A Record of the Journey...

There are many days when I feel I communicate so much more effectively through written means... when I write, I feel like I can communicate eloquently, I can go back and edit, "tweak" that sentence or that word to make it all flow... when I write, I have the time to process my thoughts and feelings instead of blurting out the first thing that comes to mind or being silent and saying nothing at all for fear of saying the wrong thing...

I have found that over the past many years journaling has been a great outlet for me.  My journals are full of more than just the details of the day, but rather the processing of my heart and mind, prayers, quotes, thoughts on what I've been reading, song lyrics that just grabbed my heart that day... Over the past year I have journaled very little.  It seemed like life just got in the way and I haven't made time for it the way I used to...

Add this to the list of things I want to be different in 2011...

Last Friday I spent the day home sick and when Justin left for a hockey game that evening I thought it best to just stay put rather than sit in a chilly rink for the evening.  I pulled out the "current" journal and read back through many of the entries. I started that particular book I think two and a half years ago and well a lot of life has happened since then!  I had an empty journal waiting on my bookshelf, so in an effort to start new and fresh, I grabbed that journal and decided to make it "me"... this is what I came up with :)  I love it!

 It was nice to be able to just use materials from my stash!

I really like the way the "Top Note" die cut and the cork worked great for this project!

 I thought the inside needed a little something too!

 A new monogram (well new for this journal lol!) and one of my favorite verses: "a season of singing has come..."

I believe that in this year especially, anything is possible...

A Deliberate Attempt...

Last week I stumbled on a blog that was incredibly inspiring... (elise joy) and I think if I lived in California we could be friends! lol!  She's very creative and her blog conveys an overwhelming feeling of joy just for every day living... I'd like to be like that...

In one of her older posts she announced that she was going to be closing her "card a day" blog.  For nearly a year, she took a playing card and created a fun and funky design on the front side of it... sort of a journey through a year of her life.  I admire the commitment it would take to do this every single day, and I'll admit that although that would be uber cool to do, the reality is that I would make myself crazy if I even tried.  But the "ah ha!" thought that came as I finished reading that blog entry was this: what if I tried to make a card a week?  Most weeks that would be totally doable for me...I'm gonna give it a try.  No pressure, just a little more of a deliberate effort to be intentionally creative... so here's the first - a card to send along with a baby gift... it's a little "simple" for my usual tastes but I think it's rather cute... and it matches the color scheme of the gift too (you are free to roll your eyes here!)

We Have Arrived...

...at the mailbox!  Finally, after way too long, we have our thank you cards in the mail.  Being someone who likes to stay on top of the "details", I fretted way much about how long they were taking me to finish...however I finally came to a point where I just accepted that I was delinquent on this project - and I moved on lol!  But it sure does feel great to know they are officially on their way and I can check this project of my list!

Last night when Justin and I were talking about this his comment was, "Well I sure hope we don't have to send out one year anniversary cards - if we do we're screwed, cause we're only 3 months away!"  Made me laugh... as he usually does :)

A Life Well "Created"...

In the past several months I have really been wrestling with the whole concept of being busy vs just being.  I remember my mentor in high school often reminding me, "Don't get so busy in the doing that you forget the being."  And I have really felt challenged to learn how to just "be".  In the past this was not an easy concept for me to wrap my brain around.  I lived to be busy, it felt like that was just who I was.  I was the girl who lived her life in her day planner cause otherwise all the tasks on the "to do" list might not get done, and if every single appointment, assignment, meeting etc was not written down, it would fall through the cracks.  I was so busy that I had to be over-organized (my nickname in college was OCD... lol let's just say I definitely came by it honestly!) otherwise I'd fall apart.  I rarely said no to anyone or anything, and taking care of myself was not high on the priority list.


Even in the past few years I have consistently found myself with several large projects on the go, which often left me feeling overwhelmed and wondering when I'd have some free time to do something other than a quick tidy of our house.  But I don't want to live like this.  I no longer want to have so much on the go that when a friend asks if I'd like to go for Starbucks that we have to plan for two weeks from now cause our calendar is too full.  I am determined to change and that this year is the beginning of a dramatic mind shift...


And I can honestly say the shift has begun...


The chapter of my life as a church bookkeeper has officially been closed.  Justin and I took all the boxes and files to the church office last week... while I'm still sad for the reason of why I'm done, it still feels like a huge weight has been lifted to know that I'm finished.


I know I feel much less overwhelmed when my surroundings are tidy and last week I deliberately puttered in our kitchen for while getting it back to how it should be... really tidying the counters, putting things properly away... let's just say I love a clean counter!


Our wedding thank you cards are so close to being done.  I have made a deliberate choice to quit beating myself up that they weren't out months ago... but life just kinda got in the way, and they got set on a shelf... My goal is to have them out this weekend...(one of those big projects I'll be very happy to check of the "to do" list!)


Last week I was fortunate to spend every night at home... I'm such a homebody so for me this is a serious treat!  Perhaps after the busyness of the holiday season, this is the reason I'm feeling like I have a better grasp on life...


I have had time to spend with friends this week, and I don't feel guilty that I should be working on something else... I am SO grateful for the very special women God has graciously given to me as friends... this week I will have been able to see each of them... and a few others too!


I have taken some time to quilt in the past week... I hadn't done any of that for over a month, it felt good to flip on the switch on my sewing machine...


I made two cards last night... I haven't actually made any cards since last spring - just after our wedding -  it was really nice to be creative and create!  


So in light of all of this, when I came across this quote this morning, I felt like it so encapsulated my heart at this very moment: 

If you want your life to be a magnificent story, 

then begin by realizing that you are the author 

and every day you have the opportunity to write a new page.

-Mark Houlahan

I want to write a magnificent story... but I don't want to just write it...I want to create it with photos, fabric, fun patterns, my computer, scrapbooking....


Here's to the beginning of a life well "created"!