MY LATEST...

Bloggy experience: meeting up with these girls for dinner



stolen picture from andrea of our yummy time together.

I really want to photoshop my shiny face...but that's beside the point. I had a great time with Andrea, Annie and Liz.

Temptation: nutty bars. I got a box (for the first time in about 10 years) and put them in the drawer. The next afternoon we're all hanging out in the family room together and I hear Miss 9 yr-old say, "hm. What's a nudey bar?" We fully enjoyed our nudey bars and yes, they are addicting. I bought a second box on my next trip to the grocery store and hid it so I could have them ALL to myself. (Which I did. In two days. ALL of them. Myself.) Oh, boy. It's all I want as I'm typing this. Alas, I have restrained myself which leads me to my next latest...

Guru: Dr. Andrew Weil. I have loved him for years. He's a health guru and I like the way he's realistic, and he isn't sensational. Everything he says makes sense to me. After my nutty bar binge I decided that it was time to get back to the basics. So I rented a bunch of library books like "get the sugar out" and "eating raw" and the like but they were a little much and instead of inspiring, they made me roll my eyes. Then I re-read one of Dr. Weil's books and have been eating much fresher and better. Because I want to. (unless you include all that home made carmel corn...)

Party: make your own tie die


the results

Playgroup: strawberry picking and the beach

Book series: The Gemma Doyle trilogy

Delight: fresh homemade salsa



Movie: Wall-E. So incredibly imaginative! Two thumbs up. (didn’t keep my 4 yr-old’s attention though, so there may be an age limit.)

Death in the family: Mrs. Crabby Crab. Maybe I didn’t change her water enough…but then again, maybe it had to do with the multiple escape attempts. (it’s a long fall to the floor!)



okay, the man of the house is home and my new book is calling...happy sunday!

midnight blogging

Yes, I’ve been an errant blogger. But here it is the middle of the night and I can’t sleep, so I thought I’d do a little update while I’m feeling all open and chatty.

The truth is, there are several things getting in the way of having a well functioning blog, the first being the fact that I am bored with writing about myself. I keep thinking that if I’m bored with myself, then why would anyone want to come read about it? I also have been trying to cut down on internet time. Then there’s the whole issue with putting too much information out there. I keep wavering back and forth about having a private blog for the sake of keeping my little people out of the eyes of potential psychos. But there’s a whole aspect of blogging that I love because it is public. I can’t seem to effectively separate my children from my blog. What have some of your experiences been? Does anyone have any words of advice or big ideas?

I’ve been spending my time in the garden (but not quite enough time—I have visions for the yard that require lots of time and money but I have neither at my disposal at the moment.) That’s part of what I love about gardening—the ongoing process of beautifying your surroundings.

I’ve been spending my time being a business owner. That’s a lot of work. I hope it pays off in the end. It has been exciting and challenging. Surprisingly there has been more left brained work than right brained work lately and I feel like I need to spend some time being creative in a way that has nothing to do with work. I am looking forward to Squam. I’ve never been part an “artist community” and I can’t wait to go and absorb it all up.

I’ve been spending time preparing lessons. This Sunday I am teaching 2 classes at church which means I am forced to not procrastinate. So I have been in the midst of pondering in between moments of feeling very human. At one moment I will feel very weak and rebellious and then the next I am thanking God for my gift of faith that seems to simplify my life and bring unspeakable joy. But in the midst of being human, I have learned in my spiritual practices to recognize and understand and know certain truths: God not only exists, but is very loving and present. He is the Father of my spirit. Jesus Christ is not just a good man, but my Savior who actually sacrificed everything and through His atonement, I can overcome and be forgiven anything, thank goodness. The power of the Holy Ghost is available to us, individually, any time and any place that we put forth the effort to ask and then listen. Spiritual knowledge is just as real as any other kind of knowledge. There is meaning here in this life; there is a plan and a purpose.

There are other things I’ve been spending my time on, but suddenly it doesn’t matter—I’m feeling tired enough that I might be able to fall back asleep…

She was born a romantic.

She had always been in love with love. But something was different now: this time it was her turn. She lay there, snuggled up with him in a room lit by twinkle lights and a movie playing on the screen, thinking that she was the most content thing in the world. She turned her head and kissed him and he leaned over a bit so that his mouth was at her ear and whispered, “I love you so much. I want you and only you. I want it all. I want your children, the white picket fence—everything.”

