A Festive Experience

One of my most favorite holiday traditions is attending the Festival of Trees each year, usually the first weekend in December. It’s a great way to kick off the holiday season, and to support an important cause.

Because I love it so much, because I feel so strongly about Primary Children’s Medical Center (which the festival raises money for) and because I wanted to honor my niece, this year I decided to decorate a tree of my own in her honor. My theme is “Angels for Ashley.”

This is an idea I’ve tossed around for several years now, but it wasn’t until this year that I was able to make it a reality. I started gathering my items last Christmas, not sure exactly what I was doing but excited to do it nevertheless.

It wasn’t until last weekend that my vision became a reality. I took this

and with help from my fabulous family, I turned it into this:

It took a lot of work, plenty of hands and not a few ornaments to make it so. It also included a wild goose chase all over town last weekend to find the perfect tree skirt, only to use a fleece instead, but it’s all right. This is what the spread looked like as we prepared to place it on the tree.

My faithful decorating team in the act.

I couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out. Here are a few close ups.

Finally, here it is all set up at the festival. It was auctioned off tonight, and as far as I know, it sold. I’m curious to find out how much it sold for. We’ll see.

Even kitty likes my tree.

I hope our beautiful angel likes it too and that she knows I did it in her honor. I still love and miss her very much.

Why I have the bestest little brother ever

Today I had just finished Zumba class at the gym with my two sisters and happened to check my phone. I noticed my younger brother had sent me text telling me he’d just posted something on our family Facebook wall that I would like so I should check it out.

Of course I was intrigued, but, alas, I could do nothing about it since I do not yet have my smart phone. Curse the fact I don’t yet have my iPhone! It’s in the cards, but I just haven’t been able to do it yet. My sisters were just as intrigued as I was to know what he had posted, but they don’t have smart phones either.

So we did the next best thing: we called someone who could log into Facebook and check it out for us. No, it wasn’t any huge life announcements, just a funny video. It’s from what is apparently now a “vintage” Disney cartoon. We’ve talked about it before with fondness and his link allowed me to watch it.

I’m so happy about this that I have to post it so you all can enjoy it too:

A classic Disney cartoon for you to enjoy, courtesy of YouTube

Isn’t my brother grand? I sure think so.

I’m so thankful for

The day is not yet over, but with the meal completed and cleaned up, Thanksgiving is quickly winding to a close. It’s been a wonderful day, and I would be remiss if I didn’t post a little something not only about the day but about gratitude.

Gratitude is something I’ve been trying very hard to work on lately. Well, on feeling it more, that is. I have so many blessings in my life, and it frustrates me that I feel like I sometimes spend too much time wanting or wishing for things I don’t have. I’ve been trying to make it a focus to be more grateful for all I have, and I think it’s helping me to feel happier.

Today, I’m going to say my gratitude for just one small thing and then I’ll post a few pictures from today. I’m so very grateful for the written word. I’ve been addicted to it ever since I learned how to read at the age of 5 or 6, I can’t remember which.

This weekend I’ve watching someone who is learning to enjoy the written word too, my beautiful little Bumblebee. Of course the Diva loves to read to me too.

Here’s a few pictures from our meal today.

Fun people pictures because when it comes down to it, people are the most important thing anyway. And we all know how much I love to post pictures in my blog.

Finally, cute couple pictures.

Do I have to go to bed, really?

Tonight, my cousin had her nephews over for a sleepover. They are darling little boys and so well behaved too. It was an enjoyable evening hanging out with these sweet kids . . . and then it was bedtime.

I’d gone upstairs for a few minutes, not able to take another episode of Sonic, the Hedgehog. I came back downstairs to see the boys all ready for bed and so I started teasing them about how going to bed was no fun. The 6-year-old looked at me and said, “I absolutely agree!”

My cousin cautioned me not to encourage them in this desire to do anything but go to bed, and I laughed. I am a bad influence that way.

It’s probably because I think deep down inside, I hate going to bed myself.

Don’t get me wrong — I enjoy sleep as much as the next person and getting enough to feel refreshed for the next day. In fact, sometimes actually going to sleep is my favorite part of the day. It’s just the actual going to bed that’s difficult for me.

I’m just no good at it.

