Unexpected house guest...

Right as we are heading out of town! I went in the pantry to grab laundry bright and early this morning and was greeted by none other than a tiny little mouse.

I have guniea pigs so rodents don't totally freak me out but having one loose and jumping like a crazed thing amongst my canned goods made me scream.

Vince came to the rescue and ran to the store. He was cute, but he's evicted as of 7:30AM.

Still better than ants.

Reverb 11: Catching up #14-17

14. Marvel
What have you done well over the past year—the little stuff and the big stuff? How do you celebrate the positives?

As I have said in my earlier Reverb posts 2011 was a year of honing in on my skills and talents and growing. I feel as though I am an "adult" now, though I have been for some time, but I think something about being done with school (at least for now, Doctoral plans in the future most likely) and having a full-time job, an apartment off campus, bills, a new car; these things make me feel like a real-life grown up. 

I have been challenged this year in my own thinking and reigning in my own desires when these things just can't be right now. This is something I'm not used to; something I still struggle with. I had become accustomed to working hard and reaping the benefits, but I've learned (in the hardest and ugliest ways) that some things are just truly out of my control. There is a beauty in waiting. This growing is what I have done well, because through the growth I am happy and happiness is what we strive for. 

As far as celebrating the big positives: graduating, signing a lease on an apartment, buying a car, etc. We tried to celebrate as things came a long with special dinners and outings, but mostly just appreciating that these things were possible this year.

15. Fear
The easiest way to overcome fear is to confront it. Rather than brainstorming reasons to avoid your “fear,” shift your attention to the reasons for confronting your fear. What fear would you like to overcome in 2012?

One of my largest fears is the unknown. Uncertainty rattles me to my bones. I even get nervous about opening gifts from others as the lack of knowing if I will like it makes me worry that I will disappoint them in my reaction. Silly? True. I can go with the flow like the best of them but there are just some things that not having all the information on get under my skin and make a home in my brain until I either figure them out or over think it to the point that I drive myself (and all of my friends no doubt) nuts. 

I have tried to use progressive muscle relaxation when I'm feeling tense about things. I also try to busy myself with other things to do. I think I need to channel my relaxed outlook from most aspects of my life and realize that the unknown can be a positive thing. Maybe I'll get there in 2012. Maybe. 

16. Transitions
Over the past year have you experienced any major/minor life transitions? How has your life changed?

Student to Graduate

Dating to live-together-partner

Employed to Unemployed then to Employed again

Non-active blogger to Semi-Regular blogger

I'm sure there are more but these stand out the most.

17. Bliss
What are three things that make you feel the most blissed out? What can you do in 2012 to invite more of that into your life?

Coffee Dates with friends. Time at home with Vince, growing in our relationship. Writing, whether on this blog orrrrr maybe just maybe I will start on this book idea I have in my head. Yup, I'm putting it out there. I want to write a book. Surprised Mom? I always said I wanted to be an author, hasn't gone away I guess :)

Reverb 11: Catching up #10-13.

10. Soul Food
How do you nourish your soul? What activities are essential nutrients for your soul’s well-being?

Reading-- Even if that just means perusing the Internet and my favorite blogs, spending time increasing my knowledge base is refreshing. That being said, I would like to do more reading of actual books in 2012.

Family Time-- Being home with Vince, spending time with his family, being with my created family of friends, and making the trek to Iowa to be with my family of origin are all the times that make everything else worth it. It's family that know you and who can be honest with you in ways that those who aren't on that level cannot. And sometimes, sometimes I just need someone to set me straight when I'm having difficulty getting there by myself.

Watching My Shows-- I watch tv. I have a lot of shows that I love, a LOT of shows. And I sometimes feel silly about it or that I'm wasting time but you know what? I love them. I love the characters. I love watching the stories develop. I catch myself mimicking the emotions being displayed on the screen: they laugh, I laugh (everyone does this right?); but if they are frowning, so am I; and if they are crying I usually am too. I can feel the joy of the characters, the sadness, and sometimes the characters feel real. And I don't feel guilty for watching hours of tv, because these shows lead to conversations with people, and sometimes they challenge your thinking. 

