Happy Holidays and Blog Break

(I wish this is what my Christmas looked like.)

For the next 2+ weeks I will not be sitting at a computer for upwards of 12 hours a day. I'm on vacation from work and the semester is over. I am officially on sabbatical...which means I probably won't be blogging until the new year. It's been a crazy year and I am taking the next two weeks to enjoy Christmas with my family, recoup from 2009, and gear up for 2010. It's a whole new decade and anything can happen.

Wishing everyone in blog land a magical Christmas and new year filled with love and enchantment.

Home Lust

I could easily live in this beautiful home.

It just tugs at my heart strings and whispers to my soul.

Happy

Loving this song by Leona Lewis.

Two Weeks

I only have two weeks of work left in 2009. Nine and three-fourths, to be exact. Between "holiday time off" (furlough) and vacation, I will have two wonderful, fun-filled weeks free of work. Not, of course, that work is awful. I truly love my job, the place I work, and the people I work with. However, we all need R&R and this year has been a non-stop roller coaster ride for me. Looking forward to family time and alone time. Time to regroup and refocus for 2010. Cause I have BIG plans for next year.

And in the middle of all that regrouping and resting falls Christmas. This year, the holiday is going to be fairly low-key in LindsyLand. I've bought a new home which has put a restriction on my holiday spending but it's a good thing. My friends and I have decided that we are no longer buying presents for each other. Everyone has had a tough time financially this year, so we are getting creative. White elephant parties, trading "service", donating to those in need instead of each other. It's a tradition I hope we continue.

Would it be wrong to make a little paper chain and hang it in my officle counting down to Dec. 18???

Friday Thought of the Day

When your heart changes you see the world differently.

You see yourself differently.

You become stronger, wiser, braver, more compassionate, more lovely.

When you see yourself for who you could really be....the whole world opens up.

When the whole world opens up before you....you become brave...you begin to take steps to become the person that you really dream of becoming.

Being brave is taking the steps you need to when you don't know the outcome.

Fear could keep us from doing so much...but bravery is just taking that first step.

(Quote from A Bushel and a Peck)

What Makes Me Smile

First, thank you for all the uplifting comments, e-mails, and FB messages regarding my last post. Monday was a BAD day. Tuesday was great. Today's not looking too shabby. The one thing I lost sight of on Monday is that happiness is a choice we make each day. "I guess I'm learning, little by little, that we decide what our lives are going to be. Things happen to us, but it is our reactions that matter" (said by Sally Reardon in season one of Felicity). There will be days when we simply need to wallow...but most days we just need to "put on our big-girl panties" and "cowgirl up" (thanks, Nik!). Everything will be all right.

Moving on. While in Utah over Thanksgiving, I developed a new obsession at a craft show. Watch Art. Apparently the trend is big in Utah but I've never seen the watches down here. Essentially it's a "make your own watch" deal...you can interchange faces and bands. And the bands are stinking adorable! I bought two (a clear "crystal" and a black, white, and turquoise) and face at the show, and just ordered this Christmas-ey one from Scarlet Lime. The whimsical bands make me smile.

In other news, when I returned from said trip, I had a package waiting at my front door. Back in August, I read The Hollow by Jessica Verday. The book is a decent first attempt by a YA author and I'm looking forward to seeing how the story plays out. It's a quick, light read, but good. In the book, the main character, Abbey, creates perfumes and dreams of opening her own shop. The author created scents for the three main characters in the book and held a contest for them on her blog. I won! Yay me! I received the three scents as well as an autographed copy of The Hollow. That makes me smile.

Remember the Blissfest street fair I went to last month? Well, one of the booths had adorable paper chains crafted from old book pages. Do you see where I am going with this? Book pages? Paper chains? Word Room? I ordered a set of old illustrated dictionary pages from Etsy a week or two ago and last night got busy trying to make my paper chain. I might have to re-do it since the chains are a bit thick, but I love how it looks so far! I also want to try the paper sunburst mirrors (here's the tutorial for the project). These projects make me smile.

Cause Smiling? It's good.