Idle Hands make pretty things.

Now that school has been officially over for more than a week, I find myself struggling to stay busy through the day. Sure there is work and I have some side projects going on, but what about the time that I typically spent either studying or in class? Although last week I was basking in my freedom and vegging out whenever humanly possible, this week I'm yearning for things to do, papers to write, books to read, tv shows to watch, miles to run....you get the point. Then I remembered there used to be this little part of my life called crafting.

I guess I didn't remember how much I missed using my hands to create something new and cute and fun in just a few short hours. I've been keeping quite a long list of new ideas and tutorials to try out. So for the past few days I have been CRAFTING!!

Having seen a tutorial for an adorable necklace I decided I would make JUST ONE.

Then, another, and another, and....you get the idea. So tonight I spent 98.5% of the evening gluing small pieces of fabric to other small pieces of fabric to make these masterpieces. And boy are they CUTE!

Enjoy!

Peace, Love, and Awesomeness.

P.S. If you are interested in owning one of these I would love to make one for you, donations are accepted.

Me Mere

Since it's mother's day in all, I have to give a special shout out to my mom, Janet. She is the best and has worked her hardest for the past 28 years to provide a loving, happy foundation for my brothers and I. As a single mom for most of my upbringing, my mom worked hard to provide for my brother and I, often referring to us as The Three Musketeers through those trying times. Now that our family has grown she is the glue that keeps us all together.

In her honor I'd like to share eight things I love most about my mom (since it is May 8th and all...)

1. I don't know when my family decided to do this, but since my nickname is spelled S-A-M-I, both my mom and grandmother made the executive decision to change the spelling of their "names" to M-O-M-I and G-R-A-M-I so we could all have a special common name bond.

2. My mom supports me in most everything I do, but most recently I have really appreciated the support she has offered me in my journey to the Peace Corps. You see, when I applied for the first time about three years ago it was a tough subject...even though it was an easy decision for me it was harder for my family to swallow. But this time around my mom is really excited for this opportunity for me. I'm so lucky to have a mother who so fully embraces my dreams and is so open to helping through all the ups and downs that come with them.

3. As kids, my older brother and I both hated one type of food--for me it was stuffing (bllleehhh!) and for him it was mashed potatoes. But for some reason my mom could NEVER get it right. And for some reason I totally treasure that my mom, although she doesn't always get it perfect, she tries really hard to remember all the things that we do and don't like. I think I've been through a million and one phases of things I won't eat...american cheese, meat, mushrooms....now I'm pretty open to anything which makes mother happy :)

4.If there was anything I cherish most about the things that I inherited from my mother (matched for #6 and #7), it is her innate creativity which has been passed down through our family. My grandmother was a china-painter, florist, and an avid crafter; my grandfather a woodworker, builder, and all around do-it-yourself-er; and my mom a creative expert with her wine making, t-shirt printing, model clay shape making, and painting. Although sometimes I tease her for taking a completely fine t-shirt and embellishing it with the latest stencil, I admire her ability to be creative and am so glad I inherited it as well.

5. My mom is so open to talking about ANYTHING. Our talks are sometimes the best therapy and couldn't be substituted for late night conversations with anyone else. There is something about the bond you have with your mother and their ability to make you feel important again when you've reached the lowest of lows, or their ability to make you laugh at yourself when you've really done something stupid, or just make you feel better when you didn't do something as well as you thought you would. My mom totally puts the icing on the cake for this one.

5.5 Speaking of cakes---my mom made the BEST cakes for us when we were growing up. Ummm soccer ball cakes, dolphin cakes, I'm drawing a blank on some of the others but....I promise you, they were awesome!

6. In the age of helicopter parents, my mom taught

me the value of being independent. What an invaluable thing to learn growing up. I see parents these days who do the craziest things for their child like call the ACE office and tell us how we brought a comedian who was offensive and we were polluting the minds of our students--ummmm aren't all comedians mildly offensive and isn't your child old enough to decide that for him/herself and isn't there a little thing called audience responsibility...really lady (of course I didn't say that to the women, but COME ON!!), but I am fortunate to have been taught to take responsibility for myself. If I want to go to school--figure it out. If I want to open a bank account--figure it out. If I want to run away to a far away country--my mom would have a stern look at me, right between the eyes, and say "Sami, you better figure this one out, cause I'm not coming to Timbuktu to save you." So thanks mom!!

7. Ever since I was just a wee one my mom has worked with animals. She and my stepdad make their living training and breeding dogs (insert shameless plug for Weller Kennels here). But my mom's love for animals extends way beyond that. The things my mom looks forward to in spring is the return of wildlife to their property including swans, geese, and baby chicks. As kids we had a pretty spectacular fishtank and many different varieties of frogs, at one point we had a hampster, and probably at any given point between 4-9 dogs running around the house, oh yeah, and a few cats in there too. Anyways, my mom loves animals, and I love that about her. And if you ever need something to brighten your day, check this part of their website out for the cute puppies they have running around.

