I ran across a website (thanks to Trina) called Spoonflower where you can purchase amazing designs on fabric. I thought this (kunda linen) set by Holli Zollinger is AMAZING! Seriously makes me want to sew something ... might have to get a sewing machine first, but that's just logistics right?
disposable hipsta
Did a little shared camera action with Trina Baker over at Gallery32. We tested out the new disposable hipstamatic app where multiple people can share the same "camera" within the app and shoot off of the same "roll." You don't get to see what the photos look like till the entire roll has been shot. That's kind of fun, but at the same time frustrating now that we have instant view on damn near every camera on the market! Anyhoo ... it also had some kind of leak and such to give it that old school feel. While it was fun, I would not make it my full time camera ... but for a specific series, could be fun! Like tonight! If you're having a New Year's Eve party - have everyon w/an iPhone get the app, share the same camera(s) and see what you get at the end of the night!
The first set is my contribution and the second Trina's.
this Christmas
Let me start this post by saying I love Christmas. I love the traditions that are created around holidays - specifically Christmas. When I was a kid we packed in a full day of family - having my father's parents over in the morning, opening gifts and having lunch together then in the afternoon we'd head to the farm to be with my mother's side of the family. As I have gotten older, those traditions have changed - some family members don't make it back because they are with the "other side of the family," the next generation becomes host and that changes venues and menus, some grow ill and some even pass away. Change is inevitable. Maya Angelou said "life is a gift, and I try to respond with grace and courtesy." It's quite fitting for where I am in life right now. So many of my traditions have changed, making my 30's a little bit unstable. I could not be more thankful for the 30+ years of family filled festivities, but I see change coming to my future.
That said .. I spent the month of December brunching, lunching and dining with friends and catching up on all the good times we've had this past year. I made the trip back home to Kansas for a few days over the Christmas holiday where I got to spend time with my immediate family (minus one). I met little Jackson (in green above) who will literally steel your heart - he just couldn't be more laid back. He smiles about everything and at everyone and barely makes a peep! Then there's Austin (in orange above) who is a boy's boy - rough and tumble and skeptical of everything, but once he decide's you're OK, a bunch of fun and so full of energy it's exhausting to watch him!
Sadly, my grandmother took a turn for the worst and had to be put on oxygen and breathing treatments. She was coughing so deep it sounded like it took every muscle in her body to produce. It was hard to see, but I am so glad she was able to celebrate another Christmas. At 92, she's had one good long life and is still with us after having a stroke 14 months ago. That's an impressive will to live! And God bless my mother for taking care of her all of those months! I cannot imagine how difficult life has been for her, but my grandmother could not be in better hands.
Life sometimes throws us tough times and I figure they only make us stronger. I hope you were able to spend time celebrating the holiday with your family and friends! All the best for a shiny new year!
merry merry
Here it is ... the first ever photo Christmas card. I paid a visit to the hair salon and promptly came home and shot some selfies. I think it turned out pretty good and have gotten some pretty funny (positive) feedback. I printed via Tiny Prints and think they did a great job. I, of course, wanted to do something different than the standard template (I'm such a designer) but let that go and rolled with it. Maybe next year I will get my sh*t together a little bit earlier and design my own. Put those graphic skills to work!
I hope you are having a wonderful time with friends and family! Happy Christmas (as the Brits would say)!
30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself
When you stop chasing the wrong things you give
the right things a chance to catch you.
As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends.
- Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
- Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled
.
- Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now.
- Stop trying to be someone you’re not. – One of the greatest challenges in life is being yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. Someone will always be prettier, someone will always be smarter, someone will always be younger, but they will never be you. Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you.
- Stop trying to hold onto the past. – You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.
- Stop being scared to make a mistake. – Doing something and getting it wrong is at least ten times more productive than doing nothing. Every success has a trail of failures behind it, and every failure is leading towards success. You end up regretting the things you did NOT do far more than the things you did.
- Stop berating yourself for old mistakes. – We may love the wrong person and cry about the wrong things, but no matter how things go wrong, one thing is for sure, mistakes help us find the person and things that are right for us. We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here NOW with the power to shape your day and your future. Every single thing that has ever happened in your life is preparing you for a moment that is yet to come.
