Today is a Gift

My two random winners from Friday's post are  

Kathleen and Michelle! 

Congrats girlies, send me an email so I can get you hooked up with all of your goodies

You guys are all amazing, you really touched my heart last week; from your openness  to share your challenges and how you have chosen to overcome them with positivity here in the comments , to your honesty on facebook where I asked the same question, and even private emails I got last week sharing with me from an open heart and with such a positive attitude. I am encouraged, I am moved, and I am honored that you cared to listen to my story and felt comfortable enough to share so many of yours with me.
THANK YOU.

Taking Art off of someone's site is usually a Big "no no", please know this.
BUT... This time, I would Love for you to go ahead and right click the image above, save it, and print it out at 5x7 to hang somewhere as a reminder that it's up to YOU to make some sunshine in this world, to Make the choice to see TODAY as a gift no matter what may come.
xo it's My little gift to you.

ETA: The giveaway is now closed, the print above has been replaced with a web sized image and will be added to my etsy shop later this week

It's been a rough weekend/start to the week, my headache & other pain came back full force to try and kick my butt right back to bed and to laying there trapped on my frozen veggies. POOOP!
It's super duper intense BUT I'm doing as much kicking back as I can, there is just too much good living to be had! I did everything in my power to just keep going like a Rockstar. And we made all kinds of good family memories YAYY!

The truth is it could be partly my fault, I need to double check ingredients and be more careful this week with what I am eating, I have a sneaking suspicion that I accidentally may have had some wheat and dairy hidden in good eats which is most likely the culprit.
Live and learn, and then help someone else, right?!
If you have any amazing-must-try wheat free, dairy free recipes please please shoot me an email! I am getting really bored with my few stand by options. And don't have enough culinary imagination to invent my own.

 This week; my girls are going to wow me with their swimming, Tiara and I are going to head to the city together today to do some getting healthy. Our first soccer games officially start up which will be extra fun cuz two girls are on the same team and Cam is their coach, so I guess you could say I am a seriously invested fan! Later this week I have some new stuff to share going up in my etsy shop for gifts, another fun happy giveaway, and all kinds of pictures from snapping away during week in the life. Have a great Monday friends, let's be rockstars together and kick this week in the butt hardcore!!!

giveaways, life, & inspiration

 This month's BYOC kits are bright and full of happy color and best of all they are ready to go! These 3 just went up in MY SHOP at the lilypad, and EVERYTHING in the store is 30% off to celebrate international scrapbooking day this weekend! I just kinda like the idea of shopping for good deals in jammie pants with no line ups ;)

 

 

{photos by Kal Barteski}

Every once and awhile  there are those people who cross your path and leave an impact forever on your heart. My friend Kal is one of tho people; anyone who has taken a class from her, listened to her speak, or who has the pleasure of knowing her is a person who is left changed, left  better than they were before. The new pack above is a kit celebrating that incredible beauty, cuz I think the world needs more people like Kal and this is just what my hands did with all of that thinking. Check out HER BLOG, she has beautiful Art and words that stir the soul. You will be inspired I guarantee you.

There's a story behind my kits this month. They are all about Living life, loving life, going for it with all you've got and sharing the best of what you have!
NOT something I take for granted these days. It is only a few weeks ago that I couldn't even join my kids for a walk no matter how badly I wanted to. So not only am I inspired by my friend Kal's fierceness, bravery and strength as she has been walking a similar journey, but I am trying really hard to learn to make the best health choices I can. Trying do the best I can with what I have each day, and do my little bit to help fill the world with goodness and light. Amazingly it works every time, sharing goodness makes me feel a whole lot better and brighter. Hence, the frenzy of giveaways this week. ( did I just say Hence? oy)

I am trying to be more open, trying to share more and that means I need to tell you a bit of what's been up. Weeks ago I got rid of  all wheat, dairy and sugar ( as well as a whole bunch of other things)... I had had a wicked migraine for months with no relief, severe pain all through my neck and back and nothing was helping at all, no pain killers no treatments and though I have suffered with migraines for most of my life That has never happened before. I'm usually a smile and keep on going kind of girl. But this time all I could do was lay there on ice for months and tell my girls to come and cuddle up. Such a trapped and helpless place to be. It was a tough road figuring out some thyroid problems, and then battling through this at the same time. Hard to be inspirational, hard to just get up and try to be a wee bit wife and mommy while hurting so so much. I'm not telling you this to bore you with a sad story, just being real. I definitely want to not only live life, but absolutely adore every minute of it! Simply existing is just not an option for me. NOT!!! I've never been someone who just let's the days all run together, and I don't wanna be, SO here's to all of that positivity I'm grabbing at, here's to mighty conquering and choosing to give life your ALL no matter what comes your way...aaaand a few spray painted butterflies thrown in cuz spring is my fave and they make me happy.

 

I LOVE this beautiful layout by Amanda Resende, she always manages to wow me with her flow on a page but this one makes my eyes so happy I just wanna keep looking! The wood grain paper looks perfect next to my journal tree, I adore her use of warm colors, and she did an excellent job of clustering everything above the line, leaving lots of white space to rest the eye. Amazing job Girlie!!! Show her some Love HERE

 The kits are up and you can find them HERE

OK friends, Leave me a comment by Monday morning 9:00 CST and tell me how you are fierce in the face of life, how you are choosing to put goodness into the world. I'll will pick two peeps to win all three of these sets. I'm happy to help you get it printed if you are a non computer person.
Can't wait to hear how you shine!

Blue Day sharing

 It was a Blue day around here. The Skies looked so amazing, perfect Blue, lots of sun and fluffy clouds. But... looks can be deceiving, it's still pretty chilly in these parts. Brrrr, I'm a big suck and our furnace is broken So it's been blankets and slippers and all of the warm wear I can dig up. Anyways, after a quick yogurt parfait for breakfast ( yogurt, protein powder, almond butter and blueberries. YUM) I head out to tackle a day of appointments and running around armed with the fluffiest warmest hoodie I have...yep happens to be blue too.
obsessed much?!

 Driving around all day gave me lots of time to think and pray and think some more, Lots on my mind and never seems to be enough alone time to process it all. A couple of  lovely people in our life are going through stuff and are on my heart. We are walking a very interesting journey with one of our girls that I am not ready to share yet, but it involves some digging and diagnosing and then some life changes, will be a good thing. But it's big and definitely weighing on me right now.

 BUT...Despite the blue start I got to meet up with my lovely mama for an impromptu sunny lunch picnic in the car. We broke all of the rules just like we used to do when I was little and it was just the two of us hitting the town. Feet on the dash, ate right off the cheese block, laughed at things we maybe shouldn',t and let me tell you, IT RAWKED. yayy for happy amazing moms, yayy for picnics, and yayy for breaking a few rules!

Lastly I'm still working fiercely on new designs tonight, and what's coming from my hands right now honors a really cool artist friend of mine. More to come on that this weekend.

- Loving my iphone, it is the first one I have owned and it is fairly amazing
-Loving instagram, sharing made so so simple
-Seriously Loving how easy both of them make it to capture life as it happens.

What makes you blue? How is your weather? and whatcha Loving right now?