down with boredom.

I just read a great blog post written by my former youth director and loved it. It was all about not letting yourself get bored. That boredom is an option, a life choice, and if you are bored, it really is your own lack of imagination getting in the way.

Then I read a pep talk about not being afraid to fail. Failure is not the enemy. Not trying, not creating, making excuses...those are the enemy.

So I've got a plan to play hard this weekend. It is completely overly ambitious (we've got plenty of other things going on...) but sometimes I need to make a list with big projects so that when I am looking for the activity that suits the mood, I have a few ideas to choose from.

Maybe this weekend I will...

1. copy cat Ali Edwards' Type Drawer. I found my type drawer at a garage sale last May and it has been waiting for some pictures to fill it ever since. I have a friend at camp working on my type case as we speak, sawing out dividers that make the actual picture squares too small. I can't wait to get started on this project!

2. sort through my books and start an account at paperback swap. This is a genius online library-type system my friend Sarah showed me. You list your books you'd like to give away, and start a list of books you'd like to receive. You build up points for each book you give, so you can "buy" new books with your points...

3. make some closing ceremonies snack food. We are having friends over Sunday night for the last day of the Olympics and I am hopeful to get crafty and make some themed goodies like these gold medal cookies.

4. finish my family reunion album.

Happy Weekend Everyone.

family reunion album

A classmate from my Donna Downey class took this picture below. And when I got it I remembered that after posting the canvas art class, I never reported on the second class!


This class was called Bloom, and out goal was to make a handmade album by the end of class. You can read more about this class on her website found here. Oh, actually, you can't. I think this class just got replaced with her apron class so there is nothing about it on her site anymore....

Anyway, our supply list said that we should bring 17 pictures that are two inches by three inches. When I went to find 17 pictures to document, I decided to focus on my Grandma's birthday party that she celebrated for a week at our family bible camp. She foot the bill for all of her descendants to attend (over 100 people!) and told everyone, "I don't care if you can make it to my funeral. But I do care that you come to my birthday party."

When it came time to plan her party, we got the ball rolling quickly, even though her 90th birthday was still two years off. She got very excited as we planned the week together and thought two years was too long to wait, so the reunion party was moved up a year and therefore renamed 'Grandma's 90-1 party' All of our reunion t-shirts had a logo with 90-1 on it.

She ordered four dairy queen ice cream cakes for the party and chose the theme, "Great is Thy Faithfulness' for our week together. The whole week was a fabulous celebration of God's faithfulness to our family. It is for this reason that I LOVE scrapbooking: This party was in 2007 and three years later, I am soaking up every picture, reliving every memory and feeling the faithfulness of God, celebrated in the life of one woman, all over again.

Donna's class was full of new techniques to try. We made our album from scratch, something I have never done before. This album was made out of cut cardboard, cut in staggered sizes with a box cutter, and each page was covered with paper or fabric, punched with holes holes and binded with binder rings.

This book is still in process, but my weekend plan is to finish it...I'll keep you posted!

some more short stories

I wrote earlier about my new found love of the short story and how I am on a quest to find more great short story authors. Well, my first attempt was horrible. I got an audio book from the library because the title had god and love in it and it seemed like it would be good. But the whole first story was sick and immoral, lame and so unoriginal I didn't bother finishing the first story, let alone suffer through the others.

So this weekend I went another route. I have had these American Girl books around since I was ten and decided to read them through this weekend. They were so good, I was left seriously wanting my own Kirsten doll! Might just have to have a little girl before I can actually justify myself getting a doll at age 28. But, if you have a little girl, you must read these books to her. Maybe it's because I'm Swedish and from Minnesota and have great great grandparents who came to America to make a farming life for themselves, but I really enjoyed these sweet stories.

And then, on Saturday, I got the MOST WONDERFUL package in the mail. My friend Amanda had read my shout out for good short stories and sent me this book! She said she saw it at the bookstore and just decided to get it. Honestly, an unexpected, thoughtful gift might just be one of life's greatest surprises. I can't wait to crack this one. Thanks so much Amanda!

U, G, L, Y: You ain't got no alibi, you're ugly!

So. I was in the grocery story this weekend and came across this fruit nestled between the grapefruits and tangerines.

I saw it and thought it looked sort of moldy. Unsure of why they would put out moldy fruit, I looked closer and saw that this fruit has a sticker on it: UGLI. The fruit is actually called an Ugli fruit. I felt so sorry for it. (My ability to personify inanimate objects has always been outstanding and so clearly an ugly grapefruit looking thing was able to stir my heart.)

I stood there for a moment, thinking that on my worst day, I am fortunate not to have an UGLI sticker stuck to my forehead.

I picked one up, put it in my cart, came home, curious as to what this thing might taste like (personification of object officially over here). And in the end, it is much like a huge orange that is so stinking juicy it had to be eaten directly over the kitchen sink. There actually was more juice than fruit inside of each section. Refreshing and delish. Not ugly at all. If you get the chance, get yourself an ulgi fruit. I believe I should wrap up with some wise comment about how it's not whats on the outside but...

humble pie.

Ahhh!!! I am laughing/frustrated screaming right now. Because that sweet tutorial I put together?!! That one that teaches you how to use a Reader? Well, I was wrong on part of my recording and now the whole vimeo world knows it...and will know it FOREVER!

So. Turns out, if you have gmail, you can just click on the Follow button on the side panel and just by clicking and adding your face to that list, the blog will appear in your google reader. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! Why did I make an entire tutorial to explain this?!!! A girl might just want to make sure she knows what in the world (wide web) she is talking about before she goes and makes any more tutorials. Until then, I'll stick to stories and scrapbooks.

The rest of the tutorial is still accurate...and I still stand behind a Reader. Just know that you can subscribe and you can follow, and to be so honest, I don't have a clue what the difference is between the two. (seems like subscribing is more private and following is public?!!) But I'm done pretending to be the expert!

Please forgive me!