spring

At the beginning of a season, I find myself nesting. I want to surround myself, my home, my art with the season. I'm into Spring. I'm ready! I baked some lemon cupcakes with vanilla frosting today. For some reason I am associating them with all things Spring-like!

I expected to do more scrapbooking today but I'm running out of time. My family refers to Sundays as "poison days." As the day goes by and you get to Sunday night - knowing work the following day is looming over you. Especially with daylight savings today - the day has gotten away from me. But I did start the day inspired to make some cards. In response to the Two Peas Blog Challenge the weather here today has been bright and cool. Since it's been rainy and cloudy for days it is a nice change. Feeling a little guilty 'cause I really should have taken a walk and taken advantage of the nice day. But remember I'm nesting!

I have a skylight directly over my bed and when I woke up today I saw the sun and the wind blowing the trees around over head. This wake-up combined with being inpsired by displays of flowers, pastels, green grass, crisp whites - I planned out a series of cards with the idea of newly blooming Spring trees. They are not quite finished - they need a little something. Here's one but see the series here. I'm kinda liking them...maybe I'll make something else now and enjoy a cupcake and the rest of "poison day"!

Yesterday's Two Peas Blog Challenge was something along the lines of "What is your favorite time of day?" Mine is morning. This photo was taken yesterday morning on my way to work. I had just bought my coffee in the next town over and decided I wanted to take a picture of the marsh in the fog. I was late to work and I decided it didn't matter. Life is short and this was a beautiful sight. On my way to work in Boston I saw a very different view. Not even 30 minutes later. Beautiful in a very different way. I don't consider myself a city person but this bridge (The Zakim Bridge) going into Boston is really a site.

Now it is saturday morning and I'm lazily drinking my coffee planning my day. I love the morning. Especially when I don't have to be anywhere at a particular time. Have a few chores and errands to do but no time frame. Today I get to spend some time with Cary and that is in short supply. Last weekend he had guard, and since he works nights, we haven't seen each other much at all this week. Hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday.

today

I have been doing a "Week in the Life" challenge about my world this week. It has been an interesting adventure. I'm finding it is helping me to be more mindful about what I do each day...each moment. It is helping me to notice things I ordinarily would pass by because I'm trying to photograph little peices of my day. Collecting little pieces from my life has been challenging and I think narrowing down what to include on the 8x8 pages they will be on will prove more difficult. What will people find interesting about my day in the future? What will I want to remember? How do I narrow that down? I'm a collector by nature and have trouble sometimes screening out what is the most important. I want to include everything! I was never really good at collages that overlapped images. I wanted to show all parts of the image! Anyhow, this has been a really enlightening experience. I will post a few photos later today. Right now I'm off to class...the last Intro class for a few weeks - Yeah! Spring Break next week and Good Friday the week after. I'm excited about today's lecture: its about Psychological Development Theories (the basics) and Artistic Development Theories - a topic I love, love, love!

joy

Two Peas Challenge: What 5 things in your life bring you joy?

1. Cary brings me joy. He's funny, optimistic, positive, goofy and sweet - though he would never admit that! I look forward to our future and each day we get.

2. Home. The woods. The trees. The history. The memories. The Quiet.

3. Art. Creativity. Time to get lost in it.

4. My job at Emmanuel. I feel energized when I leave my classes. It has been a long time that I have left work feeling full of energy.

5. Seeing dogs. It makes me miss mine terribly. But I feel happy when I see dogs playing, walking, beeing goofy. Especially dogs that look like Maddy did.

childhood memories

Two Peas Challenge: Describe your yard as a child - did you help with the yard work? What are your memories?

I have the most wonderful memories of my yard as a kid. In fact, I currently live in my parent's garage apartment so can appreciate it every day and think back to those years. We live in a very wooded area on an acre and a half. Big pine trees, daisies, an apple tree that was good for climbing, a tire swing, the brook. My dad made a "playhouse" (now a shed) for me to play in when I was little. I spent hours in there. It had a loft and a big main area. Mud pies were my favorite thing to make and my dad graciously pretended to eat them. My neighborhood is the same one that he and his 10 brothers and sisters grew up in. The river, the willow tree, Grammy's House, the woods, the bridge. Generations of memories. It is a huge part of my life and hopefully will be for my future children. I've only left this place long enough to live in Boston for college and D.C. for graduate school. It has always been hard for me to leave for long. Soon, Cary and I will find an apartment in another part of the city and I'm really excited to start this new adventure but part of me is sad. The garage we live in is where I played as a kid when it was "really" a garage with my Dad's Corvette. It is where I brought him mudpies. It is close to where my mom had a vegetable garden with all the carrots I picked when they were still too small! I have such fond memories of this place. It will always be somewhere I can go whenever I know that in my heart but it just might take a little drive.

