Sew Impressed...

adventures in sewing is right...

This girl --my friend Mary of Pin.Sew.Press.-- has some excellent sewing adventures under her belt, and many more to come, to be sure!

Very different from my own, I might add, but I kind of love that part...

I want to try this pleated tote based on Mary's recommendations in her guest-blogger appearance on Come and See the Seitz! :)

Thanks, Mary!
You're a creative inspiration!!
♥

daily affirmation...

youtube link

Judging from the over-4-million-views this has been around a little while and you may have already seen it, but in the event that you haven't, it's a Must-See!! :)

♥

Curtains (a one-night sewing project!!)

We've been wanting curtains for the bedroom for, well, about 5 months now....

And finally, the stars aligned this week and I was able to pull it off! :)




They're just tacked up for the time being because I couldn't resist! :)

Hopefully I'll get the rod and officially install them this weekend! ♥

5 months...

Yep, Friday, the 20th, marked 5 months already!

...look forward to the months becoming years and years...

♥

Powerful thoughts [inspired by Don Miller]...

The concept of our lives as a story [via Donald Miller] is one of my favorite subjects to read about, consider, and test out...

Don says we're all characters telling stories with our lives...

But stories aren’t neutral. The stories we hear change the way we see life. Stories teach us what is worth pursuing, what is worth living for, what is worth sacrificing for. If we are a person that wants a volvo and is willing to work overtime to get it, than the moral of the story we are teaching the world is work hard and some day you’ll get a volvo. It’s not a bad story, but it’s not a good one, either. (Source: Can I Tell You A Story? blog post)

It's all just making me think... and think, and think, and think -about the story I want to tell with my life.. This morning I sat down and let myself dream a little with the "What If..." question he prompts us to ask in this post The Single Most Powerful Question You Can Ask...

What if you asked yourself a series of these questions? What if you got out a yellow pad and wrote down a few story turns that you could engage? What if you ran a marathon? What if you renewed your marriage vows? What if you quit your job? What if you brought home a puppy today? What if you and your family adopted a child?

Terrific exercise I think....

A few of my what ifs...
*What if I worked like I had confidence I was going to succeed? -(Q inspired by Doug Dorman)
*What if we spent some/all of our travel money and visited Steph in Thailand?
*What if we were a little more 'green'?
*What if I prayed in faith, and asked God for some pretty big stuff? -big like break-throughs for us and others...

*What if I sat still to listen each day -and willfully obeyed His promptings??

What 'what ifs' could you ask?
Which ones might be valuable story-turns worth pursuing?

kite-flying

A perfectly cloudy evening at Huntington....

We even got to see the mostly-full moon over the ocean before we left!

Awesome! ♥

(my good friend Sammie has a kite story too:)

Deer pictures

Stayed with our Alford family last night and got to help clear off Jerry's deer-camera...

Funny to me how both of our dads love this pass-time.

The only difference, though, Jerry likes to watch them so he can hunt better, and my dad just likes to watch them :)

Homemade Popcorn...

Directions from Amy Sedaris' book-

I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence



My only suggestions: don't put too much oil...

just enough to coat the bottom & barely cover the kernels

AND: you really don't need that many kernels... 

this made so much popcorn!!

I had no idea it was going to make so much...

I think next time I'll start with a smaller pot!

What do you know about TOMS Shoes?

http://www.toms.com/

If you haven't heard of TOMS yet, you must click the link above!

Not only are the shoes cool, 

TOMS gives a pair away for every pair sold. 

One for One.

TOMS on Youtube...

And... One Day Without Shoes!



I'm thinking I want these Ash Canvas Classics...

How about you?

http://www.toms.com/

Mike & Austin

Quick break with my brother and nephew today... Very cool!

Especially glad they came by since Austin goes back to Anderson this weekend! ♥

Another dress project...

Yay for project #7 being done!! :)

A few things I learned while working on this one...

*little progress is better than no progress

*my fetish for thin/delicate materials constantly creates more work, but I have consistently liked the outcome, so I guess it's worth it!

*it is quite rewarding to make something out of 'nothing'!!

♥

Photo fun with a heavy sleeper...

These are just too cool not to share...
















Source: http://www.fubiz.net/2010/07/27/milas-daydreams/

Abolishing Slavery Today

I've been moved by some who are taking it upon themselves to aid the fight against human trafficking.

With the help of Twitter I've been trying to learn more, discover who's doing something, and determine how I could potentially help.

I was particularly moved by Christine Cane's talk at the The Global Leadership Summit J and I just attended!! TheA21Campaign she started and/or works with is clearly making a difference!! I especially love this list of 21 things we can do to help from wherever we are.

On that note, there is another organization I've just come across:

Reading through their info literally brought me to tears as I imagined the heinous acts constantly happening toward children, women, and many, many others.

This sentence gripped me and broke my heart:

A predator pays as little as $25 for 15 minutes of sex with a child. For the same amount of money, a 4-man team of operatives can be placed on the field to stop him.

The thing that's different about this organization's strategy is that they are fighting the demand-side of the issue. Rather than focusing on the rescue of children, (which they love and support). They are committed to convicting the criminals! As their site says,

Most other organizations address child trafficking by performing rescue operations. SCTNow greatly supports their efforts, but believes for every child rescued another takes his or her place. Not until we stop the predators will we rid the world of trafficking. SCTNow's goal is to put predators behind bars and end the demand.

That's enough from me, if you're moved at all, please check them out for yourself!

Celebrating Freedom Readers

(Devonte' and his sister Ne' ..last day of summer session)

If you keep up with Kimariesays at all, then you probably know that for 7 out of 8 weeks this summer I've been able to work with a little guy named Devonte at Freedom Readers...

Well, Tracy Bailey paid me a high honor and invited me to guest-post on their blog... :)

(The post is about the Itsy Bitsy Spider day we had --plus a little background on my coming to FR in the first place, so you may already know some of the story.)

Anyway, HERE's the link! :)

Hope you enjoy! ♥

Craft Hope

Just came across this sweet treasure in the craft section at work...

A book of craft patterns with a charity to go with each one.
Simply Brilliant.

Several cute, practical projects I'd love to create and donate!!

crafthope.com


[I added their little badge on the sidebar... b/c I like them that much!]

Kayla-week (Mon 7/26 - Sun 8/1)

We kept Kayla last week while Mom & Dad enjoyed a sweet trip to California to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

Fun times!

A few highlights from the week....

We went to the library.

We swam (& watched Shrek 3:).



She washed dishes every single night!

...except Thursday when we went to Meggan (& Sophia's) for sew-night..


We went to Huntington.



Her school had an event at B&N, so we worked & played and had a good time there...



And at church Sunday she knew the songs in kids' church so Ms. Nina had her help lead the group. :)

The kitty also thoroughly enjoyed this week.

She made this spot on the back porch her own; I've never known her to enjoy being indoors so much! :)

All in all, it was a lot of work, but we really enjoyed having her... Couldn't imagine our lives without her! ♥

Need a good laugh??

Opened my email this Monday morning to find this link from my BFF, it had me laughing to the point of tears... Had to pass it on-

Please enjoy.... Paula Poundstone's little stand-up routine...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulM4E08J8Lo&NR=1

If you're happy and you know it...

We sold a bunch of NOOKs to a school this week... This was my celebration sign (leftover from Tuesday's story time:)