Remembering Wholeness...

I have told about umpteen million people about this book...and about that many more have asked me about it.  Carol Tuttle's Remembering Wholeness is quite possibly the best, most helpful, validating, calming, amazing book I've ever read.  Her message is simple: connect with your "source" to claim the life you've always wanted.  Carol is an LDS author, but this is not an LDS book.  She shares her message in such a way that it's received by members of all faiths. Because I share many of her core beliefs, Remembering Wholeness really struck home with me.  Almost every single page of my copy is dog-eared, highlighted, underlined, filled with notes and thoughts or falling out from constant use.  I use this book in the morning...and then again before I fall asleep, after I read my scriptures.

I also have a TON of Carol's other goodies, too! MANY talks, other books and workbooks, and courses.  They were ALL worth it!  I can't believe how big of a blessing she's been in my life.

PLEASE visit Carol's site and have a peek around! All of her stuff is available under the store tab (It's been a LONG time since I've been able to find her books in stores!), but the rest of her site is pretty dang amazing too!

Hope you enjoy!

Much Love,

j

New Loves...

I have a few new Loves in my life... Want to meet them?

This is my Christmas. It was a surprise a week early, so I could practice and play it during the Christmas Program in Sacrament Meeting ON Christmas day. It sounds and smells and IS amazing. :)  Thank you Santa's! (Yes, about 4 were involved in this delivery!)  He doesn't have a name yet, but I'm thinking it needs to be something cut and hunky.  Suggestions?

Next,

Yes, I know that Hallelujah isn't new.  It's classic!!! It's a New Love, however, because guess what...I can ACTUALLY PLAY SOME OF IT!!! It's haunting and lovely and peaceful and calming...and it's my goal for the next few months to perfect it.  Wish me luck.

And...
Have you met my most favorite thing in the WHOLE world?

This is my nephew.  My sweet, sweet Ethan Jon.  I am so lucky that Brandon and Andrea have trusted me enough to let me play as often as I get to.  This pic was on his 2 week birthday...he is now almost 4 months old!!! I can't believe it!

He is growing up SO fast!!!  Thank you, Mr. Ethan for loving me as much as I love you...

Much Love,

j

Why do I always give away the stuff I make...?

Seriously.  I love you guys, but I so want to be able to justify making something that stays with me!  Haha! You know...if I make something for me, I'm being selfish and wasting my time doing blank instead blank...  At least that's what I spend a lot of my time telling myself.
Anyway, I've been working on this happy bit for about 3 weeks and it wasn't until a few days ago that I found the perfect picture for the frame.  Promise me, Brie that YOU WON'T LOOK AT THE PICTURE!!! Cause, yes.  It's for you... ;)

The super cute gelatin mold is from one of Wild Olive's happy patterns from the Food Friends 2 pack.  So stinking cute! I can't wait until I have time to make them ALL...and maybe even keep one of them for myself...

Much Love,

j

2012...

I've done a lot of thinking about the "BIG" things that I should accomplish this next year.  I did some pretty amazing things in 2011...even if they weren't marked momentous in the lives of everyone else! Ha! What's sad is even though they all meant the world to me...I didn't get around to documenting them here.  Lame.  So...here's a simplified version of my ta-da's from this last year:

*realizing, getting prepared and ready and attending the temple
*FINALLY being "ready" to teach guitar
*moving on
*beginning and FINISHING the worlds more difficult baby quilt for my most favorite thing in the world (it was a serious dangerous, hard, forced creativity, time consuming, butt kicking project...)
*losing poundage
*decorating on a fairly regular basis...for a couple of months straight...
*understanding the Atonement
*figuring out my "Type".  Yep, I'm a ONE!!!
*being the best tanta ever! ;)
&
*playing guitar with my daddy on Christmas day during the Sacrament Meeting Christmas program...

