(MAKE)R Weekend

Hands Image

Image courtesy of Amanda Blair Dexheimer

 

Last weekend I attended (MAKE)R Weekend, hosted by my friend, Mandy. Mandy is an unbelievably talented artist who creates the most stunning ceramic creations. In addition to her talent as an artist, what sticks out about Mandy is her soul. You can see it in her work, read it in her writing, and the words she speaks.

In Mandy’s words, this is how (MAKE)R started and what it is all about:

“It was several years ago that the idea for [MAKE]R was brought to my heart by God. Women, needing inspiration, prayer, encouragement, and a weekend away from it all. As women we rarely stop. We give, and give, and pour out and take care (as we should) but sometimes the tank never gets replenished. There is only one true replenisher. And as He laid it on my heart to share my home, invest in and pray for this day that would come, He began to show me the way to making it happen. So here we are. One weekend in October and our Lincolnville abode is flooded with the most intensely creative and passionate women I have the privilege of sharing friendship with. We are going to relax, pray, worship and fill our cups up so that we can go back into the world and love and serve. Creativity and prayer are the two central themes for the weekend.”

After I read about the weekend, I knew this is something I would benefit from. Even though it was totally out of my comfort zone to spend two nights away from my family with people I didn’t know, for some reason, I knew I should do it. And I am so glad I did. Sometimes you just need to go out of your little box of routines, so that you can glean new perspective, and really, just open your mind up to new thoughts.

In addition to prayer, reflections and some great music, we spent most of the time participating in a variety of crafting workshops. There was a very loose structure, which was perfect to allow you to spend as much time as you wanted in a particular area.  There are so many times I am in the mood to craft, paint, or design something, but lack of time or the actual materials I need are usually not available. Not the case this weekend! Supplies and time all there to relish in!

Below are just a few snapshots from the (MAKE)R Weekend:

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Patty taught a workshop on making the most precious boxes out of any type of paper. Once you start making them, it becomes addictive, and you start thinking of a million ways you can use them!

 

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Working with our hands allowed time for conversation and getting to know each other.

 

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More creatives making boxes while sharing stories about their families and lives back home.

 

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Peggy’s workshop featured a technique to creating your own fabric creations. Almost like a collage onto a fabric, which you could then turn into limitless options.

 

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Mid-way through the process, as Peggy combined shapes, patterns and textures.

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Choosing What To Put Over the Bed

If there is one thing I know about myself, it’s that I am very slow to make decisions, and quite often overthink myself into decision paralysis.

One example of this indecisiveness is with my bedroom. I’ve been looking for something to put over our bed for years. Finally, I found, not one, but two options I am excited about.

OPTION 1 – Crate & Barrel’s Sunflower Mirror

sunflower-wall-mirror

 

OPTION 2: Wisteria White Antler Wreath

Antler Wreath

 

In my search to find something over the years, a version of each these have come up as options, but when I finally went looking for them on the web, the original sources no longer sold them. But with the new fall products rolling out in retail, both Crate and Barrel and Wisteria came out with a version of just what I was looking for.  At the same time.

Then came to the hard part. Deciding which one was the “right” one. I put quotes on that, because really, there is no “right” answer, but the way my mind works, the second I put one up and I knew it wasn’t the “right” one, I would be in all kinds of inner turmoil about my decision. So I figured I would put my rudimentary Photoshop skills to work in helping me decide.

Below are are the two options I liked mocked up above my bed.

OPTION 1 – Sunflower Mirror

Master-Bedroom-Wide-Shot-(with-Mirror)

 

 

OPTION 2 – White Antler Wreath

Master-Bedroom-Wide-Shot-(with-Antler-Wreath)

Do you have a preference? I was surprised as to how quickly my favorite choice jumped out at me. I liked OPTION 1 better. The gold in the mirror really added a nice reflective surface, and the gold tones against the aqua blue walls is perfect. The antlers over the bed fell a little flat to me.

Are there certain areas of your house that leave you with decision paralysis? This might be a good option for you. I know I am thankful to find out which I liked better with just a little computer work before I spent any money. Now…just to wait and watch for the right sale so I can get it!

 

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Family Movie Night

 

Don’t be jealous of this crayon masterpiece I put together last year.

 

Nearly every weekend, we all pile onto the couch as a family and watch a movie together. We started doing this about 2 years ago, and it dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that this simple, ordinary thing might end up being one of the boys best memories as they grow up. Not because it is earth-shattering or that no one else is doing it, but because we are all together and we do it on such a regular basis.

