Friday, April 22, 2011

Romans 5:6-8



6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.


Good Friday 2011



Thursday, February 17, 2011

birds and butterflies

Today was cold here ... lots of wind and rain all day.  The little girls and I stayed inside and I decided to rebel against the weather by creating some spring goodness. 
Lots of birds and butterflies. 
My craft room re-organization is finally complete and it was nice to sit in there and create - and to be able to find things!!

{butterfly tags}





{journal #23}








Wednesday, February 9, 2011

a little before {and after}

does your paperwork
and mail take over your space?

one of my goals for 2011
is to have a
clean desk.

this is how it looked this morning...




and after some filing
and clean up
and general organization...




taa daa!!

now to keep it up...

my plan is to do a little cleaning up every night
and put my paperwork where it belongs.
since moving to the new house,
 i've put the computer desk
in the family room/t.v. room
so my honey and I can still be together
while i'm trying to get things done
in the evening.

next, the craft room
needs a complete
organizational re-do!!


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

basket love

i love baskets and i use them all over my house
for organizing things.

i've been looking for some really nice
LIDDED
baskets
and came upon these recently...




i love these because they have LIDS and will hold lots of things
in the bathroom, craftroom, office...
really anywhere you need a little
{stylish}
organizational help!


i ordered these from McMaster & Storm
{a petite department store}.
if you haven't been there yet,
do visit them online

or their etsy site


Some of my other favorite things
from their shop...







isn't it fun to discover
new places
for a little
retail therapy?!

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

the pretend boutique

i've been avoiding this post.
because it's a little embarrassing.

but then i decided
it has a good
moral to it.

so here goes.

a little while before Christmas,
a couple of my girlfriends and I were
having one of our "girl nights" and we
came up with the idea to have
a Christmas boutique.
robin is a super talented photographer, but
she is so humble and not sure about
marketing or selling her
framed photos.
{we're still trying to get her on etsy}.

christine is just the nicest
person you'd ever meet,
and, by her own admission,
not super "crafty",
but she's always up for a fun gathering.
and she is the most supportive friend.
she decided she would help us.
she'd be the official greeter and
server of apple cider to the
crowds of customers
flocking to
our
boutique.




robin's beautiful angel photos.



we didn't have much time to pull this off.
we decided to have it at my house
and robin and i both
worked frantically to get
our items made and ready for display
and sale.
{christine spent the whole week before
at a science camp in the rain with
5th graders. brave girl.}




and we were ready.
the displays looked great.
i had my calculator, notepad, and
little stamped brown bags ready.
robin was all set to
go with her inventory book near by.
she also brought her sister-in-law,
who came with really cute
"quiet books" that she
hand makes for little ones.



of course we had to have food
for us.
and drinks.
we had cheese and deli meats,
crackers, nuts,
fresh fruit,
yummy sweets,
tea, coffee, bubbly water.
wine.
baileys.
rum.

our advertising was comprised of
face book shout-outs,
word of mouth,
a nice sign at the top of my street,
and a craig's list ad.
oh, and a cute "boutique" banner strung
across the front porch.


so there we were,
all ready to go.
and no one showed up.
no. one.
i'm pretty sure no one
was even home in my neighborhood
that day.

we were all feeling pretty discouraged
at that point.
christine was drinking baileys with her coffee
and nursing a cold {remember the rainy science camp?}
robin and i decided to spike the apple cider
with the rum.
and soon we just started to laugh at ourselves.
not because of the liquor.
just because there we were with all of
our high hopes
and dreams of this super successful boutique.

at one point robin decided that
we needed more advertising out front.
so the four of us lugged this life size
carved santa from my front porch to the sidewalk
and propped another sign on him.
the whole thing just got us to laughing,
the kind of laughing where you feel
like you might pee your pants.
i commented that my neighbor
across the street
{mind you i've only lived here a couple months
and don't know anyone that well yet}
was probably watching us from her
upstairs window,
making comments like,
"look at those silly girls, they
are pretending to have a store today..."
that just made us all laugh even more.


later on, inside, we had a little meeting
about what had gone wrong.
and robin took notes.
we decided that our wares are
fabulous,
we just lacked customers.
which is kind of important when you're having a boutique.

