savoring the details

Books

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies.  I am not necessarily a quick reader, but I am always reading a book.  I always read before falling asleep.  I love how a book allows one to escape from his/her existence and live vicariously through a character.  Some books I read and enjoy and pass them on or donate.  Some books I read and fall in love with and must keep and put on my bookshelf.  Seeing them there fills me with a sense of accomplishment  and sometimes just a quick glance brings back the feelings of why I enjoyed them so.  Then there are other books, that change me and I want everyone I know to read them. Here is one such book:

If you haven't yet read this book, I highly recommend it.  I read it a few years ago and fell in love with it.  Amy Rosenthal is such an amazing writer.  This book is humorous yet so poignant.  It allows us to recognize that while we all live ordinary lives, to the ones we love, our lives are extraordinary. 

I picked this book up off my shelf today and looked through the pages that I had dogeared and I found her entry for 'Y'...'YOU' and I just wanted to share part of it with all of you:

But I was here.

And I did things.

I shopped for groceries.  I stubbed my toe.  I danced at a party in college and my dress spun around.  I hugged my mother and father and hoped they would never die.  I pulled change from my pocket.  I wrote my name with my finger on a cold, fogged window.  I used a dictionary.  I had babies.  I smelled someone barbecuing down the street.  I cried to exhaustion.  I got the hiccups.  I grew breasts.  I counted the tiles in my shower.  I hoped something would happen.  I had my blood pressure taken.  I wrapped my leg around my husband's leg in bed.  I was rude when I shouldn't have been.  I watched the cellist's bow go up and down, and adored the music he made.  I picked at a scab.  I wished I was older.  I wished I was younger.  I loved my children.  I loved mayonnaise.  I sucked my thumb.  I chewed on a blade of grass. 

I was here, you see.  I was.

I just love this.

I love that she is writing about completely ordinary stuff, but through it I connected with her. It is the ordinary, mundane tasks of our lives that largely define us.  Everyday has the potential to be a great day...depending on our attitude and our approach to life.

I'd love to hear what books resonate with you and which books, like me, you will never part with.

Happy weekend!

Some stuff!

We had such a beautiful weekend here. The temperatures were in the 70s.  We spent lots of time outdoors just soaking up the sun.  Kevin cleaned up our yard (a huge task after our surprise October storm that devastated the trees in our backyard), emptied out the shed, put up the awning and still found time to play baseball and hockey with Sean.  He is such a wonderful father.

I accomplished something that I never thought was possible.  I decided that I wanted to start sewing and I mentioned this to my very sweet and very talented friend, Kristen.  She found this tutorial and sent it to me.  I loved the bag and knew I just had to make one.  Well, after several mistakes and some much needed help from my dear neighbor, Barb who is a quilter, I went from this:

 

to this:

It is far from perfect and I know I still have lots to learn, but I am really enjoying trying a new hobby.  Plus, fabric shopping is tons of fun. ;)

Now, take a wild and crazy guess who received this toy over the weekend...

 

Hmmm....I know this is really tough!  When I saw it at Target, I knew that Luke would really love it.  And he does...

The picture is a little blurry, but I love how much he is enjoying his new toy! 

A Little Sharing...

Wow, I cannot believe it is Friday already.  This week just flew by.  I thought I would share a few projects that I worked on over the last week or so.

This is a simple scrapbook page that I did in response to an ad challenge on the Simple Studio Blog.  I was actually inspired by a gift bag I saw at Hallmark, so I thought that was close enough. 

This is a card I made for our neighbor.  She turned 13 last week...a teenager now! She is so sweet and always takes interest in my scrapbooking projects.  She is also a great help to me and visits often and plays with the boys.

 

Yet another birthday card, following my simple scheme that always saves me when I'm in a rush.  This Cheeky Line of paper by Making Memories is one of my favorites.  I love the color scheme and the funky flowers.

And this is a simple thank you card that I made. 

It appears that spring is going to finally join us here in the Northeast.  We are supposed to reach temperatures in the 70s.  We are so excited and are looking forward to spending time outside.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Up and running...

Woohoo! I am back to the world of the internet...the land of the living!  My brother-in-law took my computer last Wednesday in order to convert it over to a new computer with more memory, etc.  Wow...it was tough to be without internet access, but at the same time it forced me to realize how much time I  do spend on the computer.  It was a good lesson for me, but one I hope I don't have to revisit for a while. ;)

I just realized that I never even shared photos from Easter.  We had a wonderful Easter...a nice, relaxing day spent with family.

I bought the boys matching outfits, but they were not cooperating when I tried to take a photo after church.  This is the best I could get!

Here is Sean acting somewhat shy for the camera...not sure where that came from.

This is what happens to Luke's hair if he hangs out on the couch for too long! HA!

This was my last attempt at getting a shot of the two boys together...even though you can only get a glimpse of Luke's head, I love that Sean is hugging his baby brother.

We made it!

Well, despite the extremely cold temperatures and snow, we did make it to an Easter egg hunt today.  It was short and sweet (after waiting a long 15 minutes for it to begin), but Sean loved every second of it. 

Next year, Luke will be out there hunting too, but this year he had the best spot of all...snuggled inside a warm blanket in the stroller.

Each year, I am inspired by the fabulous Joanna with her amazing egg dying.  We just did ours this afternoon and had lots of fun.

Many blessings to you all this Easter!

It's been a while...

Wow...it has been a long time since I have posted.  Life has been a little hectic here.  We have had some remodeling done on our house...actually still in process as we are waiting for new carpet to be installed in our living room.  I will be posting some photos when the project is complete. Last week Luke had pink eye and this week he has an ear infection.  So, it has been a rough couple of weeks.  Hopefully we are in the home stretch.

I will share a few photos, though.  The other day when things were going okay, Sean asked if he could dust for me.  How could I refuse? And of course, Luke wanted to participate as well.  Here are my two helpers...I'm training them to be great husbands!  (Please excuse the arrangement of furniture in our house...things are scattered with the work being done.)

I can't believe that Easter is here already.  It certainly doesn't feel like it here on the east coast.  It is snowing and extremely cold.  I'm not sure we are going to make it to any Easter egg hunts tomorrow.  In case, I don't post again, Happy Easter to all my friends and thanks so much for visiting my blog.