The two peas "Blog Challenge" for today: With all the CHA Previews. What are some of the new products do you have on your wish list? '

Interesting challenge given my entry yesterday about "cutting myself off" from buying more supplies! Well...the one thing I have my eye on right now wasn't out at CHA this year I don't believe but its been a big topic lately. A Bind-it-All. I really like the idea of being able to make my own journals, books, albums. But...maybe I will have to ask for it for my birthday. A long 7 months away!

I did use some of my stash today though. I made myself do my taxes first and a little prep for one of the classes I teach. Then I worked on two pages for my "All About Me" album I've been working on slowly for years. It is a collection of things I love, little facts about me, people I love, places, dreams, goals...every so often I work on another page for it. It is in a cute gatefold 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 album that I got at my LSS ages ago. Here's what I worked on today...

"Admire Lauri" ~ a page about my sister and everything that I see and appreciate in her. I have always loved the top picture of her and our dog who died a few years ago. Also included on of her pictures from when she was little - she was a doll! I am 8 years older than her so she has always seemed like the "little" sister but we have grown much closer as we've gotten older.
This page is titled "My Car(s). I have only ever had two cars and this was about them. I have always loved cars. Grew up around them. I was so sad when I had to give up my first car and really, to be honest, never really have let go of it.(It's the white volvo in the background!) That Volvo is really the only thing I truly own. But I do love my Honda and one more year of payments and it will finally be all mine!

seek balance

I had the perfect day today. Balanced. Cary is at guard and I always miss him but I had lots of me time today and did all my favorite things despite the raw cold, rainy/snowy mess that was the weather. I met Alyssa for breakfeast this a.m. at Morning Glory. We talked and talked. I think the waitress was frustrated but it was wonderful! I felt understood and heard. After breakfeast I went to Barnes & Noble to kill a little time before my hair appt. I could spend hours wandering around that store. I picked up a really interested Feng Shui book. It has a lot of great ideas and topics that I'd like to learn about and try about Feng Shui and space clearing. I also picked up The Sound of Paper by Julia Cameron...about creativity of another sort. Each of these will be inspiring resources for my goal of balance {my one little word for the year}. Then I got my hair cut and colored...it has been sadly waiting for this for too long. The last time I had my hair done it was the weekend after Thanksgiving. There is something so relaxing of having nothing to do but sit and read trashy celebrity magazines while someone is beautifying you. With my fresh highlights and layers, I heading to my LSS to get more inspiration and spend the $20 coupon I earned last weekend....of course I spent an extra $20....guilt...Cary called while I was there and was teasing me about the features in the apartment we are looking to get in a few months. In other words, "Hon, don't spend any money, pay off the rest of your bills so we can move." I guess I have justified my purchases in my mind in the name of balance. Doing art one day a week was my New Year's intention. But I do need to cut myself off! I've spent too much on art supplies for the past few weeks. When I put away my finds tonight I realized I have so many cool things to use in my scrapbooks, cards, etc. More than I can use in my lifetime. From here on out, I'm vowing to spend my time at home working on projects instead of collecting stuff. I ended the day by going to Trader Joe's for a few things {including the white tulips that now grace my desk - the flowers Cary gave me for Valentine's Day were spent} and I also went to the grocery store. A chore, I know. But it is a chore I enjoy. It makes me feel comforted to come home and have options. choices. full cabinets. And finally...I finished my Weekend Creative that I started last night. It painted and collaged a canvas with various papers and acrylics in shades of white. I added a Heidi Swapp ghost butterfly - one of today's purchases! The words say "Seek Balance" with a glitter alpha sticker and chipboard letters. Another dedication to my one little word of the year. I plan on hanging this on the wall of my office as a reminder when the day gets too hard, stressful, and overwhelming. It was a perfect day.