Complicated Simplicity

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What 5 items are on your holiday wish list this year? I really haven't given it much thought. A sewing machine would be awesome, LOST on DVD, time with family, subscriptions to my favorite magazines, and the super non-necessary and superfluous-a Kindle. :-)
2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received? my mom crocheted Barbie furniture for us when we were small.
3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle? I want to make quilts for everyone.
4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child? That Barbie furniture.
5. What items are on your kid’s wish list this year? No kids yet, unfortunately (that's my true #1 on my wishlist)
6. What is your favorite holiday food? Green bean casserole.
7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays? Not much, but I do have some ideas if I can just make them happen.
8. What is your favorite holiday movie? It's a Wonderful Life
9. Favorite holiday song? It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
10. Favorite holiday pastime? Decorating the tree and house.

>Lots of Sharpie<

Whew, I've had tons gong on lately. We have been super busy around here. And it doesn't let up! :-) I have a project to do for drawing class (eggs-due Monday) and need to set up my picture plane for design for Monday and I also have a math test on Monday. I'm finally settling into the flow of school again. Of course, my English class starts in a couple of weeks and that will throw it all off-AND I'm hoping Wal-Mart will call me for an interview sometime in the near future (keep praying for that one, if you would).

Anway, just wanted to pop in and share the Sharpie projects I've gotten back. My doodle and my contour drawings. I have come to love Sharpie as a medium and would use it constantly if I could. When I get my other projects back from those classes (I have done four more) I'll share those too. Here goes! Let me know what you think.

This is my contour drawing. We had to arrange five objects and draw the contours in Sharpie.

And my doodle. We had to fill and 18x24 paper with doodles-she wanted to see texture and various line widths. It turned out very cool and I think I'm going to frame it for our wall. I took some close up shots so taht you could see some of the detail-I poured myself out on this. Meaning, there are pieces of me in it all. Things I love, who I am, my dreams and wishes and deepest desires, a few of my favorite words, and my family, Paul and Wawa are all represented in it somewhere. Some of it you will easily see, other things you probably wouldn't be able to interpret unless you were inside my mind. :-) Feel free to ask about any of it! Enojy the search!

>Breathless<

Whew! Time has just flown by. Let's see...what happened since I was last on here.

• Paul finished up his internship at the church.
• We took a two week trip/vacation to Michigan. We spent a few days at my parent's and then went on for ten days on Beaver Island with Paul's family.
• We got back on a Saturday and Robbie and I headed back to my mom's that Wednesday. We went canoeing with Scott and Vange and it was quite the trip (I hope to tell you the funny and adventurous story, we'll see if I ever have time to do that!! :-).
• We got back late on Saturday night. That Monday was my first day of class.
• I found out I don't have to take English 1, so I'm enrolled in English 2 (which is both online and an 8 week class!!!).
• I found out I don't have to take Biology (which I wasn't enrolled in, but thought I'd have to take eventually).
• I found out that my math, unfortunately doesn't count since the math at KCC is 4 credits (and my pre-calc class was only 3), so I have to keep on with Intermediate Algebra (crazy, huh-since I took FST in HS and pre-calc at U of D, but whatevs) and take another math class next semster. Fun, fun!
• I realized that maybe I'm a litle crazy for taking three studio classes in one semester. Ha!
• I met with my advisor and created my academic plan, which I don't think I'm going to follow much now that I've had time to think about it.
• I missed my math class that day because my appointment took too long.
• It was the one day where she went over stuff that I am currently lost on (and the day they went through an entire section in one day). It's been six years y'all!!!!
• Robbie is loading up her stuff tomorrow and moving to Michigan on Saturday. :-(
• Unfortunately, I have a math test on Tuesday (and still don't understand section two, but Paul said he'll help me).
• And-I have two art projects due on Wednesday (a contour still life-will probably take me seven or more hours, seriously and a design project that I just have to add color to).
• Oh-and a photography project due on Thursday (have to shoot an entire roll of photos of things around the house). We're going to start developing then, and I'm a tad nervous about the process.

And that's it. Other randomness-I have two profs that want us to call them by their first name-and I just can't. Seriously, I call Paul's Mom, Paul's Mom. I can't call my profs Chelise and Jerry (oh yeah, and they're married. Yup, I have both of them-kind of weird).

I am okay with my math class so far. Some people hate Dr. Roy, but I think she's great (although we are only on chapter one).

