Flowers

I woke up to my favorite flowers. I am a lucky woman!

Brene Brown eCourse

Oprah is teaming up with Brene Brown to bring her Gifts of Imperfection to an eCourse.  I would love to take this class, but know that it won't be the right time for me.  But have to pass it on as it is so exciting and since I saw Kelly Rae Roberts and Ali Edwards went to Texas to see Brene - I am sure they are going to do segments in the class which would be fabulous addition to the Gift of Imperfection.

Favorite iPhone Apps

The end of February Michael upgraded our phone plan and with it came new free phones. I upgraded from a little flip phone to an iPhone. I fell in love with my iPhone from just moments of using it.  Really I know it sounds silly to say that, but it has given me so much.

It has given new me ways in being connected with friends and family besides email and phone - now I have texting and facetime.  I have the camera - which I hate saying - I use more than my little camera Michael got me for my birthday, but I love the apps that I can use on the photos and so that is why I use it more.

It is has kept me more organized - I have a shopping list, reminders, calendars and lists. I now have lists for items we are needing for our home that I am always looking for a good deal.  I have measurements stored on my phone for windows and areas that I am looking for organization.  I have addresses to mail out cards and snail mail on the fly now. I have lists of meds and keeping track of my health so that I can have on hand at my next check up.

Add in all the fun stuff apps for photos - I am just blown away what I can do with photos. Before with my little digital camera I would have to download my photos, open photoshop to edit and then upload on the web - facebook and blog. Now I can do all that on my phone in one place and post easily to the web.

There are also apps for my interests and just things that match my lifestyle.  I have a couple apps for meditation and poetry.  I don't have any cooking apps on my phone, but we do have them on the iPad which I find easier for recipes and using in the kitchen then my little phone.

So thought I would share my top 10 favorite apps....

Photo Edited with Wood Camera 

1. Instagram - along with the Facebook app - Instagram is one of those thing I check right away and often throughout my day. I just love the photos. I love seeing little moments in people's lives from all across the world.

2. Wood Camera - this is one I paid for and it is my favorite photo editing app for iPhone that is very easy to use. I love it. I love the filters, textures and how it crops and then I can post straight from the app to Instagram or many other options really easily.

3. A Beautiful Mess  - I just downloaded this one recently and it is a paid app also. I think it will really be wonderful for adding lines of poetry to a photo. The features I love on it - you can add text, doodles and preset words. My problem with this app is that they have lots of paid add-ons and I think they lack filters also. But I do like the doodles and the fonts included and know I will enjoy it without adding on any of the others so that is why it still makes my top 10.

4. Grocery IQ  - I use this for my grocery list.  You can scan items in which I did when I first downloaded it - I went through my pantry and fridge to add things to it. It syncs with other's so Michael has it on his phone so if I need something on the way home I just add it to a list and have him look on it.

Photo edited with A Beautiful Mess - added a line from
one of my poems

5. Springpad - I have used it on the web for several years, but really like it on my phone too. It has "notebooks" so I have notebooks for several topics and projects. I can add photos, recordings, notes, task lists to each notebook. It is really nice way to keep things organized. I have home projects, poetry notebook so I can save words for a word toolbox,  I have art projects - for ideas and inspiration for things I want to create. Just all sorts of notebooks for each project and topic in my life.

6. Dropbox  - I use Dropbox for backing up my photos from my phone.  I also like that if I need a document or pdf  I can put it in dropbox and then know I can access on my phone or another computer easily.

7.  Pinterest - I love Pinterest in general so having on my phone was a must.  It is a great way to sit and waste time when sitting in a waiting room.

8. Good Reads  - I have used Goodreads.com on the web for years and I am so thankful to have it on my phone.  I can scan the barcode on the books and have it added to my book list so easily. It is also nice to have when at the library or a bookstore so if I can't remember if  I read a book or not I can pull out my phone and look at Good Reads to see all the books I have read or also look at my to-read book so I can find something I have been meaning to read before.

Screen Cap of  entry page of Flava.
It shows several journal entries with
the photos I used in the entries.

9. Flava  - I love to document my life so this is a journal.  You can add photos, recordings, music, what movie you are watching or book you are reading, location, add links, tags and it automatically adds in the weather. I just like the interface and how it looks.

10.  Poetry Slam - This app will give you the first line if you want to create a poem. Then you can add your own words, but also has buttons to give you nouns, verbs, adjectives and so on if you want help.  It allows you to save your poem after you are done with it. It is just been fun to play with when I feel a little creative, but need a little help with words.

Truthbombs

I receive daily truthbombs from Danielle Laporte. Theya re emails sent from Danielle with just little nuggets of truth.

They often seem to tell me the thing I need to hear in the moment.  The day I got this one, someone had upset me, but then I realized really they said what they said because of their own feelings and going on - and really it didn't have much to do with me.  Really often when people are upset - defaulting to kindness and remembering we are all fighting our own battles that helps me process it and not take things so personally.

Eating Out

Michael and I really don't eat out much. It is just not something we feel is often worth it in our budget.  When we go out to eat, it is because we are traveling or we do our cheap take out Chinese food.  If we go out to eat elsewhere, it is probably because we are doing a date and have a deal/coupon.

