Sweet 10K on a cold Tuesday morning

Some mornings it's hard to roll out of bed. Today was NOT one of those. For some reason, at about 5:55 AM my eyes popped open and I climbed out from under my cozy, warm covers and headed straight for my running gear.

 Love when that happens! No arguing with myself. No inner voice tempting me with fifteen more minutes of sleep. No bribing myself with some forbidden treat later. Nope. On went the pink Stephens College hoodie and my turquoise New Balance shoes and out I went, down to the park, sweet talking my tired old muscles into believing it'll be OK, just 3 miles.

Nope. Some days after I plug out the first couple miles I gradually feel better and better rather than more and more tired. So I set my goal at a 10K. Sweet. My fitbit tells me success was mine at 6.44 miles in 38 degrees at 07:13. 

Ahh. I just love to start my day like this. Great run, home to a hot cup of coffee, banana greek yogurt, homemade cinnamon bread and the internet.

Now onto lighting up my creativity up with some cute, new Stampin' Up! stamps and Hillsong music.

This is a quick little card I made with the "Beautiful Ride" stamp set from SU.Gotta love a love bug.
Hope you have the opportunity to enjoy your day with some good company!

color color color, you can never have too much color!

                Oh jeez, I need more alcohol markers! I need more colors. To say I have the major color groupings, well, maybe. But there are so so so many colors and colors make me smile.

                Remember the Harry Chapin song "there are so many colors in the rainbow, so many colors in the morning sun, so many colors in a flower and I see every one".

               Take the time to look at a cloud, it's not white and gray. So many reflections! Look at a black shiny teakettle. There is blue, purple and yellow. See that green leaf? You don't see it until you see the yellows and browns and muaves.

                       I made this for my best friend. There are many more colors than red and green going on here! Doesn't this card just make you happy?

                      Here's to hoping you see something like you never have before. New colors. New eyes.

guarding your heart

you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

we've all heard that.

listen up friends. guard your sweet, tender,  loving heart.

i wanted it to be real. so real. so so forever.

 no one knows what lies in the heart of a person. not even our own heart.
 our own susceptible, longing, lonely hearts.

waiting on the love that heals. waiting on Jesus. 

not shy

Over the last few months I've been reading about personality types. People are so difficult to understand sometimes, or maybe I just read too much into actions versus words. And introspection comes naturally and frequently for me.

One thing I have discovered is that I am not shy. I have been told that, and hence repeated that, all my life. ALL MY LIFE. Like it is a deficiency. Like it is a faulty characteristic that needs to be changed. Now mind you, I am 56 freaking years old and doing a Myers Briggs personality study.

So, learning that I am an introvert has been somewhat freeing. Only somewhat, because a life time of voices in my head and in my face are difficult to silence. However, a wonderful discovery is that I am not alone. Not a bit. There's lots of us! And lots of introverted personality types that believe they are alone. Un-loveable. Un-likeable. Un-valuable. NOT TRUE!!

Now, I am on the path to convince myself I am created to be just like I am. Purposefully and wonderfully made. Comfortable with being alone. Not just comfortable....but crave it, need it, have to have it. And just as craving and needing to be connected with someone who understands this and LOVES me like I am. 

And I do not like small talk. Trivial chat. Personal, one on one conversations, that's what I enjoy. Parties? So uncomfortable. It's not that I don't want to talk to people.
No wait. It is. Ha!

So, the journey of self discovery never ends. Trying to make it an adventure :)

come on...this is you!

the same

i pled for death

i fled my life

i bled my heart

i shed my pride

i'm red in shame

i dread the words, the tears, the same

smiles that make it to your eyes

     Going into the new year and day dreaming about what it will hold. 

Already having an introspective type personality, give me a monday or a first of the month and I wonder about what's coming. 

But give me a January first and whoa nellie, hours of praying and hoping and planning 

(and fretting, to be honest). 

Seems to come down to this for me, for the most part. 

I want my smiles to reach my eyes. Smiles that light up my heart, make my eyes all crinkly and wrinkly. Smiles that draw others in and push out the darkness. Smiles that seep all the way into all those weepy cracks and black crevices in my heart.

Smiles like this. 

Hoping and praying for my smiles and yours in this coming new year.

we all need a little pretty

One of my very most favorite things to do is create something pretty or cute or sweet or funny or unusual. Usually that involves paper and ink and coloring. Lately that involves alcohol ink markers and various curious stamps. HA!!

Today, it includes pretty.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season!
Merry Christmas!!

something to make us smile!

There are some people in this world who can always make me smile. Always make me feel better about humans. This lady is one of them. She is an artist and from everything I've ever read about her, read by her or seen by her she is a kind, beautiful human. 

http://www.susanbranch.com/

Here is something she has on her blog. I love it! 

And here is another. 

I hope you find people who make you smile today and believe in the kindness of humans.

searching for merry

     There is a new Christmas movie out called Love, the Coopers. Not knowing what to expect, my husband and I went to  local,  small theater thinking we would see the usual Christmas comedy, seasonal humor and light hearted nonsense. Suprise! This was a really creative look at family relationships during the holidays. The characters were well developed and the laughs were out loud! Warning, tears streamed at times also, but that's just me. So... I highly recommend it!

And here is a little chuckle for you! 

Have a great weekend!