Maybe a Little Surprise

I've got something brewing for which I'm currently over the moon. OVER THE MOON I tell you. You'll probably not think it's as cool as I do - but I'm hoping.

In a week or so (hopefully) it will be done enough to release? unveil? whatever... in a week or so I want to tell you what the surprise is. In the meantime, things may be a little light around here.

Snow Day Salsa

Mr. Hagen is addicted to salsa. Salsa before bed, salsa with every meal, salsa, salsa, salsa. I can enjoy a good salsa, too - but I'm a little picky.

Picky eaters find their way in life. Whether by refusing to attend dinner parties, or learning to cook things their own way, they clear a path for themselves. Since I cannot say no to a party, I made salsa!

On top of that, we had 4 or 5 inches of snow and ice here, and all I had in the house was a pile of oranges and LOTS of canned goods. This recipe uses almost only canned goods and dried spices. Perfect for snow days when you can't make a dash to the store.

Here's the recipe:

2 tsp of minced garlic

1 jalepeno diced

I sauteed those on the stove for just a bit until I could really smell it - plus, I've had a cold for like, 8 months now, I think - so my smelling isn't at the top of its game.

2 7oz cans of Salsa Verde

1 7oz can of chopped green chiles

1 13oz can of tomato puree

1 1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

about 1/8 cup of dried cilantro

1 tsp each of cumin, onion powder, garlic salt, and red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp of Chipotle powder

I let all the ingredients simmer on the stove for about an hour, let them cool, and then poured it into some cute Ball Jars and stuck it in the fridge. Which of course was the first thing Dave grabbed when he came home from work. His opinion - "Mmm. Good salsa, buddy."

Hosting Squatters

Little ideas creep into my head sometimes. They make their beds and hang artwork and plant shrubs around their yards, and they decide to never ever leave because it's just such a warm and cozy place to live. I've become accustomed to these ideas. I'd even go as far as saying that I enjoy their company. They're always there when I need just one more thing to distract me, just one more project to start. If none of you get that same feeling - it's kind of like craving a certain food. You just can't enjoy any other meal until you get a big plate of that one thing you've been craving.

One such idea decided to take up residence with me last week while leaving an Arby's drive-thru. It started as a joke idea between my friend Angie and me because we LOVE the Arby's ladies. Cheery, sweet, funny, quick service, they call us darlin'!, etc... perfect drive-thru experiences every time. Let me just interject here and say that we get seriously giddy on our lunch breaks. It's like, our weight-lifting and exercise time in the prison yard wherein we get to smell the fresh air and pretend we're just like everyone else for just 30 minutes a day. So sometimes we act totally crazy and end up yelling things out the window, or screaming bad Kelly Clarkson songs at the top of our lungs. Anyway, the giddiness of that joke morphed into a serious idea. A small, nesting, squatter idea that wouldn't consider just passing through. So... here I am.... 4 days later, getting started on the logistics of manufacturing, selling, and the way the world will change because of this lovely idea. I've made a prototype on the computer, and I'm considering getting the idea printed and putting it through a trial run. It's not really a money making scheme and may not be appreciated by the masses the way I imagine it would.

But for now, I'm sitting here chatting with the sweet little guest while we have a cup of tea and talk strategy with one another.

Prayers for Haiti

Like many of you, I've been glued to the news in the past day. After the earthquake in Haiti, so many people have been tweeting information, sending out links, asking for prayer, and sending money to disaster relief efforts.

I've been watching news clips, reading headlines, and looking through some honestly devastating pictures of the aftermath.

Because I can't give much myself, I'd love to help you help the hurting people of Haiti. Through next Tuesday, I'll be donating 75% of all my sales on Etsy to Disaster Relief. If you'd like to help in this way, click on the link below and just place an order.

Thanks so much for your help.

The Teal Nightmare

Just since being married, Dave and I have had 7 vehicles... hardly ever 2 at once. But right now we do have 2 at once, and I cannot express to you how thankful I am for that luxury. I love not having to walk to work. I love not having to wake up at 5 am any longer to drive Dave 30 minutes the wrong direction to the studio, and then another hour to work. I love being able to leave the office for lunch breaks, and not have to sit in other people's pee on the bus.

