Day 6 of 30 Day Photo Challenge Gratitude.

Day 6: Inspiration





I'm in love with paper! I find inspiration in the color, texture and patterns of not only paper but origami paper and washi tape. I just like finding fun and unique ways of using beautiful paper.

Day 5 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 5: Clothing

My daughter is a bit of tomboy and a bit clumsy. She came home from school today with a large hole in her pants.  It didn't seem phase her at all.  I'm grateful that she is always so cheerful and happy and has a lot of clothes thanks to her Nana!

Day 4 of 30 Day Photo Challenge - Gratitude

Day 4: Art

I have always loved art.  It was always one of my favorite subjects.  I am so very grateful that I found the art of origami and that people actually pay me to make my art!

Day 3 of 30 Day Photo Challenge - Tradition

Day 3: Tradition

This is my friend Ivy and I at the movie theater tonight (I MADE her take this picture with me... she wanted me to just take a pic of the popcorn bucket).  We have a standing tradition of going to the movies about once a week together.  We've been doing this for well about 5 years now I guess.  We both love movies and popcorn and it's a nice time to catch up during the dumb commercials  before the movie starts.  I'm so very grateful to have Ivy as my friend!

30 Days of Gratitude Day 2: Love

Day 2: Love

My kiddos are my heart and soul.  I can't believe my son is 10 and my daughter will be 6 this month.  They make me laugh and smile on a daily basis and I couldn't be more proud to be their mom.

30 Days of Gratitude 2013 Edition - Day 1: Color

It's that time of year again! It's time for the 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge . It is one of my favorite things, so I'm going to try and do it EVERY day this year.

Day 1: Color





Brown the color of my coffee that I desperately need every morning. Today I broke down and stopped at my favorite local coffee house Port City Java and got an iced skim Carmelo Leche (similar to the Starbucks Caramel Macchiato).

Day 25 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 25: Beauty

This is a shot from the deck of the beach house in North Myrtle Beach we stayed in over Thanksgiving.  It really was beautiful.  It was so nice being right on the water.  It was such a good time being in the house with my mom & stepdad and my brother and his family.  I really do have a great family and I am so very thankful and grateful to have them in my life.

Day 24 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

I tried to post this last night but I was having technical difficulties.

Day 24: Adventure

I went swimming with sharks!! OK maybe walking in a glass tunnel UNDER the sharks is more accurate.  We ventured out to the Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach yesterday.  We were a bit worried that it would be crazy busy but it wasn't bad at all.  We also got the bonus of seeing Santa scuba dive with some mermaids!

Day 23 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 23: Energy



My little birthday cutie. Even though her real birthday is next week we are celebrating today with grandparents & cousins. She is my little energizer bunny of activity. It took me 14 tries to get her to stand still to get this one picture! But she's pretty darn cute when I can get her to hold still for a minute.

Day 20, 21 & 22 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 20: Food

I am usually tasked with making the broccoli onion deluxe casserole for Thanksgiving.  It's one of my favorite dishes and it's my great grandmother's recipe too. 

Day 21: Home

This is not the view from my house (I wish it was!!).  It's the view from the beach house my mom rented for Thanksgiving.  We've all been having a good time exploring the marsh and watching all the people fish and windsurf right outside the back door!!

Day 22: Color & Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

Just look at all that beautiful red, yellow, orange and green on my Thanksgiving plate!  I had a very wonderful Thanksgiving full of family and amazing food.  I hope you and your family had a very wonderful Thanksgiving as well!!

Day 16, 17, 18 & 19 of 30 Gratitude Photo Challenge

I apologize that I am sticking 4 days worth of posts/photos in one post.  So on top of it being the week before Thanksgiving it is also the end of the semester at my day job teaching which means a TON of paperwork and it's also my Etsy busy season.  I've had my hands a bit full.  OK done with the excuses here are the last four days.  Enjoy!

Day 16: Inspiration

One word: Pinterest.  I have found so much inspiration not only for my Etsy business but my house and kids and so many other things!!  You can follow me here if you want!

Day 17: Weather

It POURED this last Sunday and I mean poured ALL day!! And it was cold.  It was just all round miserable but it was warm and dry inside and we had lots of things to do to keep us all entertained.  Well I should say James kept the kids entertained, I locked myself in my studio/workroom and worked on paperwork for my teaching job.

Day 18: Change

I had a really hard time figuring out what to do for change.  I don't like change it makes me all nervous and high strung.  But as I was sitting pondering change I looked across my living room and saw old pictures of my kids on the wall.  You can see them in the background of this picture.  Marley was just days old and Noa was just 4.  Now he's 9 and she's 4!  It feels like just yesterday they were both babies.  But they have changed so much and grown so much!

Day19: Laughter

I know this is a bad shot but this is what I do when I am folding flowers for ornaments or mobiles or other various Etsy things.  I look at Dog Shaming and crack up!!!  Dog shaming is my new go to site to brighten up my day it also makes me SOOOOO grateful for my dog Frodo who is a friggin angel compared to some of the dogs on that site.  But if want a good laugh go check it out here.

Day 15 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 15: Family

This is my mom and step dad and I am so thankful for them.  They moved here from Colorado a few years ago and it's been so nice to have them so close.  It's also so nice for my kids too.  They do so much for us and I'm so grateful for all they do.

