He is Risen!

Happy Easter!
He is Risen!

I haven't always loved Easter...and as a child was many times quite indifferent about it. But in my adult life, I'm beginning to see it more as not only the Holy Day that it is in the Resurrection of Christ from the dead, but all that it can symbolize in our own lives in today's world! A re-birth...a refreshed spirit...a renewed belief in the power of Christ to work miracles within us. A stronger sense of faith. A reset button. A clean slate.

As a child, I remember praying the Rosary with the family, and my favorite "Mysteries" were on Wednesday and Sunday...the Glorious mysteries. More specifically, I loved the 1st: the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the 2nd: the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. I really wouldn't pay any attention to the words I was saying in the Hail Marys, but would imagine and daydream over and over again Jesus moving his hand from left to right in a dramatic slow wave and opening the tomb...then as the giant, circular stone rolled away slowly, beams and rays of light would burst from behind him. I also imagined he was suddenly very clean.
Then, a large pure white cloud would lower down from the sky and Jesus would step onto the cloud and slowly rise up toward the heavens. I would also imagine the people who were around watching, what they looked like, what they were wearing, and how they were waving and reacting.

Then, by the time I finished with my daydream...the Rosary was over. I always questioned (and sometimes had some guilt...sometimes not) whether or not my daydreaming counted as actually praying. Sometimes my daydreams scattered far beyond the realm of the actual subject matter of that "mystery"...(examples of daydream topics: boys, evening gowns I might wear to a prom or a ball someday, dance choreography for my sister Teresa and I's next performance for the family...either ballet, broadway, figure skating, or gymnastics...names I might name my children someday, etc...you get the point, sometimes it had nothing to do with the Rosary.)
But when it was about the Resurrection and the Ascension, the daydreams were about that...and now I feel like it totally counted!

Of course, as a child, another huge perk of Easter was the Easter Bunny's visit to drop off a grand amount of candy! I never did believe in the Easter Bunny, though. For some reason, I always thought of him as a grown man dressed in a bunny suit, which just seemed creepy to me...

Although this is NOT quite the image I always had in my head of the "easter bunny," I thought this photo was too hilarious not to post...considering my explanation of my childhood vision. (also, sadly, when I googled searched for a photo of a man in a bunny costume, I was a little horrified of all of the photos that came up of different men in differen bunny costumes...anyone else find that odd and a bit disturbing? Anyway...)

Have you every heard a song, or a poem, or seen a picture, or heard a speech or read a saying that completely and totally personified the way you feel about God, your faith, and your soul? For me, it is my favorite "God" song of all time... it was sung at my wedding by my sister Andrea, and every time I hear it I want to dance around my living room, or take a huge giant deep breath and exhale loudly...the kind of sigh that feels good to the core. It's called Word of God Speak...and here are some lyrics:

Word of God Speak,
Let it pour down like rain,
Washing my eyes to see,
Your Majesty,

To be still and know,
That You're in this place,
Please let me stay and rest,
In Your Holiness,
Word of God Speak

(Click here for a YouTube video to the song with a slide show of some photos.)

So, lets raise our glasses and toast to the many wonderful new beginnings that the Easter season brings...and to all the strange men dressed in adult bunny costumes. Hey, they need love too! Ha!
Cheers!

What a Day!

Before I start, I just want to mention that I will not be using my blog to give a play by play of each day in my life accompanied by photos. However, today I'll make an exception. Today was a great day.

Today was one of the first whole and complete days (in a long time) that both Kevin and I have had off together...so we made the most of it! We tried out the Chinese buffet restaurant in Williston (which, might I mention, has the most delicious vegetable egg rolls!), wandered and shopped through 3 antique stores between Williston and Sidney (and boy-oh-boy did I find some dandies!), and attended the MMA fights in Sidney, as one of Kevin's football players was fighting tonight for a title...and he won!

