No good at this!

Well, obviously I'm not good at this daily thing! I think about it everyday. Both writing on my blog and counting my blessings. Just not so good at taking/making the time to do it. 

3 Graces Overheard

Today's Joy Dare prompts are tough. I have to think a bit harder. The first thought that comes to mind is music. I love music and I got to listen to K-Love several times today as well as other music. 

Next would be the sound of my children. Love to hear them laugh. Sorry. I know I've used that one before but it's pretty special. I'll probably list that one lots of days.

Last would be the moments of silence I can steal throughout the day. This morning it was after getting both boys to school, I came home and settled down on the sofa with my ipad and read my devotions. The house was silent, the sun was shining through the windows and I was able to have a bit of quiet time with The Lord. Some days that quiet time comes at night after everyone else is asleep. I treasure those times. 

3 Gifts

Inside, outside and on a plate. Hm. This is actually yesterday's Joy Dare prompts but I'm a day late. I know, day 2 and I'm already behind. I was just too sleepy to do it last night. 

Anyway, let's give it a go.

A gift inside. Snuggled up with my sleepy 10 year old at 6:30am before getting ready for school.

A gift outside. My warm sweater in the chilly weather.

A gift on a plate. The chicken fettuccine leftovers my sissy sent home with me. Just as good the second time around. Thank you, Wendy!

Happy New Year

2014. Here's to hoping it's better than 2013. Not that it was a bad year. There was many things to be thankful for and everyone stayed healthy. But it ended a little rocky for me. But I'm looking forward, not back. 

I just spent an hour and a half on a new website. www.aholyexperence.com. I'm inspired to try the Joy Challenge. There is a prompt - 3 things to be thankful for each day. Here goes:

Jan 1, 2014 - 3 things heard

Voices - the voices of my family, espically those of my boys as they wished me happy new year at midnight. And their laughter as they teased each other through out the day.

Music - I love lots of different types of music but today I'm thankful for the worship music I got to listen to on the drive back from the New River. Different artists all singing praise to God. Happy to say I knew most of the songs and could sing along.

Tick-tock - the ticking of my grandmother's clock as I sit here typing. It makes me think of her often. 

I'm also going to pick a word for this year. Forward. Moving forward into a new year; not looking back. And I'm clinging to something I just read at aholyexperience.com - 

“We are all going to botch it somedays. We all sometimes get the notes wrong. But the song only goes wrong when we keep thinking back to the wrong notes."

“When a piece starts to fall apart — fall forward. Fall forward into the next bar. Moving forward is what makes music.“

The big reveal!

Finally I can show a picture of the biggest piece I have worked on so far! 4ft 3in x 8ft 3in!! It's for the series happening in my church during the month of July.

Because of the way it's hung, we had to add support bars between the top two pieces. And it was a bear to hang! You can't tell how high it is from this picture but it's probably 15ft to the top. It didn't turn out quite how I wanted but I really don't have the room to do something this big. So all-in-all, I'm pretty happy with it. You can't tell in the picture but I added rocks by the road and blue flowers in the field. I think it shows up pretty well in person. Everyone will see it Sunday 7th.

Hope you are all having a wonderful July.

Amy

So proud of my Drew!!

My oldest, Drew is about to graduate middle school. Kind of a big deal. I can't believe he's going to high school next year. How can it already be time for high school?! While I struggle with the fact that he's going to be 15 on his next birthday, I couldn't be more proud of him. He is growing up to be a thoughtful, caring, ambitious young man. 

I attended his 8th grade awards day this past week. He didn't know it but 3 of his teachers had contacted me to let me know he would be receiving an award in each of their classes. While he is a good student academically, he wasn't getting an award for his grades. He was receiving awards in each of those classes for his leadership, good character and attitude. He can always be counted on to do the right thing and be responsible when asked to do extra work or run an errand for the teacher.

Drew didn't know I was coming. I also brought his grandparents. It was fun to surprise him! We got to see him receive his awards, as well as many of his friends. His 8th grade is made up of 3 teams. Each team had it's own awards to give as well as one very special award for one child from each team. This is called the Principal's Award. It is given to a child who shows exceptional responsibility, moral character and leadership. I was so proud when Drew received this award! 

Some how I think he's going to do just fine in high school.

Drew, we are very proud of you and love you very much!!!

Lets go racin' boys!

If you follow NASCAR, you know what the All-Star race is. It's the most exciting night in NASCAR. It doesn't have anything to do with points or championships - just money and bragging rights. My sweet sister treated us to a night at the Speedway Club to enjoy all the festivities for my birthday. Jeff and I had a wonderful time. 

Of course we had to take the very touristy, obligatory self-portrait in front of the speedway first. Then we walked around a bit and bought a few souvenirs. 

Then we enjoined an amazing dinner in the Speedway Club dinning room. It was buffet style with more food than we could eat! And it was all wonderful! I enjoyed the ham with a spicy mustard spread, chicken cordon blue, pasta, salad and potato salad. Jeff had the ham, prime rib, shrimp and mahi-mahi. 

Then we hit the dessert buffet! It all looked so good, I just had to try some of just about everything! Seven layer bars, brownie with nuts and fudge, pieces of pecan pie, peanut butter and chocolate cheese cake (my favorite!) and the cup cake I never got around to trying. I was stuffed! Jeff had chocolate cake as well as a few other items but then he went back for seconds at the main buffet!

Then we were off to find our seats in the clubhouse. We had a great view of the racetrack and jumbotron. We could see every part of the track and pit road. The clubhouse also has TVs so we could see what was being said and shown by the broadcast as well as view it live on the track. It was the best of both worlds. Our seats were between some very nice couples who had season tickets. They pulled for rivaling race teams and it was fun to listen to them and join in a bit. 

