Ornament Traditions

I remember growing up one of our Christmas traditions was to go and pick a new ornament for our tree. My mom would have the ornament engraved with our name and the year. In the beginning, Mom would select the ornament for my brother and I but as we became a bit older, we were able to select our own. I never really understood how incredibly special this tradition was until I moved out on my own. I had a collection of then 25 ornaments that I could decorate my own tree with. Each year as I unpack my decorations, my heart swells with excitement and pride as I carefully unwrap each ornament and gaze at the markings on the piece. I can remember the exact thing I was into at the time with almost every ornament. I know that at one time, I loved horses and had selected an ornament to represent that temporary obsession. I also remember when I begged my mom to let me have a dalmation and she compromised with this...

PS. I got my dalmation but it was several years later!
Each ornament holds so much meaning for me. My Daddy would sing jingles to my brother and I in the morning to wake us up for school. His specialty, the Howdy Doody theme song! The year I lost him, I knew there wasn't any other ornament that was more fitting than this.

We eventually moved on from the brass ornaments to special Hallmark ornaments. I also began gifting my Mom and Dad with ornaments so that when my brother and I moved on, they would have something to decorate their own tree with since we snagged all the ornaments!
As I grow up, I still receive an ornament each year from my mom. She gifted us this one when we moved in our new house

I love this ornament tradition and I am looking forward to continuing it with my own son or daughter one day.

Here!

I was thinking about the past and something came to mind, being present. We, well I, often find myself thinking about the past and longing for it and even asking myself what's next. I plan ahead for everything, from meal planning for the month, to picking out my clothes for the week and I caught myself in the middle of a conversation the other day thinking what it would be like if I were in the moment. I think we all know someone in our lives who lives in the moment. The person never plans ahead for anything, well it doesn't seem that way. I don't think my brain knows how to stay focused on the here and now however, I want to be that way in some circumstances of my life. I want so desperately to be 100% present. I've decided, for my family, we are going to adopt a no cell phone policy after 7. I will plug my phone in to the charger and let it sit until the next morning. I will no longer check emails or social media after 7 either. I just need a break. I need to get back to what is really important. Finding out the latest scoop from my old college friends can wait as can those many emails. I want to feel more present, especially with the people I love most. How do you stay present?

Bittersweet Ending

It's that time again, time to say goodbye to yet another summer and start a new school year. This summer is especially hard to say goodbye to. I think I've had more fun this summer than any other in my grown up, out of college days. We didn't take a vacation this year because we simply couldn't decide where to go. I did go on a little trip with some girls from work but otherwise, I was home every day. In June, I made a little to do list and some of those things got crossed off and well others, are still waiting their turn. I did manage to make a little extra money tutoring this summer and babysitting too. I also went to Zumba every single week, faithfully. I hung out with my bestie and had THE. MOST. FUN. EVER. We could just drive down the street and find something to laugh at. I'm going to miss the carefree days of summer. Staying up late, sleeping in, lunch dates in the real world, 1:00 naps, shopping trips every day and making appointments whenever they have an opening! Some of those things sound really grown up, guess that's part of it though. Tomorrow, I go back to work. Back to 5:30 wake up calls and 15 minute lunch breaks, back to the day in and day out, back to testing data and parent teacher conferences and even though I'm teaching something totally new this year, a bit of me is excited for the unknown and a bit (a large bit) is scared. I'm with a whole new group of people to work with, a new classroom, new curriculum and much, much bigger kids. I'm going to give it a shot though and try it out (besides, what other choice do I have) and I'm going to have a good outlook on things. With all of that, I will have some awfully good memories to laugh about and help get me through to the next summer which if it's anything like this one, will be a blast!

Keeping the Faith

With so much going on over the summer, I think we tend to get wrapped up in pool dates and lunch dates and just have the ease of the summer in all parts of our lives. While this time is so full of fun, we have to remind ourselves to not ease up on our relationship with Christ. I never really post much about my faith on this blog but lately, I have felt it on my heart to share. I have been through some very trying times recently and I have to continue to keep the faith that things will work out and that I have to continue to turn it over to Him. Prayer is such an integral part of my lifestyle and I hope it is for yours too. I know that I will continue to trust in His word and know that His ways are best for me even though it may be challenging, I know that His promises will lead me to a victory.


