Scrappy Hearts

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 5, 2018

Grateful this day for my husband's commitment to our yard. We worked out a plan to add a shed and he has really spent so much of his time to bring that plan to fruition. This Monday, after my quick trip to Houston, found several new plants in the yard just waiting to find the correct location to be planted. Next spring our yard will be wonderful!!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 4, 2018

So very grateful that the Giants had a "buy" this Sunday. Seriously, I am being worn thin by this season already. I will always, always be a Giants fan. That's a non-negotiable, but we as a team have seriously struggled this past season and a half. I cannot not watch my Giants when they are televised. This passed Sunday I also had a buy. I did all my normal chores and Sunday activities. I watched a ton of football, some good and some bad. I was able to put myself to bed early and prepare myself for Monday, back at school. Next Sunday I will go back to watching the Giants and cheering them on, happily, hoping that the buy week did them some good!!

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 3, 2018

Grateful today, Saturday, for the opportunity to play with fabric beside the Brimfield Mavens, Nisha and Kim. The sweet joy of selecting 4 different fabrics and finding that they work together when placed in the houses and orange peel of the Brimfield block. I love English Paper Piecing, and the opportunity to play with a couple of pro's for an hour and a half was pure bliss. I am so glad that I gave myself the opportunity to take a respite in the midst of trying to take on Quilt Market in a brief 6.5 hours. I needed the break and I am grateful for the opportunity. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 2, 2018

Grateful today for the gift of inspiration. So much talent and so many beautiful fabrics have really inspired me to up my quilting game. I am so excited to bring so much of this back home to the shop! These fabrics from Tilda will become a part of an EPP project that has been slowly simmering in the back of my brain. I couldn't resist and placed the order right away. Inspiration must never be ignored. 

30 Days of Gratitude - Day 1, 2018

Today I am so very grateful for the gift of Quilt Market. Although Market activities really don't get underway until tomorrow, I spent this evening surrounded by quilt shop owners from around the country and the world. So much fun! We shared ideas and talked about our individual concerns and interests. I learned so very much! I am excited to head home and implement some of the ideas we spoke about. While I am grateful for the gift of Quilt Market, I seriously would not have been able to attend without the prodding and support from my husband Mark, the flexibility and earnestness of everyone of the special ladies that works with me at the shop and finally, without the gift of a job with personal days this trip would not have been possible. I recognize all of that and consider this short trip the gift that it is!

got history?

 

Every summer Mark and I try to plan a few excursions to satisfy our wanderlust and this summer was no exception. Our historical journey found us driving down to Williamsburg last Sunday. We love any opportunity to explore history and since Mark had never been to Williamsburg it was an obvious choice! 

  

One of my favorite things about our little excursion was the opportunity to delight in the beauty of the area. So often life rushes by us and we can lose sight of the little things like a cool breeze on a sunny day and tons of Crepe Myrtle flowers in bloom everywhere we turn. We took our time, didn't make a grand plan and just let the trip take us where it would. We met some really interesting people, ate delicious homemade toasted coconut ice cream and ate several delicious meals. We even took a dip in the pool - look at me relaxing!!

We were only away for a few days but we were very relaxed when we returned. We took our time driving and came north via the Chesapeake Bay Bridge - Tunnel and treated ourselves to lunch at a little roadside diner that looked a little scary but served delicious food! All in all, we were grateful for the opportunity to spend a little time away! 

Monday Night - Again

Jason treated me to a dinner out in the city last evening. Olarosa, spanish inspired tapas restaurant. It was a wonderful time. We were able to catch up on the happenings in each of our lives and reminisce about some of our shared experiences in life. Surprising how alike we are and how different we are, all at the same time. I was sharing about closing the shop on Mother's Day because I wouldn't ask someone to work if I wasn't willing to, and he had the same experience about an event someone wanted to host on Mother's Day. The truth is, whenever I spend time with either of my children, I am always surprised at how similar our mannerisms are and how we value the same things. It was such a great time. We walked to the train together, me to Patco and Jason to the Broad St line. Jason allowed me to snap this photo just as we said goodbye. I didn't have my camera out at all otherwise, even though it was the last day of Week in the Life!

The city looked very different on my way over Sunday late afternoon, than it did on Friday evening. A grey Mother's Day was just what the doctor ordered. The dreariness made it so much easier to lay low, which is exactly what I did!

