CHECK OUT the giveaway!!!

Who wants two 12mm black pearl lariats from Nastro Bello Jewelry worth $1200 .... or maybe a better question would be, who wouldn't want these?

Ok, Ok ... so how do you win them?

Go visit this blog here and follow the directions.

* * * * * * * * * * *
I am entering the contest...I don't anticipate winning, but I found the question a fun one and since I have not taken "after" pictures since purchasing my house 3years ao, I thought this might be a good way to start and motivate me to continue - so that I can finish that scrapbook! 
The Inn at Crestview is no model home, not one of those places in a well todo neighborhood, with that all put together everything in its place look, along with that everything completely how you want it style.......BUT I absolutely love my room and my bed!!!

Let me tell you why this is my favorite room, it is: 

Always inviting to me.
A vintage shabby style I adore that reminds me of my favorite shop.
A place to curl up and read a book.
A place to lay your tired head and take a 2hr nap on Sunday afternoon.
A place to spend time in prayer and ask God to be with you.
A place to run to and cry your heart out.
A place to dream about tomorrow.
A place to bring your laptop and get lost on the internet.
A place to talk on the phone with your friend, nestled up against the fluffy pillows.
A place to get some long needed rest and bring conclusion to the day.

The metal decoration is part of a screen door that I got at a old coworkers yard sale for $5.00 6years ago.  I have 3 sets of sheets that I alternate with which changes up the look of the bed a little bit every week: pink floral ones that are on the bed right now, a green stripe set of Rachel Ashwell, and a white ruffle set of Rachel Ashell.  Some of the pillows I have made, some I have bought, and a couple of them have alternate sides.  I also have some deep red pillows that I alternate with the red and pink in the winter season.


Thank You Blayne for your thought provoking question!


The entry deadline is June 23rd at midnight...then we will see the 5 top entries that can be voted on.  I for sure will be checking back to cast my vote...will you???
will you post what your favorite room is in your casa?

Quotes

Tough times separate the winners from the whiners.
-John Maxwell

FREE Card Class

JessicaSprague.com is turning THREE YEARS OLD this month! We are so excited to have made such an incredible journey with YOU, and I feel like we've only just begun. 

As you know, I offer a FREE CLASS every now and then, as my way not only of sharing all that we have to offer here at JessicaSprague.com - the best instruction, the friendliest community, the most amazing atmosphere and products - but also as my way of GIVING BACK to an industry that has given me so very much in my own life and work.  To that end, I'd like to announce my next free class, one that takes on a whole new direction. Introducing Computer Tricks for Cards!  We're meshing two of my very favorite subjects for the first time ever! In this week-long class we'll explore techniques you can create with your computer and then add your own touches, for incredible, giftable greetings. Handmade cards are gifts in and of themselves, and what better way to share and send your memories, your skills AND your love with those in your life? I'll show you lots of creative techniques as we make a dozen different cards together!

Class begins bright and early on June 28!  To register, simply click here, and enter the following access code: JSCTcardsFree2010.  Please share this link with all your friends and family - anyone who sends cards can benefit!

Terry is headed to California...

to get his things.  Since he has a few more weeks of waiting until he can go back to work, Jeff thought maybe a rode trip would be good for him.  He will visit mom & dad, pickup his things at home and return to Texas, hopefully by Saturday.  I think this might be a good thing for him to leave and come back, realizing he has made progress in the last 6 months and all that he has here that he didn't have in his life before.  Please pray that he will have safety and that this will be his perspective.  I did not get to tell him bye in person as I was working and he was ready to hit the road.  He did call me as he was heading out and I told him to be safe, that I would miss him while he was gone and that I hoped everything went smooth. 

CHECK OUT the giveaway!!!

my cousin has posted another great giveaway...go check it out at:  The Virginia House

Quotes

Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.
~Benjamin Franklin

company for lunch!!!

It is June, and I am still purposing to keep to my goal of having company for lunch once a month, I made plans to have company for lunch today two weeks ago for this Sunda.y  I am not sure after such a busy week that this was the best plan, but it was already in the works so here we go...I invited Jeff & Lorrie, but they couldn't make it.  So I invited Shannon & Cindy, Gilbert & Connie and Terry.  Terry went home after meeting and fell asleep, so he arrived just as we were sitting down to eat.  Reid & Collin spent some time in the pool...the rest of us, ate & visited.  Terry left right after lunch. 

