LiFe {unscripted}

Ready or not

Here we go.

It's 5 in the morning which ='s WAY TO FREAKING EARLY, but ready or not, we are headed to run the Cowtown 10K in old downtown Fort Worth.

 

 

Note to self

a closer look

I snapped these photos with my iphone back in October.  At that time, I'd had this notepad for quite some time...given to me at a teacher meeting or something. 

But on this particular day, I NOTICED it.  Noticed what it said.
And not a moment too soon.  I remember it had been rough day and was still before noon.  I was in a "ugh, I miss summer/don't want to be here at work/my patience is running thin/people are getting on my nerves" kind of mood on that day. 

I read it, and immediately laughed out loud.  Literally laughed.out.loud.

I needed it.

My "lol" only added to the pre-concieved notion that my students already had that I was "So weird!"  But I continued on.  With my day, with my class, with my weirdness.

With a better attitude. 

Today, I was looking back through my Iphotos and noticed this one.  I will never forget that day.  I hope I never forget that text at the top.  Three simple words and a crazy haired dude drawing.

Attitude is Everything. 

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than success, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, gift, or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes. "

~ Charles Swindoll

Mr. Swindoll, and creator of this post it note:
You both are very very wise people. 

Thank you.

No title necessary.

A great reminder to myself that my life is, indeed, Blessed Beyond Measure. 

Psalm 23: "surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life..."

I do not discuss God too much.  I believe, and that's all I need.  But some times reminders like this are wonderful ways to begin my week. 

Peaceful, peace.

my sweet furry boy

Bless his little heart.

He has a mama that likes to sew.

A mama who thought, "why not pick up a McCalls pattern on dog clothes, and try it out?!" 

This was my first (and only! - so far)  shot at making a sweater for Henry.  From one of Adam's old t-shirts (that I would not let him wear because of the over the top BRIGHT orange color), and scraps of red fleece, no less.  Not a sight for sore eyes.  Unless you're color blind, I guess. But hey, it was just the "rough draft," right?!

Henry the 10K runner.

The sleeves had to be rolled up because they were too long, and the turtle neck collar gave me heck trying to sew it on eventually causing my frustration to get the best of me...

I'll say it again, bless his little heart...but for a few days he did proudly sport this "project" of mine.

Aunt Rachel said it reminded her of that old Dolly Pardon song, "Coat of Many Colors."  Ha, ha, Rach ;)

The last day of wearing it, I came home to find one of his sleeves had un rolled and poor little dude was walking on it for no telling how long.  Ack. 

 

on graditude

a bit ago, I saw this wonderful idea on Becky Higgin's blog.  An awesome and somewhat spiritual way of jotting down thoughts of gratitude; and also a daily reminder of all the amazing blessings present in our lives, home, and little family.

Created simply by covering a large-ish canvas with kraft paper, American Crafts alphabet stickers, and the Making Memories Slice to cut out "raT" because I realized that our initials were right there in the very word.  Of course, it does highlight the word "rat," but cool to me, nonetheless.

I attached a ribbon to the back of the canvas and tied a marker to the ribbon so we have an easy and accessable way to jot down what we are grateful for at the very moment we pass it in our hallway.  I chose our hallway because it's a place we pass by often, and the whole thing can be seen from our bed each night. 

For Gods blessings.  For family and friends.  For our furry boy who brings us so much joy. For gas heat in the winter. For each other.  No limts or rules.  Just thoughts of gratitude. 

There really is so so much to be thankful for.

it's not what you think.

After seeing this super cute and funny commerical during the Super Bowl a couple Sunday's ago, I've been really wanting to draw a beaver.  I mean, they are cute - I just love those bottom teeth :)=

During the process of drawing this, I decided to add a mustache to him, and make him a beaver with a French accent. 

And what else would a French beaver say?!
"Zee special for tonight is wood."

So keep your thoughts clean for this one - I promise, it's not what you think.

 

Do the words on this sound familiar?

if not, you may want to listen to this song. 

This is the card that I made for my love after having this song on my ipod "Run" playlist for the past several months.  One day, the words just rang out to me. "Those would make a great Valentine's card!"

Sweet. Simple. and to the point ;)

How was your Valentines day?

Let me tell you, celebrating V-day surrounded by high school teens really makes me appreciative of messages like this on my wall:

I just want to tell my teenage students, that it will all be okay.  I was once in their single teen shoes, and really, it's just one day out of the entire year, and just be happy, and it's not all about flowers and cards and candy and yadda yadda yadda.  But honestly, I'm just really glad I'm not in those shoes anymore.

Valentine's day did come early for me this year due to a friends email+a really awesome sale+a husband that was relieved to have me pick out my own gift that all equaled up to

Smile.  I mean, it's pink and everything :)

But seriously, THIS below was the best gift a more practical girl like me could get (just yesterday, mind you!):

SHELVES!!!! in a pantry space that for four entire years of us living in our home, has been just an empty space!!!

