family pic

Another for Michelle . . . it's so difficult to get that many children on the same page!

Good to see an old friend

I've missed my pal Michelle since she moved away a year-and-a-half ago. She's been promising to visit ever since, and finally did this past weekend. I know she's dying for some photos I snapped, I just wanted to share my favorite, she has the most gorgeous hair . . .

One Little Word

Ali Edwards challenges us to choose a single word to focus on for the year - read all about it on her blog. After much consideration, I have chosen my word: cultivate

Dictionary.com offered the following as the first definition, and it seems to capture everything I am thinking for my word:

"cul⋅ti⋅vate   /ˈkʌltəˌveɪt/ [kuhl-tuh-veyt]
–verb (used with object), -vat⋅ed, -vat⋅ing.
1. to prepare and work on (land) in order to raise crops; till.
2. to use a cultivator on.
3. to promote or improve the growth of (a plant, crop, etc.) by labor and attention.
4. to produce by culture: to cultivate a strain of bacteria.
5. to develop or improve by education or training; train; refine: to cultivate a singing voice.
6. to promote the growth or development of (an art, science, etc.); foster.
7. to devote oneself to (an art, science, etc.).
8. to seek to promote or foster (friendship, love, etc.).
9. to seek the acquaintance or friendship of (a person).

Aside from the obvious of gardening - I hope to have an even better one this year than last year - it applies to all areas of my life. Ken and I are both embarking on new businesses and would like to cultivate success in those areas. Raising children is a continual effort at cultivation, as is making and keeping friendships. I am hoping to cultivate an entirely new system for photos and scrapbooking with Stacy's LOM class. I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift. I really liked Ali's choice of "nurture" as her word, but as she pointed out, it's a soft word. It is perfect for her, but I needed something a little stronger, more wilful, thus I chose cultivate.

I'm trying to figure out how I can get my children to participate in this by choosing their own words . . .

Project 365 - page 1

Jumping on the Project 365 bandwagon, doing it digi all the way. I used a template shared with me by fellow Pea "Carrie", using art from the freebies I downloaded from The Ettes.

Commitment

For two years I have debated whether to take Stacy Julian's "Library of Memories" class. Her method of organization and push to "let go" of chronological stress is like the call of the siren for me. I am so tired of feeling stressed about the gaps, I'm ready to change the way I scrap. I have her books and have read them and re-read them, and concluded that only with the push and timeline of an online class would I actually get this done. So after much debate, today I signed up for her class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I'm not sold on her photo organization, but I think I NEED to reorganize my scrapbooks. I'm hoping someone I know will take the class so we can work together - please post on my blog if you're taking it!

THANK YOU DB for the gift certificate and coupon code which allowed me to sign up for the class!!!!!