A New Toy

Linda, Erin, and I escaped on Friday afternoon for a few hours of girl time outside of the kitchen. We spent a fun hour browsing in a bookstore/gift shop and then stopped at the local tea room for a light lunch and yummy pots of tea. We don't often get to spend time as just the girls, so it was a rare treat and highlight of our holiday together. All three of us were able to find some fun gifts for the people on our Christmas lists including each other.

Earlier in the week we'd been talking about how many fun wooden toys are available these days. As luck would have it, we stumbled upon the most beautiful hand carved Noah's Ark set. Linda happily snatched it up for her granddaughter and brought it home. I envision many happy hours of play for daddy and his girl in the years ahead.

Thanksgiving 2008

My heart is full. It was a wonderful few days filled with lots of yummy food, a hilarious game of UNO, some hands of Gin Rummy, a bit of Christmas shopping, a few football games, some video games, tons of baby talk & belly watching, and most importantly, time together with family.

(Click on the speech bubble beneath the slideshow to see picture captions.)

Wise Words

Write the wrongs that are done to you in sand, but

write the good things that happen to you on a piece

of marble. Let go of all emotions such as resentment

and retaliation, which diminish you, and hold onto

the emotions, such as gratitude and joy, which

increase you. -Arabic Proverb

Wishing you a Thanksgiving week filled with gratitude and JOY!

Happy Birthday Joy Jottings!

I started hanging out in this little space one year ago today. Lots has happened since then, and yet, it doesn't seem like a whole 365 days ago. I spent the last half hour scrolling through the past twelve months of JOY. Here are some of my favorite posts:

Christmas Toes

The Day After

Happy Birthday Anna!

Puppy Love

The Last Few Days

The Joy of Creative Space

Sauerbraten, Spaetzle & Red Cabbage

Salad & Me

A Visual Feast

They're Crafty

Her Perfect Little Foot

Pumpkin Scones

100+ Favorite Things

Over the past year,

*I've had fun playing with light and color in my digital photos.

*I've enJOYed connecting with friends and family through my words & pictures. Your emails & blog comments have been a highlight for me.

*I've definitely become more attuned to the little JOYS of each day.

*I've been forced out of my comfort zone, having to take words out of my journal and "publish" them here.

Thanks for joining me on this little adventure. The next year promises to be an exciting one at our house, and I hope to capture more of our JOY right here.

Tiny Tote

Baskets, bags, decorative boxes...I love to have pretty places to stash my stuff. My SIL, Erin, gave me this sweet little bag last year for my birthday. It was filled with an assortment of teas and shortbread cookies which are long gone a year later! Now it holds all my writing paraphernalia - my pens, my journal, stamps, my gratitude wrap, colored pencils, and address labels. I like having it all in one place, easily carried to wherever I happen to be writing at the moment. And those polka dot handles...perfect!

Art & Motherhood

I clipped that little phrase from a favorite magazine and pasted it to my journal. It's what I've been thinking about lately. The day is coming when I won't be able to spend the morning knitting, or the afternoon baking, or the evening painting, cutting, and pasting. And, will I ever read a book again?

Recently, while reading Jane Brocket's "The Gentle Art of Domesticity", I came across two quotes that spoke to me.

"Short stories that have been written in between dusting, bed-making, answering the door and homemaking are also wonderful for reading in one sitting while you wait for the cookies to brown, while children play, while the bread rises..."

How about while rocking our baby? I've never been a short story kinda girl, but I'm willing to give it a try.

Brocket goes on to quote Elizabeth Gaskell, an English novelist who wrote amidst the bustle of raising a large family. Gaskell said in a letter to a friend that all women should "have the hidden refuge of Art to shelter themselves in".

After our girl and I have gotten used to each other and found some sort of rhythm in our days, I hope to find time -even just a little snippet here and there- to journal, knit, bake and read. Both of us will be the happier for it.

Baby Shower By Mail - Part 3

The mailman brought more fun to our doorstep today! Inside the box were some sweet outfits for our girl, a pretty toile(!) pacifier ribbon, and a monogrammed insulated cup for mama's favorite hot beverages.

Thank you Michelle, Keith, and Allyson!