Quiet time--- Lately this has happened when I am driving back from dropping off a client. I have spent a lot of time reflecting, challenging myself in my head (sometimes aloud to myself too). I've reflected a lot more on where I am and where I'm going and I think that it's really made me "grow up" more by doing so. I also enjoy quiet time as a couple when Vince and I can just be, just snuggle up and relax together. Especially great on weekend mornings with fresh muffins.

Creating-- I have loved finding ideas around the blogoshpere and pinterest and bringing the to life. I've challenged myself in learning the basics of sewing and other new skills and doing so while listening to some tunes just realigns everything. 

11. Anticipation
What is the one thing that you are most looking forward to in 2012?

One thing? Just ONE. I'm going to pick growing as our little family of two. I was just telling Vince the other day how much I feel like he and I have grown since we met in April of 2010. It truly hasn't been that long but we have come into our own individually and as a couple and it's been beautiful. I am anticipating that 2012 will be just as fruitful for us.

12. Mistakes
It’s easy to focus on our mistakes—to reflect with 20/20 hindsight and berate ourselves for what went wrong. Bring your awareness to a mistake you’ve made over the past year. Unveil one positive lesson from that mistake. How can you actively use this lesson moving forward?

It's hard to pinpoint a specific mistake, or maybe I just don't want to be that honest on here. I have learned much in the 2011. I have tested my own patience, learned that I can be jealous as a monster, I have challenged myself mentally and not as much physically. All of these things I have reflected on and hopefully grown from. That's what being 25/26 is about and I'm happy to say that I feel more me now than ever before. So I choose not to claim a mistake and instead choose lessons. 

13. Love
What are the things (or people or animals) in this world that you love the most.

I cherish my family and friends, Vince, my guinea piggies (Baxter and Bruno). I have more joy and love in my heart than I have ever realized before and I think that's because I also have learned to love myself for who and I am and where I am right now which makes loving and appreciating others a whole lot easier and more enjoyable. 

I also love books, tangible, paper, and especially used beautiful books. I love my blogs and pinterest. I love cooking and crafting. I love my new car that is an incredible improvement from my last. I love my job which has brought me some amazing, funny, and challenging clients that continue to make me grow as a professional. 

I love my life and I am more than in love with the fact that I can wholeheartedly say that.

Home is Where the Heart is

Update: I just linked this project up to "Tute"-inTueday over on Oops I Craft My Pants! Stop over there and have a looksie at all of Ericka's awesomeness as well as the other projects that get linked up today!

Once again I have been inspired by Pinterest. Having been enamoured by images like this

and this

I knew that I wanted a little something on my walls to remind me of my roots. I decided to go ahead and go for the more complex version (string art!) as I wanted to try something new and I remembered a cross project I did in bible school ages ago that still hangs at my parents house and that additional memory prompted this project.
So I got started:

1) I purchased a wooden plaque from Michaels and some white acrylic paint and put just one quick coat on as it covered pretty nicely. I also wanted to have the brush marks in the paint so I made sure to paint in just a left to right motion.

2) Vince so kindly printed out an image of the Great State of Iowa for me weeks ago, I simply taped it down to the painted plaque and started putting in my nails (from a frame hanging kit at Dollar Tree, 109 nails for $1 baby!) I tried to equally space them about a half inch apart from one another but this was by no means precise.

3) Close up of the nails. I didn't follow the border exactly except the wonderful straight lines on the northern and southern borders of the state. East and west were wiggly and curvy and I just did the best that I could to make it still look like Iowa.

4) I also added a little "heart" shape near where Oskaloosa is on the map. Again, not precise. Eyeballing at best. I then started stringing my yarn back and forth between the heart nails and the border nails. I tried to keep things as even as possible but really I just randomly covered the space.

