enJOY it

this is another story about shoes.

July 6, 2012

(This post will make much more sense if you read this one from summer 2007.)

Once upon a time, the shoe on the left looked like the shoe on the right. It was a replacement shoe, for the first pair had been worn mighty thin after a few years in college. The shoe was honored to step into the role of primary sandal and happily boarded a plane to Maryland to go live with a boy. All the other shoes (and clothes and craft supplies) were packed into three suitcases and a cardboard box and had to ride under the plane.

For three years, the shoe lived in Maryland. And let's be honest, didn't get out as often as it would have liked. But the summers were hot, and thank goodness for that. On some summer days (and a few still-too-cold-spring ones when the owner was fooling herself) the shoe took the metro into DC and walked from Dupont to Georgetown (where it was tucked into a bag until the workday was done) and then the shoe walked back to Dupont and rode the Metro back home again. The shoe was honored to spend some time during those warm months walking around DC and going to BBQs. The shoe felt a bit more special on the East Coast, where it was somewhat of a novelty. In Southern California, the shoe felt like it was always tripping over other people in Rainbows.

In March 2010, the shoe moved back home to California. It watched (if a shoe could watch) with wide eyes all the wedding hoopla. It visited Palm Desert for a bachelorette party and then wandered the hotel on the wedding day until it was time to be set aside for fancy orange heels. No sweat off the shoe's back sole though, because after the wedding, the shoe won favor and was the only shoe to fly all the way to Bora Bora for a honeymoon.

And then, the shoe moved to San Diego. It lived a happy life in that sandals-only town. In fact, based on use, the shoe is pretty sure it was the only option in rotation. It walked to Waterfront. It walked to the gelato place. It walked to the art store. It walked downtown. It walked everywhere it could. It was a pretty great walking year, if you ask the shoe.

In August 2011, after a summer that was cut much too short, the shoe went to LAX to drop off Paul and found itself covered in tears. After that, things slowed down quite a bit. No walks to Waterfront. No walks to the gelato place. (Though there continued to be lots of walks to the art store and many trips to Bar Method.) Thankfully, there were also quite a few drives up to LA and all the way up to Sacramento to keep the shoe occupied.

Then in December, the shoe realized another dream when it stepped out of the car and onto the beach. Yep. A beach. Real sand for real sandals. Pretty exciting for that old shoe.

And now, the shoe on the left enters retirement and the shoe on the right has the painful pleasure of being broken in. The shoe on the left witnessed a lot of change. But the shoe on the right can expect even more during it's predicted five year life span. It's guaranteed many trips (hopefully one to Europe!). It's guaranteed a few moves. It will more than likely be the shoe that meets a little one. Yep, the shoe that will have many adventures and see the most change, for sure.

But in the meantime, the shoe on the right is the shoe that gets to enjoy summer twenty twelve in the sunshine. It's the shoe that loves the beach. It's the shoe that will spend time out in the tiny garden, waiting impatiently for the tomatoes to be ripe enough to eat.

authors note : the original shoe post is one of my favorites. Writing this one was just as enjoyable. I am about to break in my third pair of rainbows (since 2004) and as odd as it sounds, they really measure the passing of time for me. In the past year, I have definitely expanded my shoe choices and found some great dressier sandals and flats, but I know I'll still be buying rainbows every four-five years for the next few decades. It's crazy to think about how when everything else changes, the shoes will stay the same.
material 9 of 27 / wire into a welcome sign.

July 5, 2012

Turns out, a yellow HELLO is just what our entry way needed.

This is TOTALLY not a unique project. (Type "wire + yarn" into Pinterest and you'll be scrolling for days.) But it was fun to do and came together quickly in an afternoon.

I picked up thick, but easily bend-able, wire at Jo-Anns (in their floral section) and manipulated it into a cursive "hello". To help the letters hold their shape throughout the wrapping process, I twisted the wire around itself wherever it overlapped.

