Happy Beautiful Birthday Emi!

My sweet little friends birthday is TODAY! Happy Birthday my little (Sara Evans look-alike) friend, Emily Knudsen! Much Love and many hugs to you! I hope your day shines delightfully on you. Always know you have the most beautiful soul and best giggle, ever!

Have a blessed and just scrumptious weekend!

Good for Monday!

View off of my porch right before dark on Saturday night.

If you have made mistakes...there is always another chance for
you...you may have a fresh start any moment you choose,
for this thing we call "failure" is not the falling down,
but the staying down.

-- Mary Pickford

Also, I got to spend time with this silly soul (Wesley, age 2) this weekend. He had his very first spend the night at my house and he seemed to do quite well and was silly as always.
Oh my goodness he is such cuteness! Children are just good medicine for the soul...okay unless they are cranky and it is time to go to bed!!!!!

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did

not sometimes taste adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

--Charlotte Bronte

43...and a bowl full of cherries!

Image via: Cig Harvey

Blessed, Happy and just Tickled Pink 

about this bowl full of cherries called, Life.

So, why do I say that you ask? Well, let me tell you.

I turn 43 today....eeeeeeeeeeek! Someone said to me...You look absolutely amazing for 43 (Insert smile here). Offended at first because they said the infamous "for 43". But then I thought this is a compliment. So, take it and run with it, and be grateful. 43 is just a number. 

One truly is only as old as they think. 

So, I am grateful for.....

• The fact that God wishes and chooses to have any kind of relationship with me blows me away. Lord knows it is only by his grace and kindness.

• Excellent Health - For that alone, amazingly grateful.

• My family with whom I adore each one and am blessed enough to go through hard, or laugh hysterically with. You are my true smiles and my soft place to land!

• Anthony - You always find pretty and good in me and 

teach me that to be silly is good for the soul and just loving me and liking me too. Thank you for being willing to sit with your feet in the sink with Peyton Grace, just because she asked. 

• My friends near and far that I have been blessed with long term in this life. 

Filled with smiles that God found me each one of you.

• My tender Evi, a girl from Indonesia that I get to sponsor. 

You are this amazing gift!

• Smiles and giggles and the ability and now wisdom at 43 to choose happy over anger!  

I just realized one can do this.  Something good from 43!

• The love of sweat and hard work - It is just built in me and who I am.

• Running, heated yoga and working out - I think about this often - That I have a body that is healthy enough to work out, to walk to run. For that I am so blessed and find God's workmanship in the human body amazing.

• The view off my back porch at dusk and the amazing views that clouds and sunshine produce and the twinkle lights at night. 

• My job - To use my mind every day creatively.

• A home to live in!

• Anything creative.

• Starbucks coffee.

• Smiles and laughter that make my cheeks hurt. 

Life beyond all the hard is truly a bowl full of cherries....

If you seek the cherries you will find them...no pits included!

I wish you all a blessed day and so 

much happy that you can't hold it in. 

I wish your life a bowl full of cherries!

Blueberry...Oh My Goodness....Heaven!

Actual Pie made with care by: Lisa Hollmer and family

So, out of the blue (no pun intended on the blueberry) and mind you a long day at work, I get home and am on my computer checking last minute work emails. The doorbell rings and it is my new neighbors Lisa and her daughter Elise with of all things a warm welcome to the neighborhood and a homemade blueberry pie (okay, the girl even picked these blueberries the same day she made the pie...from scratch!). I have got to get some skills of this nature I tell ya. So for now as I learn these things I will have to dust flour on my face and make some brownies from a box to deliver back to you Lisa....smile. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for the warm smiles, thank you little Elise for just feeling okay to meet me with your mommy. You are a beautiful, gentle light and I am looking forward to your meeting my niece Peyton Grace. Thank you Lisa for coming over and introducing yourself. The pie was Amazing, yum (So much that I could have taken a fork and just eaten the whole pie.) and your company was just delightful! Thank you new friends. I hope in the future to be the same kind of friend back to you.

