Letter to my boy.

Dear Cameron,

It’s not easy being a teenager. You are going through so many changes right now and it can be hard to keep up. You are in a place that is not quite man, not quite child. You are walking a fine line in between what the world says to do and what your heart tells you is the truth. It can be hard, so hard.

Just remember to take it slow. There’s plenty of time to be a man and make all the grown-up decisions. Just enjoy the fleeting days of your childhood, for they are going so fast. Don’t worry so much about trivial things, trust me, you will do this more than enough when you get older! Follow your heart, it will never lead you astray. Go for your dreams, and know that you can accomplish anything. Remember, it’s okay to change your mind too and that doesn’t make you a failure.

School is just school. I’m not saying that it isn’t important to do a good job. Challenge yourself, you just might be surprised with the outcome! I’m just saying that all of the social issues and pressures are... just that. They don’t determine what kind of man you are going to be. Only you can determine that. Twenty years from now, all of that insignificant stuff won’t matter.

Remember to smile more and always be yourself, because yourself is far greater than anyone else’s idea of who you should be. Smile at the little things, and keep the big things in perspective, often they end up being not so big after all!

Know this, I am always proud of you and there will never come a day when I don’t love you a little bit more than the previous one!

Love,

Mom

p.s. Can you clean your room now, it’s disgusting?

xoxo

A new neighbor.

I have a new neighbor.

We were introduced this morning, well....sort of.

I don’t normally meet my neighbors half-naked, fresh from the shower,

wrapped up in a towel.

Alas, it just couldn’t be avoided.

You see, I was hardly out of the shower, when to my surprise I noticed someone looking through my window!

Can you imagine?

It surprised me so much that I just had to do what any other budding photographer girl would do, and grab my camera.

Yes indeed, how else was I going to prove that the new neighbor is nosy, if I don’t have a picture?

Don't believe me? Well, you just go right ahead and see for yourself then!

What did I tell ya?

You just never know about your neighbors nowadays.

She was totally watching me, checking me out, trying to get a feel for me.

You know, all the sort of things that nosy neighbors do.

Later that day, she made another appearance.

We were formally introduced.

She apologized for our previous meeting and swore up and down that she has never

done such a thing before. She was a little embarrassed.

Her name is Hildegard. Hildegard A. Hawke to be exact.

Isn’t she lovely?

I have decided that we are going to make great neighbors. She can give me some

tips on feathering my nest, and I can point out all of the neighborhood rats!

{hee, hee, I really need some sleep}

Hope you have a wonderful weekend filled with lots of love and great neighbors!

Coastal Inspiration

We have been living on this island now for a couple of months and we are trying to make our little duplex feel more comfy and homelike. Prior to moving, we were told that the homes here are a lot smaller than what we are accustomed to and advised to bring only the necessities. What a perfect way for a fresh start and a more simpler lifestyle, right?

Now, I am working on making our humble abode, homey for the next couple of years. I am really loving the coast and all of the bright, sunshiny, weather. I am drawing inspiration from the lovely colors of the sea and sand around me.

Let’s take a little look at some things that are inspiring me at the moment

...shall we?

I don’t think that it would be possible to ever be in a bad mood in this beauty! Everything is just so bright and beautiful! Love the vintage appliances!

I love everything about this bedroom, and I love the subtle mix of the blues and yellow with the white. Love the iron bed, ruffled bedskirt, and that knobby-legged side table is gorgeous! Wouldn’t mind staying in bed for awhile in this beauty!

I want an outdoor bath/shower area. Ideally somewhere near the coast, in my backyard, surrounded by a fabulous garden (gotta have a little privacy, ya know). That turquoise column and painted claw-foot tub just takes my breath away! Do you see it? A little peek of a mirror in the corner surrounded by some sort of vines, at least I think it’s a mirror. Whatever it is, it’s lovely!

Now this one....I just love the little pops of color in an otherwise neutral space. What really caught my eye was that lovely chandelier. Be.still.my.heart. Isn’t she lovely? She would look so pretty in a number of places. This might be doable very soon with all of the cool shells that I am finding!

Loving the linen slipcovered chairs here and the little wheeled coffee table. Of course the paneling on the walls is lovely as well as the neutral sea grass looking rug. What really drew my attention though, is the bright colors of the couch. I’m not normally into the really bright colors but maybe I should re-think that, it really makes the room here!

all photos courtesy of {Coastal Living}

Just loving the little hints of blue and yellow, aren’t those chairs cute? Ooh whee, that little peek of checkered floor, just what is it about a checker-floored kitchen? Oh, is that a breadbox I spy? I am looking for a really cool breadbox. It is super humid here and my bread keeps getting moisture in it. Any ideas?

Thanks for letting me share some of my inspiration with you today. Hopefully I will have some before/after pictures for you soon of our humble Okinawa abode.

Happy Tuesday.

My weekend...

Not much got done around here this weekend. Although it wasn’t quite as crazy as a weekend filled with earthquakes and tsunami warnings, it was a crazy one nonetheless! My plans of refinishing my little dining room table had to be put off, once again.

