30-day challenge: day eight

a picture that makes you laugh

i dunno, i think this pic is pretty funny...

we laugh a lot at work!  i don't know what i'd do if my coworkers weren't such a joy to have around!

rhonda :)

brunch, anyone?

you can tell i'm a true crafter, because it's been a gorgeous weekend, and i've been inside creating things!  lol!

yesterday, we had homemade pancakes and fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast, while entertaining our nieces.  today i decided i'd use up some of the bananas and applesauce laying about my kitchen in some muffins.  i tweaked a recipe i got from a google search (from sotastysoyummy.blogspot.com).  here's my version-- yum!

banana applesauce oat muffins

ingredients:

2 mashed ripe bananas

1 1/2 cups applesauce

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour (or 2/3 cup whitle/1/3 cup whole wheat flour-- i was out of wheat)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup quick-cooking oats

directions:

preheat oven to 35o degrees and grease a muffin pan or line with 12 muffin cups.

in a large bowl, combine banana, applesauce, egg, vanilla extract, and brown sugar.  in a small bowl, stir together the dry if the ingredients.  gently stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture.

fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter and bake till golden brown, approximately 25 minutes.  remove muffins from pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

makes 12 muffins.

i guess i'll take advantage of this early spring weather and go out walking with the family, but then it's back inside-- i've got some earrings to make today!

rhonda :)

30-day challenge: day six

a picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

this was a tough one, since i rather like my life and the people i spend it with, and i realize that no one is without faults, problems, worries, anxieties, fears, etc.  however, i guess, since my ultimate goals are to be organized and financially stable, i would trade places with martha stewart.  she is, at least on the outside, very happy, organized, creative, resourceful, and way more than financially stable!

on that note, i think i'll go clean something now...

rhonda :)

30-day challenge: day five

a picture of your favorite memory

my favorite memory, by far, is my wedding day!  i was a princess in a beautiful dress with all my favorite people around me!  and the best part:  i got to introduce my husband to the world as the person i will spend the rest of my life with!

our wedding took place on our first anniversary, and most people did not even know we were already married.  we had about 130 guests, and my mom did almost all of the work-- she ordered the invites, picked the flowers, hired the photographer and dj, found the reception hall, got the limo, arranged the salon session, bought my dress and accessories...  all i did was the table arrangements and chocolate favors!  and normally i'm a perfectionist, but on that day i threw away all my concern for things to go exactly according to plan, despite all the snags:  a missing bridesmaid bouquet, light rain, miscommunication w/the limo driver so that we only had a couple hours of time, forgetting the floral arrangements at the church, having to take pictures inside, not getting california roll in the bridal suite...  these things didn't bother me at all, as i sipped champagne, danced with my husband, and had the most wonderful day of my life!!

rhonda :)

30-day challenge: day four

a picture of your favorite night

mike, me, rob (yes, that's yoda on his back!), and jenn

this picture was taken just before sundown on a very magical night!  2010 marked our 5th year attending the gathering of the vibes, a 4-day music and arts festival held at seaside park, in bridgeport, ct-- my hometown!  this may not be my favorite night of all time, but it is definitely high on the list!

on this night, i donned a pair of fairy wings, dropped the kids off at grandma's house, and had a fabulous time:  i hung out with my best friends, partied and danced, listened to the ocean rise and fall, joked and laughed, snuck into an awesome dubstep set by mix master mike, nearly froze my butt off, bought a makeshift poncho for ten bucks, and ended the night witnessing mayhem and debauchery at mcdonalds-- good times!

was it the fairy wings?...

rhonda :)

type the sky!

being an early childhood educator, i love what i saw on facebook today-- the alphabet formed by voids in the sky from city buildings!  absolutely stunning, it always amazes me how people can see more than what is really there!  the other day my son saw a heart in the melted snow on a pine tree, and it took me a few minutes to see it too!  (i wish i took a picture of it!)  i have a very literal mind, but i'm always searching to find hidden pictures and images in everyday things-- no such luck!  

check out the full article here.  

rhonda :)

"type the sky":  i think i'm going to hang this in my classroom!

the classic butterfly alphabet

found-object alphabet:  genius!!

30-day challenge: day three

a picture of the cast from your favorite show

ah, my guilty pleasure...  in case you don't know (and why would you?!!) this is the cast of degrassi:  the next generation.  you probably watched the original degrassi when you were a kid.  or, if you are young enough, you watched it as part of health class in school, as one of my coworkers did!  she said she didn't even know it was a "real show!"  lol!  but when i discovered the new show a few years ago, on the n (now called teen nick), i was hooked!  not only was it nostalgic-- i did watch the original!-- but it showcases great moral messages for kids, without being boring!  sure, the acting could be better, but the show did actually spawn a few breakout stars:  click here to learn more!

rhonda :)

30-day challenge: day two

a picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

this one was a little tough, since the person i am closest to is my husband rob.  but i also have two beautiful best friends, pictured above, whom i've been friends with for over 24 years, and we are pretty close.  we used to be even closer, but as our families grow and change, as our careers develop, and as our creative passions evolve, we continue to move in different directions.  one of my goals this year is to reconnect with both of them, so i can feel that sense of sisterhood that i once felt.  not having a sister of my own, that's what jennifer and tameka are to me...

rhonda :)

30-day challenge: day one

a picture of yourself with 10 facts

ten things you should know about me

(in no particular order)

1.  i love doing arts & crafts, hanging out with 4-year-olds, and reading children's books.