Day 13 & Day 14 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 13: Time

This the home screen of my iPhone.  I no longer wear a watch because the one I got for Christmas last year broke and the watch I just got that was my Nana's needs a new battery.  So I pretty much just use my phone but I don't mind because I've got this cute pic of my kiddos on it.

Day 14: Creativity

This is my work space.  I craft here, create here, and dream here.  I love my work space!! Oh and being creative is being messy if you ask me!

Day 12 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 12: Music

I hate to clean. I mean really I know most people don't like it but I seriously just don't like it.  I will let the dishes go days sometimes just because I don't want to do them.  And frankly I can live with mess to certain point.  When I do finally clean I find the task much more doable with music.  That's what happened today.  I couldn't take the pile of dishes and dirty counters so I spent over an hour cleaning the kitchen this morning.  I had my iPad on the counter and was listening to music.  I found myself fast forwarding a lot to hear songs I loved.  Since it was music theme today I decided to take screen shots of the bands or artists that I love.  Pink is one of my all time favorites! She just kicks ass.  Red Hot Chili Peppers has to be one of my all time favorite bands along with No Doubt.  And of course Bob.  My daughter's name is Marley .... now you know why!!

Day 10 & Day 11 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 10: Kindness

I decided to use my husband for kindness.  He is the most kind and compassionate man I've ever met. He's also a great father.  I am so very lucky he's my hubby!!

Day 11: Friendship

I have some of the best friends EVER!! I really don't know what I'd do without them.  They've helped me through all the fun challenges of parenting and being married and well just life.  I am so grateful to you Ivy, Jennifer and Melissa!!

Day 7, Day 8 & Day 9 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 7: Innovation

I had a really hard time coming up with a photo for innovation.  I wanted to take a picture of my class because 20 years ago my class would never have existed.  People with disabilities were just shut up at home or in institutions or worse for some of the more severely disabled.  But anyway off my soap box.  I ended up choosing Wi-Fi!!  I love Wi-Fi!  And it just makes me happy (especially when it's free).

Day 8: Sleep

This is what I see when I lay in my bed at night.  That star is one of my favorite things.  I bought it along with two others (one for each of my girl cousins Lehua and Kimmie and me).  So part of the reason I love so much aside from it being pretty is that when I look at it I am reminded of my cousins who I love dearly and miss.

Day 9: Holidays

Unlike ALL the retailers who pretty much skip from Halloween to Christmas, I thought I'd actually talk about the holiday of Thanksgiving.  My daughter is going through a major Berenstain Bear phase right now.  So she loves having us read this Thanksgiving Berenstain book to her over and over and over and over and over... you get my drift.  But I have to count my blessings because there will come a day when she won't even want to be seen with me so I better love that she wants me to read this book to her a million times in a row.

Day 5 & Day 6 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 5: Knowledge

I was sick! I felt off Saturday and at times on Sunday I felt downright bad but didn't think I was sick.  Then on Monday I woke up with a terrible headache, body aches and a low grade fever ..... so the flu hit my house.  I felt pretty bad.  So I looked up all my symptoms (really just to say I told you so to my husband) in the WebMD app.  It's a pretty good app and I have to say having that knowledge at my finger tips is nice.  So anyway because I felt so bad yesterday I didn't blog.

Day 6: Memories

I am a scrap booker.  I've always scrap booked even as a child before I really knew what it was.  So this is a bookshelf in my craft room and all those are scrapbooks I have done over the years.  They start in my elementary years and go to 2010 (I am about 2 years behind in current scrap books).

Day 4 of 30 Day Gratitude Photo Challenge

Day 4:  Clothing

My closet ... not very exciting but it's where all my clothes are.  But we are lucky.  We have a home and power and food.  There are a lot of people out there who don't right now.  So I am very grateful for all I have.

Day 30 of 30 Day Photo Challenge: Gratitude

Day 30: Self Portrait

Yeah so that's me.  I know I'm not smiling mom.  I just wasn't in the mood to and plus every time I tried it just looked fake.  I have a natural frown so I look unhappy if I'm not smiling but that's not the case..... mostly.

So that is the end of my 30 day photo challenge and I wasn't sure how I would like it at first.  But I ended up loving it and I will miss it.  It also made me realize I don't have to have a huge long post every time I blog.  Sometimes a simple picture and a thought are good enough (at least for me).  It also made me think about what I have and how very grateful I am for all that I have.

Day 28 & 29 of 30 Day Photo Challenge: Gratitude

I had every intention of getting day 28 up last night after I got my kids in bed and made cupcakes for my daughter's class but I got a call from my dad telling me my grandpa has passed away earlier that day.  As you can imagine I didn't have it in me to post after I heard the news.  Today was bitter sweet as well.  The reality of my grandpa's passing has set in and I will not be able to attend his services (they are in Texas on Thursday and there is no way I make it) and it's my daughter's 4th birthday.

Day 28: Nighttime

My kids and I were leaving a book fair and there is a flag pole with a bunch of nautical flags on it.  You see that a fair amount here at the beach.  I just thought they looked nice spotlighted that night.


Day 29: Light

I kid you not I was literally vacuuming the floor getting ready for my mom to come over and celebrate my daughter's birthday this afternoon, when I look out the window to my back yard and see a brilliant light hitting my fence and then as I glance up I see a perfectly formed rainbow!  I ran out side with my phone to get a photo.  Rainbows don't happen that often here and even less often in November.