A little cute for your day.

This is what happens when we get french fries and the dog is in the car ...

The lady at the drive through was right; those big brown doggy eyes are irresistible. You have to share.

::lately::

Little gifts that have been making me happy lately:

Laying on the floor at my dance studio and feeling it throb with dancers' feet.

A row of newly washed Converse.

 Dirty toes and knees, signs of spring.

Spring green creeping over weeping willow tree.

Staying out til 12:30 with a group of friends.

Reading The Return of the King.

A Sunday nap.

Cheeks that lift softly so you know the person is smiling, even from behind.

Watching Chip & Dale: Rescue Rangers and feeling all nostalgic, remembering watching them years ago at my grandparent's lake house. :)

These lyrics:

Hot knefla soup on a cold day.

Ballet lifts.

A stranger asking if me and my sis are twins. O_o

Ummm ...
We're 11 years apart.
LOL!
Totally made my week. :D

Good hair days.

Trader Joe's gummy bears.

Reading through old journals.

Brown eyes.

Laughing so hard in ballet class I couldn't dance properly.

Waking up in the middle of the night to the CRACK! KABOOOMMM!!! of thunder. Panting, heart racing adrenaline. And then laughing out loud. :)

Goodness, I love thunder. Even when it skeers me half to death!

Rain clouds, layered shades of grey.
Flock of birds swoop black against rain-filled sky.

Wind.

A robin's feathers ruffled.

Pine boughs lift and sway heavily.

A friend calling me her "little ladybug". :)

And this video.
Makes me ridiculously happy every time I watch it.

What about you? What's been making you happy lately?

Just another ordinary miracle

Yesterday something miraculous happened to me.

My sight is really, really good for close up things. I can read without glasses. But when anything is more than 5 feet away, it starts looking like this. Blurry blurry:

This is my sight with glasses. Clear, but with the frames always in my peripheral vision, and smudges always on the lenses. I feel like I'm behind a window, not really in the world somehow.

And yesterday, my sight:

I got contacts! :)

It's magical. Everything is so clear and happy.

It reminded me of this Bible passage:

Mark 8: 22-25

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”  He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

I feel like I appreciate that story much more now. The value of seeing clearly is something people take  so so much for granted. 

If someone born blind can finally see, we call it a miracle.

But why would that be so much more of a miracle than the fact that any of us can see at all??

We couldn't see, before we existed. And now we can. 

I'd call that miraculous...

See that little blue line? That's the edge of my contact, a macro shot. That little tiny piece of gel is where my magic happens.

Which brings me to another thought. What kind of {brilliant} dummy came up with the first contacts anyway?? 

"Look, Mom! See this piece of glass? I'm gonna stick it IN my eye, and I'll be able to see!!"

Ummm ... sure kid. Whatever.

I'm sure it didn't happen at all like that, but hey. That's how it goes in my head. ;)

And ALSO {Sheepers, these contacts made me think of a lot of stuff!} this is a good song. And methinks it applies.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

-Albert Einstein 

Art journal

This year I'm trying something new with my art journal. 

Instead of using an actual sketch book, I'm journaling on random bits of paper! And hopefully I'll be able to find a way to bind them together at the end of the year. :)

I thought I'd share some of my favorite journaling ideas that I've used so far! 

1. Journal on random things.

This is a small paper bag that I pulled apart and drew on. I did this page after seeing Hugo. It's such a magical movie, I just loved it! All these doodles have something to do with the movie.

Other things you could draw and write on include paint chips, programs from concerts, newspapers, magazine clippings, paper doilies, etc. etc.

2. Trace a favorite comic strip! Use colored tracing paper for extra fun.

This comic ... is my life.

I'm so not a morning person.

:P

3. Keep it simple.

Journal entries don't have to be big or eloquent. They can be a simple sentence, a tiny doodle on a flash card. A mini memory.

Jot down a random thought, something silly that happened, a small thing you want to remember.

4.Try something new!

Your journal is your journal. It doesn't have to be perfect, there aren't any rules. If you want to mess around and try something, go for it! 

This is my first time trying an acrylic painting. It's not at all perfect, but it was super fun, and I'm still pretty proud of it. I might hang it up in my room for a while before putting it in my journal. I haven't decided yet. :)

5. Don't expect all your pages to be beautiful.

I have plenty of un-beautiful pages. Lots of pages of personal writing that I've simply printed off of the computer or whatever. 

