Normal Daze

  I've been spending too much time lately perusing the wonderful, creative blogs of so many women.  The need to create something beautiful and lasting is an urge that tugs at the soul of so many of us.  Often the blogs I visit leave me feeling wistful for a lifestyle so different from my own.  I happened across Molly's blog today and found these words which she had borrowed from Ali's blog, they shook me awake and so I share them with you.

                Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.  Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart.  Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.  One day I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch myself taut, or raise my hands to the sky and want, more than all the world, your return. ~Mary Jean Iron~

Although I can't bear to share with you pictures of the dishes that patiently await me in the sink, or the piles of laundry breeding down the hall, I will share pictures of the first of many times this day, Julia will empty the bookshelf.

      

So, normal day, I will embrace you.  And at least for today, not wish you away.

ROD Journal Video

ROD Journal from Jennifer Dover on Vimeo.

This is the journal I completed in Mary Ann Moss' online course, "Remains of the Day."  I had so much fun making this journal and I have even started to fill it up!  I can't wait to start my next journal.

Fill 'er Up Please!

Growing up in a small town in Kansas, we had a few gas stations but my favorite was Blair's Station.  You could have a tire changed, your oil changed, even your engine changed if need be, but the best part was that is was full service.  You could just pull right up and within seconds someone was at your window and you could request "Fill 'er up please."  Right now, in the dead of Kansas winter with a small child, I long for the days of full service gas stations!  What I am truly excited for though, is to begin filling my new journal that I just completed in Mary Ann Moss' fabulous online journal making class Remains of the Day. Making the journal has been a creative journey in itself.  Watch out!  It is very possible you will become addicted to making these one-of-a-kind beauties!

Learn Something New Every Day

I am taking an online class from Mary Ann Moss called "Remains of the Day."  This is my journal cover that I completed today and I am so excited to get to work on the "guts" of the journal this week!  Be sure to check out her blog where you can catch a glimpse of all of her fantastic travels too!

Summer Dreamin'

 As I sit with coffee in hand and peer out my bedroom window...

and see that the snow would love nothing better than to swallow whole the pool fence,

I'll just pretend it's July.

The Road Less Traveled

Happy New Year!  I'm not one much for New Year's Resolutions, but I've been thinking lately about the direction I want my life to take.  It seems so often I am caught up in the race just blindly being herded along with all the rest, head down, nose to the grind stone.  I am getting ready to start round two of a fabulous journaling class called Thought Threads and it has encouraged me to think more about possibility, direction, intention, and living a creative life.  I want this year to be about traveling the road I choose, not the one everyone else is pointing to or heading down.  The speed limit on my road will be much slower than most.  That will give me time to be a part of the scenery, not look at it in my rear-view mirror.  Here's to the road less traveled!