gold star! 04/19/2012
 1 Comment show & tell: keep moving forward 04/18/2012
it started happening again... that feeling i get right after things are new the feeling i get when the exciting part has run it's course the feeling that since i don't really know what to do next maybe i won't try to figure it out the feeling that i need help & don't know who to ask & i almost convinced myself, this week that the dream i have the dream that i've had for some years now the dream that when i tell people about it they say 'i would totally go there!' that maybe it's not for me maybe it's too hard...  image via waveavenue.com (click image for direct link to site) don't get me wrong i'm not afraid of work even hard work my first job was at mcdonald's where my manager was the first person to ever say 'sucks to be you' to me. thanks, dude, just keep dazzling me with that charm. i have had a lot of jobs in my life & someday i will list them, just for fun & then i will post all of my journals from middle school just to complete the torture... anyway working is not the problem... the problem is i'm afraid of succeeding (& that is such a weird thing to say & i know i'm not the only one to ever say it in the history of the world, but still) & i don't know why that is & this is not a therapy session so i'm not going to dive in now because the point is that i have decided that even though i'm afraid i'm still going to press on. i'm going to swim in numbers & figure out the projected income & outgo & how much i would have to pay people & how often i will have to pay taxes & oh my goodness did you just fall asleep too? but i'm going to press on because after that is another exciting part & then probably something scary & boring & then excitement & then awful & weird & then awesome & then what???!!! & then YES! & i'm thinking that i won't mind that at all (& it could make for some pretty exciting blog posts especially during the what???!!! stage)  image via jeanneoliverdesigns.com (click image for direct link to site) i get this email everyday from the brave girls club... bear with me, here, it's a little bit woo-woo & super touchie feelie (hey, i live in eugene, oregon, 'woo-woo super touchie feelie' is pretty much our motto that & 'if you don't like rain, you should probably not unpack') today's email was just for me here it is (ps you should check out their site, it's so pretty & fun & you can sign up for the emails if you're that kind of person or a eugene resident)  image via bravegirlsclub.com (click image for direct link to site) keep going keep going keep going i love that it reminds me of my favorite disney movie 'meet the robinsons' if you haven't seen this go to blockbuster video right now & rent it! oops, i mean order it from netflix... hmmmm anyway the theme that runs through that movie is 'keep moving forward' & at the end there is this quote by walt disney that my kids always ask me to read & then they just end up saying 'nevermind' because i can't get through it with out choking up... usually i am crying way before the quote even appears... please refer to aforementioned 'touchie feelie'  image via dapsmagic.com (click image for direct link to site) so i'm going to start working on the numbers & i'm going to keep praying that someone will come along who is both good with numbers & able to see my vision & who knows that this is just what they've been looking for to do & who can stand to be with me for a few days a month (or however long you are supposed to discuss numbers per month) & who will be patient with my lack of number knowledge (actually, i like numbers, it's when you start multiplying & fractioning that i get lost) & who will know in their heart that this is where they are supposed to be... i can't take any less with this area of the business & i shouldn't because if your business doesn't have money then you've got no business trying to make money... hey! that almost sounded profound!  image via missjillmcdonald on etsy.com (click image for direct link to site) & so i press on... yes, i do. because i'm so ready for the YES! that i'm willing to go through the what??!!! ps i haven't decided if i'm going to share actual numbers here on the blog part of me thinks that it would be good because it's all part of it & why not just lay it out & no one ever really does that with a starting out businesses (believe me i've looked around) & another part thinks that would be stupid i'm not really sure why but there's got to be a reason other people don't do it, right? & i know... i just KNOW that when that money/numbers/superhero person who is supposed to work with me realizes it, they will know the answer. i'm pretty sure they will... so stay tuned, friends things are about to get very YES! around here... :)  image via themaximuscollection.com (click image for direct link to the site)  a few weeks ago my friend, susan, emailed me & asked if i would be interested in going to the movie premiere of 'blue like jazz' in portland... she couldn't go & thought i might be interested (it should be noted that susan & i have only met in person once but we are facebook friends & i can only guess that at some point when she was trying to think of someone who might like to go the 400 oscar posts that i do annually through january & february might have popped into her mind... that or i'm the only person that she knows who lives near portland... gotta be one of those) after i stopped squealing like an 11 year old at a 1D concert i took off my neon rubber panda headband (or whatever kids are wearing these days) & said 'yes, please!' & 'thank you' & 'yahooooooooooo!'  