Tuesday, February 22, 2011

I Heart Faces Photo Contest/ Cell Phone!

Car rides are the pits. And we take alot of long car rides, everyone seems to live far away from us. I love this picture because you can see his big beautiful blues and because the other 4 hours of this road trip looked much different...sleeping or screaming.


From I Heart Faces


Cell phone magic this week at:

Friday, February 18, 2011

Hitting the Road

This is going to be a quick one.  This morning I'm packing up a duffel bag and hitting the road.  I'm on a mission, searching for the sparkle...and my mojo.  It's the perfect sunny winter morning for a road trip. Nature has provided a little sparkle to get me on my way.






Each day a little more returns, but I'm looking for a wave, a flood of the good stuff to wash over me and leave me all shiny and new.  I'm tired of the slow trickle...I'm ready to swim deep in the water, submerge myself and wash ashore tired, but renewed.   Whewww that's alot of imagery.  I hope it helped:)


So for the first time in ...ever...I'm leaving my entire family behind.  I need to focus and feel, have 100% adult time with my bro and best friend.  It's going to be amazing, I can already tell.  But it will be hard.


I will miss these faces.


From 2.18.11 blog


From 2.18.11 blog



And the hilarious things he spends so much time doing.


Over and over...set him up and knock him down.  Then "are you okay?  Sorrrrryyy."


And I am taking a 4 day weekend with no regard for what needs to be done at my home.  Like the mountains of laundry or the winter projects that have been sitting on my desk since November. 







But this is just as important as any of those things...actually much more.  I am searching for the spring in my heart, the new and fresh start after a long, long winter.







I'm going to soak in the love of my grandparents and "brosins."  Talk about new babies that are coming and summer vacations on the farm.  I'm going to forget about work and unfiled taxes and just...be.  


Don't get me wrong, things are good, more and more each day, great even.  And there are some changes on the horizon that are so exciting, it's all I can do to keep my feet on the ground!  But that is for another blog:)


This is going to be a recharge weekend, totally plugged into the monster love my family provides, with nothing to drain me.  Not even the good kind of drain, when I  pour all of myself into my babies.  Nope, 100% plugged in and recharging.


I <3 going home.










I'll be back mid weekend to share some of the love!  

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

I Heart Faces Photo Contest/ RED!

RED - The theme for the weekly I Heart Faces. This chica loves to visit the family farm and especially loves to confiscate great grandpa's red hoodie. And I love to follow her around and capture the city girl turned wood nymph on the farm.  She also wears the red for her great grandma who suffered a heart attack at an early age and thankfully is still here to make her brownies.



Fore more big, beautiful red check out:



Tuesday, February 8, 2011

I Heart Faces / Hearts

From I Heart Faces

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart."
~ Helen Keller (1880-1968)

This week on I Heart Faces...Hearts. As always, the photo I've chosen has a piece of my heart in it:) For more fantastic "Heart" photos check out:

Friday, February 4, 2011

Do Over

I've lost my mojo and I am desperate to get it back.  January is gone, but while it was here is took alot from me. It took all my energy and most of my reserve.  It took my feeling of safety and security.  It took a little of my faith  and optimism.


My intention was to write a "Happy New Year!" blog on February 1st to get a much needed do over to the start of 2011.  But last night when I sat down to write it...there was no energy.  I wanted it to magically return when I turned the page on January, but found it had not. I can rally my energy and optimism for about half a day but I can't sustain it.  That frustrates me, it's not me.  I feel like a car in this bitter winter cold, with a dead battery.  As long as I can get a boost from someone else, I can run for a while, but as soon as I stop it's done.  And there are hours during the day when not even jumper cables work...I just can't turn over.  So, I'm trying to keep those jumper cables attached to me, because I need them and I know that very very soon, their boost is going to turn over my engine and off I'll go!


Jumper cables:


Birthday parties!!!


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


Hey birthday boy...why so hesitant to accept your birthday kiss?
From Do Over Blog


Awesome photobomb kid.
From Do Over Blog


Last Friday was a much needed, perfect jump start.  Our first birthday party of the new year, the first gathering of the peeps.  Because it was Barrett's birthday, and because we all hadn't been together like this since before Maria passed away, there were tears at this birthday party.  But they were good tears, of support and love perfectly mixed with smiles and laughter.  It feels like this is how it is supposed to be and will be for some time to come.


Other than the party night, I haven't picked up my camera much.  For a long time now the world has had sparkly fairy dust on it and I've been wandering around with my camera and my little brown notebook, desperate to keep up with it's beauty. Desperate to chronicle the stories of each day.  My awe and admiration for these everyday gifts is sincere and it is still there, but right now the sparkle is less bright...harder to notice.  And when I do catch it I find myself staring, trying to burn the moment into my memory, no time to get my camera.  I've developed some anxiety around forgetting or missing moments because for the first time in my life I am experiencing what it is to lose them.  I've lost the opportunity for more moments with two people I love dearly this year.


The sparkle is not gone and I've caught it a few times.


Liam's little "work centers" are in every room of the house.
From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


And Barret caught it big time ...


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


But I do find myself waiting for an ending...some definitive ending to this funk.  What will it be?  I've been recalling the "funk free" days of the past, the ones chock full of sparkle.


Will spring be my savior?


From Do Over Blog


Summer?


From Do Over Blog


I know I feel ready for a summer party:) I'm ready to make paper flowers and send evites.


From Do Over Blog


Do I just need a silly day trip with my babies and Brandon?


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


Or maybe just more of these guys...these moments. Maybe I just need to snap out of it, stop searching and just look around me again. Because really, while everything has changed...nothing has changed, the sparkle, the stories, the unbelievable gift that is my life is still there.


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog


From Do Over Blog
It's crazy to me that this is what I do for a living ... drive change.  I'm an Human Resources professional and I excel at two things:
"Building a team people love to be on" and "Driving Change"
and yet here I sit...spinning.  I've been recalling all the conversations about adjusting, learning, growing, stretching yourself, adapting, embracing change.  All the team members I've helped move on, keep forging forward in a new way!  Ohhh the irony.


But it's all good.  I can feel it now, a buzz right below the surface.  Soon the fog will lift and the smoke will clear.  I will look around and see the blinding beauty is still there.  The sparkle...there it is right there.




And was isn't there, what was lost on two Sundays...one in October and one in January is surely not lost at all, but likely dispersed all around us.  The love and laughter of two stunning women, their energy unleashed into the universe.


From Do Over Blog






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