Introducing: My Baby

Guess what, guess what, GUESS WHAT?!!
(yeah, I'm a little excited!)

Last week I took my first step towards my inner-craftiness.

Back in February I wrote this post. Then (only 5 months later :) I finally went out a got:

My Baby!
(Thanks to Chris and my Dad!)

Can I just say that I am loving my new machine. No, it is not super fancy but it's perfect for a beginner like me!

So far I've tackled just a few little projects:
I've hemmed baby girl's curtains. Made a new curtain for the little window beside our front door, and fixed our big girl's toy stroller that had been torn.

I love that I can quickly fix up "the everyday things" in our house, but I am also really looking forward to some crafty sewing and eventually tackling the land of quilting!

Today the girls and I took a trip to the fabric store and OH MY WORD I could get lost in there. Seriously, I had no idea what I had been missing out on. All the beautiful fabric choices and oh, the colors. I wanted to take the whole store home with me, but settled this time on some fabric for my front window. I can hardly wait to go back!
Honey, I'm sorry, but I think I may have found a new weakness....

Oh, I almost forgot, I did buy one more thing at the fabric store today...
Is it sad that the sight of this make me want to do a happy dance??

I realize that to some of you this is just a boring standard ol' pin cushion but to me it is a symbol of the start of my new adventure!

Hooray for a new challenge!

A proud moment

Hold the phone.
Maybe you should sit down for this....
Could it be that I actually followed through with one of my plans....and in a timely manner???
What is in the world is going on??
:)

Yes friends, today I started up my photography blog.
(there's a link set up in my side bar thingy.)
Woohoo for follow through!

I also found my camera's manual, literally blew the dust off and started reading it. Right now it reads a lot like a different language to me. So much to learn. My brain actually hurts a little. Hopefully as I learn how to properly use this thing (my camera- not my brain) my pictures will reflect that learning!

Hope you're all having a good day!

Capturing the Everyday

One of my dreams in life is to become a world famous better photographer. I would just love to be able to capture the beauty of the everyday, as well as the not so everyday moments. When I go to sites like The Pioneer Woman and Worth it All and My Charming Kids I am inspired to say the least.

Now, when it comes to photography I am a complete newbie. I know nothing about exposure, aperture, shutter speed, focal length. I honestly don't even know if I can change these setting on my camera.

Here's she is.
My beauty:


We bought her a couple years ago using our airmiles. (Do you think it's weird that I refer to my camera as a 'her'? No? Good. Just checking.)
Now, I know she's not the fanciest of cameras, but I intend to use her to her full potential. Right now, all I do is point and shoot. My camera is always set to auto. Poor thing :(

I really do want to learn to take better pictures not only for the beauty of the pictures themselves, but also to get my brain-a-working. I desperately need to start exercising this brain of mine. One can only take so many years of "kid-talk" before they realize that something is missing...

And so I have set a goal for myself to take a picture everyday for the entire year. I am going to be finding my camera's manual, blowing the dust off it and reading it as if I were cramming for an exam.
I figure that by doing this and by taking pictures everyday I can only get better- right?

I'm also planning on setting up a second blog to showcase my pictures. Well, if I'm being honest, it's really more to keep myself accountable. I'm a super perfectionist and if I miss a day it'll likely drive me crazy!

So there you have it. My "Capturing the Everyday" plan.
Stay tuned my friends.... only, don't totally hold your breath for too long. I've had this post in my drafts folder for a few months now, and then just today I was reminded/inspired by this post. Hopefully it won't take me another couple of months to get this ball-a-rollin'!

:)

Victory!

It's Sunday morning.

It's 6am and.....

I'm up!

6AM......snooze button........

I tried.

I promise.

I really and truly did try!

Last night I read this post over on a sweet blog called The secret Life of Kat and was honestly inspired. I have been attempting to become a morning person ever since having children. At first, when I had my son, it was always a fight to get out of bed. I didn't like it. No. Scratch that. I HATED it.

See, there are morning people and there are night people. Naturally I am just a night person. It's just who I am, and yet I long to be a morning person. I really do love the mornings. Once I'm up and out of bed. I love the quiet, and the calm that mornings bring. I also love feeling like I have accomplished so much more by being up just a few hours earlier. It's not like I sleep in until noon. No, most days I'm up downstairs eating breakfast by 8am. (To be completely honest thought, sometimes there are wonderful days when the kids will sleep in and so naturally I'll sleep in too!)

Last night I went to bed early. My head hit the pillow, just before 10pm. The plan was to wake up a 6am. Perfect right? I'd get 8 hours sleep and still be able to get up early and have some time by myself. I was sincerely looking forward to being up by myself in our quiet house.
I planned to have so quiet time with God. Enjoy a nice cup of tea, read and perhaps...and I say this very loosely, get in a workout.

Well, my night did not go as planned. Our sweet children decided to play tag team on us. Honestly I think I ended up getting maybe 4 hours of broken up sleep. Baby girl was just having an off night. She was up a handful of times. Our big boy wanted to sleep in our bed because- get this: his bed wasn't comfy enough. (He really just likes to cuddle with Chris!)
Though I'd have to say big sister had the worst night. She's been fighting a cold for about a week now, but last night things turned for the worst. She had a fever and was up crying the entire night.

Her and I have spent most of the day cuddling on the couch. Poor little thing, this is NOT like her. Usually she is running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Really the girl has more energy than she knows what to do with!

So, needless to say, I think I need a do-over. I really, really, REALLY do want to get up early. I just find it impossible to do so when my children make other plans for me :) Any tips on still getting up early, when you've been up all night?

Ok. So here's the new plan. I'm going to give myself another couple nights to catch up on sleep and try to get up early starting Sunday morning. Ya. I think that may be a little more realistic for me, than jumping right in to getting up early tomorrow. I'm all about honestly here people. I need my sleep!

**Update**
My big girl and I just got home from the clinic. We waited patiently for just under 3 hours (nice health care system) and she has two ear infections. Poor baby! No wonder she was up screaming all night and throughout the day. Hopefully with her medicine she will have a better sleep tonight!

Ok, I'm exhausted.
I'm off to sleep now too.
Goodnight!

Horray for me!!

Through the magic of YouTube I have learnt to crochet! I'm not very good yet, but I have completed my very first project- a beautiful (almost completely square) dishcloth.
:)