My little birdie was sick and so our weekend started out on Friday evening with a trip to the ER. Amelia just hadn’t been herself since Thursday evening and I couldn’t get her to shake her fever for long. So after a reading of 104.3 it was time to go. We arrived at the ER at around 7:00 pm and didn’t leave until close to 1:00 am! Gotta love the ER! Let me tell you for a 19 month old that was not feeling well, she’s got a lot of fight in her. She didn’t want to be bothered. Let’s just say that the doctor was slapped around a bit! We left with a diagnosis of adenovirus.

I felt so bad for my poor sick little birdie, she just wasn’t herself. My little girl normally doesn’t sleep too much and is a nonstop ball of energy. I have never seen her sleep so much, which normally would be great, but she wouldn't let me leave her side. If I moved, she would wake up and fuss until I was close at hand.

Saturday was a beautiful day but we spent the majority of the time relaxing and watching “Up” too many times to count. Is it just me, or does that opening scene of Carl and Ellie’s life just make you cry everytime?

As the day progressed, my little birdie mustered the strength to read a book or two. I just love that she is fascinated with books. She sits down and really gets into them. I wonder what she is thinking?

By the time Sunday rolled around, she was still feeling pretty miserable. She wouldn’t eat, she wouldn’t drink. She only wanted to nurse. Did I just say that? Yes, my 19 month old {gasp}still nurses. We are working on this. Since we have moved, she wants to more than ever. Any thoughts, advice, help on this would be greatly appreciated!

As the day progressed, she was starting to get closer to her normal self. Still not eating, but fever was pretty much gone. I was so happy to see that pretty little smile again!

By late afternoon, we decide that maybe a little fresh air would do us all some good and decided to head outside. The day was warm and overcast, yet so beautiful! Have I mentioned that even the rainy days are pretty here?

The boys decided to play some football while the girls went out searching for sea glass and pretty shells.

Birdie decided that she didn’t want to look for sea glass and instead wanted to play ball with the boys. She didn’t respond too well to their reluctance to let her play.

All was well once daddy caved in and gave her the ball. She has him so wrapped around her little finger! She always wants to play with the boys, might have a tomboy in our future. I don’t think they ever got the ball back!

What started out as a crazy weekend, ended up turning out pretty well! Although I didn’t get much done, it was okay! I love my little family. I am truly blessed.

Gotta run! My silly little birdie is back to normal so I don’t expect this nap to last very long! Have a wonderful week!

i heart faces "Jump for Joy"

This weeks photo challenge at i heart faces is “jump for joy” and can feature up to 5 of your favorite jumping photos.

I immediately knew which photos that I would use for this.

My brothers kids were staying with us last summer while they were visiting Texas and I had to keep them preoccupied.

With the temperature being close to a million degrees, there was really only one thing that they wanted to do!

So there was a lot of jumping going on at our house last summer!

Here are 5 of my favorites!

“Jump on 3”

The oldest in the middle was going to count to 3 and then jump. Little did his brother and sister know, he had other plans!

“Cannonball”

Of course there were tons of cannonball competitions!

“Crazy Cameron”

Setting the stage for the little guys, Cameron had to do some crazy stunts!

“Amazing Amelia”

Not to be outdone, Amelia did her own sort of cannonball, assisted by daddy of course! She looks like she is crying but, she was squealing with delight!

“Sophie the Flying Fish”

Sophie even got in on the action! I love this picture! It looks like Sophie was jumping out of the water rather than into it!

That was fun!

Check out all the joyous jumping pictures this week at i heart faces.

a new love....

I have a new love. This new love makes me so happy!

I have had a thing for this “love” for a little while now but never like this.

Living on this island now for the past three months has

reintroduced me to my love of......sea glass.

Oh, the colors are just like the ocean!

All the various shades of blue and green that I adore.

Never before have I lived on a coast where there is such an abundance of the beautiful treasures. I feel like a little kid on an easter egg hunt every time we head out into the backyard. I never leave the beach empty-handed!

Now, I just need to be creative and figure out what I am going to do with all of it.

I think that it would make a pretty cool wind chime. Perhaps a way to pretty up and old chandelier or pendant lamp maybe?

The various colors of the sea glass are my inspiration for fixing up our little duplex for the next couple of years.

I foresee lots of projects and pictures to come in the immediate future!

My big girl

Somebody got a haircut and it’s not me!

Now I want to cry. My baby looks like such a big girl. It is amazing how 1/4 of an inch off the bangs can change the entire way that my little girl looks! I think as soon as her hair was cut that she acquired a more “big girl” attitude too! I’m not ready for her to be a big girl yet. She needs to stay my baby for awhile.

Oh, and by the way, it so wasn’t me that cut her hair! Nope, won’t even go there. I still have flashbacks to when I attempted to cut Cams’ hair for the first time! Poor baby, his hair kept getting shorter and shorter! I vowed to leave it to the pro’s from there on out. I think that he did a pretty good job, don’t you?

I heart faces "Hilarious Outtakes".

So, I have decided to try and get back on board with the i heart faces photography challenges. If you have never visited the i heart faces blog and you love photography I suggest that you check it out!

