Thursday Thoughtfulness

I decided that most of the time I read some great meaningful stuff or hear a great quote on a movie or a show, and then I forget about it later on down the road. So I’m dedicating Thursdays to thoughtfulness  - to contain all the random lovely things that I hear/read to share with all of you!

Lately I’ve been reading a book that Mr. B’s mother gave us last year for Christmas, “Simple Abundance’ it’s a daily read self-help type book, so without further a do I present the first installment on the first Thursday of the new decade… (ok, maybe I am being a little cheesy this evening..)

Time is the New Year’s bountiful blessing: three hundred sixty-five bright mornings and starlit evenings; fifty-two promising weeks; twelve transformative months full of beautiful possibilities; and four splendid seasons.

I totally love how pretty and romantic it sounds. But…

This is so for me this year. I have dedicated this year to one resolution and one resolution only and that is: Find out about me. What makes me happy? What do I like? Learn to love me. I know this might sound crazy and a little hard to believe for some of you but it is true - and it’s something that I want to dedicate this whole year to, and hopefully at the end of the year I will be someone that I love.

Many people, namely women (even me), today feel a sadness we cannot name. Though I somewhat accomplish much of what I set out to do, I sense that something is missing in my life sometimes and –fruitlessly-search “out there” for the answers.

What’s often wrong is that I think I sometimes become disconnected from an authentic sense of self.

I know on several occasions after looking in the mirror I have wondered (sometimes out loud) at your reflection, “Who is this?”. Perhaps the heart of my sadness is that I miss the woman I thought I was meant to be. I miss my authentic self, and then ponder if I really knew her. The good news? 

My authentic self hasn’t abandoned me, instead she is the patiently waiting for me to let her out, and by the end of the year, hopefully, she will be out.

But until then I take one week at a time. In the last post I showed my goals for this week, well one of my goals for last week was to make my ‘office’ (which is really supposed to be a dining room) ‘officey’. So…

One day the books won’t be all over the place and the desk will be cleaned… but for now, there it is.

Warm Fuzzies

So for this month the Visiting Teaching message at our church was ‘Service & Love’. So I put together a little gift to each of them to remember to share and enjoy thier ‘Warm Fuzzies’ – it was a hit and it was probably the most craftiest I’ve ever been. I’ve learned that I really need a hot glue gun… all of the below was done with double sided tape… for some reason lately I’ve had this little craft bone… I went to JoAnne Fabrics for some little jars, pom-poms, and ribbon – I won’t tell you how much I spent but I will tell you I saved $140. Ha! But I ended up with some great things to decorate my wall with and so excited about getting them up this weekend, especially now that I have re-arranged in here a little – and purchased a new TV stand (so we can be rid of the 10 yr old $5 dollar Wal-Mart stand – don’t get me wrong it’s been great and served it’s purpose, it’s just time to upgrade) we’ve also purchased a new 55 gallon freshwater tank and will eventually start a 14 gal Marine Tank (yes, we are turning into aquarists, and it’s fantastic!).

Here are the Warm Fuzzie’s and Happy New Year to everyone – remember my Project 365 starts tomorrow! (hopefully it will start on time and last longer than 3 days)!

 
{click for a larger view}

Minnie wishes you a Happy New Year as well!

2009 In review

I can’t believe that this year has just flown by! What have we done this year? I started this last year and thought I would keep it up, but change it a little bit – one year I’ll get it the way I want. So let’s get started:

January
Can you believe it, I don’t have any pictures from January? It was probably because this was when I found my interest in photography. I started visiting websites, reading books, going to the library – to try and learn all that I could on the topic and started experimenting here and there (I can’t believe that was a year ago). I also was involved in my hit-and-run accident on the interstate, experienced my first Jury Duty, and fell in love with Real Simple magazine.

February

 
Was a fun Valentines Day in which our love for Guitar Hero Band developed.

March
We went and visited Mr. B’s parents in wonderful Kauai, Hawaii – where I want to go back to again this upcoming year sometime. Enjoy some pictures….

