A few of my favorite things...

I thought I 'd share some of my personal favorites from the photographs I took this year. 

This song has offered me great comfort over the last few weeks...I share it here for anyone else who may need it as much as I have.

God is Great.

quote of the week...

"I, with a deeper instinct, chose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman."

---Anais Nin

quote of the week...

"You cannot change the winds...but you can adjust your sails."

--unknown

quote of the week...

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.”
― Thomas Merton, No Man Is An Island

quote of the week...

"There will never be another woman who owns the look, the personality, and the experience that you do. Those ingredients make up the recipe of who you are, and it's your gift from the Lord--own it."

---Candace Cameron Bure

quote of the week...

"When you say, 'I need more confidence,' what you're really saying is, 'I need those people over there to approve of me.' That is the desire to control other people and what they think."

--Augusten Burroughs

quote of the week...

“Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.”
― J.M. Barrie

how about no...

The other day at work our boss had lunch brought in for everyone from this great Chinese restaurant.

[pause for you to wish you worked where I work.]

I opened my fortune cookie and it said, "Life will bring you a grand and dashing adventure."

And I immediately thought, "That is really going to mess with watching my Top Chef marathons."

quote of the week...

"Our history can become our destiny and either compel us to repeat our errors or be the catalyst for change."

---unknown

small and simple reminders...

This small and simple reminder is about how little things can mean so very much.

I belong to an online community that over the years has become a very special place to me. I have developed friendships that are lovely, and I have even gotten the chance to meet in person some of the terrific people that I have spoken to online. I was reading a magazine a few months back, and saw the name and town of one of those friends in the comments section, and immediately knew that she would appreciate having a copy and was out of the country and unlikely to find a copy of her own. So I sent it off with not much thought other than that I hoped she'd enjoy having it.

Some time after this, I received this beautiful little box in the mail from her, along with a generous and kind thank you note for my sending her the article. If it had only been that, it would still be a sweet little story...but there's more.

On the day that I came home to find this gift, I was heavy with the weight of the world. I was tired. I was worn out, body and soul. I had been trying very hard to keep myself together, all the while wishing that I could find the time and place to fall apart. I felt unequal to the tasks before me, and felt sure that there was nothing I could do about it. I had been praying that day in the car on the way home so very hard to feel an answer to my questions of  "Can I even do this? Am I making a mess of everything? Why do you think I can be the person that it requires to make a difference here?"

I walked into a house of chaos and clutter, just sure that I couldn't be a worse person if I tried, when I saw the envelope. As I opened it up and saw the exquisitely detailed box and read the letter from my far away friend, I felt love and relief wash over me. I burst into tears. I felt a still, small voice say inside my mind, "You are loved. You are noticed. You can do this. What you do matters, in ways you aren't able to see."

The most beautiful part of this is that I didn't deserve it. But this friend, I believe prompted by God, was generous. With her time. With her words. With her gratitude. And I believe that she was able to set into motion the circumstances whereby my Heavenly Father could, with her help, tell me something that I desperately needed to hear.

So now when I pass by this tiny box that sits on my book shelf, I think of that day. I think of my friend and all of the dear friends I have talked to and prayed for and that have talked to and prayed for me in our little online community. It is a small and simple reminder of how generous Heavenly Father is with His comfort and praise. It is a small and simple reminder that it is my turn. That to show my gratitude, I must now be generous and give to someone else. So that Heavenly Father can, with my help, tell another child of His what He knows they desperately need to hear.

I can't wait.

quote of the week...

"Trial is someone standing outside of yourself, trying to tell you something about you that is not true. And the real truth of all trial is to get still, silent, centered, and know for sure who you are and who you are not."

--Oprah Winfrey

quote of the week...

"As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs."
--Sam Abell



I snapped this while assisting my lovely daughter, Bri Lamkin, as she shot a wedding. I love that my daughter has a passion for photography. I love that I get to see the world the way that she sees it, when I look at her pictures.

