Weekend in pictures!!! (lots of pictures)

So the weekend of pictures every hour on the hour, did not happen perfectly.  I couldnt find my watch with the beeper!  But...I did the best that I could.  I forgot some pictures and was a little late on others.  However, we had a super fun weekend.  In consisted of two days of yard-saling, class on saturday, time with the pug, watching starwars, eating yummy food, grocery shopping, working out, and a few other things!  As I was going through the pictures to save and post them, I realized that many of them were similar and some were even boring.  I decided that instead of showing one for each hour, I would only show off the fun ones!  Here is the weekend in pictures!

Really cute yard-sale

Fire Hydrant

Getting home

Working out

Yummy chicken Dinner (we had it over rice)

We have a projection clock getting ready for bed and playing a brain game on my phone to wind down

Leaving for school

Looking for more yard-sales

Out yard-sale-ing (I was stopped)

Stopping at the goodwill

Leaving for the gym

Homework for Interior Design class

Cute puppy

Printing Sunday coupons

Watching starWars

Bringing as many grocery bags up the stairs in one trip as possible!

Looking at my yard-sale pretties!

Dakota made an easy dinner. I coached him through it!

Pretty finger nails step one.  I later polka-dotted them

Puppy yawns

Laying out our new rug!  Isn't it pretty?

Hanging up laundry in the closet

I had to repair this.  The light bulb had been broken off during the move.

Math homework is so much fun when you go to an art school!

Dakota was painting my other hand for me!  Sweet of him!!

Okay, that was our Memorial Day Weekend! 

I just want to say thank you to those who have served, are serving, or will serve, and thank you to the people that support us through your love and strength!!

Pretty Cute and Inspiring new site!!!!!

Oh my goodness!  this is sooooo exciting!  Cheryl Ametewee and Cindy Liebel are the co-owners of this new web-based art magazine. You really have to check out their site that just went live!  It's pretty awesome and I can only imagine what pretty things are to come!  Right now they have a giveaway, and they will be having more soon to celebrate this pretty little site coming about.  They worked so hard, so go check it out!

Get-to-know-Me!

I'll be back tomorrow with a post, but here is a quick little get-to-know-me thing to tide you over until then! 

A- My AIR CONDITIONER is set on: 73

B- My BEDROOM theme is: light blue and brown but we really want to re-new it soon (maybe after we get a bigger bed!

C- The CAR in the driveway is: disaster!  It's a Hyundai Elantra and has a big dent in it's rear-end!  Get's me from one place to the other though
D- My DESK looks: remarkably like our coffee table right now....heehee!  oh, it is the coffee table right now!

E- The EXACT time I wake up daily is: different every day...depends on what time I have to be at school
F- The FIRST thing I wash in the shower is: my hair

G- My GARAGE is filled with: non-existant (joys of apartment living)

H- My HOME is: a cute little apartment
I- If you peeked INSIDE my bathroom you'd see: my makeup bag dumped out on the vanity, and probably some object sitting actually IN the sink
J- My favorite JUICE is: cranberry-raspberry

K- The best part of my KITCHEN is: the huge pantry

L- The LAST person who visited my home was: Daniella, Adam, and Kevin came by last month

M- The last piece of MAIL for me was: Prescriptions

N- My NEIGHBORS think I'm: quite young? 
O- If you OPENED my fridge you'd see: it is stocked mostly with juice and soda

P- My last house PARTY was: 2 years ago (sadface)
Q- A QUICK meal I like to fix is: Viola meals or white rice with permiasion
R- My favorite ROOM of the house is: the bedroom but once my studio room is done....
S- The SHAMPOO brand I use is: pantene prov, dove, and john freida

T- My largest TELEVISION is: the living room one.  It comes with the apartment and is huge - 42 inches!
U- UNDER my bed you will find: dust bunnies!
V- The last time I VACUUMED was: Monday when we put down our new rug
W- Looking out my WINDOW I see: our deck, the pretty pond and fountain, and a couple houses in the distance
X- I wish I had X-TRA: space!  I feel like our place is so small

Y- My YARD is: shared with all my neighbors.  It's huge and gorgeous!  There are 2 enormous ponds with fountains, and tons of pretty grass for the puppies. 

