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the big orange house
Summerside, PE
902-439-4562

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  • who am i
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tuesday truths...the whiney, pouty, sulky i-hate-winter edition...(WITH FOG PHOTOS!)

January 8, 2019 Arlene Giddings

the truth is
i’m tired.
i really want to stay awake,
i want to come home and work on new drawings
and paint new cards
and reorganize my closets
or, at the very least, pick up my clothes off the floor.

but the truth is
it is taking all i have to
stay up past 8 pm…

i turned on my heated blankets
on my bed about an hour ago
and. it. is. taking. everything. i. have.
not to go to bed RIGHT NOW.

the truth is
i know this is just what every winter
does to me…
it makes me sleepy and sulky,
constantly cold and
kinda temper-tantrumy-cranky-just-wanna-kick-things-and-eat-candy …
all i want to do is hibernate
until there is sunshine and warmth again….

so i tell myself
”self…if you just get one thing done each night
when you come home,
just one at the very least
THEN you can put your pjs on,
crack a cold can of diet coke
and go climb into that preheated bed
with your phone, your books, your music, your movies
and your robot nightlight
AND you can stay there all night if you wanna…
(just…please don’t eat sunflower seeds in bed again,
you know you are going to spill them
and those shells hurt if you roll over on them….)”

In tuesday truths Tags winterblues, winter wonderland, fog, winter fog, tuesday truth
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2019::Unfold

January 5, 2019 Arlene Giddings

every year
i choose a word for the year…
a word to help
push me or gently guide me
depending on the need.

some years,
it has worked amazing…
other years, i may or may not have forgotten
what the word was
before the last sunset in
the first week of
january.

and that’s ok.
i don’t worry too much about it.
if it works, that’s great!
and if not, well, maybe i just picked the wrong word for that year.

looking back::

2018::Embrace - yeah…not so much. But, in my defense, the year kinda sucked no matter what word i would have chosen.
2017::Adventure - this one went really well for me…it was when i started my Friday Adventures :)
2016::Happy
2015::Risk - the year i decided it was time to cut back/stop shooting weddings
2014::Balance
2013::Brave
2012::Leap
2011::Connect
2010::Play/Expand
2009::Dare - this was another one of my best years related to my word
2008::Focus - looking back, I think this was helpful for the following year…

and this year, 2019, I am choosing a gentle word.
unfold.
a passive verb, if there is such a thing…
i need to let go a little, to relax, to stop holding on so tight
to what used to be….
and let a new beginning unfold.

i don’t want to force it or plan it or rush it or demand that it match
some preconceived picture in my head….
i just want to take my time and allow things to happen
as they happen.

which does not mean that i won’t be setting goals and
creating habit trackers and devising blueprints for taking over the world… :)
i do have a lot of things that i want to shift my focus to this year.

mainly in the creative areas of my life.
that’s where i feel excitement and fire and butterflies in my belly….
(all in a good way)…

but…in other areas, the areas that are murky and blurred and
sometimes, a little scary…the areas that involve change
and transition and how do we do this now when we are no longer “we”…
what happens next? how does one move forward?
what does moving forward even look like for me?
well. that part i am going to let go of.
i think that going through our first Christmas apart
might have taught me that it is ok to let go of any expectations…
to just let it happen….don’t worry about what new tradition should
replace one that you feel you lost…let the new tradition find you…
maybe it will be jamming a christmas tree in the back seat of the car
every year…maybe it will be picking up breakfast at a local gas station
coffee shop and then laughing about how you froze in the
drive through and ordered everyone some sort of weird (but good) vegetarian garden bagel…

maybe it will be playing a rousing game of parcheesi at the end of the day.

regardless, i have resolved to just let it find me.
and the same with new relationships and friendships…
i am going to stop panicking that i will be alone for the rest of my life
because i am incredibly awkward and far too forthcoming on social media…(this post is proof of that)
and
just
let
whatever
happens….
happen.

let it unfold.

In unfold2019, words Tags 2019, 2019::unfold, word for the year, you got this, still a little sad but thats ok, resolutions, maybe too much truth, i talk too much, awkward phase
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friday i'm in love...

January 4, 2019 Arlene Giddings

-with long aimless drives
through snow packed country roads…
music playing loud,
sun shining through the trees…
not meeting another car
for miles and miles.

-with Staples gift cards….
merry christmas to me!!!!
seriously so excited about this haul.
(and i had to get new erasers since my
cats are jerks and stole my one good eraser).

- with getting back to the bullet journal again…
i’m a little behind for 2019
but…whatever…heehee.
it’ll get done.

i am pretty happy with how the first layout
turned out for 2019 though!
(and it was SO fun to use crayons and watercolors together…
i am definitely going to do that more!)

