A Month of Firsts

Last year on October 1, Stacy Julian spearheaded a Blog Blitz that focused on celebrating “the present” where we each created a mini, mini scrapbook of our present life.  I think it’s fitting that today, as she revisits this concept one year later, that our newest month of the Big Picture Scrapbooking workshop, “A Life [...]

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Download Day – Becoming

I have had a few opportunities this weekend to think about this idea of “becoming.”  There are so many events and moments in our lives that mold and shape us into who we are – for good or not so good.  How we choose to react to our circumstances, moment by moment, shapes our character [...]

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Scratch & Dent Sale

Recently I bought an ottoman from overstock.com.  It wasn’t too big and didn’t eat up the whole room, leaving no space for Jason.  It was made of leather so it’s easy-to-clean with no sharp corners for the Cole-meister.  And it had the storage area I was looking for.  But the best feature was the price [...]

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Savoring Motherhood

From the very beginning of my pregnancy I decided that I wanted to try and savor the experience for the simple reason that  I’m not sure if I will have the chance again to go through each step and phase of motherhood.
But savoring the experience doesn’t make me have any less of a need to [...]

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The Essence of Cole + Giveaway

I’m trying to get some work done before our family reunion tomorrow (80 people!) but in the meantime, I had to post our new favorite photo of the Cole-meister.  In spite of his diaper rash (thank you to everyone who gave me good remedy ideas on Facebook) he still wakes up happy both in the [...]

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Hope: The Misunderstood Sister

A short article called “Hope: The Misunderstood Sister” by Larry Hiller has recently helped me put into words what hope is not as well as what it is.
It may be the way it’s commonly used: ‘I hope the car passes inspection.’ Or, ‘I hope the weather will be nice for the wedding.’  Used this way, [...]

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Postpartum: Strategies for Overcoming

As I wrote this title, my first thought was that I could have left the “Postpartum” part off and this post would still apply.  Whether we are dealing with depression, financial difficulties, physical health issues, problems at work or with family members or anything in between, there are strategies for overcoming our challenges.  I firmly [...]

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17 Years & Counting

Happy Anniversary to us!  We’ve been reminiscing our wedding day 17 years ago today – how is that possible?  I still feel like I am at least in my twenties and here I find myself approaching 40.
We’ve come a long way, baby.

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Postpartum: Choosing Joy

I know that my blog is called “The Art of Choosing Joy.”  I have taught a Big Picture Scrapbooking workshop with the same title.  But my month-long bout with postpartum has given me a reason to pause and really think about that phrase “choosing joy.”
In dealing with all of our challenges with regard to Jason’s [...]

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Book Review

I am a book junkie.  I have an account on Goodreads.com.  I am organized by nature.  But although I love the idea of it,  I have had a hard time keeping track of my books on Goodreads.  I entered a whole slew of them in the beginning but haven’t been interested in keeping track after [...]

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