Find Your Voice Summer Workshop

The last couple of summers I have participated in a summer workshop. (You may remember the fun Creativity Boot Camp posts.) I've mentioned before summer is a rough time of year for us when Noah is out of school. I enjoy participating in these type of workshops because they force me to be creative at a time of year when scheduling time to be creative is hard. So I was excited to learn about the (free!) Find Your Voice Summer Workshop. 

The Find Your Voice Summer Workshop is a free eight week class that is all about embracing, finding and practicing with your storytelling voice taught by the talented Kristin and begins on Monday, June 24th, 2013. Each Monday morning lessons will be made available on the rukristin blog and in the Find Your Voice Facebook group. Each week's lesson will include thoughts on several topics pertaining to the theme of the week, a coordinating worksheet, and several creative prompts. There will be inspiration from contributing team members in each week's pdf as well more inspiration as in a follow up blog post each Wednesday.  I'll be participating in the class and then sharing my projects here as well as on the Coley's Corner Facebook page. I'm also excited that one of my besties, Monika, will be participating in the workshop as well! 

If you'd like to participate, you can find more information here. If you sign up, be sure to drop me a note and let me know! I'd love to come check out your projects! 

"This is the Stuff"

Do you ever have those days where absolutely nothing goes right and everything seems to go wrong? Today, seems like one of those days for my little family complete with massive Noah meltdown and seizures. Followed by a mini Momma meltdown once Noah was asleep.

But even in the midst of the "stuff" I'm reminded that in the middle of the mess (food on the floor thrown there during the meltdown, dog barking, messy kitchen, crying Momma) that it could be SO much worse. And I'm blessed.

And so I choose to find joy in the midst of it all. I find joy in the texts and notes from friends, from songs that feel like they were written for me, for outlets, an understanding husband, parents who will listen when I vent, amazing friends, and a God who loves me in spite of it all.

I leave you with this song which felt like it was written for me tonight.........

We're Still Here!

I promise we are still around! I actually have a couple of posts in the works for you guys. 

I think I am coming out of the slump! I am feeling better mentally and although it's really cold and rainy outside at the moment, spring is on the horizon  At any rate there is more sunshine now that the time has changed and I can see a difference in my mood. I'm entering my busy season as we plan for the annual BirthMom Buds retreat. 

It's spring break this week. We are surviving. Noah's had some meltdowns and really rough moments but there have been some good moments too. Noah has some big things coming up: baseball, JOY prom, and Special Olympics. 

For now, I thought I'd leave you with a collage I made of Noah and Granddaddy dyeing eggs on the Saturday before Easter. 

The Best of 2012

As the current year closes, I always take some time to reflect back on what all has happened in the year. I decided to do this on the blog with a Top 10 posts of 2012. These posts are a combination of my favorites and yours.

1. Pretty Purple Punch

2. Year End Teacher Gifts

3. Mamarazzi Defined

4. Tender Moments

5. Baby Onesies

6. Yarn Wrapped Vase and Votive Holder

7. Chevron Flag

8. JOY Prom

9. Glittery Candles

10. Clemson Quilt 

September and Fall Decor

Yay, it's September! I always get excited when September rolls around. There are so many things that happen in September every year - birthdays (ME, my Momma, and Charlie), football, Miracle League Fall baseball season, and although the temps here in the South will still be kinda hot for awhile, it feels like the onset of fall and there are so many, many things that I love about fall.

I debated on the Coley's Corner Facebook page earlier in the week as to when I should begin putting out my fall decor. Is now too early since it is still pretty hot? One person responded saying that she puts hers out on October 1st but that's when I put out my Halloween decor so I have decided that for me the first of September is good for fall decor (though it's not out yet and my cute owlie wreath won't be out for a little while since my team pride wreath is hanging), first of October for Halloween, and first of November for Thanksgiving. I realize I'm probably rushing things a smidge but this was a long summer and I'm just so ready for fall!

When do you put out your Fall decor?

Happy Mail

Don't you just love "happy mail?" I do!

Recently I received some very happy mail from a friend.....

It's a box full of foam brushes! 200 of them to be exact! 

She found them on sale for a great price and thought of me. 

I am blessed to have great friends.

♥

Happy Friday!

A Letter from Ghana

Each year, my Mom packs many shoe boxes for the charity Operation Christmas Child. She always includes a card she created on her computer that includes a photograph of my Dad, herself, and Noah. She writes a little bit about herself and Noah and also includes her address.

Well, this week Noah received a letter from a 10 year old boy who received one of the shoe boxes in Ghana, South Africa! How cool is that?!?