5) Close to finished, I still filled in a lot of the little gaps that you see here.

In case you are interested this is the thread that I used :)

Vince made a suggestion of adding some color to the heart to make it stand out more. I thought that was great idea so I just wound some dark red thread around the nails on the heart.

What do you think? Someday when I actually put up my gallery wall this will be one of the pieces on it! And in case you try this out for yourself, try to make sure all of your nails are the same length, this makes it easy when you are hammering your little fingers off trying to get them all the same length once in the plaque.

Giving

Giving. Not tangible, store bought gifts but gifts that come from your heart and send with them an emotional investment in the form of pride in a job well done. At least that's what I hope. Reading Carolyn's (of A Beautiful Ripple Effect) post on giving made me realize how often the emotional response of giving of our own talents to others is a sense of being draining or worse being taken advantage of. I know exactly the feeling, I'm not trying to say that I don't, but why exactly is it that this is the feeling we get when we give of ourselves to others.
Why do we feel as though our time and talents must mean as much to every other person as they do to us? And why do e so often forget about the time and talents of others that we don't acknowledge?
It is so easy to be introspective and to assess how we feel of giving which of course can feel depleting at times; it would be much easier to not put the effort into giving but to savor it all for ourselves, but how would that feel inside? I am quite certain it would feel just as emptying.
When looking back on 2011 and truth be told 2010 as well I realize how often I have selfishly worried over the amount of giving I was doing compared to my peers, especially at work, I measured others' gifts in time rather than in talent. Instead of looking for ways to best utilize the gifts on our team we divided work up and all had individual expectations of what others should give and worrying that we may be taken advantage of in the process.
I've spent time lately evaluating where my true talents lie and in my new job I've seen a lot more of my gifts being used for the positive. I am competitive but it is coming out in striving to provide the best care I can for my clients rather than trying to be the best employee. I am resourceful and that has been demonstrated well in adapting to a new job within a new field doing things I never would have considered doing professionally. I am creative which I have been lucky enough to be able to explore new hobbies in home decorating, sewing, and cooking. And I enjoy giving of my time to others by helping them whether that means I'm making them a meal, cleaning their bathroom, or being the listening ear that they need for an hour.
These are my gifts, among others. And while I continue to explore these gifts and give of them to others I also want to remember to be grateful that I am able to give and catch myself when I am feeling depleted and look for a way to use my talents in another way or maybe seek out the gifts of someone else who can help me refocus.

Limits and Super Powers

2011 saw me testing my personal limits as I worked to finish my Masters degree which meant completing a 600 hour internship on top of mg normal school and hall director responsibilities. I truly am not certain how everything got done, but I do know that I felt stretched thin, that I didn't feel as though I could do the highest quality work on any of these areas, and that I got terrible hives over and over for months (luckily on my legs so I didnt look crazy!)
On the positive side I did learn that I can push myself hard to accomplish a lot more than I thought and also that setting limits for your own sanity is VERY important. I learned to say no to things knowing fully that in the previous 2 years I would have jumped at the opportunity. True some people probably thought I should have stepped up for more and at times I felt guilty, by if I had added that o e other thing to my plate it would have broken.
Now on to being limitless, having a super power! I have often been asked this question in interviews or team builders and I always struggle. I don't know that its a lack of imagination or not watching enough cartoons or movies but I just can never been too creative.
If I'm searching hard for my desired powers I would have to say being invisible. Not so I can shy away and hide but so that I could spy on people. Be the fly on the wall. What can I say, I am and always have been nosey. I hate not being privy to information. It's tortuous. I have an insatiable need to know what's going on. So maybe I would like invisibility and the ability to walk through walls so I can hear and see whatever I want.
PS I have been busy on a couple of projects, so are gifts so details won't be up til after the holidays. Buuuttt I have my pics all finished for one so maybe tomorrow morning I can get it up!