"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, NIV)

Commenting Challenge Day 4- Hobbies

I'm a few days behind on the commenting challenge but I'm planning to catch up before the weekend is over. In fact, my goal is to visit every site that linked up! So today's topic is hobbies. I have lots of hobbies. I'm always trying something new and wanting to start a new project before my first one is finished unfortunately but I'm working this summer to finish up all of my incomplete projects.

My real love is sewing. My mom, aunt and both grandmothers did lots of sewing. I guess I came by it honestly. I learned a little from each one of them when it comes to the basics of sewing but when my mom bought her latest sewing machine, I knew I had to learn how to applique. I logged on the computer and searched for all kinds of tutorials on how to applique and just figured it out by trial and error. Below are a few things that I've made!

I'm hoping to open an etsy store in the next couple of weeks. Right now, I have done things for friends and family but just by posting some of these things on Twitter, I've gotten lots of feedback and a couple orders too. Hopefully that etsy site will give me more advertising. I would love to be able to quit my job one day and sew full time!

If anyone is interested in a custom piece, let me know, I would be happy to work with you!

Social Media

While I love social media, I do not have any social media connected to my blog especially since it is so small. I do have a personal Twitter account and LOVE it! I deleted my FB account over a year ago and honestly haven't missed it at all. I do miss being able to catch up with my high school and college friends but luckily a few of them have blogs and twitter.
My real love is Pinterest. I love how easy it is to find things that I previously had to hunt down. I like finding new ideas for my classroom, new recipes to try, new things to create and just about everything else. I have even created a pinboard of pins that I've tried and jotted down adjustments that I've made to them. I have been using Pinterest for over a year and just simply can't get over the fact of how wonderful it is. Since I quit FB, I had to have something to do with all of that free time and Pinterest seems to have done the trick!
I visit lots of websites every day. I usually wake up and check my email and then I check my twitter account. Reading tweets for me is like reading the newspaper for my husband. I follow CNN and People and Us so I have all the bases covered as far as news is concerned. Often times, I know the scoop before it ever comes out in the newspaper which really aggravates T but I secretly love it! I also check flash sale sites like Zulily, Rue La La and Very Jane. I like to find good deals and occasionally these sites have things that are unique or hard to find but they also have well known brands like Kitchen Aid, New Balance and Cuisinart. Most of the products are typically 50-75% off retail prices but they have a limited supply and are only available for a limited time on the site, hence the fact they are called flash sales!
What sites do you check into daily? Any more flash sale sites I should check out?

Why I Blog

I started blogging in 2009 at the urge of a few friends from college who wanted to keep up with my life since I moved far away. I encouraged my family in South Carolina to also blog since I wouldn't be seeing them as much since I moved to what seemed to be, across the country. My blog stayed active for about 6 months then I closed down that blog due to some personal issues and resumed blogging again in 2010. My blog has undergone several changes, including it's now 3rd domain name. I'm hoping to keep this name as it just fits my style, you rarely see me without my latte these days!

I typically blog about my day to day life, new recipes that I've tried, products that I love, things I have created and just general life. We have been TTC for almost 5 years off and on and I occasionally share those struggles in hopes of finding some comfort and support. My mother is in the middle of a move back to SC and I will utilize this blog for her to keep up with things here, even though I'm sure our daily phone calls won't cease, it will be nice for her to read about life here!

Hope you will follow along as well!

Picking Up and a Comment Challenge

So, I changed my blog name and domain yet again, third time if you are counting. I just needed something new to get me going again and I have a new page design on the way as well. I am hoping with all these changes, I'll be ready to blog more often again!

Beginning today, Jenna is hosting her annual commenting challenge. Today's topic is About Me so here we go...

If you haven't visited my blog before, I'm Chea and I live with my husband Tom. We have spent the past 7 years traveling and enjoying being married. I teach Kindergarten and Tom teaches PE and coaches soccer. We have a sweet dog, Maggie and a fun cat, Ham. We are still awaiting a baby to come into our lives and hopefully that will be very soon!