not to be discouraged,
we decided that we will not give up.
next time we just need to start a little
earlier on the advertising.
and robin suggested we do it at her
house because she lives in a busier neighborhood.
the idea that we came up with is to
do a spring or summer boutique
and try to invite more local
vendors.
and really advertise better.

i suggested that we needed a name for our event.
robin's sister-in-law said,
"well, why don't you just call it the
pretend boutique?"
which made us all laugh again.
but we decided that we really do
like that name.

the point is that
it all worked out
because we ended up having such
a good time together
visiting and laughing and just
being silly girls.
and we encouraged each other.
which is what friendship is really all about.

sometime
this summer or spring,
we will be having
the pretend boutique
in robin's backyard.




the first of many, i hope.

p.s. you're invited; please come!


p.p.s. robin's site isn't up yet,
but you can email her at

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

little dog girls

Meet the little girls who keep me company every day and bring so much joy to my life.


shelby

Such a sweet, loving, loyal, sensitive doggie girl. Her ears never came up like a typical chihuahua, except for a 12 hour period after she got into some hot tamale candy once.

Sweet things to know about her:
1. She gives hugs.
2. She once fell asleep in a shoebox.
3. She runs as fast as the wind.
4. Nickname: baby girl


tiffany
Such a mama's girl and a funny, nervous little dog. She has a small circle of trust and really would prefer that no one ever came to visit. She loves to play and gets into mischief on a regular basis.

Sweet things to know about her:
1. She loves to help with the laundry.
2. She wears a lovely pair of white gloves on her front paws.
3. She snores.
4. She loves baths.



sugar
{pictured here with her cousin, sierra}
Just the cutest little dog ever. We rescued her from a shelter after someone found her wandering...just a little hobo dog. She weighed only two pounds and had dirty fur and nails, which is quite embarrassing to her now. We don't know much about her past because she won't talk about it, so we just focus on giving her all she needs now. Recently I've had to take away her toys because she is partial to eating their ears and toes.

Sweet things to know about her:
1. She loves corn tortillas and really anything sweet.
2. She never eats before noon.
3. She takes a long nap every morning after she gets up.
4. She sneaks up and gives really quick kisses.
5. Current weight: 4 pounds.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

ooo, la, la


now, doesn't this just look like the cutest little shop?
a friend of a friend posted this photo on facebook
and it caught my eye.
it is somewhere in franklin, tennesee

and

i

would

just

l - o - v - e

to visit there!!

Monday, January 24, 2011

love {is in the air}

 love
kindness
 friendship
  loyalty
 sweetness
dreams
heartfelt wishes

all of this valentine goodness
is available
at

xo

spoiled & loved

Every night I light a candle in our bedroom to serve as a "night light". I love to wake up in the night and see light flickering around the room.  This morning I was up early to start on some chores and I forgot to blow out the candle when I got up.  A little bit later I went back into my room to get dressed for the day and my "original" dog {I call her that because she was the first}, shelby, had climbed back into bed after a quick trip outside. There she was, relaxing in my spot, next to the candle...just cooling out, enjoying the aromatherapy, and cleaning her little paws
{which,by the way, weren't any too dirty as
I had just given her a sudsy bath
yesterday}.



Little miss tiffany was in there too.      


   She spent some time sunbathing this afternoon.

So cute. And spoiled and loved. Just the way it should be!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

circle of friends

One of the lessons of life for me is the importance, the necessity really, of friendship in my own little world. Life and work and expectations can beat you up; it is so comforting to find myself in the familiar rhythm of conversation and fellowship with those who know me well, with those who love me just as I am. When I get caught up in day to day living and breathing {and sometimes holding my breath}, I have a tendency to pull away and isolate. That seams to be my survival mode, I don't know why. And just then I am blessed when the lesson of friendship comes around again, reminding me to breath in & out and take in the beautiful fragrance of true friendship.


sharon, christine, mary, me, heidi

Just the other day I met four friends for lunch. We all know each other from our teaching careers; at one time we all taught at the same school. Through the years we have been there for each other through career changes, lay-offs, financial troubles, divorces, re-marriage, moves, our kids' adventures {such as getting married and starting or finishing college, or just growing up in general}, and changes good and bad, planned or unexpected.

And as we sat there enjoying fabulous food, laughter, memories, and wonderful conversation, I was reminded once again of the amazing bond we share.
Friendship comes around again.
Such fun.
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