February already

images by Emma Cassi found via Lobster & Swan


February already. Can you believe it? I fell in love with these images. Something about delicate lace, ribbon and vintage papers makes me feel romantic. I connect with delicate, feminine displays. Who wouldn't love a Valentine adorned with any of these things. So lovely and inspiring.

As for me, I'm still here. I've been absent, I know. I am going to create a new space for blogging the question is when? Lots of ideas but nothing feels right just yet. Still deciding on a name, etc. I'm particular that way but I know when it feels right I'll know it. I may simply go with my name if nothing else fits. We'll see? I did create a new header for this space though (for those of you reading in a reader). I love playing with these things. So much fun and pure pleasure.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful new year.

Oh . . . and because it sounded like fun. I've seen this at few places so I'm joining in. Sixteen random things about me. I'll post one at a time like Lobster & Swan is doing.

01. I studied pre-med for 2 1/2 years at university but then decided it wasn't for me. I still love the sciences, always have, but my heart wasn't in it. I don't have any regrets about leaving that discipline but I do wish I would have taken more Art classes. I'm an absolute believer in studying what interests you, what gets your blood pumping not what someone else thinks you should be doing.

More Pink and a New Crush

{images: Record The Day}

I do, I do! I have a new crush. On the visual delights at Record The Day. I'm smitten and captivated by all these wonderfully, yet small scale visual treats. I want to sit and stare and gaze at them forever and ever. I do!

I really love these collages. I really like the incorporation of the miscellaneous bits and pieces of daily life. The little notes we collect, or pages we tear, the business cards we are handed, the packaging from our favorite shop or the words we jot down. It is done so beautifully here and I'm completely inspired. It's a wonderful way to gather and keep all of the things we dream about and are inspired by.

I have intentionally featured all of them in pink because, well, I simply could not help myself and it is the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Not that that will stop me from splashing pink around. Just saying, you know?

1. estate sale lot 9 Coconut Ice
2. estate sale lot 17 Princess

And if that's not enough for you. Record The Day also has and etsy shop & blog called Lobster & Swan filled with her collection of "estate sale lots," like the two shown above, and other fabulous goodies. So if you want to add some lovely haberdashery to your own collection she's got some wonderful little packages in her shop. I SO want this one and this one! :)

remembering: way back

Inspired by an email from a friend; this brought back some really fond memories. I made a few changes and it goes something like this:

Memories, aahhhh the memories . . . . .

Close your eyes and go back,
before the internet, PC or the Mac

Before semi-automatics and crack

Before PS2, XBOX, Super Nintendo, Sega and yes even before Atari

Before CD's, DVD's, mobile phones, voicemail and e-mail,
go way back

Way, way back . . . . .

I'm talking about Hide and Seek at dusk

Red Light, Green Light

Red Rover, Red Rover send _______ right over

Playing kickball and dodgeball until the
first, no second, no third street light came on

Ring Around the Rosie

London Bridge

Hot Potato

Hop Scotch

Jump Rope

Duck....Duck....GOOSE!!!

YOU'RE IT!!

Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to
come home - no pagers or cell phones

Mother May I?

Hula Hoops (some of us still have it, and I love that!)

Seeing shapes in the clouds (still doing this too!)

Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the
windows open (come on, click the links and sing along, or dance if you want?)

The sound of crickets

Running through the sprinklers

Cereal boxes with that great prize inside

Cracker Jacks with the same thing

Ice pops with 2 sticks you could break and share with a friend

Wait, wait there's more . . . . .

Watching Saturday morning cartoons: Fat Albert, Road Runner, Smurfs, Pink Panther and Schoolhouse Rock

Watching Sunday morning oldies like Abbott & Costello and The Three Stooges

The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman

The Fonz, "Aaaaaaaayyyyy"

Catching bugs in a jar

Christmas morning

Your first day of school

Bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses

Climbing trees

Swinging as high as you could to try and reach the sky

Getting an ice ream off the Good Humor Truck

Jumping down the steps

Jumping on the bed

Pillow fights

Sleep-overs

A 13" black and white TV in your room meant you were rich

Running 'til you were out of breath

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt

Being tired from playing outside

Work meant taking out the garbage or doing the dishes

Your first crush

Your first kiss; the one where you kept your mouth closed and your eyes wide open

Rainy days at school meant playing "Heads up 7UP" or Hangman inside the classroom

Hah, I'm not finished yet. . . . .

Kool-Aid was the drink of summer

So was a swig from the hose

Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school

Class field trips

Trading your lunch with someone else

When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there

When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance, and
another quarter a miracle

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him, or use him
to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to
the fate that awaited you at home

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of
drive by shootings, drugs or gangs

Didn't that feel good to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"

Well, let's keep going. . . . .

Let's go back to the time when

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo"

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!"

Race issues meant arguing about who ran the fastest

Money issues were handled by the banker of Monopoly

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends

Being old, referred to anyone over 20 (Darn! I'm officially old!)

