my baby is one

 Our sweetpea turned one on tuesday. She was born 2/12/12...so 2 must be a lucky number for us!
Here's a few pictures of her special party. It was truly a bright spot that we needed just like she so often is...

homemade cupcakes. my first attempt at fancy frosting!

first time checking out a balloon!

The Before: Nice and neat...

And the After: This kid evidently loves chocolate!

Happy Thursday!

after the storm

our place after the blizzard "Nemo"

 Finally just got outside with the baby. We've been in the house for 48+ hours! My husband got called into work again. Between work and National Guard he hasn't had a day off in over 2 week. Sweetpea wasn't to thrilled with me taking her out in the cold to take pictures. But it is pretty out. Here's the aftermath of a blizzard at our house!

"Are you going to make me go out there Momma?"

An unhappy baby on our front steps

piles in front of our place

pouter in front of the pond across from our house

pond view

sweetpea wishing I would hurry up and go back in

drift on the side of our condo. we are the lowest floor.

snow girl!

Have a happy Sunday!

the blizzard continues

view out our side windows this a.m. covered by a huge drift!

Just a few shots of the blizzard so far...haven't been able to get outside yet for better pictures! My husband did have to brave the storm at 7:30am today to get to his security detail. He's the manager and one of his guys couldn't make it in. It's only about 3 miles from home...but still wish he didn't have to. We are fortunate so far though - we still have power.

the cars across the street. can't even see the pond beyond them.

look momma!

cary shoveling early this am.

 Will have more photos later when the wind dies down and I get outside!

Happy Saturday!

dr suess & a blizzard

A quick layout I finished just now...terrible picture quality since it is 9pm here...but I wanted to post while its quiet and the baby is sleeping. Here's a closeup...

I used lots of old and new stuff. I just need to add the date above the photo but needed to look back and see when the picture was taken. Time is going so fast. Baby girl turns one on tuesday. Yikes.

The college is closed tomorrow. Evidently here in Eastern Massachusetts we are expecting quite a storm. Blizzard to be exact. I will believe it when I see it. But I guess we are ready. Cary works tomorrow but he's only 5-10 minutes away so he should be able to get home at 4pm ok. Sweetpea is staying home with me. Hoping my parent's will be ok. They only live about 10 minutes away but my dad just finished treatment #1 and is not feeling well and can't do a lot physically. Last time he was going through treatments my brother was home from school...this time it's just them. But I think they should be set until Cary can shovel for them saturday and my uncle is not far from them either to help with the generator. They live in a very wooded area and the big trees around the house are always a concern.

I am looking forward to a day or two of hiding from the world. I really need that right now.

Thanks for reading...

-Emily

smash book

A few years ago I used to keep little black sketchbooks where I pasted in inspiration from home decorating magazines, craft sources, quotes, sketches, journaling, etc. I kind of got a way from the habit but found I kind of missed it. It was sort of a catch-all for inspiration and thoughts. I saw the Smash Books in Michaels just after Christmas and thought I'd use one of those. I loved the different pages and backgrounds. I chose the Nature version as it sort of fit me the best.

Here's how I've been using mine...

On my first page I had pasted in a list of goals for each month based off of the book The Happiness Project. This has been an inspirational read for me. I felt like I really related to the author and her honesty about successes and challenges. So for January I was focused on Boost Energy. I've won some and lost some. It was a very tough month. But I've boosted my energy in ways I didn't expect.

Here's a basic page I used to brainstorm my January Happiness goals...

There are many pages where I paste in home decorating magazine inspiration...

And there is one page where I am working on a collage of my 2013 Intentions. This is a project I worked on every year with my clients in our Art Therapy group. I worked with adults that have major mental illness as an art therapist/clinican. Our task was to spend several weeks, using magazine collage, to create a collage filled with big and little intentions (goals) for our new year. I used mine as visual inspiration each year by hanging it next to my desk at work where I could see it regularly. It was a visual reminder of what I wanted to add to my year (rather than take away as is the case with resolutions). It is still a work in progress...

And I'll leave you with one of the pages in the book that has a quote I am finding inspirational right now...

inside outside

 This is what it looks like outside our house today...

....and here's how it looks inside...

Didn't realize we were getting a bit of snow. I kind of wish we would get a little more this winter. It's been strange weather. Really warm, then really cold. Not much snow. That's New England. I love buying Trader Joe's tulips this time of year. They are one of my favorites. I also bought a few bunches of daffodils. Can't beat the price at $1.49/bunch.

This has continued to be a rough week. They say things come in threes. Let's hope it stops at two. I was informed I'm being laid off from one of my jobs. My art therapy job. I've been with that company for 9 years. They said they needed to eliminate one of the part time positions and I have one less year in the company than the other part-timer. Never mind I've been in that program longer. Also...they just hired a new full-timer a month ago when a part-timer left. Hmmm. My theory is they figure it costs less to have a new therapist at full time than a seasoned therapist at part-time. Makes me angry.

I'm trying to scramble and figure out what to do. I wish we could get by on just my other part time job but the reality is we can't right now. For the past 7 years or so I had been on the lookout for other jobs in my field for various reasons...I was offered a few but it came down to a financial decision each time. Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Anyhow...my husband has been away for his National Guard drill this weekend and baby girl has been cutting molars so it's been off/on stressful. I haven't gotten any scrapping done. But I did go to the Container Store to start thinking about how I want to re-organize my little space (the corner of our bedroom!). I used to keep all my alphas and stickers in binders but they seemed to take up a lot of space and I thought I'd consolidate them each into one container. We'll see how I like it. I started doing a little list/sketch of my space and what I want to change in my Smash book last week...

Now to see what I can put into action. Speaking of the Smash book I thought it would be fun in my next post to show how I've been using mine. It's been a journal/inspiration book of sorts for me. I used to keep a small blank sketchbook for that purpose a few years ago but got away from it. This has sort of become my new version. I'll post that tomorrow.

Thanks for listening/reading..

Happy Sunday!

spaghetti face

This spaghetti face is helping her momma this week that is for sure. So I have mentioned this week that I am concerned about a serious medical issue with a person I love dearly. They say things happen in threes. Yesterday I was told I am being laid off from my art therapy job of 9 years. Truthfully I have been feeling burnt out there for quite some time. But I wanted to leave on my terms. And we can't afford it. I have a second job where I teach but it isn't enough to cover the bills. Ugh. There is a chance I will be working in a medical office...nothing to do with my training but it will be ok. A change of pace possibly. I just hope that this is it and I don't get a 3rd "surprise." I've had enough for one week.

My husband has National Guard drill this weekend so I'm on sweetpea duty solo. I'm hoping that I get some scrapping time tomorrow night. Tonight I'm just to exhausted physically and emotionally. No one in this house slept last night. I didn't because I couldn't shut my brain off after the events at work. But then the baby was awake at odd hours. Turns out today she has some very sharp teeth cutting through. Poor baby! What timing.

Here's to a good night's sleep!