Happiness

Thursday's Thoughts: Be Kind!

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
- Plato

Wordless Wednesday...sort of. :)

Friday Fill-In!

It's Friday! YAY! Why not start the weekend with a post that gets your neurons firing and your fingers typing? Or, something that gives you one really, well-deserved laugh? Come on! We've made it through another week! And, well, because it's Friday!

And...here we go!



1. Moving tubs and tubs and tubs of the kids' "too small" clothes down to the basement is a real chore!

2. Serenity is free. (But, sometimes, hard to come across these days!)

3. My best quality is my ability to laugh. You have to be able to laugh...especially during the crazy times!

4. I wanna hear all the details!

5. In nearly 10 years, I will be celebrating 17 years of marriage!!!

6. Coffee, ice cream and a massage are what I need right now!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to grilling and spending time with some good friends, tomorrow my plans include cleaning the house and having "family time" with our kids and Sunday, I want to take a long, overdue nap!


**Credit: I found this weekly post at Friday Fill-Ins. Feel free to repost this on your own blog. Hooray Friday!!

Thursday's Thoughts...

"Don’t bail. The best of the gold’s at the bottom of barrels of crap."

-Randy Pausch
(1960-2008)

Wordless Wednesday: I Choose Me!

Crafty Gossip

To go hand-in-hand with my recent theme of "sharing," I'd like to share a site I stumbled upon yesterday in my quest for new, creative and crafty ideas. It is called Craft Gossip and I am hooked. Each day they post links to other fun, crafty website/blogs...and most of the patterns, recipes or ideas are free. Love that!

They have everything from...

..."How to Make Your Own Wedding Cake" to...

...how to make "Lavender Bath Salts" to...

...a free tutorial on
"How to Sew a Trash Bag For Your Car."

They also have tons of giveaways all the time. And I loooooove giveaways! Who doesn't? And, I love me some crafty gossip!!

Sharing Spaces

Over the weekend, my husband did a deep clean of our office....and a bit of rearranging to accommodate my bags, tubs and boxes of craft materials and yarn. I have a lot of yarn! I have always wanted a little corner in our house to "spread out" all of my creative ideas. We are still in the process of rearranging (and decorating!) my new space, but I will post pics soon of my new crafty "nook."

And, what does every crafty nook need?? That's right, a sewing machine.

I am starting to dapple in the art of sewing. I used to do fun projects with my mom when I was a child and really enjoyed it. However, as life got busier I got busier. And my creative projects took a backseat to "life," as I am sure many of you can relate.

So, I am dusting off my mom's mint green sewing machine. Isn't she a beaut?! She brought it out to our house several years ago for me to use, but it has been sitting in the basement...without a place to call "home." I have often thought of bringing it upstairs, but where would one put such a priceless item? In the living room? No. It would just sit there and never get used. And my tubs of yarn would fill the room, creating another messy room for me to keep tidy. On the kitchen table? No! Sticky hands are always nearby and would ruin my precious machine for sure! In a crafty nook that I can call my very own? What a splendid idea!

It is so nice of my husband to share. Bonus points to you, honey, for sharing! :)

Thursday Thirteen: Garden Loveliness!

Those who know me know I LOVE gardening. It is one of my most favorite things to do in the spring and summer. In my opinion, there is nothing better than loading up your car with a ton of fresh annuals and perennials, taking them home and planting them in your "little bit o' earth." It puts a big ol' smile on my face and a spring in my step every year!

So, instead of just listing all the wonderful things that are popping up in my garden this spring, I decided to show everyone instead! I can't take credit for all the loveliness, though. When my parents came to visit last fall, my mom brought a ton of wonderful perennials from her garden to plant in mine, or as I like to refer to it as "a little bit of Michigan earth in my Boston garden." Thanks, Mom! :)

So, without further ado...here are thirteen plants growing in my garden:

1. Bleeding Heart Plant

2. Hen and Chicks
(from Mom)

3. White Azalea

4. Sedum
(from Mom)

5. Red Azalea

6. Lily of the Valley

7. Dwarf Holly

8. Lamium
(from Mom)

9. Lilacs

10. Peony
(pink when flowering)

11. Blueberry Bush
(which the squirrels just LOVE!)

12. Hydrangea
(which my husband refers to as
"The Spider Plant")

13. Shasta Daisies
(my fave!)

And that, my friends, is a preview of the loveliness growing in my garden. :)

Wordless Wednesday: Playing Dressup with Daddy

Mia's Big Girl Bed!

For a while now, my daughter has been very cramped in her bed. It may be because she is getting taller and bigger and has just outgrown her tiny, sweet, baby crib/daybed:

Converted from crib to daybed on Easter Sunday, 2008
after Mia succeeded in making "the great escape" that morning!

Or, it could be the fact that she simply can not sleep without at least 15 stuffed animals and four blankets in her bed every night. If one is missing, she knows it! If a blanket is in the wash, she will stay awake until I retrieve it from the dryer. Here is a picture my husband took of her two nights ago...totally cramped in her bed because she is accommodating her "guests:"

from left to right:
Mia who is sleeping on "Pug Puppy,"
and then "Baa," "Red Sox Bear" and "Peter the Polar Bear"

After seeing this picture, we decided it was time for us to, once again, expand Mia's bed. Also, given everything she has been going through lately with her joints, we thought it would be best to give her legs a little bit more room than they currently have. Not to mention, a bit more "leg room" for her bed buddies. :)

So, without further ado, here are a few new pics of Mia's BIG GIRL bed! We continued with the "Paris Theme" in her room because A) she loves it! and B) she was very adamant about keeping her room pink! She loooooves pink! A huge "thank you" to Daddy for taking time to convert the bed again. Fabulous job, Honey! And, another huge "thank you" to Grammy and Papa Del Turco for the lovely and très chic bedding they got for her this past Christmas. It matches her room perfectly and Mia adores it!

So hard to imagine this
used to be her baby crib not too long ago!

A few of Mia's very happy "bedfellows."

This nightstand used to be mine when I was little!

We *heart* Pottery Barn Kids!

The rocking chair in the corner
used to be mine when I was little, too!

One very happy kid +...

...one very, awesome bed = ...

...a child who is waaaay too excited to sleep!

Awe! She looks soooo tiny!

But, she finally did fall asleep.
"Nighty night, folks!"