project life: week 21.

This project still is fun, and for someone who gets bored easily with most things, that’s out of the ordinary for me. I still love taking pictures (that never gets boring) and pretty-ing them up. I still love the ease of documenting life in a creative way and capturing more than ever before. I don’t think there is anything that I will regret about it.

I am getting better at it too. I think about pictures I know I’ll want. I have been putting together inserts more often because I hate picking and choosing and leaving pictures out. I journal the little things I want to remember.

Week 22, here I come.

canon 60d testing.

I love my new camera. I’m still learning some of the new tricks that weren’t available on my old Rebel, and although it’s a little bigger and heavier than the Rebel, it was a great choice for me.

The girls had on pretty dresses the other day, and I took the opportunity to get a few shots of them.

awakened.

I am writing again. Really writing. And feeling. And putting feelings onto paper.

It’s such a relief. Something in me craves the release of that kind, of being able to see it and feel it and go back to remember if I need to.

It’s like breathing for me. If I don’t write for a while, I feel stagnant, like everything is just going along and has little meaning. Like things are growing but can’t bloom.

Life is better for me with words. Words that actually say something. Words that paint a picture in a person’s mind. Each one beautifully different than the next.

I’ve got a new journal with hundreds of blank pages and a pen waiting to be drained of its ink.

love,

the sound of quiet
that fills the moments
in between
swells my heart
to near maximum.

the sound of quiet
and your shallow
sleeping breath.

long weekend.

We had an amazing weekend. On Saturday, we spent the day on the lake, wake boarding and swimming and laughing and getting some color on my pasty white legs.

Greg’s friends are so chill. I love that. I don’t know why I am nervous going into situations where I don’t know anyone because it never really matters. I am usually comfortable within the first 5 minutes. Every time.

On Sunday, Greg and I just hung out, not really doing anything too productive. But it was the best lazy-ish Sunday in a long time. We went shopping around and saw Chernobyl Diaries at Legends. Then we pretty much decided that Saturday had wiped us both out so I came home and he went back to Grant’s.

Today: I am working on Project Life and going to take my new camera (Canon 60D!) out on its first girl date with me. I had originally planned on doing Mark and Ash’s family pictures, but little Raelyn isn’t feeling too well. Poor baby girl.

Also, Happy Memorial Day to our Veterans! <3

tiny thoughts today.

+ Happy 5th birthday to Miss Makinna. I can’t believe how time has flown so fast.

+ April 27 looks like it will be THE DAY. Now to find THE PLACE.

+ Lake weekend with my boy. Hoping for a lot of fun and a little bit of color.

this i know.

You know those books that suck you in and make you wish you had thought of the stream of words that are floating on that page. This I Know is absolutely one of those books for me. I have teared up more than once reading through Susannah’s journey through her grief of the death of her partner, and while I never have experienced something like that (God forbid I ever do), I have had many of the same emotions about my own injury. It’s dumbfounding to me how grief can be a universal emotional about so many things and how many different ways there are to pull yourself from under it.

I anticipated this book for some time, following its progress on Susannah’s blog and then waiting for the final publication. I made myself wait to buy it, but there are some things that should not be put off.

I am glad I didn’t wait any longer.

period.

Even when you
aren’t convincing me,
you really are.
Because I already know it
and feel it
and one thousand percent
believe it.

You were absolutely
made for me
to love.

class of 2012.

Lots of graduations this year for our families. Makinna from preschool, Ashley from Washburn Tech, and Brady and Kelsey both from high school. It sure did make the weekend hectic, but it is so good to see them all doing something with themselves.

Congratulations guys!

thoughts.

+ I haven’t had much poetry up lately, but be looking for some soon. There are really only so many ways to say that I am blissfully happy.

+ This rest of this week/weekend are going to be so crazy busy. Graduations galore. I am tired already, just thinking about it.

+ Work has been better. People have backed off, and I have learned to not take on more than I am being paid to do.

+ I am ready for just one night of sleep without a nightmare. Does this happen often when people are slightly stressed or have a major life happening? I could really go for a good dream.

+ No wedding date set yet, but since my cousin Brooke is getting married March 16, 2013, I am guessing we’ll go for April sometime. <3 Don't worry, this blog will be up on all the plans as they go.

+ p.s. I’m sorry in advance for all the lovey dovey crazy happy posts that are sure to be in the future. :)

full.

sigh.

I am still in shock, I think.

