along the shoreline trail

this is what my thanksgiving morning looked like.  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.  I had such a relaxing time I've had a hard time getting back into the groove today.

How about you, how was your holiday?

eleven eleven eleven

as eleven is my favorite number and this date will only happen once in my lifetime I seriously hoped all year leading up to this day that I'd be doing something incredibly cool.

Nothing has happened yet that would be on the highlight reel in my life movie but even though it hasn't been a momentous day because of any one thing, do you ever stop yourself and say, "Hey!  This is my life and I totally love it?"  I find myself saying that to myself a lot lately.

I'm sure you've been on pins and needles just waiting for me to follow up with my loaded comments about new beginnings and the existence of them in my near future so I'll get right to it.

After two years with Noble House I gave notice and will be done at the end of the month.  I have been incredibly blessed by my experience there.   Most of all I'm grateful for my wonderful clients.

I will now be working part time for Design Source, a local rep group a mere ten minute walk from my house.  I've already started and can tell I'm going to really enjoy myself.  The scary part is that while I'll still be in the design industry I won't actually be designing.

Which leads to what I'll be doing with the rest of my time.

I'm officially going out on my own as an Interior Designer.  

That sounds like an official announcement right?  Like I'm running for office making such bold, wonderful statements.  What will I offer the world if I'm nominated? {not reeally, but play along}  Lovely interior spaces and kittens for everyone.

But seriously.  I'm seriously excited.

What does the sofa have anything to with anything?  We're remodeling our showroom and the Gaia from Bernhardt will be part of the changes going on.  Photos someday soon.

new beginnings

Isn't there there something so intoxicating about new beginnings?  Stocked with possibilities, lots of anticipation... and I'm totally going to leave you hanging as to what I'm dropping hints about.  

So until I share my news, November 4th actual signifies a new beginning in my life that I have always loved celebrating.  It's a special day in my family because it was the day I found my way into my very own slice of heaven on earth.

I have angels for parents and my very own super hero for a brother.  He made our family all the better by marrying Kwona, throwing an exotic sister into the mix, someone I've always looked up because of her heart of gold.  I love my two gorgeous nieces, and two seriously cool nephews. Awesome grandparents I consider dear friends, aunts and uncles I adore, and cousins I can laugh with, and I fit right in because it was meant to be.  There are no mistakes in life.  

I've been taking stock of the last thirty years and setting some new goals.
Maybe a second  go at piano lessons?  More watercolor classes?  Table Tennis League?
 My little list of some things that have filled my years:

15 countries

29 states

17 jobs
1 stint in the navy 

18 moves

3 colleges, 1 degree {finally}
3 mountains climbed
4 kitties, 2 pups, 2 hamsters, 4 snakes, gazillions of grasshoppers, crickets, fish, frogs...
6 weeks of ice skating when I wanted to be the next Nancy Kerrigan
1 summer of Tae Kwon Do 
2 winters of ski school 

100's of books read {re: 100's of imagined adventures}

7 School Plays - The Griffon in Alice in Wonderland was my all time fav because I had a solo and was supposed to be act like a terrible singer, it wasn't a stretch!

0 broken bones

10 {ish}stitches

1 seriously scary roll over car wreck with my very own guardian angel

 1 afternoon with the Icuza {Japanese Mob} when I learned to read Korean.  That experiences changed the rest of my adventures in that wildly fun country because of the millions of signs that are now so fun to try to read.

other lessons learned:

Learning to love is what this life is all about.

Enjoying the moment makes the memory all the more clear to be enjoyed again later.

Living without hesitation is the only way to go.  Not to say pausing to make an important decision isn't necessary, but once that's done, move forward.

My checklist for a life well lived wouldn't amount to much if I was only counting places I've seen or adventures I've had, it's all about my family and friends and the love we share.

My grey sous chef.  She sits in the windowsill and watches me while I cook. 

three decades

My parents wrote a sweet post for my birthday today on their blog.  Check it out here.

