Creative Working Mom

Week in the Life - Monday

2008-09-29T08:16:00.001-06:00

I had all intensions of starting this project with my camera in hand. Instead, I woke up at 7:30 realizing we were all still asleep and only had 30 minutes to wake up the boys and get them ready for school.

Nikolas cried and whined the whole time. I practically had to carry him to the car. Not exactly the way you want to start off the week.

Somehow I got them to school on time. Listening to music, currently George Michael's "Freedom", seems to calm him down.

I'm taking this project seriously. I haven't been inspired or had the energy to scrapbook lately. I feel like I need to revisit my purpose for it and then I will want to do it more often.

So, I will be using my phone camera today. First picture I took was of my coffee and computer. A typical Monday morning shot.

First Scrapblog

2008-06-05T08:58:00.001-06:00

Mendhi

2008-05-15T15:07:00.004-06:00

There was a lovely Asian Heritage Month celebration at work today and I got some beautiful Mendhi art on my wrist and hand. It is supposed to last for about two weeks. This should go over well at the numerous children's birthday party's we are supposed to attend this weekend.

One of my cousin's sent me a link to this increadibly inspiration video by Marianne Williamson. A must see for all the mothers on this planet:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2699996680253299899

Tea and Music

2008-05-07T08:09:00.001-06:00

We've all been battling colds/bronchitis around here for about a month. I cant wait until we are all feeling better. I'm looking forward to working out again. Stretching and doing some yoga without my head feeling like a balloon that's about to pop. All is good though. I get better every day. I'm at a café near the school that has internet access. Listening to James Blunt and drinking some Tea. All is good.

Scrapbooking Again

2008-05-02T08:14:00.005-06:00

My Brother, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

It feels good. After a long break of no blogging and no scrapbooking, i'm back. Hopefully for good. What have I been doing the last few months? Working hard at my job and loving it. Reading/Taking Oprah's Book Club class - A New Earth - which has completely changed my life. I am trying to live in the present moment as much as possible. It is truly a beautiful experience. I find myself sitting in my back yard almost every evening just looking at the trees, feeling the breeze, breathing and relishing in the moment. Its amazing. A year ago I would have been rushing around trying to get things done so that I could go watch my favorite TV shows. Dont get me wrong, I still enjoy watching some favorite shows, but I have cut way back on my TV watching. I am reading more, sitting still and trying to notice the moments of stillness more. It seems to be rubbing off on Rich too. Our house is so much more peaceful lately. I don't recall the last time we had a serious argument. Things are so light when you realize what's really important and that all the mundane little things in life that tick us off are so NOT important in the grand scheme of the universe.

I don't even know if anyone will readh this blog anymore, but its nice to be back in blog land.

Today I am working from my home office. I have a coughing cold, yet I am happy as can be. I'm grateful for the quiet in the house as the boys are back at school (after being sick all week as well). I'm grateful that its Friday and I get to see my boys all weekend. I'm grateful.

backwards

2008-02-08T12:43:00.001-06:00

backwards, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

Yesterday, he had to practice getting dressed at school becuase his teacher knows what a hard time he has been giving us in the morning. It's pure stubbornes. This morning we reached our limit and told him that if he didnt get dressed, he would go to school in his pajamas. 45 minutes of refusing later, we followed through. Rich took the boys to school and Nikolas cried the whole way. He was given one more chance to put his clothes on in the car and Rich says he has never seen him get dressed so fast. Hopefully, he learned his lesson and school mornings will be a little less stressful.

two little poisonous berries

2008-02-07T14:12:00.001-06:00

two little poisonous berries, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

images in a dirty window

2008-02-03T08:45:00.001-06:00

spooky images in a dirty window, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

look at all the little images that seemed to that show up after i processed this. all i did is apply a fake lomo action. do you see anything else?

Happy Sunday! Today my husband is going on a 100 mile bike ride with other cyclists. The kids and i are hanging out all day. Its supposed to be warm and sunny so I think the park is definetely on the agenda.

afternoon at our favorite park

2008-01-31T11:17:00.001-06:00

afternoon at our favorite park, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

i actually got my husband to take a few pictures so that my children know that I WAS actually there when they were growing up! :) applied a free vintage action from Michell Black.

blue bath time

2008-01-10T15:07:00.001-06:00

blue bath time, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

gotta love those crayola bath time colors!

simple love

2008-01-07T10:35:00.001-06:00

simple love, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

Happy Monday. Back at work. HAving a good day. Listing to Iron&Wine, very cool band I just discovered.

Did Yoga yesterday at home all by myself. Muscles are sore, which is good!

