okay… so i’m switching back to my wordpress account. blogsome is getting under my skin and i can’t do what i want (mostly because i’m just not well-versed in HTML and don’t care enough to learn just for my blog). i know i seriously JUST gave some of you the link to this one, but now you can just go here to the new blog. goodbye, blogsome, i will (not) miss you.
Today I am posting my first "celebration of friends" (the odes to your name here I was telling you guys to stay tuned for). But before I post that later on… I finally decided to create an etsy.com seller account to sell some of my cards. I’m only posting a few to see how it goes before I post the rest of them — some of the newer ones are going up today. That said… click here to see my etsy "shop." There are a few fees associated with listing and selling items, but they’re much better than choosing to sell in a local boutique and it keeps the cards cheaper for my buyers. I factored in those fees when setting a listing price and if it still proves to be a little high, I’ll bring it down. The only shipping fee for buyers is the value of a postage stamp (all of my cards are small enough to place in a standard envelope). Best part: you can "heart" me and my shop! If you like my cards, be sure to add me as a favorite or show some "heart."
I value your input, so leave me a comment or shoot me an email with your opinion on the cards (would you like to see more posted, is the pricing too high, etc…). Love you guys! Be back later…
if you watch the biggest loser, you know who i’m talking about. what a badass! He’s a hardcore trainer, but my favorite part is how caring and inspirational he is with his contestants. He finds that one good thing that people can find in themselves and totally builds their confidence on that ONE thing (I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because of some of my classes and now that I’m hoping to start teaching in the fall… so I’ll probably post a blog about that later on because it’s just one more of those things that I’ve been holding in the back of my mind and it’s popping up everywhere i turn). People who just feel too fat, lazy, unmotivated - "I’m too fat, I’m too lazy, I’ll never be able to lose all of that weight, I’m worthless……" and so on and so on… it’s a vicious cycle of self deprecation. But he really knows how to get in there and make those wheels turn in the opposite direction. A few of my friends hate watching The Biggest Loser because it’s "too unrealistic" for this kind of dramatic change to take place in a person. But… really?? Are you really that pessimistic? I think it’s absolutely possible and it shows in the interviews with previous contestants, current contestants… their lives are truly changed along with their thought process. Love it! Bob Harper is sort of my idol in that respect. I’m by no means a health freak or a gym rat, but I do love his approach. He accepts no excuses. It’s all about your choices and most of you who know me pretty well are aware of my stance on this — it’s all about the choices you make. But… I digress.
AND i say all of that because: he is going to be at the Books-A-Million in Discover Mills tonight!!! I’m seriously considering skipping my 5pm class to go meet him. Or would that completely be in opposition to this whole "choices" thing? Haha.
i seriously cannot believe that this semester is almost o-v-e-r! thursday is my last class day. while i’m DEFINITELY ready for summer (my first summer break since the one before i left for college… why did i take classes every summer???), i am a little sad that the months passed by so quickly. but, just three more class periods, two papers, a test and a final and i am done and it will be SUMMER! i don’t know if i said this or not but, ummm, i really can’t believe it! 
does anyone know if this is poison ivy??
i was walking through the yard on the side of my house (or maybe i was really just creeping to admire my neighbors’ amazing landscaping) and when i got to the backyard, i found this plant sprouting up in a few different places. actually… it’s kind of invading half of my backyard, as you can see from the last picture. so… what do you think it is? poison ivy/oak?
Posting for Kathy and because I don’t want to forget to plug this: To Write Love On Her Arms. You can read all about it on the website and learn a lot about it from the FAQ’s. You’re probably asking what it is and here is a simplified answer, straight from the website’s FAQ’s:
But, for me, the most appropriate description and call to action is on the main page in Renee’s story. There is a reference to Miller’s Blue Like Jazz, which is funny since I seriously JUST referenced it in yesterday’s posting. For me, this is the heartbeat of their message (emphasis is my own):
Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we’re called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.
We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. ……………..
[I wish that people would realize this is a better way to change the world than doing it through politics. Welfare and all the healthcare plans in the world won’t show people that they are loved.]
So, yea… go check it out. And when Kathy gets her new blog up, I’ll ask her to post her own blog about it again and link you guys to it. Donate if you want (I bought a $1 bracelet from the store… with shipping it was a little more, but any donation is worth something). Or boldly plug it if you don’t have any extra money. Or do both if you really believe in these guys and their organization. Or, don’t do any of these things. Your choice. But I think it’s a worthy cause, especially if you’ve been touched by this kind of illness or know someone who has — you’ll get it without even needing to read the story.
———
EDIT: Kathy put up her blog. You can read it here.
These are questions from a study on Blue Like Jazz (love that book)… and I really want to know what YOU guys think (don’t be shy):
And a couple more of my own:
Here’s what I think (so far):
#1: The only answer I can think of right now is a quote I’ll have to rip off from (I think) Louis Armstrong: "If you don’t understand, I can’t explain it to you!" When Paul and I were newly in love and finding out what that felt like and what it meant, I had so many of my friends ask me what it was like, how would I explain it? And all I could think was that quote from Armstrong. If you haven’t yet felt it or had a glimpse of it, how do I explain that?? So… how does that translate to describing the unseen in other ways? Like our faith, the idea of a soul, a spirit, a mind, a body… ??? This is a concept I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, no doubt spurred on a little (or maybe a lot, haha) by reading Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. There’s so much in there about the different aspects of the human life: body, soul (daemon), ghost, spirit… and now I’m super-mega-hyper curious to know your take on the matter. And I’m sure I’ll blog as I keep searching to find an "answer"… or at least an explanation.
#2: The obvious: love, faith, beauty… but then I wonder how would I explain that happiness you get when you first learn how to do something? (like riding a bike, finally understanding how to do that crazy hard math problem…). Or that feeling you get when everything seems right with the world… just that little something happens and you look at everything around you and realize you have all you’ll ever need and that "this" (whatever it is at that moment) is what life is all about, anyway. I guess that one falls under love maybe? But you get it…
#3: I’m still working on this one… I’ll think about it and maybe get back to it by tonight.
Well, life is happening and I’ve got to shower and get ready for a wedding shower. Life update later.
I mentioned before that I’m starting to make cards again and hopefully build up my collection so that I can sell them soon. I’ve got Birthday, Thank You, and Congrats collections in the works. Some are bold and colorful for spring and summer and others are more earthy and toned down. If you like any of my cards or need one for an upcoming event, let me know! I am open to "orders." If you like one of the samples, but would like it even more in a different color or with a different pattern, just let me know. Almost all of my cards include hand embossed stamp designs and I am making more to include eyelets, ribbons and other "flair." I’m most likely going to post them on a site and selling them online, but I have yet to figure out pricing and I want to get a few more samples and collections going before I venture into that arena. So… yea. I love my cards and I hope you do, too!
So… here are a few of the samples from my first batch (the file sizes are a little weird):
Dove is hand embossed in "Midnight Ruby Obsidian"
"thank you" and quote are embossed with fine line silver.
Stamp is embossed in fine line silver.
Dragonflies and quote are all embossed with clear detail powder over a milk chocolate brown ink.
"thank you" - embossed with clear detail powder over forest green pigment.
Dragonfly - embossed.
Paisley designs and "Happy Birthday" - embossed. Cake is gold metallic pigment over black chalk pigment.
in case you were wondering what’s underneath all that fur…
Stanie before his bath:
And then after…
And again after shaking it all out…
What a cutie
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