One deal we try to take advantage of every so often is our town does what is called Dinner and a Movie. On Tuesday evenings the Avalon downtown will let 2 people in free with each dinner receipt from a restaurant downtown.  Michael and I went to see Inception and have dinner at Pablo's Pizza one night in January. I did have a coupon from restaurant.com for Pablo's that night even though they aren't on there anymore.

table at Pablo's

Pizza from Pablo's

Michael and I have been taking advantage of coupons for restaurants - if we are going to spend the money going out we want to make sure it is a deal. So I have signed up for reward programs and emails.  Red Robin and Johnny Carino's are two of those restaurants that I get coupons from via email. Fast food often is thought to be a cheap meal out as well as quick, but really we can spend less, sit down and have better food using the coupons and deals they send us via email.  It has been nice dates out that we have really enjoyed.

When we went to Carino's recently, I had a coupon for a free appetizer so we got a full size Italian Nachos and then split an entree.  It ended up costing us about $12.  We have been traveling recently so stopped for McDonald's and each got a meal and it cost us $17.  Much better food, atmosphere and service at Carino's - and less expensive than fast food.

Like I said we don't eat out often, but when we want to have a treat, do a date night or celebrate something special than taking advantage of deals is always the way for us to do it and not feel so guilty for spending money.

Mini Italian Nachos @ Carino's 

52 Lists: Week 6

Week 6: List Ways in Which You Can Love Others
* send out more snail mail to family &  friends
* Make art and little handmade gifts to send to family & friends
* Leave comments on FB, text or email to those I am thinking about
* give hugs to family & friends more often
* smile at strangers
* hold open doors
* do random acts of kindness
* send prayers, positive thoughts & energy
* bake & cook for friends just because & for those in need of help
* listen
* apologize
* forgive
* saying thank you - expressing appreciation and gratitude
* be thoughtful of my words
* be of comfort - by being a shoulder to cry on. giving advice or just listening
* being kind to those who are being mean or rude as they are fighting a battle & need kindness
* accept others decisions even if I don’t understand or agree with them
* be present in the moment
* things that for myself - that will in the long run help me with in loving  others - such as giving me - me time, expressing feelings, being vulnerable and open with my thoughts and feelings
* saying no when I need too - because it will only make me resent the person instead of giving them kindness and love
* helping Michael be less stressed through helping him relax, helping in his work, keeping things organized around the house
* leaving Michael love notes, cards, texts
* thanking Michael
* hugs, kisses & cuddles for Michael

Join in doing 52 Lists hosted by Moorea Seal.  I love them and it has been not only fun, but really interesting exploring some areas I buried or never really noticed about myself.  #52lists2013

52 Week Photo Project: Week 7

I used a photo from outing spreading a little love around Grand Junction, Colorado....

We had so much fun doing this - it made us feel good. But I really hope it made others who came upon them smile.

Valentine's Day celebrating Love

Today is about spreading love and kindness to others so when we thought about what we could do - we thought of something we did a couple years ago with Operation Nice and that was to leave random notes saying nice things all around town. But this time I wanted to promote www.SpreadGenerosityDay.com. So I made up some little notes that had Spread Love & Kindness on the top with the Spread Generosity web address on the bottom and then Michael and I hand wrote out little messages on them.  We then took and left Love &  Kindness Notes all around Grand Junction.

We saw one person read a note I left on a table outside a coffee house.  He smiled when he read it so I guess that counts as spreading love and kindness as we gave some a good enough feeling that he smiled. I hope people that encounter them get a little joy from our notes. We hope it helps their day be bit better - maybe enough that they will  pass on some love and kindness to others so that it spreads.

As my beloved said today, over the years we have come to realize that love comes in so many forms and Valentine's isn't really about celebrating only the love of lovers, but celebrating the love in the world and around us in just so many little moments throughout our day.

Here are a few photos from our day....

#GenerosityDay

Generosity Day

Such an amazing idea for Valentine's Day....sharing and spreading love in random acts of kindness. Michael and I have discussed what we want to do....recently we discussed that we should do Nice Notes again. So we are going to go leave Nice Notes around town. We have a few other things we want to do too.  I also have some personal things I want to do such as sending thank you notes people in my life that really have supported my dreams and inspire me. I have no doubt we will document our day as that is something I have really been into this year is making sure I remember the joy in my life by documenting it....so there will be a post on Thursday about Generosity Day.

#GenerosityDay

Women Heal

So beautiful.

My Word is Joy

I believe it was Ali Edwards that started picking a word for the year. That will represent the goals and thing to keep present in your life for the year. This year I picked the word joy.  The end of last year, I really tried to practice finding joy in everyday.... whether they were ordinary moments or something quite extraordinarily. I found it helped me on so many levels...mentally, emotionally, creatively and physically. Although it didn't cure my pain, it helped me not get so swallowed up by it that I couldn't see anything, but the pain. I didn't pick a word last year, but kindness probably represented my year - being kind towards not only others, but myself. I always try to be kind, but I guess I wanted to take that a step further and be kind towards myself as that one is always hard for me.