My design class is okay, but it's not what I expected at all. I wish she would teach us more about the elements of design instead of just saying "do this" without much explanation. And, when she looked at our sketches, she didn't really explain well why certain ones were well-balanced and other weren't. I'm really intimidated by that class. Physical art is not necessarily my forte or what I want to do. It's okay and I know I'll do fine, I guess I'm just a tad underwhelmed with that class.

My drawing class is one of my favorites. The project I have to do this weekend may change my mind, but I don't think so. :-) I love the teacher, she doesn't care how "good" we are at drawing-as long as we're doing our best and practicing. She's really encouraging and helpful and good at explaining everything and the reason why we do something fully and completely. Our first project was to doodle. Seriously we had to doodle all over our paper (we work with 18x24 in that class-huge paper) in Sharpie. It was so much fun. I'll try to take a photo of mine to share when I get it back.

My photography class is alright. I'm not thrilled with it. I'm excited about challenging myself and seeing what I can do with film, but so far it's really boring. And I'm thinking it will pick up once we actually start shooting, but I don't know. We shall see.

As I said, I went to my English class once and then the school called and said my U of D class had transferred. Yay! So, I dropped English 1 and enrolled in English 2. Since it's an eight week class, I didn't miss any classes. I'm a bit nervous about taking my first online class AND having it be a super intense everything-in-half-the-time class. We shall see. :-)

And that's life. Paul is doing well with his classes so far. He seems to be enjoying them. And his work life seems to be stabilizing since McDonald's promised him 40 hours/week from now on!!! :-) He's trying to work out the other job with it and figuring out how the schedule will work out.

Anyway, that's what's been going on. I hope to update a bit more often-we shall see how that goes. :-) Have a good one.

>Splendid<

Today is the day Paul has been looking forward to all year/summer...the start of vacation. :-) Two weeks of relaxation and rest and fun and family.

He should arrive home in about a half hour or so. The car is packed and ready to go (he took the truck to work so I could load the car up). He has to pick up a couple of things on his way home (razor blades and *hopefully* a check). When he arrives we will head out for my parent's house.

We are, however, making one little pit stop along the way. We are going to the beach. It is the first time that Wawa will be going to the beach and I'm so excited. We found a dog-friendly beach along the way and I can't wait to swim in Lake Michigan. I am interested to see how Wawa does. :-)

After the beach it is on to my parent's house. And then we are off on the second leg of our journey on Wednesday-a trip to the Island with Paul's mom and sister (and her family). So excited!!!

It's the perfect beach day today-sunny and warm and blue skies as far as I can see. Just lovely.

Au revoir! Adios! Have a lovely start to your August!!! :-)

>Awesome<

Check this out:

>music. "The Story"<

It's like Brandi Carlile looked into my heart when she wrote this song. I fell in love with it from the first time I heard it. It's on my top-ten list of songs of all-time. The melody is amazing, the music is top-notch and the lyrics are unbelievably amazing.

The Story

Brandi Carlile

All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you
I climbed across the mountain tops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby I broke them all for you
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
You do
I was made for you
You see the smile that's on my mouth
It's hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
No, they don't know who I really am
And they don't know what
I've been through like you do
And I was made for you...
All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you

Listen and watch the video here: The Story

>list. Beautiful Words<

 

>challenge. The Leap<

 

photo by ClickFlashPhoto

Today I want to challenge you to take the leap. Do something that you have been intending to do but have put off. Do something you've been putting off until the "right time" (that time may never come). Do something you don't think you can do. If it's way big, just take that first step. Maybe, like me, it's taking some classes. Or maybe it's something that seems so simple. Maybe it's finally cleaning out the garage or basement. Do something that scares you. Something that makes you nervous. Something that is completely unlike what you'd normally do. Anything-just take the leap. Take that step. Do something. Anything. Follow your dreams.

Go ahead. LEAP

>Free Scrapbooking Templates<

 

Find download info here: barrentree design

>thoughts. On Going Back to School<

So, I'm going back to school this fall. I will be taking five classes (Drawing 1, 2-D Design, Photography, Intermediate Algebra (I have to take an extra math-it's been seven years people!!) and English 1). As of right now I am pursuing a transfer degree in Fine Arts. I am hoping to get a degree in graphic design. I'm not sure exactly what area I want to go with that degree, but print design is my current thought. I figure I will try a lot of it out in my classes and be able to make a better decision then.