Noah is pretty excited and we are planning to write Justice back very soon. His letter to Noah was so cute! 

If you don't know much about Operation Christmas Child or to learn how you can pack a shoebox for a child in need, check out this webpage for more details. 

A Sweet Surprise

One day last week I walked out on my front porch and found a surprise waiting for me. It was a FDT Flowers box. I recognized it and immediately knew I had received flowers but wasn't sure from who. I opened the box and found some beautiful springy flowers and a sweet card from some of the BirthMom Buds thanking me for all the hard work I do. Suddenly the random questions about flower allergies that my friend Monika asked before made sense! 

It was so out of the blue and made me feel very loved and appreciated. Thank you to my girls who sent the flowers! I love them!

Happy Easter!

I hope all of you have/had a great Easter!

This past week Noah has been on Spring Break which is why posting has been so sporadic. Hopefully this week after I play catch up on some things that I didn't do while Noahie was on break, things will get back to normal with the posting on the blog but this is my busy time of year with the BirthMom Buds retreat in less than a month so posting may be lacking a bit until after the retreat!

Good Boy Roy T-Shirts

Back in December, my Mom and I each had tables at the annual church craft fair. Across from us were a teenager and his Mom working their own table selling t-shirts. I listened as the Mom told someone about their t-shirt line which is called Good Boy Roy.

Her son, Zack, was the actual creator of the shirts. Zack struggles with OCD, depression, ADHD, anxiety, and Tourettes. Zack enjoyed drawing cartoon characters and drawing was something that always seemed to calm him down. One day his Mom decided to have one of his characters put on a shirt. He loved it as did other people thus beginning their t-shirt line which they named Good Boy Roy.

Zack explains: “The first character that came to life on a shirt was Roy, mom thought we should call him Good Boy Roy. Like me he really is a good boy but sometimes does things he should not do. And that is what I have always said after something happens that I did not mean to happen, I always say "I really am a good boy", so Roy is kind of my alter ego.”  Source 


We purchased the “Christmas Roy” shirt for Noah.

(click photo to see larger view)

I love it – and so does Noah. It looks so teenagerish. But the line is not limited to seasonal shirts. Some of my favorites are God Rocks, Sports Zman, and Bullies Make me Angry. The line isn't just limited to shirts for guys either - there are a few girly versions like Laughing Lizzy.

Of course, I had to ask Zack if he had ever thought of doing a character in a wheelchair. He has and it is in the works. We'll be purchasing that one when it becomes available.

Go to the Good Boy Roy website and check out all of the cool shirts as well as a few other products. You can even sign up for a newsletter to be notified of new releases.

Full Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC regulations): I was not compensated in any way for writing this review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.  I think the shirts rock – it’s that simple.

One Little Word 2012

Last year around this time of the year I saw many bloggers posting about choosing one little word to focus on for the year. This year, as 2011 rolled around to a close, I began to think of a word that would be a good focus word for me for 2012.

Ultimately, I have decided upon on breathe.

I decided on this word for many different reasons. Let me give you some scenarios of instances in which I want to remember this word……

When spring baseball starts and I’m watching Noah and my Dad round the bases through the lens of my camera and I have a huge smile on my face, beaming at my boy, I want to think to myself “breathe” and breathe in the moment. I want to breathe in that moment and store it in my heart for safe keeping.

When Paisley is barking, dinner is burning, the microwave is beeping, Noah is fussing, it’s raining, and J is running late, I want to think to myself “breathe” and get through the moment.

At the end of a busy day after a long day of multi-tasking, I want to soak in a hot bubbly bath and breathe in the solitude.

In May, after a hectic and slightly stressful time of planning the annual BirthMom Buds retreat, I want to remind myself to deeply breathe and let myself enjoy what has been planned.

I’m naturally a sort of high strung person. This year, I want to slow down, breathe, enjoy and soak in tender moments with family and friends. I want to slow down and breathe through the stressful moments.

I've signed up to take Ali Edwards year long One Little Word class at Big Picture Scrapbooks and am excited about it. I'll be periodically sharing the journey with all of you.

Have you chosen a word for 2012?

Edited to add: I completed my first layout for the One Little Word class. Check it out here!

Top 10 of '11

As the current year closes, I always take some time to reflect back on what all has happened in the year. I decided to do this on the blog with a Top 10 posts of 2011. These posts are a combination of my favorites and yours, based on stats.
(Click the links to view the post.)