Z- ZZZZZZZ My bedtime is: between 10 and 11

Have sweet Dreams!

Just a quick blurb of a smile!

A lovely lady was feeling a bit blue today.  I offered her some encouragement.  Then I realized that maybe all of us could hear this!  I hope that this little blurb is the smile of encouragement that you might have needed today! 

Life is never truely organized. Life never falls into the mold that we expect it to. People can be mean. People can be amazing! Life can be cluttered, chaotic, disheartening, and usually exactly what we never planned for. That's okay! I promise!


Cry when you need to cry, but remember that smiling feels so much better. Just keep pushing on and you will find that life gets so much better, even when it seems as though it won't. Be brave. Be sincere. Be humble. Love yourself!
Sweet Dreams!

Photo Project Idea

Oops!  I got so tired that I forgot to come back later to tell you about my photo project idea.  I'm sure many of you are aware of the 365 day photo projects where someone takes one picture a day.  Recently in one of my design classes, we looked at some photo pieces that were similar but the pictures were of specific things such as the sky.  So these ideas and a class discussion lead to my project idea! This weekend is a three day weekend and we are going to try to do a few fun things, so that makes this weekend a great time to try this out.  The idea: take a picture every hour on the hour.  Okay, so that sounds pretty easy, but there's more!  Let me lay out the "rules" I've made for myself....

Each hour my little alarm will beep to remind me to take a picture.  No matter what I am looking at or doing right then, I will take a picture directly in front of me.  If I am on the computer, I'll take a picture of it for example.  If I'm giving the puppy a bath, then I'll take a picture of her.  If I am sleeping, I get to take a break, and I won't take a picture.  The whole idea of this project is to have a fun visual project to show all of the activities that I am doing, which ones I do most often, and when I am doing them.  I'll post the pictures for you to see if you are interested in looking!  I'll start tomorrow morning when I wake up and go through the holiday weekend!  It should be pretty fun to see what I actually do with my time!

Here are some of the activities that are on our to do list:

-drop something off downtown at my doctor's office

-yard-sale-ing!

-trip to a video game place

-picnic

-school on Saturday morning

-grilling out

-working on the craft room

and lots of other exciting things....

Hey, here are some pretties for you to look at in the meantime!

Pug Kisses!

Giant Prairie Dog

Learning to knit!

all photos by me.  Have a peaceful evening!

What a beautiful day and a beautiful lady!

Just a short post for now, but I wanted to show you some pretties that Eleise is sending me.  She just recently hit 150 followers.  Head over to her blog and you'll see exactly why....it's adorable!  She has a lot going on over there.  Please check her out.  Here's a picture....

Isn't this such a pretty little gift set?  I'm quite giddy about receiving it.  I am very excited to play with those pretty beads and paper dolls.  The necklace and the bow....oh, goodness!  Do you see what looks a bit like a crossword puzzle there?  That "d" is one piece of the dream banner I am going to hang in my new craft room! 

I will very much try to come back around later tonight.  We are about to leave the house right now to go to dinner with a few friends.  I have a really fun photo project I'm about to start and would like to tell you all about it!  Be looking!  Have a pleasant evening!

My craftiness!!

A little earlier this evening I received an email from this pretty lady in response to a comment I left on her blog.  It put a big smile on my face and made me feel so special.  The email also made me realize that I have got to post some craftiness pictures!  Please be understanding that these pictures are phone uploads.  My computer did die recently and I don't have any pictures saved to the computer I am borrowing until my new one gets here. 

Going to an art college is amazing!  My math class even deals with art!  The first two pictures are a project I did for math.  It's a dinosaur tessellation! 

