Insert word of your choice

Today, my word is STRONGER. I woke up feeling flabby. And like I had to succumb to my ultimate fate of being THICK. Yuck.
But I am more than that. And I have to remind myself that God made me strong. I can do so much. THICK is not my destiny. And I don't need to accept the negative thoughts that go through my brain. So there.
And for today, since I am now obsessed with this song...here it is. I saw this from Maile's blog and it is the dreamiest. Pause my music and go for a ride.

I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time looking at blogs...blog surfing, reading, skipping from one to another. There's an endless supply of inspiration, vulnerability, pain, beauty...artists on the cutting edge, design aplenty.

Do you ever get SO much inspiration, that it becomes so much stimulation and amazement, that you no longer feel like being creative? The net goes from being the ultimate source, to being the creativity sucker of your soul.

I just got done watching "Dead Poet's Society"...one of my all time favorite movies (I love any movie that makes me cry). "Seize the day" is the theme. How much seizing am I doing? How much time do I spend WATCHING other people live their lives instead of LIVING mine?

Sometimes I feel like I have SO much inside, so much that I want to get out. There is an artist that made a necklace that said "my heart is set on living"...I love that.

I'm going to stay in the moment, live my life, enjoy my family, stay in the present, stay with my feelings. And maybe use a timer when I'm reading blogs. :)

happy

today I am happy...here's why:
1. after sitting in a folding chair at my desk for 6 months, I now have a very comfy chair that my mom gave me for my birthday. that reclines. and turns. and lowers. and has arms.
2. I have not gotten sick today. it's been a weird sick week, and I am ready to feel better.
3. The kids have a dance tonight, which I always find highly amusing (they are 9 and 11).

okay, off to call clients. orders are in. and it's time to deliver. :)

My son finally asks the question that all kids ask at some point in their youth...


"Why don't they make cereal with ONLY
marshmellow pieces?"

mommy confession...

breakfast. :)

Happy Tuesday!

I'm sick today.
And I have to do my taxes.
I figured that for such a day, I needed a peppy owl on my blog banner. :)

Oh, and my mom is really wondering why I feel such a need to put on my business cards that I'm a coffee drinker. I dunno. It could be ANY random piece of information...I wanted to add a quirkiness, a bit of personal info that made my clients feel at home, like they know me. I could just as easily say:
Sea Otter lover
bubble bath taker
acne fighter
milkshake drinker
scrapbooker
loud talker
life enthusiast
cookbook reader
you get the idea. :)

business card angst

This week, I'm gonna post business card designs. I just don't know. I'm bored with the ones I have, I think they are too stuffy. And I really want something that represents me, who I am...on a 2x2 piece of card stock. But maybe I'm making this too complicated (that's what I do). Do any of these look good? maybe too botanical? Ugh.



Edit: one more...

Ever feel like you are so full of angst, excitement, fear, inspiration, dread, love, joy, anger, longing, whatever, that you just can't keep it inside, like you will explode. Like you were made for more than THIS (whatever THIS may be for you). Ya. Me too. And I loved this pear the minute I saw it in the store. My only regret...I didn't eat it. I enjoyed looking at it for too many days and then it got wrinkly.
Today I have lunch with a friend, work, volunteering at the school, laundry. Stuff. Good stuff.
And I'm trying to get past the fact that Kit got the boot on Project Runway.

Edit: I just saw this on Cathy Zielske's blog...if you have seen the Tom Cruise crazy video, pause my music and watch this.

Not a bad hedgehog day after all...and book review

While I WAS a heap on the floor for part of the day (and thank you to one of my wonderful clients for listening to me lament over a cup of steamy Starbucks!), the day did pick up. I received 2 more emails from breeders in the state. And we are now officially on one of the waiting lists. (Erin, if you are reading this, I did email you back, so if you didn't get it like last time, email me again.)
Anyway, things are moving forward and that makes me breathe easier.


Also, I just got done reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. Oh. My. Gosh. Let me express that I have a hard time reading serious things...I would rather read a scrapbook magazine. And I hate history, mostly because it confuses me...especially anything having to do with the middle east. I can't keep track of what's going on. And I certainly can't pronounce any of the names or cities. Pathetic? Absolutely.
But this book was phenomenal. It was surprisingly an easy read. I zoomed through it, horrified by what the characters were enduring, and falling in love with the 2 main women. Loved it. Highly recommend it.

Today is a snow day for the kids. There is hardly any snow on the ground...it is very windy and cold though. If only the schools had WALLS and HEAT to protect them from the elements! Really! I love a snow day as much as the next person, but this is just silly.

Anyway, off to enjoy the silliness, get some work done, try not to shush the kids too much, and get ready for Project Runway. Happy Wednesday!

I'm a heap on the floor right now.

I just got off the phone with a hedgehog breeder and apparently, it hasn't been a good year for baby hedgies. They either haven't been making it through childbirth or the mothers are killing them. We can't even get on the wait list til summer.

My son is going to be crushed. He's been saving up for a long time. He's done research. He's been praying for healthy litters. It's all he talks about.

Seriously, I don't know how to tell him.

household tip of the day...

I'm not sure what happens, but in every load of laundry, I have lonely socks. No partners, in need of match.com.

What I used to do is just throw them in the appropriate dresser. But that's like throwing them into a black hole. Doomed. To never be worn again.

So, I now keep a missing sock drawer. Every time I do laundry and find a lonely sock, I can either find it's partner in the drawer or I put it there, to wait.

you know you're a mom when THIS makes you feel like a complete genius. :)

AND...

