Journey Road Thursday

Destination:

So the New Year is just around the corner, and now is a great time to reflect on 2011. Was there any event in your life, or just in general that inspired you last year? How did it change you or did it encourage you to do something?

2011 was a year of change for my family and me. Early in the year my husband was released from a job he had had for 11 years. While it was difficult, it was a much needed end. Since then he started a business, which before the end of the year became profitable. It has been inspiring watching him create a business from an idea that was birthed from a passion in his heart.

I began running seriouly this year, and completed 2 half marathons. Honestly I  started running because a friend of mine did. She may not always see herself as one, but she is an inspiration to those who know her. She is a survivor, a pillar of friendship, a woman of courage, and a treasure trove of knowledge.

I'm not sure what the future holds, but I know where I've been. This year is going to be inspiring, beacuse it is filled with opportunity.

Where to?
What does it mean to be inspired? Describe how do you know some one or something has inspired you?

Beautiful Favorites...websites

I was invited to join the most fun website....

There are so many great ideas our there for DIY projects, home decor, fashion, food, party decorations, etc, that my favorites folders are becoming just a little confusing with folders within folders that I can't believe I lived without pinterest.

How it works. First you have to be invited or ask for an inviation. Then you add a little button to your favorites bar and begin pinning.

Think of it like a giant cork board where you can take a picture of anything, and organize it into neat little categories. But the other wonderful part is your ability to see all your friends cork boards with their ideas and how they organize their favorites. It like having your own research team. HA! Okay explaining it is a little harder than acctually doing it.

I have been using it to identify some ideas for a princess tea party theme birthday party for My Girl.  Here are a few images I grab for my princess party board:

Happy Pinning!

Journey Road Thursdays

So often we create a New Year's resolution, stick to it for a couple of months (if you're really good) and then just forget about it. The most common reason for failure is accountability. Having someone or someones to share your Journey with is important and essential for suceeding. 

I am creating Journey Road Thursdays to be a place where I can talk about my New Year's  resloution's progress. How it works: each week I will post a goal, a question, or an activity (titled: Where to?). In the same post I will talk about how the previous weeks' goal/question/activity went (titled: Destination).

My journey this year is INSPIRATION. I want to explore what/who inspires me, and how to inspire others. Inspiration is something that provokes you in thought or into action. It affects you to an end, and it is that end that I want to discover in myself.

I would love for you to join me on this Journey Road.

Where to?
So the New Year is just around the corner, and now is a great time to reflect on 2011. Was there any event in your life, or just in general that inspired you last year? How did it change you or did it encourage you to do something?

A Family Christmas Project

Wow. I don't know how all the mommy bloggers do it, but writing a post during the Christmas season has been next to impossible. Hubby took the girls for a walk because I was lamenting about not having time to write. Thank you Lord for an amazingly supportive husband.

I have been trying to write this post since Thanksgiving, but time has eluded me. Chistmas is my most favorite time of the year. I love all the beautiful decorations and twinkling lights. Every where I go I am reminded of the beauty that entered the world, Jesus Christ. I wanted this year to really be about him, so I started searching for ideas. I saw some amazing ideas this year for keeping Christ in Christmas. My favorite series was CHRISTmas at I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar and DIY Advent Calendars at  I Heart {Nap} Time. All of the pieces inspired me to create a project for my family to do together and bring the focus back to Jesus.

I designed an 18ft nativity garland for our tree. Since My Girl is only 3 and Lil Bell is 18months, I realized the project couldn't be too dificult. Here is a picture of the designs I drew:

I used felt, craft glue, glitter sticks, pipe cleaners, gems,  xsmall and small white poms, foam and 18ft ribbon. The foam was cut into the same basic shapes as the felt character to give each one more weight and stability.

After I cut all the pieces from the felt, every one help glue and decorate. My Girl had a great time gluing the pieces together and even more fun using the glitter sticks. We used the poms for the hands and to make the sheep look puffy.

We all seemed to have a great time, and our tree looks Beautiful. Our Nativity tree is decorated with our garland and every angel ornament we own. Even the tree skirt is a Nativity. 

Have a Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks

After a day of cooking, eating with and loving on my family and friends, I couldn't help but think about how beautiful life is.

I know if I let it, everyday could swollow me whole, but I have my hope keeing me afloat.

I recently realized thankfulness is the key, that a greatful heart builds hope. It reminds me of what I've been through, and helps me to put things into perspective, seeing all the things I do have and not what I don't. Sometimes it feels silly, but giving thanks for even the littlest things helps (the shoes on my feet, or milk in the fridge). The more thankful I am, the easier it is to work through hard circumstances.

I want to encourage you, as Thanksgiving passes us by and Christmas comes all too quickly to take time to give thanks for something or to someone.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The Beauty of Parenthood

I was watching Parenthood the other night. One of the characters was dealing with her post baby body self-esteem issues, and I was totally feeling her.

I remember looking at myself in the mirror wondering, will I ever feel beautiful again? After having a baby let alone two or more, it seems like your body just doesn't want to cooperate and quite frankly having breast bursting with milk is just uncomfortable. I know eventually, I got used to my new body, but that hasn't stopped me from trying to get the old one back at least a little. 

I suppose this had to happen to the poor girl, in the middle of a really nice party her milk lets down and she leaks all over her dress. If you have never had this happen, lucky you. It can be very embarrassing. Along comes Her husband to comfort her (good man). He is telling her that she is beautiful and that he wants her, but she shrugs it off.  Instantly, some thing began to bother me about this scene. I wasn't sure at first what it was but then it hit me. It was her reaction to her husband. There she is dealing with her insecurities, when the man she loves comes in to rescue her from her pity party. What she do? Blow him off.

It got me thinking about how often we, women, want to be pursued, wooed, and told we are beautiful, but when the men we love do we roll our eyes. We say "whatever" or you have to say that you're married to me. I realized that our own insecurities prevent us from enjoying the thing our heart wants most, to be treasured.

Beauty begins with knowing that you are valuable, worthy of another's devotion. Beauty does lie in the eye of the beholder, but the only eye that matters is yours. I have had help in recognizing my own beauty. My husband taught me to just agree with him whenever he tells me I'm beautiful. It has taken years, too many shrugs and eyes rolls for me to count, before I actually began to believe him. I know I am beautiful, because I believe it.

Falling for Fall

I love Fall.

Growing up in California, I never really got to experience a real Fall. Califonia Fall is always cool crisp mornings, followed by warm sunny afternoons with occasional showers. Being surrounded by a multitude of evergreen trees, the changing colors never dominated the scene. I didn't truly fall for Fall untill I spent my college years in the quaint little town of Fulton, Missouri. The rolling hills of the country side being blanketed by greens, browns, and oranges were a midwest comfort that this coastal girl embraced.




Last year I found this multicolored yarn which I had a major failure with. I tried to make a beanie that looked more like a really sad nome hat. So I hid the yarn and completely forgot I had it. Determined to try again to make something darling for My Girl, I pulled it from the bottom of the pile of yarn, along with a gorgeous forrest green. I tried my hardest to write the pattern out, but I kept having to start over to get the sizing right.

Oh Fall, if only you could blaze across the Nor Cal scenery, but alas I will be will just have to settle for my ever green scenery.