That being said...

Since moving to Nashville, a mere 2 1/2 years ago, we have spent, not kidding here, at least $3,000 on car repairs. Brakes, mufflers, engines, tires, lights, seatbelts for crying out loud, exhaust systems, every type of fluid that can go into a car plus some that shouldn't, gauges, plugs, wires, cables, anyone else want to poke their eyes out, batteries, filters, wheels. If it weren't for the fact that I'd have to go back to sitting in other people's pee on the bus, I am often tempted to push my car off a very tall, very beautiful Tennessee cliff. My car is loud and smelly, it's teal, it's old, it's always sticky (how does that happen?), and it is currently sitting at my house, 30 minutes away from here because of its recent temper tantrum. My car has also been healed of some mighty demonic forces that have gripped it in the past. Sounds have suddenly disappeared though we've done nothing to fix them, overheating magically stopped one day, even though there is still a hole in the radiator, thus leaking coolant. Albeit, once the overheating stopped, it also froze three times. I guess at least freezing doesn't smell like burning oil.

But today. Today has driven me to a point of no return, I think. I'm pretty sure that my months of Financial Peace classes with the Dave Ramsey fan club (did you know that Dave Ramsey even goes to my church? Really, he does.) are about to be casually left on the side of the street in a burning mass of sticky teal metal. As I posted on facebook, here was my morning:
6:50 - turn car on, in hopes that it magically warms up in the next 10 minutes.
7:00 - get in the 10 degree car and ignore the chugging, as usual.
7:02 - Call sleeping husband to ask about a brand new noise - clunking.
7:04 - clunking stops. Good news.
7:04 - car dies. in the middle.of.the.road.
7:05 - car starts back up, chugging continues, clunking gone... along with power steering, heat, and alternator.
7:06 - drive home and do my very best pout-tantrum at Dave while telling him adamantly that I am NOT going to work after all that.
7:10 - get in Dave's truck and head to work.
8:00 - at work. 2 cups of coffee. don't mess with me.

On a completely unrelated note... anyone have a car they're giving away?

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas, friends

A Miniature Christmas Party

A Chrismas fort? This was Dave's contribution to the party :)

A Christmas classic - The Grinch Who Stole Christmas

A Christmas Tradition - making cookies

Wreath Cookies Recipe:

• 1 stick of margarine
• 3 cups of small marshmallows
• 3 cups of corn flakes
• 3/4 tsp of green food coloring
• just a bit of vanilla
• red candies (or in our case, sprinkles)

1. Melt margarine and marshmellows over medium heat
2. Add corn flakes, food coloring, and vanilla
3. Remove from heat and scoop little mounds onto wax paper
4. Decorate with candy or sprinkles

I'm So Productive, I Could Spit!

I'm not sure where that phrase originated; it's pretty strange. But for this week's purposes, it fits.

I am down to five days and I've only got 3 gifts left that must be done before we leave on Wednesday. I've got another 7 that need to be done sometime before New Years and I'm not even stressed about it. Granted, those 7 will be the hardest gifts (why, why do I insist on sewing projects every year?) So, if you're keeping track - that means I've finished TWELVE gifts in the past FOUR days. Considering I didn't do any yesterday, that's stinking impressive. Am I allowed to say that about myself? Well, even if I'm not, I'm sure you're thinking the same thing.

Ok - side note. I'm listening to Pandora's holiday mix right now, and B.E. Taylor's "Angels We Have Heard on High" is playing right now... you know, the part where it just repeats, "glo-o-oria, in excelsis deo" and he actually just sang the words, "talkin' 'bout gloria." Isn't that hilarious?

So anyway, things are getting accomplished left and right. Tonight is the Christmas party for my tiniest friends. We're making cookies, watching a Christmas movie, opening a few little gifts, and listening to fun Christmas music. If I can figure out my new camera, I'll be sure to get some pictures. Dave has been practicing the camera very much in the past week or so, and has got some great pictures. I'll try to post some in the next few days.

