From Chaos Comes Happiness

Oh, how I love this time of year. I love when the house becomes a magical place full of twinkle lights and pine scented candles (because, you know, I don't do the real tree thing and I have to get the scent some how). I love when I've been outside in the cold and then step into our home and my glasses immediately fog up from the warmth. I love the sounds of Christmas music in the background, and whistle of wind as it rushes up against our windows. I feel like I come alive, again, during this time of year. And I love it. Usually about this time of the year, I start to reflect on the year that is about to pass and I begin to focus on my goals for the New Year. It's as if a new energy that takes over. I'm very excited for 2013, my friends. I don't know why. I just have a great feeling about it. So many goals to work towards. So many opportunities to grab hold of. But, I'm ready. I finished my consulting job this past week. Tuesday, to be exact. I clos

13 days. It's been 13 days since I've written here. Yikes. That has to been the longest break I've ever taken from my blog. How could it be? Where, on earth, have I been? I've always said I'm Multi-Creatively Challenged - I have a hard time putting creative effort into multiple avenues at one time. I can work on a couple of 'like' projects at the same time, but throw something completely different into the mix, and I'm blubber. It doesn't work for me. The brain can't function. So trying to write a meaningful and well written blog post the past few weeks has been almost impossible. Because . . . I'm in holiday gift making mode. I had a table at a local Holiday Bazaar last week and had a pretty successful show (yay!) Afterwards, I decided to throw a little bit more into the mix by hosting a Holiday Open House at my house . . . TODAY (at 3pm) . . . for all my friends, family members and neighbors. There is something pretty overwhelmin

Phil took Katie out to the bus stop this morning. He is in town this whole week, and it is amazing how calm my soul is because of that. While he'll be leaving for the office during the day, at least each night he is home with us. Yes, life is good. Today he came back into the house after seeing Kate off to school, and said that the frost was just beautiful on our rose bushes. He grabbed the camera, and snatched some photos of it. I love my husbands photos. He could be a professional photographer. Have I ever told you that before? The modern age of iPhone camera (and the convenience of it all) has often taken the place of our usual digital camera, so I feel like we've gotten a little bit away from the really skilled photos we've had in the past. But when he has the camera . . . beautiful things happen. Here is a shot of the roses this morning . . .   I played with it, a bit, in photoshop. But after taking a second look, the unedited version above (as you see it)

November.               It's November.                                Holy Cow.                                               I still don't know where April, May, June or July went.                                                               And here it is . . . November. I used to hate when I'd overhear adults talking about how fast time was moving. As a young child, I remember thinking, "FAST? You call this FAST??? It takes FOR-EVER to get through ONE day!" Yes, I must be getting old, because this year  . . . is flying. You know how funny life is? Like, when you feel things happening at record speed and you can't even stop long enough to take a breath . . . and then . . . WHAMMMM . . . BRAKE LIGHTS . . . and you STOP. I think God, or the universe (or whoever you put your faith into), just takes over the driver seat for you and reminds you that it is all so very precious and we are getting a little away from ourselves, so we must STOP and take