Saw and Emu Ceremony – Delicious Dinner and Fascinating Ceremony

Chickens, Chickens, Chickens…. Everywhere – don’t worry I won’t post all gazillion pictures I took of them.

Saw many a waterfall – they were beautiful!
 
Enjoyed time together on glorious beaches.

Enjoyed interesting Graffiti.
 
Had the best Fish & Chips in the world, along with a great view….
  

Went Deep Sea Fishing, where Mr. B caught a fish


Which we had for dinner… (it was an Amberjack and it was delish!)

Saw Beautiful Lighthouses

Picked Bananas

And enjoyed our stay at Mr.B’s parents home, and our visit!

April

Saw Jeff Dunham Live – it was fantastic!

May

Thought we would buy a house out in the sticks, so we spent quite a lot of time in the eastern side of our state.

June

We got our first fish, Xavier our Betta.

July

Had great seats at a Giants game! (went to several this year)

Went to my cousins wedding in Rexburg, ID
  
Had fun times at our family re-union, to include when my sister was extreme egged!

August

Visited my family in Nevada, and played tons of Pinochle

Saw incredible sunsets!

Watched my brother play football

Had fun at dads work fair (literally, it was a fair)
I took some of my sisters senior photos
 

September

I started working on things around the house, to personalize it a little, and started to get in touch with my crafty bone

October

The only thing that really happened this month except for our mundane day to day life – was we got our Blackberry’s or as Mr. B refers to them – his blueberry (even though his phone is actually black, my should be a raspberry in that case).

November
   
Went back to Nevada and had our family pictures done.

December
   
We had our first Christmas tree, since this is the first year we have actually been home for Christmas, together. It is also my first REAL tree so I’m excited about that and am enjoying the wintry evergreen scent. 
 
We played games and just enjoyed each others company. (I had to post that picture of my mother, as I love the natural beauty of it and that she has).

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and lets look forward to a new fantastic year!

Fix It Friday #29

Here is another week of Fix-It-Friday from iHeartFaces ! She is so cute! I love the rainbow across the image and didn’t want to distort that. So here are my takes…

The Submitted Original Image


My Takes On The Post-Processing

The Start Of A New Season

Welcome Fall! Granted it is still 100+ degrees outside but it’s September and it’s time to get ready for my favorite things about the fall: Changing leaves on trees, Warm drinks in the morning, Cute fuzzy socks, Candles at night, Smell of crispness and coolness in the air, and the Warm rich colors of fall!

I have been reading The Nester for the past little while and last week she has totally inspired me to get off my hiney and make my house a home, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.” If you get the time you should go check out her site it’s FAN-TAB-ULOUS-TIC!

Anyway, here is the first improvement for the month for my house:

Welcome to my house! Not a great first impression huh? I mean you have the really thin ivy, black drain tubes and sprinklers, and well the phone book that we have obviously been too lazy to take to the trash can (that will serve as my reminder that I have announced to the whole world that I leave a phonebook on my patio for well, I will leave out the specific time frame, but if you ever need a number you know where to come!). This weekend I will be planting some Hyacinth and Tulips so they can bloom in the spring, and if you look closely in the bottom right hand corner you can see some Bearded Irises growing, these were given to me and left in my car for a little over a week I can’t believe they are actually growing! (This post is making me sound like a horrible procrastinator, trust me I’m really not, at least I don’t think that I am). So anyway, while in Joanne Fabric Store yesterday I found the best thing to lighten up my front door ‘space’ for now! I’m so excited, it looks more like a home already:

Welcome Autumn, and Welcome to Our Home



Won’t my husband be super weirded-out excited when he comes home tonight?!? I also found a nifty box to hold my sheet music for the Cello and Piano as well as a wall-hanging I am so excited to do, and not to mention the color I’m going to paint the walls (I’ll give you a hint, it’s not green or gray)! Are you as excited as I am?! Well, if not you should be! So welcome to our house that will soon be a home.