Find your honey

Have an Artsy Fartsy Friday and an inspired weekend!

ps- I will be back next week! The flu and hours of work leave me to tired to type at night but I have a wealth of inspiration just waiting to be unleashed!

Classifrass

A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous

~ Coco Chanel

Inspired to be inspired

I don't know that I've ever experienced so many cool pictures and waves of inspiration as I did when I came across JuBella today! Colors, patterns, pretties and various things.

Inspiration is an art in and of itself. When you find a source, visit it frequently. Make it your best friend. Find ways to make their inspirations uniquely yours. Make it a starting point. Incorperate your personality and uniqueness.

Sigh...she finds all the good stuff.

and what eye-candy it is!

If my thighs weren't so allergic to sugar I would live off of fresh Cotton Candy.

Check out this post based on cotton candy inspired things :

And her recipes she posts are so fun and tasty looking. These bite-sized phyllo dough fiesta's look amazing!

Cocoa. Chai.seriously. YUM!

 

And talk about colorful lovlies! 

Check her out and be inspired . Have an artsy-fartsy Friday and a colorful, inspired and uniquely YOU weekend!

Yep.

What a difference 3 years makes

3 years to the date John and I have lived in the interesting "city" of Centralia.  What a 3 years it has been.

It went from this:

to this:

.

I had lived alone a couple of times before far, far away from home and  I had gone through 2 Iraq deployments with my husband.  Those challenges paled in comparison to this life change. At first we cried our eyes out not knowing why we were here. Seriously. We sat in Monical's Pizza and cried real tears.Lots of them. We heard every train that came by our house and each passing was met with our cat doing meowing laps in our house and John having a spaz attack.  Had we misheard God? Were we suffering from momentary insanity? Had we taken a wrong turn somewhere north of Albuquerque? We came to a place where we knew only our real estate agent and had only each other. Needless to say- we didn't take the transition as graciously as we could have. We were closer to family, yes but not close enough in my book (I thought at the time). We were in what I considered at that time to be a rural God-forsaken town and I longed for my mountain drives to Palm Springs again, military family lifestyles and felt as if I was starving for friendship and connection.  Then at one of the of the lowest times in my life I found an investment opportunity:

Contentment is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires makes a wise and a happy purchase.

  Ha! Contentment!...uh huh. This is an art for me.  It does not come easy but it is worth every penny (figuratively speaking..)We became involved  in Orchardville Church and began to be a part of an amazing work in this town which  needs Jesus so desperately. 

 We found friends who embraced who we are, and complimented our differences and we took every opportunity to spend moments with our close-yet-so-far-away families.

John and I  began embracing each other more. We began learning what it was really like to be living in the moment with each other. Living to love. Loving to live..together.

joy

It took 3 years, well about 2 and a quarter, really to get our heads on straight and realize its the journey that makes the destination worthwhile. Where are we going you ask? I have no idea. But I do know that being where God wants me is just where I want to be and not a centimeter elsewhere. Nothing compares to knowing that we did hear Him correctly, we weren't insane and that we didn't make a wrong turn north of Albequerque. We definitely took a road that is not usually traveled and to be really honest, it has made all of the difference for us.

sing with me now..Happy Centralia anniversary to us.

Yes,

happy

.

If I were a rich [wo]man..

..Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum

Oh man. Talk about wonderlust. Shopping for new curtains and linens has really got me craving endless funds buy these lovely fabrics! What would I use them for? I don't know.  I would sit and sew my way into oblivion. My first observation is that my taste always transcends my budget. BUT this inspires me to be more picky about what I do invest in. I just bought the Bohemian Bouquet curtains and matching tapestry from Urban Outfitters

I hope to get started on my sewing projects this weekend (keyword: hope)but usually my priorities get rearragnged and my hope turns to dreaming.  Refocus!! I never ceased to be excited by pretty prints, textures or patterns. This is what excites me recently:

Check out the sweet way that Volksfaden shows off their fabrics. Who wouldn't want to buy these?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alas,I dream of living in Europe where things come with artistic flair free of charge. The Swedes have it figured out for sure.

 I went to one of my favorite stores, World Market, and bought these fine curtains to replace the other ones Lola-Jean ruined in July

 

but after having them hung up in my house for a week, I decided they are not the perfect fit. This is how much of a fabric junkie I am. If I see it, I just buy it. I need to hone my fabric addiction. Easier said than done. I have a stack the size of my husband consisting  of curtains with sweet voile patterns and vintage tea towels, quilting remnants and old scarves.  Oh well.

Maybe I will  do what Cassi @ Bella Dia did:

Also on the "things made of fabric wish list" from Huset

they are fun, yes? She looks in pain or stoned but the bracelets are cute.

THEN! we have LeSportsacs that I am into at the moment:

 

They remind me of the 80's. And the fabrics they have now!- SQUEAL!

I will post a bit more about my success with curtain making once I get started. Remember: I hope to get started this weekend. Having a half -working, second- rate sewing machine isn't a help but hey, it could be worse! Atleast I am still dreaming!

Have an Arsty Fartsy Friday and an inspired weekend!

You should be celebrating!

Today is National Cat Day! Praise Jesus for such sweet animals! My babies have been such companions to me and John. When John was in Iraq for the second time and I was alone, Dante' Javier Culpepper was my best little friend. He knew when I was sad, he alerted me to things that were amiss in the house. He greeted me with purrs at the door everyday after work, and kept my head warm at night. Everyone's cats sleep on their heads, right? It's not just me!?  He is a source of unconditional love for me and even though he doesn't talk back, he's a wonderful counselor- he has the gift of listening.  Lola-Jean is a different story. She's squirley. She was rescued and she has a mouth on her. She only likes love on her terms. And God help you if you don't give her the attention when she wants it. She is very melancholy. Just like her mom :)

I blogged about my cats a while back so I will save the ramblings about my feline loves for now. But enjoy this celebration of beautiful kitties and if you have one, what a blessed person you are for it!

It is the season, after all, for black cats! My little woobies love this time of year.

enjoy!

Dante is considering this costume for Halloween:

This gives me the warm fuzzies!

Look out Lola and Dante' Mom's going wig shopping!

I think I will get a black cat for all my friends this Christmas

My little L.J

He's handsome

They are my family

What a little nub!

 

Happy Celebrating!