
23. time to play
24. Maddox's drawings
25. watching Camden play hockey
26. listening to Logan play his guitar
27. sunflowers
28. my boys' excitement over holidays and birthdays
29. love notes
30. my camera
31. a smile from a stranger
32. pilates
33. girlfriends
34. color
35. a brand new calendar
36. the smell of a new born baby
37. the sounds from a new born baby
38. yarn
39. long phone conversations about nothing
40. my sewing machine
41. rainbow order
42. a snowy day with no where to go
43. new crafting supplies
44. anything homemade
45. blogging and reading blogs
46. listening to good music
47. a fully stocked pantry with lots of meal options
48. feeling connected
49. remembering
50. that deep down happy feeling
51. photographs
52. my laptop
53. footy pajamas
54. slippers
55. pajama days
56. snuggly morning wake ups
57. pretty fabric
58. belly laughs from the boys
59. laughing until I cry
60. t-shirts and blue jeans
61. seeing Perry in a t-shirt and blue jeans
62. singing along with the car radio
63. making lists
64. lots of checkmarks on my list
65. organizing
66. hearing my cat purring in her sleep
67. filling the house with fresh air after a long New England winter
68. turquoise and lime
69. the view out my stUdio window
70. movies that make me cry
71. scrapbooking
72. crocheting
73. knitting
74. waking up happy
75. dinner out with Perry
76. Target
77. nice people
78. making all the green lights
79. monkeys
80. owls
81. watching the boys sleep
82. my stUdio
83. the warm sun on my face
84. museums
85. a visit to the city
86. airplane flying
87. being alone
88. getting a new magazine in the mail
89. feeling inspired to create
90. getting comments on my blogs
91. a long soak in a hot bath
92. anything lemon flavored
93. my ATG tape gun
94. pens with blue ink
95. chocolate in the house when I'm pms-ing
96. things of old
97. changing seasons
98. traditions
99. freshly painted nails
100. blankets

Well, there it is 100 things I love (could also be termed 100 things that make me happy). I'm thinking this should be done every year. I last wrote such a list about 6 years ago when my middle was just a baby. Of course, I can't find it now.

Check out my sister's list, and my friends' ones here and here. So what's on your list?