2.  my 4 favorite food groups:  mexican food, pasta, deep-fried anything, and chocolate!

3.  i have a master's degree in reading, but i'd really love to be an art teacher.

4.  i have quite a large collection of giraffes, of various sizes, from various places.

5.  i love shopping, but i don't like to spend a lot of money.

6.  i clean when i'm bored, stressed, angry, anxious... but i hate doing laundry!!!

7.  i love to take pictures and someday i'll take a photography course.

8.  i started making beaded jewelry during naptime at work, and now i can't stop--
thanks to suzie for the inspiration!

9.  my ultimate goals in life:
* to be debt-free
* to be totally organized
* to be just rich enough to vacation 2 or 3 times a year

10.  my favorite color is yellow, i wear a lot of green, and i absolutely can't stand red!

okay, so i hid some extra things in there, but it's so super hard to just say 10 things!  there are actually at least 10 more things i want to include...

rhonda :)

the 30-day challenge in pictures

i saw this on a friend's facebook page and thought it was an awesome idea, so i snagged it!  for the next 30 days i will be posting these pics.  it actually doesn't look too challenging till you get a ways down the list and realize how creative you have to be to get a picture of "something you wish you could forget" or "something you wish you were better at"!  this should be fun...

rhonda :)

Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of your favorite night
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do things with the most
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture and a letter
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your favorite day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

happy valentine's day!

last night was rough!  wait, let me backtrack:

i hate store-bought valentines!  you know the ones-- you rip them apart, fold them, fill out the "to" and "from", and stick them in a ziplock baggie in your kid's backpack.  and these days, most teachers prefer them to be left blank, so they can just shove them in each kid's bag in a couple minutes and call it a day!  this practice is soooo impersonal it kills me!

i thought the point of valentine's day was to celebrate love and friendship!!  years ago, kids would sit with construction paper and doilies and glue and ric-rack and make special, one-of-a-kind valentines for each of their closest friends.  and now, we chuck unlabeled cartoon character cards in bags, making sure we have "one for everyone in the class!!", with absolutely no sentiment!

6 years ago, my son, who is now 8, began celebrating valentine's day in preschool, and i refused to go the store-bought route.  so what did i do?  i gave him watercolor paints, brushes, and doily hearts, and i helped him paint one for each of his valentines.  and they were beautiful!  and he loved handing them out to each of his friends and his teachers too!  and all was right with the world!

over the years, i've had another child, and both my children have more and more classmates as the years go by... and of course it's gotten much more difficult to make 20 or 30 valentines from scratch for each of them!  so we started baking cookies...

cut to last night:

one kid played video games, the other one (tired w/a cold) went to bed early, and i was left alone, for over 2 hours, to bake over 5 dozen heart-shaped, colored sugar- and non-pareil-sprinkled cookies-- mixing, rolling, cutting, dusting, baking, cooling, bagging, labeling...

i'm absolutely exhausted!!!  and i often wonder if i'm just putting in way too much effort!

that being said, i love valentine's day!  i love seeing everyone in their red and pink, girls in their prettiest dresses, bows in their hair, boys in collared shirts!  i love opening up heart-shaped boxes, collecting handmade cards (i did receive one or two), and eating pink cupcakes!  and i especially love hearing how wonderful it was that i brought some of my cookies in to share with my coworkers!

happy valentine's day!

rhonda :)

the healing collection

i've recently added a couple more bracelets to the "healing collection" in my shop.  in case you don't already know, the healing collection is:

little crystal and gemstone duos to boost your confidence and mood with their various healing powers...

*vision (moonstone)-- enhances intuition, provides mental clarity

*success (citrine)-- promotes proseperity and abundance, dissipates negative energy

*self-esteem (carnelian)-- boosts ambition and drive, clears the mind

*nurture (jasper)-- brings tranquility and wholeness, absorbs negative energy

*dream (jade)-- promotes positive energy, courage, compassion, humanity, wealth

*psyche (aquamarine)-- opens up the psyche

*change (amethyst)-- brings about change in life and consciousness, promotes victory

*warrior (garnet)-- brings victory, peace, and tranquility

*vitality (peridot)-- brings healing to the whole body, promotes joyful energy

*calm (iolite)-- promotes calmness, self-connection, sobriety, and detoxification

*heart(aventurine)-- grounds emotions

*balance (unikite)-- maintains balance between the spiritual and physical lives

*ground (onyx)-- brings balance to mind and body, aids in changing bad habits

*passion (tiger's eye)-- enhances courage and strength, attracts wealth and luck

*inspiration (sodalite)-- promotes creativity, unites the logical with the spiritual

currently available

success

calm

change

self-esteem

warrior

each bracelet in the healing collection is about 7.75 inches long, with either a sterling silver or gold-plated lobster clasp.  need a different length?  want one that's not pictured here?  let me know, and i'd be happy to make it for you!

rhonda :)