The convo on Sunday afternon went a little like this:

me: I'm gonna take a nap - washing my car made me sleepy!
A: oooh, sounds good to me!
me: Um, what about my shelves?!
A: well, all I have in the garage is MDF and you don't want MDF shelves do you?!...
me: uh, YES!  I just want them!
A:(grumbles and moans) ugh. are you sure????  (pause) o.k.
me:  I'll paint them next weekend - just get them on the waaaalllll....pleeeease?! :)

And that, folks is what I call love.

Happy Valentines. 
or as my sister and I jokingly say, "Balentimes."

Bedtime Buddy

This sweet boy has been trying to tell me since 10:30 p.m. that it's time to cut the lights and go "sweepy-sweepy!"

That stuffed animal between his paws is Buddy.  He's had him from the very first time he met us.  I bought Buddy at Big Lots the week before, and it was in his crate for the ride to his new home.

Buddy has not just gotten a little "brown-er" (cough cough, dirty...), but he's also gotten a lot smaller than Henry :) 

However, Buddy is a MAIN STAY in our house hold.  Buddy is Henry's night time blankie.  When Henry has had enough running and playing he grabs his Buddy and chews on him just like in the photo from tonight above, until his eyes get drooooopy and he falls asleep.

And tonight that was 2+ hours ago.  Since then Henry has made his way up to my pillow....

I'm going to go re-claim my pillow now.

on drawing.

I am often asked, as an art teacher, if I like to paint and draw. 

Surprisingly, I say no. 

I always enjoyed doodling in my spare time (you know high school history class) when I was younger, but never even took art in high school. 

In college my required one fine art credit (art appreciation) made me find my love of art again and thus came the art degree. Part of that art degree meant having to take drawing and painting classes.  Those were looong semesters.  Three hour labs of nothing but drawing and painting gave me great dread of both.  I loved it and hated it.  Loved it because I actually "learned" to draw and paint, but hated that it took so long.  I mean, there were better things to do from 2-5 in the afternoon.  Soaps and Oprah!

So now when I am asked that question and my answer is no, I often follow it with "well, yes, I know how to do both, but I just prefer other forms of art like crafting."  That's most often followed with a "hummm" and a confused look from whom ever it might be I'm talking to. 

But recently, I've been drawing. 

Nothing epic or Sistine Chapel, but drawing still.  With each drawing comes a feeling of satisfaction and eagerness to do another.  I don't have a determined style, nor do I think I want to define one.  Right now I'm just enjoying the process and experimenting with different mediums (you know, supplies - pencil,
Sharpie, watercolor, all three in one!) - just enjoying it. 

This one was just pencil...a lot of pencil over a long period of time.  But I didn't rush - no deadline, no project for a grade - just working on it when I felt like it.

I think this is what my dream street would look like.  All of my favorite things to do within walking distance of each other. A general store for necessities, an art museum for creating and viewing art, a bakery to satisfy the craving to bake and taste, a gym to work out in, a brownstone reminiscent of the Cosby Show to live in with my boys, and a sewing shop for my sister and I - named after her kitty and our doggy. 

Heaven on Earth, for me. 

It took nearly eight years for me to forget about the dreaded three hour long drawing labs, but I think my love for drawing doodling is making it's comeback.

 

sorry, I've been busy making memories

As much as I'd like to say that was my reasoning, the truth is that I've been questioning the reason I have this blog.  I don't post much.  I go through phases, really.  And what I've realized lately, is that my reason for blogging changed somewhere along the way into something that I did not like.  Hence, making it hard to blog.  Too much thought was being put into posting "the perfect post", having a great photo to share every time, and the best story to tell...

That took the fun out of posting....out of writing just to document for myself...just to put my voice out there - my authentic voice.

So I just stopped.

And I started just living in the moment.  Not carrying my HUGE-NORMOUS camera with me on every adventure, not feeling like I needed photos to document every moment.  Trusting that sweet friends will photograph the special events and share with me ;)  And truthfully, I've loved it! 

I still take photos of things I want to - I just don't feel like I need to capture everything. 

That said, here are the moments that I've been so glad I did capture lately.

My sweet buddertups, on an evening stroll around our neighborhood back in November.

One of the MANY faces that I've "seen" in the steam on the bathroom mirror.  My mom taught me to make shapes out of clouds when I was a little girl, and I've been doing it ever since.  I see Jesus on the tile in our shower.  Ahhh, okay, maybe it was the slightly drunk goggles that made me notice it at first, but now I still see Him every time I get in. *This could be a whole other post in itself...

Adam and I at a Christmas Party that I shot...a sweet friend commented that we look like manikins - and I have to agree.  Our "normal" does not look like this, but a girl has the right to love a dressy photo of her and her guy, right?

And a remote-taken photo from our Christmas card shoot in November - we did not take too many photos of all three of us together in 2010 - I want to change that in 2011.  So far - we are not there, but we have 10.5 months to go, right?  Right.

And there you have it - am I back?  I'll see how I feel tomorrow.  

For tonight, it just feels really great to write.