Fantastic Mr. Fox

Friday we took the girls to see the Fantastic Mr. Fox movie and I have to say it was a surprising hit in our family. Didn't know anything about it except that George Clooney was the voice for Mr. Fox and Meryl Streep was Mrs. Fox. It was delightful! The animation was really different. Don't know how they did it, but the fur on their faces moved piece by piece. It was strange and weird, but mesmerizing. I loved the plot and the actors matched up perfectly with the characters on screen.

The movie was based on this 1970's book by Roald Dahl. Mr. Fox is a recovering thief trying to live an upstanding life as a reporter for his wife's sake. The wild animal instinct in him is just too powerful to leave his old life behind. It's hilarious to see how this wiley fox tries to get out of the mess he's made. My girls laughed and laughed. Great family fun:)

Have a blessed day.

A wishful day

I've always loved Thanksgiving. The decision to stay at home alone this year was a sacrifice. I love being with all of my people on that day, so I was a little emotional and homesick. As I was fixing our big feast I had some sad Christmas music on and got all teary eyed. My peeps were playing in the basement and when they finally came up to see what I was doing, I had to inform them to stay close...mama was needy today:)

This is our wishbone from the turkey. As we all made our special wishes...Little Chick piped in and said she wished Grandpa was alive...SOB! What do you say to that?? Oh the innocence of babes.

After dinner we decided we HAD to take a walk. It was pretty cold, so we really bundled up. I'm a fast walker. It's just in my genes I guess to out walk everyone by at least 10 paces. I have to really make a concentrated effort to walk with people. Didn't know that about me did ya?? I took my camera...couldn't pass up taking pics of nature. Another beautiful sunset... thank you Lord.

After the walk I took a coma nap...you know the kind of exhausted, stuffed belly nap where you could sleep and lose all track of time. That was me. Honey was watching football of course:) Afterwards we kept our word to the Chicks and put up the tree. It was a challenge, because neither of us had an ounce of energy. Good thing the girls had enough for all of us:) These are just a few of my favorite Christmas things. I think I have a little thing for snowmen:) So how was your day? Did you eat too much? I know I did!!!

Have a blessed day.

A grateful heart and winner!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it, from the simplicity of being with friends and family, to eating a giant feast, to taking time and focusing on being grateful. Honestly I wish every holiday could be this pure and perfect. So in the tradition of Thanksgiving this year I want to take a minute and express to the good Lord what I'm happy for.

Thank you God for hugs from my girls and kisses from my Honey. Thank you for blessing me with these people who love me like You do.

Thank you God for Honey's job and the security it provides and thank you Lord for the time of struggle and worry this past year because it made me seek Your face.

Thank you God for every blessing in my life because I know You are the Giver of every good gift.

Thank you Lord for Your mercy and grace and forgiving me and extending to me Your pardon for my sins.

Thank you God that I have health and happiness, and even in those times of illness or darkness they make me appreciate how precious each day is.

Thank you God for my friends and family and the knowledge that if they know You we will spend eternity together.

Thank you Lord for your love & hope and for fulfilling all of Your promises.

I am also truly grateful for each and every person I have met through blogging this year. They have enriched my life greatly. I wish I could give each one of you this amazing cookbook, but there can only be one winner... and that lucky person is....

Blondie N' SC

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Images #1 & 2 by Alicia Bock and #3 Art by Melissa May found on Etsy

I am a cookie monster!

Okay so one week into the challenge and I have to be honest girls, I wasn't feelin' it. I'm pmsing and this week has been HARD! When I did the 21 day challenge before I did not cheat...nope not at all with the sugar and soda. This week day two... cheated, day three... cheated and so forth. I have never wanted sugar more in my entire life. It was calling me and I answered:( I'm so sorry.


Here I am starting this whole challenge thing and I blew it right off the bat. I was feeling so guilty and then I opened my Bible before bed and this is what I came to in 1 Corinthians 15:32 - ..."Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." What? Did that say go ahead and eat and drink because we all are going to die anyway? Huh? No I know I'm taking it totally out of context, but it still kind of cracked me up anyway:)


I did however get my 3 miles a day in and read my Bible! So yay for that, and I do have a new resolve. I will begin the no sugar thing...the day after Thanksgiving because let's be real people I can not turn away pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving... I just can't. So I am really excited to hear about all of you. How did you do? Are you making some life changing, habit breaking progress...please do tell. I want details:)

Have a blessed day.

***Oh and it's not too late to sign up for my giveaway.

I draw the winner on Wednesday:)

Image: oprachic.typepad.com

Our Pioneer Experience & giveaway!!

