It's GOOD to be BAD

As the next Harry Potter film made it's way (finally!) to theaters this week we once again raided our stash of costumes for the Midnight Showing! There was a general consensus made that the time was right to be the VILLIANS...dun, dun, dun...

The Malfoy Family

Draco, Narcissa, Lucius & Bellatrix

Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy

Draco Malfoy

Bellatrix LaStrange

Scabbers the Rat (aka Wormtail aka Peter Pettigrew)

Scabber's Dark Mark

(Ella: I want one but I don't want a scary guy. Alyx: What do you want then? Ella: A princess!)

Death Eater

The NOT-so-Villanous-BUT-has-a-crush-on-Malfoy-so-she-can't-be-all-that-good:

Moaning Myrtle

The Villain of All Villains

Lord Voldemort

Oh...and Ron Weasley came with us too!

(he brings out Bellatrix's silly side)

Hee-hee! How could you not find joy in this sight!

Ahhh...It's good to be BAD.

(Death Eater-me, Bellatrix-Kaytee, Ron-Jeremiah (kaytee's friend), Voldemort-Jim, Narcissa-Alyx, Lucius-Drew (alyx's friend), Scabbers-Ella, Myrtle-Olivia, Draco-Noah)

FOUR!

Ella is 4!

1 - She loves baby dolls & names them very interesting names (Her new twins are named Bunny & Flower. She is also mother to Toby & Lana)

2 - She is (in her own words) "getting married" to Michael Jackson (she sings his songs constantly thanks to Big Sis Kaytee)

3 - Is a watcher. She quietly observes every little detail going on around her. She seems a bit shy at first, but I think she is just "checking things out". When she opens up she loves you with all her heart!

4 - She loves her "work" which consists of stamping, cutting, and glueing. She knows all the technical terms of the industry like: blocks, ink, Tombow, glue dots, B&T and cardstock. As she works, she loves to watch Dora & Scooby-Doo.

We love this little ray of sunshine in our lives! I am so glad that she was born!

Happy Birthday, Boo!

Thrift Store Joy

I recently found a LOVE IT, GOTTA HAVE IT item in Elsie Flannigan's cute as a bug store Red Velvet Art. It's these absolutely adorable, yummy and fun Vintage Paper Packs! Oh man...they make me happy. I was this close to buying them and splurging my $$ just to hold them in my hand. But, it wasn't payday yet so I held off. Skip ahead a few days to a dreary night spent in a state required divorce class (which was rather depressing..blech)...after which I tried to lift my spirits by popping into a nearby thrift store. To my delight the book shelves were full of vintage book goodness! Wow! And they were all of 69 cents! Buy three and the fourth is FREE! I had such a great time perusing the shelves and picking my favorites.

So, for $20 I got this BIG'OL stack of vintage papers (still in their books) ready to be pulled out and used to "make the world cute" as Elsie would say. And the best part...I can disassemble them and use the covers to make fantastic journals (another project I've been dying to try). This stack is on my kitchen table waiting to be played with and I can't help but smile when I walk by. Once I even hugged the stack they make me so happy! Thanks, Elsie for the inspiriation! (oh...and as a side note, a bunch of these books were published around the time I was born...does that make me Vintage? Hey, if vintage is this cute, I'll take it!)

Look What I Found...

Somebody...probably a "Big Sister"... must have snapped this beauty. What a joy to find this little suprise waiting on my camera card. Definately made me smile today.

Hooray!

I'm finally figuring out this Blog thing! I can't believe it took me so long to even decide on a NAME for my little piece of the web. I probably overthought the whole process, but I really wanted this to mean something to me. I didn't want to start blogging with no real purpose or reason...I just couldn't justify the time otherwise. So, I started searching. Actually, I simply started paying attention to the things I was reading, or hearing, or seeing that could be just the inspiration I needed. I knew I wanted it to be about joy and hope. I wanted it to be about healing and optimism. I wanted it to be about finding the little happy things in my life that are frequently overlooked or those that are seen and then quickly forgotten.

Ideas came and went through my mind and I just couldn't decide on a NAME! So, last week I just gave up on the meaningful name game and jumped on here and started typing in so-so name ideas. Three ideas were turned down for "already been used". Frustrated, I stared into space willing some inspriation to strike. Slowly, one of my ALL TIME favorite quotes came to mind. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, it's been hanging on my closet door for the last year and a half so I will read it every morning! Perfect! Packets of Sunlight.

This quote by Elder Richard G. Scott (see it over on the side there? yep...just to the right) is just what I needed to hear about 2 years ago when my life took a difficult and unexpected turn. It has given me hope, joy and optimism. It has helped me to heal. It has strengthened my faith and reminded me to look forward to the good things to come. And in the mean time, even if the "trial is great" I can be assured that my Father in Heaven is mindful of me. He is placing those little "packets of sunlight" in my path to "brighten my way". I am grateful for that. I am grateful for every single happy moment in my life. I want to share them with you, so I can more easily recognize, record and remember them forever.

So, this little spot is born. Ready to be filled with good things. Happy little tidbits. Good times. Sunshine and fun. I hope that if nothing else, this will benefit me and my family and help us to frequently recall the gifts and blessings we enjoy. Hope you enjoy them too!