I needed to find a clever, fun way to say "thank you" to someone very special who just helped me out in a BIG way. I found this tutorial and I just couldn't resist a little cheesiness. I am cranking out a few more berries so that when she opens the box, there will be a fruity explosion! What do you think...would you enjoy receiving this "berry clever" thank you??!!
These crisp, gorgeous fall days have inspired me to cozy up our home in preparation for the cold months ahead. As I set the dinner table last night, I felt like a soft glow was needed. Using some old jelly jars, a bit of hot glue and some vintage doilies, I crafted these pretty votives.
Consider this a little "thank you" project for the warm welcome that you gave my upon my return!
I have to admit that some time away was exactly what I needed. Your emails and comments sustained me during that time and I am coming back with a new point of view. I feel lighter...and that is what this break was all about. So it was a success, but I missed all of you and it is good to be back.
During my time away I was lucky enough to do a bit of traveling. A two-day trip into Boston with my best "drowsy fabulist" friend was full of laughter, great food and even better conversation...and some shopping, of course! I am thankful to have found such a kindred spirit.
My second trip was this past weekend when my husband and I found ourselves 54 floors up, overlooking Central Park (oh yes, that was our view!). Vijay had some work to attend to and I walked for miles down the bustling city blocks, forgetting all my worries, all my cares. I came home today and I felt...dare I say it...satisfied. Whatever bumps the road ahead may have in store, I will face them when they come. Until then, I am just going to try and enjoy the ride.
I received a call from our social worker this afternoon and by the tone of her voice I knew she had bad news. She informed me that after our application was reviewed, it came to her attention that I was not old enough to adopt from India. The minimum age is 30 and seeing as I am only 26, we cannot move forward with the adoption.
As I hung up with her I was hit with a wall of hurt that can only be matched by the pain I felt after my miscarriage. I feel like once again, the dream I have of starting a family has been violently ripped from my hands. Although we were just starting the adoption process, I was making great progress...friends were lined up to write recommendation letters, physicals were scheduled, copies of our documents were made and notarized. I felt like we were well on our way, so to find out that we have another four years to wait feels like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment. I have so many emotions churning in my soul right now...anger, sadness, frustration, bitterness. I want to scream at our agency...how could they have let us get this far along and not have noticed something as obvious as my age. We already had face-to-face meetings with them and submitted various applications. What the hell?
So as I did after my miscarriage, when my heart was at its heaviest, I will be taking a short break from blogging. It was never my intention to make this space one of doom and gloom, and lately, that feels like all there is. When my heart is in a lighter place I will come back...until then, please know that I appreciate each and every one of you visiting me here. I will see you back here soon.
Wishing you love and lightness in the coming days....
*Christine
Isn't life funny? One week you are contemplating your personal failure, the next you are riding high. In the past few days I have taken on a few part time jobs...I am discovering that this is my favorite way of working. I like to take a few little jobs and patch them together, while still leaving time for my writing.
So here is where I am at: one to two days a week I am going to be leading farm field-trips for elementary school children at Casey Farms, a historical, organic farm located right on the ocean in Saunderstown, RI. Yesterday was my training which included tide pooling, pig wrangling, weeding and harvesting. That is my kind of work! I am also going to be teaching a few classes through a learning center here in Providence. I am in the midst of finalizing my proposals and I can't wait to share my class topics with you...should be fun! Finally, I am going to be continuing the prospect research that I was working on earlier this year. I had been filling in for a women on maternity leave, so I thought that once she returned, my time there would be over. Turns out they are still in need of some assistance.
As creative professionals I think it is important that we remain open to new opportunities that might or might not fit into our idea of the "perfect job." I don't think 'farm teacher' or 'researcher' necessarily align with my career goals, but each of these jobs will provide me with an opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and broaden my horizons. It's hard to say no when you think along those lines!
So I am curious... Do you ever feel like you are patching together a living? Are you open to new opportunities that don't align with your current career goals? I guess what I am really wondering is...am I the only patch-worker out there?!
I am excited to report that I have another article up over at Babble.com. This one is much less personal than my last Babble contribution...it is actually a round-up of kid-friendly Internet browsers. I spent many a long hour testing a whole slew of browsers, which was challenging because I was trying to find actual search-engines (like Google, but for kids), not just kid-friendly websites. I decided to tackle this topic because my own little nine-year-old brother loves going online and searching for various topics related to school work or his personal interests. However, Google-ing a topic can lead to inappropriate sites and links whereas these kid-friendly browsers block out all of the inappropriate stuff, keeping our little ones safe while they are surfing.
Click here to check it out and let me know what you think...did I leave anything out?
Thank you, once again, for all of your amazing comments this past week. We are down two chickens and two bikes, but I have gained two very stylish fingerless gloves thanks to a crocheting spree this past weekend. I wanted something to keep my hands warm during these crisp fall months and I felt that gloves or mittens would be too much. The perfect solution...fingerless! I followed a free Lion Brand Yarn pattern. Now to get my husband to take a picture of me wearing the finished product. It's like he's allergic to helping me take pictures or something. Does anyone else have that problem...I mean you can only take so many self portraits before you find yourself in need of a helping hand!
I am thinking of renaming my blog with the title above, because bad news seems to be coming our way. It started last week with Polly, which I was just starting to recover from when another one of my girls was taken from the coop. I have no idea how anything got in...I had it on total lockdown. I was beside myself and now our backyard is on total high alert. My remaining two chickens have been moved into the garage, and I only let them out during the day when I am home. So now I am a chicken nanny...awesome.
That was all pretty traumatizing, and things only got worse when we woke up this morning to discover that both my bike and my husbands (both brand new) had been stolen. We found the chains cut and laying in the bushes. We use our bikes everyday, my husband's is his sole means of transportation. We are feeling pretty low.
If you are wondering why I would accompany this dreary post with a picture of flowers, then stay tuned. My point in sharing all of this drudgery is that there is always a silver lining to be found, even on the most disheartening of days. We had a wonderful weekend...my parents and little brother were in town visiting and we had the best time. There is nothing like family to pull you out of a slump. I also closed on a major story...an eight page spread in a huge magazine. They are flying me down to a mystery location to write the story. It is so exciting that I am bursting...but I am sworn to secrecy, of course.
The moral of this long winded tale...there are always good moments, moments of pure joy nestled in with the bad. If you are having a rough week, I challenge you to find those moments that will put a smile, however small, on your face. We will get through it.
I wanted to take an extra moment and thank you for all of the amazing comments. It made the grieving easier knowing that all of you were thinking of Polly too! And a big welcome to anyone stopping by from Naturally Nina...I promise it won't be all doom and gloom over here this week!
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