I hope you all are having as much of a fun, productive, festive, magical? December as I am having.

Breathing In

This week will be busy. That' an understatement, I suppose, but I'm quite certain you're all experiencing some busy this week too. Most of all, I'm in yikes mode because of the ridiculous number of crafts I have yet to finish. But here's a quick rundown of what I've got in the next few days: finish/start/come up with ideas for 22 remaining Christmas gifts, attend 2 pre-school Christmas plays, host a miniature Christmas party for 4 kids (5 and under), clean the house and make cookies for the party, babysit, dogsit, go to my mentorship meeting, ignore the clunking, overheating, and check engine light in my car, and one last (hopefully) trip to Hobby Lobby.

Now here are a few things I'm thinking this week to keep me sane.

- My husband is great. He will help me if I ask him to. He doesn't know how to sew or make leather journals, but he's good at dishes and hugs... and I need that just as much.
- My friends will forgive me 1000 times over if I don't finish their gifts before Christmas.
- 9 days until I see my sweet, loving family again. Also 9 days to finish 22 projects. But mostly, 9 days until family time.
- These crafts are just accessories to Christmas.
- The King came to a stable as a perfect child so that I could have a life with meaning. I need to ignore the meaninglessness of shopping and packaging and cookie baking and really breath in the meaning of friends, family, sweet little faces, and giving.

Merry Christmas Bonus

Though we weren't sure it was going to happen this year, Christmas bonuses were passed out on Friday. With much MUCH excitement, a very unexpected bonus, and a bit of puppy dog eyeing, Dave and I finally got a new camera! It's a Nikon D3000 for all of you who know anything about cameras... which does not yet include me. I'm learning though. Here is an example of the first pictures we've taken... and an example of how wonderful and festive my weekend has been.

Friday night was the Nashville Christmas parade.

It was cold, but it was worth it.

After the parade, we went over to the Griffin's house and had hot cocoa and cookies. This is Allister, who was also on the news that night. A news crew saw him at the parade and "interviewed" him. Which was a great idea, on their part, because he is stinkin' cute.

Saturday, I did a whole lot of this. Christmas decorating, listening to Christmas music, playing with the new camera...

And today, I did a whole lot of this and one trip to the grocery store for the first time in, I don't know, a month and a half. Apparently it was the wrong day to try that. I got all the bustle without the hustle of the season. After an hour and a half of maneuvering my cart through the madness, I came home, made dinner, started a Christmas project, and did a bit of blogging. Now, it's time for It's A Wonderful Life, more Christmas crafting, and some more pajama time.

A Quick Little Poll

I'm planning to create a tutorial this month based around one (or two perhaps) of the gifts I'm making for Christmas. Please comment here with what you'd like to see me make into a tutorial. Here are your choices, folks:

1. Pajamas - kids sized
2. Leather journal
3. Small wood-working project
4. Small painting (no artistic talent required)
5. Tote bag painting
6. Christmas ornaments

You may vote for more than one, but keep in mind please, that I currently have THIRTY ONE! Christmas gifts to make in the next 20 days and that I may not get around to creating 6 different tutorials.

Givin' Thanks

Here's the crew after Thanksgiving dinner. Top left is Jonathan and heading clockwise, Emily, Dave, me, Trysta, Steve, and Christina. Right in the middle is mom and dad, Brian and Regina.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here are a few things I'm especially thankful for this Thanksgiving:

1. The support I've had for my artwork from all directions. This year marked my first attempt to sell artwork, my first art show (besides high school), and my first sale. I couldn't be more proud of myself for venturing out finally to try these things. I so appreciate the encouragement and love I've received from you all for these ventures.

2. New friends. I joke about divorcing my friends this time of year, because I have way too many Christmas gifts to make now that my list of close friends and family is growing. But in all honesty, even if I go broke from it all it was worth it. In the past few months I've made some friends that I know I'll always have. I've never in my life had such an awesome group of friends, and I am beyond thankful for their special place in my life.

