Friday, March 13, 2009

Having Fun

I had a wonderful gift of time given to me the past few days. My mother in law took my littlest one for a few days of "special time with Grandma" so that meant I had some extra special time with my boy, and by myself. The boy and I went into the city, to the science center to be exact and had a total blast. He really is a fun little guy to hang out with!












OH, OH, and look what I made! I have to say that I feel a mix of pride that this my first foray into mixed media collage turned out pretty cool for a first timer, and also I feel a bit lame-o since its a total copy of Kelly's style, and I just followed her directions in her awesome book. I am really interested in pursuing this artistic medium, but I wonder how I will ever come up with my own style? I suppose I'll just keep trying, and see what happens! This collage is made up of bits and pieces of copied pages of my grandmother's journal. She wrote down little anecdotes of my first 5 years of my life. I've always cherished this, but I recently found entries that were particularly meaningful to the journey I currently find myself on, that is, becoming a writer, artist, and who knows what else. She actually saw little bits and pieces of this back then, and wrote about them, not knowing how important it would be to me now. Also, she was a frustrated artist and writer, and I want to honor her, as I move forward in my own vision for an artistic and literary life. Her words are there, cheering me on as I remember my "inner child" who thought she could do anything, and loved words as soon as she knew what they were, saw beauty everywhere, and thought birds were "magic in the sky". I'm going to put this up somewhere, to be my little muse whenever I need a bit of help. Oh, and the child's writing is mine. Its an actual post card I sent to my Grandma from Colorado where we were on vacation in 1976, so I was 4 years old. Its very likely the first letter I ever wrote. It says, "My bed is cozy, It is nice here." 'Nuff said, right? I like that its like a little message back to Grandma, telling her that all is well with me, 30 years since she passed on (30!, wow), and her words mean a lot to me. I remember now. Thanks, Grandma. Love you still.





Monday, March 9, 2009

Favorite Things, Part II

I love reading.  
I love books.  
I love learning new things.  
I love my husband.  
I love kid 1, kid 2, kid 3, and kid 4.  
I love staying up late. 
 I love sleeping in.  
I love time to myself.  
I love time alone with my husband. 
 I love time alone with each kid. 
 I love family outings.
I love massages. 
I love libraries. 
I love getting new books.  
I love getting packages in the mail.  
I love my computer. 
I love email. 
I love facebook. 
I love all my friends past and present, new and old. 
I love my first family.  
I love writing. 
I love my new camera.  
I love my new camera bag. 
I love my new notebook. 
I love ideas.  
I love feeling inspired.  
I love my memories.  
I love listening to just the right song at just the right moment.  
I love going somewhere I have never been.  
I love long hugs.  
I love long kisses. 
I love being surprised by the first scents of Spring. 
I love surprise snow storms.  
I love Kansas.  Lawrence, in particular.
I love traveling.
I love the colors pink and purple, all shades.
I love God.  (ok that should have come up sooner...just keeping it real, not editing that)
I love hot, summer nights.  (I miss Kansas for that one)
I love the smell of Fall.
I love fireplaces and campfires.
I love the smell of books.
I love the smell of crayons and school.(I think that actually IS the smell of school)
I love the opportunity to reinvent myself at age 37.
I love the TV show Lost.
I love looking forward to the future.
I love bubble baths.
I love hot tubs.
I love snuggling up with the hubby or any of my kids, or all of them at the same time.
I love my bed, especially with flannel sheets in the winter.
I love making this list, because even these things are all mostly very fluffy, material things, it makes me realize how very truly blessed I am.  I could probably add to this all night.  But for now, I will bask in the loveliness of broad horizons, children sleeping, soft music playing and a moment all to myself.



Sunday, March 8, 2009

These are a Few of My Favorite Things















These things make me very, very happy.