Menu: The Chipotle concept ~ make your own Burrito, Burrito Bowl or Salad with Coffee Ice Cream and Cookies & Cream Ice Cream for dessert.

Once again, we had a nice time eating and visiting...I enjoy having company and am looking forward to next month.

recycle

oKAY...I am one of the crazy people who is avid about recycling.  I recycle ANYthing I can get my hands on.  So when I say that, what do you invision?  Let me tell you what I do:

@home. 
paper - once I get the mail, it gets sorted, right away if possible, at minimum before I go to bed. if I don't keep it or need it, it either is shredded (because it has my address on it) or put as is in the green recycle bin.  the bags of shredding are also put in the recycle bin when a bag gets full.
food containers from purchases - if it is paper, if it is plastic, if it is metal, if it has the recycle symbol on it, it gets rinsed & cleaned and put in the recycle bin.  the only thing I do not recycle is anything that has meat in it.
fabric - if there is any way it can be used for something, I keep it.  if not, it goes in the recycle bin.

@work.
I make a weekly pile, under my desk, of the accumulation of recycled items at the office and take them home each Friday.  the pile consists of:  outdated magazines, newspapers, Foldgers plastic coffee containers, empty envelopes, non-financial/non-HIPAA paperwork, boxes, packaging, anything that possibly can be recycled goes in the box. oh and for those sheets of paper that print that unneed little bit of data, it goes in a stack to be reprinted on. oh and I take the office bags of shredding home too.


I grew up most of my childhood in California.  Recycling was a mandatory program...here in Texas it is optional.  The recycle bin is something that was provided by the city a year or so ago so that we would promote recycling.  Each household was given one green plastic bin. I asked my neighbors who had theirs sitting outside their garage if they were not going to recycle if I could use their bin because one is never enough for me, I always have mine full way before the weekly pickup on Tuesdays.  I love it!!!  It is sucha  good, clean, useful feeling to recycle.  Before the bins that were provided for us by the city, I have taken my recycling to the dumpsters around town to dispose of what I collected...it was my way to give back and reuse.  I always have enjoyed recycling which doesn't make sense since I have such a hard time getting rid of things I don't use or need if it can't be recycled.

Do you recycle?  Do you think I am obsessed with recycling?

CHECK OUT the giveaway!!!

An Anthropologie Giveaway...
In this giveaway from Twig Decor, you can enter to win whichever Anthropologie apron you want.  Choose from Anthropologie website above. 

Here are my four absolute favorites:

If I don't win, I am going to make me a look alike we can do it cheaper apron!

 

why???

do you ever just want to ask that question...why???  I do!  do I get answers?  no. sometimes it is really very sad, don't know if it is just my perspective but it seems the older I get, I don't have the answers.  but I still ask.  even if its just in my mind...and nobody knows that I am wondering why.  I question.  I wonder.  I reason.  I ponder.  I contemplate. I cry.  I shake my head in disbelief.  I try to figure out. try real hard to make sense.  try to have the pieces fit together.  sometimes answers come thru this evaluation process.  sometimes you just have to leave it with God.  will God tell me someday when I can sit in front of him the answers to my whys?  I sure hope so.  it is what helps me deal with the unanswered whys of today. 

God knows why.

...tradition(s)

@dictionary.com the definition of tradition
the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, esp. by word of mouth or by practice; a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting; a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices; a customary or characteristic method or manner

Growing up we had a few things that were traditions in my parents home.  One of them was homemade pizza EVERY Friday night.  As a child, I liked pizza, but wasn't just downright crazy about it...course you have to realize I had never eaten restaurant style pizza - homemade was all I knew.  But the one thing I did love about Friday Night Pizza was it was the only time we were allowed soda pop!  One glass, and usually it was Root Beer because that is what Dad liked, or we could have Pepsi as that is what Mom liked.  I didn't and don't care for Pepsi, so I either had Root Beer or Punch if I didn't want that.  As me and my sister grew older and assumed cooking responsibilities, pizza making became more fun.  We got to try other things besides a pepperoni pizza and hamburger meat pizza.  We My sister learned to make better pizza crust and it became a really fun project each week.  We rarely skipped having pizza on Friday nights, and when we did, Dad was always sorely disappointed.  Looking back at my childhood, this is a fond memory of a tradition we had.  So I ask...