Also, Friday night my niece came to spend the night. My guy (Anthony) and Peyton Grace had a contest to see who could stay up the latest. This was part a full evening of laughter for me. Peyton Grace saw me washing my feet and thought....Hey, warm water will make Anthony sleepy and not be able to stay up and yeah...I will win the contest. This was after the second round of writing on the mirror with soap. They were there for over an hour writing different things like "Me (Champ)" and other things. It was just a silly time which is usually the case with the two of them. Because they are both soooooooo headstrong they try to see who can out strong will the other, so contests of this nature are constantly going on when the two of these silly people are together!

Be Kinder Than Necessary....and 75% off

Image: via: d. art

"Be kinder than Necessary, for everyone

you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

I wish to state that I went to Ballard Designs 50-75% off  (A homeowners version of  brides getting a dress at Felines 50% sale in NYC!), and I fell flat on my face with words. Can I say...EEEEEEEEEEEEEK! I was not "Kinder than Necessary"..., ouch. I watched on as many southern women became frustrated and rude towards one another over things. I reached my point of frustration when this woman quick on my heels trying to get to a bookcase that might I add, no one was trying to acquire. The faster I walked the faster she got. Just a silly, broken bookcase. I found myself miffed to an extreme by this woman so much that I stepped (Jumped for fear of her running me over, really.) quickly into a cubby area and said of all things..."Please, (sarcastically) you go before me because what you have going on is obviously so much more important than what anyone else has going on in the world.".  A lady in the corner giggled as she had just experienced the same lady and wished for that same come-back. Shut my mouth, I was embarrassed that I did not keep my cool in that place...and flat on my face in words! In the end, I asked a worker to take my pretty light fixtures back to the lighting area and I left empty handed and felt like a bird that had just gotten freed from a lions mouth!  My thought is no "thing" is worth the loss of ones integrity or the cost of joy. I learned something, hopefully and found a way to giggle at the silly in me as I learn to still walk in this life.  I find it funny that as I was there my mom was in Mexico on a mission trip serving.  Still much to learn from her.

  

So, I got home and found this in an email.  This is my version.

Knock, knock. I knocked at heaven's door this morning.
God asked me...'My Child, what can I do for you?'
And I said, 'Father, please protect and

bless, love and help your gentle people hurting in this world.

Please protect us and help us make

wise choices as we walk through life and

help us to be loving and patient toward one another'
Lastly, God help me to forgive quickly and just be kind.
God smiled and Answered...'Requests granted my child'.

I hope that if you are ever on my heels trying to get to a bookcase that I help you get there, and help you even purchase it if I have the funds to do so. I hope I learned to take a deep breath and find giggles in the center of mayhem if nothing else through my Ballard Design sale experience. 

It is never too late to be what you might have been. 

- George Eliot (1819 - 1880)

Yummy Monday Image

Image via: Le Boudoir

Just a Yummy image for a Monday.  Have a great week!

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, 

do and become more, you are a leader."  

John Quincy Adams

Home Sweet Home!

Image taken by Kyle Walker (I hope it is good with you that I posted.)

This image is from a sweet friend of mine that just moved to Colorado. Colorado is where I was born, my Mom was raised there, and Peyton Grace my niece has visited there and feels like it is home for her too, and it always has my heart. I love even how the dirt smells in the air if that is crazy enough. I love Fall when the aspen trees leaves get crisp and sound like wind chimes. My friend Kyle was gracious enough to send this to me to get a glimpse of his new world. I pray he continues to send me images as the journey so far is breathtaking. This image is as much for me as it is for my Mom and Peyton Grace. Wide open spaces, stars that you feel you can reach out and touch, sunshine sweetly falling on your face (snow or a gentle rain too), God at a whisper and just the sweet breeze the mountains have to offer there for everyone to experience and take a part in. So, the song "Wide Open Spaces" by the Dixie Chicks will always hold a special meaning for me because the song in words is what Colorado feels like and makes me feel home. Beautiful, freeing and yes, room even to make mistakes.

Have a beautiful and giggle filled weekend.