He loves me so much, it would probably make me cry if I thought about it too much. But I won’t because I am taking it as it comes and just being happy.

I made the first list for the wedding. Don’t worry, I won’t freak out and go bridezilla on my blog, and I am not going to rush the plans at all. I just wanted to have a look at all the things that will need to be done and places that will need to be called and things that will need to be scheduled. And there are a lot.

But again, this week, I am just being happy with the fact that I found someone who is what I had dreamed of and wished for. Someone who makes me smile when I don’t want to smile. Someone who makes me laugh at myself. Someone who loves me.

5.11

Happy birthday Mom! I love you!

Atlanta.

Finally, I am getting around to this.

Mandy and I left Thursday morning and came home on Friday afternoon/evening. It went pretty smoothly considering it was my first time flying. Except for the guy who sat next to us on the plane. I don’t know what was wrong with him, but he had some sort of seizure early into out flight Thursday. Scariest thing I have ever seen. He seized then just went limp, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t breathing for about 10 seconds. Then he just woke up, like nothing had happened. Scary, scary, scary.

We did an audit that afternoon, and Sarah and some of the girls from the office took us out to dinner at Atkin’s Park Tavern. Soooo good. I had my first fried green tomato, and I could have eaten about 12 more. We laughed and told stories and made good friends with people who were before, just coworkers.

Friday was fast. We worked clear up until the time that the transportation van came to take us back to the airport.

It was a quick trip, but next time our boss has agreed to let us go for an extra night. Mostly because we were exhausted, and we want to see the aquarium. Sometimes he does spoil us.

project life: week 18.

Week 18 was a fun one for obvious reasons. Atlanta, engagement, life.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking.

5.5.12

It has been the busiest, craziest, and happiest 4 days of my life. Truly.

I originally planned on talking about Atlanta in my next post, but there is a little bit bigger news coming your way.

Get ready for it….

Yes, I did!

He pulled it off flawlessly. I had absolutely no idea it was coming. Even my sister and mom kept the secret for 2 weeks without dropping even a little hint. That’s an amazing feat in itself, believe me.

THE STORY: We had all planned a get together at my oldest brother’s to shoot guns and eat and have a few beers (after the guns, of course). People from work were coming. Friends were coming. Greg’s brother and wife and kids were coming. So he apparently saw it as the perfect time to pop the question.

We had just finished shooting the guns in the hot sun. We were all hot and hungry so we went back to the house. Everyone hung out before we lined up for food. Greg was last in line, and he came over to our table (where his brother Grant, Grant’s wife Shannon, Mandy, Darcy, and my mom had already sat down to eat. He walked up with his plate. Since I was there first, my wheelchair was halfway blocking his way to sit (weird tables). He goes “Could you back up a little?” So I did. He says “No, a little more.” So I did. He says again “No, back up.” Now, I was back plenty so that he could slide in to the table. I was so confused. Why did he need so much room?

Then he started digging in his pocket and crouched down. I flipped. I don’t know how many times I said “Oh my God!” but it was more than once. I laughed and cried and was a little panicked from all of it. Mandy and Darcy were taking pics and recording it. Everyone else was sort of ooh-ing and aww-ing. I think so anyway. I don’t really remember what anyone else was doing because I was trying to keep myself from completely losing it. It was emotional. It was crazy. It was so perfect.

I am so glad that he kept it a secret. I’m glad I didn’t have any inkling about when, where, etc. He did a great job of making it memorable and our type of romantic and real. He picked a perfect ring. I love him like crazy. And he is mine!

(I’ll get on that Atlanta post soon when I can breathe again.)

home sweet home.

I went to Atlanta on my very first plane ride. And I made it home safely.

More to come, but mostly I wanted to share the picture above. Isn’t it gorgeous?

onto the next.

Life has been crazy. Inspiration has been lacking. Work has been stressful and tiring and beyond frustrating.

But things are looking up. Just when I was every seriously weighing quitting my job and finding something else to do with my time, something happier, I got an email that someone had ordered a card from my Etsy shop. I haven’t had anything new up for months, and I wasn’t going to renew any of the listings when they had expired. It was just something else that I didn’t want to stress about. But that email and packaging up the sold card tonight kickstarted a little bit of motivation.

I am going to relist cards to hopefully purge my stash and start on something new. Exactly what that will be, I don’t know yet, but it will be something. Greg will be in St. Louis quite a lot so I’ll need something new to occupy my mind anyway.

Here we go.