Harry Potter Party

After coming through the front door, which had been made to look like Platform 9 3/4, they went straight into Olivander's Wand Shop (the office) and after choosing their wands (which The Hubby cut from wooden decor sticks I found in the floral section of WalMart), the kids boarded the Hogwart's Express (which was in the front room.) The guests filled their favor bags from the trolley of candy and treats, and I printed out quotes from every Harry Potter book (from thereadables.tumblr.com), mounted them on cardstock, and they got to choose their favorite one to take home. The dining room with party food and drinks was the Great Hall and we hung mini-led candles from fishing line. The family room was the Common Room, and contained spell books to study from, while the television played Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And finally, the back yard was the Quidditch Field (which thank goodness my adopted family plays every year at family reunions, so I just had to borrow theirs!)

We had loads of fun, and it really wasn't that much work as far as parties go!

quote of the week...

"Babies are such a nice way to start people."

---Don Herrold

In honor of my dear grand-niece, Elizabeth Rose, born on early Sunday. Welcome to the world, Ellie!

A moment of silence...

Because I finished the final Harry Potter book yesterday. Sssssshhhhh.

Let me let it sink in.

 

 

 

I found this list on my night table. I've thought about what her thought process must have been as she wrote it.

 

"So...I heard Mom and Dad say they need to go to the store. I should let them know what I would like them to get. Maybe they would buy me some cupcakes? Cupcakes aren't so big...they would probably go for cupcakes. ... If they'd go for cupcakes, then why not cake? Basically the same thing only bigger. And there is no way 1 cake is going to go far in this house...better ask for 3."

 

"They will probably go to Sam's. And you know what they have at Sam's? Trampolines. How hard would it be to just toss a tramp in the cart along with the cakes? And, the hot tubs are basically RIGHT THERE next to the trampolines...Mom and Dad would love a hot tub...it's really more for them, honestly..."

 

"Now, since I am going big here, I think I will put pool...but I need to be careful because Mom and Dad might not have the facts they need to make an informed purchase. I need to put 'huge'. If I don't put 'huge', let's just remember who we're talking about here...they could come home with anything. Some little dinky plastic thing with no room for me to swim underwater.

Yeah, huge. That ought to do it."

 

 

quote of the week...

"Heavenly Father's job is not to make us happy. Heavenly Father's job is to change us...and He only has a few short years to do it."

--Ron Bartholomew

a pretty place for functional things...

I love the trend to reuse old and found objects in new and fun ways. Next to distressed furniture, it is the kindest thing trendsetters ever did for moms. I have tried from time to time to do this in my own spaces, with mixed results. Sometimes I try stuff, and after a while it becomes clear that no matter how cute something is doesn't mean it's functional. Other times I look at something and think "I must have you" and then find a way to use it that lets me enjoy its unique and fun qualities while still having something that fills a purpose.

 I was recently at a little antique market, and spotted this lovely little thing. I instantly thought that it could go really well on our office desk, to hold pens and papers and glue. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it seem a bit cleaner and add a modern flair, but for $10 I knew I had to give it a try. I mean, look at those colors...she was made for me.

 So I cleaned it with some all purpose cleaner and paper towels, and then I dug through my shamelessly large stash of scrapbook paper and found a few that I thought looked cute with it. The best part is that when I get bored and tired of it, all I have to do is pick a different paper. I could certainly have used wallpaper or even fabric and hot glued it. I am so lazy that I didn't even adhere the paper...just slid it right into place. The bottom section fit so perfectly that I didn't even need to cut the paper...reason #547 that it. is. my. new. BFF.

 Then I filled her up with the ever present "stuff".

I love that the top drawers are narrow which will discourage me other people from loading them up with junk.

Here she is, all in place and ready to make me feel happy every time I look at her. I enjoy finding things that seem like "me" and using them in a way that I can actually USE them. 

quote of the week...

"Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic."

---Steven R. Covey