November 21, 2011

Fun With Music and Video Monday

This week's video is a mini tutorial on miniature paper roses. I was looking for some cool ideas for my Valentine's Day gift boxes and came across this wonderful little idea. She makes it look all so easy. I can't wait to try them out. I'll be posting the trials next Monday for your critiques.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Social Media Thursday

These awesome images are from my Pinterest "Breathless" board.

What makes you speechless...takes the breath from you simply because it's beautiful, fantastical, inspiring....What makes your mouth drop open and your eyes open wide, like you did when you were a small child seeing holiday lights for the first time.....What makes you reach out, unconsciously, and hold his/her hand, so that you know someone special is sharing a special moment with you....What makes you....Breathless?

Pinterest is a great place to indulge your ultimate wish list. Go shopping, find a new book, read a blog, try something new, find a recipe...whatever. It's all there waiting to be pinned!

November 15, 2011

Hello there and Hello Tuesday! The second day of a lovely week. I have two items that I'm posting today, both of which I found on other blogs that I follow. Since this is LL's Guide to Renewal - I guess I need to get back to the renewal part of the blog. First the ABC's of me - I thought this was a great way to get to know some things about someone. I saw this first on Edi Royer's blog, memoriesforlifescrapbooks.blogspot.com and decided to try it here.

 

The ABC’s of ME

A – aunt to 5 wonderful nephews, B – bargain hunter, C – choreographer,  

D – dancer/dance teacher, E – ex- tax preparer, F – forty something,  

G – God fearing, H – happy (much of the time), I – Internet addict, 

J –jelly beans (2^nd favorite candy), K – kids (four of them), L – Lostlemonade

M – multi-tasker, N – Nerd for life,  

O – Operations Manager (for art shows/festivals),

P – popcorn (favorite snack food), Q – quiet, R – rebellious,  

S – sister (second oldest),

T – tinkerer, U – upbeat, V – violet (favorite color), W – Wii Player,

X – xenodochial (isn’t that a cool word? Means hospitable)

Y – yellow roses (favorite color to receive), Z – zealous

This was so much fun to do. I am a list maker as well, so this was a task right up my alley. Try it and let me know how it goes (you can post your link in the comments).

The second thing I borrowed is from VictorianSwag.blogspot.com. She talks about personal progression and goal keeping. In this particular, she mentions a professor she had that required the students to daily chart their progress in each of five areas:

1. Spiritual - Examples: Reading Scriptures, Prayer, Meditation
2. Mental - Examples: Learning a new word, starting a new book, watching a documentary
3. Physical - Run a mile, Do 30 lunges, run the stadium steps, eat a healthy breakfast
4. Service - Call an old friend, find a way to get involved with community, volunteer
5. Other - Come up with something on your own, something you've been putting off

This was so simple and life changing to me, I have decided to adopt it into my own life (thanks, VS!). So last week, I added this plan to my Renewal process and here's what I've done so far this week.

• 1. Spiritual - Meditated 10 minutes each day, returned to Women's Bible Study classes on Thursday.
• 2. Mental - Read two new books, learned a new word (see X above)
• 3. Physical - Added work out portion to Monday night dance class, walked 7 total miles this week
• 4. Service - Involved in two fundraising activities with sons' schools (two schools)
• 5. Other - Staying away from my bad habit (I'll tell more about that at later date)

I've set up a little bulletin board on the wall (right behind my trusty laptop) and I've added my ABC's and my Personal Progression Goals Overview List to it. It's my Daily Motivation Board and it's simply fabric covered foam core board with some bricbrac edging, double sided foam taped to the wall so that I can "push pin" and "thumb tack" and "post-it" everything I need to follow my path towards renewal.

So far, so good! I ended my week with a positive affirmation of things about me, a refreshed zeal and a positive attitude about the week ahead! 

How do you "re-new"? Any ideas that you use to keep yourself going on those days you don't quite feel like doing anything?

November 11, 2011

reprinted from www.mlive.com

Motown and mistletoe: New festival seeks to re-create Detroit Christmas past

Published: Sunday, October 30, 2011, 3:31 AM     Updated: Monday, October 31, 2011, 11:13 AM

By Kim Schneider

Courtesy photo

DETROIT — The magic of Detroit Christmas past is what event organizer Mark Loeb is trying to bring back with the city’s newest festival, the nine-day Christmas WonderFest, running Nov. 18-27.
From the time he was 7 or 8 years old, Loeb, 51, remembers where Christmas magic happened — and it was not the North Pole for his Ann Arbor-based family. It was downtown Detroit. As for many families at the time, the holiday tradition was an excursion to Hudson’s Department store, the Christmas mecca of its day.
“It was a completely overwhelming feeling, the lights everywhere, moving mechanical figures, trains running around,” Loeb said. “Everywhere you looked, there was motion and lights and everybody was having a good time.”
He hopes the new festival becomes part of Detroit Christmas future for each family that visits today.
“I want people to feel astounded, even people in their 50s to feel 7 again,” he said.
The new festival spans the period between the ceremonial lighting of the city’s Christmas tree in Campus Martius Park, and America’s Thanksgiving Day Parade weekend. The main feature will be the European-style Christmas markets featuring gifts from around the globe.

