Day 21

Every year we take a break from wearing pajamas and lounging to run to a craft store... because well, it is just fun! So here we are running into Michael's with the unbridled joy of children!!

Day 20

Cheers! A beer toast with Beth ~ so good to be with friends this weekend. A much needed respite for me. Not that my life is exceptionally difficult, but I really needed a few days of laughs, relaxation and girl time. It is just an added bonus that I get to work on a hobby I love and come home with something "finished".

Day 19

I have arrived! Baltimore is cool, crisp and sunny like home. We stopped at Harris Crab House and had some lunch. We had an incredibly rich cream of crab soup ~ it was so thick my spoon could stand in the middle of it! I couldn't finish mine but it was quite tasty. Then we walked along the empty dock and set the camera up for a picture. Off to the beach for our girls weekend...

Day 18

Not much going on today. Preparing to go to Delaware for my annual scrapbook weekend in Rehoboth Beach. I actually took a photo of my suitcase ready to go...but I am still learning how to upload from camera. I was hoping to do it wirelessly but I can't figure it out and am too lazy to hook up the cable for one photo.

So in lieu of documenting my packing efforts, I took a photo of this double amaryllis. My uncle Steve gave it to us for Christmas and when we got it, you couldn't see anything but the moss. It has begun to sprout and thrive in my kitchen. I am looking forward to seeing the blooms. I'll post a picture when it blooms!

Day 17

Rain, rain, rain. This gray bleakness outside is gonna kill me! But one thing it is good for is making me tackle all those stacks of papers, bills, etc. So I turned on some music, cleared the kitchen table and went through stacks of papers. I paid bills, filed bills, made new folders, shredded LOTS and recycled the rest. As much as I hate to do paperwork, and I do hate it, it felt so good to be on the other side of it looking at a clean desk top and everything in its place. For now.

My Word for 2012

As many of you know or remember last year, my word for the year was GRACE. I needed a year of introspection, really examining relationships in my life, forgiving things in my past and even things in my present. I must say it was a word that was very tough to live out but I am glad I tried.

When the new year rang in, I had not yet decided on my word for 2012.

I had been wrestling with some feelings of sadness brought on by the holidays, a tragic accident in our town, and a death in our family. Because of those feelings, I felt more pressed than ever to live in the moment. Really grasp the taste and essence of everyday life ~ good, bad, and ugly ~ and just feel joy for having experienced it.

That is when I realized my word for the year would be EMBRACE.

I would like to in 2012:

Embrace

~ love (my family, always)

~ laughter

~ friendships (old and new)

~ honesty

~ forgiveness

~ knowledge (learn new things)

~ success in my business

~ the world (ie: travel!!)

~ the ordinary every day moments that could be our last

~ books (read those books I've been wanting to read forever)

~ faith (not just praying, but living it out with actions)

~ giving (find ways to give that are meaningful every week)

~ life

I hope you will choose a word for 2012 and share it in the comments section with me. I would love to know what words are your focus for the new year.

Day 16

So, it was MLK day today and as much as I would like to say I did something educational with my kids, I did not. We all headed through the drizzle to the bowling alley and laid out some strikes! I love this angle, mostly because it does not show my back side. I love the reflection of the bowling balls painted on the wall down the lane. I took one of each of us like this and then had Ben take one of me ~ this is what he got. Pretty cool.