Sad News...

Well, I kind of thought this may be coming after my conversation with the owner in January.... but Over the Moon is closed. She just sent the email today. I am sad for her, I think it was such a good concept and such a cool store, but there seemed to be some necessary elements missing, and the poor woman has about 5 jobs on her plate. You can tell she is sad too.

Hopefully she will be able to reopen sometime in the future, but I think the economy is taking it's toll on everyone!

Soo..... Now what to do... should I just jump in and fill my etsy shop? Should I look for another retail store... I don't know. All I know is that I need a creative outlet, so we'll see what happens with that! I have been praying for clear direction in whether to delve into the etsy thing, so what exactly does clear direction look like???

I am the type who prefers God to print a banner, maybe even attach it to a plane and fly it over my house, or something of the sort... You know, I'm not asking for much here... do you think???

Hockey Hoedown

Busy week, but a good week. Hockey hoedown happened on Wednesday night. Actually, I think it was called Hockey Tonk.... but I think my name is better. Anyways, got to wear fun clothes, have good food and drinks and mingle with Nashville's finest.

Please take note of the awesome vintage boots (on both of us) and my favorite dress.... Seriously, I think it was someone's wedding dress back in the day. It is so old that I had a back up in the car, just in case something ripped!

Grace and Harper are well. Just enjoying life. Harper walks 3 or 4 steps alone and quickly remembers that it is much faster to crawl. She intently watches Grace and copies everything she does. Grace is really sweet, and has exhibited so much patience with Harper these days. Harps is really rough and tumble and hits Grace about 20 times a day, instead of retaliating, Grace just leans over and kisses Harper...

Harps has probably 10 or 15 words... uhoh, mama, dada, snow (it kind of saddens me that this is one of her first words, I hate the cold... But I guess it's a tribute to the amount of snow we've had this winter) , bye bye, hi, book, papa, baby, booyah, look, sorry (this is a new word, but as you can imagine, she has to use it frequently), she is starting to say something that sounds similar to 'thank you' at the appropriate times, and that is all I can remember at this point!!!

Kind of a blah post, but just a little update!

The view from here 2.15.10 and thoughts from the cabana

Here is Chris, coming down the long, long water slide. All these little kids were coming down one after another, fairly slowly.... and then here comes Chris....like he was shot out of a cannon... water, splashing everywhere, almost propelling himself off of the side of the slide itself while coming around a turn. Yes, he had fun.

Thoughts from the cabana:
Where do I begin. First of all, down here, if you smile at people, they do not smile back. It's a little disheartening. I went out of my way to smile at every person I saw, and I'd say only about 20% returned the favor. I think that these people consider niceness as a weakness...

Anyways, here are a few rules from the pool that I have observed:

-Heaven forbid a person carry their own towels to their chairs.....and to have to place chair covers on your own chairs, is a travesty.

-If you feel the whim to move your chair even the slightest to catch a different ray of the sun... Oh, but you can't get off your butt to do it yourself... you must call a pool boy to do it for you.... and just for affect, make sure you speak in a really condescending tone, and then throw him a single to make yourself feel better.

-If you see a chair with some one's stuff on it, but you, in fact want that chair for yourself... you must then summon a pool boy to move said person's stuff off the chair, get you new chair covers and towels and then assemble the whole shebang for you.

-If you get the urge for a drink or maybe some food while you are sitting by the pool. Raise your hand and wave it vigorously. If as much as a minute elapses and no one runs to your aid... begin to raise your voice and call each pool attendant by name over and over and over until your immediate need is met.

-If you have children and have brought them with you to the resort, first of all, you must not only have a bugaboo stroller, but one designed by none other than kate spade, burberry or juicy couture. Also, you must have a nanny with you at all times, and if you don't have your own, the Fairmont will supply one for you. (at a small additional cost. wink. wink)

-If you go down to the restaurant for breakfast in the morning, you must make a scene and call the manager because the hostess dared try to seat you at a 2 top table, when in fact you would prefer a 6-top (even though there are only 2 of you in your party.)

-If you bring your small, tiny, fancy dog to the resort with you, make certain that you smuggle him (or her) into the restaurant, disregarding all hints otherwise, and feed him from you plate whether directly or indirectly.

-If you have teenage daughters that want to sit down at the pool patio for lunch (at peak lunch hour) and all the tables are full you MUST make a scene and throw a fit. Because of course, it is the staff's fault that they have not set out enough tables and made sure that one was open at all times just in case your daughters got hungry. Heaven forbid they wait for a table to open up.

I could go on and on, but I won't. I have to say one thing though, the staff here is so gracious, patient and attentive. I have gone out of my way to be nice to them and you can tell they are not used to that.

Another guest mentioned to me that people from Tennessee 'are SO NICE.' I've heard that before, but I totally get it now.

Wow, after this week, I feel like I live in a little 'nice' bubble.

