Monday, December 13, 2010

Happy Birthday Kaye and ME!!!

It's my birthday today!  It is also my puppy's birthday today!  We are hanging out at home right now while the man is at work.  So far I have gotten a few crafty things done though!  We have plans tonight for dinner and a trip to Petco with puppy.  This whole week I have been getting little surprises in the mail.  The newest surprise came today....a "new" old camera.  He is an 8MM movie camera that still works.  Any ideas of where I can find some film for him?  He sure is handsome!  I'll leave you with a couple pictures:

My handsome new baby, Kodak Brownie 8MM movie camera!

My sweet little baby, Kayerayna Amor!
 Doesn't she look so happy on her birthday?!
 Ha - she doesn't like hats as much as I do.
So, I hope you all have a happy Monday!  Loves

Monday, December 06, 2010

Starting the Christmas Season and a little bit of birthday too!

I just love Christmas time.  Seeing all of the holiday lights makes me smile so much.  The way they twinkle brightens my days.  Last weekend, I had Mr. Fantastic drag out the decorations and we spent the evening putting up the tree.  It always feels so magical to me.  I love it when the house lights are off but the tree is lit up.  Such a pretty lighting!  This weekend, I got Mr. F up onn the rooftop to put up the outside lights.  I've always been a huge fan of white lights, but he really loves the colorful ones.  Since he also likes the icicle lights and I don't, we made a compromise - colorful one strand lights.  I actually kind of like it!  We have such a cute and cozy little place.  We are however, the only house on the street with lights up.  I feel as if we are in our own little world sometimes.  It feels so happy though!  I adore my man so much and love the life that we have.
In other news, my birthday is a week from today!  Yikes!  So, I'm not sure yet how I feel about it.  When I turned 24, I thought I was supposed to have it all figured out.  I didn't.  Then 25 came around and I felt like maybe it was okay that I had nothing figured out.  Yet another year has passed now, and life keeps passing by....somedays way too fast.  After next week, I'll be on the downward slope of my twenties.  Oh, my gosh, time is going entirely too quickly now. Anyhow, I got my first birthday presents in the mail today.  I called Grams as soon as I found the package that the man hid from me.  I opened it with her on the phone and was so overcome with joy and excitement, that I had tears and could hardly make sentences.  Inside of the box was an angel pin for my winter coat, a gorgeous vintage flower brooch that belonged to my great-grandmother, a beautiful necklace, and a new (old) camera!!  So, here are Christmas pictures, and some beginning birthday pictures:

Putting the tree together

Dakota trying to figure out why the bottom lights wouldn't work


Adding the pretties

Happy by the tree

The whole scene



Puppy is so confused!
Checking the lights before putting them up


The man on the roof - I would fall off!


I did help though!  I wrapped the poles


Outside all lit up!

The Christmas wreath I made as part of the Mix and Match Craft Challenge
My gaurdian Angel!

Great-grandma's Brooch

My necklace
The newest camera for my collection!

Alright, I have to go now.  I am sick with Bronchittus pretty bad.  I still went to work today (miserable), and we have a visiter tonight - Mike is in town! Plus, Our friend Eric is over - it's his birthday.  Lots going on.  I'll come back soon though.
Loves!

Friday, December 03, 2010

A Year of the new me!

I wrote this post in January.  Throughout this year, I keep checking back on it as a way to keep my head straight.  Now that the year is coming to an end, I am going over it again to see where I succeeded this year and what I can work on next year.  I will be posting up a little something real soon to let you know just how I did this year with my goals and to let you know what I'm looking foreward to in the new year. 

Back in December, I had an overwhelmingly positive outlook for Twenty Ten. I couldn’t place my finger on what exactly caused this new positive attitude though. There were a couple things that might have been part of it….I had finished my application for The Art Institute, Dakota was on his way out of the Army, and I had plans to move away from my depressing job in my depressing little town that I live in. I just knew everything was going to be wonderful. I think I had the expectation that the ball in New York would drop and all of a sudden everything would be perfect in my little world. I must admit, it sounds completely ridiculous and irresponsible to believe in miracles like that.


So what exactly does make for a good start to a brand new year full of possibilities? I hate to admit it, but certainly sitting back and expecting something to just happen is probably not the way to start off. With that said, I need to give myself a swift kick in the butt! That is exactly what I have done with my first two weeks of this new month, this new year, this new decade. Ok, so maybe not exactly….