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties

Nobody was prettier than Mom

Scrapes and bruises were kissed by mom or grandma and made better

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people"
rides at the amusement park

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true

Abilities were discovered because of a "triple-dog-dare-ya"

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for
giggles

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon

Older siblings were your worst tormentors, but also your fiercest
protectors

If you can remember some, most or even all of these, then you have LIVED !

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swap: thanks and praise

Last month I participated in the "box swap" over at Create a Connection, hosted by Holli. I'm going to say it, yet again people, I Love Create a Connection.

I want to send a very big "Merci Beaucoup" to Kristin for the most fabulous and wonderful box. Apologies for it taking me soo long to post about it but I'm slowly getting back after my brief hiatus from bloggiland.























Parcel delivery! Pour moi? I was excited because I love surprises and I love a swap. I knew it was going to be good when I saw how "at home" it already looked resting on my post box. Do come in, I said.

















Open it up and what do I see. Mmhhh? Ten Thousand Villages . . . . what is this? Beautiful! It's an organisation that helps those in need. It really doesn't get much better than that.

















Well maybe a little better. . . chocolate. Yummy! (Once my eyes laid eyes on those sweet little bits I devoured them up. Come on, they were teensy weensy). Delightful RED earrings and a barrette. Right up my alley. I LOVE RED.

*Kristin, you sweet soul sister, I love my little gems and feel so special because you were so thoughtful.

I especially loved the message Kristin included. She explained she had never particiapted in a swap and wasn't the "crafty" type. Well, no worries Kristin, you did a fantastic job and I am ever so pleased.

The following handwritten words were really the heart of my surprise:

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving thanks.

¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

² Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

³ Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.


God is so good and His word never comes back void. These words brought tears of joy. That little box could have contained just those words and I would have been content. I do feel truly blessed that Kristin and I were connected via the swap. Neither one of us believes in chance and found comfort that He uses us for His purpose.

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colouring outside the lines

Lately, I have been jotting, scribbling and doodling thoughts, words, phrases, or whatever comes to mind(in part because of this); a type of journaling, only minus the journal. (One of the reasons I am delighted about the journal swap). I do have a couple of journals but I never journaled consistently or fully utilized them. Now that I have a blog, I need a place to jot all these ideas down.

Something told me to keep these pieces, just in case, and well, I did just that. I held on to these scribbles, even if they are on hotel notepads and restaurant napkins. Voilà!


In one my posts, titled hope, I included a link to this post over at Tongue in Cheek. After linking it to my post, I read it again, only this time clicking on a link in that post, titled speak of rebirth, which I had missed the first time around.

There it was, a beautiful blog banner with the title Colouring Outside The Lines. I understand these words are not completely original in their text, or that they haven’t been widely used but for me they meant so much more. Those four words, and the context in which I had spoken them, had been a story shared in my family for a long time. A little girl who just happened to be very particular about her things, and her doings (and still is in some ways) could not understand why a little boy would purposely make a mess of things.

Let’s go back a few years, more specifically to my early childhood. As told by my mother. One day a fellow playmate and me were involved with some crayons and colouring books, mind you these were my colouring books. I became upset and started to cry, the frustrated, how dare he, whining cry (moms, you know this whine) and my mom asked, “What’s the matter?” I replied tearfully, “He’s colouring outside the lines!” I was not happy, and after all, if he wanted to mess things up shouldn’t he be doing it in his own colouring book. I mean really, the nerve!

Seeing the title “Colouring Outside The Lines”, made me think of that little girl and I laughed. Yes, the story still gets laughs from the family, all at my expense, of course; but what really got me was I had just recently jotted this down on a napkin.

what i'm feeling

I’ve decided that my April month of blogging will be coined “inspiration”. It seems fitting, as it has been the reoccurring feeling that has come over me.

Beautiful photos, shared memories, web skills displayed, stories told, quotes written down, suggestions made, creative blog names, family photos, poetic musings, recipes shared, adventures taken, roads traveled, insecurities revealed, laugh-out-loud words written, advice given, encouraging words, personal perspectives, help solicited, ideas shared, art explored, art created, experiments made, souls revealed, friendships formed, hearts warmed, emotions spilled out and connections made.

All of these are found in the blogging community and they are what inspire me.

swap a journal and make a connection

Here’s the scoop. Sognatrice did a meme, which I believe she did after being tagged by Vanessa. Sognatrice didn’t tag anyone but invited all to play along. Cherrye joined in and I read hers. I also saw it over at Erin’s place.

I thought about it, pondered the idea for a moment, and considered doing it but kept getting distracted. I like (ok love) these memes but being the official procrastinator that I am, and having a full plate, I waited.

I read that the meme came from Create a Connection, aka CaC, and I got curious. I hopped on over for a visit which seems to be my new favorite thing to do. Well, it is awesome and I was inspired, yet again. Not a surprise I know. I’m just soaking up the inspiration these days, and I can’t seem to get enough.

Create a Connection is doing a journal swap and I’m going to join in. Won’t you join me? Come on, now! It’s a great idea. Here’s the lowdown: You sign up, your name is given to someone, they send you a journal, and you also get someone’s name to pass a journal to and you connect with two different people. Check it out here. You know you want to!

I will be posting about my “journal swap” when it get’s underway.