Picture Day!

Today was a good day! I was able to head to Spanaway early this morning to do a family photo shoot for my brother Andy and his family Sara, Colton, and dog Moose. 

DISCLAIMER: I am defiantly defiantly not a professional photographer but I thought I would at least make an effort to get some great family portraits for Andy and Sara.

I also now have a better appreciation for child photographers... holy crap! Colton doesn't sit still for more than 5 seconds without me giving him something valuable to play with ex. my i-phone. (much better than any of his toys)

So in these photos I just let Colton do whatever he wanted and took photos of that. This ended up Colton playing in Andy's jeep.

enjoy the photos...

 Above: My Favorite

Oh and lastly these are my ideas for possible Halloween or Christmas Cards : )

Christmas Decorations and Paul

If Paul and I were a movie couple especially around Christmas time... ñthis would be us. Paul has an obsession with Christmas lights so you can imagine how I felt when we went for a Costco run and all of the Christmas decorations and lights were already on display.

...it was like a moth to a flame, all focus gone.

I have to admit when he decorates a house he really goes all out. He even connects the lights to his laptop so they change colors. See below...

    

 All this being said to simple say I love my husband and I am excited for Christmas time again... and yes I know we need to make it through Halloween first.

Happy Fall everyone Christmas is just around the corner : )

Daily Inspiration by Pablo

While I am brainstorming ideas for this blog here is a little bit of daily inspiration from Pablo...

Art washes away from the 

soul the dust of everyday life. 

                                                                                - Pablo Picasso

DIY (French) Terrarium

I am going to actually do work after this but for now I am procrastinating with plants...

I have been annoying Paul that I wanted plants for our apartment and yesterday on our "Saturday" which now actually isn't even that because I have class... Paul took me to Molbak's. This is officially my new favorite place at least for now. It's huge and they have every kind of plant you could possibly imagine they even have a little cafe where we had lunch. Paul and I picked out a few succulents and I created a terrarium for our apartment.

I love these pretty little plants! their crazy names are:

• Blue Spruce
• Fulda Glow
• Crassula Argent
• Sempervivum Mix "houseleeks"
• Echeveria

which I'm glad I looked them up or I would never remember:

Terrarium Ingredients: Succulent plants, glass bowl, gravel, eiffel tower, and quartz

 Thank You for taking me to lunch and letting me pick out plants amazing husband!

Beautiful Reminders

When Paul and I moved to Bellevue I was really nervous I would be too overwhelmed with the city life (the constant car alarms and fire engines are getting on my last nerve). I had a hard time adjusting even just moving into Tacoma after growing up a farm kid in Spanaway, Washington so I was surprised when Paul and I stumbled upon our new home. It is so beautiful in this area of Bellevue there are trails, lakes, and even community gardens I love it so much, and it makes for great walks and talks with my love. It may sound strange but it's environments like this that remind me of home, of the farm and I know that as far fetched as it may seem finding a home in the city with such beautiful reminders was not an accident, God blessed our new dwelling in a beautiful way.

Spongebob and the Cutest Kid on Earth...

Today I attempted to paint a Spongebob mural on my nephew Colton's bedroom wall. He loves Spongebob, so I was so excited when I saw him recognize with a huge smile the cartoon I painted. Colton is by far the cutest, sweetest kid I've met so far and yes I might just be saying that because I'm his aunt. This is my first mural, and I hope to have it finished for Colton this Friday so stay tuned for picks of the finished Spongebob and Patrick lol...

Defining Leadership

Leadership...

This is the key word in my life right now...

The Masters in Arts Leadership Program is everything I thought it was going to be at least from what I can see so far... and much much more.

In the first class that I have been taking at Seattle University I have been drug through many different leadership models and styles of which have many strengths and weaknesses. (or pages of disclaimers about how little it has been studied and so on) 

Through my studies so far I have been forced to question my own leadership skills, abilities, weaknesses, and strengths. It has become apparent to me that first off... I have a long way to go in this area, but also that leadership requires much more than having a vision and motivating everyone else to support that vision. 

My ideas are forming and I guess this blog is a fun, safe place to lay them all down and feedback would be greatly appreciated ~

So. My definition of leadership. Equals. 

• Passion for the thing you are trying to accomplish, which implies there is a goal and indeed I believe you must have a goal to be a leader, even if that goal is to support another leaders vision.

• Concern for people who will be influenced by your vision along with the people you are inspiring to follow you. (A good leader cannot be narcissistic or have bad intentions for either his/her followers or for the people who will be effected by their vision for example: Hitler)

• Unconventional Problem Solver, I say unconventional because I believe it is the people who search outside the box who are going to solve the problems of our communities and a lot of the time breaking the rules or going against the currant of our society is what it takes to access the answers that seem to be hidden.

I will add more to this idea as I learn more but for now I think this is a good start... stay tuned.

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Harold R. McAlindon