Lots of Art

Today I'm grateful for....



A fantastic Saturday with Josh! We rode the bike downtown to the Art Around the Fountain Fair and saw lots of amazing artwork! Then we went to breakfast, then took the bike down to Zionsville for more art gazing, walking, talking, and disturbing the peace with our loud Harley, lol. I am forever in love with Randall Scott Harden's hay bale paintings, and N.Noell who owns The Sanctuary in Zionsville's elephant, cow, and bull paintings.

An awesome ride with Josh and Billy on Sunday to Kokomo, gorgeous gorgeous weather for riding.

Getting to got to Calli's graduation from 8th grade to high school yesterday, how exciting! ... Calli is going to spend the summer with us which will be lots of fun!

A lovely ride with Josh up to their lake house and then a beautiful outing on the boat. I so love being on the water, I could sit at the edge and look out over the waves endlessly.

Dinner filled with conversation last night with Josh.

Picking Taylor up from her school Kings Island trip last night and knowing that she had a good time, she looked exhausted.

Magnificent flowers blooming everywhere!

My new pottery class that starts on Monday!!!!!!!!!! This is something I've always wanted to do, and I found a class at the art museum that works with my schedule! It meets on Monday nights, eight weeks of class, but they don't have to be consecutive and no make up classes, if I miss it doesn't matter, I just go until I've done eight classes! Fantastic for me since we have so much going on with the girls.

More and more talk about starting a business.

Researching hybrids with Josh, gas prices are killing us. I thought I couldn't afford a car payment, but I'm paying that much in gas every month now! 40mpg looks a whole world better than 14mpg!

My new mini green house which I'm utterly thrilled about! The prospect of growing seeds and creating amazing hanging flowering baskets to sell!

Seconding Jone's great loves, and I'm sooooo grateful for the opportunity to have more than one in a life time.

The picture of Jones and Craig's muddy toes. Whether it was meant to be or not, it felt like a secret hello to me :) btw my kids are now taking pictures of their feet, lol.

My life, where it is at this very moment, and where it's headed.

Planning, setting goals, handling stuff before it happens, which is a very new thing for me (those of you who know me well know that I do things on a whim), ...huge huge step for me, and I'm the one initiating the planning and goal setting!

A nice trip on the bike with Josh up to Michigan City and Valpo on Sunday (june 1). Just he and I, and the open road, so peaceful.

The real probability of Calli moving in with us and making our family whole. We may have another teenaged girl in the mix, what will Josh do then! He'll be in a house with 4 women, definitely out numbered :)

Thunderstorms.

Good things are happening for the people I love.

You my little purple iris, you.

A bunch of gratitude

Today I'm grateful for ...


Life returning to my yard and my home.

Josh Josh Josh, listening to me, encouraging me, gently nudging me, motivating me, sharing with me, enjoying with me, standing beside me, backing me up, being supportive, laughing with me, loving me the way I am.

My new birthday ring! It's beautiful, unusual, and I'm incredibly grateful.

A fantastic birthday weekend for Taylor and Calli. They had a great time. They got makeovers at Merle Norman, then we went to lunch, then home and all Taylor's friends came over for a cookout and sleepover. They climbed trees, chatted on the deck, played flashlight tag and other various games, made smores, and had lots of fun. I enjoyed listening to them giggle, and nobody cried which is a big deal when you get that many girls together :)

Completing three more paintings, and preparing to start another.

My yard coming together. ...Calli and Taylor's help weeding and planting in my flowerbeds on Sunday, they worked hard.

Josh coming home early from the track on Sunday to spend more time at home. I was thrilled to see him.

Creating time amidst the chaos of family life for Josh and I to get in some one on one time. Plans to ride to Zionsville this weekend to visit some art galleries, do some shopping, visit a park or two and enjoy our time together.

Josh and I communicating and working towards finding a balance between, family time, self time, couple time, friends time, and work time. It's been so hard to find time for everything. Creating a schedule helps and planning in advance (which is something I'm really bad at, but working on).

The beauty, and serenity I find in my yard.

Pictures of Sadie on Michelle's glog, I love that dog :) She's so sweet.

Plans in the works for a family trip to Kings Island this summer! My mom and Dennis, Traci, Tim and DJ, Lisa, Billy, Kyleigh, and Ciara, Josh, Kelsey, Taylor, Calli, and I!

Creating a life I love, bit by bit.

Good things happening for the people I love.

You my little bit of serenity, you.

Courage

Today I'm grateful for....

A fun family weekend, busy, but fun.

Friday Josh and I stayed home and watched movies while Taylor and Calli spent the night with Ciara at Lisa's house. Then Saturday I picked up all the girls and we went shopping, stopped at Starbucks, and had a late lunch together. Then we all met my mom, Lisa and Kyleigh at Easttipp to watch Taylor's musical Saturday night. It was so fun. The whole musical was great, all the kids did a wonderful job, but I am especially proud of Taylor of course. She was brave and sang two solos in the musical without mistakes and was the only one we could actually hear over the band!
Both of my girls are so brave when it comes to singing or performing in front of a crowd! Unbelievable, I can't imagine having that much courage when I was their ages, but kids do amazing things like that every day!

After the musical we all came home, Josh and I made a fire so the girls could roast marshmallows and make smores. It was a great night. Sunday we all got up, I made pancakes and scrambled eggs and then all the running started all over again, dropping girls off, picking Taylor up, and so on, but it was fun. After the running was over Josh and I met up with his cousin Cory and went for a ride on the bikes, it was a beautiful evening to be out.

Today I am also grateful for the chance to exercise my right to vote :) Josh and I both reminded each other to vote before we went about our business today. I got my sticker and wore it proudly.