3. Old friends. You too! I'm glad you are still putting up with me.

4. A job. I don't know if you've noticed this, but I tend to grumble about my job. I AM thankful that I've got a job, that my coworkers are loving, generous people, that I can rely on a paycheck twice a month, and that what we do here is a good, good thing.

5. Family. It seems obvious, I suppose, but I am seriously thankful for my family. I've been given a great husband. You know that. I've also got some amazing friends built right in - my big brothers, Jason and the Steves (which sounds like a good band name to me.) Big sisters, Chris, Jen, and Trysta who are all so cool and talented. Little sisters, Emily and Christina around whom my whole world turns. And the newest addition of a.. sort of, I guess... little brother? Jonathan, I don't know if you're comfortable with that yet or not, but it doesn't even matter because you're in the family picture this year and we love you for all kind of reasons, but especially because you make The Bean happy. And of course, Dave and I have been blessed beyond measure with two of the best sets of parents ever. Really. Ever. They're stellar.

Birthday Man

Gushing is probably a good word for how I talk about Dave on this blog... so I'm going to leave it simple today.

Happy Birthday to the best husband ever. Seriously, he's cool. Love you, buddy.

Atlanta or bust!

This weekend was awesome. This is us in the car - we are so cool with our sunglasses on, right?

This is where we ate breakfast. Fanciest restaurant I've ever been in... and the breakfast was free because we told them we were there for Dave's birthday. Awesome blueberry and oat muffin.

This was the view from our room.

And this is our room. Amazing. Hands down the nicest place either of us had ever stayed. We felt like we were tricking the hotel staff into thinking we were wealthy. Thank you to Priceline.com for the 50% off hotel stay, thank you to restaurant.com for awesome coupons, thank you to Mom and Dad for the fun at Medieval Times, and thank you Dave for not freaking out about money the whole weekend. :)

Tonight we're going to have dinner out with our wonderful Nashville friends, because Dave works tomorrow evening (his actual birthday). It kind of feels strange to be married to a 25 year old. It makes me feel like a grown-up or something.

A Whole Year

Just popping in quickly to tell myself Happy Anniversary. My blog is ONE year old today. I can hardly believe it! I'm actually quite surprised that I've kept it going this long. Here's to many years to come.

This weekend, Dave and I are taking a mini trip down to Atlanta. His birthday is next week, and we're going to celebrate by taking a much needed vacation.

I'll be back in a few days! Have a great weekend, friends.

Watercolors

So, in high school I really found my love for art. I always enjoyed doing arts and crafts, doodling and such - but I never really felt like an artist until high school. I didn't even take my first real art class until my junior year. At that time, I started learning the basics. Different types of paints, how to sketch an accurate point of view, shading techniques, etc. and I was in love. I started thinking of ways I could incorporate art into every class. Which made the coolest Algebra notes of all time, but not the coolest Algebra grades... ahem.

One thing I dabbled with a tiny bit in high school but never really fully understood was watercolor. If you've ever painted with watercolors you know that the setup takes much, much longer than say, that of acrylic painting. Acrylic - canvas, jar of water, tube of paint, you're ready to go. Watercolor - watercolor paper, jar of water, tube of paint, masking fluid, board for mounting paper, tape for mounting paper, paper towels, paint a little bit, wait for it to dry, paint a little more, wait for it to dry, etc. I am not that person. I don't sit and wait on projects. I sit down in front of the TV, or next to the iPod dock, and I do it. Start to finish. Or start to never ever going to finish sometimes (usually when I'm not happy with the start.) But, I don't often work in stages. So, when the mandatory watercolor projects were finished, I stopped.

Then came several years of hating doing art (because it was ALL mandatory) followed by the period that I'm in now where I'm falling hard in love with it again. So, I decided to try my hand at watercolor again. I bought some masking fluid and went to town. I ended up with this little (and QUICK!) project, and I couldn't be more pleased. I have a feeling someone will be getting some of these for Christmas.