Inspiration: Restoration Hardware

I've apparently been living under a rock. A great big amazingly beautiful rock called Restoration Hardware. 

I have seen this store in my one or two strolls around Somerset mall, but only yesterday did I actually stop in. I was instantly in love with the plush bath robes and linens that were everywhere for the holiday loot. The price tags are of course astronomical (at least on my budget, kudos if you think they aren't) however the inspiration of the store design as well as the products is worth the periodic stroll to drool to.

This scrabble board is one item I found myself swooning over, and at only $279 a set, I think I will have one really soon :). Not only is the craftsmanship of this set gorgeous, it is extra large with a whopping 26 1/2" square games pace.

Pretty amazing right? I know any Feist family members that may stumble upon my blog can understand the coveting of this board! Nana needs one right?

Adding Ease

I know there is a strict "no rules" clause attached to Reverb11, but I am behind and I also will continue to go in order because that's just how I am :) I will also most likely continue to be behind but I'm just going to have to deal with it as this post is about ease after all.

Thinking about those things that make life feel relaxed and calm I also had to think of those things that do the opposite. 

Here's a short list:
1. Money, more specifically managing it well.
2. Unknowns
3. Over-projecting

These three also happen to be things that I have focused on rationalizing in my brain over the last few months. The more I learn to plan and discipline myself towards my goals I have learned makes me less stressed out and more at ease with where I am in my life.

I also love to treat myself occassionally when I'm feeling especially tense and a nice pedicure (preferably at a school to save $$$) or a coffee date with a friend do the soul good.

I loved that someone else's ease induced was adding yoga to theory routine and this is something I would like to start practicing again. I spent.a semester going once or twice a week..actually I doubt it was the whole semester...but it sure does have an amazing ability to add some calm and order to your life.

Any suggestions for was to avoid my mini-list or ways to add ease?

Why reading the label before laundering is important....

Yesterday I created a creative to-do list on my phone of projects I wanted to work on while I had a Tuesday off work. This morning I got to work on my most exciting project: embroidery. I had purchased the materials late last week to start the project to use the gorgeous embroidery hoops my mom snagged from some of the remaining items from my late great-grandmother's estate. I found gorgeous off-white fabric in the remnant bin at JoAnn's and some even more beautiful embroidery thread with a gift card from my boss at Michael's.

This morning I used my iron transfer pen to trace my word onto tissue paper so that I could then transfer it to said fabric and begin trying my hand at embroidery.

Turns out my beautiful remnant...was not iron safe.

The fabric is obviously ruined...well at least that portion of it. And my stencil that I hovered over for 30 minutes to trace it ever so carefully is ruined too.

Not to mention I now need to clean the sticky mess off of my iron....

Guess I just have to put this one in the FAIL category and try again with melt-proof fabric.

So on to the next project on my list. Here's a preview.

No clue right? More information soon :)

P.S. There was no label for me to read on my fabric, but I should have tested a small area before ruining the big piece. 

Reading...Books

Continuing on with my Reverb11 blogging the next post is:

"Reading: What has been your favorite book (or books if you can't pick just one) that you've read this year?"

Have I mentioned that I was in grad school for most of 2011? Actually that's no longer true though it still feels true. I was really only in grad school until the end of April, so only 5 months, less than half of the year. So why have I not gotten back into the swing of reading? True I have read a couple of books and I even blogged about about Hannah's Gift: Lessons from a Life Fully Lived. If you haven't read that post and if you haven't picked up the book, I recommend it.

I reviewed that book in June. JUNE. Only 2 months after graduating. I only got my job 5 weeks ago. What did I read in between then? Blogs. Beautifully written, inspiring blogs.

I would love to pick up a book though, have it on my bedside table to read before bed. It has to be better for my sleep cycle to not have my droid in my face as I do now most nights. I best pick one of the many off of my shelves, or maybe I'll go pick up a copy of The Hunger Games. They hype has been incredible around the series, and let's be honest, kiddie lit is a whole lotta fun.

