Get Messy | July Prompt

I'm so excited to be joining Get Messy and art journaling.  From the little bit that I've been seeing, this is a great group of people who support one another.  I think the world could use a little more of that.

So, my first pages...ever!  

This first one is a page I created for my One Little Word prompt for July.  We were told to make three goals.  One for you, one about giving, and something to celebrate.  My goal for me was to work on getting healthier.  I bought a fitbit it is definitely getting me out walking more often.  (Check back on Monday and you can read more about my progress.)  Giving was a little bit harder.  I knew it would be something that would happen on its own, rather than something I preplanned.  I sent post cards to my kiddos.  It was something so simple, yet they loved getting snail mail from me!  I love that family so much!  And then celebrate...we took our first family vacation in seven years.  And it was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  I've posted about the first day here, more is coming. 

I took a slightly different approach to the prompt.  I know the prompt was completely hypothetical, but I'm not throwing a party and the idea of planning one right now is a little stressful to me.  So I journaled a little bit about my entrance into art journaling and created a someone into page to the beginning of my book.  (Still need to make a cover...what should I call this book, thoughts?!)

Get Messy is an art journal challenge where a gang of crafty vixens are sharing art journal pages we have created to practise our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. We share our pages without restraint every week, and once a month we create around a prompt. Go check out these crazy talented ladies who are creating pages who each have a unique perspective and style. We will be sharing our work around social media so follow the hashtag #getmessyartjournal.

Week Twenty Nine

July 19, 2014

Taking it all in as we begin our 9 day family vacation.

P.S. Yeah, we travel light.... :)

Family Vacation: Part One: South Dakota

On Sunday we got back from a 9 (that turned into10-thanks to our car breaking down) day vacation.  It was the first time in seven years that we went on a family vacation that was outside of the state we live in and to a state we have never been to before.  It wasn't like most vacations, ones where you go to one location and just sit and relax.  It was full of travel.  Lots of car time, driving through National Parks and watching sunsets over countless fields.

The trip totaled almost 4000 miles as we travled through six different states, purposely traveling to three of them.

We left on Friday, right after I got off work and traveled north to South Dakota.  We made it about 2/3rds of the way to our first destination.

On Saturday, we drove through the Badlands National Park.  My dad drove through this park when he was eight so this was nothing new to him.  On the other hand, mom and I were fasinated by the rock formations.  It was breathtaking, but in a rough way.

For lunch we stopped at Wall Drug.  The food was good and the place was packed.  

After lunch, we drove through Custer State Park.  We spent a little extra time here, because mom and dad thought they saw Needles Eye Rock.  They were wrong.  It was just a rock between two peaks.  They didn't believe me until we drove right next to the rock and saw visitors snapping photos of this infamous rock.

^^The REAL Needles Eye Rock.

In the evening, we traveled to Mount Rushmore.  To be honest, when we were planning the trip, I wasn't very excited about this stop.  It was one of those 'you have to stop and see it while you are there, but you don't really want to.  You've seen it so many times on TV, it won't be any different in real life.'  Thankfully, I was very mistaken.  We got there when there was still sunlight and got some day photos.  We made friends with a group of German boys as we waited for the sun to go down.  And then we waited for the evening performance.

Here we were, in the sea of thousands of people, all who are from different states (and countries), who have nothing in common.  It was loud as people did their own thing, And then the National Antham played over the speakers, and all was quiet, except for the thousands of people singing together and honoring our country.  It was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip.

 ^^Yes, that is mine.  Yes, we travel light :)

 ^^ The photo I got with the lens in the previous photo.  Don't worry, I got one of each of the presidents.  Just sharing this one because it's my favorite.  No, this is not cropped, it is straight out of my camera

On Sunday, we got up and traveled to Crazy Horse.  Again, dad had seen this monument when he was eight, but it looked very different this time around.  It wasn't my favorite part of the vacation, but I'm glad I saw it.

Then we began the long trek to Wyoming and Yellowstone.  On the way into Wyoming we stopped at Devils Tower.  This was the first time on the trip that all three of us saw something new.  On the drive to the park, we saw buffalo, our first wild animal sighting.

The rest of the day was spend driving to Bozeman, MT as we got ready too tackle Yellowstone the following day.

Celebrate Abby's Birthday

My sweet girl turned 13 this year.  

So thankful to have this pup by my side.

Watch Fireworks

We didn't do too much for the 4th of July.  Mom and I went for a morning walk while D golfed.  In the afternoon, I read a book out on the back patio (and got some sweet tan lines along the way)  For dinner, dad grilled hamburgers and we had baked beans and corn on the cob as the sides.

But a 4th of July isn't complete without some fireworks.  Since we didn't buy any this year (and our normal fireworks display was out of town this year) D and I decided to see the fireworks the city put off.  Sure, we assumed it would be busy, but we didn't expect the roads to be packed with cars a few miles away from the display area.  The closer we got to the fireworks viewing site, the more crowded it got.  The streets were lined with people sitting in their truck beds or on lawn chairs.  There were even people lining the highway ramps and peopled pulled over on the side of the highway.  Since we had no where to go, we got on the highway and turned around at the closest exit to head back into town.  As we were on our way back into town we could see the fireworks display going off.  We had the perfect view from the highway.  So we did what everyone else did and pulled over and watched the fireworks on the side of I229.  We were completely alone, snuggled in the confines of D's SUV, yet surrounded by almost everyone that lives in our town, as we all came together to celebrate our countries birthday.  It was completely unplanned, so different from any other 4th of July I've ever had,  and yet it was so perfect.