1. Defining Noah

2. 2011 Special Olympics

3. All You Ever Wanted to Know about Freezer Paper Stenciling

4. Thrifty Paper Storage

5. Bookcase Makeover

6. Noah's 15 year old Portraits

7. Not So Scary Haunted Houses

8. Crafty Caddy 

9. March of the Penguins

10. The Best Christmas Present Ever

Goodbye October, Hello November!

October was a busy month that seemed to fly by. Like I did last year, I decided to make a collage of photos from the month of October. (Note to self: Do this for other months too and not just October!) 

And now it’s November. Holy Smokes! How did we get to November already? That means Christmas is in the near distance. But Thanksgiving comes first! And Thanksgiving is at our house for the second year in a row – holla!

I’m going to attempt to post every day in November as a part of NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) but we’ll see how that goes. I do have some posts in mind but there are some great writing prompts at Blog Her if I get stuck so maybe that will help me if I get writer’s block.

The start of a new month always means I change my desktop background. This month I used a lovely autumn background from Shabby Princess.

Happy November First! What do YOU have going on this month?

It's October!

Happy October, friends!

One sort of fun thing that the first of new month brings for me is changing my desktop background. This month I choose a fun Halloween themed one from LeeLou Blogs. I decided to use a picture of Noah from Halloween 2008 dressed as a Wizard because it fit in well with the purple in the background.

October is going to be a busy month! My first craft show this year is in October. I'm pretty much ready but just need to package things up and I'm making some fall themed candy type treats that I'll be finishing up and blogging in the next week or so. J and Noah will be taking a little day trip to Charlotte, NC with J's work to go to Carowinds (while I am at the craft show.) Noah doesn't know about this yet but I know he is going to have a blast and will be excited. He loves riding roller coasters!

October also means the obvious - Halloween. Last year was the first year Noah hasn't dressed up. I asked him what he wanted to do this year. He doesn't want to dress up but has requested an orange shirt with the itsy bitsy spider on it. So I'll of course be working on that soon!

October is also the month Noah was born! He'll turn 15 on the 25th so I have a small party to be planning!

I hope to finish getting my Halloween decorations up tomorrow. So I'll share that with you all too. Lots of good stuff coming up so stay tuned!

The Moment We'll Never Forget

Ten years ago today, on a beautiful September morning I was in the last trimester of my pregnancy and on bed rest. I was listening to the radio as I did every morning. Close to nine, I remember hearing two of the DJs talking about a plane hitting the world trade center. I turned on the TV to see if they had more information. I saw Matt Lauer and Katie Couric talking about the plane crash, mentioning the bombing at the World Trade Center from the 90's but acting like this was a possible accident. As they were on the phone live with a witness, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a plane circle the towers and all of the sudden there was a ball of fire and smoke. At that moment, when the second plane hit, that's when it was blatantly obvious that this was not an accident.

I continued to stare at the Television for the rest of the day as I watched both towers fall live intermittently answering the phone, making a phone call, or going to the bathroom a gazillion times. I felt so far away from the people that were affected but watching the coverage made me feel closer. I couldn't tear myself away. I wanted to do something, but there wasn't much I could do. So I watched and I prayed and I cried and I prayed some more.

Growing up, I had often heard my Parents and Grandparents talk about where they were when JFK was assassinated. It was a moment that they would never ever forget. September 11th, 2001 was the big moment of my generation - it's the moment we will never forget where we were when he heard the news, who we were with, and how we felt. It's now written in history books but we will provide the personal connections to that moment for our children and grandchildren and so on.

We won't forget that moment. My thoughts are with all those affected by the events of September 11, 2001.


Linked to Remembering September 11th at 5 Minutes for Moms

Are you Ready for Some Football?

College football season is upon us! The first game of the season for “my” team (it’s the team of my hubby and son so I assume it’s mine too by default) is Saturday. I have a love/hate relationship with football……

Actually, hate is too strong of a word; I should use dislike. Ok, so I dislike football because from now until the season is over our Saturdays are ruled by the football schedule, more importantly the Clemson football schedule.  If you were to call me and say, “Hey, Coley, do you want to inert-chosen-activity-here on Saturday?” I’d respond with, “Hang on and let me go look at the football schedule.” Seriously, I do and would!

Secondly, if our team should lose (eek, the four letter L word!) J turns into Mr. Grumpy Pants. And while I will always love Mr. Grumpy Pants, I don’t like him. (In the interest of full disclosure, it should be noted that I did know that J was a Clemson football fanatic before we even went on our first date so I wasn't blind sided by this later on in the relationship.) Lastly, I don’t know much about the actual game of football and I don’t really understand it. My brother is appalled by this because we pretty much grew up AT football games and he doesn’t understand how I can’t know much about the game. But I’ll get to why in a second.