Convictions of my heart

We have very little, so we have nothing to be
preoccupied with. The more you have, the more
you are occupied, the less you give.
But the less you have, the more free you are.
-- Mother Teresa

Quite true. Before this home I honestly did not focus so much on me and the conviction of my heart over having something, some place to occupy my thoughts, words and time. Trying to move my focus. I often think, "What is wrong with you Kristin?" If one thing is true about me is the fact that I hate gloating and the..."Look at me, look at me, you should be looking at me and all I get and have." attitude.  I get so very ruffled when I see it in others and quite honestly, it has bothered me because I have seen hints of it in myself lately.  Yuck!
Forgive me as I learn to focus on others needs, but be quietly thankful for the talents and blessings you have given me and be a bit more lighthearted and openhanded with both. How I wish to use both for the good and delight of others.

Being a cheerful giver.
“Let each one give as he purposes in his heart,
not grudgingly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver” (II Corinthians 9:7)

Just good for me to think about. I wasn't sure how I would be in this new home. Would I be territorial? Would I be all about making it beautiful since I have this insatiable appetite for architecture and home design and have saved articles and images in volumes of binders and on my computer as to how I would decorate for years? Or, would I keep it in a gently open hand for God to use as he pleases. I pray the last! I wanted to say humbly, blessed am I that God has been able to somehow get into my heart and kept those feelings a little at bay. I am so thankful for that and wanted to state my thanks out-loud. So thank you God for helping me keep a healthy perspective on what matters. Love pouring into people and just laughter that makes this home lovely. Thank you for convicting my heart and please forgive me when I fall on my face or desire to wish my house perfect and beautiful and get to navel gazing. Thank you for trusting me enough to make me a steward over your home. That's all. Just thanks.

Image by Cig Harvey (Reminds me of my just being quiet talking to God time in the bathtub at night. Okay, okay, I have cut bath time almost completely out because of our water situation! ). I also do not wear that pretty shower cap, but you get the picture....smile!

My own quiet whisper back to God. My precious Daddy/Father in Heaven, I come before you and work in diligence to give you all that I am. I pray that in the quiet of my heart that my thoughts, words and actions, be pleasing to you. May I be a cheerful giver and not reside in selfishness, but grow my passion for you to a greater cause for your world out of my love for you. I pray you to continue to work out in my heart to be a vessel that is used as an incredibly bright light for your kingdom and your people. I pray that the shine is on you. May my actions for you speak louder than any words I have to offer. Amen

Have a blessed and smile filled Wednesday!

Hotel Kiki and just some Couch Time

The couch at Hotel Kiki, as my family likes to refer to my home...Smile. No, that is not a dog on the couch, but a pillow. It seems to be a favorite that people like to cozy up to and well, we all need something that makes people feel warm and smile filled. Mine happens to be a pillow that people sit on the couch and just hold. Just comforting I hope.

I have not posted anything for what I see is over a month. Oh my. Where have I been? I am working hard to remedy my time lapse since moving and working long hours over the last while. In the meantime, I am just trying to keep a sense of humor about it all and flow around the rocks of life like a river and making sure I get some sweet talking time with my sweet heavenly daddy (GOD) in the morning and trust all will work it's way through.

Along the way and through the weekends I have been blessed by family and friends that have come to stay here. I LOOOOOVVVVEEEE THAT! There has yet to be a weekend that Hotel Kiki has been vacant which is exactly what I hoped for. I love it that people feel that they can come and just be. I love the cozy that I find in that place with people. Certainly many items are now out of boxes and have found their place neatly in their place, but much has not and I am so OK with that. Admittedly, I have this everything has to be neat and tidy attitude that Cortney Cox portrayed in the character Monica Gellar on the T.V. show "Friends" in me. I love the smell of clean and bleach like my life long kindred friend (You know who you are. She and I like things white and clean! What can I say? smile!). I love having this place perfect, but the company that is kept here and the laughter that surrounds is so much more important to me than of anything tangible or set perfectly. Hard lesson for me, but learning that people need a smile much more than perfectly folded sheets. They must be clean though! So, to all that have come over to share this place with me, thank you. Thank you for finding this place sweet enough in your souls to find a smile, laughter, or some solace here and sink into my couch to find a giggle about whatever with me and feel like this is your place too. Keep on coming because I love having you right here with me!