Reflecting

For the Self Portrait Challenge; Red

 

Sean and I usually do not exchange Christmas gifts (other than to buy something we want/need like a new camera:)).  This year we thought it would be nice for the children to see our stockings full. Sean was Very creative and filled mine with wonderful surprises. Some Harry and David truffles, 2 yummy purple Bella Lux journals, Timothy's Pomegranate Tea in a beautiful container I know I will fill oneday with art supplies, this Watercolor Sketchbook Kit, Chinese character stamps, and Kuan Yin ... as I was opening the box he said with a smirky grin, now you can't say I never give you compassion. He is very funny and very sweet. I was smiling all morning.

So was this guy because Santa brought him his much desired Mega Mask!

   

I am going to New York in a few days to celebrate Christmas all over again!  I am not sure if I will have time to post again here on BBB (my nickname for this blog) before the New Year because I need to focus on organizing the house (I hate leaving myself a mess) and doing some last minute shopping and packing up the car and reflecting in my journal on 2006 and writing some goals for 2007 and enjoying time with my family

and preparing for the launch of Create a Connection!

Comments

[tongue in cheek]

Your creative energy astounds me!

[megg]

Hey!! I hope you all had a happy New Year and that all of your dreams of connection come true in 2007!!

[swampgrrl]

hey melba.

happy new year to you. i'm glad to hear that you like you. isn't that the best?!

i'm so inspired by your creative blogger thang. can't wait to host my part in february.

(((( you ))))

[Lisa]

Just wanted to pop in and wish you a Happy New Year Melba! I'm glad I met you this year. :)

[sweet memories]

Happy Holidays! you made it through the work/family life balance and off to NY you go! and by the way, you look WONDERFUL! and HAPPY! and when I saw you the other day so lit up, I felt so good, that you handled working so well this holiday season, thanks for the hug, it made me stop in my tracks at work, and realize I needed to take a step back that day from running crazy....we will chat after the new year and get some creative time together, ok! the kids look wonderful, and it was great to meet your cousin! thanks for coming by! hope you found lots of deals and your trip down to NY was peaceful!

[Amber]

Hi! I do have a fast connection, but for some reason I have had trouble down loading your blog the last couple days! But I wouldn't want you to not use these pages, because that is one of the things I love about your blog.

I have so enjoyed watching your growth and hourney here, Melba. I am happy you are saying how you feel more often. And you are right that such a thing can bring conflict, because people are not use to a woman standing firm in her soil, you know? I am not afraid of conflict in the least...But I have been on a journey of finding balance in when I NEED to say what I feel/think, and when it is best to let it go... See, how we can learn from one another? ;)

I am thinking about what I can write about Friday. I hope you are back by then so I can email you about it. Hope you have fun!

:)

[bella]

Just wanted to stop by and wish you and your family a Happy New Year! I love the Create a Connection site - can't wait to participate!

[Caroline]

Dear Melba

I hope you have the most wonderfully colourful as well as connected year ever and that each year thereafter is better yet!

Your honesty in your postings are a great gift to us all.

Also its wonderful to see your children - as I have none I rely on others to show me their own - and I feel your mothering of them is wonderful, they are so lucky to have you.

Love and best wishes now and ever

Caroline

xxx

[tinker]

Sean's little joke about Kuan Yin made me :)
I can't wait to see your Create a Connection. Wishing you and your family a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year! xo

[krista- the silent k]

melba, this is unrelated to your post, but i just had a dream that you emailed me to tell me you are pregnant! Weird.

[Julia]

Love the journal pages. What a good idea. I might do something like that with my new year's resolutions - maybe if I make them look nice it'll help me stick to them!

[Judy Scott]

Happy Christmas to you and I think by the time you read this it will be Happy New Year ~ I hope you have had a wonderful time in NY and look forward to reading all about it, hugs Jude xx

[Angie Pedersen]

Cool! Thanks so much for describing how you "do" your journals -- I never would have guessed you wrote first, then "embellished". I assumed it was the other way around, and couldn't quite wrap my brain around it.

I'm totally going to have to give that a try -- I've been lurking on Shimelle Laine's Christmas Journal project [www.writtendown.com], and can see this working out beautifully. Thanks for the creative muse and push to try it!

[mary ann]

happy new year to you & your family! enjoy yourselves & safe journey to ny...

"see" ya when you come back!

love & hugs,
mary ann xoxo

[Tammy]

Melba! This post really resonated with me (again!) Particularly the bit about conflict and stuffing feelings. I find myself to be that way much of the time - I bend what I want so I can avoid conflict. And I stuff down the feelings until I pop.

I know this isn't the real me, but it's not something I've completely learned how to change. I'm doing better, and it's SO nice to hear about your process!

I love the way you describe your journalling process. I'm trying to work up to starting a journal. I haven't gotten the courage to do it yet, but I'm composing the entries in my head. I just haven't committed them to paper yet! I will!

[DebR]

That mask rocks! And yay on the new camera! I like the SPC pic you took.

I love your journal pages. They're always so vibrant.

About fast vs. slow 'net connections, I agree fast is worth the money, but unfortunately even these days in some areas there simply isn't a lot of choice. Cable isn't an option for me and probably never will be as long as we live in this house. DSL also isn't available although it could (maybe!!) become so eventually. For many years dial-up was literally my only option. Now we connect using a wireless thingie through our electric company. (It's only been in the last year or two that they put up an antenna close enough for us to get a signal.) It's faster than dial-up, but not nearly as fast as DSL or cable, so still is sometimes frustrating for things like watching videos or loading very graphics-intensive pages. But for those I pretty much do what Jana said she does - I start something loading and then go do something else for a while and then come back to it. We all do what we must, yes? :-)

I hope you have a great time on your trip!

[Jessie]

Hey--I want a mask like that!! I could wear it while walking the dog. haha! What do you think the neighbors would say? :)-

This post was full in so many ways (kinda like your stocking). And that watercolor set looks like fun! Something that I would like to do in 2007 is take a watercolor class. I've been curious about learning some techniques for a long time now. Some days I'm just in the mood for the soft qualities of watercolor. Happy artmaking! And I always love reading about artist's processes. ;)

[AscenderRisesAbove]

what fun photos!

[krista]

PS- I do the same thing Jana does, but I am going to get a faster connection in the new year, because like you said, it's worth it.

[krista]

Happy New Year to everyone in your family! It was nice to read about your process.

[Suzie Q]

Gorgeous post, Melba. Thank you :) Have a wonderful time in New York, and a safe journey there and back. Happy New Year! :D
Suze xXx

[Jana]

Oh, you write your journal and THEN decorate it? Hmmm... I may have to try that. At the moment I've been drawing first and then writing. I'd probably get a lot more journaling done if I did things that way. *pondering that*

I have a slow connection at home, and I just load your page and then go do something (clean, read, etc) while I wait for it to load. Sometimes I have to hit refresh once to get it all to load right. But it's worth the time it takes to load, because I love your journals!

[Jamie]

Merry Christmas, Melba! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday with your family. I'm so glad you found that mega mask - it's wild! I'm glad you got compassion for Christmas, hehe. I hope the new year is filled with all sorts of wild blessings for you. Big Hugs.

[athena]

i love how you journal your thoughts on paper first and then share them (or at least some of them :) ) on your blog. it really is quite unique. and pretty.