Sunday, May 25, 2008

Inspired #3

I finished another Inspired project. This one was developed by Claudine Hellmuth,it is called a poppit! Loved the fabric that I choose for this project and Mer is enjoying it. Claudine is a super cool woman. I had dinner with her at the Olive Garden on the Friday night of Inspired. She told us all about how she got her books published and her experiences being on Martha Stewart and the process she had to go through.I love hearing stories from successful woman entrepreneurs. Glad I got this project finished and love the result.


Andy and I had dinner at 20 King last night with some friends. We had a good time. We took this self portrait before we left. As I have been going through my pictures I have noticed that there are not a lot of us together. Trying to resolve this void.

On Thursday night I worked on this baby book for my friend Dana Shortt. Has anyone ever been to Dana Shortt Gourmet? I love her stuff and her store. Another successful woman entrepreneur. The layouts are pretty simple but I loved how the project went together so easily.






The kids and I had a great day. We visited both my grandmas and had a picnic at Riverside park.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Slow Down - Just a Little Please!

My little one starting riding her two wheeler bike on Tuesday. I can't believe it - time is going so fast. Everyone always says it but I am having a hard time with it. She decided on Tuesday to give her sister's bike a try. Her out of breath momma was running along side holding onto the back. That night we went to a big open parking lot and she took off. No helping from mom and dad just free bike riding. Boy when she sets her mind to something she does it. Truly admire that quality in her. Way to go Mer, my big girl on her bike. An end of an era for me.
The new skill has not been learned without a little crash - she has the marks to prove it. A little run in with the sidewalk.



Avery graduated from Kindermusik yesterday, a big milestone for her. She has been going since she was 6 mos. old. She has had the same awesome teacher for that time too. Mrs. Murray has an awesome way with children. Totally respect the work that she does with the kids. She put on the cutest graduation for the kids and the kids put on a little performance with costumes and everything. It meant so much to Avery and she has learned so much. Congrats A!


Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Weekend Recap

We had a great, relaxing weekend and enjoyed a visit from Grandma Ottawa. Although the weather didn't cooperate we had fun nevertheless. The kids didn't know that Grandma was coming and she surprised them after school. Avery's face says it all as she ran across the school yard. What an awesome reaction for Grandma. Grandma and the kids did a little baking, we went to the park, we watch movies, went bowling, had soccer and ate some yummy food. Great memories.





Well my first week is done and I fared pretty well given the long weekend and my awesome cook that made amazing meals. In addition to the food I walked 4 days this week - feel great about that.

I am watching Idol tonight, Go David Cook! Totally love the first two songs that they sang.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My Lady

Since Inspired I have wanted to try drawing something. This is a stretch for me because it is definitely not my forte. Kal Barteski and her Bulletproof Positive Attitude totally inspired me - I really love her Tiny Art prints and wanted to see if I could do something like it. I used her concept of the pink ladies to try and make my own lady. A woman, Shannon that I met at Inspired also pushed me to take on this challenge. Take a look at her blog to see her versions. I love how my lady turned out, in no way can it compare to Kal's work and it is her concept, but I am happy with my first attempt. I am going to try something else with a similar feel the next chance I get. Making this piece made me happy - I was smiling after I finished it even though the message is a negative one.

Unfortunately that is the place that I am right now. Not happy with my physical appearance and have not been for a while. The problem is that I have not been doing anything about it and instead feeding the negativity. I need to make the changes. I have been putting a couple of things in place - I have been walking in the mornings with a friend of mine but I have to included the food portion with it. Started today by going to Weight Watchers (again even though I don't want to think that way). Here's to the new journey - it is going to be a good one!

Go David Cook - I want him to win!

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day. I have been enjoying my day with my family and the kids made me the cutest gifts. I just enjoyed brunch with my mom, I feel lucky that I can share part of the day with my mom. I am wishing my mother-in-law a Happy Mother's Day too.



My friend Jodi passed this story along to me. The message resonated with me and I wanted to share it.

The Invisible Mom

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible. 'The Invisible Mom.'

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a TV Guide guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Pick me up right around 5:30, please.' I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude – but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. The passion of their building was fuelled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything. A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees everything.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.' At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction. But it is not a disease that is erasing my life. It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree. When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, 'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Great Job, MOM!
Share this with all the Invisible Moms you know... I just did.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

My Star

Last night was Avery's dance recital for Carsouel. The studio put on the Wizard of Oz, Avery was a sparkling brook. She was amazing up on stage. Such a proud moment for her Mom. Way to go Avery.
Here are some pictures of her and her dancing buddies from the rehearsal.


Tuesday, May 6, 2008

This, that and the other

Tuesday already and I am just getting around to posting the stuff from the weekend. Saturday was a little crazy. Avery is getting ready for her dance recital on Friday night - she had a dress rehearsal on Saturday morning. Then we were off to Mer's first soccer game (in the rain I might add) to watch 10 little girls in the purple uniforms chasing around the ball, very cute. The rest of the day was spent cropping at the Scrapping Turtle to celebrate National Scrapbooking Day. I had a great time, got some stuff done and admired the work of talented ladies that also do this crazy craft. The Turtle did a great job with the day, good food, fun games and great prizes.

Sunday was this day ....

Spent a relaxing day with Andy and the girls. We stayed in our pj's for the morning, my kind of day and then Andy outdid himself by cooking 3 awesome meals - who else gets a birthday breakfast, lunch and dinner! The kids bought me a tennis racket so we played a little tennis in the afternoon. Then we had an awesome gourmet dinner - Shrimp Bisque soup with homemade croutons (the soup was made with homemade broth), the perfect steak with dijon and roasted garlic sauce, pan seared scallops with saffron glaze, the most amazing potato salad and grilled asparagus. Dessert was homemade hazelnut, almond spice cake with butter cream frosting decorated by the kids. To top it off - Andy did all the laundry on the weekend too. So love that guy!
Each year I can look forward to a call from my grandma to wish me Happy Birthday - she always asks "Well dear, do you feel any older". I was thinking - nope I don't and I hope I never do. When I blew out my candles for my birthday my wish was to keep my family healthy and happy. The Postma family are in my thoughts.

Working on some Mother's Day gifts - this is what I have come up with. More fabric involved!! Found this great line that I am in love with - turns out the woman who sells it lives just around the corner from me. You will see more of it showing up in my stuff.

It is inspired by a project in Donna's new fabric book. The quote reads "Life shared among people who love each other is the ideal of happiness". It is from Amy Butler's new line by K&Company. And I am in love with this line. It is being sold at Michael's. I stopped by there to see it yesterday but it was just in a cart all packaged up. I rifled through and picked up these two packages but I am going back for more. Can't wait to see the whole line.