Closeup:

Do you like the cute eyes and teeth and bows on the pink girl dino's?  I sure do wish the professor would give it back already so I can frame it for my craft room!  After I made my project, I realized that a matching hair-pin was a necessity!  I made one out of felt!  His speech bubble says, "RAWR!"

Next you get to see my pretty button lamp.  I have had this lamp for about 3 years.  One night I looked at it, and I went running to my stash room to locate a bucket of buttons.  It just hit me that buttons were needed right then to make it cute. 

Lastly, there is a picture of an experimental hair clip.  I've seen these made all over lately and wanted to try my hand at one. 

Each flower is made of something different.  Kind of fun!

So, I I hope you enjoyed the fun crafty stuff.  I promise I will post more as time goes on.  I will be especially sure to post lots of things once I get into my old broken computer and get all of my saved files from it.  Have a restful nigh, and Sweet Dreams!

Eye Candy!

Just stopping in real quick to share some pictures from Urban Outfitters. I love looking through their apartment stuff sometimes and seeing the pretty things!

Pretty Banner Bed with shams

Pretty Banners on a pillow

Cute Cupcake luggage tag

Musical Drumstick mixing spoons

Gorgeous Flowered Flower Vase

Bright and Cheery Strawberry Colander!

Have a delightful afternoon!

My computer died!

It's been about a week since my computer died.  I tripped over the cord and bent the jack.  I've been thinking about getting a new computer anyways, so I started thinking about it even more....
After trying Dell and finding out that they have the worst customer service (and apparently don't know how to speak english) I ended up in tears!  When you are an unemployed student nobody wants to finance you no matter how much income you still have each month. 
*Sidenote:  I receive a monthly income for living expenses and my tuition as part of an education benifit I earned by being in the military.  I also get a partial disability, but more on some of that later...maybe.
Lots of tears later and a super amazing boyfriend, and I ended up getting a new computer through Sony today!!!!  I decided that after horrible service Dell has - about 10 different people kept passing me around the automated system for a half hour - I decided that they do not deserve my business.  Besides, I have plenty of Sony products that I love!!!  So here she is; my beautiful new brain!

and yes!  she is pink!!!!  Now I cannot wait to get her in the mail!  Mr. Fantastic truely spoiled me on this one! -Don't worry, he is being paid back very soon.  I love him so much!

Well, I hope that if you are reading this, it is very late at night and you should have sweet dreams, or it is maybe sunday sometime and in that case, I hope you have a beautiful day!

New Craft Room!!!

Since moving into our new home at the beginning of last month, I have been doing everything on the coffee table in our small living area.  I really don't enjoy it at all.  The sofa is low to the ground and really "sinky" and the coffee table is too high.  I feel quite akward sitting below the table and trying to do crafty things and homework.  I haven't even been able to unpack any scrap stuff because the room is way too full of stuff.  I guess that's what you get when two houses combine into one little apartment!  As you can guess, I am going crazy!!!!  I hardly ever craft and I really need to.  I decided that I absolutely MUST put an end to the crafting out of boxes.  It's time!

I did a lot of searching on the internet today and found some afordable bookshelves.  I think they are a good place to start.  The way I see it is that if I can get them in there, I will have space enough to at least start unpacking some of the boxes and getting them out of the way.  That should free up some more space and then I can start looking around at yard sales for a cute crafty desk.  Slowly I will get there.  So, I wanted to share with you a picture of my cute and cheerful bookshelves that will be arriving in about a week and a half!

I found it here!

Friday

Good Morning Lovelies!
It's a beautiful morning here outside my window. Ok, so there are some clouds in the sky, but the birds are out chirping and the grass is being cut so it smells wonderfully of spring -time!  Today is going to be a busy day...
-Clean the house
-Call auto insurance and find out why the adjuster has not been here yet and it's been two weeks since my car started growing mold after it was flooded
-Begin designing my new craft room - I'm so tired of crafting on the coffee table since we moved in last month
-Work on my Color Scheme project for my Interior Design class
-Take the puppy for a walk (I know she is 1 1/2, but she is still my puppy)
-give Mr. Fantastic a few kisses
What are you doing today?  Anything super fun or inspiring?  I'd love to hear from you!