brian couldn't go because he is coaching miss m's soccer team (& he is a committed coach, i am a less committed but supportive coaches wife) & my dad really liked the book (& i like hanging out with him) so we headed up I-5 on tuesday afternoon... we decided to park near the theater & have dinner i also wanted to see the red carpet before it was filled with hollywood royalty (yes, a red carpet! another squeal when i saw that on the invite) as we walked up to the entrance i strained to see the big luxurious carpet that is always so lush & wide so as to accommodate the stars of stage & screen...  hahaha! i loved it! it's about the size of the one that i pieced together for my oscar party... it's totally portland & i LOVED it! after dinner at bread & ink & a stroll down the street, peaking in cute shops we headed to the premiere the invitation said to get there early because space was limited... i should mention that the premiere was at the bagdad theater, an awesome old theater in the cool hawthorne area it's also a mcmenamin's theater which means it's just plain awesome & it's where brian & i went the day after our wedding before we headed off on our honeymoon so lots of great things about the location... anyway just in case everyone attending forgot that we were in portland it started to rain & rain & rain & of course, we all just stood there, happy as can be  in the movie there's a line about how portlanders don't use umbrellas so it was funny that we had all been out in the rain just a little bit earlier (note: most people in line didn't have umbrellas but a photo of soggy, shivering portland-dwellers wouldn't be as cute) after limos dropped off the actors & director the line started moving... as we walked down the sidewalk the director, steve taylor came out & shook hands with everyone & gave out licorice!  (confidential to eugenies who attended faith center during the 80's & 90's: does the guy eating the licorice look familiar to you? yep, it's chris browning!) no surprise that as we hit the red carpet there was a shot that i HAD to get  my phone was a little foggy so i'm just pretending it's an instagram filter i'm calling it 'portland fuzz' as we walked in, there was a real live photographer taking pictures with a real live hollywood-ish background... i loved that too! so fun! (that one's called 'pixelated photographer') we got a little bag o' stuff as we walked into the theater it was really just ads for good stuff & postcards but for fun purposes we will call it a swag bag... there was a poster & pin in it, so it was definitely swag-like :) before the movie started all of the actors & director & donald miller, the author of the book sat on stage & introduced it... loved that! after the movie they did a Q&A time with them all, too... it was awesome!  this filter is 'face blobs from afar' click here to see a list of the cast the main guy is on 'true blood' & the girl who plays his friend was on 'lost' so that was cool! also their was one actor who was so familiar to me & i couldn't figure out where i had seen him but i finally realized that he was on a great halloween episode of 'will & grace' (love that show) the movie was good! it was funny & sweet & thought provoking always great in a movie! & it has one of the best endings i've ever seen really! i loved how it ended... it opens on friday so check it out if you're looking for something great to watch... as we walked out there was a man on the corner playing a saxaphone & so we strolled back to the car with jazz tunes swirling around us...  it was a lovely ending to a really fun night & then we drove 2 hours home :) thank you so much, susan! it was so sweet of you to think of me & i LOVED every bit of the experience! if you haven't read them already i would highly recommend 'blue like jazz' & 'a million miles in a thousand years' which has some parts about writing the script for 'blue like jazz' which was cool, the whole book is really great... “When you stop expecting people to be perfect, you can like them for who they are.” ― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life so great... just like the whole night! thanks, dad! thanks, susan! thanks, donald miller! :) show & tell: a business by any other name... 04/10/2012
 so when i started thinking about having a business i didn't even worry about a name because i just thought that it would come to me eventually just like everything else that i'm supposed to do does (in the shower, always, of course) & since i thought up this business idea around 4 years ago i have taken at least 14 showers & guess what? no name! so i sat & thought hard about it quite a few times & still. nothing. every once in a while something would come to me & i would write it down. & so a little list started but nothing amazing. & still i thought that the perfect name would arrive on a silver tray or at least a cute plastic plate & guess what? (again) never did. never did come. my smart friend tracy (who is also the graphic design girl) recommended that i send out my list to some friends & ask for opinions & ideas & so i did... before i give you the list i will give a little description of the business to paint a better picture :) my idea is a community center type place with a restaurant, indoor & outdoor playgrounds, retail shops, classrooms & more :) i want it to appeal to men & women as well as kiddos... the decor is vintage schoolhouse (50's-70's) lockers, lunchboxes, chalkboards, crayons... (more on all of that in another post :) & so here is the grand list, with my original ideas & the ones that friends added... the list on the left is what i sent out, the other two are additions from friends