So much inspiration! So this weeks challenge is “hilarious outtakes” and here are the photos that I decided to submit:

These pictures always makes me smile and they ended up being the favorites I shot that day! I really wanted to get a couple of nice shots of both of my kids and Cameron was willing to cooperate that day. Amelia, on the other hand, was not. I asked Cam to do whatever he needed to do to get her smiling and looking at the camera! It worked and I love to see how she responds to her big brother! She adores him and it showed in the pictures that day! I even managed to get a handful of “good” pictures of the both of them! Still...the “outtakes” are my favorites!

Tsunami's and earthquakes and sirens...oh my!

Okay, so apparently there is a downside to living on a beautiful, tropical-island with an average annual temperature of 72 degrees!

Saturday, we were rudely awakened by a 7.0 earthquake 55 miles off the coast of Okinawa. Earthquakes scare the living daylight out of me! After living in California for about 8 years total I am not a complete newbie to tremors or small earthquakes but this was an entirely different experience!

We were awakened by shaking that (at the time) felt like it lasted forever! In actuality the shaking lasted for about 15-20 seconds, which is entirely too long for me.

Let me just tell you, this was scary! I was ready to run for the hills with my babies! Did I ever mention that I have this huge phobia about tsunami’s? Beyond paranoid really, I dream of these suckers! Oh and by the way, we live on the beach, right in the backyard!

What were we thinking?

I spent the entire weekend under a giant cloud of anxiety. Didn’t help that there was a possible giant-tsunami on the way after the Chile earthquake. Scary stuff guys! Oh, and the sirens....necessary but gives me the heebie jeebies! Don't care if I ever hear that sound again!

Alas, we survived the weekend and in all reality it could have been much worse. I am praying for the poor people in Chile. All this craziness in the world is just horrible.

Count your blessings and hug those babies a little bit tighter today!

My Thirty-four.

So, about a month ago, I found myself turning 34. What the heck? Where have the past 10 years gone? I mean wasn’t it just yesterday that I turned 24? Wow, 24, I thought that I knew everything! I had no idea! Every year time flies by just a little bit faster than the previous. Before I know it, I will be 35 and wondering how in the world I got there so fast! I want to make this year count. Make 34 a little bit different then the rest. So, I have made a list of 34 things that I want to accomplish in my 34th year.

• 1. Start college (as of January 25th, I am a full-time college student).

• 2. Sew something, anything.

• 3. Learn to play an instrument.

• 4. Read the bible in its’ entirety.

• 5. Stop the excuses and start having date nights with my husband (we always feel so guilty, and bring the kids).

• 6. Lose the “Amelia weight.”

• 7. Stop calling it the “Amelia weight.”

• 8. Live in a foreign country for at least a year (okay, so this is sort of cheating but I have always wanted to do this, so it counts right)?

• 9. Finish my photography class and organize the thousands of photos I took last year.

• 10. Learn to be comfortable in my skin.

• 11. Give up my coke habit (or any other soda pop for that matter, gee what kind of “coke” were you guys thinking)!

• 12. Be more consistent with my blogging. This is my “free-therapy” after all!

• 13. Laugh more often (I am entirely too serious most of the time).

• 14. Go to a karaoke lounge and sing (I absolutely love to sing but am too terrified to actually do it in public)!

• 15. Run another marathon.

• 16. Make a monthly date with my son, just me and my boy, doing something together that we have never done before.

• 17. Take more pictures of me with my kids (lots of the kids, hardly any of me and the kids)!

• 18. Try going vegetarian or vegan for an entire month and see how it makes me feel!

• 19. Look in the mirror every morning and say something positive about myself.

• 20. Exercise everyday, even if it is just going for a walk.

• 21. Stop wasting energy on things that have happened in the past, no regrets!

• 22. Make more time for prayer.

• 23. More effectively communicate with my husband. (I tend to do the hold it all in and brood thing)!

• 24. Learn how to cook something complicated that I have never made before.

• 25. Print out and frame some of the pictures that I love for our walls.

• 26. Send more snail mail to friends/family, after all, in these days of technology, who doesn’t love to open up the mailbox and get a sweet little postcard or note?

• 27. Start and finish all of my re-finishing projects (old table, old bench, etc.) and take lots of pictures in the process!

• 28. Get rid of all the clothes that I am honestly never going to wear again, therefore creating WAY more space in my closet!

• 29. Learn at least a little conversational Japanese.

• 30. Wear my hair down more often and take pictures for proof!

• 31. Get a fabulous new haircut, therefore making it much easier to accomplish previous number!

• 32. Treat everyday as if it were a Monday. Every day can be a fresh start.

• 33. Dance a little bit everyday, even if it’s only in the shower!

• 34. Don’t beat myself up if everything does not get accomplished!

So, there you have it. My crazy little list of things that I want to accomplish in my 34th year. This will be interesting to see how many of these that I will actually accomplish and just maybe I will learn something new about myself in the process!

Happy Friday blog world!

Me, in all of my freckle-faced, sans-makeup, glory!