...I just looked at my list of wants from January...  Not many of them happened.  I guess it was because I was busy doing 800 million other things... :)

Here is my current list of wants for 2012.  I'm sure it's going to change 365 times, but that's okay.  As long as I've got something awesome going on, I'm happy... ;)

*Learn how to run 
*Keep losing
*Embroider more (PS, I ADORE Wild Olive!!!)
*the BIG one
*go to the temple at least twice a month
*keep teaching (and learning) the guitar
*get over the dang stage fright already!
*read a new book each month
*get Christmas made by Thanksgiving...
*buy a new car
*change my self perceptions...
*blog more...let's aim for at least once a week... ;)
&...

Keep your fingers crossed for me...

Much Love,

j

Happy Christmas...

Much Love,

j

***Thank you, cute Des for the most amazing pic.  I swiped it... ;)

jdb...

My.  Dad.  Is.  Awesome...

Much Love,

j

Perfect...

{image via pinterest. / thereadables.tumblr.com}

I first found this from Marta, who just happens to have a crazy classy blog that I adore, and thought that it was absolutely PERFECT for today...seeing how, it's less than 12 hours until Go Time...  ;)

Much Love,

j

The 5 White Frames...August...

Remember how I told you that I had all sorts of goodies all printed up and ready to be swapped out for the July pics? Yeah...most of them were a tad too small.  Dang.  But...that posed an interesting challenge! I got to dig around and play in found pics, old books, and pulled out magazine articles.  I LOVE they way they turned out!  I love the mix of colors.  They're all so happy and summery. 

See?! The colors are fun together!

(Yes, that's my hat.  No, I don't wear it.  In public...)

I absolutely LOVED how you can see my chandeliers in this one!

I thought it went really well with the Marie Antoinette gang. 

The goat was from a really old pilfered copy of Three Billy Goats from Liberty. :)

I love goats...

Marie Antoinette and her Birthday Cake.

(I want my B-day cake to look just like it.  Just sayin'...)

You can see it a bit better in the other pics, but the small one says,

"Enjoy the Ride"

I love it...and swiped it from Shabby Blogs...I love Shabby Blogs...

Much Love,

j

I've been tagged...

4 months ago...(Sorry Kels!) I've been not...paying attention... (LARGE things have been on my mind lately! ;)) Sounds like terrible fun, though!

{i've been tagged}

     

4 shows I watch:

1) Bones (I CANNOT for the life of me understand WHY more people don't watch this show. I. LOVE. IT.)

 

2) Jonathan Creek 

3) How I Met Your Mother
4) Nova

4 things I'm passionate about:

1) My Art (Even though it's sort of...far and few between, lately.)

2) Music

 

3) My Job (I LOVE my job!)
4) My Faith (Ditto! Darling Kels! It's just one of those core, unwavering beliefs...)

4 phrases I say a lot:

1) DUDE! (Yeah.  I'm all but 30 and still say, "DUDE!" about 20 billion times a day.)

 

2) Yes, Love?

3) Gah! (this is more used in texting, but it's still used a lot!

4) Seriously!? (Both as a question AND as a statement!)

4 things I have learned from the past:

1) Trust in my Heavenly Father and I can do anything.

2)  Mr. Rogers knew his stuff.

 

3)  Elementary school is the best!

4)  Life doesn't happen according to "my plan".  (And that's okay-see #1)

 

4 things I did yesterday:

1)  Ate Del Taco while watching Bones (season 3)

2)  Made The 5 White Frames for August

3)  Listened to JET

 

4) Watched it rain...and rain...and rain...and rain...

 

4 places I would love to visit:

1) Pennsylvania and DC for some American History.

2) Japan

3) England
4) The Jellyfish lake in Phuket.

4 things I'm looking forward to:

1) 8:30 am, August 10th, 2011  :)

2) The newest Dansie arriving.

3) The abundance of zucchini that late August always brings.

4) Weird, I know...but going back to work! I miss the routine...and my great Liberty friends!

4 things I love about spring:

1) Tulips

2) WARM SUN, but being able to still get away with cardigans.

3)  The end of school...

