Where did TIME go??????

Where in the world did TIME go???????

I can not believe it has been so long since I wrote

on my blog....

It feels a little like I have left my child at the babysitter.

HOWEVER .... as school gets going, and our

lives get somewhat on a more routine schedule

I hope to get back to my BLOg

(aka.... the forgotten child of mine.)

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I am heading to bed as soon as I write this...

but had to give you a little info on my NEW job.

OMG... it is totally the (without a doubt)

GREATEST job in America.

We have had 2 full weeks now.... and

My school is just to die for.

It is located right on the lake.

YES... I do mean on the water front.

We look out our windows and see the water.

WOW and TOTAL wow on that!

The people are wonderful, kind, caring, and just

a true JOY to work for.

Being at a CHRISTIAN school is nothing short

of a true blessing for me.

I promise I will have more details and

some pictures of the school this week.

Until then.... here is my first painting as

Mrs. Danford.

It is for our faculty ART show on Thursday.

It is my version of 1 part Picasso,

1 part cartoonish lines, and 2 parts Staci color.

Bliss and Blessings to you ALL.

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May I always know when to

fall down on my knees and say

"Thank YOU"

Productive Panic

Ok... panic has now officially set in.

I start work in 3 days....

Why is it that you can seem to get so much done

when you're on a deadline????

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and.... when I get frazzled....

for some reason I start painting

and redecorating.

(I'm not sure... but I think there is a name for this..

maybe decoratism, or frazzlism...)

But... today I got my GIANT picture

in of Brady and I.... so that lead to more redoing.
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I think my piano area has now gone through

it's 12th transformation....

and I'm sure at one point there will be more..

but, for now I love my picture.
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Here it was back in January.
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and here is the same area of the house
back when I must have been transforming
from a serious phase to fun.
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and here it is in the completely
serious phase....
Mercy that is sooooooooooo
NOT me now. haha
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Yesterday I decided I didn't like
my living room any more.
So.... I got up early
and while everyone was sleeping
I started painting it
egg plant purple.
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I know that is a color that MOST
of the world moves totally away from...
but for some reason I was feeling
a PURPLE phase coming on.
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I painted this garage sale chest that was in the garage.
and I saw this on some one's blog
(so sorry I can't remember where)
but..... I totally LOVED that where ever I saw it
they had used random mixed knobs on their chest.
I thought it was adorable so I ran to
Hobby Lobby today and Brady and I
picked out 6 of our favorites..
I TOTALLY LOVE this chest with these knobs.
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This (as of today) is the funnest
corner of my house to be in...
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I also gave my DRAG Queen deer
a new make over.
I was feeling she was a little under dressed
for the stage I am in at the moment.
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so... as my teenagers have told me
He/she now has a Southern pimp hat
and a little bit of new BLING.
I'm not sure BRAD is thrilled with what I've
done to his deer.... but I can tell you
it gets way more attention that all of
those plain MAN deer hanging in other
random dens across the world. ha
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This was my living room when we first moved in.
MANY coats of paint and a zillion changes since then.
MERCY.... that was so YUCK !!!
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This was the first look it had.
again with the serious phase...
WHAT was that all about??????
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Many phases later it moved to this...
STILL hated the fireplace and that retirement home
cheap white mantle...
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SO..... while I was painting the purple,
and letting it dry between coats.
I decided to just paint the darn thing.
After all... what could look worse than
cheap builder wood white.
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I painted it my other color of choice lately
Turquoise.... and I'm sure one day
I'll wonder
WHAT was I thinking....
But............today I LOVE it.
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I still haven't done my painting yet...
but I did add a little mooing friend to the mantle.
of course fresh with a new coat of paint
and some polka dots.
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Here were my frames last week.
I still haven't painted the wall behind it yet.
It is going to be purple too....
but everyone was waking up so I stopped for the day.
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I've got the pictures in almost all of them...
I LOVE seeing "my people" on this wall.
Just wish it was purple already..
BUT... one step at a time...
after all..... Tomorrow is another day!
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May we NEVER be afraid of change.
Yes... sometimes we may Hate it,
and sometimes we may LOVE it.....
but you learn a little more about yourself
either way!!

Starting Fresh

I can hardly believe that a week from today

I will be starting my NEW job teaching

Art and Photography.

I am so thrilled... but a tad stressed

trying to get everything around here finished.

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I am almost finished with my

"Throw out 50 Things" book.

I can not say enough about how wonderful it is.

Without a doubt.. it is the most life changing book

I've read in a long long time.
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I waited until the end to do Brady's stuff..

What a mess of toys he had in his little room.

So many, and in such chaos that he hardly

even played with them.

Soooooo.. we dumped ALL of them out

and started separating into sections.
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You can see on his face just how

NOT excited he was about this project.

But... we went through every single toy..

and found a whole bunch we'd forgotten about
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HE had so many (of his older sister's) beanie babies

that he could almost bury himself in them.
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I went to Wal-Mart and bought
see through tubs.
(this I have found is a wonderful secret for kids)
Now he can see exactly what toys he has.
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We organized every thing we were keeping,
and put them all into SECTIONS.
He is quite picky about making sure
the cars do NOT get into the animal section. haha
I just LOVE how it all turned out...
and Brady has played more with his toys
in the last few days than he has
in the last 3 months put together.
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While on my "GET rid of stuff" tour
through my house. I decided that I didn't
really like anything at all in my living room.
SO... I cleared almost ALL of it out
and I am starting over.
I found some of my MILLIONS of frames
in the garage and painted them all
various shades of turquoise.
I have pictures to go in almost all of them
and will show you the finished wall
as soon as I get them all in and the wall painted.
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I also found this HUGE canvas
on the side of the road
and brought it home.
I know exactly the painting I am going to do
on it... but just haven't gotten around to that
yet either.
So for now everything is just
a random shade of uncluttered blue....
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May we all... (MOSTLY me)
remember that everything does NOT
HAVE to be done TODAY!
Sometimes it's the SLOW rides that are the most enjoyable.

