Hello!!

I'm not sure where to begin I've been gone from my blog for so long!  I've missed "being in touch" here. 

So much as been happening lately.  In a nutshell my boys started baseball and so between practices and games we're at the field every night of the week and Saturday.  I also started a girl scout troop for my daughter because we could not find one that could take her anywhere.  That's been a ton of work but so worth it.  Four other girls have joined us so we're having fun on our Daisy journey!  To be truthful, these are things that my children have not really ever been able to do because up until now I wasn't walking in the door from work until 6pm or so.  Last month I decided to change my 20 year long schedule and I began working 7-4.  I'm busier than I've ever been but the kids are enjoying sports and scouts and for that I'm really happy.

In other news, I'm still counting calories...I've been at it since January 2nd and I've lost almost 30 lbs.  I feel great and I've been sneaking off to Anthropologie every few weeks to treat myself to something new.

I realized that I never shared these embellished tins.  I love the first one.  The words cut out of a book called "Lust For Life" totally crack me up.  The ones below are tinier and so handy for storing small things.     

And last but not least, I have 4 spots left in the class with Colleen Moody.  It's going to be a great class and a big one too!  Please let me know if you'd like to join us.

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Lisa's Secret

Have you been fitted for a bra lately?  I'm apparently, extremely late to this party.  I've been putting it off but today I finally went out and got it done.  Why would I put this off you ask?  Oh I don't know...maybe it was because I knew that my fitting would be done by a 10th grade "specialist" who would gasp at the stretched out and ill fitting bra that is "Lisa's Secret" {just keepin it real here people}.  Anywho...it was exactly as I'd suspected and I left with new bras that were a cup bigger as you can see in the photo above.  So I can check that box off my to do list for this week, woo hoo!!

My First Fruits...or Fruit Really

Today my son came running in the house with this itty bitty meyer lemon for me. It's the first fruit off the tree we planted last year. You can tell by the picture that it's really small, did we buy a dwarf tree by mistake? Doesn't matter, I'm still really excited that it's begun to bear fruit.

This is turning out to be a really short post - my 4 year old just rolled up on me with bright blue eye shadow on. I haven't worn blue eye shadow for ions so it tells me she's really been going through my stuff...

I Feel SO Much Better Now

OK, I'm pretty organized. I've always been organized. There's just one glitch. If I become even the slightest bit disorganized somewhere in the house it totally derails me in that area. At some point in time my closet became something I could not peek in without heart palpitations and cold sweats. This afternoon I was looking for something and my inner neat freak said now's the time to face this! Two hours, a mountain of clothes, bags and shoes later and I'd reclaimed my closet. Let's go over what I found that I thought I had lost:

1. My favorite sweatshirt with a kangaroo pocket in the front. Probably the oldest piece of clothing that I have and I love it. {Note: This sweatshirt will never see the light of day, I only feel comfortable wearing it within the confines of my home}.

2. Birth certificates for all 5 of us. Apparently I stashed them in a basket on a high shelf thinking I would remember where I put them. Unfortunately, thinking we'd lost them on our last cruise and needing my daughters for Kindergarten registration, my husband got copies two weeks ago for all of us. It cost us $130.00.

3. The fire safe that I bought to put the birth certificates in. We all know how that went.

4. My girl scout sash and handbook circa 1980. And since I'm on the subject I have to say, I sure rocked the scouting and I've got the badges to prove it sista.

5. My favorite black flip flop. Yes, singular. I threw the other one out during the last cleaning.

So there you have it. Cleaning can save you money, bring back memories and give you some peace!

Just Like Old Times

I've been wanting a bike for a while now. Not just any old bike though, I want a tri-cycle like I had when I was 12. They are SO cool. Mine was metallic olive green and I had a gigantic basket in the back, just like this one. It seems like yesterday that I would ride it to the corner store for an apple Jolly Rancher stick or a pack of Toffifay {remember those?}. Whew! Turning corners on that thing got a bit precarious when I was really jammin.