8. And last but not least - at least for this list because I'm pretty sure I could probably go on forever - my mom totally invented the 24 hour Dunkin Donuts rule. The premise is if you don't eat your share of the Dunkin Donuts box within 24 hours, they are TOTALLY up for grabs. She is genius, I swear, and probably mitigated thousands of fights between my brother and I over donuts.

Hope you enjoy. Love your mother...even if this is what your family gathering photo shoots end up looking like :)

Inspiration for the day.

Source: imgfave.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Fences

I have been saving these pictures I took around town to share some deeply embedded history of my town and its roots in ironworks. Turns out, I can't find anything....so I'll just share these pictures of all the fences. I've lived in the downtown area for a number of years now, and I still find a new design every time I go walking. It's just amazing. I always wonder what the significance of the design is, or if they even have a meaning besides just wanting to look pretty.

There are simple fences and complex fences, big fences and small fences, high fences and low fences, sharp fences and dull fences, open fences and closed fences...and just about everything in between.

Hope you enjoy this little piece of my town.

Peace, Love, and Awesomeness!

Inspiration for the day.

Friends are Grand.

Sometimes we take for granted the amazing friends that we have. I am probably the most guilty. But I was so gently reminded when I arrived home yesterday to a package sitting on my doorstep--with my name on it. I thought to myself, I can't remember ordering anything....let alone having the money to even think about ordering anything. But when I opened the package it was a lovely book from the one and only, Sheila Kitchen. It was a picture book of all of our adventures driving across the country last summer.

For those of you who don't know, Sheila was my roommate for three years and such a dear, dear friend. She was accepted into a PhD program at OSU in Corvallis and so she packed up all her bags last August and invited me along for the trip. It was so great to spend those bittersweet memories together.

If anyone ever has the opportunity to drive across the country,

please do yourself a favor, and GO!!

We did it in two weeks and did so many fantastic things. We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway, stopped in Knoxville for some delicious pizza, stayed the night with an old friend in Nashville, drove through the beautiful Kentucky countryside stopping at the Maker's Mark factory for some whiskey, drove through the plains of Indiana and watched some CRAZY thunderstorms on the way to Chicago. Stayed two nights in Chicago with a new friend and excellent tour guide, stayed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and moved quickly along to Rapid City checking out Mount Rushmore and the Badlands (soooo cool!). Next we moved on to a breathtaking drive through Yellowstone National Park staying in the interesting Idaho Falls. We went white water rafting down the Yellowstone River, and saw countless animals including a momma grizzly and her two cubs, elks, bison, crazy looking birds, etc. Moving on to the idealic Couer D'Alene, we enjoyed a delicious greek dinner, street festival, and sitting under the stars in North Idaho, we thought to ourselves what could be any better than this? Almost done our trip, we stopped to stay in a really cool hostel in Seattle and enjoyed the delicous food (we picked a North African restaurant) at the public market, amazing shopping, and a great New Pornographers show! Sheila started to get nervous at this point as we reached Oregon and we knew we'd have to part....but we drove down the Oregon Coast, through Astoria, stopping in Cannon Beach, Newport (SEALS! YEA!), and then finally Corvallis. We decided to get the keys to Sheila's apartment and then take off again, not wanting to accept reality. We headed to Portland, had Voodoo donuts and stood in line with Weird Al Yankovic, did the shopping thing, walked around, and ended my time there with a beautiful drink date with a dear old friend whom I haven't seen in forever (Love you Jinell!!).

As I think back, I don't understand how to I got to be so fortunate to have great friends and great memories to go with them. I'm looking forward to my adventures this summer but I am happy to have that little drive across the country in my back pocket. Thank you Sheila for my beautiful gift!

Meeting Rosie D.

Today I had the opportunity to share lunch with the Chancellor (Rosie D., if you didn't know) of my university along with other students who excel in leadership and public service. So many inspirational people in one room, and I got to sit there along with them. What a great way to end out my last few days of graduate school. The luncheon was help for those of us who participated in a program called, Chancellor's Challenge, where you document all the leadership and public service activities that you participate in throughout the year. If you reach a certain number of points, you get the opportunity to share lunch with the Chancellor.

I was a little nervous about the opportunity thinking that most thing like this end up being pretty awkward, but Rosie really proved me wrong. She was really willing to hear what we all had to say, answered questions about our concerns with the university, looked for our input towards making the university more public service centered, and told us stories about the history surrounding my university.

It was all in all, quite a delightful experience. I told her that I was concerned about the amount of recognition that graduate students receive in comparison to undergraduates, I felt having been both at this university I was qualified to say something about it. Also, we discussed some of the budget issues and how we feel it in the classroom. It is so important for the chancellor to take the time to meet with student leaders on campus to talk about things like that as it is a new viewpoint she probably does not hear very often.

I was proud to share my next steps in life in joining the Peace Corps. There really couldn't be a better group of people on campus to share this information with as the Peace Corps is quite an esteemed service opportunity that most don't have the will to take on.

As I finish up my last few projects and wait to turn them in, I'll reflect on opportunities like this, where I really felt like my voice was heard.

Peace, Love, and Awesomeness!