Thank you for thirty wonderful years!

sunflowers at dusk

 I often go walking in meadows of clover,

And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.
I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over;
Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you.
 

O mother, I give you my love with each flower
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through;
For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,
I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.

{music}

Happy Birthday Mom.

She won't see this for a few days since she's off watching the animal migration in Kenya.

my sweet father

Happy Father's Day Dad!

My aunt is in town from VA and she likes to look through the photo albums stacked in my grandma's closet.  She picks them at random and pulls them down, transporting us into some other time.  I like hearing the commentary and taking in all the great snapshots of the lives of my wonderful family.  I liked this especially today because I was missing my parents and seeing them made me smile.  This picture of my beautiful mom and sweet dad was taken in 1982 in my grandparents backyard.  I can practically smell the bbq smoke, hear the jazz and feel the warm cement on my bare feet.

This is my Grandpa Awesome.

This picture was taken at the cabin he built in Heber, Utah.

MEMORIAL DAY: when the music stopped

 {Panama 2009}

I have a love the goes to my core for our military.  This year I've been reading our country's history starting at the American Revolution to WWII and my appreciation has only grown.

My brother is an Army guy, both my Grandpa's served our beautiful country, as did my dad.  You could say I had a stint in the Navy {humanitarian mission aboard the USNS Comfort} and now have many good friends spread across our great globe doing their part and know from experience how courageous they are even when they are tired, lonely and far from home.

Any time I hear the National Anthem I get goosebumps.  I fight the urge to hug any man in uniform.  I have a beef with the stereotype that Americans haven't done much to fix.  We're perceived as lazy, entitled, forgetful.  I don't believe this completely.  I think there is more good in us than bad, but I do believe we could do better. 

Below is a story written by a Chaplain in Iraq.  For those of you who have never gone to a movie on a military base, the National Anthem is played before the movie begins.

When the Music Stopped

I recently attended a showing of 'Superman 3' here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium that we use for movies as well as memorial services and other large gatherings.

As is the custom at all military bases, we stood to attention when The National Anthem began before the main feature.

All was going well until three-quarters of the way through The National Anthem, the music stopped.

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-to-22-year-olds back in the States? I imagine that there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments, and everyone would sit down and yell for the movie to begin. Of course, that is, only if they had stood for The National Anthem in the first place.

Here in Iraq 1,000 soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music started again, and the soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. Again, though, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect 1,000 soldiers standing at attention to do??  Frankly, I expected some laughter, and everyone would eventually sit down and wait for the movie to start.

No!!. . . You could have heard a pin drop while every soldier continued to stand at attention.

Suddenly, there was a lone voice from the front of the auditorium then a dozen voices, and soon the room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording left off:

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave,
o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

It was the most inspiring moment I have had in Iraq, and I wanted you to know what kind of U.S. Soldiers are serving you!

Remember them as they fight for us!

Written by Chaplain Jim Higgins, LSA Anaconda is at the Ballad Airport in Iraq, north of Baghdad.

God Bless America and all of our troops serving throughout the world.
Happy Memorial Day dear friends.

Happy Easter

"...for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." {D&C 84:88}

{image}

memory grove

When I decided to walk down to the park this afternoon I hadn't set out to do anything special for the holiday tomorrow although the significance of the day has been on my mind. Just wanting to be outside I didn't think about Memory Grove being the perfect place to enjoy part of the holiday weekend. It was nice to stop and read the different plaques around the park.


I was half way out the door when I thought to grab my bag and take my paints with me. I'm glad I did because I found the perfect patch of sunlight to lay down in and play.
I like the first parts of a painting. Laying it out, putting down some washes, I like the feeling that something is about to happen. And then it does and I don't care for it much. Maybe one of these days I'll finish something and be satisfied with it...that day feels a long way off.

