Chris’ parents brought his newly adopted little sister home from Russia on Christmas. We had so much fun getting to know her. It was a challenging week, to say the least, but we are so impressed with her willingness to reach out, the beauty of her heart, and the strength of her spirit.
I can hardly believe it’s been six weeks since I last updated. 2010 rushed in like a flood, and I’m still running to catch up. I have tons of pictures and news to share, but for now, something that’s good for the heart:
I love these girls. They brighten my days and remind me of the simple pleasures in life.
More to come later — I promise!
Welcome to Day #15 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge!
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Earlier this year I had the honor of buying a print each from two great Etsy sellers, Fréya and Vol 25.
Each of their packaging was absolutely beautiful and inspired me in my own Etsy attempts. These ladies are pros at art and marketing. Really beautiful work!
Vol 25 on Etsy
Fréya Art on Etsy
Welcome to Day #14 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge!
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A little quick catch-up:
Day 11 – Best Place: My garden. Working in it and checking on it and planting things and pulling old things out… It was by far my favorite place to be in 2009.
Day 12 – Best New Food: New Potatoes with Sea Salt and Dill. I found this recipe on via the Epicurious app on my iPhone but couldn’t find it on their website. It’s easy – hand mash boiled new potatoes with the skins on. Add just a bit of olive oil, sea salt, and chopped dill to taste. Delicious!
Day 13 – Best Change to the Place I Live: Again, for sure, the garden. Second, maybe, was trying and trying again to makeover my home office. I never quite got it right, and now it’s essentially storage space for our moving boxes. But the exercise in creating a sacred creative space, a space for me to do my work, was a valuable one.
Day 14 – Biggest Rush
This is a difficult one. I overcame a lot of challenges this year, but I think my biggest rush was finishing my first ebook the week of my 28th birthday. It wasn’t a raving success by traditional standards, but several people downloaded it, and I received great feedback. Just the feeling of completion and seeing my name on something I wrote and published on my own was an incredible rush.
Now I’m on to the next thing – learning to do it right. 
I am so behind on my #best09 posts, but I have a good reason – I promise.
This is my final week of class for 2009, which makes it a pretty great week all by itself. I spent twenty hours in front of my laptop this weekend trying to get to this point, and now that I’m here, I just want to breathe for a minute.
I’ve worked all day, and I have dinner to make and a final PowerPoint project to work on. And a final exam to study for.
And then I’m done… until January 4, 2010.
This weekend I fought my fears and pressed on and refused to quit. And I stared at this beautiful flower blooming in my office.
What was the highlight of your weekend?
So today, I’m attempting to tie up loose ends. I stood in line at the post office for forty minutes to ship three Amazon orders, came home to another order, gathered together all of the books I am donating and filled my car’s back seat up with them, helped Chris with two video shoot, edited a website, posted on Creative Perch, worked on my vision for 2010, edited an important marketing piece, and am finally sitting here with you.
Hopefully, I’ll have a #best09 post for you later this evening. In the meantime, check out this RSS feed for some great reading material.
Welcome to Day #10 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge!
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Today’s easy for me. The one album that came out this year that I’ve listened to over and over is Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson’s album Break Up. I love, love, love it. It’s my get it done, be creative and/or file paperwork album. It’s my go-to when nothing else quite does the trick.
Welcome to Day #9 of Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge. I’m really enjoying thinking through each of these topics and sharing the best of 2009 with you. Really, this is what a blog should be, right? This journey has been like the soulful version of ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. But maybe better.
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My best challenges of 2009 were not the ones that I asked for or created for myself. They weren’t personal goals or benchmarks.
In fact, they were things that really caught me off guard. Most of the time, my first response was to sit in my car or in my bathtub and cry. Other times, I stuffed in every tear and told myself to suck it up and be strong. Over the next weeks and months, I learned how strong I could be, and I learned I had resources and creativity in me that I never knew existed before.
I realized that my husband and I are stronger than we think we are. And we’re more connected now than we ever have been.
From trying to run our own business, to losing a third of our income, to learning to build a business, to trying (unsuccessfully) for a baby, to feeling the heartache of broken trust, to learning when it is time to let go and move on, the challenges I’ve faced in 2009 haven’t been easy ones. But they’ve been character-building challenges. I am coming to know who I am and what I’m about, who Chris and I are and what we’re about as a family, and I am finding strength there.
There were many times this year when I felt beaten down, defeated. But each time circumstances or the world said no, I’ve come back, gotten out of bed another day, sat down at my desk, and said, “Yes, I will.”
I have no idea what 2010 holds in store. In a way I hope the challenges I’m writing about next year are about running marathons or learning a second language. Because this year has been exhausting. I’m realizing now, though, that the beauty of this year couldn’t have been attained any other way.
Here’s Day #8 for Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge. Hope you enjoy!
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Best Moment of Peace…
As the years progress, I find that I become increasingly more grounded. I value home more than ever. My best moments of peace happen there. It’s my place of refuge, my place of peace.
So I browsed through my iPhoto galleries and chose a few pictures that represent moments of peace, moments when I felt like Chris and I were getting it right, moments where we felt the most whole and at rest with our lives and ourselves.
Here’s Day #7 for Gwen Bell’s Best of 09 Blog Challenge. Hope you enjoy!
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Sorry I had to skip Day 6 of Gwen’s challenge – unfortunately, although I traveled a lot this year, I did not attend any conferences or workshops. That just about tops my list of professional growth goals for 2010. I am going to SXSW 2010.
But I digress…
Today is about the best blog I discovered this year that I can’t believe I ever lived without before. But to be honest, there are just too many. I subscribe to over 50 in my RSS feed reader, and they cover a variety of topics, from food to frugality to gardening to business to entrepreneurialism to design professionalism to creative diy to home decor… the list goes on.
The blogs I read each day are a major source of inspiration for me, so instead of choosing just one, I thought I’d list my top five, but I can’t even limit them to that.
So, I’m copping out. I have two favorites that I wish I had discovered ages ago. First, you have to check out Kidnapped by Suburbia by my friend Keli. She posts amazing pictures, but mostly I love how real she is about her life - both in the ways she is growing as a mom and how she is exploring her art. If you’re super indie, you might not think it’s cool. But if you value growth and life and experiencing other people’s stories as they tackle those things, you’ll love it.
The other blog I have to share with you is Danielle LaPorte’s White Hot Truth. I’ve only been reading it for about a month, and I wish I had discovered it months ago. Every time I read Danielle’s posts, I either leave with a serious gut-check, or I feel inspired, or I feel like, Yes. I am doing the right thing. One day, hopefully soonish in 2010, I will do one of her fire-starter sessions. I can’t wait.
Inspiring Creativity and Encouraging Innovation
