I used to love photography. Somewhere along the line that changed. Various reasons attributed to that and I realized along the way that I was starting to reflect that in my work. Eventually, for a while, I even stopped taking my camera to things I would normally take it. I stopped wanting to photograph anything. I would still do pictures of my children obviously, but even in those instances, the joy was not there.

So a few weeks ago I decided that I was going to change that and get back to loving it again. This is after I found an old journal of mine from High School. (yes, when it comes to memories, I am a hoarder) In that journal I talked about how much I loved photography and really wanted to pursue it. Not portrait photography, but more along the lines of landscape and still life. And I love macro photography. So here I was reading as an almost 33 year old, the writings I done a the age of 16 and realizing that I let myself get thrown off the path of what I wanted so many times. There are actually 2 things I am working on, photography and writing. But photography is the one thing that I have shared the most of that I have felt like I was not good enough at. I am now  ready to accept that I am the only one I have to please and that I don’t have to compromise my methods. So here’s to getting back what I love.

I just wanted to share what I have been up to since my time away from blogging. Crocheting has been keeping me busy and I hope to share some great pictures from one of my photographer friends soon! But here is a little peek of what’s been keeping me occupied:

I’m not the only crafty person in this house. Every Christmas my dh pulls out some hangers, zip times, some garland and Christmas lights and creates these:

His father taught him how to make them and he has made quite a few over the years. They have been a big hit with some of his coworkers. (I’m next in line for one though! lol)  I wanted to take pictures of him as he did it step by step but I think he is allergic to the camera. lol So far this is, shamefully, the only Christmas crafting that has been done in this house so far! Hopefully after Thanksgiving tomorrow I can get right in the swing of things!

I have be MIA for a while now. Part of that has been because I’ve been busy doing other things. But  I will admit that there are equal parts of lazy and lack of inspiration thrown in there somewhere.

In September my family and I participated with other family and friends in a the JDRF Walk for Cure.

My niece Abby was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes a year ago! We had a blast doing it (even if a few veered off on the 3 mile portion by accident lol)

November is actually diabetes awareness month and you can get lots of great information here: JDRF and be sure to like JDRF on Facebook!

Someone through another site I visit asked various questions to “Thirtysomething Moms” so it got me to thinking. Some of those were along the lines of “How does if feel not to be a young chick anymore”, “What about your husband wanting a younger, wrinkle free woman instead of you”, “What about the younger women around you who give you “you’re old” looks?”, “How do you keep your confidence up”..and etc.

The thing is, I am 32 and I don’t consider myself to be old. lol I’m the same person I am now at 32 that I was when I was 25. The only thing that has changed is that number. Ok, and maybe my hair color and length a few times. Oh, and yeah my weight bobbles more than a bobble head toy on a bumper car, but who cares? Right? The younger women that are in my life don’t give me a  ”you’re old” look. Perhaps that’s because I don’t hang around with women who are still stuck with a high school mentality. I’m not saying that to be mean, it’s just true. I would think anyone who did that still had some growing up to do. I don’t really do anything special to keep confidence up. I love my life and there isn’t a thing I would change so that is enough in itself to boost my confidence sky high. As far as my husband, I know that no marriage is perfect, but for me and Jason…we are each others best friend. As cliche as it sounds, we are perfect for each other. Does being married to me make him blind to other attractive women? No. Just like I am not blind to other attractive men. Do we want to be with them? No. We started dating at the age of 17, got married a little over a year together, and have been married 14 years. We are enjoying growing old TOGETHER. (let’s not forget that our husbands are aging right along with us, wrinkles and all)

If anything, my life is even better in my 30s. A friend of mine just had a real hard time because she turned 30 and I didn’t really understand. My 3oth Birthday day came and went just like any other day.  I can honestly say that I am 95% happy right now. I have to say 5% goes to that bobbling weight, and I do need my hair colored, but other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing. I think everything in life happens for a reason, it makes you who you are.  And I happen to think I am quite awesome, so why mess with a good thing?

