Forty-Four

Today is the big 44.

It's my birthday.

And I'm feeling weird.

Not about being a year older.

That reality I deal with daily with my bum knee and needing reading glasses and those stubborn grey hairs.

But weird about itching for a change.

Now. Not later. Not when the kids finish school.

But now.

Cause how can I be guaranteed to have a later?

Is life meant to be lived later?

Or jump heart first into the now?

I feel like it should be now, but the hubs does not agree.

Change is scary for him. And I get that.

But how do I explain this to my heart.

My fingers are already searching for houses to rent.

In the San Diego area.......

photo from Anthony's along the Embarcadero in San Diego.
taken Oct. 2013.

Am I the only one that looks at seagulls and hears "Mine, mine, mine"?

I Spy...Hearts

 

 

 

$4 worth of hearts from the Dollar Tree. And a few minutes to decorate.

 

That's how I roll these days.

 

And I can't seem to find a good spot in this house to add a little seasonal bling. So the trees in the front yard are getting lots of love this v-day.

 

And some glitter ones even made it inside the front door.

 

And love lives here....

 

Do you tend to decorate more outside or inside your house? Are you going all out for the Day of Love? It seems like lots of people are in blog land.





Art Journal Magic

Well, I did it. I made time to play in my art journal this past week. Not every day. Like the days we were in San Diego. And a few other random days. But most days I played. And got paint on my fingers. And it made me happy. And it made my heart happy.

Today

Well peeps. We're looking at 4 month together today. A quarter of a year.

120 days.
105 posts.
2562 total page views.
956 page views in last month.
43 comments.
4 canvases sold.


Other changes:
   1.   Removed photo from blog header. Just felt like it was too big. May end up adding another photo in the future.
   2.   Closed big cartel shop tonight. Hope to open etsy shop in the morning.
   3.   Making plans to take my canvases out on the road.
   4.  Opened a new checking and savings account for all luckypennylove transactions.

It's been an amazing journey. And I'm so excited to see where I will be next month. Glad to have you with me.

Now go do something today to make your heart happy!

And for those of you working on the Photo A Day-August challenge, today's prompt is: ONE

Starbucks Love

I was working on organizing my photos on my laptop when I realized that I have several photos taken outside the local Starbucks.
This is the most recent. See how reflective the sidewalk is. That is called rain. I know, some of you may know this already, but we don't see much rain around here.

 

Spring. I love the yellow puffy balls on the Palo Verde trees. It counts as color. In the desert.

 

I know. Those puffy yellow balls are evil to some people with allergies. And they make a big mess (see next picture). But I still secretly love them.

And just to mix it up a bit, one taken at night. Doesn't it look all cozy and inviting? I really can't help that I consider this place my home away from home. It just oozes comfort.

I thought it was interesting that I had several photos of my favorite local place.

Or is it strange?

Do you have a favorite place to chill?

CHA Sneak Peek

Happy Saturday.

Have you seen all the sneak peaks for the upcoming CHA show?

I'm like a kid in a candy shop. A kid on Christmas morning.
So many pretty things. Whispering to me.
So I thought I would share a few of my favorite ones.

Crate Paper's new line Acorn Avenue:

Love the paper with all the date stamps!



And these flowers are gorgeous.






Did you see the wood veneer pieces at the top of this group of photos? And the stickers that look like pieces of tape? Makes my heart swoon!

Studio Calico stamps:

And everyone needs an "Oh snap" stamp.


Lily Bee Designs Persnickety line:



And the book text clouds? I likey. Any chevron print is good in my book!




Seriously? Chevron stamps and a Polaroid frame? Yes. This one is a must have!



More from Studio Calico:


And another must have!



And these kraft heart stickers.

Anyone else out there loving all the sneak peeks?

Please share with me!

Invest

Have a happy tuesday! Made a promise that I would stay off the computer today and do something fun before work. Either paint or do a project. I'm down to 3 hours, so I'd better get busy!

Today

Today is the 3 month anniversary since I began this blog;

90 days.
74 posts.
1606 total page views.
647 page views in last month.
36 comments (half are my responses).
1 possible canvas sale (working on a request for a custom order).
18 canvases available for purchase on my shop.

Current thoughts? I'm lovin this blog. Who would have thought I would enjoy writing? And posting?(once I got over the fear of "is this stupid" and "will anyone out there enjoy reading this?". It turns out that I really love journaling my life and things that make my heart happy!

Hope you are enjoying too! Take a moment to leave a comment and let me know what you think. I love to see comments in my inbox. Love It!!

And if you are having trouble leaving a comment, you could always send me an old fashioned e-mail. Just saying.

luckypennylove@yahoo.com

Happy Father's Day

Great big hugs for all the dads out there! And an extra special hug for the local dad in the Bell house!

For all the big and little things you do.