I have done a couple things that give me a few tally points of goodness. I have considered the "One Little Word” idea, I have considered who and what I want to be, I have taken pictures every single day, and I have ordered a book from amazon.com. So all this thought is somewhat getting me somewhere, but it is only at the thought stage; not the action stage, and it is two weeks into the year already. Two weeks, in the grand scheme of things, is not a very long time, however, if you consider that my thoughts revolve around action and just getting up, going out, and doing….two weeks is a long time to do nothing!

I started out with a list of about 22 words. I slowly began to cross words off the list as I thought more and more about them. I don’t want a word that has any negative possibilities. I don’t want a word that describes new in a way of new life, or starting from scratch. I am a girl in this little world, and at one time I always smiled. At one time I was energetic and positive and nothing could get me down. I miss that girl. Slowly I lost her in the darkness. I need to find her again. I need to find that passion for life again. Four words remain on the list: Alive, Awaken, Emerge, and Open. So….who says I have to narrow it down to ONE LITTE WORD? Who says that I have to follow that current trend and conform to what everyone else is up to? Why can’t I have four words that inspire me to find that girl again?

In a previous post, I mentioned my new favorite color. I love turquoise. I really have no idea how it is possible that I never knew turquoise before in this life. Perhaps it is possible that I knew turquoise in a past life? Maybe in a past life I was a rabbit that looked up into the sky everyday because it was beautiful color, and I knew that someday I would be something bigger and better. Whoa!!! Where did that come from? Ignore that last bit! However though, I even thought about choosing a color instead of a word. What does turquoise mean to me? It means everything to me that those four words mean to me. It describes the sense of me that I aspire to find again. It stirs up inside me the ambition to awaken from my slumber, to emerge from my cocoon, to be open to new possibilities and to be alive!

This year is the one! It is the year I find myself again. I will be me, and not someone else. I will choose to do instead of just simply be. I will surround myself in turquoise. (You are probably imagining me painting my entire house turquoise right now!) I do mean figuratively….I do mean the mental state of turquoise! I will embark on new journeys of discovery….



Now that I have completely lost all of your attention, I have a few lists to share with you:





1. Color of my year

-Turquoise





2. Words for my Year

-Awaken

-Emerge

-Open

-Alive





3. Goals for my Year

-Simplify

-Begin (and stick with) school

-Keep a planner/calendar

-Paint a sunflower

-Buy and use to learn a sewing machine

-Take at least 1 picture per day and document them all in a cute little way

-Be much more romantic

-Get and ride a bicycle whenever logical

-Make a scarf I’ve had my eye on (which includes learning how to knit better)

-Finish my military scrapbook and continue with up to date important albums

-At least 4 mini-albums

-Grow my hair to the middle of my back

-blog more often

-Smile every single day

-Take time to breath





Okay, now I am accountable! I have it here in writing. I have it set in stone. These are my goals. Goals are attainable. Goals can be reached. Never give up on your goals! I just know that I will be so much happier now that I have them out in the open. I will see them and reach them. I will use these goals as the stepping stones to successfully live with my color and four words of my year. I will be a better person for achieving them!

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

What am I thankful for?

During Thanksgiving week, I came up with seven things that I was thankful for.  Here is my list:

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #1  I am thankful for an amazing family that is full of unconditional love, for my man that stands by my side through the sunshine and the storms, and for my energetic puppy who puts a smile on my face each day!

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #2 I am thankful for my unreplaceable friends. You know who you are! Without you, life wouldn't be nearly as exciting!

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #3 I am thankfull for the creativity, artistic talent, and my intellence that God has given to me. They are gifts that I love to use; they are part of every day for me....and it feels amazing to have them.

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #4 I am thankful for my life. The places that I have been and the things that I have done, have shaped me into the person that I am. I have had the amazing opportunitites in life that many people never will and those opportunities have molded me! No regrets!

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #5 I am thankful for our adorable home! It is more than I ever imagined it would be: so cute, so big, in a great area, and with pretty little historical details. Love!

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #6 I am thankful for an awesome job. I never know who or what I will see at work. It can be so entertaining. It's people watching with a paycheck!!

A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #7 I am thankful for the simple pleasures. Believing in love, believing in magic, wishing upon lucky stars, and everything happening for a reason makes me smile! The small things each day add up to a big picture of awesomeness!

and just because:
A Week of Thanksgiving: Day #8 I am thankful for technology. It sounds strange maybe, but there are so many things that I can do with it. I love that I can use the internet to keep in touch with family and long distance friends, I love that I have met so many people full of inspiration, I love that I can learn about ...anything with just a few mouse clicks, and I love that I can watch movies and tv for entertainment.