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's that time of year again for school supply shopping! I have one child in school and a 3 year old at home. In addition to my the supplies my son will need, I also buy "school" supplies for my 3 year old. I like to fill her day with projects and learning to prepare her for her first day in school! One must have is paper for crafts. I particularly like Astrobrights Paper, so much better than plain old construction paper! It comes in 23 different colors that are much bolder than you would find with every day construction paper and is great for creative learning projects and as well as fun crafting projects. I know we will be making some cute Halloween and Thanksgiving projects very soon.  So Astrobrights Paper is great for the home and for school!

A great thing that Astrobrights Paper is doing right now is holding  the "Give a Brighter Year" sweepstakes. Support your local school by entering into the sweepstakes and you could win cash and school supplies valued at $30,000 for the school of your choice! This would be a great reward for the winning school, the need for supplies never ends! You can enter by stopping by Astrobrights on Facebook! While you are visiting (and Liking!) them on Facebook, also be sure to take a peek at the family-friendly "Make Something Astrobright" design challenge!  I would love to see what you all make so be sure to share your family projects!

Don't forget to pin those Astrobright projects on Pinterest! You can also share via Twitter, just use the hashtag #goastrobrights !

Obviously I have been in blogging funk and well as a project funk. I’ve been so wrapped up in other things I haven’t had a chance to accomplish some other things I wanted to get done. So this morning I decided that I was going to go on Pinterest and pick a project that I pinned AGES ago and finally do it. So, I chose to re-do my knife block. I had previously pinned one that was painted a cute green  with an initial on it. I didn’t want to do to bright of a color so I chose to use the Nickel spray paint that I already have on hand. This is only half finished and I don’t think the pictures do it justice at all.

Before:

After:

I do plan to add a capital “M” for my family last name. I just didn’t have a cute enough stencils. I have some really cute stencils (like a fleur de lis), but really think I would rather have the initial instead.  There is a more metallic metal look than is coming through in the picture. I think it turned out pretty good! It’s always fun to make something old, new!

I get asked often if I do my own patterns. No, I do not. I’m not quite that creative. lol I thoroughly take advantage of the skills of others. I buy a lot of patterns and I have got quite a lot from Calleigh’s Clips!! The patterns are easy to read and just downright ADORABLE! See for yourself:

As I said, I have quite  a few patterns from Calleigh’s Clips already and there are several more that I fully intend to purchase. (eventually yes, I will have them all lol) I highly recommend using their patterns! There are several great patterns for all holidays and occasions. I love all of the fall themed patterns!

You should visit Calleigh’s Clips on Facebook to see more great designs as well as for updates, sales, and new releases! If you are interested in purchasing you can find some great patterns from Calleigh’s Clips on Ravelry!

I also want to thank Goodger Photography for allowing me to use their great images! If it is possible for something to be too ridiculously cute, her images are guilty of it!

*Disclaimer: I did not personally make the items shown in these photographs. While I do make items myself this post is to show off Calleigh’s Clips and the great work and patterns they have available.

I’m not going to get into the whole issue regarding Chick Fil A. I won’t even express my feelings about the thing. (mainly because I am not quite certain how I actually do feel about it) I will say that I have had Chick Fil A and rather enjoyed it. If we are out an about, most times if there was a Chick Fil A, that is where we stop, but it is very rare that we have Chick Fil A. I would say 2-3 times a year TOPS. But back in September of last year I shared a recipe on this blog for the Chick Fil A Chicken (click here for that recipe). I never did try the recipe out for myself even though I had  planned to. So now with the new controversy I finally decided to see if the recipe was a good one.  Here is the final product:

I have to say, yes, these are pretty much spot on! They tasted very good and my son gave it thumbs up and a grade of 100. I will say that when I make this recipe in the future, I WILL be cutting the salt down. It calls for 2 Tablespoons and it was a bit much in my opinion. But this is a great recipe. Chick Fil A Copycat recipe click here!

Ok, this was actually a Saturday outfit a few weeks ago, but I had to share. My daughter the fashionista..