When its raining, sometimes you need a good pick me up to perk you up!

I seem to have more creative valleys than peaks these days, but sometimes just a little pick me up from a newsy blogger can perk up my creative mojo. Shake Your Tree Today - that seems like it could be a good motto for everyday! ~See # 17 and #18!~

Its been pissy weather here for as long as I can remember.... its definitely contributing to my doldrummy demeanor. But I'm shakin' it, so maybe the rainclouds and November weather will disappear before May ends.

Happy 40 to my BEST FRIEND!!!!

Wow, I can't believe that 20 years ago we were celebrating 20, and now....!???!

Many many many warm and fuzzy wishes my beautiful friend!!!

xoxo

Fullness

I'm not going to put myself down and say that lately I suck at blogging. Which lately I do. Facto. However, I do think about it, and more often than not I resist the urge to type two sentences that I think won't be 'enough'. But they are.

Things are good. Life is good. Full. Messy. Sad. Happy. Definitely feeling lots of emotions lately - this weekend, for instance: accomplished, exhausted, enlightened, sad, excited, introspective, grateful, cozy, free, weepy, helpful, creative, cleansing, dirty, loving, emotional, connected, distant, attached, detached, hopeful, insecure, calm, peaceful, aggitated, hungry, thirsty, tipsy, wise, dumb, silly, anxious, doubtful, persistent, joyful, appreciated, proud, agreeable, thankful, satisfied, dissatisfied, gloomy, clear, frustrated, harmonious.

That's enough.

Back to the drawing board

After more than two months of action, waiting, and excitement, we've finally gotten to the stage everyone dreads in a long process. When something doesn't work, and you have to go back a few steps all over again and start over. UGH.

After more than 14 years of the same living room furniture, we finally pronounced our couch, loveseat and 6 year old chair, and made the decision to update. Start fresh. (read: experience frustration!)

Bought and had delivered two chairs we just love that we've had our eye on for a year. CHECK

Decided to buy a leather couch (site unseen, but online at Sears, where we know we'll be safe). CHECK

Have said couch delivered, only to find it won't fit in the front door. CHECK

Find silver lining in that realization, and subsequently order smaller loveseat in that same style. Order coffee table and accent chair to complete the look. CHECK

Wait two months (and get frustrated by delayed delivery dates) for two of those pieces to arrive at our home. CHECK

Fall in love with coffee table and promptly punt cheaply made accent chair into front foyer for upcoming return to Sears. (read: beware the temptation to buy upholstered furniture online.... somewhat good idea gone wrong!) CHECK

As a result of delivery of crappy chair and longer delays for the leather loveseat, we are making the decision to embark on a different path towards living room comfort and style. There can always be a silver lining in setbacks, if you look for it. And we think we have found it.

Stay tuned.... we're quite excited with what comes next!

Major mojo

Admittedly, despite 'what I do', I haven't scrapbooked much of anything for a while. A long while. ... I was feeling staid, bored and inspired by a lot of other scrappers and artists, but I, myself, was suffering from a bit of inspirational paralysis.

Not anymore. I have my scrappy mojo back! The kind where I go to bed thinking of page layouts and wake up hoping that at some point in my day I get to stick a picture on a mat and put it on a page.

Today won't be one of those days. Sadly.

But I have a sneaking suspicion tomorrow, the first of May, will.

Perspective

My Week in the Life project took on a life of its own. It was sure weird to not grab the camera as soon as I woke up yesterday morning, and it was sad that i don't think I took a single picture. Nothing to record my life on April 26, 2010. It was a full day - with lots of discussions, funny moments, and ideas exchanged. It was one of those days that, for a Monday, had a lot of meat to it. Not life-changing stuff, but a good day for sure.

And I didn't record a single moment of it with my camera. I didn't journal a single thought, action or idea. The day is recorded only in a flurry of emails and an entry in my gratitude journal.

Looking back over the 217 photos I've whittled my week down to, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment - both for undertaking this project, and for my life in general. Lots of the same things happen every day - regular life - and it is evidence why I have trouble remembering details sometimes. Life's moving fast, and there's lots of minutia to our days - much of it inconsequential, but much of it also poignant, important, and worth remembering.

And if we don't record some of it somehow, how are we ever going to remember how special our life truly is?

This week is seriously turning into a ball-buster, with not much time to do anything, let alone think! I'm off to the mainland tomorrow, and I have a million and a half things to do before I go, one of which is to completely layout my project that I'm working on all weekend - SHEESH!

But its all good. This week in the life project has its merits - I actually can't wait to start slapping photos down next week, so baby, I'm getting my scrappy mojo back.

Out to the studio to power layout before the morning gets away from me!