Goals for the day:
- get a list going of all the work items that need to be completed.
- go to spin class this afternoon.
- stay within my calorie limit for the day which is < 1400.
- do yoga for 15 minutes and "meditate"

Off to start on my list.

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T10:15:00.001-06:00

snow splatter, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

I'm pretty sure I've lost my small but quite dear to my heart blog followers. If you occasionally still stop by to check in on me ,I wanted to say thank you and happy new year. I'm back at work after a couple of weeks of hanging out at the house in my pajamas with my husband the boys. I have to admit, I am giddy with excitement to be back at work in real clothes and with makeup on!!

I had an urge to clean up my office area today. It something i have been meaning to do forever. It feels so good to be sitting in a clean clutter free cube. We all work in cubes at my office, but they are pretty big.

I signed up for an online class that I read about in the latest Oprah Magazine. Its all about bringing joy back in to your life - check it out at Awakening Joy - www.awekeningjoy.info

Back to my coffee and cleaning up my task list in Outlook. I feel the need to start fresh right NOW. I'm ready to take on 2008. Lets Go!

Candy Cane Hearts

2007-12-14T12:05:00.001-06:00

Heart, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

to all my scrapbooking friends, I am officially in a scrapbook rut. I think I have a tendency to jump from one creative thing to the next and get so focused on it that the others get put aside for a while. right now, its all about photography. i do have a layout on my desk just ready to be put together, but i just have not made the time

in the mean time, hope you dont mind some pictures - i'm having so much fun with the new camera.

happy holidays!

how cute is this

2007-12-11T12:14:00.001-06:00

, originally uploaded by TwoLittleMonkeys.

seriously? i wish i had pics of my boys this adorable.

Look at the background

2007-12-01T13:51:00.001-06:00

Look at the background, originally uploaded by **Carla**.

i captured poor Lukas falling face first in the dirt. this whole photography obsession is making me a less alert Mom! Any one else have that problem? (btw - he didn't even cry. I guess he likes the taste of dirt.)

As far as tips. First, thank you for the compliments. I finally got a Canon REbel XT and I got a cheap but awesome 50mm lens. Other than that, I usually adjust the contrast/brightness and saturation to make the colors pop. Sometimes I sharpen them too. Thanks again for stopping by!

Say Argh!

2007-11-28T19:38:00.001-06:00

Look at that big mouth. Its a sign of things to come. He's going to be a charmer and a handful. He sure is funny though. Love this shot of him making the "argh" sound.

Blog Slacker

2007-11-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

Yes, I have totally stopped blogging lately. Having more fun reading other people's blogs and playing with my new camera. Flickr is my favorite place to "hang out" lately. I figure I will just go with it, rather than feeling guilty for not keeping up with my blog. Guilt is seriously a useless emotion...well, unless you do something REALLY bad.

Hope all is well with the people who regularly check in on me. Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

How to Know Your Soul's Desires

2007-11-13T13:13:00.000-06:00

Thinking of doing this in my art journal tonight:

"Getanother piece of paper and write at the top, "Things I want." Then, list as many things as you can think of—a new car, a better job, thinner thighs, whatever. When you've listed everything you can think of, turn to a new page. At the top of this page, write, "Things I yearn for." Then, start listing. You'll find yourself coming up with things that didn't appear on your first list, which was made mostly by your mind. We want cars—we yearn for freedom and mobility. We want hot sex—we yearn for intimacy. We want to be beautiful—we yearn for total self-acceptance. As you list the things your soul yearns for, let go of the need to figure out how they might be fulfilled. Your methods will probably not work—cars, sex and beauty don't automatically lead to freedom, intimacy and self-acceptance. Allow yourself to be okay with not knowing, for the present moment, how the universe intends to fulfill your soul's desires. The more you let go of the process, the sooner it will happen. And it will happen." - Martha Beck - http://www.oprah.com/presents/2007/eatpraylove/devotion/devotion_still_c.jhtml

Where have I been?

2007-11-12T15:02:00.000-06:00

Where are you from? Where are you going? If you've read EAT PRAY LOVE, you will get that reference. I was in Seattle for 6 days teaching my first class, which was incredibly tiring in a totally new kind of way. I think my brain physically hurt at the end of each day. Then I came home and hung out with my parents a few days and also found my little Nikolas sick with the stomach flu. Apparently, its going around. My Mom got it too. They left at 6:30am and I have been catching up on email all day. Rich has been steam cleaning the carpets and washing the diarrhea off Nikolas' bedsheets. Bless that man.