aren't those fun? i loved hearing what people thought & their ideas, too! after i listed all the names i ran them by just a few people, including brian & then i came up with a short list... recess the hive old school elementary homeroom hopscotch at this point i didn't really know what to do thank goodness for tracy! she gave me some great tips... she said that i needed to think about what other people would like but to keep in mind that i was going to have to see the name everyday & i was going to have to say the name a trillion times & i was going to have to write or type the name over & over & over so it needed to be something that i really liked & connected to & felt was right... my friend, aaron, who i play 'words with friends' & 'draw something' with is a creative director at an ad agency (i do not feel old enough to have a friend who has that title but of course, i'm almost old enough to have a kid who has that title or at least a younger cousin, so who am i kidding?) gave me some good tips, too: The name will get meaning as the place lives. It doesn't have to say it all right off the bat. McDonalds didn't mean anything to anyone when it first started, so don't think it has to do heavy lifting. that's some high quality advice, don't you think? so there was one name that i liked from the start but it has some baggage that comes with it in the form of a movie starring one will farrell... but i decided that with a little graphic magic images of will farrell's butt will not be conjured up every time the name is mentioned... & so if you are not familiar with the film (because you only watch wholesome movies, & good on you, if that's the case) the name i decided on for my business is: old school all lower case (no fainting from surprise, please) it goes so well with the decor & the dream location & i love how it sounds 'hey, let's meet at old school!' also kids can pronounce it & they know what both words mean & hopefully it's easy enough to remember so when their parents say 'what should we do today?' they can yell 'let's go to old school!' & then start chanting it 'old school! old school! old school!' & then they will be sent to their rooms but at least the name is stuck in their parent's head... yep. that's what i'm hoping. also after i decided for sure on the name i saw the phrase 'old school' everywhere... of course i did. maybe it's just because it's a popular phrase or maybe i wasn't noticing it before but i like it when that happens & so i just took it as a wink & a smile sort of thing ;) & i do enjoy the wink... hmmm maybe that should have been the name! wink! no! stop. just stop. :)  so what's in a name? a whole heck of a lot, it seems (or at least a lot to figure one out) & i'm so happy to have decided. hooray! coming soon, tracy is going to work on logos & i will share them here as soon as they are finalized & if there is more than one choice maybe i'll post them here & let you vote on your favorite... that would be pretty fun, i think! thanks for stopping by today! i'm so happy to get to say to you: hello, my name is old school :) free cupcakes at 'the devine cupcake'... one for everyone! we've got a jumper! cuties <3 at 'value village'...Brian recommends a book :) slurpees & a movie for the mid-day slump (i know, neither of those are particularly recommended) st. patrick's day drink church notes jj heller concert in corvallis...she was so cute! i forgot my camera so i didn't get a picture of her adorable outfit but it lives in my heart :) show & tell: get out your trapper keeper 03/12/2012
about a month ago i typed out my facebook status & then i kept typing & typing & typing & typing until i had a giant list of the types of people i am looking for to partner with me in a dream business... it was not planned out & i just decided to go with it, set my little dream on it's way & see what it could do... because 'if not now, when' & 'what good is a dream if it just sits in your heart' & 'yesterday you said tomorrow' & 'nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent' & 'stop saying 'i wish' & start saying 'i will' & 'if you're not willing to look stupid, nothing great is ever going to happen to you' & 'good things come to those who work their asses off & never give up' & 'if your dreams don't scare you they're not big enough' & 'julia child didn't start cooking until she was 37' & 'If you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen' & if you think i'm just copying quotes from my 'you don't say...' pinterest board, you are right! but of course, that's why i have a 'you don't say' pinterest board (& i'm not going to get into this too deep (in this post) but i think that just pinning those quotes had a lot to do with getting up my nerve & if i ever am interviewed for anything or ever win an award for something, after thanking my husband, i will be thanking pinterest, my best source of