I just read this amazing line fromMaile's Blog...and though it might be a little Tony Robbins, it made me think. :)
"what would your world look like if you just decided that you weren't missing anything?"
love this! (but I still need to get my son a hedgehog...help!)

hedgehog help

The BIG gift for our son at Christmas this year was a hedgehog (which was #1 on his list). But we wanted our son to pick it out and you usually have to wait for a new litter to be born. We have contacted 2 breaders in Colorado and they are not emailing or calling us back. Ugh. He has been waiting for SO long, saving up for all the stuff, studying all about the little hedgies, and walking around the house with a little piggy band with a sign taped to the front that says "hedgehog fund".

If anyone knows anyone who breeds hedgehogs, please post a comment or email me. :)

feeling very vintage

I am placing a huge picture order today and one of the pictures I'm going to add for myself is this picture of my grandma that I just scanned. It will be grainy and faded, and I could've fixed that quite a bit, but I like the texture, the age...it's more true. I'm pretty sure this picture was taken in the early 1940's. I just love it. Makes me want to take a pic of me infront of my hotdog-minivan. One day that will be vintage, as will Coldplay and bootcut jeans and Project Runway.

sneakity peekity...

Boy, I am just the bloggin queen lately! Here is another sneak peek from a session over the winter break.








My client from this shoot specifically asked for some vertical choices...and I just realized that the only ones I proofed for their sneak peek are horizontal. I promise I have some great vertical images! :)

I saw this car about 5 months ago and freaked out...I had an almost physical response to it. I felt like screaming at the owner that he was driving MY car! I am not even kidding when I half-way contemplated on following the car to wherever it was going, just so that I could stare at it a little longer.

Let me back up...I have NEVER been into cars. I want them to work, have A/C, and a big stack of magazines to read in the carpool line.

Until now. For some reason, I just can't stand driving my minivan. It's like driving a big hot dog. And I pray the whole time that I'm driving on snow and ice that I will not slide into anything that is living.

My husband hates this car. He says it's the color of baby poo. And he says that the only way I will ever get this car is if we win the lottery.
I am not discouraged. One day, I will be in baby poo 4x4 bliss. I know it. :)

Bacon is good.

Jim Gaffigan is one of the funniest guys (besides my husband of course!) that I have ever heard. Here he is.
EDIT: Before you turn it on, pause my blog music...it's on the side of the blog, scroll down and click the double lines (the universal pause symbol I'm guessing) twice. This will pause it so that you can enjoy Jim without background music. :)

Saw this on dooce's blog and laughed for the full 3 something minutes.

Finally, a long awaited sneak peek!

With Project Runway in the background as creative fuel, I am finally opening some files from over the Christmas break. It feels good to get back into my photoshop world. My little dog is sleeping behind me, the ground is covered with snow outside, I've just downed my 2nd cup of coffee...life is just how it should be.
Enjoy your sneak peek!

16 years

anniversaries are good. We are not celebrating a day, or that we got through it, or that we made it so far...we are celebrating every day ahead of us, knowing that we will be right next to each other through it all. Love is important, as is passion and commitment. But for everyone out there, seriously, our marriage would not exist without it being based on the firm foundation of something greater than ourselves. God has been that Rock...the One that doesn't change...the One that brings truth into the confusion of arguments...the One that loves unconditionally. Feelings are fragile. God is not. :)

We are going out to eat (if my stomach will settle down...still fighting a bit of the ick) and then to a movie. We don't do presents, since it's right after Christmas and we are gifted-out. Most of the time we do cards, but this year my dear hubby came to me with sorry eyes and said he didn't get me a card, but he did blog for me. Cool. Nice. That's great.

Until I read it. Seriously, I have the best husband. Ever. Read it
here. He is my dreamboat. My constant admirer. Someone who makes me laugh daily. Someone who makes me smile when he's not around. His arms are the safe place I long to be. Thank you Sweetie.

This word now adorns the back wall in my office. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. And I love it that it's the first image of 2008.

I have just finished uploading about 2000 pictures onto my hard drive...and I can't wait to get my gritty little photoshop hands on them. Sneak peeks coming soon. I'm also placing orders, doing laundry, and putting together a new "Good Stuff" scrapbook/journal.

Okay, back to work. Happy Thursday!

My vacation is almost over...

I feel like it's been FOREVER!!!! since I last blogged. It's amazing what happens when you take a step back, look at your life and BREATHE. It's good. It's important. And there were quite a few days that I think it kept me from getting sick. Was on the verge. But didn't tip the boat to "sick town"...amazing...getting through the holidays without sickness. Unprecedented. And much appreciated. I had a few naps with our dog. Laughed with the kids. Made cookies. Good stuff. In fact, my next mini album will be called "Good Stuff" and I am going to fill it with everything good in my life. My camera is going to go everywhere with me. I am excited and ready to notice everything. See how peppy I am?! A vacation was just what I needed.

But now it's almost over. I am back to work/posting/proofing/concentrating-more-than-15-minutes-at-a-time in 2 days. I'm ready for it. That feels nice. :)

I am going to Limited Too with my family tomorrow to go shopping with our daughter...who has a gift card and is just feeling the power of buying any clothes she wants. But then when Jan 3rd hits, I have so many pictures to show, I just don't even know where to start. Get ready. :)

For tonight, check thisout. It is the yearly list of all words banned at Lake Superior State University. It is hysterical and current and cultural and wonderful. I will continue to use the statement "it is what it is" because I love it, but I love this list. It's going in the scrapbook for sure.

Happy new year everyone. 2008. Wow. I really feel old, cuz time seems to be whizzing by. I'm holding on tight for the ride of my life. With eyes wide open.