What is tradition to you?  Did you or do you have traditions in your family?  Do you like them?  Abhor them?

Quotes

The man/woman that walks with God always reaches their destination. 
We reach our destiny – God's will – by walking with God.

signs...with a message

Okay, I am in love with this sign...I thought it was sooooooooooo cute and just my style.  I had to grab my camera phone (and quickly put it on silent so that I could snap a picture of it and nobody hear me do so) at one of my favorite shops (nope I won't tell you where since I actually didn't get permission to take the picture or post it on my blog for free advertising - LOL), then I texted it to a friend who emailed it to me since I don't have the internet on my phone...(please, don't give me a hard time for being too cheap now).  I love the simplicity of the colors, the message and the shape...but for $199???   uh ummmmmmm, yah not that much. 

Maybe I will try to make it.  Think I can???

blogging...

sometimes I don't get blogger...blog spot...blogging
I try really, really, really hard to figure this stuff out in the little bits of time I have, but sometimes I am just left flat out stumped when nothing logical comes from my research!  have you ever felt like that?  so maybe you can help me...you know how you follow blogs, right? and so when your blog is listed on someone elses blog page (i.e. like I have the list I follow on the right hand of my blog), depending on their settings, it either shows your post recent post date or the title of the post unless they don't have it setup this way.  so, how come my blog that is being followed on someone else's page shows the last time I posted a post was 5 months ago???????  this is nowhere accurate. :(  I don't get it and don't know what is wrong with this dumb blogger!!!  Sometimes I schedule posts, sometimes I automatically post them...it just depends on whether I am working in rears, current or the future. LOL!  Either way, 5 months ago was a long time and I have posted a million posts since then!

Quotes

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.
― Robert Louis Stevenson

exciting news...

I am going to be an aunt again!!!  yes, so fun.  I have six months to plan something fun for my girlfriends first baby...off to the yarn stash and the project room to get my favorite babies knit book the simple knits for cherished babies.  hmmmmm, what shall I make?


(p.s. I can tell now...its RuthAnn)

Quotes

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
~ Abraham Lincoln

...to give

@dictionary.com there are lots of definitions for the word give.  For the content of my post today, I am only going to use a few of them that are most relevent to my thoughts and some things I have been thinking about and working thru:

give =
to present voluntarily and without expecting compensation; bestow;
to impart or communicate; to furnish, provide, or proffer; 
to relinquish or sacrifice; to apply fully or freely;
to be warm and open in relationships with other persons  

II Corinthians 9:7
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Giving takes effort.  Giving takes time.  Giving takes motivation.  Giving takes planning.  Giving takes putting someone else first...yourself last.  Giving takes continuing in a difficult situation that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.  Giving means you let that go without any expectation of return.  Giving means you are not cold in your attitude.  Giving means you are rewarded for your hard, very hard work; sometimes not in the way you expect, sometimes not in this life, sometimes never from the individual(s) involved...but giving 100% selfless brings peace.  Giving means you see a need and are willing to fulfill it to the best of your ability.  Giving takes a pure heart.  Giving dissolves your own hurts.  Giving takes focus.  Giving provides a bigger picture to the problems at hand.  Giving makes friends.  Giving requires sacrifice.  Giving makes someone feel special.  Giving is a gift.  Giving is love.  Giving gives life.

What does it mean to you to give? How do you give? When do you give? When do you quit giving?  Can you give too much?  Is it possible to give too little?  Do you struggle to give?  Do you benefit from giving?  What are your thoughts about giving??? 

Quotes

Cherish your dreams, as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.
-Napoleon Hill

CHECK OUT the giveaway!!!

posted@Dreamy Whites

Cabbages and Roses will be giving away a lovely Cabbages and Roses tablecloth and 6 napkins to one lucky reader.  Valued at $185.00. 

You get to choose from three different Cabbages and Roses patterns:

Natural Raspberry, Tulip and Rose, or Cerise Hatley.

                               ...just beautiful! 


check out the book...

Quotes

In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.
― Tom Bodett