One of the things that I think we all love about family movie night is that we try to watch movies that we will all enjoy; not just the kids. We really try to watch family movies, or classics that we watched as kids, or always wanted to. As a result of this tradition, we have watched a lot of movies together in the past couple of years.

I’ve compiled our ten of our favorites. Depending on the day, these might change, because really there are so many great ones.

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – We really enjoyed the Johnny Depp version of the movie. The visuals were incredible, and we loved talking about the not so well-behaved children that went on the tour with Charlie.

2. Night at the Museum – This is probably the all-time favorite and the movie that started it all for our family movie nights. Plus, I give extra triple points to any movie that is set in New York City. Watching this movie really made the boys’ visit to the Museum of Natural History in NYC extra special.

3. Matilda – We just watched this one last weekend, and we are STILL talking about it. Such a special little story, and the characters are just so memorable. I think watching this made the boys appreciate how nice their parents and teachers are in comparison to the ones in this movie. Score 🙂

4. Parent Trap (BOTH) – The 60’s version and the 90’s version are so much fun. The boys love the idea of the kids tricking the adults.

5. Mr Popper’s Penguins – Another great family movie set in New York City. We probably watched this 2 years ago and the kids still remember how the penguins slid down the corkscrew walkways of the Guggenheim Museum.

6. The Sound of Music -This one was long…nearly 3 hours, but they really liked it. Especially the music. We kept singing songs from the movie all week long after watching it together.

7. Nanny McPhee – Such a wonderful, magical story. For some reason, the boys really enjoy seeing “naughty” kids in movies, and Brian and I especially love it when those same kids change for the good.

8. The Muppets – We all love this movie. We actually own it, and put it on for the kids on long trips fairly regularly. The music is awesome.The humor is spot on. The visuals are lively and crisp. Just can’t say enough good things about this movie.

9. ET – Another classic from our youth that we could not wait to watch with them. I remember watching this in the movie theater when it first came out a mere 32 years ago (yikes). I thought they might be scared, and they did get a little jittery with the suspenseful parts, but they quickly got over it when they got to know little ET.

10. Elf – Hilarious. Purely hilarious. I don’t know what Brian and I enjoyed more, the movie, or watching the boys crack up at the movie.

And there are still so many left to see as they grow up: Goonies, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, the list goes on and on!

I look forward to many more cozy Family Movie Nights with my favorite people and know that this is something that the kids will look back on and remember fondly.

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Boy’s Great Outdoors Bedroom

 

Mood-Board-Boys-Room-(blog-image)

 

For the past few months, I have been working on refreshing the boys’ bedroom to be more outdoors-inspired. These guys absolutely LOVE nature and the outdoors. Fishing, hunting, camping, all of it. They get it from their dad. Truth is, we have had some pretty amazing moments surrounded by Mother Nature. It’s something I hope that stays with them forever, because really, what’s more magical than God’s work?

Back to the bedroom mood board. Their room is painted the same gray as the background in the mood board. It’s a great color when you have two messy boys sharing a small room. Some of the pieces we already own, and the others are on the wish list. I am especially loving the paint-by-numbers wooden pieces from this Etsy shop.

In the end, it may not end up looking exactly like this, it’s a good exercise to see it all together.

 

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Recent Read: The Power of Habit

When I saw this book featured at several different bookstores, it looked super interesting. I couldn’t wait to dig in. I finished it several weeks ago, but I am glad I took a couple weeks to decide what I thought about it. I’m not going to give you a full synopsis because 1) you can find that on Amazon, or 2) I am sure you just want to know if it is worth reading or not. The short answer to that question is YES.

 

Power of Habit

 

Duhigg really spends most of the book laying out example after example of how powerful habits can be. He also spends a good amount of the book walking us through how habits go from being actions that we choose, to pathways in the brain that become automatic. For example, how do you get home driving your car and not remember how you got from point A to point B? It’s become a habit….and once its engrained, it becomes automatic and your mind is free to wander and think about other things.  It really is fascinating and kind of daunting all at the same time.

Here’s a clip of the author himself explaining the habit cycle, which involves a cue, a specific behavior, and your reward.

 

 

What hit me after I finished the book, was that I was now I able to start looking for and identifying these cycles in my own life (for the good and the bad). For now, I am okay with just watching and observing. Once I am ready to change a habit, it feels good that I am not going to leave it to willpower, but that I know that I will have to come up with replacement behaviors instead.

If you are frustrated with yourself for not being able kick a bad habit, or curious about human nature in general, this should definitely be your next read.

 

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