Part Two: The Event

Two years ago I was on my way to a class when I stopped in to check out the graduating design student portfolio event. After only a few minutes in the room I went outside and sat under the blossoming trees and told myself to breathe. It was overwhelming what I saw in there! The details, the hours they must have spent, the gigantic hurdle I saw before me to be on that level.
So I pulled it together, went back inside and from that day on had one goal in mind: my portfolio would be simple, not overdone, and it would be about what I think design should be. I wasn't even sure what that was yet or how to pull it off, but I was on a quest to figure it out.

On the way I met some really amazing people who made the experience better than I could have imagined. My friends enriched my days and we became a support system. A lot of wise cracks and a lot of tears. With graduation next week I feel a loss because I'll miss the creative interaction school has brought to my life.

My instructors have been beyond compare. It's been a privilege to be able to learn from a group of people who are talented and enthusiastic about design.

My parents are the best kind of people and willing to help any way they can. They have been a listening ear on the other end of the phone as I talked through ideas, frustrations, triumphs and failures.
And Bry. What a great friend. Without his expertise I would never have been able to make my portfolio the way I saw it in my mind. I'm stubborn and like to think I have solutions for everything but I've learned to listen to him because he's proven to have spot on judgment and an excellent way of simplifying things that I make difficult. Follow this link to his blogtopia to see a slice of what my book looks like on the inside. {thnx RC1 for the post!}

Pouring hundreds of hours into this project I was aware of the days quickly evaporating and I'd try to slow down and take more in. I felt like it was going to fast, have I even had time to soak it all in?
I was happy to feel peace of mind settle in when I needed it most. I couldn't compare myself to my peers, we are all too different. I just had to focus on what I could do and do my best. I've never done that before, I've never put it all in. I usually let self doubt or distractions get in the way.

So when it came time for awards and when it got down to one last one to hand out...and my name was called...."First Place Commercial Design - Jenna Rix"... I can't really even begin to tell you how thrilled I was. I know even more now that it wasn't about the little blue square I brought home, it was about the refining experience that led up to it.

Part 1: the beginning to a beautiful day

Today, The Big Day {aka The Portfolio Event} has been a day I have been looking forward to with about every emotion I have in me. Anxiety, sometimes dread, but most of the time excitement mixed with fear of letting myself down and happiness knowing I was putting everything I have into something I care about. I've never worked so hard on anything in my life and the great surprise is that the anticipation of something has up until now been better for me. Today changed that. Real life was even better than all the dreams leading up to it.

The day started out after a couple hours of sleep {I was too excited to sleep} with a few finishing touches to my portfolio display. Then the girls, our friend Ben and I headed off for pedicures and lunch at Mazza. The five of us have really been close so it was so fitting to spend the afternoon together while our portfolios were being judged.

no one wanted pictures taken, we've all been tethered to our portfolios and haven't given much attention to other things like pulling it together to be seen in public places. In the spirit of relief and relaxation I happily sported my flippy floppies provided by the pedi people today to the restaurant in only the most hip part of town. {9th n 9th}

I don't feel like I can finish this story just yet with out images to back it up. You'll have to wait in anticipation for Part Two of how the rest of the day went down.

Spring fling

I am in the mood to read Beatrix Potter books, clean everything top to bottom and plant some green things. Spring is here!

I can imagine these fun vintage prints in a pretty frame with fresh whites and living things.


These little boxes look like fun to make so when I went to investigate how to pull it off I found a really great blog. A Little Hut is stuffed with DIY ideas.

Happy Easter!!

bday wishes

A little girl needs Daddy
For many, many things:
Like holding her high off the ground
Where the sunlight sings
Like being the deep music
That tells her all is right
When she awakens frantic with
The terrors of the night.

Like being the great mountain
That rises in her heart
And shows her how she might get home
When all else falls apart.

Like giving her the love
That is her sea and air,
So diving deep or soaring high
She'll always find him there.


luv you endlessly Dad, Happy Birthday.


{author unknown for the poem}