approaching joy

create.edit.share :: wonderful takes work

I was reading Elise's blog last week when I came across the statement that I quote above.  It seemed like a very fitting description of the situation she finds herself in but, really, it seems like very appropriate advice for anyone who participates in life.  

I know I have a ton and a half of things for which I am thankful.  As I explained the other day, I really happen to like where I am at this point in my life.  But there are still areas that make me groan when I wake up in the morning.  Some are little things and some are significantly bigger things but I've come to realize that the common denominator is always that there is some sort of work involved.  

So... I just reread that last paragraph and I realize that it comes off as lazy.
"Duh, you gotta' work Paige!" you are probably saying, "Unless you're independently wealthy, that's generally the case." 
Newsflash: I am not independently wealthy and I get that, but that's not what I mean.  Ask anyone I know and they will tell you that I like to be doing something. I like to stay busy.  When I am "into" a project you can hardly tear me away... except maybe to eat. 

What I'm referring to as "work" are the things that I'm not currently enjoying or the things that don't come natural to me:
Anything with numbers will always be work to me.  
Packing for vacation will always be work for me.
Disregarding the DSW coupon that came in the mail yesterday will always be work for me.  (That's a joke... kinda'.)
The last four weeks of school... when I'm already looking ahead to the four weeks after that... will be work for me.

All of these things are necessary for life because wonderful takes work.
And I happen to be enjoying my current wonderful too much to screw it up.  

WHOA! BLOG ALERT!
I just realized (today, April 2nd) that my "large downloads" that I've added to all my "create.edit.share" posts are an amazing size for my laptop desktop image.  Download this or any of the others and let me know how it works for you.

beautiful moments :: march.week4

March is coming to an end!  Here's (a fraction of) the moments I caught via iPhone this week through my Instagram feed for the last full week of the March PhotoaDay Challenge.

March 23rd #moon:
Confession!! I totally missed the moon picture.  (Having too much fun loving my life is the only excuse I have.)  A few nights later I had a dream that I was taking a picture of the moon while driving home one night (I know: unsafe dreaming) and long comlicated dream story short the moon turned into mutilple asteroids.  Super scary, right?!?!  
Okay, so maybe I'm the only with an intense fear of nonexistent asteroids, but a few days later (once my fear susbsided) I made a nifty illustration of my dream.  I love that I drew myself driving a bus. 

March 24th #animal:
The Mister and I went a-thrifting and this was only one of the many "animals" they had in their shop.  He was a cutie but didn't compare in awesomeness to the kithen canisters that we did end up purchasing.  (I will definitely have to share those once I get back up there.)

March 25th #breakfast:
This looks like everyday ordinary coffee when, in reality, it is everyday ordinary coffee that I was drinking at 1am at a Denny's.  What can I say? My friends know how to have a good time.

 March 26th #key:
This was Monday night.  I was thigh-high in homework, slightly depresssed about resuming school, it was 9 pm, and I hadn't taken my assigned picture yet.  I threw the keys on the dashboard and voila!  As it turns out, a streetlight isn't a bad light source.

March 27th #your name:
Another cheat day.  I actually took this shot a few week's ago at my grandmother's house.  It was an old notebook that I had wrote my name on as well as "nana" (my grandmother).  Seeing this notebook in person brought back memories: I distinctly remember getting in trouble for writing on it so I had to use the eraser end of the "erasble pen" I was using (circa 1992, remember those?) and "erase" it.  As it turns out- those erasers are pretty strong things suckers; it took out the ink and the surrounding color of the notebook but 20 years later the outline of my name is still there.

March 28th #trash:
The caption on this was "empty coke can in my study spot, it's bad for me (#trash) but I love it so.

March 29th #shoes:
My new favorites.  They resemble a pair I remember my mom wearing to my little brother's little league games.  And now my (currently nonexistent) daughter will be able to laugh at herself when she Googles me and sees that she's wearing the same shoes that I once posted on my blog.  And yes, that thought totally blows my mind.

Speaking of blown minds: is anyone else totally taken aback by the fact that tomorrow is the last day of March?  I really had to give it a second thought when I typed "week4". Exciting actually considering I have mucho to look forward too.  So though I'm totally happy to say "sayonara" to Fat Mum Slim's March PhotoaDay Challenge and am looking forward to the April Challenge; anyone wanna' join me?  I promise it will be a good time.

and now a word about falling & flailing...

I started this post wanting to write about love.
How awesome it is and how happy I am that it has found me.
But even if I could find the words to articulate it (which I can not), you probably wouldn't be able to comprehend how Paige/love works anyway.  This is not because you are incapable of understanding such topics but simply because I truly think that love is such a personal molecular thing that is difficult to "get" unless you are "in it".