motivation since dark chocolate covered blueberries)  image from my very own pinterest board...click on it to see more & so i'm going to start documenting this dream quest (sounds like an 80's sci-fi movie) on this here blog & you may wonder 'aren't you worried that if you post everything that you are working on or thinking about or dreaming about, that someone (with money) could just steal it all & make their own business?' thank you, for asking, yes yes, i do worry about that a little bit but then i realize that wow, that would be really mean & also i have all this documentation on this here blog & so if need be i could sue their pants off (i will become rich, someway, somehow...bwhahahaha!) & also only i can make it as awesome as my brain sees it so unless they want to climb inside & trudge through the lyrics to every Amy Grant song* & the names of all the boys i had crushes on in middle school** & how much my kids weighed at birth*** & how when brian proposed to me it felt like the whole world was just swirling around us in a big blurry music video montage**** & how every time i smell mint i think of junction city in the summer***** well, they are just welcome to it... & if they happen to see where i put my diamond earrings (gift) could they trigger that one? i am so sad to have misplaced them... so actually the real answer to your question is no. nope. not worried about that. only worried about having enough time to make this dream awesome.  image from sayingimages.com & also i'm so excited to share it with you. :) *i do know almost all of them, except the songs from that one album with the stop light on it, i only know a few from that one **mark, jason, kenny, rex, david, kevin & chris ***well, this is actually hiding up there, too...one of them was 7,7 but that's just impossible to forget, so i shouldn't get credit for that one. ****it really, really did *****ask anyone who grew up there, i bet they'll tell you the same thing  whew! that was a bit of scrolling to get down here, huh? just a little finger cardio for you :) i just wanted to say happy birthday to dr. seuss today! i know he's in the big thing-a-majigger-ma-wizzer in the sky but i still want to celebrate a man who wasn't afraid to call a sneezle, a sneezle or talk about environmental conservation through the use of a grumpy little moustachioed fuzzball... for the last year or so i have been selling this dr. seuss quote on etsy, at holiday sales & in shops around the area... it is by far my top selling item (& probably would have sold more if only i had been spelling his name correctly on the etsy listing... e before u, e before u...) & i love that! i wish i had more time to talk about why dr. seuss resonates with people of all ages (actually wouldn't that be a fun thing to do a research paper on? & i can confidently say that i have never willingly talked about doing a research paper before so i think that proves my love for mr. seuss) i will just say that i am so thankful for books that show kids a different way to be, that it's okay & that it might even be (gasp!) something to celebrate! thanks, theodor geisel, you're the best <3  :) because now, it's time... 03/01/2012
 so i keep thinking that in order to come back to blogging (which i really truly love & can't exactly remember why i've been gone so long except, oh, right: kids, husband, house, life, wash, rinse, repeat) in order to come back, i need to have a really awesome post which inspires others to enjoy their lives while simultaneously explaining why i've been gone & also looking really cute... but guess what i figured out? i just need to start & then maybe those things will happen also & if they don't? well, i started & for that, i'm glad. look at that. one whole paragraph already written. score one for me. i do need to thank this blogger, though, for inspiring me to just start typing (go ahead, go see who she is & start reading, i will understand if you get lost in her awesomeness & never come back here again. i just spent the last 3 hours reading past posts. i am not exaggerating. i never ever, ever, ever do. she's really good. but maybe after a while you could consider coming back here? because i've got a few things to share & to say, too. & sometimes i'm a little bit funny, so that's something to look forward to, right?) & so, once i start typing watch out, okay? because i am horrible & rarely use capitals or correct punctuation (but really, aren't punctuation marks just the accessories of the grammar world? when one thing doesn't work with the sentence, you try another... my favorite right now is the colon, i am almost positive that i am using it incorrectly but it's just so cute... another way punctuation is like accessories? the more you pile on, the worse it starts to look necklaces AND earrings AND bracelets AND hairclips AND ankle bracelets AND belly chains AND ?