A few months ago a friend told me to check out The Pioneer Woman blog...that's when I first met Ree Drummond. She's just a normal gal that turned an ordinary blog into a mega empire. Three years ago this spunky city girl turned home schoolin' ranch wife started a simple blog. She talked about her family and life on the ranch in rural Oklahoma. She was super funny, real and sweet. She gave wonderful recipe tutorials, shared witty stories about her family and friends, and took the most gorgeous pics of her ranch. Now her site gets approximately 15 million hits a month! Can you imagine??! Well when I heard she was coming to the Mall of America for her cookbook tour I knew I just had to meet her in person.

(Look at my face...I'm like umm.. am I really going to stand in line this long??)

Little did I know that every one else and their kids had to meet her too! It was just insane the number of people that showed up. I went expecting to stand in line maybe an hour or two. I'm actually a little embarrassed to admit this, but we stood in line for 5 1/2 hours:o!!!!! Can you believe that?? At first you are thinking...oh this line will get movin'... I can do this. Then after a couple hours of waiting, there is no way you can just walk away...you've become invested in actually making it to the finish line:) It's like a marathon you have to finish:)

The perks of waiting so long... I actually got to meet her super sweet husband Ladd...aka Marlboro Man. He was really nice and had the most pale blue eyes ever. Loved his twangy accent. He really lived up to the picture in my head of a ranchin' man.

These gals made it bearable. Sally is on the left and Paula is on the right. They were big Pioneer Woman fans. Sally had read her blog from the very beginning. How cool would that be! They were fascinated that I had a blog too and asked me all sorts of questions...so that was fun. I showed them pictures of the art I've been working on and they got all excited and started thinking of marketing ideas for me. They were just wonderful!

These sweet faces are my "peeps". Little Chick looks a little pathetic...that's because we told her to look tired...ha! She pulled it off a little too easily:) They were amazing. They faithfully stood with me and didn't complain or whine. I'm just beyond grateful for a family that supports me and doesn't make me feel bad when there is something I want to do that is different or a little crazy. I just love them sooooo much. I know I was asking a lot from them to stand in line and wait that long, but they delivered 100% and in the process made me feel so loved!!

Isn't she cute?? She was really nice of course. I only had about 30 seconds to say something, and of course she had been signing autographs for hours and smiling, so I didn't expect to become soul sisters or anything.

This is one of her son's. Can you imagine how far removed this is from the ranch? The two boys were coloring at the table where their dad was signing autographs. They had sort of been drawing on each other too from the looks of things;) This picture was lying on the table. His mom... the famous "MRS. PIONEER WOMAN". How surreal!

Okay so that leads me finally to the giveaway...can you guess what it is?? Yep... an autographed copy (by Ree and her Marlboro Man) of her wonderful new cookbook, which by the way is gorgeous and chocked full of beautiful pictures, stories and good ole' comfort food!! This one was hard-earned, so to win you need to leave a comment telling me why you want to win and sign up to be a follower . I will pick the 5 most convincing comments and then draw from a hat the final WINNER!! The contest ends Wednesday, Nov. 25th. Good luck ladies!

Have a blessed day.

A little sneak peek

I wanted to share a little snippet of what I've been working on for my store. I'm doing a "Brave Girl" series and this is one of my girls. It says "There is no one just like YOU."

Does her hat look a little familiar...HA?!!

I'm incorporating fabric, paper and acrylics all together. I love this textured paper doll look. I've got 6 pieces done and I'm wanting to add 5-6 more before I open my little store:) I am beyond excited about these paintings because they are encouraging and inspirational and I think they really represent me. Can't wait to share the rest of my "girls" with you;)

Have a blessed day.

Heaven is the face

I found this video while blog hopping over at Traci Michelle's. I still get teary eyed and emotional when I think about Steven Curtis Chapman and his family. If you don't know the story already, his adopted daughter Maria was tragically killed when a family member accidently struck her in the driveway. It happens so often and every time I hear about it I just think how can they go on?? How do you live with that kind of pain? Yet through it all their family drew even closer to the Lord, and his music ministry continues to bless people all over the world. You will love this song...be blessed!

Have a blessed day.

Photo found on CNN.com

Another challenge!

I'm becoming painfully aware that I've become lax with my eating and daily exercise. I have been really busy creating, planning and preparing for my Etsy store and in the course of that I've lost track of me! So guess what? It's time for another 21 day challenge. Yeehaw! I know your excited!!!

Here are my goals:

1.) Get 3 miles of some form of cardio in every day.
2.) Lose 5 pounds
3.) Read my bible daily.
4.) Continue with the no sugar, no soda.

Who's comin' with me?? Of course I will pig out on Thanksgiving, so fear not, but let's make some positive changes before the holidays hit. I'm going back home to Illinois for Christmas and I know I want to look smokin':) So let's do it together. It helps so much to have support, so let me know if you decide to jump on board this crazy train;) We can do it!!