It was an extremely difficult decision to make. Once upon a time, I was in college. I was going to be a doctor-seriously. In my freshman year, I met Paul and really felt that God had different plans for me. All of my life I had wanted to be two things-a doctor and a mother. I would tell people that I wanted to have twenty-two children. :-) It was a big decision to leave school. I knew I was letting down my brothers and a lot of other people. I had lots of conversations with God about what He wanted me to do with my life. And I ultimately made the decision to leave school. I was very comfortable with that decision-very at peace.

I felt like I was ready to start my life as a wife and mother. When we had children, I wanted to be a stay at home mom. It would be a waste of money and my time to continue with college. That brings us to now. Paul and I have been married for five and a half years. Five years ago, we started trying to have children. The infertility took me completely by surprise. Seriously, how many women do you know that have children? That have children easily? That can plan when to have them? It's just a for granted thing. Of course I was going to have the children I'd dreamed about. Why wouldn't I?

But it didn't happen. Things didn't turn out the way I had planned. I don't regret my decision, I still firmly believe that God was telling me that I should leave school. The past five years have been hard, and I've been spared the extra stress of school and interships and clinicals. It really has been a blessing. However, for about a year I have been wondering what I'm supposed to do with my life.

What if we don't have children ever? Where does that leave me? I see how people look at me when told I'm a housewife. It's not acceptable anymore. Fifty years ago it was the norm (my grandma never even drove!), but it's obviously not anymore. It's not seen as a worthy occupation to take care of the home and husband. And it has bothered me. Not because I felt bad about what I was doing, but because people look down on it. It's a perfectly acceptable thing to do. However, I always say "housewife" with embarassment and shame. I'm a people pleaser and I know that people think of a housewife in a somewhat negative light. If I had children, no one would think twice about it. "Oh, you're a stay at home mom! That's great!" But I don't have children.

I started to wonder what I would do if we never had children, a very real possibility. I feel taht most likely, we won't have children. I've accepted it and sometimes I'm okay with it. So I had this long dialogue with myself. What do I do now? If I go to school and act like we're never going to have children, does that mean I've given up on hope? Does being content with that fact mean my faith is gone? What happens if I go to school and get pregnant at some point?

Some of those questions are still working their way through my mind. Others I've answered for myself. I decided to get a degree in something that would allow me to be the hands-on at-home mom I wanted to be. At first I thought of library science. I love books. I love being by myself. I love the not-so-social aspect of it. I could have my kids come in there after school or on days off if need be. It would be fairly low-stress and low-key. Sounded pretty good, but not perfect.

So, I mapped out all of the things I love. All of the things that inspire me. All of the things I love to do. And I looked at the underlying themes. It all came back to creativity and beauty and words and documentation and family and that sort of thing. And I realized that what I would love to do is design. I love type, I love colors and photos and good solid design. The thing that cinched it for me was the work-from-home aspect of it. I can do as much or as little work as I want and can be here when Paul is here (and maybe kids someday). I would love to do invitations and stationary types of things, and (don't laugh) I really really really would love to design travel guides (like the ones you can order to plan your vacation). :-) I know, silly huh? And since it's a general fine arts degree, I can always switch to photography when I transfer if I decide design isn't for me (and can take some photo classes along with my design classes anyway!).

I chose community college because it's only $72 per credit hour. I can take three classes for the price of one of Paul's (roughly). :-) Cost was a big issue for me. Creating more debt is a big concern of mine. I went back and forth and back and forth and finally Paul had to say "just do it".

He's been super great about it. My number one encourager and supporter. I got a great Pell grant (covering 1/3 of my tuition each semester), and shouldn't have to take out too much in loans. That makes me feel a lot better about the whole thing.

So, here I am a college student again. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I am looking forward to the english class. But am nervous about my art classes. I know that's silly, but I'm not a great drawer. And having someone look at my photography is very scary to me.

I start at the end of August. I have orientation shortly before I begin and I will get my school supplies (I can't wait-I love buying school supplies).

Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts on going back to school. It's a big step for me. I haven't been in school since 2003. I have no idea how it's all going to work out for me. The plan is to do five semesters (two regular years and the summer between) and then transfer. I have no idea where we'll land after Paul's graduation spring 2010, so I may be transfering before I'm done at community college. And that's okay-I am willing to go wherever God leads us. I'm just praying that this is the right thing for me right now. :-)