I love football season/games for the social aspect of it. My parents are die hard Mississippi State University Fans and we went to games pretty much ALL the time as children growing up in Mississippi. Some of my fondest childhood memories are on that campus with my parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. As a young (I’m talking 2-3 years old) the fun part of football games was going up and down all the steps to the bathroom! (I don't know why I found this fun, but my Mom tells me this was all I wanted to do at that age at football games.) Then as I got a bit older, the fun part of games became “cheering” complete in my MSU cheerleading outfit. (See embarrassing picture for proof!) In high school, the fun part of football games was just being there with all my friends and walking the track scoping out the boys. Now, the fun part of football games is either the tailgating , having friends over,  going places to watch the game, and making fun/cute food to enjoy during the game. So now, can’t you see that I was always way too busy doing other things during football games to actually pay attention and learn the basics of football!?!

Happy football season, friends! May your team always win…. Just as long as they aren’t playing ours!

September Days are Here Again

I'm excited for September this year! Lots of birthdays this month (yours truly included), the Miracle League fall season starts, and it means fall is a step closer! I'm so ready for the temps to be cooler, to pull out jeans, long sleeves, and fuzzy socks, and to cook soups in the crock pot.

Every month, I change the desktop background on the computer. I always look at a couple of different blogs and choose one. The one I chose this month features a back to school theme and is from Shabby Princess.

Happy September friends!

MIA Last Week, Busy this Week

So, you may have noticed that the past week I have been unusually quiet........  That would be because I have been SO sick. I don't want to get too graphic into what all was going on because it wasn't pleasant so I'll just say that I was not able to keep foods down to the point that I ended up severely dehydrated and at the hospital receiving IV fluids. Those IV fluids have really perked me up and I seem to be feeling better. I'm still feeling weak but at least I am now improving!

I have fallen behind on housework and the usual Mom/wife stuff since I have been sick so (although I do have to give a shout out to my wonderful J for doing such an amazing job juggling things while I was sick - he washed almost all of the laundry over the weekend!) so some of this week will be spent resting, recovering, and catching up on what I have fallen behind in, but I'm also hoping that this week I will be able to post another project I finished for my creative studio soon and then finish up some smaller projects in there and share those with you soon. This week, we also have to get Noah ready to go back to school. His first day back is Monday so that means a small shopping trip sometime this week for new shoes that I promised him and Open House at school on Thursday.

What's on your agenda for this week?

Coley's Corner on Facebook

After reading multiple articles about blog networking on Facebook, I jumped on the bandwagon and created a Facebook page for Coley's Corner. Thought I'd share it with my readers so you can go check it out and better yet go "like" it! 

Friday Favorites # 7: The One with Father's Day Stuff

 It's been a rough week and I had a limited amount of time and energy for blog reading but below are a few of the things that stood out to me this week.

Crafting

Clothesline Photo Display

I love this picture frame created by Lemon Tree Creations. If you look closely, there is twine inside the glass-less frame and the pictures are attached with tiny clothespins. This would be fun because you could easily change out the photos. 


Flower Statement Ring

I enjoy wearing statement rings on occasion and this flower one from It's Sew for You caught my eye. Would you believe that's a button? It looks simple to make. 

Summer Sign

This fun, bright, and playful sign from Once Upon a {Craft} Time is perfect for summer. I love the saying.

Family Clock

Landee from Landee See, Landee Do took an old clock and complete transformed it into a beautiful and meaningful clock. Look closely at the clock and you'll see family photos in the place of the numbers. How cute is that! 


Recipes
Ultimate Summer Salad

The hot weather has me craving a lot of salads and when I saw this recipe at Vivre Kitchen I knew I wanted to save it and give it a try. It looks yummy!


Frozen Fruit Pops 

These frozen fruit pops at Gina's Skinny Recipes look delicious containing fresh fruit and a splash of juice. They look perfect for a hot day! 

Father's Day

I know Father's Day is Sunday but if you are running last minute with a gift for dear ole' Dad these next few links are fast printables that you can whip up in a jiffy.

Word Search Father's Day Card

Interactive card from Paper and Pigtails

Tie Candy Bar Wrapper 

Print and wrap this tie wrapper from The Idea Room around Dad's favorite chocolate bar. There are 6 different wrappers to choose from.

Printable Cards

There are several different cute cards to choose from over at Tom Kat Studios. 

Special Needs

Signs of the Special Needs Mom

Lastly, this post by Heather over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs gave me a good laugh. I must admit though I don't have it quite that bad!

Happy Friday!