Order

I did find the missing notebook I mentioned last week. Piles have been reduced. Order restored.

I am thankful for the organization skills I learned from my mom. She is good at putting like with like. Matching. Sorting. I can live with a certain level of chaos, and then I need a sense of order restored. This is the goal. Being able to locate things instantly. To always know where the scissors are, not just where they should be.

(Note: mending with "hahahahaha" label!)

Temples

(image emailed from Johnny's phone!)

I love to see the temple.

John and I went yesterday. Sweet experience. I am thankful we live only 70 minutes away. Great blessing.

Light

The Family: A Proclamation to the World is all over my house. Lacquered into the dinning room table. Here, in this collage glow-in-the-dark-stars piece. This was a long ago submission that was juried out of a show. Rejected art. I think Joseph fell off of the center, but the rest of it is stored somewhere in the garage.

I am thankful for the opportunity to try things, experiment, even if they fail, or don't meet my expectations. Freedom to be creative. If I were more confident, I think I would be a better artist, and care less about my audience. Create just because I couldn't help it. Feel the need, the drive, the little bit of madness. The dedicated craziness that makes me forget food, relationships, sleep, aching muscles.

I love Minerva Teichert's narrative art. One of my favorite stories about her is hearing how she stirred the pot of soup with one hand as she painted with the other. She was a mom and an artist--didn't let her relationships falter for art creation. Made them work together, and paid for her children's education with her paintings (the reason BYU has so many in their collection!).

Hair

I learned how to cut hair on Barbie first. Then probably myself, maybe Deborah? First OFFICIALLY SANCTIONED by parent haircut was this guy, brother John (not to be confused with husband John, son John who is known as Stewart, and father-in-law John who is John-Dad.)

Brothers John and David were very patient hair clients. (Which one of you has an ear scar from my scissors? Both?) I am much better now, due to lots of practice and a 2nd generation Wahl buzzer, paid for many times over by the money we saved not going to a professional. Brother John has nice, thick auburny hair. His wife, Jen (not to be confused with this aunt Jennilyn) has great, thick, beautiful hair. Their kids have great hair!
I LOVE baby hair, the softness, how sweet it smells.
Roxie and Sam, caught in the act. At least they were sharing nicely!

I love bed-head hair, silly hair.
I love playing with hair, fixing it pretty. I am thankful for great learning videos to make Princess Hair.


Roxie has been a good sport. She told me yesterday she wants to donate hers. We set a goal, Spring 2011, "before school is out" in her words. I am thankful for her selfless service desires, even if it means less time to play with her beautiful hair! (I never thought I would have a blond baby).

Color

Yellow tree on the way to a client's home!I LOVE COLOR! I love fall on the east coast. The colors have been vivid this year. Mesmerizing. Beautiful.

I am working a new job, first day today. I got to coordinate and choose colors to go with cute-touristy tins, add the frou-frou on top of the packaging. Fun day. More about that later, when I can show you pictures.

I am enthralled with the contrasts, the color juxtapositions, how one color influences another. Josef Albers, Wassily Kandinski, Franz Marc Jane Sassaman (quilter) are some of my favorite colorists.

Thankful for Brothers & Bodies!

Four of David C. Babcock paintings hanging in our dinning room.

First I was born. Then Deborah. Then John (2nd from left). He taught us what it meant to be different than girls. Diaper education is a great way to teach gender uniqueness. Different physically. Different roles.
I have been blessed with four brothers by birth. Each of them are talented, unique, inspiring. (How did Steven get away with no glasses? 7 out of 9 of us wear them.)

I've been thinking a lot about David, brother on the far left in picture above. He painted the man on the rocks below, faithful copy of "Jeune Homme nu assis au bord de la mer" 1836 by Jean Hippolyte Flandrin, hanging in the Louvre in Paris. Sigh. I love this painting. Wish it were hanging in my home.

(Hi, Emma! Photo from 2009 Thanksgiving!)

David and his wife are talented artists, house designers, gifted photographers, fascinating people to know and love!

I am thankful for their art.

I am thankful for BODIES! Physical bodies are a great blessing! Even when they ache, and grow old, feeble. I am glad to be alive!

Blog Stalking

What did I do before blog-watching? DIY and HGTV channel surfing? Magazine browsing?

I am a changed woman because of the things I have learned from blogs. NieNie's (sidebar button) testimony and will to live beautifully still makes me cry and feel more courageous. Pioneer Woman's romance and beautiful photos of her family helped get us started on writing our own romance down, story fashion. All those blogs listed on my sidebar--I stalk them. If I don't leave comments, just view often, observe their talents, copy their crafts=stalking.

These yo-yo necklaces are inspired by The Empress Dowager's New Jewels. I love the idea behind her necklaces, the thriftiness, the tactile-fun-fabric of them. If I really owned rubies and emeralds, I am not sure I would wear them as boldly as I do these every day or Sunday-dress-up stones!

I am thankful for uplifting, educational, inspiring blogs.