So this year is joy and finding those moments of joy everyday. Today I was washing dishes and a moment of joy was looking at my dishcloth. It is a yellow handmade dishcloth made by an Aunt. It is always more enjoyable to wash dishes with a dishcloth made by someone I love.  A moment of joy in the middle of this ordinary task.

It's a Tiara

Michael and I have been on a Big Bang Theory marathon lately and this is a clip that I loved from on of the episodes we watched today.  Michael said it reminded him of me.  And I admit it reminded me of me too. :)

2012 A Year in Review by Google

Yesterday I posted a commercial that had a song in it that I like, but made me think of commercials and last night while watching Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin Eve - Google had a commercial that made me cry. As I said to Michael - Google commercials always get to me. They have an amazing advertising department. So inspiring.

2012 A Year in Review by Google

Frolicsome

Source: flickr.com via Darby on Pinterest

Oh how I love Mary Oliver....she always makes words soar.

Box of Sunshine

A good friend of ours was going through a down time and so we sent her a box of sunshine. I got the idea off of Pinterest. It came from this website: KatherineMarie.com   I like how they did it with the little tags, candy and such, but we weren't wanting to send bunches of candy although I love the idea of taking candy and just pulling out the yellow to give in the box.

So I took that idea and we did a box full of yellow bright sunny cheerful things for our friend.  In the polka dot tin was some gum,  little stickers, and a half circle notepad that had a lemon on the front.  In the little yellow and white cosmetic bag was a little white and yellow brush, goldish-yellow nail files and that bottle of lotion in the photos.  We found a little poem book with a cup of cheer on the front of it in the form of a teacup. The little book was all done in yellows.  It is under the dragonfly journal that is yellow with hot pink dragonflies on it. Also included were notecards and notepad with a bee, yellow duck scrubbie, the Love stone, yellow and white candle that smelled of summer time and sunshine,  little yellow bucket had face and feet masks, and more manicure set. We added yellow tissue, shredded crinkly paper, fabric ribbon, curly ribbon and bows.

It was really fun looking for yellow items. Most things we found in the dollar section at Michael's Arts and Crafts, Target and the Dollar Tree.

The Box of Sunshine did exactly what we intended - cheer up our friend and remind her how much we care about her.

Story Cubes

Source: storycubes.com via Darby on Pinterest

I was reading this curated list of books for TED Bookstore....and on it was this game called Story Cubes. It looks like a lot of fun and would be great to help kids use their imagination.

Rainbows

We are in Montana.  It was a long drive here but so pretty.

In Utah, we saw a double rainbow. Those were the most gorgeous rainbows I have ever seen. One of them you could see the whole thing from one end to the other. It was incredible. I am not sure I have ever seen a full rainbow before.

Here are some picture Michael caught of them. You will see in the second picture the faint double rainbow. If you click on the photo, it will take you to a bigger view of it.

photos by Michael McGruder - taken August 27, 2011

Connection, Belonging and Being Enough

If you didn't catch the video by Dr. Brene Brown for Paper Coterie's Open House, they have now posted on their blog. Please take a look at it. It is so powerful and inspiring. You might look at it and think you don't have time for 24 minute video, but please take the time. It is worth it. Her message is worth it.

Dr. Brene Brown

I have a button on the sidebar that says "I choose authenticity." It is from Brene Brown's site. And I love the statement that went with it. Yes that is what I want. And in 2011 it is something I am working towards.

But really what I found interesting is that I put that button up on this blog a while ago. Maybe over a year ago. But I forgot about it. I forgot what the statement on the website said. And now I have come across people quoting Brene Brown, people posting youtube videos of her, talking about her books or about seeing her speak and so on - all over the web it seems I have stumbled upon people talking about Brene Brown. It was like someone was trying to remind me about the button and also trying to tell me to read one of her books as I had been told that a few times too in the past. So I do have a book by her on hold at the library. But the thing that made me go finally put request the book was this video that I stumbled upon somewhere while surfing a few days ago and I can't figure out where now. Sorry!

Outside just as Lovely as the Inside

I love the idea of packaging gifts in unique pretty ways. My problem is often I am rushed and don't get time to package things exactly how I wish. I try often though. And all these beautiful examples give me inspiration to try more often.



1. From Martha Stewart - using black and white images as gift toppers I think is such a great idea.

2. From Nice Package Blog - which is one of my favorite blogs! They used to be a shop when they first started the blog but sadly aren't anymore. But they do showcase and have several tutorials on gift wrapping ideas to make the package very pretty. The flower in the image is one of their tutorials. It is made from wax paper.

3. From BHG.com - This is a package of bread wrapped in saran but then set in coffee filters and wrapped with a ribbon. How easy!

4. From Martha Stewart - I like the linen with the frayed edges.

5. From Sweet Paul Magazine - Gifts wrapped in craft paper and then the toppers are buttons on wire, yarn pom-pom and vintage hat ornament glued on the package

6. From Nice Package Blog - paper pom poms tutorial