The view from here 2.14.10

South Beach... not thrilling. Above is a picture of a cool building we encountered. The rest of that part of the city was, well... Gross. So many people, all wanting to be noticed by someone. Some ways of grabbing attention were more overt than others, but overall this place made me sad. It was a good experience, glad we saw it, but I don't know if I ever want to go back. I am so glad we are staying where we are. Much more relaxing, low key, and more my speed.

Having a good time! Loving the time alone and with Chris~ Love the warm weather, and the lack of anything cold and wet falling from the sky! Yahoo. Just praying that the snow will skee-daddle before we get back to Nashville!

The view from here 2.12.10

This is right outside our balcony. It's beautiful. The people who work here are very nice... the people who stay here are, well, I'll just say... uppity. (is that a word?)

I have to say, I can't remember the last time I was this relaxed.... It's nice. The pool cabana is my favorite thing about this place. You can't even believe how comfortable they are.
Chris had his first massage today. He liked it... I think his exact words were "I could spend all day in this spa thing."

The lady who gave me my massage was, well, a little less than gentle... and I think I may have bruises tomorrow. But maybe she worked out some kinks because I feel surprisingly good right now.

We skyped with the kids last night and tonight. What a great invention! I sound like a grandma right now, but it is awesome. We are first timers, you know. Never skyped before. I love it. Harper is not so sure, she doesn't understand why we won't come out of the computer and gets a little upset, but Grace likes it. I miss them! I like missing them. I guess I haven't been away from them long enough to miss them yet, so it feels good.

Anyways, here's our walk on the beach this morning, it was so windy and the clouds were rolling in, but we got some good sun and it only rained after the sun went down today. Supposed to be clear tomorrow. I am happy!

PS. Update on the bathing suit: The ruffles don't get water logged! Yahoo! I love it, and I saw a girl with a MUCH MUCH more expensive version on today, and I think mine was cuter. I saw her eyeballing it, she was jealous, I'm sure.

The view from here: 2.11.10

More on this later.... More pictures to come.

PS. The 8 Bentleys (SP?) parked around the entrance to this place has made me question my inclination to ask the concierge directions to the nearest Goodwill. Do you think he would even know what I was talking about?

Drastic times call for drastic measures: A tutorial

Click here for a little tutorial on making this bathing suit top.

Significance

Yesterday was our first day back at bible study after holiday break. We are reading Captivating by John and Staci Eldredge. What great timing.

I was talking to a friend the other day about how I find it really hard some days to find significance in the every day, mundane tasks I do as a stay at home mom. I long to do something more, to be something, to impress people, really make a difference in the world, to have something to offer.

Doing 10 loads of dishes, laundry, changing dirty diapers, and incessantly picking up messes is not my idea of making a difference. I am almost embarrassed some days when Chris comes home and asks, "what did you do today...?" and I run down the list of tasks I accomplished and then look around the house and everything is now undone, as if the kids and I had been sitting around eating bon bons all day! Now, I know he doesn't feel that way, and never implies it, but I am having a hard time really believing that this little stuff really matters. I want to be significant, to feel important, needed. I want to do something AMAZING. I guess, in a nutshell, I want to feel worthy.

Enter Captivating:
What I am about to summarize hit me like a ton of bricks this morning. Gen 2:18 "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him." Now in the Hebrew 'a companion who will help him' is actually ezer kenegdo. (the following quote is from pg. 31) " The word ezer is used only 20 other places in the entire Old Testament. And in every other instance the person being described is God himself, when you need him to come through for you desperately." Here are some of the references they give: Deuteronomy 33:26, 29; Psalm 121:1-2; Psalm 20:1-2; Psalm 33:20; Psalm 115:9-11. They offer the suggestion that a better translation of the word would be 'lifesaver' (and kenegdo means alongside or counterpart.)

Wow, when God created women, when he created me, he created us in his image, to be lifesavers... we are crucial, we matter, and we are...well, significant....NOT because of what we do, but because of WHO we are. Gosh, doesn't that just take a weight off? It isn't what we accomplish, how much money we make (or don't make), or what the world thinks of our 'jobs'....it's the fact that God created us for a purpose, we were created with a significant role.

Back in the day of Adam and Eve, there were no glass ceilings, corporate ladders to climb, or Martha Stewart's to live up to. But Eve was created with significance, with a role that only she could fill.... Isn't that refreshing???

Matthew 18:5 "And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me."

I've never thought of this in the context of motherhood before... but all these little things I do on a daily basis, over and over and over for my children, I am doing for Christ.

So, I'm just going to chew on all this for a while... and pray that it sinks in and I will be changed by it!

Trash to Fash

Click here to see some of my latest refashioning projects...I started another blog just for sewing/crafting/thrifting... you know...

Harper fears nothing

Here's a little background on the situation. Grace is afraid of almost everything. We are working on conquering some of her fears... It took me about an hour of tiny baby steps to get her to jump off the couch last night. This morning she wanted to try it again. Harper watched for a second... and you will see her first jump. That child is not afraid. I laughed so hard... maybe it's only hilarious to me, but I laugh so hard every time I see this.