Just As I Am

simple seasonal changes

Living in Florida, I do  not get to experience fall like most of you do...changing leaves, crisp air, warm jackets to knock the chill...but that never stops me from changing my decor to reflect the colors and fruit of the season. 

Yesterday I had fun adding a few...simple...fall touches to my home.

This is the arrangement I made for the corner china cabinet in my dining room.

Last month I picked up this kit at Michaels and thought it would be fun to make these as we get closer to Thanksgiving....real pumpkins do not last long in the South Florida heat.  So perhaps I will do this as a table centerpiece sometime in November.

And I changed the candles that I've placed on a small mirror on my coffee table to those with autumn colors.

The book pictured is Thanksgiving a Time to Remember by Barbara Rainey.  Our family received it as a gift last year;  if you have young children or grandchildren, I would recommend it as a way to help your family appreciate and remember God's goodness to you and our nation. It even comes with a CD of Thanksgiving songs to play in your car or home.

I have yet to put out the  salted peanuts and candy corn mix I make every year...can't decide of that's safe or not : )  with only two of us here to eat it...very addictive...

This week I hope to get to the garden center and choose plants to fill my front planter....seems funny that I would be planting at this time of year, huh?  Our fall is your spring! 

Hope you have a restful weekend...  ~Debi

encouraged

Need to be encouraged today?  Watch this video that Ann posted yesterday; I promise, your spirits will be lifted!

Have a great day.....

"A Christian's G.P.S.    .....G.od  P.ersonally  S.peaking." 
--Peggy Banks, Women's Ministry Coordinator Calvary Chapel Ft Lauderdale

 

pastel fall

EDITED: When we made these the second time, we did not use paint brushes...we used a knife to ice the background and a #3 Wilton Decorating Tip to do the initials :)

Inspired by cookies I saw in the book Celebrating Home,  I decided I wanted to make sugar cookies iced in pastel colors.  No, I don't have my seasons confused....I know it's fall; I just wanted to practice ::grin:: for spring and summer. 

When I told Jenna, she said that she was planning a baby shower for a friend and wanted to do a butterfly theme, so yesterday she arrived at my house with butterfly cookie cutters in hand, to practice too.  While Trey was napping, we made sugar cookies using my sister's recipe.... an easy, delicious no-chill dough, and while they cooled, whipped up icing in peachy-pink, ivory, a soft aqua, and lavender colors.

And then the real fun began...with paint brushes in hand, we proceeded to decorate to our hearts' content.  To be honest, she was better at the detail work than I, making beautiful initialed cookies, but we both enjoyed our day of baking.

When we made these the second time, we did not use paint brushes...we used a knife to ice the background and a #3 Wilton Decorating Tip to do the initials :)

spiritual dowry

Today while reading Stacey's blog I was reminded of the book pictured in the photo above written by Julia Cameron ....I've actually just started reading this book, but had incorporated her suggestion to write morning pages over  a year ago when I read The Artist's Way.

In the book  The Right to Write,  Ms. Cameron speaks of hearing a higher power, and writing down  what one hears.  Here are some things I have already highlighted as I've read:

• writing is about getting something down, not making something up
• writing is the art of taking dictation, not giving it
• when...I struggle to write, it is because I am trying to speak on the page rather than to listen there
• when writing is rooted in the process of taking down the next thought as it unfolds itself to us, then it is less about our brilliance and more about our accuracy
• the right to write is a birthright, a spiritual dowry

It's not really about us....what we want to say....

Ms. Cameron goes on to say, "Higher forces speak to us through writing.  Call them inspiration, the Muses, Angels, God, Hunches, Intuition, Guidance, or simply a good story--whatever you call them, they connect us to something larger than ourselves..."

My own thoughts:
I have a great responsibility when I write.....even when I speak....it is important that I am listening to the right source....for me, just any higher power is not good enough...to those [even me] who read what I write or hear what I speak, it may mean the difference between spiritual life or death...

After all, all spirits are not "created equal" !

Jesus said,
I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  John 14:6

I am purposing to listen to the same Spirit He listened to when He walked this earth. Who are you listening to?

 

the latest [edited]

Gumbo Lily requested a "today's look" picture....okay, my daughter used to come into my office while I was at the computer and mess up my hair and take a picture.  It's probably the most recent one I have....and I just know you all will be wanting to imitate the "do"...so I've posted it here so you can show your hairdresser...

kind of reminds me of this one   and one of these .....[looks like I had posted my senior picture once before]  must be narcissism.   I guess things haven't really changed much, huh?  Seems like I've come full circle....even back to the black glasses I had in 8th grade... Just a few more wrinkles ; )

Here it is brushed : )

...and Arrow of Time is one of my favorite silent commentaries on hairstyles and change... be sure to check it out...I wish I would have thought to do this and have encouraged my daughter to.

speaking of hairstyles...

At Heddy's request I am posting a picture of the triangle cut with perm that I donned in the 80's....this picture was taken on a good day : )  Sometimes it didn't look so neat....talk about high and wide...and now it's all about flat flat flat.....

I am quite certain that dress had very wide shoulder pads too, so you can see that my hair was almost as wide as my padded shoulders....hard to believe that picture was taken almost 20 years ago...

memories

Donna challenged us to post our Senior pictures from high school days; I opted out.  But when I saw Dawn's it brought back so many memories of  the '70's hairstyles, drapes, marching band, and drill team...  I had to share : )
Funny, I never remember anyone else wearing this "style" but Dawn's is so similar I had to laugh!!  Of course, she doesn't have those little flippy things in front....what was up with that?

No smile here....I had to hide those awful braces...those metal ones we had before wearing braces was stylish and trendy with all the fun colored bands...

I was a skinny little thing...105-110 pounds...never ever worried about weight or what I put in my mouth but  ::sigh::  things change....

The most important thing to me during my senior year was cruising the main drag of my little hometown listening to the Carpenters and the Supremes and the Beatles, honking at friends as they passed going the other direction.  Ha....I had so much to learn.

sheer pink

When I saw this tea cozy while visiting Anne's blog I knew I just had to have it, and when I visited her Etsy shop I found this pretty apron....and just had to have it too :)  When the package arrived today, I was pleased to find that both were as beautiful as I had imagined.  This  apron is unique to my others, in that it is only 13" in length.....I just love the style. 

sneak peek

Here's a little sneak peek of my fabric shade project...I still think I want to trim the windows in a wood casing painted white.

The lighting here is tricky and really does not do the color justice :)

fun

 

Totally inspired by Clarice at Storybook Woods and others she mentions and links to in her posts about journaling   here, here, and here I spent time this weekend gathering my own tools to journal with.

I think I have mentioned that my sister and I loved to play paper dolls for hours on end when we were growing up, and one of the most satisfying things about that was designing and cutting out clothes for them. We sometimes actually cut our paper dolls out of old catalogs and magazines....when store bought were scarce...

Sunday evening I had so much fun perusing old magazines and cutting out scenes that I thought were pretty...to start my artsy journal.

I have been journaling off and on for years, but think this added dimension will be so much fun!

Can't wait to use my new Martha Stewart  writing pen, one of the goodies I chose recently from her Michaels display.