Cute things I've been Looking At

Hey there!  I follow a lot of blogs and I am always finding adorable and inspiring things on them.  Take a look at all thewse pretties!

Spotted on Color Me Katie

Spotted on B's Wig Shoppe

Spotted on Maybe Someday

Have a restful night pretty ladies!

Summer Classes already

In my opinion, education is one of the most valuable things that we can own.  Yes, own.  An education is one thing that nobody can ever take away from you. I've wanted to be an Interior Designer since I was in elementary school.  At the beginning of last month I started going to school in order to get the education I need to pursue this dream.  So far, I absolutely love it!!!
I can hardly believe that this quarter is almost over already.  This week I registered for summer classes...yes! already!!!  What's more exciting than that?  What's more exciting than that is the fact that one of the classes I just signed up for will teach me a few basics for a few computer programs that I cannot believe I don't know how to use yet.  This is big.....I get to learn about.....Photoshop!  Hooray!  I am beyond thrilled! 

Hello

Hello there!  So, here is the deal....I am not new to blogging, but I kind of am new to it at the same time.  I have (had) another blog that I updated here and there with randomness.  Then, I kind of stopped because life took over.  I quit my job, I went on a long vacation, I moved to a brand new huge city, I moved in with my Mr. Fantastic, I began going to college (again), AND THEN WE STARTED LIVING!!!!  I have decided to start blogging again.  I figure that now is the perfect time to start blogging again because after all, I did start living again.  I took my chance for happiness and started running with it! 
I will be blogging about all kinds of things.  I will be blogging about myself, my love, and my pug.  I will blog about crafty things I find amazing.  I will blog about scrapbooking and things like that.  I will try to post up cute pictures I take or that I find.  I will blog about other blogs....etc. etc. 
Here we go...............

TGIF with a Cherry on Top!

A look at a year: (my facebook status cloud!)

Wowza! It's been a while since I have updated. Oh boy, do I have much to share. Beware, this could get long!

Thank Goodness It's Friday! This is not any ordinary Friday though, this is the best Friday! Today was my last day of work at the company I work for! Whoa! I know, crazy huh? I have worked for this company for over a year. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy some of it, but I am so glad to be done! I worked my ass off so many days and really, I often questioned why. Was it really worth the stress? Probably not. So, today they gave me a little going away party. It was sweet. The funny thing is that they have never given one before because nobody has ever quit. Haha....not what you are thinking....everyone else (and there have been many) was fired and had to be escorted out of the gated and barb wired compound! I am the first to have made it to a going away party! I even got a plaque for my hard work and dedication! That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. With my arms full of stuff from my desk, I looked back into my office (my own personal office) and kind of wanted to cry. It was a bittersweet moment. I will miss a few of the people, but I certainly will not miss working there. Work was always a mixture of chaos and miscommunication. My supervisor of 7 months was worthless. I usually cleaned up behind the messes he made. I covered his butt. The last couple of weeks has been quite interesting as I discovered that he doesn't even know how to do the job that he has. Most of the things that I did were not even part of my job...but his, and I actually had to show him how to do his job! I had to show him (and argue with him about) how to do many a things! It was hilarious when I realized that without me, the ones above him might actually realize that he cant do anything in his job description. He was usually too busy taking two hour lunches and leaving early to go home and take care of his goats! I'm actually not joking about this either!

When I came to the company, everything was chaos. There was no standard within my department. I wrote the training manual and procedures for the department. Just recently he took all the credit for it. Now, as I leave it upsets me to know, that all of the blood, sweat, and tears, I put into my job, is going to go to waste. It's all going to go back to one huge mess. It's sad!

Okay, okay! Sorry to be such "Negative Nancy" (sorry all Nancy's) here....on to better things....