Even knowing that I have to get up early for work (and with the commute time every morning, I really do have to get up or I’ll be late, and I hate that) is not always enough to motivate me to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I’m really talented at finding all kinds of excuses to keep myself up, from looking at blogs, to working on some project to reading. I keep thinking I’m old enough to have grown out of the habit of reading until way too late at night, until I do it again and have no sympathy for myself when I’m tired the next day.

So, I sigh and recommit myself to going to bed at a reasonable hour, even knowing it’s a bit of a futile exercise since I’m just not good at putting myself to bed, even when I’m really tired.

Maybe deep down inside I’m just a little kid protesting at the idea of being put to bed, but I’m just going to have to find a way to get over that or spend my life tired from lack of sleep. Since that’s the case more often than not, I think I’m already halfway there, so it’s all good. I decided a long time ago that if I ever wake up and am not tired, I’ll know that I’m dead. If I’m dead, I won’t be waking up anyway, so I suppose it’s a moot point.

In the meantime, I’ll continue finding ways to motivate myself to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Any suggestions?

Just a boy and his hound dog

Once upon a time there was a darling dog who found a happy home with two owners who loved her very much. Dot, a beagle puppy, was happy in her new home, with plenty of things to sniff, a nice yard to run around in and a fence she learned to jump in order to greet her owners personally when they got home. (This problem was fixed shortly after her owners discovered it.)

Like most puppies, she had plenty of energy, much of which she used to chew things up. But all she had to do to fix it was look at her owners with those liquid brown eyes, tilting her head to the side, and all was forgiven.

Although Dot loved her owners, her favorite thing in the world was when their grandchildren came to visit, any of the 12. She LOVED running around with them and how excited they always were to see her, especially one named Starshine.

Being that both were ADHD, Starshine and Dog understood one another. She enjoyed play time with this energetic grandson and followed him around the house.

Even with her boundless puppy energy, after a day of playing with Starshine, Dot would get worn out at night. That’s when cute things like this happened.

And although Dot was sad to see Starshine leave her house earlier today, She was also a little relieved to rest so she could regain her energy.

Then she lay dreaming of all the fun she’d have when Starshine came to visit again. Just a boy and his hound dog.

Can I please have a smart phone now, pretty please?

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a smart phone for months now. I almost did it back in June but was advised to wait, pending the release of the newest iPhone, which hadn’t even been announced at that point.

I’m excited about all the features that come with a smart phone, particularly the constant connectivity and ability to look things up whenever I want. But, I’ve also been dragging my feet a little bit just because I absolutely HATE how obsessed people get with their phones. I have very good friends whom I love dearly who can’t go fifteen minutes without doing something with their phone, and it seriously drives me crazy.

So, I’ve been waiting . . .

Then the iPhone 4S came out. I was perfectly content with the idea of getting the 4 instead because it didn’t seem like the newest model was that much cooler . . . until I saw how Siri works. Now I want one so badly I can hardly stand it!

And after my experience on Saturday, well I almost marched right into the nearest AT&T store and demanded an iPhone 4S on the spot, except for the fact they’re all sold out. But, I digress. Here’s my story, and it’s kind of funny.

I was going to the baby shower for a dear friend of mine that I haven’t seen for awhile. It was in Layton, which is kind of far away, but I decided it was worth driving that far to see her. I haven’t spent a lot of time in Layton so I’m not familiar with it, so I looked up the directions as I was madly getting ready and then ran out the door.

I followed the directions exactly . . . to some random street in Layton which is NOT where the baby shower was. It turned out to be on the completely opposite side of town from where the shower was. Somehow I’d left without even grabbing the address. Ugh!!

I had to call my sister and have her log into my Facebook account, look up the address, then get directions from where I was at to the baby shower. And then she guided me a couple times when I accidentally made a wrong turn. Oops!

I finally made it to the baby shower, just two hours late. I did get to spend time with my friend, and it was delightful to see her. Really the two hours of driving it took to get me there are funny to me, and I’m laughing as I write this. She’s such a cute pregnant lady, and I’m very happy for her.

The thing that kills me is it could’ve been easily rectified with the use of a smart phone. * Sigh * Perhaps it’s time to just bite the bullet and buy one already, even if I have to wait a couple weeks for it to come in. And I’ll have to promise myself to be present in whatever situation I’m in to hopefully avoid becoming obsessed with my phone.