Then I tied my yellow yarn (sill on the skein) to the far point of "h" and started wrapping. I stuck to the bottom parts of each letter at first. Then, because the skein wouldn't fit through the letter loops, I wrapped around each with smaller balls of yarn.

It looked pretty thin & bumpy the first time through, so with another episode of Arrested Development on, I went back over it a second time with more yarn.

Simple, sun-shiney and I'm one material closer to done. Check plus.

This is project 9 of 27. I am attempting to complete 27 craft projects using 27 different materials before I turn 28 on 02.22.13. You can follow my progress here on the blog or on pinterest. Birthday challenges are my favorite. You can see the 26 Projects I completed while 26 here and the 27 materials I have used so far here.
40 pizzas / colorful combo.

July 4, 2012

pizza no. 6 : colorful combo.

occasion : we made this before we went out of town for five days. It was an effort to clear the fridge of some leftover meat (pepperoni & turkey sausage) and green onion.

crust : our whole wheat usual.

sauce : for this one, we used a jar of red sauce from Williams Sonoma. We'll be sharing our homemade red sauce soon!

cheese : yellow cheddar.

toppings : cooked & sliced turkey sausage, pepperoni (cut into small triangles), black olives, green onion.

thoughts : some of our pizzas have well thought out themes, some are just use what we have. This is definitely in the later category. But it's pizza – whatever you throw on it will taste good.

**and for my US friends, happy 4th! We're so excited for a day off, sunshine & fireworks.
july goals.

July 3, 2012

Big one this month is we're committing to eating only local fruits & veggies. If I can't buy it at the farmer's market, we can't eat it. I recently had my world rocked (in a good way!) by Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. If we can't eat local in July in Southern California, than something is seriously wrong. Looking forward to planning some meals based on what we find versus what we feel like eating this month.

And a warm welcome to some new & returning sponsors this month. Please click through and visit their fun sites on the right sidebar. Thank you for supporing this blog.
photo walk : color.

July 2, 2012

The color scheme of my neighborhood is pretty set. Green + brown + blue + yellow. Except on Sunday mornings, when the farmer's market sets up across the street. Then the color! The natural color. Cannot get enough.

As always, please feel free to do your own photo walk. Use "color" as a prompt or anything else you can dream up. Keep the focus on just one thing though for a challenge.

All photos this time around were taken with my new iPhone 4s. I'm obsessed and cannot believe I waited an extra eight months after my plan was up to upgrade. See all photo walk posts here.

My friend & blog sponsor, Amy Tan, is releasing a new scrapbooking line with American Crafts this summer. Amy Tangerine Ready Set Go features a wide array of warm autumn colors — including navy blue, pink and wood grain — and is filled with unique travel, home and school icons: from cameras, cars and houses, to globes, speech bubbles and an adorable hand-drawn elephant. For more product photos & info about this fun line, visit the American Crafts blog.
project life : week 26.

July 1, 2012

Week 26 which means … we are halfway through the year.

(click to enlarge & the image above will be [somewhat] clearer)

And good news… I still LOVE this project.

When I decided to embark on this paper adventure I really didn't know if I would make it work throughout the whole year. And let's get serious, I haven't yet…we've got 26 more weeks to go. For the most part, I am still working a bit on the album each day. For me, it's (happily) become a habit. Obviously some weeks the photos and the stuff are better than others, but when I page through the albums, that doesn't bother me.

I have printed more photos in 2012 than I have in the past five years combined. I have re-discovered my love of memory-keeping and re-developed a style that works for me. And that style is SIMPLE. Simple, simple. If you look at my last 26 spreads, you'll see me repeating the same techniques over and over again. 4×6 photos in the big pockets with a little label or tab wrapped around the edge. Papers or photos trimmed down to 3×4 for the little pockets. Lots of handwriten journaling. Lots of blog posts pulled into PSE and printed out to include larger stories. Simple and graphic shapes. No frills. This is a style that works for me and one that I use to really let my photos pull focus.

