10 on the 10th - 10 Moments To Remember

This month's 10 on the 10th captures 10 moments of this summer that I want to remember. Always.

I want to remember how blessed I am to witness the bgeinnings of a deep friendship between the daughters of two of my best firneds. There is something beautiful and meaningful in the continuity and interweaving of mothers and daughters.

I want to remember how lucky I am to have such a wonderful mother. I'm totally enjoying watching her with her grandchildren. My only child recently graduated fromhigh school. When he was younger, I was too overwhelmed with struggling to find my own parenting style and too insecure to appreciate all the insight that my mother had to offer. My brother and his wife married young but waited several years to have children. I love how relaxed I am with my niece and nephew. I can see now how amazing my mother is - and was - with children.

I want to remember all the warmth, laughter, adventure, exploration, giggles, hugs and love that we shared with Jim's sister and family. Good times.

I want to remember the scarifices made by all of the servicemen and servicewomen so that I can live in a country where I am free.

I want to remember how wonderful it is to have a group of women friends who exemplify everything that is right about being a woman.

I want to remember how much I love this young man, how scared I am about the changes coming our way and how hard it is to let go...

I want to remember how much I adore this man. He is my everything.

I want to remember the free and easy feeling of relaxing by the pool. I want to remember that I had the courage to put on a swimming suit, even when I thought I was too fat. I want to remember how cleansing it feels to dive into the cold water. I want to remember going off the diving board and doing handstands under the water.

I want to remember experiencing the magic of the musical Wicked with these fabulous people.

I want to remember the sounds of a ballpark in the summer.

What do you want to remember this summer?

PS If you want to see more 10 on the 10th, check out Shimelle's blog here.

Friday Photo Love: The Bad Mommies Club

I just love these ladies.

And The Giveaway Goes To....

Thank you so much to everyone that left comments on my June OLW Blog Hop post. I really appreciate your kind words and support. In addition, I learned lots of interesting tidbits about my readers. By far, the most interesting random fact was this:



Congratulations, Cynthia! Email me at jennhv@cox.net with all of your contact information and I will send a goodie box your way.

OLW Blog Hop - I Remembered Pictures... And I've Planned An Awesome Giveaway

 Welcome back friends! I am super excited about this month's One Little Words blog hop. Ali hit the ball out of the park with this month's prompt. I'm talking grand slam, out of the stadium home run.

This month we took a step back from prompts that centered around deep thoughts, letters to future selves and documenting our planning process and ventured back into the artsy, crafty side of things. Now don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of the previous prompts. The contemplation, planning, and exploring the depth of my Dreams has helped me to keep my OLW in an active place in my life. It gave me a timeline of sorts for action steps. It offered some accountability in committing to this process. And it opened my eyes to new perspective. To read more about these prompts, you can check out my previous posts on my Dream journey here.

But I was so ready for some hands-on creativity this month. In fact, I was desperately ready to express my Dreams in a more artistic way. Our prompt this month was this:

This month you’re invited to create a series of nine mini-canvases that will fit inside a divided page protector. The main encouragement I want to give to you is to simply keep your word in mind as you play.

Perfect. Just perfect.

The color scheme for my album has been turquoise, grey, red and yellow. And this month I was feeling yellow. Such a bright, sunny, cheerful, happy color...the exact right sentiment for my outlook as I move forward on this Dream quest.

Here's my collage:

 

I was super inspired by this stamp that Ali used to create her crossword pattern. I am a major crossword geek! And while I didn't have that stamp, I did have the amazing red + yellow crossword patterned paper that I've been  hoarding for a couple years. I used the paper, a brad and stamped my OLW to create the central canvas around which I built the others. I love how it turned out! Here's a close-up the central portion:

I also have photos to share of my completed project pages for March, April and May. Can you believe how long I've been slacking on sharing my completed pages? Yeah, I know, I can't really believe it either. But here they are anyway... If you want to see any image in a larger size, then just click on the image.

March - Folded

March - Unfolded

April - Left Side

April - Facing Pages

May - Facing Pages

May - Closeup on Quote 

May - Spreadsheets

May - Spreadsheet Detail

June - Facing Pages

Now, some of you might remember from last month that I started on embellishing my OLW album cover. It is complete! I love, love, love the butterfly accent with the flower cluster - doesn't that just evoke Dream-iness?

And here's a couple of detail shots of the cover elements...

Last but not least, I am super stoked to announce my very first giveaway! 

(cue applause)

I am doing a major de-stash of my craft room. I'm talking tons of patterned paper, sticker sheets, embellishments and even some American Crafts Thickers. I mean, who can resist Thickers?!?

No one, that's who.

I plan on filling a US Priority Mail flat rate shipping box to the brim for one lucky reader. To be eligible for this box of awesome-ness, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me one random fact about yourself. I will collect comments until 11:59pm CST on Thursday July 7th. The person with the most interesting factoid will be crowned winner by moi and announced Friday July 8, 2011. So be sure to stop back.

Thanks for hanging in there on this much-longer-than anticipated post. Next up on the OLW blog hop is Kathryn at Katlo Designs. Check out her blog here.

Happy Hopping!

Friday Photo Love: The Chase Is On

 

I somehow managed to lose the identifying information for the designer of this super, fabulous quote. If anyone knows who created the word art (I added the frame), please leave me a comment so I can properly credit the artist. Thanks!

For The Love Of Jeopardy!

So, here's something you may not know about me - I am a Jeopardy! fanatic. For the past couple of years, I have taken the online test in the hopes of becoming a contestant. This year I passed the online test and was invited to audition for the show!