Back to EAT PRAY LOVE. I started reading it on the flight to Seattle. It was four hours and I could not put the book down until we had to get off the plane. That week there was no way I could read anything, because of previously mentioned brain drain. However, I picked it back up on flight home and finished it Sunday night. What an amazing book. What an inspiring woman - Elizabeth Gilbert. This book has really come at a great time for me. I'm ready to go on this journey too. Not quite as literal as that just sounded. I cant really travel to Italy, India, and Bali. I mean the spiritual journey. I'm intrigued by meditation. Yoga too. I've done Yoga in the past, but purely for the physical aspect and the relaxation was always just a nice side effect.

Since I started this book, I really have made a conscience effort to try to stop and be more mindful of what is going on in this very moment. Not an easy thing to do, but I can see how this practice could really bring joy and happiness to your life.

If you're interested, Oprah has a whole site dedicated to this book and the author. Too bad I missed that episode, but the links on there are great!

http://www.oprah.com/presents/2007/eatpraylove/eatpraylove_main.jhtml

Halloween

2007-11-01T18:40:00.001-06:00

halloween 126, originally uploaded by cbec2003.

We had a lot of fun on Main Street. They shut the place down and have free activities for the kids. This is the best shot of over 200 I took with the new camera. At this rate I'm going to need a new external hard drive. I need to start deleting the ones that just arent good enough to print,but that is hard for me. I almost feel guilty about deleting a moment i captured even if the shotis blurry or just plain boring. Yes, I know...I have serious issues.

My parents will be in town for 11 days starting tomorrow. I leave for Seattle Sunday, to teach a class all next week. They will be here to help Rich with the boys. Thank goodness.

My Rebel

2007-10-31T11:03:00.001-06:00

watching blues clues, originally uploaded by cbec2003.

I finally got my dream camera. The digital Rebel XT arrived yesterday and I am like a little kid in a candy shop. Unfortunately, I havenet had much time to play yet but hopefully this afternoon. I have so much more to learn than I imagined, but its so exciting. THis is my favorite picture from last night. Now i see why I will have to buy an expensive lens soon. I really dont like to use the flash and the kit lens is pretty slow. I'm still in love though. Happy Halloween!!

Update

2007-10-25T08:59:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to let you know that my tests came back negative. Which is good and bad. I wish I knew what was going on with me, although I haven’t had any pain in almost a week. The doctor wants to keep an eye on it. Other than that, been super busy with work and have not had time to play in my crafty corner in days. I miss it and hope to do something soon. Here are some pictures from our visit to the pumpkin patch last week. Not too many of Nikolas as he had very short nap and in not the most photogenic mood!

Ga Ga Gallbladder

2007-10-19T10:45:00.000-06:00

The other night I started having some bad pains in my upper right abdomen and it was bad enough where it kept me up tossing and turning all night. So I went to see my doctor Thursday and he thinks I may have to get my gallbladder removed! I have been put on a clear liquids, zero fat, and fruit diet. I'm pretty nauseous and have no appetite anyway. I had an ultrasound this morning to check for stones, but it came back normal. Now I have to go have some other kind of radioactive scan on Monday because he still thinks its Gallstones. Fun Fun Fun. It's crazy that this would happen to me. I eat so freakin' healthy! He said its common in women of my age who have lost a lot weight and who eat low fat diets. Go figure. I get punished for eating well :)

I'm feeling pretty good today, not much pain, just not hungry. I guess this is a blessing in disguise as it may just help me loose those last 15 pounds!

Other that that, we are going to Nikolas school this evening and tomorrow morning for what they call Journey and Discovery. We get to basically pretend to be students and learn all about the Montessori Materials that our kids learn with. I'm really looking forward to it. My in-laws are flying in to watch the boys for us.

Rich is making his famous Chili for dinner....I dont think I can have any. Gosh, maybe just one bite wont kill me....or two.

Have a great weekend!

Mommy Brain

2007-10-16T09:28:00.000-06:00

Is this what loosing your mind feels like? I was just washing my hands in the ladies room at work when i noticed the lovely fashion statement i was wearing. Luckily I had long sleeves on. Oh, and yesterday, I put the butter in the cabinet instead of the refrigerator. And this morning I almost poured coffee in cereal bowl, instead of milk.

News

2007-10-13T18:07:00.000-06:00

I decided that rather than keep collecting all the things that I make, I am going to sell them. I have no idea if anyone will ever buy a thing, but I figure if a sell just one thing it could help buy some more scrapbooking/art supplies. Plus I am incredibly excited to just make things knowing that they are going to be for sale. It allows me to experiment, rather than feel guilty that I'm not making a scrapbook page when I just want to do something creative. Not that I still don't love to scrapbook, I just love so many other things too.

So I invite you to go to the grand opening of my Etsy shop!