January 2012
35 posts
3 tags
December 2011
16 posts
2 tags
Live, love, laugh, scrap.
“A day without laughter is a day wasted.” - Charlie Chaplin
Tonight was a perfect Friday night. Two girlfriends came over for a scrapbooking night, which proved to be a wonderfully low-key evening. I set out some snacks - I love playing hostess, which I can only attribute to not doing very frequently - then we ordered pizza and put on our creative hats. Over the course of...
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Trimming the tree, v. 2011.
This holiday season, my husband Chris and I were late to the decorating game. This entire fall has flown by, time feeling more and more compressed as the weeks progressed. Before we knew it, it was the second week of December and we still didn’t have a tree. Though we remedied that, by mid-December it was decked out in lights but nothing else. Chris seemed perfectly content to let the...
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Holiday joy, via chocolate.
Reports of “layaway angels” have been making the news this holiday season: stories about kindhearted strangers paying off customers’ department store layaway balances at stores in Michigan, Indiana, Nebraska, and now Central New York. I can’t help but smile upon hearing of these random acts of kindness, and decided to practice the concept myself, though on a much smaller...
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Holiday cards, part 2.
This year, my husband and I are changing up our holiday card routine. No recently-visited beautiful landscape to showcase, plus a general lack of enthusiasm for scoping out a local alternative, equaled an urge to try something other than our annual “Chris and Jess go on vacation” cards.
One important additional factor in this decision was that I had recently purchased several...
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Holiday cards, part 1.
Each year since 2004, I’ve made holiday cards to send to family and friends. Although made by hand, they’re nothing fancy: a flat card with a small wallet-sized photo and some embellishment like ribbon or stamps. My husband or I add a hand-written holiday message. Hand-made and personal, and done relatively easily and inexpensively compared to boxed greeting cards.
Most years, the...
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“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree is the presence of a happy...”
– This weekend, I’m celebrating Christmas with my family. My brother flew in from the west coast yesterday. Tomorrow, he, my husband, and I will pack in the car and head to my parents’ home an hour south of here. Even though the calendar will read December 17, it will be Christmas,...
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Cavities, Izze, and me.
Two weeks ago, I visited my dental professionals for my semi-annual cleaning. There I received some extremely disappointing news: three cavities. Yes, three. You see, I have pretty darn good teeth. Just a visit or two ago, my dentist called my pearly whites “teeth of steel”. Prior to December 5, I had only three cavities in my life. And then that number doubled in the space of only...
1 tag
When in doubt, bring cupcakes.
“When you look at a cupcake, you’ve got to smile.” - Anne Byrn
Being married to a man who’s one of eight children with lots of relatives in the area, I attend my fair share of family gatherings. When I’m in the position to contribute to a get-together, as much as my best intentions involve me whipping up something in the kitchen, in reality I stop at the store on...
3 tags
Do something about it.
I have a mug in my office. It’s a giveaway from an old United Way campaign, back when I worked in the corporate sector in Houston. The front features the United Way of the Texas Gulf Coast logo; the back, the slogan, “Do something about it.” The phrase is always present in the corner of my mind. This week, I’ve been doing lots of little somethings. On Monday night, I had...
Bad hair day.
At the risk of beginning my blogging hobby on a shallow note, I share with you that last week, I had a bad hair day. I was running late in the morning while getting ready for work, and didn’t have time for a full (or even more than once-over) blow dry. This did not bode well for my hair once it dried of its own accord: flat, limp, frizzy hair, with one side curled under, and one side...
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Having more joy. →
Having more joy does not necessarily require a life overhaul—you may just need to create more space in your life for moments of joy.
— Debrena Jackson Gandy
via Life Lift, The Oprah blog (http://www.oprah.com/blogs/index.html)
That this is Life Lift’s “Thought for Today” is particularly well-timed given my recent foray into this Tumblr and the name I chose, Road to Joy.
...
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It's on.
I’ve finally acquiesced and started a blog. I have quite a few friends who blog. Their entries really inspire me, on a variety of levels - everything from musings on local life (family, pastimes) to interesting commentary (technology, politics). So I thought, why not join in? But I hesitated, doubts running through my head. Would I have time to actively participate, given the other...