Like back rubs at bedtime.
And going to the daddy/daughter dance.
Attending school functions and being that cool dad.
Showing up to cheer at all the soccer, basketball, football, and baseball games.
And stepping up to coach that one soccer game.
Being there to comfort (and clean up) when the kids urp (throw up).
And being goofy and making us all laugh.
Going to work when you don't feel like it.
Agreeing to all the family getaways (like Disneyland for the millionth time).
And making dinner when Mom is at work (even if it is just cereal night).
Helping with homework.
Endless amounts of patience (most of the time).
Impromptu trips to Claire's with the girls.
And a million "drive me to the gym".
And even the "dad, I need to talk to you".
Painting little toenails and fingernails.
Brown bag lunches at the school.
A laugh, smile, touch, and/or hug whenever needed.

We love you and appreciate all that you do for this family!!

Carlsbad mini-book

I finally got prints of all my photos and had some time to play.

I started with a basic color theme. And rather than use patterned paper I chose to stencil designs using the 3 paint colors. The goal was to keep it simple, but different from my other projects

However, I did use paper for the covers. I used gel medium to adhere the paper to the book covers and added some rub-ons and a few stamps.

The inside of both the back and front covers are the same polka dot paper.

I attached the photos using tape. Some pages have 1 photo, some 2 photos, and a few even have 3 photos.

They are attached so that 1 side can flip up to reveal journaling on the back of the photos.

The only embellishments used were rub-ons and some inking around the edges.

I wanted to keep the focus on the photos.

I can't believe that I took so many photos in just over 2 days. I originally thought this would be a smaller book. I had to make several design changes due to various factors (such as dropping the Instax idea due to terrible quality of the photos).

The book has about 25 pages, but about 50 photos.

Hope you enjoyed! If you have a fun summer getaway planned, let me know how you are planning to document the trip!

Becoming

source: the pink elephant

Yep. Every day.

I have spent the entire day in a chair surfing the web. Finding new blogs. Checking out Pinterest. Learning to play Draw Something with the new sis (Kristi). Eating Mexican food. Talking to my gay Boston husbands (Freddy and Warren).


This is the life of someone recovering from knee surgery.

Guess who gets to take her ankle to thigh bandage off tomorrow? Yep. That's me, And that means I get to shower without a trash bag taped around my entire left leg! Think i might need to go to bed so Sunday can come quickly!!

Mom's Day

Happy Mother's Day!



katie, emma, me



me, emma, katie

My girls jumped into bed with me this morning. I don't get to enjoy that very often these days, especially with Katie (12 yrs old). My bed did seem a little too big since my boys were not there (Alec spent the night at Trevor's new apartment).

I was supposed to be swimming and BBQing with family today. And see Trevor's apartment. And eat ice cream with my mom. But that all got canceled today. At least canceled for me. My leg and foot swelled up last night, almost as bad as when I first tore my meniscus. I made a tough choice to stay home and let my knee rest. I'm bored. And lonely. But everyone will come home tonight and spend time with me (except that one that has his own apartment). And that will make me smile!

Hope all the mom's out there have a moment to smile and hug their loved ones. Or if you can't be with them today, then take a moment to think of them and smile!

Decision made

Next month is my 20th anniversary. Mark and I have been talking about what to do for over a year now. In the beginning, we talked about Paris. But then realized that we would not have anyone to babysit for a week. Then I wanted to go to Hawaii and renew our vows. All of us. Kids included. Mark had to talk me down from that one! The cost! And we're working on become debt free!

So then we decided to stay in the Phoenix area and take advantage of the fabulous summer deals (who wants to be in Phoenix with 100-125 degree high temperatures?) But as the weeks have gone by, my inner voice has been whispering. Don't stay in Phoenix. Do something a bit more special. Get out of town. Nothing crazy. But out of town. Cabin in the wine country 2 hours north of San Francisco?  Too far. Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego? Too expensive. Big Bear? Not enough to do. Disneyland? Mark won't even talk about it. Sedona, Tucson,  Las Vegas, Portland.......

Today we booked a room in Palm Springs at the  Movie colony Hotel. I'm so excited to spend a few days alone with my hubby. Thanks Mom for watching the kids!

Super cute. Unique. Downtown. Near our favorite Starbucks (yes, we have them ranked all over the country). And close to many places for a day trip adventure. Anyone been to Santa Barbara? A co-worker said it's a cute town. Any advice? Just checked out Mapquest and it's a 3.5 hour drive from Palm Spring. Might be too far. I would love any suggestions.

Check back tomorrow for my Sketch Wednesday.

make your heart happy

 Happy Tuesday.

Had some free time today to break open some new canvas and start playing.
This is what I ended up with.

 This little 6x6 canvas makes my heart happy. The colors, the polka dots, the drippy paints, and the message to "live your dreams everyday".

Hmmmm.  Maybe I have time to make one more?

What did you do today to make your heart happy?