-listening to this amazing album as
i drove around looking for good light and pretty pictures…
seriously, soooooo good….
and i am not just saying that because they are local artists
or because they are two of the totally sweetest people
or because she is totally the kind of girl you
wish you were cool enough to hang around with…
sweet and funny, talented and wears a leather jacket… :)
or because i went to school with Mike since
elementary school
and he pretty much gave me my first ever nickname…
(micerobe…because i was short, if you have to know)
but because i genuinely frigging loved it.
her voice, the lyrics, the music, how it reminded me
in some ways of bands/female artists i have loved over the years…
i am not sure why but jann arden comes to mind…
(someone else whose lyrics always, always drew me in)…

it’s available now on the their website (linked above)
& spotify/google play etc…
go listen to it…you can thank me later.
:)

In friday i'm in love Tags pei, pei blogger, brookvale, winter, winter wonderland, friday adventure, friday i'm in love, soul filter
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wordless wednesday...

January 2, 2019 Arlene Giddings
In wordless wednesday, unfold2019 Tags pei, PEI photographer, pei blogger, pei national parks, cavendish, winter, getting outside, wordless wednesday
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tuesday truths...the "people are really nice" edition...

January 1, 2019 Arlene Giddings

happy new years day!

I debated today on whether to actually be
social and get dressed (in something other than pajamas)
and go outside (shudder!) and talk to people (gasp!)

but then the pajamas won out.

it’s stormy here and the kids are home
and emma made awesome mashed potatoes & porkchops
and campbell picked up copious amounts of diet coke
for me without question
and we watched epic fail videos while eating
so it’s been a pretty good first day of 2019.

I know I just posted yesterday but I wanted to share
how frigging nice people are….
like…when my car broke down & my dad fixed it so fast
even though I am sure he had other actual customers to deal with…
but in the meantime, every time I would write something about
the lack of car (usually attempting to be funny,
cause I have learned you really can’t cry
if you are laughing, heeheehee) and
so many people immediately messaged me
asking me if I needed a drive or to tell me
to message them if I did need a drive anywhere.

So nice. People are so nice.

Like when my friend & I were invited to an open house just before Christmas…
& when we got there, our other friend said
”I have something for both of you”
and gave my friend the most adorable plush muppet band set
(I am not going to lie…I was/am still a little jealous…heeheehee)
& then gave me the sweetest sparkliest glitteriest sesame street
string of christmas lights…which will stay up YEAR ROUND
just telling you now….they look so great in my fun-space!

I know that these items hold a special sentimental sweetness
of memory for the giver and his family
and that has made these sweet little glowing lights
just that much more important to me & I am incredibly touched
to have been thought of.

AND THEN, he also dropped off a bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies
because I had RAVED about them the night before at his Mom’s open house.
♥ ♥ ♥

People are just so nice. Seriously.

Like the other day, when my cousin’s wife
messaged me to say they had something for me
and I found a card and a wrapped gift in my mailbox…
the card had a photo of their sweet little baby with Santa
which would have been gift enough
but THIS was also in there…

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS…look at it!
I can change the seasons and the month and the dates and
it’s all little blocks and it’s the peanuts and…
well…I seriously just seriously have serious love for this thing.
it was totally unexpected and totally unnecessary
but soooooooo appreciated! :) :) :)

People are just so friggin’ nice.

like my sweet adorable niece who agreed to foster one of our TOO-MANY cats
and also gave me these sweet books for Christmas
AND messaged me all through the holidays
just to check in and see how I was doing… ♥

and my kids who probably drew straws
to decide which one of them would stay
home with me NYE…but made what could have been
a lonely night into an incredibly fun one…

and the people who have allowed me to
message them at 2 and 3 in the morning
when I can’t sleep…and sometimes, even respond to me…haha
or who offered to let me come over and hang out with them
when they thought I might be alone on Christmas Eve…
& bought me hot chocolate
& the girl who gave me THE most delicious homemade pecan tarts ♥ and
rubbed my back because she knew I was stressed out…

and to the guy (I still can’t say ex…I’m sorry…baby steps), who,
even though we are separated,
always answers my texts, always still calms me down,
and always, always looks out for us
even when it means giving us his car when my car was getting fixed…

oh…and my neighbor from down the street
who randomly messaged me on Christmas Eve
and asked me to pop over for a minute because she
had something for me…and when I got there,
she gave me this WHICH SHE MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR ME
and FRAMED because she saw it
and it reminded her of me….
seriously…people are SO FRIGGING NICE. :) :) :)
Look at this!!!! I adore this soooo much. ♥

I honestly did not mean this to be so long
but once I started,
I didn’t want to leave anyone out…
(and I really hope that I haven’t)…
I just wanted to take a second to say how frigging much
every comment, every gesture, every message
means to me…and how I just hope that maybe on my good days
I make someone feel as good as other people have made me feel.

People are just so friggin’ nice. And it makes me incredibly-stupidly
big-smile happy. XO

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