A "Spa-tacular" Party

Candles, relaxing spa tunes, a rainbow of nail polish color, fancy glasses with lemon slices, scrubs, bubbles, and cool cucumber slices mixed with lots of pink, giggles and silliness...

...and what do you get?

           ...why you get a sweet 10-year old's SPA birthday party!

                                        Wishes were made.

                     Toesies were soaked, scrubbed and painted pretty.

                   We got our craft on. (Didn't these turn out cute?!)

                         Shared some love...

           And WOILA!...A perfect girly evening with perfect friends.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

We have been here for about 12 years and it has only snowed (just a dusting that melts) maybe twice. So, 6 inches was HUGE for here! History making, really. We were just as excited as everyone else in town. It was like vanilla frosting was clumped so beautifully all over everything. God's awesome masterpiece in our backyard.

               (sweet picture that Josh took of an enormous snowflake falling into our lil' snowbunny)

Josh and I grew up north- where this white stuff was nothing. We have snowman-making embedded into our blood. So we instantly got rolling and packing in the fluff, gathered some accessories, Oreos, Fruitloops, carrot, badmitten rackets and poof!... here he is. (I seriously think this town beat all records on the amount of snowmen that were built in a 24 hr. period!) 

Shivering a bit, we all (furry one included) snuggled up by our fireplace with a cup of warmth. Doesn't get much better than that. We lost electricity, so the chill in the house got the best of us eventually and we packed up our fridge to head to my Mom's warm air. These flakes were a TX memory to never forget!

Mr. Snowman at about lunchtime.

 

Mr. Snowman at about dinnertime.

Life boils down to two questions... (not really, but I thought these anonymous pictures were hilarious in an email)!

Should I get a dog?

Or... should I have a child? 

Polly

Meet Polly. She's about the most adorable fur ball with four legs that you'll meet. She came home as a SURPRISE (mmm.hmm) with Daddy for all of us, but especially for a dear almost-10-year old in our house. She's a Lhaso Apso- not quite 2 months, confident but precious and makes us laugh! She's here to bring joy, memories and companionship to our lives ('cuz really, life goes by too fast not to have this).

I know, we are CRAZY (or at least my hubby is! ha!). We had been talking a bit about adding a furry-something to our home for some time. The right one, the right fit for us. And TRAIN it. Train it correctly, like we are planning...Dog Whisperer style. Lhaso Apso's seemed to be the breed to fit us. Josh apparently researched, found a family that breeds and... WALLA! Suuurprise! (Oh, he was so excited, just smitten in love... he's such a teddy.) Needless to say I was taken back a bit but I'm falling head over heals. She's got spunk, smart, a cuddler and a lover (plus, this breed doesn't really shed, no aggressive attributes and no yipping- yeeees!).

HUGE responsibility and hard work? Yep.

Unconditional love? Yep.

Gonna raise this one right? Sure gonna try.

Come and say hello. You'll wanna put her in your pocket and take her home too (but the girls won't let you, ya know).

Wish us luck.

journal delights

I have lots of questions. Don't we all? I'm wanting to be patient towards my heart and trying to love the questions themselves. After all, I wouldn't be able to live in the now if I wasn't. To be able to live in the delightful, blessed day that we are all given (love the word delightful!). 

One of the many things this year I want to do is to come into and draw nearer to my authentic, creative self. To embrace the questions, be intentional, excite my God-purpose, and listen to the small whispers of my heart within that. I yearn to pause and breathe. To take a gentler path. To brightly and confidently smile within all that is so graciously given to me each and every day (yes- within the demands of kids, meetings, worries...garbage to take out). 

I've started an illustrated discovery journal. I've journaled for years. Whether it's lots of prayers, happenings, frustrations...journals have been healing, releasing and just plain healthy. (Plus, it is cool to look back at your days; your happy's and your sad's; how you have overcome and grown.) The 2010 journal this year will be different. It is an illustrated one. Filled so far with decorating ideas, feelings, sketches, bible scriptures, magazine clippings, even my sweet Lauren drew a waterfall in it. It just has stuff I like in it along with some dreams, wishes...me. Real life stuff. Kind of a treasure map collage I suppose. It's messy, honest, and delightful to do!

I typically read 3 books or so at a time (not all at once, silly!). Two that I am reading right now encourage and inspire journaling. I read the Simple Abundance devotional through 1996 when I was going through a turning point in my life, and I've dusted it off and picked it up again this year. (It's really wonderful, girls!) A new book I'm enjoying is The Creative License. It's for anyone that has a creative fire burning in their belly (that'd be me) and doesn't know what to do with it at times... or is just plain stuck. 

You don't have to be all expressive, deep or have something to conquer to journal. Just get a cheap, 8x10" or smaller/bigger artist sketchbook at a craft store. Get some pens/pencils (fun colored pencils) a glue stick, scissors and an open heart. It should be whatever you want it to be...whenever (no pressure) you want. Take the perfection blinders off (I have those) and let yourself go. 

There are things about ourselves that we tuck far away. It is fun and enlightening to dig in.