Those booths will be supplemented by live music, food and a “Motor City Market,” featuring Detroit-centric gifts. A giant Ferris wheel will dwarf Campus Martius park, home to the city’s official Christmas tree and an ice skating rink. A carousel and a “magic” elevator will transport children straight to the North Pole with special effects.
Magic for adults will come in the form of a traditional German beer garden where brews will be served in traditional boot-shaped mugs. There also will be mulled wine and roasted chestnuts. A Michigan twist on the European traditions will be the addition of a giant heated tent, Loeb said.
“In Christmas markets all over the world, the event is outdoors and people stay outdoors,” he said. “In Michigan, I’m not feeling the love for that yet.”
Organizers are working with the International Institute of Detroit to spotlight many countries with Christmas booths, food and gifts and to weave traditions of those countries in with the holiday traditions of the United States and the Midwest. While keeping “Christmas” in the name might be somewhat controversial, Loeb said, organizers wanted to establish a link to some 800 years of Christmas markets in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
The establishment of such markets as a way to help spark a renaissance of downtown shopping was part of the plan when Campus Martius Park was created nearly a decade ago, Loeb said, but other improvements kept taking precedence. This seemed to be the year to make it happen, partly because several prominent businesses moved back to downtown, bringing back 200 stores spread across many buildings throughout downtown. This also seems to be the year of Detroit, Loeb believes, thanks in part to the feel-good Chrysler commercial that aired during the Super Bowl and the winning seasons of the city's sports teams.
Those who want to identify with Detroit will have their chance through the festival and available gifts. The Motor City Marketplace will give people a chance to “really show their colors,” Loeb said, through merchandise provided by a variety of city institutions, including the Henry Ford museum, Motown Museum, Pewabic Pottery, the Charles W. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Museum.
“For years, Detroit events were about bringing people downtown to show them they might want to come back,” Loeb said. “Now that they’re willing to go downtown, let’s get them exploring a little more, making them Detroiters again.”
The commercial and sports aren’t the only reasons for the downtown renaissance, said Renee Monforton, communications director of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. There’s been a transformation of the riverfront with a new five-mile pedestrian walkway and, over the past few years, the addition of 2,000 new hotel rooms, three casinos and several new restaurants.
She’s excited about the timing of this festival, she said, because she, too, remembers the magic of Christmas in Detroit. As a young girl, she would get dressed up to go to Hudson’s with her family, then to Sanders for a hot fudge cream puff.
It’s great to kick the event off with the lighting of a tree she thinks will come to rival the one in Rockefeller Center and go through the America’s Thanksgiving Parade, this year themed “So Much to Believe In.”
“I think there’ll be a lot of people who remember how great it was to be here,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”

DETROIT-AREA EVENTS

Christmas WonderFest: For information on the festival and a detailed schedule of events, go to christmaswonderfest.com or call (248) 486-3424.

America’s Thanksgiving Parde: Go to theparade.org, or visit campusmartiuspark.org for more on the annual tree lighting and related events.

Noel Night: Another reason to visit comes Dec. 3, when, in honor of Noel Night, all museums in Detroit’s cultural center offer free admission (detroitmidtown.com).

Email Kim Schneider: kimschneider@chartermi.net

November 7, 2011

Announcing  ...

The Promotional Frenzy November TREASURE HUNT❣

 

Click on banner to visit the Pomotional Frenzy Blog ... get the scoop on our TREASURE HUNT

 

The promotional Frenzy Team on Etsy has put together a fantastic Event that lasts the entire month of November ... just in time for the Holiday Season❣

Many of the shops on our team will be putting this picture into ONE listing in their shops:

 

All you have to do is search through their shop and find the “treasured” item. It won't be the main photograph, so you will need to click on the item to find the special picture. But that's the fun ... getting to see some of the wonderful items that our talented team members have to offer! 

Each shop will have the details in their Shop Announcement as to what special they're offering ... Free gifts, Free shipping, BOGO’s, Coupon Codes, and you can be sure they're all offering AMAZING deals for holiday shopping!  So read each shop announcement carefully.

October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween! I wasn't sure about writing about Halloween today, since there seems to be such a split amongst the masses about it, but then I said "What the heck!" and did it anyway. Dressing up for Halloween and trick or treating has been something my sisters and I have done with our kids for the last 23 years. We always dress up as a family around a theme, so it's even more fun, when we're out and people realize that we are a whole idea and singular parts hanging out together. The year my oldest son was born, trick or treating happened the day before he was induced. We went as "Disney's Peter Pan", I was Tinkerbell, ha ha, can't you just picture that one? My DD was Tiger Lily, Nephew was Peter Pan, his mom was Wendy, his dad Captain Hook, other sister was Smee. We had a ball! Another year, we dressed the kids as Nintendo DS' (the original, thank you very much) and we each went as a game cartridge (used lots of gray sheets, fabric markers and paint and wunderwebbing).

Last year, I found a book called "The Halloween Tree" by Ray Bradbury and read it to my boys over the week leading up to Halloween. Here's the jist of the story -

A group of eight boys set out to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, only to discover that a ninth friend, Pipkin, has been taken away on a journey that could determine whether he lives or dies. Through the help of a mysterious character named Moundshroud, they pursue their friend across time and space through Ancient Egyptian, Ancient Greek, and Roman cultures, Celtic Druidism, Notre Dame Cathedral in Medieval Paris, and The Day of the Dead in Mexico. Along the way, they learn the origins of the holiday that they celebrate, and the role that the fear of death has played in shaping civilization. The Halloween Tree itself, with its many branches laden with jack-o'-lanterns, serves as a metaphor for the historical influence of these traditions.

The boys loved it!! I did as well. As a Catholic kid, I knew about All Saint's Day, and a teeny tiny bit about All Hallow's Eve, but the information in this story was sooo cool! If you get the chance, pick it up at your local library - Support Libraries!! - read it, you'll be delighted.

Here are a few "Halloween Tree" illustrations, I found while surfing the WWW.

Do you have any great Halloween reads or favorite films? Tell me yours and I'll check them out!


Well, I'm off to start prepping costumes for Hallelujah Night and Trunk-n-Treat at the church tonight! Enjoy your day, however you celebrate it!