Valentine's weekend was amazing! I met Dakota at the half-way mark between here and there. We spent 3 1/2 days together in Texarkana, TX. We watched movies, ate out, and cuddled! On Valentine's Day, we went to a park to Rollerblade with the puppy. Well, my feet did not like the blades...so I ended up walking. It was pretty cute/fun/romantic walking through the park for a couple hours together. We had some really good conversation about where our life is about to lead. The future looks so bright. I love that man!

So, not only was today my last day at work, but it was also Dakota's last day in the Army! He signed out around 4pm today, and sent me a text, "Done!" How awesome. He has decided to stay a little while in Texas though. He has several friends that he has had and been stationed with for the past 8 years. They all got out today. So, Dakota is sticking around there to spend one last bit of time with them before they all part their separate ways into the real world. I honestly was upset to learn that he would not be coming here right away, but now that I think about it, I am OK. I was in that same unit and friends with the same people. They are all pretty awesome. They have been through so much together....3 deployments to Iraq included. I can't be upset that he wants one last bit of time with the guys. These are friendships that will last his lifetime even through the distance apart. He knew them before he knew me, and we have the rest of our lives together. I'm happy for him. I'm also sad for him. He has only cried 3 times that I know of, but he will probably cry when he says goodbye to them. They are brothers.

So this bright future ahead. What is that all about? Well, this coming week we are leaving for a little family visiting vacation. We will travel to Michigan, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. It will be a little over three weeks of family time, before we return back here to southern TN just in time to pack up my house and move out. We are getting a place in Nashville, TN and I will be attending school. I was accepted at The Art Institute in Nashville as a full-time student to study Interior Design! The best part about it is that my tuition is payed for from my time in the Army, and I get books and housing expenses paid on top of that! WooHoo! Can't wait! As for Dakota, he is really not sure what he want to do. All he has really known is the Army. He has the same option of going to school completely paid for, but he doesn't know if he is ready for that quite yet. He has 15 years to decide! He may just get a job for now. Either way, we will be together! That is the best part in all of it.

So, with all of that said, I hope to be a better blogger. I know that I won't have such a busy time. Sure, I'll be in school full time instead of at work, but hopefully I won't get as tired and stressed out by that. I hope that I will be a little more up to the idea of blogging after a day of school than I was after a day of work. I can only hope. Needless to say, living life is always more important than blogging about it, so we will see.

Are any of you from the Nashville area? Do you know some cool places to hang out? Are there certain thrift stores I must hit up? Tell me a little about the scene up there if you can. I love to hear about what I am getting us (Dakota and I) into!

violet Bella at Before The Baby Wakes

Violet Bella's creator is the talented Laura. Laura has been creating her whole life but just recently she has been able to turn her passion into something more full time.
If you head over to Before The Baby Wakes, you can see an awesome feature on her. You can also get your comments in for a chance to win a 5X5 of anyone of her beautiful photograph prints. Awesome!!!

The Dainty Squid's Beautiful blog

Head on over to The Dainty Squid to check out this lady's awesome blog. She is just amazingly talented. I just love it over there; so much inspiration! Oh, and she just so happens to be doing a giveaway right now as well. How adorable is this cute owl pouch. The giveaway has three pouches...the owls, one with squirrels and hedgehogs, and an adorable cupcake one. I am already thinking up the great things I could use them for! Go now!

Pretty pictures and a new week to open!

