Thursday, May 31, 2012

HOME minibook

“Home is the nicest word there is.”
-Laura Ingalls Wilder

This post is almost a year in the making... a year ago we were anticipating our move to South Carolina but dreading saying good-bye to our house in Georgia. [Of course after the headaches of actually selling it, we drove away in February with hardly a tear in our eye.] It was the house that made us homeowners, and we loved it dearly.
I dreamed of showing my someday children the first place we called "home," but it's not in a location that we'll just happen to drive past. I also didn't want to forget the many details that made it special to us. Inspired by Elise Blaha Cripe's "This is Home" minibook, I set out to document our house in a minibook of my own.
Before we moved, I snapped photos of each nook and cranny and wrote the story of each room. I wanted to record how we changed the house to make it ours as well as the mundane details of where we stored our everyday stuff.
I put the layouts together in InDesign last summer, but at the time couldn't justify spending money on printing photos. Now that I'm working somewhat consistently again, I figured I'd splurge to make my project come to life.
I had a carnation pink 6"x6" American Crafts D-ring album, but I had to order more page protectors to fit all 42 pages. And, of course, pink doesn't really match my decorating style, so I took to the cover with shimmery green paint and woodgrain paper from Hobby Lobby. I topped it off with a painted wood house and chipboard Thickers from Amy Tangerine.
Now I can take comfort knowing that our first house will live not only in my heart but on my bookshelf, too!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

The visit recap...

“Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.”
-Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe 


My mother-in-law and my 8-year-old nephew visited us for a couple of days this weekend to kick off his summer break. It wasn't the best visit we've ever had with them, but it wasn't the worst either. There were a couple of rough moments for everybody, myself included... ones that we all hope will be quickly forgotten.


Instead, I hope that everyone will remember our many fun adventures. That was my goal for the visit... to have a one-of-a-kind adventure or two. And, to keep Chase going until he was exhausted, so he would go to bed without a fight and sleep late the next morning. I'd like to think that we accomplished both.


We spent a lot of time at the pool, browsed kitchen stores, ate hibachi, savored ice cream, walked through the zoo, splashed in a "fountain," painted rocks, read books, made paper airplanes, and more.


However, there's nothing like a visit with the in-laws to make me miss my own family. Good thing my mom comes to visit in a week and a half! I can't wait!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

The calm before the storm...

“The only order in the universe is just a cycle of calm and chaos.” 
-Toba Beta 


Enjoying the last few moments of calmness before my mother-in-law and eight-year-old nephew arrive for the weekend. I probably worry for nothing, but I want everything to go so well!

Monday, May 21, 2012

Things I've "moved"

“Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
-Albert Einstein


 My conversations with the girls a couple of weekends ago confirmed that I'm not the only one regularly being blamed for moving my significant other's things so that he can't find them. (This complaint actually came up several times over the course of our camping trip!) Makes me feel a bit better that others are plagued by the same "missing-things-itis" and thus the resulting "blame-the-person-who-cleans-itis" at their house.
 However, it doesn't make it easier to deal with the daily search for "missing" items around my house. Especially when the said item is found later... usually in the last place where the person searching for it left it. 
The photos above highlight items that have been "moved" in the last two days. The irony of it all: I actually did move the items (which were all found in the master bathroom this evening??) to another room to photograph them. Let it be known, however, that I put all three back exactly where I found them.

Monday, May 07, 2012

A Member of the Wolfpack...

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born."
-Anais Nin


The best part of the weekend for me was hanging out with the girls. (And, when you ask Rob what his favorite part was, he'll say, "catching up with the guys.")
I've been around this group several times, but for the first time, I really felt like I was one of them. I finally felt comfortable enough to be myself. Which, I realize says a whole lot more about me than about the group itself. Making close friends for me takes time. It takes similar ambitions. It takes shared experiences. It takes a good bit of confidence. It takes putting myself out there. It takes letting my guard down.

This weekend all of that converged. I'm already looking forward to the next time we're all together (we've got the Color Run in Charlotte planned for October) and am hoping we keep in touch in the meantime. Even, if it's just an update on our C25K progress!
As much fun as we had and as much as I adore each and every one of the people we were with this weekend, there's nothing like hanging out with a bunch of different couples to remind me how grateful I am for my relationship with Rob. For our shared expectations. For the family dynamic we've created. For the routine of our little life together.

Camping with the Wolfpack...

“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity...” 
-John Muir 

We couldn't have asked for a better camping weekend. The weather was perfect... warm during the day, a little cool at night, overcast skies with the sun appearing every now and then, and most importantly, it sprinkled just long enough for us to put up the canopy and then was dry the rest of the weekend.


There was gossip around the campfire, paddle boats in the lake, and Catchphrase after quiet time. There was lots of girl talk and plenty of male bonding. There was chips and salsa, wolf sauce for the veggies, peach cobbler, and even butterfly cookie s'mores.
 

The highlight of the weekend was the highly organized double-elimination couples ladderball tournament. Rob and I were the first team eliminated, but not for lack of trying. Afterwards, we had the privilege of spectating (and building a trophy for the winners from beer bottles!). Competition was fierce and nerves became tense as the tournament neared the end. More than once the final throw of the round seemed like the last of the game, but miraculously landed on a rung to continue the match a little longer.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

currently...

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."
-Anthony J. D'Angelo



Time: 7:30 pm
Location: armchair in the living room
Eating: waiting patiently for sweet potato fries and grilled chicken
Drinking: a glass of water
Listening: Dr. John station on Pandora
Loving: that my husband seems especially tuned in to "us" this week
Enjoying: the wonderful feedback from my new email campaigns (freelance)
Celebrating: I ran for 20 minutes straight this morning (Wk 5, Day 3 of C25K)
Wanting: to dig into the snacks and drinks for our camping trip tomorrow
Needing: a break from freelance work
Preparing: our bags for camping
Thinking: about what extra supplies we need in case of rain
Making: butterfly sugar cookies all afternoon

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