I had arrived in the city just a bit early for our reservation so I took a short walk. The house above just happen to catch my eye. Philadelphia is such a pretty city. I love the older homes and the tree-lined streets.

This was also a very pretty block! The city smells so fresh after a light rain in the spring. 

Just like that my little trip into Philly ended. Jason traveled the train to his new home south of the South Philly location where he had previously lived. Me, I traveled back over the bridge to where I live. On my way back I finished a great collection of short stories, a very successful day! 

The Stuff of Life - Monday, May 7th, 2018

Early Monday morning bloodwork. Being diabetic means that I am in the lab once every three months, very early, to get my A1C checked out. Not a bad wait today and hardly an inconvenience, I just need to be more mindful of my eating habits and my daily exercise.

Lularoe leggings and maxis sure make it easy to get dressed in the morning and to be in clothes all day. Seriously, now that I have put on weight, I need comfort. I also need to become more active and conscious of my diet so that I shed these extra pounds.

No time like the present. I stopped at the market on the way home. Both Mark and I hate to food shop so I decided that the only way I was going conquer my poor eating habits is if I took a turn doing the food shopping. Not fair to leave it all up to Mark. Salads and rotisserie chicken for the win. Baby steps towards a healthier me!

Getting my act together for a bit of school work after dinner. Needing to up my game as the end of the year comes barreling towards me. Gathered and graded papers while catching up to where Mark is with Grace and Frankie. Loving that show! Loving that there are times when I set aside time to join my husband in watching a show or movie. I think it's called downtime and I need to allow myself to have a bit of it!

Each day I am adding to my bags to purge. I love that the living room now functions as such! One of my truly happy places as we evaluate what works and what doesn't work in this house so we can take the next steps. Trying to be mindful of my role in making the house a comfortable place for both of us.

Winding down time is my phrase for the time I take each evening to separate myself from the busyness of the day to the calming down of the evening. I love getting into my jammies and beginning to wind down. I am not great at getting "to bed" but I am working on it!

Taking advantage of a NSD sale at Persnickety Prints and so happy that I persevered. I have been wanting to get a few enlargements and theirs are the best. I am working on getting better at understanding how my computer works at storing photos and trying to make sense of my new Adobe Elements. It is all a learning curve for me. I almost gave up because I was so tired, but I still managed to get to bed at a reasonable hour. A bit go work in my bullet journal and then...

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This is what I do with my days, these days. It is pictures of my feet for the win! The truth is, my days are full and at the end of them I try to avoid sitting in front of my computer. That is why I have not written a blog post in over 5 months, and I miss it. Since April 3rd I have truly immersed myself in the 100 Day Project, 100 days of pictures of my feet. I figured it would be easy to keep up, my feet are usually always with me!! I tend to lose everything else!

Since it has been a while, I thought I would begin with my list of current happenings. Currently:

• teaching 2nd grade, still but not for long;
• packing my classroom to head to 4th grade;
• working at the shop 4 days a week, 3 weeknights and all day Saturday;
• planning on taking the Lantern class at the Paper Source; 
• reading Eastern Shore Shorts by Gail Priest;
• sewing a bunch of samples for the shop that I need to finish;
• celebrating #NSD2018;
• ordering prints of pictures to scrap, it's been too long;
• missing Bunkey;
• organizing my studio for the umpteenth time; (Is that even a word?)
• looking forward to summer, gardening and traveling;
• following Ali Edwards, Brimfield Awakening, Elle's Studio, Brene Brown and Mr. Domestic;
• watching Grace and Frankie;
• marking papers;
• doing laundry;
• enjoying life.

Well, that's a brief update on what's been happening around here. I begin documenting my Week in the Life tomorrow along with Ali Edwards and a few others. Why not play along?

30 Days of Gratitude: November 28th

 Math Night at school and Jo Club at the shop, grateful for the fullness of life (and my calendar) and some Beaujolais left in the bottle. This night I am grateful for especially for a grade level partner that plans and executes such wonderful, supportive programs for the parents. While I am a filling participant, I cannot begin to organize such an undertaking. Also so very grateful for employees that can and choose to pick up the slack when I am over committed. Life being full is wonderful, being full with so much support is really a blessing!