All the excitement has died down around here. Dkota left last Saturday to go back to Texas. 7 weeks, 6 days until he is home with me for good! I'm not excited or nothing!!! HAHA. We are planning to do the whole each drive half way thing for Valentine's Weekend. I can't wait. I always cry when we have to say goodbye. As you will see though, we had a lot of fun while he was here.
As for this week, you may have already read it, but I finally posted up my goals and whatnot for the year. I put in a few words for the year and an awesome color too! I think I should have a song. What do you think? I have everything else...I need a song for the year too! My books that I got are amazing. I am really liking them BOTH right now. The Happiness Project just took a minute to get into. I got a blank sketchbook to help me along. Yesterday I finally finished making the front oh, so pretty! I will post pictures.
Speaking of posting pictures, I am hating my cell phone right now. I got everything set up so that I could post from it, but now it doesn't work. So, the pictures I promised so long ago, may never actually make it to my blog. I'm sorry. Pleae orgive me!
This weekend, while I should have been doing other things, I crafted a bit. It's nearly 7 o'clock on Sunday night, and I have not yet finished organizing the craft room. My newest friend Daniella is coming down from Nashvill tomorrow to visit. I don't really know if she is going to go home. Kidding! Her main squeeze will be out of town for a few days so she is visiting me. We are going to have so much fun. She has never scrapbooked before but is really wanting to start. Fresh Meat! I can't wait to get her going with it. That is going to be awesome! Our plans for this week? Scrap crap Scrap!! Oh, and our puppies are in love! They will stay occupied while we are busy crafting!
So, I will leave you with some super un pictures. I was told about picnik.com through a blog and checked it out. I had entirely too much fun editing my pictures with it. Most of the ones below were editied using this site. I think you can probably tell which ones were not.
Leave me comments. I always love comments. I hope you beautiful ladies have an awesome week. Stay positive and stay full of energy. Have fun!

Dakota. Avitar. 3-D. IMAX. Amazing!
The newest edition to my ongoing camera collection. It used to be my grandfather's. He passed on shortly after I was born.

Puppy in a box. Puppy not pleased! I love my new cricut though!

The four of us went on a fancy date night!

I am only pretending to sleep. Kaye is yawning for real though!

Trolly in Memphis. Ye, they still have them there!

Pretty sunset.

I love love love hats!

A lady can never have too many bottles of perfume.

Loving this book so much!

Organizing my scraproom by using my cricut!

Oooops forgot the pictures!!

Here are the pictures of the things that make me happy today that I totally meant to put in the post below this one!

Life is a Verb and The Happiness Project

Last night I pulled under the carport and looked at my doorstep. There it was...my package I had been waiting for since Friday of last week. In bold letters, it said Amazon! I pulled the tape and peered inside. Books! I had been so anxious to get them. I pulled out the blue one... The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and dove into it's pages. I read. A bit dry to start off....hmmm....what about this other book? Life is a Verb by Patti Digh I began to read it. I am in love. Originally, I was most excited about the first book, but now I think I am more excited about the second book. It has pictures!!!!
I brought them to work today. I began reading "the verb book" and almost right away, it invited me to write in the margins. Why had I not thought of this before? As I continued to read, I wrote things down that came to mind.

Make Changes that you can keep
You are what you eat?
What does a butterfly symbolize?
Am I lost?
I don't want to forget Happiness only has meaning with contrasted with unhappiness
Quiddity - a beautiful word
When memories fade, are they still in our hearts so as to make us us?

I am finished with Chapter one now. (Please know that above are only some of the many notes I wrote. As you know, I am on a mission to make this year so great. I want to live intentionally, and I guess I need a little help to figure out how I can do that. I thought I would post up some pictures that make me happy today.....

Something that I would love to have

Nearly a year ago....what a pretty place


I could never have too many Cherry Blossoms in my life

How true is this?

And just because this is the cutest picture in the world to me today!

I appologize for having no idea where these images came from. I have them saved to my computer at work, without any labels to tell me. I don't take credit for any of them, but if you would like to take credit...please let me know, or please tell me if you know where they came from so I can give credit! Thanks!

Inspiring

I happened upon a little blog today that I am now quite fond of. The blog is Violet Bella. I was reading along and reading along, and then, BAM! I found something that she had found that really really spoke to me. Here it is:

Written by Melody Beattie

Remember to be Happy

Sometimes we get so bogged down in dealing with feelings, issues, problems -- the realities and details of our lives -- we forget to be happy. Often happiness can be ours if we just remember to be happy.