Double Date

Week Twenty Eight

July 11, 2014

Double date at the Royals Game!

12of12 | July 2014

Well, this 12of12 hit on a weekend and I carried my camera around with me all day, but took 10 of the 12 photos with my phone.  Ugh...  

Anyway, here is my July.

01.  Morning play time with Rory.
02.  Breakfast.
03.  Rory was looking for the eye shadow.
04.  Made friends with the people at Le Creuset.
05.  My first visit to Oklahoma Joes.  So good!
06.  Hanging out at my favorite store in KC, Crick Camera.
07.  Family portrait at Restoration Hardware on the Plaza.
08.  Stocking up on this year's Christmas ornaments.
09.  Made a quick stop at home.
10.  The photography essentials for our summer vacation.
11.  Pizza for dinner.
12.  Our guard tiger cat.

Week Twenty Seven

July 4, 2014

OLW June Goals

Instead of setting intentions for the year, I am setting 3 goals to accomplish each month.  Goals that will create moments.  Goals that are attainable.  Goals that are things I need to get done.  Goals that will make me a better person. 

1.  Get Bailey family photos into a book | Yeah, still didn't happen, but there were times I really thought about starting the book.  That's much better than before when it never crossed my mind.

2.  Farmers Market | Done and had a blast.  I definitely want to go again later this summer and make a day of it.

3.  Do 2 pinterest projects | I picked 2 out.  One of them needed some background information and I'm working on adding that.  As June ended, I began to think of things I wanted to work on for July. Even though I set three attainable goals each month, I've gotten into a really good habit of not completing these tasks, despite how simple some of them are.  I've also been in the habit of starting a project (i.e. buying supplies) with good intentions on working on said project and yet all the tools sit in my basement waiting for me to come around to them.

At the end of June I bought a ftibit.  For Chirstmas I got a Silhouette Cameo and waited until April to get it out of the box.  (I've wanted this machine for about a year!! How could I let it sit that long and not get used!?)  I have no idea how to use this machine with the exception on how to cut out basic words.  I've been intreged about the Letterpress class on Studio Calico and caved and bought the class bundle (class 1 and 2), but have no idea what to do with the tools.  I'm not even sure I have all the correct tools I need...  So in a nutshell, I've jumped into way too many projects at one time and the water is way over my head.  That doesn't even metion keeping up with Project Life, One Little Word, the two other photography projects I do on my own.  And then, of course, add regular everyday life into the mix.

Where does the time go!?

So at the end of June I sat down thinking the best way to get to the surface. I picked the following prompts and I had to laugh because when I opend the prompt on July first, I noticed that two of my three goals fit right in with Ali's prompt.  July is already in my favor!

-  ME | Actively use fitbit this month.  I need to get in the habit of really taking care of myself.

-  GIVE | Still thinking on what to do with this one.  I think it will be a spur of the moment thing, not something I plan out.

-  CELEBRATE | Plan family vacation.  We've been talking about this for a year and I'm happy to report it will be happening this month.

-  Learn my cameo with the Cameo Basics class through Studio Calico.  I bought this class during sale thinking it would force me to finally learn my machine.

This month I have 4 goals, just becasue the Cameo Basic class is going on this month and I want to make sure I do the July prompt.  I think July might be a really good month.  One full of many moments!

Around Here

Joined the fitbit bandwagon this week and I'm kind of enjoying it.  This week, my main goal is to see how much I'm walking in a normal day (vs. trying to walk the suggested 10,000 steps). So far it's been roughly 5,000 steps.  Not great, but it's so much better than what I thought it would be.  I was expecting it to be closer to 1,000 since I sit at a computer all day at work.  I've been documenting my food intake and trying to stay in those goal parameters.  My goal is to lose 8 pounds by my beach trip in September.  That means, 1 pound a week.  I can't believe September will be here that fast!

Since February, there has been talk about dad trying a new trial for Multiple Myeloma.  They have been drawing this process out as long as possible, and this past Sunday dad went to St. Louis to see if he qualified.  He did not.  I don't know many details about that except that the trials they have already done has shown no progress for Multiple Myeloma.  It is more that the drug failed, not dad.  So that's somewhat good news.  They suggested he should go back to the regular treatment plan.

Since he isn't on any treatment right now and will be starting treatment here soon we decided it was go time to book our family vacation.  Our first family vacation that is outside of the state and a place we've never been to before since dad was diagnosed four years ago.  This vacation is one that we have been talking about for a year.  One that we will experiencing new places and places that dad has always wanted to take me to.  It is going to be awesome and incredible and I can't wait!  Don't worry, I'll be sure to share our journey later this month.

As far as projects go, I'm staying caught up with project life.  I still need to do May's prompt for One Little Word.  July is in progress and it strangely lined up with my personal goals I've set for myself this month, which is awesome!  I'm hoping to share the first 6 months of my One Little Word album soon.  And my summer bucket list has been coming along nicely.  I've marked a lot off, and still have a lot more to go, but it's turning into an remember-able summer!

And to top it off, today is Independence Day!

Life is pretty awesome right now!Happy 4th of July friends!

Buy the new Ed Sheeran CD

Oh yes, so loving this.

Plant Flowers

A few weeks ago, Dakota and I spend an entire Saturday in his yard.  

We planted two pots.

We planted the lily and day lily out by the driveway.

We planted flowers in the decorative house hanger and in both of the front windows.

We planted in the planter by the shed and found a place for the hydrangea that I bought almost a month ago.  This area is far from being complete.  It will most likely be a project to tackle next year.  But his house looks so awesome right now.  Very beautified and full of love.

Week Twenty Six

June 28, 2014