- Stop trying to buy happiness. – Many of the things we desire are expensive. But the truth is, the things that really satisfy us are totally free – love, laughter and working on our passions.
- Stop exclusively looking to others for happiness. – If you’re not happy with who you are on the inside, you won’t be happy in a long-term relationship with anyone else either. You have to create stability in your own life first before you can share it with someone else. Read Stumbling on Happiness
.
- Stop being idle. – Don’t think too much or you’ll create a problem that wasn’t even there in the first place. Evaluate situations and take decisive action. You cannot change what you refuse to confront. Making progress involves risk. Period! You can’t make it to second base with your foot on first.
- Stop thinking you’re not ready. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means we won’t feel totally comfortable at first.
- Stop getting involved in relationships for the wrong reasons. – Relationships must be chosen wisely. It’s better to be alone than to be in bad company. There’s no need to rush. If something is meant to be, it will happen – in the right time, with the right person, and for the best reason. Fall in love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.
- Stop rejecting new relationships just because old ones didn’t work. – In life you’ll realize that there is a purpose for everyone you meet. Some will test you, some will use you and some will teach you. But most importantly, some will bring out the best in you.
- Stop trying to compete against everyone else. – Don’t worry about what others doing better than you. Concentrate on beating your own records every day. Success is a battle between YOU and YOURSELF only.
- Stop being jealous of others. – Jealousy is the art of counting someone else’s blessings instead of your own. Ask yourself this: “What’s something I have that everyone wants?”
- Stop complaining and feeling sorry for yourself. – Life’s curveballs are thrown for a reason – to shift your path in a direction that is meant for you. You may not see or understand everything the moment it happens, and it may be tough. But reflect back on those negative curveballs thrown at you in the past. You’ll often see that eventually they led you to a better place, person, state of mind, or situation. So smile! Let everyone know that today you are a lot stronger than you were yesterday, and you will be.
- Stop holding grudges. – Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the answer… let go, find peace, liberate yourself! And remember, forgiveness is not just for other people, it’s for you too. If you must, forgive yourself, move on and try to do better next time.
- Stop letting others bring you down to their level. – Refuse to lower your standards to accommodate those who refuse to raise theirs.
- Stop wasting time explaining yourself to others. – Your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe it anyway. Just do what you know in your heart is right.
- Stop doing the same things over and over without taking a break. – The time to take a deep breath is when you don’t have time for it. If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.
- Stop overlooking the beauty of small moments. – Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things. The best portion of your life will be the small, nameless moments you spend smiling with someone who matters to you.
- Stop trying to make things perfect. – The real world doesn’t reward perfectionists, it rewards people who get things done. Read Getting Things Done
.
- Stop following the path of least resistance. – Life is not easy, especially when you plan on achieving something worthwhile. Don’t take the easy way out. Do something extraordinary.
- Stop acting like everything is fine if it isn’t. – It’s okay to fall apart for a little while. You don’t always have to pretend to be strong, and there is no need to constantly prove that everything is going well. You shouldn’t be concerned with what other people are thinking either – cry if you need to – it’s healthy to shed your tears. The sooner you do, the sooner you will be able to smile again.
- Stop blaming others for your troubles. – The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility – you give others power over that part of your life.
- Stop trying to be everything to everyone. – Doing so is impossible, and trying will only burn you out. But making one person smile CAN change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. So narrow your focus.
- Stop worrying so much. – Worry will not strip tomorrow of its burdens, it will strip today of its joy. One way to check if something is worth mulling over is to ask yourself this question: “Will this matter in one year’s time? Three years? Five years?” If not, then it’s not worth worrying about.
- Stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. – Focus on what you do want to happen. Positive thinking is at the forefront of every great success story. If you awake every morning with the thought that something wonderful will happen in your life today, and you pay close attention, you’ll often find that you’re right.