4)  The happiness that Easter brings! (okay...the giddiness the Easter/April Martha Stewart brings me...)

 

TAG! YOU'RE IT!! Now, it's you're turn, ANNNDEEE!!!, Miss Larson, Des! (I know how busy you are Des, but I'd LOVE to see your answers!)

 

Much Love,

 

j

 

It's Official...

I FINALLY have a date! No...not that date. Or even THAT ONE. 

This one:

After years of refusal (an interesting story about me and "My Plan", rather than my Heavenly Father's plan for me...) and months of not seeing, I was prompted.  NOW was the time.  Now was the time I was to go through the temple.  Not live worthily and see what happens, but "Do what you are supposed to do to be ready...NOW."  So, after a meeting with the bishop, a time goal was set, callings were accepted, assignments taken on.  He, of course, kept close tabs on me...and after I got through my speaking assignment in Sacrament Meeting last week, I was called in again.

"Do you remember what time we said?"

"Three months-ish."

"Yes.  How many months has it been?"

"About three months."

"Go ahead and pick your date...you're ready."

I've never been so happy, giddy, smiley, bouncy in my life.  I called and made the appointment this morning!  I'm going to the 10 AM session at the Salt Lake Temple: ON MY 30TH BIRTHDAY!  I'm feeling butterflies: that wonderful mix of anticipation, wonderment and excitement all rolled into one.  It feels like I have so much to do-and learn before I go through...with so little time to do it in...but it absolutely feels...

RIGHT. 

Much Love,

j

*I'll keep you posted.  :)

The 5 White Frames...July...

I had blog jealousy after reading and seeing so many awesome, happy, fun, creative, cute, crafty spaces.  Then, instead of feeling sorry about my dirty, dusty space, I sprung into action, cleaned and dusted and re-routed my computer wires and gussied up the top of the hutch.  I pulled out my beloved Marshall (I ADORE this thing!!! Thanks Daddy!) and my art/graphic design/Adobe books from hiding and tucked a few more goodies into my version of "that thing I covet at Brie's house" aka The Folded Book and...then? The rest of the space felt empty.  Then...my super cute mom came to the rescue with the God Bless America...print over at the SUPERFANTASIC Landee See, Landee Do blog and it got me thinking...two days later

The 5 White Frames were born!!! :)

What do you think? My most excellent plan is to change them out for the month/holiday/season or whenever I find a pic that I adore.  Here are July's: 

*The rectangular frame on top of the block has a vintage little boy holding a firecracker that says,

"Will you go OFF with me on the 4th?"

HA! I so loved it!

Because my birthday (Shh...the big 30!) is next month, I have a mix of b-day and other fab finds that make me happy, like Marie Antoinette and Alice in Wonderland pics all picked out...  It really is a happy, inspiring mix. I promise...  Stay tuned! :)

Much Love,

j

Ahh...

THIS is my official drink of Summer.  NOT Country Time Lemonade, like the ad on Pandora was trying to convince me.  Orange Fanta always has and always will be Summer for me.  It's my fave...thank heavens that I discovered Fanta Zero (a big THANK YOU goes out to the happy people at the Coca-Cola Company for their Zero genius!)!  And, I especially love it with my awesome blue straw...

Much Love,

j

Oooh...

I am SO excited for this!  I downloaded the book today!
I heart my Nook so much!


Much Love,

j

Best. Trip. Ever...!

Thank you, Orlando for:

making me dizzy
and a little bit nauseous
and giddy
and exhausted
and hungry
and HOT
and dampish
and soaked
and full
making me scream
and laugh-a lot...
fanta twist floats
the Tower
meeting the Yeti (again...and again...and again...)
foot-long churros
Vinylmation
front row
and back row
Aerosmith with sub woofers
the great people watching...

...and these:

{YES! We were in the front row!!}

{Another front row!}

{This one we were in the back for all but 1 or the 5 times we rode it...in one day...}

{I SOOO loved this ride!  It's in the dark-but this video has the lights on...}

{AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!!!!!}

(I didn't take any of these videos...they were all borrowed from YouTube... )

Pictures will come soon...I promise!

