One Little Word 2012 by Ali Edwards at Big Picture Classes

I signed up for the class and already got my pre-class assignment done today. Ali is using an 8.5x11 album. I'm going to make mine digital, probably 8x10.

One Little Word 2012 - Album Cover

My word is balance. Both mentally and even physically. I'm going to focus on all the parts of my life and how they fit together. How the tasks and actions in my day affect the people I care about, and vice versa. How I can work hard and still enjoy time with my family and time to be creative. No superwoman complex. Just balance.

I think, for me, that is going to start with simplicity and order. Calm leads to order which leads to balance. For me. Maybe not you. Maybe no one else but me. But that's what I crave when life starts to get out of control. Calm. Order. Balance. I'm not sure how I'm going to get there yet, but I'm going to start the journey. Maybe you should join me with your own One Little Word for 2012. What would yours be?

The author made a commitment to create a skull a day and ended up on the Martha Stewart show, with a book deal, and giving lectures. I really don't expect any of that to happen to me. In fact, that's hysterical. The author also said he gained a "toolbox full of new skills and creative ideas". I like that. I read the beginnings of the book, shaking my head the entire time, thinking there is just no way I can make this happen. But I keep wondering. The first thing I am supposed to do is choose a subject or medium. Something I would enjoy, and be willing, to explore for an entire year. I am realizing how difficult this could be, since the thought of doing anything for an entire year sounds rather daunting. I like change, I get bored, I can't even keep a hairstyle for longer than it takes to grow my hair a few inches.

So then I started wondering, at the encouragement of the author, if maybe I could commit to making something every week. And heck, let's just throw it all out the window and go for one thing a month. But that sounds lame. So I'm back to something every day. Or maybe week. Heck, I don't know.

The most important thing the author says, and all of the other artists who are interviewed throughout the book, is to not give up before you even try. Think of it as little steps, instead of thinking about it as a whole year.

So, I'm thinking about it as little steps. I cheated and read the prompts for the first week or so, and they seem manageable. We'll see if I crash and burn on January 1. Or 10. Or 27. And I just picked those numbers at random. They have no significant meaning whatsoever. In case you were wondering.

At the same time, I am missing my craft room pretty fiercely. Well, that's not exactly true. I'm feeling out of sorts and guilty for having a craft room that is not getting used. I am hoping to resolve those issues in the next few weeks, and start 2012 with no guilt, and lots of patience. I think I am going to sign up for Ali's One Little Word 2012 class, as well as a couple of others, and really start my year with a new attitude.

I have a weekend crop to attend in January that will help me get my year off right. Good times with good women. I like that.

So on that note, I'll try not to be a stranger. I don't know if anyone is even reading this and that's okay. It's mostly for my own use anyway. So there. No guilt or pressure. Feeling better already!

Moose and elk and bears, oh my! And don't forget the boiling water!

Oh this trip just keeps getting better and better.

Okay, maybe a few more words. This is the famous Bippy and Bappy. You haven't heard of them? Seriously? They've been a really big deal since 2002, when they met at daycare and seemed to carry on full conversations of babble at the age of two. They knocked other kids out of chairs to sit next to each other. Bappy refused to be moved to another classroom at the daycare without Isabella. And I mean refused. Just would. not. go. And here we are today, 9 years later, 2500 miles apart, and still a class act.

Well, classy, except for the cheesy space needle photos.

These friends are wonderful and the time between this visit and the last one was WAY too long. We've already planned the next joint vacation and are SO glad we hauled our rear ends to Seattle. We love you guys!

There was so much other GOOD stuff in this weekend, including a dinner with a whole gang of Scott's cousins. None of my photos of the evening turned out so I will have to grab the others off of FB. We got together with 13 of Scott's relatives, that he has not seen since he was about 10, including their children who weren't even born back then and are now grown. It was truly a great evening!

Slide Rock Canyon was a last minute addition for an afternoon picnic and swim. A big shout-out THANK YOU to my Mom for throwing this out as we were driving out of her driveway, as in "oh, are you going to Oak Creek Canyon? If you are near there, you should go see it. Its really pretty and they have a slide rock." This turned out to be a really fun afternoon after a couple of days in the car.

Then we headed to Grand Canyon National Park. And the cute little Polaroid frames end because honestly, you just can't fit that landscape into a square.

For those of you curious about the dark oval around my mouth, I have no idea. My camera decided to give me a mustache and a beard or some weird shadow from my hat or its remnants of the aliens in Roswell. Honestly, no clue and can't make it go away in Photoshop. Such is life with photos on the road.

No, they were not really sitting on the edge of the canyon. We take shots like this to make it look like that and then I panic that everyone will think we're nuts letting our child sit on the edge of an abyss.

I still appear to have a 5 o'clock shadow. It must be the hat.

Seriously awesome stuff.

And then there's this.

Welcome to the Middle of Nowhere. And would you like some alpaca with your gas and your sandwich? No? Are you sure? Cuz we're really cute and we don't seem to spit quite so much as the llamas.

I'll post Part 3 soon!

The guys at Master Hitch in Houston worked on the trailer all day Friday and by 5pm, we were on the road, only 30 hours behind on our trip. We stopped in Seguin for the night and on Saturday, hauled ourselves to Carlsbad. We made our first roadside rest area stop and had our picnic lunch. It was clean and shaded and that was all we needed.

When we got to Carlsbad, we missed the bats because quite frankly, we were so exhausted, but we've seen the caverns before so this was the most logical highlight to skip if we wanted to get back on schedule.

The next day we headed across New Mexico to Gallup. There were brushfires along the way but we made it. It was strictly a travel day but we made a few stops along the way.

The UFO Museum in Roswell. Scott fashioned us some hats out of aluminum foil to keep the aliens from dragging us back to wherever they come from. The police let us park our RV in their visitor parking lot. A great little town that has accepted its claim to fame and very cleverly uses it to make money. I'm still not convinced but it was a nice stop to stretch our legs and act silly.

We drove through Winslow, AZ and tried to stand on a corner but it didn't work out. Nowhere to stop the RV so I suppose its the thought that counts.

But we enjoyed our day, getting our kicks on Route 66 and even staying the night on the historic road. This USA RV Park in Gallup was super clean, very nice, had a great pool, and an even better laundry room. A nice stop.

I'll post more tomorrow!

And here's a layout I created using the kit. I'm really loving layered papers right now, so this was fun playing with the different colors.

And I just realized I haven't even mentioned this little trip to the beach, here on my blog. Ah well. It was overcast but we got sunburned anyway. The journaling on the layout tells you everything you need to know. It was a great trip and I'm glad to have it documented!

Laughing with friends.

Walking in the woods, by day.

And night.

And sleeping in tents.

Yeah, okay. I didn't do that last part. I had air conditioning in our trailer. But the sentiment was there. We had a great time and have already planned a trip for the fall!

Some people enjoyed it more than others.

And we had our very own Scott The Fishing Guide with us.

Of course, no camping trip is complete without sitting around in the dirt.

More to come tomorrow!

We're starting on our adventure with purple and lilac, and had an outfit for school picked out to coordinate. We've already determined the next three color changes based on summer activities, new middle school colors, etc. The teenage boy in the chair next to Isabella asked for blue. The girl on her other side was getting green and pink. And everyone was smiling. It was a good start to the next 20 months!