*&$%#@! & then you have to swear as you remove it piece by piece: i have a point, right?) so now it's 2:30... that's a.m., people i was not reading blogs for 3 hours while my children were awake. i was merely spending the time i should have been sleeping reading blogs so tomorrow (today) i will be a walking zombie of joy that my children will not want to be around anyway... ah, the zombie-mom circle of life. oh, well, the point is i like doing this & so i shall... i have already written an entire post on why i want to start writing posts & i think i have convinced myself. so, that's another score for me. you get five scores if you have made it to this point! six, if you resisted the urge to circle my mistakes in red pen... & so in future days (perhaps even later in this one) i will be writing about life & love & nature & grace & the creation of the earth oh, wait, that's the plot of 'the tree of life'. i will be writing about kids & marriage & home & happy times & super crappy times & very boring times & a really big dream that i have just started to put out there because it was just growing & growing & while i have a big heart, it just wasn't meant to live there any longer... i hope you'll join me every once in a while or maybe even every single while because i'm excited to be back & i just can't spend my whole life on pinterest... though it is very tempting... :) sense of wonder: january 2012 01/17/2012
last year i started doing this little 'sense of wonder' series each month just documenting little things that i'm into at the time... & i'm thinking that 2012 is a good year to continue on with it! hearing we're pretty much listening to this on a permanent loop... okay, I'M listening to it on a loop the kids are saying 'again?' & i'm saying 'yes! how else will we memorize every single lyric?' touching  snow! we got about .2 centimeters two mornings in a row but the kids still woke up crazy excited & tried to have a snowball fight... that's snow in eugene: play, freeze, shiver, snuggle, rinse, repeat next year seeing  lots of movies... we officially kicked off the 'night owl oscar club' a couple of weeks ago... this is one of my favorite things: trying to see all of the movies nominated for best picture before the academy awards (last year was my first year to do it & it made watching the show so great) to find out more click here & join us if you're into that sort of thing :) smelling  butterscotch oatmeal cookies made them two days ago off the bag everyone in the fam raved about them so i'll be making them again & again & probably again... tasting  i got this gigantic tin of starbucks hot chocolate in my stocking (not actually IN my stocking because my super fun step-mom always gives us all so much stocking stuff that there's always a little bonus pile next to our stockings :) & i have been loving it... & ps i like it better than getting it at starbucks which is weird because usually if i don't have to make it myself, i'm loving whatever you want to hand me... but i am pretty good at boiling water & then i add about an inch of vanilla cream so on second thought, not weird at all... pinning (i'm pretty sure it's my sixth sense)  i have a board called 'if wishes were dresses my closet would be full...' & it's full of the cutest dresses you ever did see... well, i ever did see & if you would like to see them, too click here :) so, what's your favorite sense & what are you doing with it lately? :) coburg love 2011 10/12/2011
 (yes, it was over a month ago but it's no less fun to talk about :) coburg antique fair! it's honestly one of my favorite days of the year (after birthdays, anniversary & the night project runway premiers, of course) this year i got to start the day off with my sister... so fun! she was super excited (read: early morning chatty :) & after getting our Dutch cups filled we headed out... (it was dark but we weren't really with it enough to take a picture) a little later in the day:  perfect shot for the baby shower picture, right?  we met up with our dear, fun & funny friend jessica & then just laughed ourselves through the sale... especially when we ran into an old friend!  unfortunately globey & chairy couldn't make it to the sale... this cute pink polka dot chair did make it, though...  we got up with the chickens (we actually heard a rooster after we had been there for an hour or so prompting one of kate's many funny lines 'even the roosters think we're up too early')  at 9 we met up with the other groups of treasure hunters that we do show & tell with with...  back row from the left me, jackie, kim, liz, jessica front row from left sarah, kate, ali, jill, kasey (check kim's blog for the girls night that her fun group had the night before, good idea, girls!) it's always so fun to see what other people found...  christine stopped by for the 2nd year, fun to see her :) & oh my goodness! i love this story from jill go read it now (it's about halfway down, under the photo of the book) i'll wait isn't that so cool? love it...  i LOVE auntie joy's displays... every year she does the best things with found objects... check out the ladder displays (picture via kim)  it was a red letter day for me, i mean a black & orange & neon yellow letter day :) (i'm excited about the big 98... i'll share when i'm done!)  oh my goodness i was so happy when i found those black & white anagram letters... i always have an eye out for them & i found a whole jar! bliss! here's some more stuff that we found & saw & bought...             & oh, these doilie globes! i looooove this idea & might just have to make some soon...  these are from Linda Loewen's booth...her etsy shop is www.gracefeatherednest.etsy.com... so cute! & perfect words to end the day...  :) | 
emily ruth gulka
i laugh. i clean up. i hug. i help. i cook. i kiss. i paint. i read. i watch. i blog. i glue. and i love it. 
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