Ornamentea

I visited my dream bead store yesterday.  What, you don't have a dream bead store?  Well, you are missing out.  I have been watching Ornamentea's website for years.  They have such a fresh style and new ideas, I couldn't wait to visit.  I made Heber detour our ride home just so I could stop in.  Come on, I've been dying to visit for years.

It didn't disappoint.  There were so many great ideas and I felt so much inspiration.  I think I could have spent hundreds of dollars.

I think I can feel the creativity creeping back into me.  For a very long time even over a year, I just didn't have it.  I would sit down to make something and nothing would come.  There was even a few months in there that I packed up and put away my jewelry making supplies.  I put everything in the closet.  There has never been a time in the last 10 years that I haven't had beads close at hand so that was pretty significant.  Maybe it was exhaustion, stress, processing moves, worry...it was a lot of things.  This parenthood and I guess life thing is rough sometimes.  But, it's coming back, the creativity is here.  I take that as a good sign.

I sat down at my table and I made things I've never seen before.  I brought my glass into my work and created some pieces that I am more proud of than ever before.  There is so much joy in creating something beautiful.  It buoys me up and gets me through the days when everybody is melting down or just being toddlers (you know what mean). Here's some of the things I've been making lately. 

 

 

Outer Banks 2015

I have been in beach mourning ever since we got home from our trip to Outer Banks last weekend. I think I just want to live at the beach forever.

 

  Life is so much more relaxed at the beach.  There is always going to be sand everywhere so I have no expectation that it's going to be any other way.  No one worries about makeup, I don't blow dry my hair and I just let it be for a bit.  Maybe this is a lesson I need to take home into my regular life.  

Amy didn't sleep much the first night and was up very early the next morning.  I gathered her up and we walked down to the water together.  I stood in the sand and just thought about life.  There is something about the water, the waves that is the most calming thing to me.  In my life, there is very little calm so I steal these little moments.

 

The happiest part of the trip for me was watching the kids discover and play in the water.  Leo has always loved the beach and Amy had no fear.  We spent a truly blissful afternoon playing and laughing.  I'm going to tuck it away as one of my happiest memories.

 

 

 

  We rented the most beautiful beach house.  It was the nicest one we've stayed in, by far (lets not talk about the one with the half bath on the porch).  I admired all the little beach touches.

I think I have two little beach bums.  Leo hasn't stopped talking about being at the beach.  I printed up some pictures and Leo had to have all of the beach ones hung on his door.  I never thought I'd want to return to the same place over and over, I like adventure in my life but now I want to come back to the same place again and again.  I can't get enough of being there.  This trip, we were able to share it with my parents.  I have been talking about it for years so it was so fun to share it with them too.  I think they loved it as much as we did. 

 

North Carolina Again

I ran away this week.  I did.  Nothing is wrong, I just get fed up with the day to day and need to get away sometimes.

The kids and I drove down to North Carolina to visit an old friend from Logan.  I really didn't have plans to go but I just did it.  Threw all our stuff in bags and we were on the road a couple hours later.  We all need an occasional crazy in our life. 

We didn't do anything big, we just talked and hung out with the kids.  It was wonderful to talk to her in person.  We talked about Logan and dancing and all that ancient history, about our parenting challenges and brainstormed ideas to be better.  I like my life in Virginia but I do miss talking to my best friends face to face.

I grew up driving a lot.  That's what happens when living in a small town.  We would drive all the time and talk.  Some of my favorite memories are being in the car with my sisters and mom on the way to dance lessons (a 45 minute drive).  There was a lot of life worked out in that car.  Driving is my thinking time. 

 

I came home renewed and filled with ideas to be a better mom and to make our home better too.  One of the many things I'm going to do is to institute a weekly menu plan.  I've never jumped on board of selecting a specific menu because I get to the day and am not in the mood for what I selected.  She instead plans a category for each night, a salad night, a soup night, casserole, family favorites, leftovers and a new recipe night and cooks something in that category.  I swear, I hate getting to 4:30 everyday and standing in front of the pantry trying to decide what to cook.  Now I will only have to decide what kind of salad or soup or whatever that evening's category is.  Awesome and so much easier!  

The White House

I went to the White House last week.  How often do I write things like that?

My parents were able to arrange for tickets to go in, which is completely surprising because there were only two tours of the White House issued from the congressman's office during my semester of work there.

I am adventurous with the kids.  I tend to try to take them most everywhere but there are some places that we just don't go anymore.  Fancy restaurants after 7, big concerts, a White House tour, where you aren't supposed to touch anything and they are supposed to quietly listen to a tour guide in a group. 

Well, I threw it all out the window and went.  The opportunity to visit the White House doesn't come every day. 

We drove through the rush hour traffic and made it just in time for the tour.  It was so close.  We even got Amy out of the car and down the block before realizing that she only had one shoe but there was no turning back at that point.

We walked into that incredible historical building and we were nearly alone.  We wandered through the rooms at our own pace and just admired the spaces. I have always loved being part of things that are important, even if it's just to stand in the halls.  The kids didn't melt down too much and we survived even without a stroller or diaper bag.   I guess it all worked out, even one shoe down.

 

Expectations

Picking strawberries

Last weekend, I went to a glass society meeting.  The Firebirds meet quarterly to talk glass, share what they've been up to and to show their latest work.  It's usually such an inspiration to see what people have been working on but this last Saturday I just felt a little off.  It was a combination of frustration and some sadness too.  It's hard to watch people who started doing glass after me surpass what I'm doing.  It's hard to hear about the gatherings and classes people are attending and the really cool things they are learning.  I want to be learning and growing in these major ways too.  

Sometimes life is frustrating.  I was feeling a bit sorry for myself and maybe a little frustrated too that I can't seem to get anything done.

I was reading in my scriptures and found this thought in the Bible Dictionary under Ezra, "There is eternal significance in everyday life."  There has to be a reason why we do all of the mundane everyday tasks. 

I am nurturing people. 

It's an all consuming and overwhelming job.  Two little people rely on me for everything.  I am creating their world, cooking their meals, sorting their clothes.  I may not be getting anything done in glass but I am getting everything done for them.