 

So instead of talking about my love I want to talk about the place that this crazy amazing experience has brought me to.  
The other day I was telling the Mister how happy I was.  Not being one to take anything for face value he asked why.  And I realized that though I knew I was happy, I hadn't sat still and thought about the reason why.  A couple minutes later I found my reply:
"I feel I'm not in a state of free-fall madness that I've spent the majority of my adulthood flailing against.  It's comforting and liberating and super rad."  Now, I was wearing an off-the-shoulder sweater so that probably accounts for my 80's throwback word of "rad", but everything else was a perfectly accurate description.  

My early twenties were spent in a perpetual state of "flail"- similar to "fail" but with a slightly more positive vibe and lots of erratic movements.  Loads of erratic everything, in fact.  
And, in a way, I'm glad that's how it happened.  Lots and bunches of experiments and plenty of recovery time in between.  Bouncing around like a pinball has helped me figure out under which parameters I operate best.
And yes, I realize that "comforting" and "liberating" seem to be diametrically opposed to one another but really it's so very true.  In my own crazy amazing version of molecular Paige/love, it has been the opportunity to be totally honest and "me" (flailing included) that has freed me to be the version of that I knew I was capable of, the version that always seemed just out of my reach before.  I'm by no means "done," but the person I am today is ten times more secure, confident, and strong than anything I have been before; I really like that person.

These are pictures that the Mister took while we were in Hot Springs a couple of weeks back.
Before, my the demonstration of my amazingly awkward "Super Bass" moves would have resembled the state of affairs in my life (i.e. flail).  Now, it's just further proof that I'm having fun and I don't care who sees.

{Side-note:  My inner "you've been single for a much longer time than anything else"-girl wants me to reaffirm that I don't believe that romantic love "makes" anything happen.  I simply believe that love can illuminate and/or reflect the good things that have been there all along.  It's not a necessary ingredient for anyone's personal awesomeness.
I may not know you personally know you but if you've stuck with me through out this full blog post I think you're pretty awesome.}

Agree?  Disagree? 
Let me know. 

arty crafty :: birthday owl crown

On Monday's post, I gave you a peek at today's project.

That little guy is Mr. Benson.  He celebrated his first birthday over the weekend and he needed an owl crown to properly "top off" his weekend.  (Yay for bad puns!)  

This post is not a tutorial or a DIY because, truthfully, I really didn't know what I was doing as I was doing it.  I did a Google image search for "birthday owl crown", went a little crazy in Hobby Lobby, and just played around for a few hours when I got home.  In fact, one of the images that came up on Etsy was this little guy from an Etsy shop. I really liked the look of the stitches on top but I didn't know how to do it so I then used the words "blanket stitch" (which the link above uses in its description) and did another Google search which lead me to this video.

Moral of the story:
Without the awesomeness of Google, the sewing skills that my grandmother taught me when I was super young, and the time/ willingness to experiment (i.e. mess up) none of this would have happened.

And now the out-takes:

{Did I mention this little crown is durable?}

What projects have ya'll been working on lately?  Do you go for step-by-step directions or did you do like me (in this project) and just jump into head first ?

tasty tuesday :: simple salad dressing

And sometimes you just get tired of the stuff from the bottle...

Make sure that no one you plan on serving is lactose intolerant and that you have access to a grocery store that has a schmancy cheese section. As long as you're good on those two counts you are good to go.

There is none.  Make like Nike and "just do it."

{This, ladies and gents, is an action shot.}

Pour half a cup of buttermilk into a large bowl with half a cup of sour cream.

Finely mince one garlic clove and whisk it all up.

Add six of the eight ounces of the most amazing Gorgonzola that you happen to have on hand.  
(If you currently live 60 miles from the nearest schmancy cheese section (like I do) please disregard the "happen to have on hand" part- I know you had a make a special trip for stuff like that and appreciate the sacrifice and dedication that you are willingly to make for delicious food.)

No I realize that there is a whisk in the picture above but I'm going to need you to mentally Photoshop that because my actual Photoshop skills are not that good.  If you try to whisk it you will end up with a massive chunk of cheese in the middle of your whisk and your boyfriend will look at you weirdly as you pry the whisk open and come up with plan B... or maybe that was just me...

Regardless- Plan B is this: Use a spatula.  Much better for "smooshing" which is a requirement for this part.  You want to take the small chunks (or the one ginormous chunk in my case) and totally incorporate it into the mixture you already have working in your bowl.  
See those pieces of garlic already hanging out in there?  Your job is to make that cheese resemble those teeny tiny pieces of garlic.

And while your smooshing, add lots of freshly ground pepper.  It adds a bite that you will appreciate later.

{Another action shot.}

Continue smooshing.

When everything is adequately smooshed, crumble the last two ounces of Gorgonzola into the bowl and fold it in.  
Softly, no smooshing allowed this time.  This time we want texture.

Amazing velvety texture.
The night we made this, the Mister and I had it with Romaine, grilled chicken breast, carrots, grape tomatoes, and avocado slices and it was the most filling/ (relatively) healthy/ delicious salad I had eaten in a long time.

What about you guys- What are your preferred salad accoutrements?