This one fits the bill and the color is "Dark Cherry", gotta love that! As I've mentioned before, my parents live one street away so I'll use it lots. The basket will come in handy when my Mom hands me the ever present bag of all the stuff my kids left behind the last time they were over.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! While I'm not big on resolutions I love the start of a new year. It holds so much promise and potential. I LOVE to have things to look forward to. I've always been this way. I enjoy looking at my calendar to see what my future holds, whether it be a concert, a play, a game night or a camping trip.

Tonight I picked up everything I needed to make Sloppy Joes on the way home from work and at the check out I saw, "What's your next chapter?", on the cover of Oprah's magazine. It got me thinking on my short drive home...what is my next chapter? What if I like the chapter I'm in? For right now I don't long to change anything major, but I'm completely open to improving what's already good.

To help me with my thoughts, checklists and goals I made a new journal. I jammed it up with tons of room to write and lots of inspiration.

A few reminders to be good...

and places to write important thoughts, dates and fun things we've planned for the future.

I hope the new year is treating you well!

It All Adds Up

I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was going to post about a pair of red panties. Yes, this is a first {and altogether likely...the last}.

Every now and then I get behind with my laundry. Well I have a pair of red lace panties that I HATE with a passion. Apparently I had dialed back 15 years when I bought them some time ago, I mean seriously...what was I thinking? Anyway, it's a bad start to a perfectly good morning when I open my underwear drawer up and they are the sole pair in the drawer. As I rip them out of the drawer and slam it shut I think the same thing, "these stupid panties need to be thrown away!". Ultimately they are later put through the wash and they wind up right back in my drawer where they wait for the next ill planned laundry quandry.

My point is, why do I inconvenience/annoy myself this way on a repeated basis? All I ever had to do was throw them out. I'll give you another example. I hate to stop for gas. When I do I'm so anxious to get on my way to wherever I'm going that I only put $10 or so in at a time. Consequently I'm always on E. I would have to say that I fear I'll run out of gas on at least a twice a week basis. Do you see a pattern here? Oh but wait...what about the lip liner that I carry in my purse that is so in need of sharpening that I'm painfully scraping wood and very little color on my lips at this point? I could go on but I won't.

I'm starting to identify lots of tiny stresses that I'd rather not live with. And most of them are so easy to solve. I pitched the skivs, swapped the lip liner out for a mechanical one and filled up on my way home today. What I'm trying to say is that you can do alot to make things better for yourself. A bunch of tiny actions really can add up. I'd rather start working smarter than working harder as they say, instead of making any kind of resolutions in the next couple of months.

So do you have "red panties" you can throw out?

It's My Birthday I Can Lie If I Want To

I'm kidding. I'm tempted to tell you that I'm 29 today but I'm 37. This past week I actually forgot if I was turning 36 or 37 and had to do the math. By the way, I don't eat my birthday Sundae's that way anymore (ok I still get all up in a Sundae but I do use my hands now).

I think the thing that amazes me more each year is how sentimental I've become. I've always felt like I've possessed a lot of strength personally. Even in early adulthood, I was bent but would not break. I've never been much of a crier, in good times or bad. It's not that I have anything against it it's just not been my way. That has slowly changed over the past couple of years and I often find myself getting that warning sign where your nose starts to burn a little bit and then your eyes water up right afterwards. I decided to drive past my grandparents old house the other day when I happened to be going that direction. As I turned down their street I just couldn't stop the tears from coming. A rush of memories came, one after another. When I put my handprint in the concrete, the front window that was broken, running through the sprinkler in the front yard and covering the sidewalk in chalk. So many days full of love that shaped my life.

My kids really bring it on too. My middle boy who's 5 looks like he could have been my twin brother. His little face reminds me everyday of my same mirrored reflection that I saw when I'd comb my hair or brush my teeth. Some days it feels like just yesterday and some days it feels like it was all a movie that I saw. I could only hope for 37 more years as good as the ones I've had.

I leave you with this hilarious picture taken the same day as the one above. This was the little boy that lived next door to my grandma. Check out his hand on my boob, I'm CLEARLY not happy about it. Look at my fist! You can tell I'm thinkin, "don't make me rip these pearls off and punch you in the neck".

