Diana Nyad

Inspiration at it's finest.

Have You Seen This?

I think it's charming!

Buckle Up...

....less than 6 months until CHRISTMAS! To get you in the spirit, I give you one of the most addictive songs of the season...Christmas Vacation sung by Mavis Staples.

Oldie But A Goodie

Unique Art

Check out the article below about a house that looks like it's fallen from the sky and landed on the roof of a building at work.

Exhibit opens to the public

When I was a little girl and my parents were going to an event of some kind, I always watched my Mom as she was getting ready and as she put her makeup on. As I sit here today, I can actually remember this very clearly. How she'd draw on her perfect eyebrows, apply blush (she called it rogue), mascara and lipstick. It was fascinating and I never tried of watching her do the whole routine. For many years, I also drew on my eyebrows just as she had, although mine were never been as good. Her's were always perfect. All her makeup was perfect. She had this teal dress that was her "go to" dress for these occasions. It was floor length and had sheer bell sleeves. Very fluttery like a butterfly. It was very in style at the time. She's pictured below wearing it. I wonder if it still hangs in her closet? I'll have to look.

On Friday May 18th I went over just as I did nearly every Friday to check in and see how she was doing. She was asleep in her room. I stood at the side of her bed and she was in a very deep sleep so I didn't wake her. On Tuesday of the same week when I saw her, she'd mentioned that she hadn't been sleeping very good so when I saw she was sleeping so deeply, I didn't want to disrupt her. That was the last time I saw her. She passed away in the early hours of May 19th. She was only 77.

She'd been sick for a little over a year so my family knew this was coming. However, it's been hard to cope with even knowing it was going to happen. I just think to myself....I will never see her again. It's mind boggling and sad. I'm having a hard time going into their house which I had not anticipated. As I walked up the driveway later that morning, I stopped and didn't want to go in. She wasn't going to be there. Ever again. Everywhere you look, she's in that house....but she's not. Maybe it will get easier. Maybe not.

Many years ago I went to someone's house and there was a giant scrapbook on one of the tables in the entry way. I was just there to pick something up so while I was standing there waiting, I took a closer look at it. The woman came back and noticed I was looking at it. She explained it was a scrapbook she made in memory of her mom after she'd passed away. She opened it and showed me various pictures and keepsakes in the scrapbook. One page had items from the service they had for her. The thing that stood out to me above everything else in the scrapbook was pretty picture of an angel and below it said her Mom's name and "resting peacefully in the arms of an angel". To this day I have never forgotten that. I can't think a more comforting thought than that.

So that's my wish...that my mom is resting peacefully in the arms of an angel.

Love This Song

So far....

This year I'm making Mother's Day gifts. It's so hard to find something they will need/like/want so this seemed easiest. Well, kind of. The making part of it is the less easy side of it. The picture below is my inspiration....I decided to make paper rose wreaths.

I think the wreath in the photo is made of newspaper, not positive. I considered a lot of options as far as the paper source and knew right away I would recycle something rather than buying paper. There were going to be a lot of paper roses so buying a ton of paper wasn't something I wanted to do. I liked the idea of the newspaper and the black/white color, but newspaper is messy and too fragile. I have some old books I got at an estate sale for making cards and decided that's what I'd use. And when I say old, I mean old. Not old enough or interesting enough to be worth anything (I think they were .25 cents for each book), but interesting looking due to the aged color and texture. So I started making paper roses out of the pages. Here is what I have so far.

My roses are rolled tighter than the ones in the inspiration wreath and I like mine better. I like how the edge of the old paper is aged and has a slight bit of color to it...it's actually a pinkish hue so it works well for the roses.

It's time consuming to roll each one and then glue the rose so it won't unroll, but it's mindless work and relaxing. It took 55 roses to cover an 8 inch straw wreath. The straw wreath is covered with strips of paper from the book so if any space that shows between the roses wouldn't look bad. This is the back.

Next I'll have to get some antique lace or ribbon to make a bow and possibly add some antiqued glitter. Since the roses are made out of old paper, I'm going with the vintage look. I showed it to Greg and he said it looks like a lot of work....it is, so I hope the Mom's like them :)

Love this song. And, she's beautiful!

Removing Glitter Nail Polish

For all the girls who love glitter nail polish as much as I do, but hate taking it off....this is for you.

Glitter nail polish is like cement! Getting it off your nails is a serious pain in the ass. You have to scrub and scrub and then scrub some more to get it off. However, last summer I learned of a way that has taken all the scrubbing out of the picture. It's still a bit of a pain in the ass, but it's worth the time. It takes about 10 minutes. As I was doing this process, I thought "maybe I should blog about this!"

So I took pictures. Forgive the poor lighting and terrible photo quality. I was trying to take a picture of my right hand with my left hand....not easy since the button to take the picture is on the right side of the camera....but I digress.



Items you will need are: Cotton pads, polish remover and foil.



1. Cut 10 squares of foil that are about 3x2 inches.
2. Cut cotton pads into 10 squares that will cover your entire nail with a bit of overhang.
3. Douce the cotton pads with polish remover. I pour some in the cap and dunk the pads in it.
4. Lay the cotton pad over your nail and then wrap the foil around your finger. Continue process for each nail.
5. I let them sit for 3-5 minutes depending on how thick the coat of glitter polish is.



6. When it's time to remove them, grasp the foil ends and twist back and forth so the cotton pad is rubbing against your nail.
7. Pull the foil and cotton pad off together.
8. Voilà! Not a speck of glitter polish remains!

KONY 2012