It's been a really enjoyable project to work on, but I know the real pleasure will be in five years when my life looks completely different and I am able to look back (and marvel at all the free time I used to have). And then, of course, 30 years from now when my kids are considering having kids, I'll love sharing this record of what life was like for us.

Except for the goals blog post I printed and folded into a pocket, there is nothing too remarkable this week. Just photos & words, photos & words. Get 'er done.

supplies / Paper Source circle label, Martha Stewart & Avery labels, Recollections patterned paper, Studio Calico patterned paper, Crate Paper patterned paper & unknown wood paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle), American Crafts letter sticker, Design A page protectors (which are available in this variety pack), Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it's not amazing, but it's lasted the longest of any corner rounder I've ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week (including questions about the quotes)? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.
project life : week 25.

June 30, 2012

Week 25 and I still love this project.

(click to enlarge & the images above will be [somewhat] clearer)

Playing a bit of catch-up today as I was out of town last weekend.

The left side is all photos & stories from the first half of the week before we left and then the inserts and right page cover the trip.

The first insert is a coin pocket page that I filled with instagram photos & papers collected on the trip. This is at least the third time I have done this and it never gets old. Grids are my favorite way to display multiple photos.

Into one of the top pockets, I added a piece of cardstock an a chipboard frame from American Crafts.

And then the outside of one of the lower pockets, I stuck a circle sticker with more text.

I did the same on the backside to create a see-through square.

The second insert is a trimmed Design E pocket page. I included my text from this blog post and then a few 6×6 photos.

I'm taking a risk (except we're talking about PAPER, so using the word "risk" is just ridiculous) here and leaving a few pockets blank (with purple "placeholder" post-it notes). I am anticipating more wedding photos popping up over the next few weeks and when they do, I'll print them and work them in.

Other than that, fairly standard stuff.

supplies / Paper Source circle labels, Martha Stewart & Avery labels, American Crafts chipboard letter stickers & chipboard frame, "And we'll be Jolly Friends" sticker (c/o Scrapbook Circle), Office Depot shaped paper clips, Elise Joy TODAY IS & THIS stamp, coin pocket page, Design A & E page protectors (which are available in this variety pack), Clementine core kit, Bebas quote font. I use a Fiskars corner rounder (it's not amazing, but it's lasted the longest of any corner rounder I've ever had). I am using a Zig Millennium 0.1 pen and Recollections glossy marker throughout this album.

Confused by Project Life? Start here. Have a question about how I am tackling this project each week (including questions about the quotes)? Check here. See all my Project Life posts here.
around here.

June 29, 2012

Sending June out the door & ushering in the crazy that is July. There is a lot on my list this next month and I'm arming myself with lots of scratch paper, Pandora, coffee & water to tackle it. (I keep telling myself things will calm down in August and then I remember that that's the month I want to completely redo my website, set the blog workshop to run again and prepare for a fall stamp launch.) Cannot complain about being busy though. I remember many past weeks of being bored to tears. (This was before I had my taped desk to keep me smiling.)

Couple of things :

I have been getting questions about how I add handwriting to my photos. For our anniversary, Paul got me this Wacom tablet and I have been playing around with it ever since. It has a learning curve, for sure, and I am no where near ready to share a tutorial or tips. But I got a lot out of this post on A Beautiful Mess this week and you might too if you're considering one!

Tomorrow is the LAST DAY for stamps. Adios! Shop now, or forever hold your ink pads.

Happy weekend!
thoughts on monthly goal setting.

June 28, 2012

We're halfway through the year. Already.

Instead of setting new year's resolutions this year, I decided to re-evaluate at the beginning of each month what was most important and pick a few small things to focus on. At the end of the month, the list refreshes completely and I start working towards new "goals" – (Yes, I use the word loosely). My word for 2012 is "choose" so each month, picking these small tasks helps me to remember I am choosing what I do and how I spend my time each day.

