laptop vacation

Do you need to get away? Do you need winter to stop blowing for a while? Then let's go on a little laptop vacation!

FIRST STOP: MUSIC
First, I need you to right click on this link and click on "open in new tab." I have been listening to this play list (of 140 songs!) to death lately. It's like a friend gave me the best mix CD ever. This music will serve as the background music for your laptop vacation. (if you don't like a song, be sure to skip around. You're sure to find a few favorites in the 140 songs...)

The site with this play list is called Dear Lizzy. I really love this blog, and on a good day I am inspired by this woman, and on a bad day I feel very inadequate. If you start feeling like these pictures and ideas are making you feel less-than, please quickly click back to this page for more Laptop Vacation instructions! We don't want to feel inadequate on our vacation! But if you are inspired, enjoy all of Dear Lizzy and her glorious photography, scrapbook layouts and creative ideas...

NEXT STOP: EYE CANDY
Now that you have your music playing, right click on this link and "open in new tab." And now just soak up some Anthropologie goodness. I am linking you to the kitchen page, because I find that colorful aprons and dishtowels calm my anxious heart. (This apron below stopped me in my tracks!)


I had the good fortune of introducing a friend to the Anthropologie site recently, and it felt like such an honor... like introducing two friends that I know will get along smashingly. When you're on that site, be sure to stop by the lovely Dresses page and then check out how wierdo the sandals are! A girl like me may never be able to afford any of this stuff, but she can still drool, right? (Not the sandals though. More like, choke on my spit, those things are in style?!!)

THIRD STOP: READING + MINI ASSIGNMENT
Again, right click on this link and Open in New Tab (are you getting this?...it's such a helpful computer trick for keeping multiple sites open at the same time...) Ali Edwards has done it again, naming the simple, everyday moments, helping us all stay present in the moment.

After you read her list, open up a word document and take seven minutes to write out your own personal Around Here reflections. Make sure you use a font you love, print them out and stick them to your fridge. Since we're on a laptop vacation, I'd try to keep your observations positive and hopeful. But every vacation has a crabby day too...and I think it is probably more honest to add in a crabby reflection or two for good measure :)

I hope you have enjoyed this Laptop Vacation. The pilot has turned on the fasten seat belt sign as we begin our descent back to your hometown. Thank you for traveling with us.

my crafty mama

My mom is blogging! I got her set up with her own blog a month ago so she can share her creations. My mom and the entire Bredberg side are the craftiest of the crafty. This is the side of the family I visited while in Mesa and basically they just play all day...(you'll see in the pictures!) They do stained glass, make stepping stones (she made the five in her blog header), quilting, meet to make cards, fused glass, make jewelery, and all sorts of woodworking (by Uncle Don and Uncle Wayne if you count ALL of the construction he has done at Venture Out!)

So enjoy! Click here to see all of her and the Mesa families creations! (And leave a comment or two so she'll stay motivated to keep posting!!!! )

the weight of lent

We just got back from Ash Wednesday service. In my life, Ash Wednesday has always been a meaningful and significant evening, solemn and thoughtful as we begin our 40 days of Lent, looking towards the cross, and what the death of Jesus means to those of us who believe in Him.

I recently saw a Lenten devotional book. It was on Climate Justice, and focused on caring for the earth. I'm all for good environmental stewardship, but I was so frustrated by how this devotional book missed the mark entirely. Lent is about the saving of souls. Not the saving of sea shores. Lent is about Christ coming as God with us, here to take on the very sins of man, to create in us clean hearts. Not to clean our rivers and streams.

Tonight we sang O Sacred Head now Wounded and the words stilled my heart like a comforting friend. There is something to be said for tradition, for only singing particular songs during this season of contemplation and deep gratitude. For me, the lyrics below are what Lent is all about.

computer tips and tricks

Are you ready for another Computer Shortcut? Because I think you're going to like this one. You know why? Because Rory LOVES this one. He was so excited to share it with me.

You know when you are trying to cut and paste from a website into a word document and all of the formatting is messed up, tables end up screwing up your spacing and the font, size and margins is just a mess? Yes?!! This annoys you too?!! (see, I knew you'd be excited about this one!)

Here's what you do: highlight and copy as usual. And then when you go to paste into your word document you hit control ALT and the letter v (usually you would hit just control 'v', but the key to this trick is hitting ALT at the same time). A little box will pop up and you politely tell Microsoft Word, "Unformatted Text" by clicking on that option. And then you take a deep breath because you don't have to spend the next eight minutes trying to get the selected text to match your document.

Genius!

fabric flowers

I am inspired. I took what I learned on Saturday night from Donna Downey and went to make it my own. Sunday was a perfect day watching the Olympics as Rory napped on the couch beside me as I hand stitched these colorful flowers. I felt very domestic!

I had a vision of this little art piece in my mind, sketched in out on paper and it turned out exactly how I had envisioned it (although I am planning to add a few more leaves...) The buttons on the flowers are from my Aunt Jane...they were my Grandma Harrington's and I love that I am able to use them like this.

Donna has a fabric flower tutorial on her website. You can watch it here. These flowers are so simple, and turn out so stinkin' adorable! I've got a few more ideas sketched out, and can't wait keep on playing.