The pages I've shared here are just some of my favorite artsy ones. ;)

How about you? Do you journal? Doodle? Sketch? Paint? Scrapbook? 

The Sailors Uniform

My mom, grandma, and I are at a thrift store. 

It smells old, musty. A girl in old clothes smiles pleasantly, showing crooked teeth. I wander around. There's nothing interesting. 

Oma leaves Mom and I to browse more while she goes to the drug store. I re-peruse shelves I've already looked over. I wander to the very back of the store. 

And there. There it is. 

On the farthest rack in the farthest corner.

My treasure.

A vintage sailors uniform in perfect condition.

Wow.

After trying it on, I know I want it. A lot. 

I bring it to the till. 

"How much?" I ask.

"Well ... you know," the lady says doubtfully. My heart sinks. "We were going to give it to the school to use  as a costume..."

Snap.

"But if you don't cut it up, I guess I could let you have it." 

"Oh, I wouldn't cut it up!" I say emphatically. "I'd wear it!! How much is it?"

She sighs, undecided. 

"Would ... $3.50 be ok?" she asks doubtfully. Inside I'm going, ARE YOU KIDDING?! OF COURSE IT'S OK! 

But outwardly I nod slowly, and hand over the money.

She puts the uniform in a bag and I hug it to myself, grinning like a dope.

Back at Omas I had so much fun wearing it around the house. Sure, it's wool. And sure, I was getting really toasty. But I didn't want to take it off. So I went outside into the 20 degree weather. And know what? That thing is warm. I was the perfect temperature! 

Back inside I had fun examining it. 

Underneath the back flap I found this cool tag:

 On the right shoulder is the name of the ship! 

I googled it, and found some pictures of the actual ship!!

How. Cool.

{via}

 Check out the awesome anchor buttons:

I don't know what rank this would be, but I'm trying to do some research to find out! 

There are some really fascinating details about this jacket. For example, the patches are hand stitched on.

Here I marked the stitches in red, so you could see them better. 

And I found something really cool when I turned it inside out! You can still see where there was an old patch sewn on. Perhaps when the sailor changed ranks they took off a patch and sewed on a new one?

I marked the present patch in white, and the old stitching in yellow.

And here you can see where the old stripes were, lower on the arm.

And when it was turned inside out ... I found this secret pocket! It's on the top right, completely invisible from the outside.

This pocket is on the left, outside. Look at the cool stitching! 

I am so excited about this jacket, it's ridiculous. It fits pretty well, so I'm sure whoever wore it was quite small. But for his slender size ... he was very buff. The shoulders are way too big for me!

But honestly? I do not care at all (!).

In fact, I rather like it. :)

 I'm going to try researching this jacket and see what I can find out about it. What year it's from, etc. I've even daydreamed about finding the exact person it belonged to, finding his name and maybe even pictures of him!

Sure, it's totally far-fetched. But how amazing would that be??

I actually found a facebook page for U.S.S. George K. MacKenzie veterans. I'm hoping to post some questions there, and maybe I'll find out a few things! 

If I do, I  might have to do a follow up post about it. :)

 I feel so special to have this. Something that should be in a museum, and here I am. Wearing it, photographing it, examining it. Searching out the mysteries behind it's history. 

It opens up so much opportunity for imagining. I wonder who he was, this sailor. What he looked like. What he did while wearing this uniform.

He didn't know that years later a stranger would be wondering about him... 

Almost gives one goosebumps.

And all because my grandma decided to go to the drug store, forcing me to explore the thrift store some more! The $3.50 just about killed me, too. :D

Sometimes, the things I find at thrift stores are nothing less than God given gifts. 

Hawaiian Blizzard :: Winter Ice Cream

March 1st.

DQ opens.

Minnesotans rejoice!

Why? Because it is now spring!!

Sure, it's below freezing.

Sure, we stand in line wearing winter coats.

Sure, there's snow on the ground.

But guess what?

Those things are totally irrelevant. :)

There's an air of excitement and celebration. Everyone's laughing, licking cones and shivering. It's a very, very good day!

I tried me a Hawaiian Blizzard. Cuz I like trying new things. :)

Later it struck me how appropriate that oxymoron of a name was. 

A blizzard in Hawaii & ice cream in Minnesota in March.

Good stuff.

What fun things have you done this week?