I have found this method of goal-setting to be pretty inspiring. It works well with my personality, as I totally believe if something sits on my to-do list for too long, I should toss it out the window. As you'll see below, I have not accomplished everything on my lists each month. Although I would LOVE to cross everything off, the focus of these goals is more to bring intention into each month and give me a chance to reset every few weeks.

When I look at the past six months (with things I actually accomplished underlined), it's clear that these lists have held the fun & creative stuff. They are not chores. They are not of the "keep the house from looking like a bomb just went off" or "spend less money" variety (which are also things that I am always trying to do). I like to think of these lists as the positives – things I am choosing to add to my life.

I also notice that each monthly list actually reminds me more of that was happening the month prior than the month I was actually working on the tasks. Obviously, in late February, Paul had just returned home, so my goals list for March was more tongue in cheek – I wanted to enjoy our time together. And then the month of April was stressful and difficult for the two of us. The simplest thing I could think to put on May's list so the month could be better was to "be kind" to Paul. That might seem like a strange thing for a goals lists – I should be doing it anyway, all the time, right? But for me, it was about making it a true intention and thinking more carefully about what I said to him and how I spent our time together. In May, something major shifted in my attitude. Our relationship improved & I noticed a difference in how I felt, both physically and mentally. Making a conscious effort to "be kind" helped me to change my attitude on a lot of other things and I think was responsible for a lot of the good that developed in May and has carried on to June.

Before wrapping up here, I want to address the no email checking goal I set for June because I spent so much time talking about it at the beginning of the month. I'd say I succeeded about 35% of the time. But really it felt like 100% because while I thought the point was to set and stick to a hard and fast rule, it turns out the point was actually to free myself from email stress. And that happened. Saying I "couldn't" check after 6pm meant I had an out. I didn't have to check. I did a good job being present and not pulling up email on my iPad or phone in the evenings. But if I had an extra 20 minutes to myself at my computer at 8:30pm and wanted to open my inbox and tie up loose ends before morning – I could. And I did. Goals, and this one in particular, should help to relive stress – not create it.

I really could go on and on about goal-setting, reflection and making small life changes that add up to big ones. I have thinking about all of this so much because I am currently developing a workshop for Big Picture on the topic of goals. (yay!!) It's something that I had never thought of but when it was suggested at our brainstorming session something immediately clicked. A-ha! This is exactly what I want to teach. More details on the class to follow.
garden update.

June 27, 2012

Since I last shared…

…I saved my mint plant's life. It was looking terrible after a large "harvest" for mojitos when we had family in town back in April. I didn't even share photos in my May update, it looked that bad. I was ready to toss the whole thing in the trash and buy a new plant, but at the last second decided it deserved another shot. I trimmed all the leaves with giant holes in them, re-potted it into a larger container and added fresh, nutrient rich dirt. It's recovered really well – seems like it just needed more space and some pruning.

…I've "harvested" basil twice for pesto.

Most recently was yesterday afternoon, and as you can see in the before & after photos, they look pretty wimpy now. I decided to trim each plant way back (using my herb trimming method) because it seemed like every "sprig" was producing a flower – and with basil, you want the focus on leaf production, not flowers. We'll see how things go. Hopefully, that was what they needed, and if not, we'll get at least four meals out of all the pesto we were able to make with that batch.

…I realized I have been over-watering my lemon tree. It has not been doing so well and based on the yellow leaves, I think it's got to be excess water. I've cut back and it's looking a little less droopy, but those weeks of too much mean we lost a lot of little lemon buds. Bummer.

…I've got oodles of little green tomatoes. I have five tomato plants. Two have at least 20 little tomatoes each. One plant has just one giant tomato. And the other two have no fruit to show for themselves, but a few yellow flowers, so hopefully they're just late bloomers. Like a total novice, I didn't save all of my plastic markers so I don't even know what type of tomato is doing what. FAIL. Next year, I'll be keeping a diligent garden journal (on paper) and I'm awkwardly excited about it.