Have a blessed day.

PS...Thank you for all of your suggestions with my business cards.

I've decided to have all of them made!

When in doubt pick them all right?

Love you girlies:)

Image: Flickr - quack 1701

Down to Business

Creating is so fun! I just made some business cards. I added the font I wanted on Picnik and then uploaded them to Moo. I got this wonderful idea from Meg Duerkson at Whatever.





I love being able to see all my favorite pictures with my "Farmgirl Paints" on it:) Makes me smile inside.

I remember when I first started blogging. I wanted so badly for people to find me. I didn't have a clue how that would happen, but I wasn't deterred. Every day I would blog about my life, and no one but my really close peeps ever read my posts.

I would faithfully jump from one blog to another leaving comments all over blogland in hopes that maybe, just maybe someone would visit me. Now almost a year later I have my own little "following". Those faithful blog friends who daily cheer me on in life. I really have a hard time remembering what I did before.

What I'm trying to say is thank you for joining me on my blogging path. I can't wait to share my art with you soon. It's just been such a fun ride. Oh and let me know which one of the "cards" you like the best...just curious:)

Have a blessed day.

All images taken by me:)

Fashion dork?

I usually don't talk about fashion, because I don't really know that much about it. I just know what I like and if I'm lucky enough to find it... I try to snatch it up:) Well this hat is my latest little find. I loved it. Found it at Patina the other day and knew immediately it was me;) When I tried it on for Honey, he called me a dork:o Nothing can deflate a person faster than thinking they look all cute and then wham the dork comment comes out. What do you think?? This is a loaded question I know but, do I look like a dork?

Look really close. See those glittery birds in our hair...now that is dorky. See I know what dorky is:)

I remember the first time I walked into an Anthropologie store. I felt like the "mothership" had come for me and I was finally home! It was all things artsy, creative and different. The bedding was colorful and quirky. The clothes were beautiful and expressive. I just fell in love.

Then I looked at the price tags and my love affair came to a screeching halt. WHY? Why...when I finally find the store that could possible define my style does it have to be out of my reach financially?? Oh well...sniff, sniff. Even though I only buy things that are on clearance 75% off or $30.00 or less, it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for browsing. I actually get a little short of breath and teary eyed when I walk through the doors. That's a little sick I know....all that to say I was in there this week and found some great leggings. It is my lame attempt at being trendy. Have to say I love them. Nothing like wearing pajama type clothing and getting by with it;)

What is your latest fashion find?

Have a blessed day.

Simple Connection

I was driving home from my bible study the other day and a sweet memory came to me. When Big Chick was just a baby, Honey and I used to sing to her every night before bed. It was our prayer. We'd cradle her in our arms and gently sing these two songs...

Jesus, Jesus, Lord to me.

Master, Savior, Prince of Peace.

Ruler of my heart today.

Jesus Lord to me.

Because He lives...I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives... all fear is gone,

and I know I know He holds the future.

Life is worth the living just because He lives.

It was the perfect wrap up to the day. In one song we told the Lord what He meant to us and in the next we reflected on why we felt that way. I think a prayer doesn't always have to be a "prayer". Singing a song or reciting a special passage of the bible is just as intimate. I know a lot of the time I repeat myself or just don't know how to pray. He was reminding me that drawing near to Him can be as simple as singing a song from the heart. Do you ever struggle with prayer?

Have a blessed day.

Photographs available on

Etsy - Kyle Jacobs Photography

You changed my name!

My mom just got the wonderful privilege of hearing Beth Moore speak last weekend in Springfield, IL. I just wanted to share some of the footage of their praise and worship time. The song that plays with the video is really powerful...take a minute and listen to the words.

Living Proof Live - Springfield IL from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Have a blessed day.

The new j.o.b.

Today we played hookey from church and took a little fieldtrip to downtown Minneapolis to see where Honey's new office is. He's been getting adjusted to a new job with a much longer commute and bigger stress load. Thank you Lord for this new job!

We had to warm up his space with some pictures and plants.

The girls were so impressed with the city and his office.

They think "dad is cool" ... so do I.

It's not easy pushing yourself out of your comfort zone...doing things that make you uncomfortable. Growth and change are hard...remember the butterfly? Well that's what Honey is right now...a caterpillar wrapped in a confining shell. He's in the transformation stage. The cocoon is isolating, painful and scary, but so worth it. The thing is I can't even help him right now. This is something he has to work out on his own.

It's been years since I've worked outside the home. If I was to have his job, with his workload, this room is where I would want to spend all my time...the comfort room:)

And this chair would be my safe space...ha:) Why is it when we feel overwhelmed we just want to run away??

Thank you babe for not running away:)

I'm so proud of you.

Have a blessed day.