Now each of these events alone would be fun in themselves, but all together?...what a day!
Here's why:
1. I love eggrolls, and I love fortune cookies (not because of the cookie, but because of the fortune.)
2. I love antiques.
3. I can't say that I love mixed martial arts fights, considering this was my first, but they are definitely fun and exciting as I found out, especially when you know someone in it...and I love taking photos of things I never have before.
4. I love my husband, and getting to spend time with him, which has been a little sparse lately.
5. I love taking photos of things because I want to, not because I have to. (I love that too, but in a different way.) And although while having a photo shoot in my kitchen of all of my antique finds of the day at 2:00 a.m., I did have a moment of thinking, "this can't be normal...normal people don't do this," I was having too much fun to mind for more than just a short moment.

So here is my day in photos...enjoy!

Find #1: Adorable antique doll buggy. Won't it be AWESOME for infant/baby shoots? (Percy modeling in one. :-)

Find #2: Four...yes FOUR new hats to add to my antique hat collection. Aren't they beautiful?! My plan is to get some display stands and have a large display in the studio, but not before a photoshoot with them on some models, of course.

This is a hat my mom just got for me on her trip to visit family in Tennessee. I love this one!

Find #3: SO CUTE. Baby hats! One is a croqueted bonnet and the other is a little hat that reminds me of the one Strawberry Shortcake wears...also Little Miss Muffet.

Find #4: Antique baby clothes! The little boy outfit is very old, and I thought they were both so cute I just had to get them in hopes I can use them on a photo shoot, along with the hats and buggy! I also got another little dress and some croqueted booties, but forgot to prepare a blog photo of those!

Here are 2 handmade Chinese "good luck" charms that I got at the restaurant, along with our "fortunes." I don't really believe in good luck charms, or in fortunes for that matter, but little things that make me think of "good luck," or "advice," remind me of God and guardian angels and blessing from Heaven, so hey, I'll take all I can get! I'm also fascinated by things of other cultures, although I will probably gift these away, since Kevin has a strong annoyance to useless "trinket" type things laying around...not that I blame him.

And lastly, here are some sample images of the mixed martial arts fights tonight. Congrats to Scott who won the title!





Wishing everyone many exciting and wonderful days...and a BLESSED Easter weekend!

Dead Birds

So today I had planned on writing about a completely different topic...but then an interesting series of events happened...which got me thinking...

This morning, no different than any other morning, I let the puppies out to potty. And since lately they have found themselves in different sorts of trouble...playing in the mud, caught crossing the farm road to play in the field, soiled by dirty cat droppings...(not sure, and don't want to know!) I have been a little more cautious as to how long I leave them outside on their own. So I wait a substantial amount of time for them to do their business, and then call them in. Percy immediately comes to the door (which is rare) so I suspect they have been up to something. I call a couple more times for Petey (also rare, as he is usually the first one whimpering at the door to get back inside) and he happily comes prancing around the side of the house...carrying a large dead bird in his mouth. He comes up the step and as I realize what it is and that he is planning on bringing it inside with him...I immediately over-react. I shut the door and start yelling at him "No, Petey! No no! Drop that!" I'm freaked out and grossed out and eventually he gently lays the bird down on the step. He comes back inside, but first, after laying down the bird, looks up at me with a very confused expression, almost as to say, "what? it's just a bird." His eyes were confused and a little sad.

I left the bird on the step (hoping that Kevin would move it for me when he got home at lunch...which is another slightly funny incident that I will mention later) and went about my merry way.

(Petey then crawled up onto his spot on the back of the couch and was going to take a snooze, but I sense a slight amount of pouting?)

Anyway, the rest of the morning I began to think about that incident. It seems that lately I have had quite a few moments of complete disgust and confusion probably followed by over-reacting to a certain extent with different people/situations/things that have gone on. It made me start thinking a little harder about the things that come up, the way that people act, and the lack of understanding that goes on.