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Woman Named Grumpelstiltskin

One of the best jobs I ever had was working retail. Sounds crazy, I know. But I loved it. I worked with some really really wonderful people, had flexible hours, and got to be surrounded with beautiful products all day. Of course I had days that I didn't want to be there, or times when my feet hurt from standing at the register all day, but I was happy working there. It wasn't a glamorous position, I didn't make much money, and there were no benefits. And I really loved it.

One of the worst jobs I ever had was also working retail. It was a dark, dingy art supplies store. I worked every shift alone, wasn't allowed to have visitors, and was pretty afraid of the owner, actually. It smelled like Swisher Sweets and mold. Not exaggerating, my busiest day there, I had three customers. I think it was three weeks of working before I quit. That was the only job I quit because I didn't want to work there. Of all the jobs I've had, the only reasons for me to leave were because I was moving to a different town or because I was going back to school. I am loyal to a fault, have been worked hard for little reward, very often get frustrated with my office job, and am realizing lately that this is normal.

It’s kind of sad, right? That most people don’t enjoy their work. I get two days a week to work on the things I enjoy. Two days that are supposed to be a weekend – for me to paint, be creative, to surround myself with people I choose to be surrounded by... and the rest of the week, I do what I’m told, I follow procedure, and I get increasingly grumpy. I feel very much like I was tricked into believing, at one point in my life, that people can do whatever they want to do in life. Maybe this grumpiness is a normal feeling for someone who has just been out of school for a few years. Someone who majored in Creative Writing and Art and Design especially, perhaps.

All that to say… is this normal? Do you find yourself becoming increasingly bitter towards your “real job”? Or is it just me?

Sufficient

I've talked about Depression here before, and how it affects me and the people around me. Today, I'm feeling good - so don't worry, mom and dad, but I do want to talk a little more about a specific time when "the funk" as I sometimes call it, got ahold of me. I told this story to a friend yesterday, and was reminded of how powerful it was... or is, I suppose.

The year we moved here to Nashville was hard. Really, really hard. I was alone almost all of the time. Dave was working 80-90 hour weeks with many nights spent out at the studio. I had no friends or family in Nashville, the closest ones were 8.5 hours away. So I spent a lot of time by myself in our 530 sq ft. apartment. I spent a lot of time feeling sorry for myself and a lot of time spiraling into the deepest depression I've ever experienced. One evening, I was dropping Dave off at work for another 2 or 3 day period away from him and trying my hardest to not show him the sadness I was feeling. Basically as soon as he got out of the car, I broke down. I don't remember a time in my life where I was crying harder than I was on that drive home. I pulled over a couple of times because I couldn't see the road through my tears, and when I finally made it back to the apartment and pulled into the parking lot - I had had enough. I was sad and angry and alone, and I couldn't deal with it any longer. I remembered the verse in 2nd Corinthians that says, "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." And that made me more angry. I cried harder to myself and to God, and I said, "YOU SAID your grace was sufficient. YOU SAID you wouldn't give me more than I can bear. Well this is it. This is not enough, and I'm not able to bear this. I can.not. live like this. WHERE ARE YOU?"

I walked inside to the apartment still sobbing, still feeling sorry for myself, still unable to handle the sadness. When I woke up the next morning - it was gone. The anguish, the tears, the hurt... all gone. It's as if God was standing next to me the entire time I was falling into the depression, holding His hands above me with all the grace and love in the world, and that He was just waiting for me to ask Him for it. He wanted so much to let me feel that, but I was too focused on my own despair to come to Him and ask Him to wrap me up in His arms. As soon as I did, He opened His arms wide open and I finally felt it.

His grace is sufficient. And His power is resting on me.

Oh Dear.

I just decided to do a little organization of ideas. I realized that I have 35! people on my Christmas List this year. That list is just for my "homemade" Christmas friends. I was going to take a picture of the list and explain it to you, but then I realized I don't have time to do that and that there are more people on my list than there are reasons for me to waist time by blogging about how many people are on my list. If you're one of the 35! people on my list who are getting a handcrafted gift from me this year, I may become increasingly bitter towards you as the holiday season progresses. It's only because I love you and I'm an insane person, and insane people do this kind of thing. Bear with me as I begin my Christmas crafting. Oh heavens, here we go.