Joy is a choice -- a deliberate, concious choice. That choice is available to us each day. Our joy isn't controlled by others or by outward circumstances. Joy comes from a deeper place, a place of security within ourselves. It's an attitude, not a transitory emotion.

Remember to be kind. Remember to be loving. Remember to feel all of your feelings and to take care of yourself. But most of all, remember to be happy.

A New Me

I appologize if the following paragraphs make absolutely no sense, if the statements seems silly, or if you just don't get me....

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!

Scrapz N Stuff: Blog Candy!!!!

Scrapz N Stuff: Blog Candy!!!!: "So, here's what I want you to do..."

Blog Candy!

There is some yummy blog candy going out to one lucky follower of Scrapznstuff. Click on the link to go check out all the details of how to get in the drawing!!!

Exciting new things to come

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I know that I have been absent a lot lately. Hmmm....I kind of have an excuse? For Christmas, I traveled to Michigan and left my computer behind. Two days later, I picked Dakota up from the airport. I have really been enjoying his company. I admit that maybe I have a little time and could have at least said hello, but I have been a little lazy too! Last weekend we were in Nashville. We spent some time with his very good friend, Adam (he likes to go by Shane though) and his fiancee Daniella. She is going to become a very good friend of mine I have the feeling. So, I have been checking in with the blogs that I follow and I came across this cute little survey on Molly Lou Gifts. I thought it would be fun to post it on mine....I changed the end of each sentence to relate to me!

I’ve come to realize that my job. . . is not what I want forever.

I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving. . . I have tremendous amounts of road rage

I’ve come to realize that I need. . .to be positive.

I’ve come to realize that I have lost. . .my art

I’ve come to realize that I hate it when. . . things don't go my way.

I’ve come to realize that if I’m drunk. . . I am quite honest.

I’ve come to realize that money… is just paper but what you do with it, can be wonderful

I’ve come to realize that certain people. . . will only bring me down

I’ve come to realize that I’ll always. . . love chocolate

I’ve come to realize that my sibling(s). . . are all very different from eachother, but aremostly all great.

I’ve come to realize that my mom… is amazing and very funny.

I’ve come to realize that my cell phone. . . is something I cannot live without

I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning. . . I still hated mornings!.

I’ve come to realize that last night before I went to sleep. . . I forgot to kiss my puppy

I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking. . . I can make this year great.

I’ve come to realize that my dad. . . really should have made different choices.

I’ve come to realize that when I get on Facebook. . . I wish I had more messages

I’ve come to realize that today. . . is one day closer to a difference.

I’ve come to realize that tonight. . . will be nice to relax and rest so I can kick this cold in the butt before it turns me upside down

I’ve come to realize that tomorrow. . . will be very very very cold here.

I’ve come to realize that I really want to. . . appreciate the little details in life.

I’ve come to realize that the person mostly likely to repost this is. . . oh dear, I don't know.

I’ve come to realize that life. . . is way too short

.I’ve come to realize that this weekend. . . will be sad when Dakota leaves again
.
I’ve come to realize that my friends. . . Are awesome!

I’ve come to realize that this year. . . has amazing things in store for me.

I’ve come to realize that my man. . . loves me very much and wouldn't change me for the world

.I’ve come to realize that maybe I should. . . stop procrastinating and wake up to life.

I’ve come to realize that I love. . . scrapbooking!.

I’ve come to realize that I don’t understand. . . how some people can be born without common sense

.I’ve come to realize my past. . .is what has made me who I am

.I’ve come to realize that parties. . . can be fun but very stressful.

I’ve come to realize that I’m totally terrified. . . of failure.

I’ve come to realize that my life. . . is turning out well.

Please believe me that I do have a lto to share with you all very soon. Dakota will be saying goodbye again on Saturday. *tear* After he leaves, I have a scraproom to redo and organize. I have layouts after layouts to complete. I have my one little word for the year to post....or my 22 little words? I have goals to write down (makes me more accountable), and things to share about how wonderful this year is going to be. I will see you again really soon, friends!
Hugs!