Reverb 11

A few days ago I read about Reverb 11 on A Beautiful Ripple Effect and since I've been stalled out on projects and blogging since starting my new job, however I do spend a lot of time reading blogs while I have downtime at work AND I have lots of time to think about posts as much of my days revolve around driving clients to and from places. Also I downloaded the blogger application on my phone so I can update it while waiting for clients and complete the drafts when I got home.

I also have been reflecting lately on the past year and future goals since turning the big 26 on 11/26. Reverb 11 felt like the perfect opportunity to get into better blogging habits as well as to reflect on last year and project for the next year.

So I'm starting, 4 days late, but I'm starting today. Here are the prompts I have to catch up on:

1. One Word 
Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2012 for you?
(Author: Gwen Bell)

Flux. 2011 saw me completing my Master's degree, moving into an off campus apartment with my boyfriend (which was also the first time in nearly 6 years that I've shared my living space with someone else), being unemployed, becoming employed full-time, and finally after a month of work settling into a "normal" routine. Every definition of the word flux  seems to fit one part of my life or another over the past year. "To flow," "Obsolete or purge," "Continuous change," "Passage." All of these resonate with me as stages of my life in 2011. 

In 2012 I'm hoping Stability and Security will be my two words. I have never felt more secure with myself and where I am heading in life than in 2011 and I know that, allow there is likely to be much, much more flux in my life in 2012, I will also continue to grow in my own stability and security. 

2. Writing
What piece of writing are you most proud of from 2011? How does this piece differ from your other pieces?

In 2011 I did a lot of writing, most of it school and internship related. Although I am pretty proud of my 50+ page treatment plans I worked on in my internship, I'm most proud that I'm finding my voice on my blog. I have enjoyed sharing with others the projects I have been working on in our home and I am pushing myself to explore my writing talents more as I am no longer writing academically and miss challenging my mind through writing. I even have a (somewhat secret) desire to write a novel...I could use encouragement to get started on that one! 

3. Year in Review

As you reflect back on the happenings of 2011, what were your high points and what were your low points? What do you notice as you look back on the year as a whole?

High points in 2011 are:

• finishing my tenure as Hall Director of West Vandenberg Hall
• completing my internship and then graduating with my Masters
• landing my first post-school job
• moving in with Vince and starting our lives in our home together

Low points of 2011 are:

• Being unemployed for the majority of 6 months post-grad
• Getting excited about job opportunities only to have them fall through
• Other ugly points that I'd rather not recall at the moment, luckily there are only really a couple of these

Overall I am pleased with how 2011 went. Even in the toughest times when my bank account teetered closer to the $0.00 mark than I'd ever like to admit to another adult I still was able to see the lessons that life was teaching me. I have reconsidered so many of my habits and life choices regarding money and have a much healthier view towards my finances and my relationship has grown tremendously as we have learned to talk about financial decisions that can be difficult in any relationship, let alone when one person is the sole provider. Although I need to continue to grow here, I am no looking to make smart, long-term decisions with finances rather than quick-fix solutions. 

4. Beauty
How have your standards of beauty shifted in the past year?

I would love to say I'm at the top of my game in regards to health and beauty, however, the last year has not been kind to my previous year's diligence to my figure. I have felt as though I am more comfortable in my skin as it is currently and know that I am beautiful right now, I just need to move towards healthy behaviors in order to improve my body's functions rather than to improve my looks. 

I have also considered beauty in my home environment in all new ways. Rather than loving everything that Ikea makes I am coming more into my own in decorating styles and am enjoying figuring out how to incorporate more of my eclectic tastes into something of beauty. I have enjoyed creating beautiful things to display in our home and look forward to growing more in my skills with DIY projects over the next year.

There is a 5th prompt out there, however, I'm off to bed so I will add that one tomorrow and be back on track!!