Monday morning Jim & I packed up the Kia and hit the open road. My audition was scheduled for 3:00pm in Kansas City, Missouri so we had to travel about 3 hours. The drive down was interesting. We got to see several areas of imminent flooding and also areas of sandbagging to create levees. We arrived in KC just before 1:00pm so we decided to explore the downtown area a bit and grab some lunch.

I had some difficulty swallowing lunch - I was nervous! My throat was dry and my heart was racing a little bit. I didn't expect to be anxious as this was something I was doing just for fun. It reminded me of taking an important test or my first day working as a physician assistant. New. Exciting. Intimidating. Full of anticipation.

I was feeling all of these feelings and more.

The first thing I had to do was complete an application. Then the contestant coordinators took everyone's
photo with a Fuji Instax instant camera. It's funny but this was the thing that reassured me, helped me to relax. I also have an Instax and this commonality seem to bring the whole experience back into focus. I was here to have fun. I found myself starting to breathe easier. My heart slowed. I could suddenly swallow again.

The aspiring contestants were taken to another room. We went through some practical instructions on how to play the game, including tips on ringing in and review of specialized topics like "Before & After" and "Rhyme Time." Then we had to take another test, play a mock game and participate in an interview. I had such an amazing time. I laughed. A lot actually. I got to talk other people who love Jeopardy! just as much as I do. Really smart, funny amazing people. And if nothing else, I got this totally awesome pen.

Thank you, Jeopardy!

10 on the 10th - 10 Books That Changed My Life

Welcome, readers! Today I am initiating a new feature on my blog inspired by Shimelle Laine and her Beyond Blogging for Scrapbookers class called 10 on the 10th. Each month on the 10th I will unveil a new listing of 10 - it could be 10 things I love, 10 ideas I Wish I Had First, 10 Favorite Desserts, even 10 Things I Hate This Month.

I really love this feature.

For this month, I wanted to showcase something a bit meaningful and truly personal to me. Ask anyone that knows me well to name one of my defining characteristics and the majority will tell you that I am a reader. I love to read, always have and always will. I am prolific in number and eclectic in taste. I believe that books have the power to shape and change what we know, what we believe and even who we are.

Here are 10 books that changed my life, changed in both big and small ways.

The Velveteen Rabbit is the first book that I remember reading on my own. My mother had read it to me many times and I always associate this story with her. Loving something (or someone) so much that it becomes real is a theme that resonates deeply in me...and has remained with me since my earliest days.

Bridge to Terabithia is beautiful story of friendship, love and loss. It is the first book that touched me so much that I cried. It was also the first time I really identified with a character. I vividly remember sitting at our kitchen table, sobbing as the story came to its close. I was 9 or 10 years old but I knew then that I wanted to be gifted with this type of friendship, a deep, loyal and abiding friendship. And I have...

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret was the quintessential coming-of-age novel for girls like me, becoming a young woman in the 1980s. I walked each step with Margaret as she moved, made new friends, had her first crush and even started her period. Her confusion, insecurity and courage were supremely reassuring to an awkward teen like me. I knew if Margaret could do it, then I could, too. This book gave me strength at a time I desperately needed it.

The Handmaid's Tale was a revolutionary read for me, delving into gender roles, feminism, patriarchy, the religious state and childbirth as a reflection of society. It challenged my rather narrow view of the world and pushed me to think of myself in terms of my sex.

A Prayer for Owen Meany is a novel I return to again and again. I love the exploration of spirituality, social justice and fate. This is the first book I ever read that explored the Vietnam War and its effects on America's psyche. It opened my mind and my heart, reinforcing my own belief in God and a commitment to evolving my own life's purpose.

The Prince of Tides introduced me to the wonder that is Pat Conroy. He speaks my language, knows my heart. This story also cultivated a lifelong love of the South Carolina Low Country, despite or maybe because of the very foreignness of this place compared to my own home in the Midwest. A story filled with the beautiful balance of comedy and tragedy, love and loss, forgiveness and rage and family.

Bridget Jones's Diary was the breath of fresh air that brought me laughter, hope and a renewed belief in love when I was scrambling to find a way to believe that I might be happy again after a crushing heartache.

The Harry Potter series holds a very special place in my heart. This is the first set of books that my son and I read together, every one. We started when he was 5 and finished when he was 15. All but the last two novels I read aloud to him, even when he was clearly capable of reading them alone. We shared and inhabited this wondrous world together. We discussed concepts like destiny, magic, sacrifice, love and honor. My son is a fervent crusader for social justice and always looks to uphold the rights of the underdog. I like to think of this as a bit of the "Harry Effect" and it makes me smile.

Life of Pi was an amazing adventure to me, filled with equal parts beauty and horror. Themes dealing with religion, what it means to be human and what it means to be animal captivated my imagination. I dwelt on the nature of solitude and the concept of a strong, independent self. I wondered at my capacity for survival. I questioned if I could kill. And I celebrated in the very notion of being alive.

The Kite Runner is one of the most beautiful and tragic stories I have ever read. Its themes of family, betrayal, shame, love and redemption set against a backdrop of war torn Afghanistan are difficult to read. There is violence and horror, racial and religious persecution that sometimes is sickening, but it is tempered with friendship, loyalty, forgiveness and love that is a balm to the soul.

This list is by no means exhaustive. I'm sure I could come up with another 20 or 30 books that changed my life. But I'm more interested in you right now. What are some of the stories that changed your life?