Day Twenty-Eight: The last piece of art I made…

I suppose the last piece of art I made was a scepter for a coworker's Halloween costume. She is going to be the Queen of Hearts and asked if I would be willing to help her make the scepter for the costume. It looks like this:

It was fun to make and I got to use a lot of glitter (even those cards have gold spray glitter), so I'm pretty excited to have made something for someone else. I am giving it to her tomorrow- hopefully she will love it!

Day Twenty-Seven: Beautiful things…

A lotus flower:

 

A Frenchie Puppy:

A perfect song, like Oh My Sweet Carolina by Ryan Adams

A New England Autumn:

A Dickens Christmas:

Day Twenty-Six: If I had 15 minutes to evacuate my home before it was destroyed, what 10 things would I bring (not including people or pets)

1. The pearl and sterling pin my grandfather gave my grandmother. It was the first piece of jewelry he gave her back in 1943.

2. My purse, filled with photos (yes, my purse is big enough to hold a lot of photos).

3. The letter my grandpa wrote to me not too long before he passed away.

4. The Tiffany necklaces my husband bought me- one was our second Christmas together and the other was a gift on the morning of our wedding.

5. My makeup. Don't judge me. I have a ridiculous amount of makeup and it's a lot of money and effort in those 4 containers of wonder.

6. The vanity my mom got me as a high school graduation gift. It's cherrywood and a beautiful antique.

7. The diamond earrings my dad gave me on my 21st. They were my great-great-great grandmother's.

8. The bird cake topper from my wedding and the frogs that went next to the cake.

9. The jacket that belonged to my dad when he was the Ruben Kincaid of "Rock Island". It's this great polyester jacket from the 70's. 

10. The cherrywood sofa that belonged to the same great-great-great grandmother. It's tone on tone pink polka dot. It's perfect.

Day Twenty-Five: The nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.

This is a tough one, as no one has ever donated a kidney or saved my life. I suppose the nicest thing, or most important thing anyway comes from my parents (mom specifically since she birthed me) for being so selfless in giving me life and raising me with such great regard for my well-being. They always put themselves second and my needs always came first. I think being a parent is one of the biggest sacrifices and nicest things that one could possible do for someone else.

Day Twenty Four: 4-5 relationships that have had the greatest impact on my life

1 and 2. My parents

My parents were married until I was nine, but even after they split they still parented as a single unit. I will never be able to show enough gratitude for that. I am really close to each of them and so appreciate their hard work and love.

3. My husband

OK so I had to put the kid picture of my husband up because it (along with the recent photo) exemplifies his personality so perfectly. Not only does he exemplify unconditional love, but he keeps me laughing.

4 and 5. My maternal grandparents

My grandpa and I spent a lot of time together when I was little (as I was his only grandchild). We used to go to Foster Freeze and have vanilla cones dipped in hard chocolate shells and Wendy's for chicken nuggets. He taught me about music (he sang barbershop) and we watched Green Acres and Wheel of Fortune just about every time I was at his house. I hold him responsible for a great deal of influence on me, and I am so grateful to have had the time I did with him.

After my grandpa passed away when I was seven, my grandma and I become a heck of a lot closer. She is so wonderful (I can't think of anyone who doesn't adore her) and she's one of the few people in my life I am taller than. I enjoy every moment I get to spend with her, and I love hearing about her stories from when she and my grandpa first got together and when my mom was little.

Day Twenty-Three: In the next year I'm going to...

try to be ok with just going with flow and letting life happen as it might. Now that I am married and have a career, there isn't a whole lot more I could ask for. Of course there are things in my life that I would like to improve upon, but I'm pretty happy with the path my life has taken. I'd like to try to make an effort to just go with the flow and accept life with all it's gifts and bummers. I think the ride will be that much better and I will experience a lot less stress if I just take things as they come. 

"When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...
And always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life..."
-- Monty Python's Life of Brian

Day Twenty-Two: Life changing books I've read

Ohhhhh... where to start? OK, to really narrow it to "life-changing" books, I have to limit it to the following:

Twelve by Nick McDonell

drug addiction, violence and sex among wealthy Manhattan teenagers. Twelve is the name of a drug is much like a cross between cocaine and ecstasy.

The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

holden caulfield. teenage confusion. angst. sexuality. alienation. rebellion.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

nine-year-old boy named Oskar Schell searches for information about a key that belonged to his father, who died in the 9/11 attacks.

Night by Elie Wiesel

novel about Wiesel's experience with his father, Shlomo, in the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in 1944–1945, at the height of the Holocaust.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Novel dealing with manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of early 19th century England.

Bright Lights Big City by Jay McInerney

Unnamed main character- a writer who, by day, works as a fact checker for a high-brow magazine and By night, he is a party-goer, a cocaine user, seeking to lose himself in the hedonism of the 1980s yuppie party scene, often going to the nightclub Heartbreak.

I'm sure there are about a dozen more, but I have to limit it to these few. Read them. They'll probably change you as well.