Exactly What I Wanted

Here are a few more of my Favorite shots

my precious friend and photographer pal Sherry

took of Brady and I while

we were in Waco last week.

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We found this garage wall by accident

while driving down the middle of the alley.
The colors were the most fun I could have ever wished for .

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I am just so incredibly excited about all of these pictures.

Now all I've got to do is figure out which walls

I'm gonna put them on...

and how big I'm gonna make them.
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Man how this little fellow has changed my life !

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What a fabulous day we had together.

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paceMaking memories I will NEVER forget.

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May we all have at least one incredible photo

that shows exactly how we feel about our children...

and best of all a great friend who can do it!

My Greatest Gift

I just got home from Waco

where I met one of my dearest friends.

I only see her once or, at best, twice a year

because she moved half way across the world.

I try my best to wait patiently each year

for our fun filled, full of giggles... Summer Visits.

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She is also a photographer nerd....

(the term we have affectionately given ourselves)

We can sit for hours and talk about lighting, photoshop,

and our new favorite techniques....

I can say without a doubt that she

is the ONLY person in the entire world

who truly understands my philosophy

of what a photograph should be.

The #1 goal was to capture emotion...

and everything else is a far off second place

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So... this year I asked her to please take

my yearly photograph with Brady.

I knew the exact look I wanted and knew

that she was the gal who could capture it.

This was the RESULT...

No amount of money can ever buy or replace this moment.

She knew my heart so very well

and knew just what I wanted...

and man oh man did she ever catch it.

I will have more of our shoot to share later in the week.

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May we always understand that most anyone

can take a photograph....

but only a few can capture a memory.

Thank you Sherry !

Wedding Wishes

My mother has been here this week

to help watch Brady

so that I could finish a Wedding Album.

As I worked on their album pages

I traveled many times to my little

FAIRYTALE world of romance and happily ever afters.

I am always touched by the uniqueness

of each couple's LOVE STORY.

And out of all the Weddings I have photographed

over the years........ NO two have ever been the same.

I enjoy so very much getting to know

each of my couples and hearing

their LOVE stories.

It is always inspiring and somewhat magical

to be in the presence of LOVE....

and what better place to find that

than in the middle of a Wedding.

So... as I worked on the pages of this book

and relived a few sparks of their magic....

I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

The best part about seeing a Wedding photograph

(and not being a part of the wedding)....

is that you get to make up your own story.

Some of my favorite pictures

are ones where I had NO clue what

was REALLY going on... soooooooooo

I made it up!!

I hope that everyone out there

in BLOG world today is sprinkled

with a little magic...

I hope next time you're at a Wedding...

you will STOP and watch for the sparkles..

and... I hope none of us EVER stop wishing for

a Fairytale in our own lives..

Sometimes all it takes is a sprinkle

for one to begin!!

Bliss and Blessings your way today..

May you find LOVE looking just around the corner.

Art and Soul

First let me just say that

I promise I am going to do better blogging this month.

Time seems to be flying around here,

and I have been enjoying playing with my family,

not being especially creative, however

making BIG changes within myself.

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The timing in my life could NOT have been better

for the mixture of fabulous happening around here.

First.... let me just start off by saying that

I was hired last week to be the new

Art/Photography teacher

at a private Christian High School minutes from my house.

There are honestly No words to express

how incredibly excited that I am to begin

this amazing new journey in my life.

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So... for the last week I have been writing lesson plans

of all of my favorite artists for us to study.

Tarkay is my VERY VERY all time most fabulous artist of all.

I adore his shapes, his composition, and most of all his color.

I can hardly believe I am going to get paid to teach and paint about him.
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Let me back up a little bit and tell you how all of this came to be.

This has been a summer so far of pure personal GROWTH for me.

It is a culminating effect of the 13 week Dave Ramsey class
I am taking, the 7 week study of James we are doing at our church,

and the wonderful book THROW OUT 50 THINGS.

Mix all of those together... and if you don't do some changing

then you must be dead.
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The 2nd Sunday of our James (Life 101) sermon at church

I came home almost moved to tears.

I felt like our Pastor was speaking right to me.

He talked about people who can't make up their minds,

and float about this world double-minded.

Your mind is never settled in one direction

and in James it says You are tossed about ...

anyway... I realized that was totally me.

I toss to and fro all the time from opening a store,

or going back to teaching (which I dearly missed)

Then I began to pray and think deeper and realized

that I had LOST MY FOCUS !!!
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The very next day I looked on line,

and found the most PERFECT job in the world for me.

It was a part-time Art Teacher

(they are on block schedule and I only have to go during my block)

at a Christian school.

It was the one place I could combine 3 of the things

I LOVE most in the world....

1. making things

2. the Lord

3. motivating and making a difference
IT was just too Perfect....

now I just had to apply and pray
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anyway... to make a LONG story SHORT...

I got the job and couldn't be more thrilled.

It is the perfect ending to my

Throwing out the Old ( junk in my house & in my mind)

and IN with a brand NEW Beginning .

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So.. as my summer continues

I will be studying, painting, and keeping track

of all the changes in my life.

I have made a vow NEVER to think I'm too old

to start over, and given up thinking that

I'm not quite good enough.

AND... most of all I have throw out the idea that

I've made too many mistakes to have a happy ending.

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May you all experience the JOY from throwing out the JUNK

we pack up and carry around in our minds.