Sometimes we are so quick to judge someone else for something we heard they said, we saw them do, or disagree with the way something was handled. It is SO HARD for me sometimes to understand other people's point of view with it comes to specific situations. Sometimes I feel like it is SO black and white, and there is no other way around it! Other times I feel like I can completely relate, am the first one to give someone the benefit of the doubt, and dont want to form an opinion based on anything but fact. But how do I determine when to react one way or another? Do we pick and choose when we judge and when we understand?

Small towns can create a lot of pent up frustration that leads to too much "bottling up." We supress, we "keep our mouth shut," we stay out of it, we turn the other cheek, etc. etc. Sometimes I wonder how much  of one emotion we carry along as baggage to the other things that come up in our lives. It can be so hard to keep things in perpective and see life as the big picture that it is...seeing the things that really matter popping out boldly on the page, and the other things faded into the background. If only it were that easy.

I can think back to so many situations that at the time, I absolutely thought it was the "end of the world!" Whether I was sad, panic stricken, hurt, disgusted, supressing, infuriated, on and on etc., at the time I just couldn't get over it. It would eat at me and bother me. I still often lose sleep over things that I or Kevin, or whoever I'm worrying about at the time probabaly have no control of. Of course, always when you look back it's not that big of a deal when you think big picture. I think that the secret to having more peace about these things is learning to balance emotion and logic. To use the rational and sensible parts of us to help control the emotional and sensitive sides. Learning to respond with our brain rather than react with our feelings. (Or in my case many times...over-react.) So many things in this life are completely out of our control...but one thing we ALWAYS have control of is our own actions and responses to the things around us. And although it's impossible to do this all the time, with everything, as we are human... the important thing is being aware of the goal and the effort put into it.

My favorite prayer of ALL time is the serenity prayer, which is not only beautiful, but a NECESSITY when it comes to a personality like mine...a worrier, a "dweller," not being able to let things go...and also fitting to the topic!

When you look at any situation, things are usually not what they seem. After all, like Petey would say, "it's just a bird!"

When Kevin got home from lunch today he was really struggling with some things going on with him as of late. (another reason for this topic, and for the things that have been on my mind.) But despite his own battles and inner demons, and being the wonderful husband that he is, he agreed to dispose of the dead bird who was still peacefully laying right out my front door. He took a snow shovel and launched it into the trees by our house...and it FLEW through the air...almost looking like it came back to life...then landed in the top of the tree perched completely upright! Poor birdie! Just as spring is "springing," he won't enjoy it this year. But hey, if I was a bird, I would probably much rather be "laid to rest" in the top of a tree where I belonged! You know what they say, all good things must come to an end! But that doesn't mean it can't be a good end. :-)

After his funeral "launching."

Wishing everyone a wonderful day!



I'm back.

Hello blog world. Long time no see...

When I was in college, I spent a lot of time writing...blogs, diaries, poetry...for a couple of years I even had a column in my college newspaper called, "Miss Camille's Guide to Life" which was a collection of my thoughts and opinions on whatever topic I happened to come up with that week or month. I enjoyed writing...it helped clear my head, inspire me, motivate me...gain perspective.

I've recently come across moments where I miss that writing, hence my intro back into the blogging world! I'm hoping to gain back pieces of those feelings of comfort and a sense of feeling "refreshed" when I used to spill out my thoughts, fears, hopes, and dreams out onto the paper and into the computer.

My life right now sometimes feels like it's at a giant crossroad. Married for almost 3 years, a wonderful business built from the ground up, 2 amazing dogs (and 1 tempermental cat), a husband who I can truly say is my partner...I am blessed. We have, together, come upon a time where we are both ready for "next steps." Whether those next steps are business expasions, family expansions, changes in lifestyle, or just riding the ride and seeing where it takes us, I am intrigued as to where life will lead us moving forward. So, in realizing that there may be changes coming my way created a yearning for an avenue in which to get everything out of my head and rest upon the "pages" of something else. So, here is my first go at a real blog! Wish me luck!

Here is a photo of my hubby and pups. Kevin, Percy, and Petey. :-)