Much Love,

j

Old...yellow...different...

Those aren't what you think they are.  I know what you're thinking...because I thought it too.  I know you think they look like old, withered, jaundiced...bits.
But they're not.
They're old, withered...lemon slices.
I cut up a hand full of old lemons to simmer on the stove...and these just happened to float-then dance-on the top...

Sorry to make you snot.

Much Love,

j

Oblivion...

The other day I rewatched The Stepford Wives-the awesome 2004 version-and got to thinking:

How nice...

Now, don't get all medieval womans rights on me.  Hear me out:

How nice would it be to have the perfect:
body
hair
nails
family
house
meals
cupcakes (Ooooh...the cupcakes...)
life...?
AND...how nice would it be to have time to do it all...WHILE you're being the person everyone thinks you should be. Seriously? HOW NICE WOULD THAT BE?!

Sometimes I really wish...

Much Love,

j

"It's like an iPod for my books"...

Yeah, I'm special...
BUT, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!! :)

...The countdown begins...

Much Love,

j

Day: The Fourteenth...

Day 14 - put your ipod on shuffle and write ten songs that pop up...

 

YAY!  Today is the day that I've been waiting for!  I have over 7000 songs and books and scripture and videos and happy things on my iPod...it should be interesting to see what surfaces...  ;)
 
10 Totally Random Bits of iPod Bliss:

1. Magical Mystery Tour - Cheap Trick, Greatest Hits
2. All That's Yet To Come - Glen Burtnik, Welcome to Hollywood
3. Suite From The Polar Express - Alan Silvestri, The Polar Express
4. Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down, The Better Life
5. X-Ray Eyes - Kiss, Dynasty
6. Ch. 03 Acts (New Testament).  Yep.  The Bible.
7. Mother Dear - Styx, Equinox
8. Ch. 24 Matthew (New Testament)
9. Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd, (Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd)
10. Here Comes Santa Claus - .38 Special, A Wild-Eyed Christmas Night

I LOVE that two Christmas songs and two New Testament chapters pulled up! 

Here's some fun info: I absolutely ADORE song #2 (and was chosen to add a blurb of ME on Glen's opening song when this happy CD is plugged into a computer!). I can play a bit of song #4 on my guitar, and song #9 is on my top 10 list of all time favorite songs. And of course, band #7 is my fave of faves...always and forever.  I heart Styx.  SO much...

Much Love,

j

Day: The Thirteenth...

Day 13 - a picture of someone/something that has had the biggest impact on you...

Easy.

My Mom: for showing me what being a good mom, teacher, friend, wife, teacher, and awesome, creative person really looks and acts like.

My Dad: for my absolute love for music, teaching me about tools-and letting me know it's okay to use them, and for helping me figure out just what I'm looking for in a hubby.

B, seriously, the best brother anyone could ask for: for teaching me something new daily, for his love of the Gospel, for opening a new world for me, and for being the one who says, "Here's what I think you should do."

Andrea: for loving my B, loving me, her creative spirit, listening ear and hugs...and for the important job she's doing right now...

I love you all SO much.  Thank you...

Much Love,

j

So Many Books...

{30}

I found this list on a link on my new favorite blog: M Christine Weber.  I was surprised to see how many I actually HAD read! :)

***


The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions: Look at the list and put an '*' after those you have read. Title your post with the number you've read.
***

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen *

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien *

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte *

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *

6 The Bible - Too Many Cooks

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte *

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman *

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens *

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott *

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien *

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger *

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald *

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll *

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame *

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis *

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden *

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne *

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell *

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown *

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding *

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert X

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen *

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens *

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley *

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold *

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville *

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno – Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White *

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad *

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams *

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare *

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl *

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
 
***
30...and theres many more on this list that I WANT to read...
 
Much Love,
 
j