It was as if she had been thirsty her entire life and suddenly she was being filled. It was like she had never known that a piece of her was missing, but suddenly she was feeling whole. Warmth filled her chest and spread until it reached the tips of her fingers and toes. Her head swirled and her heart felt it might burst.

She would remember this moment in the years to come. It would become a defining moment: I can be loved completely. I can love back. I can choose this path. No matter what hurt it may bring, this sense of complete joy will balance it out. It will be worth it to become a new me with someone who can make me feel like this. She didn’t really like herself that much anyway; there were improvements to be made. But at this moment, with him by her side, all snuggled in and loving her, she could see her potential. She suddenly recognized what he saw in her and she unwittingly believed him.


Jake, thank you for being the father of my children. You have blessed our lives in all the best ways.

shop announcement

From now until June 30th, visit my etsy shop and order one of my scrapbooking kits and recieve free shipping within the continental United States.

cuteness

My four year old and I were laying quietly on the shady hammock swaying slightly in the heat when she said to me, “I can be anything I want to be when I grow up…as long as it’s people-ish.” (In other words, she can’t be…say…a monkey? I could see it happening. Ooo ooooo!)

the air is so thick today

I feel like I’m walking around in a dream. I’m a shadow of myself. I will be doing something and suddenly start with the realization that I have forgotten something terribly important. My stomach has been in knots. The weather has put me into a weird funk. It’s incredibly muggy and oppressive and as I drive out of the driveway, I catch a glimpse of my garden and realize that I have forgotten to appreciate that the peonies have popped. My mind gets sucked back into the book I’ve been reading and it’s as if I am the main character instead of myself and my realities keep getting confused. I take a phone call and can hardly form a cohesive sentence; I feel embarrassed because I know I must sound strange, but I’m having a hard time hiding that I feel like I’ve lost my mind a little bit.

Then the children pull me back, and I feel for a few moments that the balance is restored. We take turns adding ingredients and soon they’re off with their spoonfuls of cookie dough and I’m lost to myself again. Dizzy as though my true north has shifted its position far off somewhere in the universe.

she cuts things

My third child has no need to look like every other adorable 4 year old who has a nice little haircut that fits nicely into ponytails and braids. She seems to be a little different from the other kids. My other children’s favorite word to describe her is “feisty.”



I’ve heard the question “how did she get a hold a scissors?” many times. I used to think that I was a careless mother, but now I understand that there is no way to keep them from her. No way to keep anything away from her that she’s determined to have. She’s resourceful and independent (and I’m in trouble with this one—wish me luck for the future of my parenting experience!).


She seemed a little too happy to be holding all that hair, and I told her that maybe she should look a little sad about cutting it. This is the look she gave me for the camera.

It has taken me a long time to come to terms with this haircut. (I cried when I saw her and then she showed me where she hid all that hair--behind the couch!) It had taken us at least a year and a half to grow out the last “haircut” and her hair was just about where I wanted it to be—almost all one length, bangs finally grown out. (I am the parent, after all. I have to wash her hair and brush it. I have to look at her cuteness all day every day, even if that cuteness has a stain on her shirt or my new lipstick all over her mouth…or a homemade haircut that is unruly.)

So I took her into the salon. For the first time, I had someone other than me (and herself, if that even counts) take scissors to her hair. It was over my head how we could fix this one. But here she is, newly funky and she loved the salon experience.

Dear Bloggie blog,

I feel like we have become strangers. It's nothing personal. It’s not you, it’s me. I really do feel like we can still be great friends.

It’s just that I have been so busy with the actual “living” part of my life that it has been hard to fit the “blogging” part in. I have had people who I love come stay with me for the last couple weeks (it was good to have you here! xoxo) and I have had T-ball games to attend. I have been planting flowers and weeding and gardening in general (that takes a lot of my time—one could say I’m obsessed a wee bit), plus the fact that I am a wife and mother to three. Never mind the fact that I am filling orders and making lots and lots of business plans.

I feel very behind, not just with blogging but with life in general. I’ll do my best to make you feel loved, because I really do miss you. But now that summer is here, there are children surrounding me more than ever and beach days and lots of bathing (you know, all the ice cream and sweat and playing and sand…).

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I haven’t been avoiding you. Really.

With love,
Brittany