I am grateful for a chance to possibly help out a friend. My friend's son's dog got hit by a car a couple of days ago, unfortunately he did not make it. His son's dog was a yorki, we happen to have two yorki-poos and only planned on bringing one home from the breeder. We actually have 4 dogs which is a lot to handle especially with our family being so incredibly busy so I offered one of our yorki-poos to him. It will provide some relief to our family, and I know she will be going to a good home with a little boy who will love her and give her a lot more attention than we can afford right now.

Beautiful sunshine on my shoulders while I painted the boat today. My first try at using a spray gun, lots of fun, but I got paint every where!

oooh I'm really excited about the premade scrapbooks I found at Sam's today. I bought two to take with the girls and I this weekend thinking they could start family scrapbooks together. Now all I have to do is get the pictures printed out and we'll be set.

All the emails from Michelle helping me keep up with what's going on at Womyn's camp this weekend. Donations, recycling, lots of activities, and lots of fun!

Knowing that when Josh gets home from work tonight we will have dinner and then go out on the bike. ---Getting rides in when ever we can :)

My new job allowing me a 40% discount on all the clothes I love to buy, and special weeks when I'll get 55% off!! woo hoo! Even if I don't make money because I'll be spending it all, I'll still be saving money with my discount! ...I also got a second job offer, at The Buckle which made me feel special, I didn't even try for that one, was just picking up some jeans for Josh.

Having the grill set up on the deck right outside the back door making it soooooo easy to throw some veggies and fish, chicken, or pork on for a quick healthy dinner. oooh, and my rice cooker which allows me to cook up brown rice ahead of time and then just heat it up whenever we need a quick easy side.

Knowing that all the money going out right now for various stuff, bills and what have you, will flow right back into our bank accounts easily and effortlessly.

Confidence.

New partners to play golf with!

A sparkling clean bathtub awaiting me right this minute.

Good things are happening for the people I love.

People who dream big and make things happen, including myself :)

you my brave little soul, you.

Settling in to 35

Today I'm grateful for.....

Finally feeling like I'm finding the real me. Feeling true, honest and just being me.

Getting a better grip on my own questions about struggling with how I was raised to behave and live, and what I believe in and how I want to live now. Starting to take action on living the life I want to live. ...I feel like I'm sort of in the middle right now, this idea started shortly after Michael passed away and has slowly been evolving and progressing from my head to actual physicality and I'm finally starting to follow through with some of my wants in the way of living. (greener living, being healthy, experiencing new things, continuing education,etc.)

Being stiff and sore from golfing, ...it's good for me, good for my body, good for my soul. (golfing, not being stiff and sore :)

Getting it just like I like it,...life that is.

Christopher McCandless, aka...Alexander Supertramp.

An interview on Monday for a part time job doing something that I consider fun. Rebecca has been after me to work for her for about three years now and I finally said yes :) ooh and looking forward to creating new relationships with the strong confident women I'll meet at work.

The opportunity to earn extra money to help pay for my massage therapy schooling that starts this fall.

Spicy Basil noodles, I'm so in love with Thai food and I treat myself about once every couple of months.

One of the new magazines that Josh gave me has directions and plans on how to build a rain collector. Josh and I are going to build a collection tank to put under one of the down spouts to collect the rain water and use it to water my plants this summer.

Conversations with Josh about building a compost bin, woo hoo!

My tiller attachment works, which is going to make it easier to bring the lavender fields of Washington to my back yard :)

Continuing to try new things and create memories and fantastic experiences in my life. Knowing that at 20 years old I never would have imagined my life would turn out the way it has. At 35, I am grateful for every experience I've ever had, good and bad, for they are what make me who I am. I'm excited about what is still to come in my life, all the adventures I have left to enjoy and am thrilled to have a life partner, someone I love who wants to share those adventures with me.

I am enough, I am beyond good enough, I am a powerful woman who dreams and makes things happen, and I have always had everything I'll ever need.

I am forever grateful for the two amazing young ladies who happen to be my daughters and the opportunity to be a strong influence on Calli.

Teaching myself how to run again. I'm sooooo out of shape, but putting one foot in front of the other and gaining momentum.

Settling in to 35 and being happier than I've ever been in my life.

Good things are happening for the people I love.

You my little noodle you.

GOLFING!

Today I'm grateful for......

A fantastic day with wonderful weather and full of fun.
Today was Josh's day off and we decided to go golfing. Golfing is new for me so I am forever grateful for Josh's patience and kindness. He was relaxed, (except when he was mad at his own mistakes), and made learning easy and fun for me. Thank goodness the course wasn't busy today! It took us about 4 hours to play 12 holes and by the time we were done with the 12th hole we were ready to go, it was getting late, and we were really frustrated with the 12 hole. I did get a little better once I started getting a feel for some of my clubs and belive it or not I actually made par on one of the holes, 3 strokes! Don't let that fool you, the rest of the holes it took between 8 and 15 strokes for me, by the way ... I hate sand traps ;-) It was lovely being outside with all the trees and flowers blooming, we were at the Battle Ground course so we were away from town, it was very nice. Anywho... I had a great time and look forward to playing again.

Getting to go back to sleep while Josh mowed the lawn this morning, absolutely divine.

Cutting flowers from my garden and bringing them in so I can enjoy them inside as well as out. Love the way tulips smell.

Susan Tedeschi and the way her music makes me feel. Although a lot of her songs are not her own, I love the way she sings them and the heart and emotion she puts into the music.

The way music, smells, words, simple things can take you back, in an instant, to another place and time. Forgotten memories thrown back at you, I'm so grateful I get to relive those moments over and over again.

Living

Good things are happening for the people I love.

you my little hole in one, you.