no. 7

Natural light (and plenty of it)

makes all the difference.

See all posts in this series here.

(Image via DesignSponge. See more light-filled rooms on my "home" Pinterest board.)

on love & valentines

So this week kind of sucked, and we've already had a recurrence of our, ahem, head-scratcher of a problem. HOWEVER, exhausted as I still am, I must say that there were actually a lot of highlights to the week as well. And maybe it's the three day weekend stretching out before me, but the good is actually starting to outweigh the bad.

On Monday, we celebrated Andy's birthday by going out to dinner with his folks. I hit up Crumbs for some cookie dough cupcakes (his favorite) and patted myself on the back for coming up with a gift that actually surprised him! A visit to our local cheese shop is most definitely in order :)

I'd had an idea about what I wanted to do for my class valentine cards more than a year ago (long before Pinterest exploded with similar concepts, but hey, so it goes). I chopped up a bunch of old crayons (which I rescued from the trash pile back in September) . . . 

. . . and melted them down into hearts (thanks for the mold, Target dollar bins!) . . .

. . . then packaged them in sweet little glassine bags with a handwritten note that said, Valentine, you make life colorful! (The best part of this project, apart from the fact that the kids were actually, surprisingly psyched to receive them, was that it catapulted me into another, beyond-awesome project. I'm not quite ready to share details yet, as I don't want to jinx anything, but suffice it to say it's JUST the sort of thing I've always wanted to do!)

There was, of course, plenty of coffee involved. Because there is always coffee. 

Always. 

On Valentine's Day itself, I tried to practice a little of Anne Lamott's kind of love. While walking home from the train, I randomly found myself humming "The Servant Song," and it occurred to me that it describes exactly what I feel about the nature of love. For me, these are the words that speak of true love:

Will you let me be your servant,

let me be as Christ to you?


Pray that I might have the grace


to let you be my servant, too.



We are pilgrims on a journey,

we are trav’lers on the road.


We are here to help each other


walk the mile and bear the load.



I will hold the Christ-light for you


in the night time of your fear.

I will hold my hand out to you,

speak the peace you long to hear.



I will weep when you are weeping,

when you laugh I'll laugh with you.


I will share your joy and sorrow


'til we've seen this journey through.



When we sing to God in heaven,

we shall find such harmony,


born of all we've known together

of Christ's love and agony.

Will you let me be your servant,

let me be as Christ to you?


Pray that I might have the grace


to let you be my servant, too.

Yep -- tears in my eyes just from typing that. I'm going to hope that a group like Mumford & Sons does a version I can actually listen to without cringing. I tried to find something decent online and completely failed.

Happy weekend, folks. I got a new coat yesterday (since most of mine are in bags), and it's time I go wear it out :)

i need a redo

So, what do you think of my little redesign? Andy says it's his favorite one yet. I've just been craving simplicity and plenty of white space lately (both in terms of design and metaphorically), and this is a start. I'd love to do more (add tabs, unify the entire look of my blog, etc), but I just can't bring myself to get rid of the "Book Bar." It's a pain to update and it doesn't exactly draw a crowd, but creating the rollovers marked my first (and, um, only) bit of CSS. I did each illustration on my now-trusty old Macbook Pro (brand new at the time), using Skitch with nothing but my index finger. And gosh darn it, I'm proud of them! So, since I am more sentimental nut than cool designer, the Book Bar remains. Rarely updated, almost never visited, but with sweet rollovers nonetheless. Maybe in the future I'll have a design-y professional blog, but ya know what? This ain't it.

It's been a rough week at work. Why, you ask? Think of something especially pervasive in elementary school classrooms that spreads like wildfire. Then imagine a preschool with daily naps, where children lie close to the ground, near one another, and often head-to-head with teachers helping settle them to sleep. Yeah. That. THAT, gosh darn it! Yuck and ughhhhh. What a way to officially start my Lenten sacrifice. Though I fully admit to drinking champagne anyway ;)

I suppose saying "Happy Ash Wednesday" would be insulting/an oxy moron, and this most definitely has not been what I'd describe as "happy" by any stretch. At the very least, I hope your hump day was better than mine. So cheers, and thank God for tomorrows and trying again!


Pink Pearl Eraser Print by Kelly Lasserre, available on Etsy

weekend bits & pieces

Or really just Saturday. Because Sunday mostly consisted of doing laundry in between episodes of Touch on Netflix and Rehab Addict on the DVR. Also eating a full sleeve of crackers. (Though, to be fair, that was after scrubbing down the entire tub/bathroom with baking soda, bleach, and a toothbrush, so, you know. I earned it. Also I had to take three breaks because I accidentally dumped out way too much bleach and the fumes were burning my eyes. This is why I generally stick to all-natural cleaning, but ANYWAY. Where were we? Ah, yes: SATURDAY.) Here goes . . .

From top to bottom: Girly morning coffee | Quote from this awesome podcast, still on my mind | Gifts for giving and cards for mailing | The beginnings of spring on top of our china cabinet | Jam-packed To Do list | Negotiating music selections | "I'm gonna be, like, so fashionable" | Preparing to make tacos | Getting schooled in the right way to eat a tortilla

Yep. It was another good one. x