- Stop being ungrateful. – No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs. Instead of thinking about what you’re missing, try thinking about what you have that everyone else is missing.
via marcandangel.com
What a way to begin a new year!
let it snow
8mm app video via iPhone of the most adorable snow globe - purchased today at West Elm. Merry Christmas!
Elf on the Shelf - a set on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649
via flickr.com
We didn't do elf on a shelf when I was a kid, though we did have an elf that topped our mistletoe. I think the elf on a shelf is such a cute idea, and hands down the best ideas I've seen are from Allison from Snippets from Suburbia. I have no idea how she comes up with such creative ideas... I've followed her photography for a while now over on Flickr and her 365 self portrait set was fabulous too! I am really enjoying her elf on a shelf set and thought I'd share it here.
30 days of gratitude : twenty nine & thirty
30 days of gratitude :: Day 29 & 30 :: light & self portrait ... OK, so I'm cheating a tiny little bit on the challenge here. I don't feel bad since most everyone bailed on me, but I have to say that some of the subjects on this one kind of sucked. Why do I want to photograph "nightmare" for a gratitude challenge? You know? So, anyhoo... I decided to combine the last two items into today's photo and wrap this challenge up! I got my hair done today (was way overdue for a cut & color) and came straight home to take selfies for my first every holiday photo card. I figure why not, right? So I'm single. Why can't I send a photo of myself to my friends and family? I have stayed away from this in years past, but people seem to enjoy my self portraits so what the heck ... I did it. And I had to expedite shipping since I realized today that Christmas is only two weeks away! OMG!
10 on 10 :: 27 of 30 :: hello sloane
Oh what a day! It's 10 on 10 challenge day { on the weekend, yeah! } and day 27 of my 30 days of gratitude challenge and the first time I get to see my bf/sister's new baby girl!! So let's jump right into the fun!!
day 27 of 30 :: daily routine :: I start every day with a cup of tea. I love the little leaf stem on the forte triangular tea bags!
Then I hit the new market at the Evanston Ecology center - was hoping for a couple of vendors to be there, but sadly they were not ... maybe next week. We saw some good stuff tho!
Then it was time to hit the road ... it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright ... if only it wasn't so cold!
I arrived in Chesterton just a couple of hours after momma and baby came home from the hospital. Little Sloane was all snug as a bug... she is super cute and so stinkin' tiny she doesn't even fit into premie clothes! Look at her tiny little bracelet!
I spent a little time snuggling with her before we decided to start the photoshoot. I gotta give huge props to baby photographers!!! I do not have any idea how the pose these little munchkins. They just don't cooperate. I'm thinking maybe she was a little too young at only five days old, but I did get a couple of cuties! Holly purchased this crazy long santa hat off etsy and she wanted to try to recreate the shot from the website - impossible!!
After Sloane was done with her first photoshoot, Holly's friend Nikki came over to bring them dinner { so nice } and hung around for a little bit. Her adorable little boy was so excited to hold the baby.
Meanwhile, Bella was busy taking photos with her camera. I caught her snapping a self portrait and asked her to show me. She's such a ham...
I hung around till it was about dinner time for the Pittman clan ... snapped a few photos of Jeff with his little girl before I left. He is one proud papa! Oh and I caught the BEST baby yawn! Oh how I love a baby yawn!!!
Oh and I had to snap a photo of Xavier's sign. He made this adorable little sign to hang on the hospital room door - they said the nurses were gaga over it. Apparently this was a first.
Couldn't officially leave till I got one more snap of Sloane and her big sister Bella B! We were cracking up because it looks like Sloan is throwing the peace sign...
Back on the road home...
What a great day! And then I arrived home to this adorable Christmas Card from my friend Kathryn. Happy Everything!!!
30 days of gratitude : twenty six
30 days of gratitude :: Day 26 :: transportation ... we had our first measurable snow this morning. Just a dusting really, but it was rather slick underneath. I'm so not ready for winter. I feel like the year has just flown by and I have no idea where it went. I did pick up a new "car shovel" because they are forecasting a snowy winter. I've lived in Chicago sixteen years and this is the first shovel I've purchased. And I can say that I have only needed assistance digging out two times in those sixteen years. Not bad ehh?