Hello There

Let me start out by saying that the photo above means nothing in relation to my post. It's just that I feel like I can't post without a picture so I threw it in here for good measure. Not having any new photos to share has been preventing me from touching base so...problem solved!

I've been busy lately doing two things that I love that I haven't done regularly for years - reading and cooking. I have also been working on some projects but they're all in various stages of incompletion {if that's a word}. I'm expecting my contributor copy of Somerset Life any day now. I have an article and project in it that my BFF has seen already and she said they did a wonderful job of photographing it. I'm also excited to be in Artful Blogging in August. They're two of my favorites. If you haven't ever submitted a project to one of the publications you enjoy I encourage you to do it. It's a great experience, I just love it.

I posted the date for my October home studio workshop and I'd love to do some Halloween inspired projects but so far I don't have anything specific in mind. If you have a request or idea please feel free to email me.

I Did It...

This past Saturday I spoke at a 42nd annual ladies lectureship. It was the first time I'd done something like this and overall it was a great experience. The attendees were wonderful and inviting and I really appreciated their attention and support. I was a bit nervous right before I went up to speak but once I was at the podium everything came to me just as I'd hoped it would. I've never been sorry when I've pushed the boundaries of my comfort zone and this was no exception.

Despite the weather and holiday I took my chances at the flea market early Sunday morning. I found a few nice things. I've been working on a project {it's actually several mini projects}, all beauty related, and I found a few things that I'm sure I'll be working in.



I didn't think I'd ever get to the dregs of my button supply but recently I did. My friend Carole told me about the vintage inspired buttons by Paper Trey. I ordered several colors and they really are nice.



I have yet to find a way to store them. I think I want to leave them separated by color, although up until now I've always thrown them all together. That brings me to another point....

A couple of months ago when I moved my art space from one room to another I posted some pictures. Several people either asked me or emailed me asking how I stay so organized. Some of you even went so far as to tell me that you couldn't even work in your space because it was overrun with stuff. I thought that this week I would share some ideas on how I stay organized as well as some ideas for storage and display. I will post a new idea every day this week so check back for some inspiration!

And So It Goes

I hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day. I took Thursday and Friday off of work to hook up with Monday so I've been enjoying an extra, extra long weekend. Thursday I ran some errands and took myself to Anthropologie. It was a very fruitful visit, I bought a gorgeous plum colored dress, a violet colored sweater, spice jars numbered 1-5 and a sweet little tea towel all for under a $100.00. THAT's never happened before!

Friday I spent some time with the kids playing and napping and that evening we took them to the drive-in to see Tooth Fairy and Percy Jackson. When the hubs got home from work I had the kids bathed, in their pajambo's with pillows and a quilt in the trunk. I thought it was great that all 5 of us saw two movies for $14.50 but what I really enjoyed was how comfy we all were tucked in to the front seat of my Yukon with the smell of Baby Magic in the air. Such good times.

Saturday we ran here and there and played some cards and that evening my sisters and I went to a Billy Joel & Elton John concert. It was great. You know how it is when you go to a concert, you have one or two songs you hope they'll sing. For me it was Uptown Girl & And So It Goes by Billy Joel. It was getting danger close to the end of the concert and he didn't sing either, until his encore. He ended with Uptown Girl. I didn't expect it at all but my eyes instantly got misty as soon as it started and my mind took me back to a brownie meeting where Lori Moran asked us if we wanted to hear the new tape she had gotten for her birthday and I heard the song for the first time. That was almost 30 years ago. I just don't know where the time has gone! He didn't sing And So It Goes but at that point I was so sentimental I probably would have really started tearing up.

Today we celebrated Valentine's Day by taking the kids to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It was such a beautiful day with sunshine we haven't seen in quite awhile. Tomorrow is our 13th anniversary. We're both off so we might go to SF for the day.

Since I don't have to get up early tomorrow I think I'll spend some time at my work table and see what I can start on. I'm kind of between projects right now so we'll just see where the night takes me.