I have been a fan of NASCAR for about 11 years now and have always watched from the comfort of my living room, but there really is nothing like being there. A night race, with the cars under the lights is my favorite. And you truly can not get a sense of just how fast the cars are on TV. I figured out that because the camera you are watching it from on TV is also moving, it makes it seem as though the cars aren't going nearly as fast as they are. They are reaching amazing speeds! And all within a couple of inches of each other! Incredible to watch!

Then began the ride home. I live only a mile or two from the speedway but it took us nearly an hour to get there! The people watching was fun, though. All in all, it was a night (and birthday gift!) to remember. Thank you Sissy!!

Something new...

I keep forgetting that I have this great little app on my ipad that allows me to blog any where! So! Maybe I can do this a bit for often. 

In the past couple of weeks, I was having some trouble finding my mojo so I decided that "it's time for something completely different." I have seen knitting looms and always wanted to try one so I bought one (with a coupon, of course!) and I'm having a blast!

This is so much fun! I have been watching videos on Youtube and learning different stitches so now I'm making .... something! Might be a lap blanket. Might be a shawl. I don't really care right now. I'm just having fun doing it.

And my mojo returned! Yay! If ever you lose your inspirations, do something else. It always works for me. 

Canvas for my One Little Word

This is a canvas I made for my One Little Word for 2013: Grow

It says all the ways in which I hope to grow this year.

Grow spiritually

Grow memories

Grow together

Grow & learn

Grow healthy

Grow love

Grow daily

Grow

My One Little Word for 2013. What? You haven't heard of One Little Word? Where have you been hiding?? Really, Google it and see what you come up with. I don't know who really started it but I first heard about it several years ago from a scrapbook/creative artist named Ali Edwards.

Anyway, it's a pretty neat concept. You pick one little word (obviously!) to sort of focus on for the year. A word that you will be able to come back to all year long. A word that will help to ground you. This year I have chosen GROW.

I hadn't really planned to pick a word this year. I have picked a word in the past. Not every year. And sometimes I picked but simply didn't share it. But I was asked to serve on a committee at church for the next 3 years and the chairperson actually asked us all to pick a word. I sorta got excited because I didn't think anyone else really did that. Just us creative people. I'm not sure why I thought it was like a secret club just for artsy folk. Anyone can do it. So I started thinking.

I decided on 'grow' because I hope to grow closer to God by following a challenge put forth by my pastor to read a chapter a day in my bible.

I hope to grow more knowledgable about my church and how certain things happen.

I hope to grow in my creative life.

I hope to grow healthier so I've joined a gym and am trying to eat better.

My children are growing and I simply hope to survive. (I mostly have the 14 year old in mind here!)

I am in a marriage small group at church so I hope to grow as a spouse and friend.

So, maybe by "putting it down on paper" and sharing it with anyone who cares to read this, I'll achieve these small but significant steps this year. Grow.

Splatter!

So I'm working on a canvas for next Sunday's service and I want to try a new technique. It involves splattering paint which I've never done. So I grabbed a new canvas, paints and the boys and I had fun!

Come visit me!

I've recently create a Facebook page where you can find my latest art. Please come visit me there!

https://www.facebook.com/LareeArt

It's coming...

Will you be ready?

New art

Here's a look at my latest canvas. This was an idea that came to me late one night and turned out better than I had imagined. Let know what you think!

Pics from the Lego Brickfair

Lego Brickfair, a set on Flickr. Click on a photo to go to Flickr and view larger pics.

Here are more pictures from our adventures at the Lego Brickfair. Pay attention to the detail in each picture. It's amazing! And in some photos, there will be people (mostly grown men and teenage boys!) sitting behind the scenes. They are the creators of these amazing sets.

It's a mad, mad Lego world!

We had a grand adventure today in Chantilly, VA today at the BrickFair! All Legos all day long! There was unique custom made parts and accessories as well as table after table of displays. The boys had so much fun. It was almost more than you could see in one day.

There were underground apocalyptic scenes and homes with crop circles (look closely!). There was some serious towns with lots happening. Castles and warriors with creatures from LOTR. Fairy forests with waterfalls.

Everywhere we turned there was something amazing to see. If you like Legos and ever get the chance to go, I recommend it!

Canvas play

my time.

1:31am.

I have friends and family that love to be the first ones up. They love the quiet time. Early in the morning.

Me? I prefer my quiet time very late in the night. It’s 1:31am. My house is quiet. Everyone is asleep but me.

It’s just me and the sound of 2 different clocks. That would bother some people. But they are special clocks to me. One belonged to my grandmother. It chimes. I love it. The other belonged to my lss before they had to close. I got the privilege of customizing it while it hung in the store. She was kind enough to give it to me when she closed the doors. I love it, too.

Special.

It’s a special time of night for me. Sometimes I create. Sometimes I read my bible. Sometimes I watch tv. Sometimes I create while I talk to the Lord.

Sometimes I go to bed because I’m exhausted by 1:31am. Most nights I have to force myself to go to bed. Looks like this is one of those nights.

Not sure why I felt the need to post this. I know I haven’t posted anything in a long time. But I have been busy. With school. With church. With life.

I don’t journal but this just felt like the right thing to do.

At 1:31am.

Good night.

Big News!

Hello all! I have new canvases and they are for sale at Wish! I’m super excited because I took 3 and sold one in just a few hours. And Amy, the owner, can’t wait for me to bring in more. Here are pictures of the two left for sale.

Boys and azaleas

Every year for the past couple of years, I have take a picture of the boys by our azalea bush. They moan and I force them to do it but it always makes a great picture. Here is this year’s picture. Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter and remember that God loves you.