how i spent my saturday afternoon...

Working on the jar of challenges theme
for 30 days of fairy tales,
I really wanted to try this
"tunnel book" idea I had seen…

Last night I watched videos
and tutorials
and today I gave it a shot.
I messed it up in a couple places,
but mostly,
I WAS SO FRIGGING HAPPY WITH IT.

I may have jumped up and clapped
and 🥳 woohoo-ed 🥳when I realized
the placement was right for
red hiding hood
and that IT WAS GOING TO WORK.
:)

And also…my mom keeps telling me
that I have to keep doing the things I always did,
the things that dad would get a kick out of….
and I know he definitely would have gotten
a kick out of this. 🥰

how it looks flat….

friday i'm in love....and also a bit of a ramble...heh...

Do you ever feel like you are
struggling to find yourself?

Like…you know you are still in there
because you keep seeing glimmers
and shimmers of your old excitement,
your usual joy and creativity and happiness…
but it feels like it is buried down deep
and you have to keep shifting the sands
in your brain to let the light back in?

That’s kind of where I have been.
And it’s weird, it’s so up and down and
in and out and topsy turvy…
one second it all makes sense
and the next second, I have lost the thread
that holds it all together
and pieces fall on the floor.

I try to give myself space
and grace,
I know the loss of my dad is still very much
driving my actions and reactions…
and a recent health stress is kind of
freaking me out but I tell myself
that worrying will not change anything,
I just have to wait and see.

BUT….
this is a friday i’m in love post
so let’s get to the good stuff! 😎

💕 I have been loving the new jar of challenges challenge -
30 days of fairy tales (reward of new stickers!)

💕This stuff. I am currently on my 3rd bottle of this. When I start running
low, I literally panic-order it because my sleep has been SO good.

💕Speaking of good sleep, it’s possible it plays a role in the fact that this
is day TWENTY SIX of NO headaches. And I mean NONE. Not a threat,
not an echo, nothing. Nada. I will post more about this later…I kinda don’t
want to jinx it. (Hopefully I haven’t already!)

💕Look at my lilacs!!! Every time I see it, I think “I did that.
I bought that. I planted that. I did that.” And I have had fresh lilacs
in my house for weeks. So happy!

💕This post on aging. I feel this deep in my 55 year old heart.

💕And this adorable artist…but much along the same theme as above.

💕And finally, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!!!

Happy, happy Friday to you!
I hope it was a stupendous one and that you got to
celebrate donut day which I actually didn’t do…
but definitely intend to rectify that tomorrow.
😘 🍩

whatcha readin' {goal 41::book 8}

I love Ann Marie MacDonald's first book
”Fall on your Knees”
so much so that when I worked
at the bookstore,
I would use that book as a compass.
If you had read that book
and loved it, then I could tell you 100 more
that you might like.

But if you hated it….well…. :)

I bought this book in hardcover
because I couldn't wait for the paperback.
Then I kept it in my TBR pile
until it came out in trade,
so it really didn't matter in the end.

But.
I LOVED this book.
This captivated me and the
writing was beautiful and lyrical and dark
and suprisingly funny in places
where I didn't expect it to be.

♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ out of 5
NEXT UP:: THE HYPNOTIST LOVE STORY - LIANE MORIARTY

whatcha readin'? {goal 41::book 7}

I recently joined a book club and
this was our second read
(the first being One Day
which I read before & loved…).

I loved this book!
I could NOT put it down.
It was smart and maddening,
funny and quirky.
I loved it.

Then I watched the series and
have to say that
I did not love it as much.
There were sooooo many changes.
Some changes are to be expected
but for some, the way it happened in the book
felt so much more powerful…
the series felt a little stripped of the
indignation and frustration…

Though I have to wonder
if I hadn’t read the book,
would I have been fine with the series….
not knowing what it could have been.

I did love the intro to the show though.
It was very retro and fun.

⚗️⚗️⚗️⚗️⚗️ out of 5 on this one!

NEXT UP: Fayne - Anne Marie MacDonald

a jar of possibilities & chance...

I had an idea.
An idea that is giving me
the butterflies
in my belly.
I have been
thinking about it
all day.
I am excited about it.

This is a good feeling.

3 jars.
1 jar of challenges
(this includes things like
drawing, core exercises, trying new recipes,
capturing sunsets)
1 jar of time frames
(this includes slips of paper
that say 5 days or 7 days or 30 days
or even one that says
ONE YEAR)
(not gonna lie, I kinda hope I
don’t get core exercises for THAT one, heh)
1 jar of REWARDS
(cause you know I love
positive reinforcement)
(this includes stickers, socks, mr freezies, etc).

The game is
I pick one slip from each jar
and DO IT.
and if I do it for the full time frame,
I get the REWARD.
(did I mention positive reinforcement?)

I am super duper excited about this.

Here is my first challenge:

CHALLENGE: PHOTO - PERSPECTIVE
TIMEFRAME: A WEEK (this gives me leeway to choose if I want to do it for 5 days or 7 depending on how much fun I am having)
REWARD: SOCKS (& yes, new socks are soooo fun!)

then I will pick a place
to share the results…
probably Instagram; maybe Facebook;
possibly here sometimes…

and here’s the first one!

for me, perspective as a photo challenge
is all about changing the angle
that I would normally look at something from…
getting a new perspective.

I am super excited about this.
I feel like it is the perfect way
to push me out of my little
creative rut.

Feel free to play along!
or give me suggestions for
challenges….or rewards…
(cause…positive reinforcement….heh)