end of the week Joy

 After a very exhausting 1st day at my new job, I am so thankful I was able to drop the kids off at Gametime, go home & watch a favorite show with a glass of my favorite Honey Whiskey. Just having this little bit of downtime brought me Joy!

Texas Adventure Joy!

 We had the opportunity to visit a lot of family ALL over Texas for 2 weeks! What an amazing time that we were able to experience, and I'm so glad that my 3 boys were able to see all of the new places and some new people! 

We started out in San Antonio with my step-daughters family, & were there for 7 days, and got to see and do the following: Japanese Tea Garden, Alamo & San Jose Missions, Natural Bridge Caverns, Buc-cees, New Braunfel Bier Garten, Pearl Market and District, Hemisfair Park, and lots of pool and tv relaxing time!

Next we went to Houston to visit my cousin and her family, and was able to get down to Galveston for a day at the beach! It was so fun playing in the Gulf of Mexico and an absolute highlight of our trip!

From Houston, we traveled to Midlothian, a little south of Dallas, to stay with my very dear aunt. From here we also traveled to Canton to visit my great aunt and some of her family for a few hours.

While in Midlothian, we had lots of pool time, tv time, great food and wonderful conversation.

Each time we had to leave a place, the kids just wanted to stay, and then when we got to the next place, they didn't want to leave that either! Needless to say that they really had the best time all over Texas. It brought me so much joy to see my children interact with cousins and family that are so dear to me. 

Take 5 Joy

I am usually in a constant state of movement. With 3 kids, husband, 2 dogs, full time job, part-time side gigs, 80 year old house still in renovation mode, & all that goes with all of that, I am always doing something. But sometimes, it's good to just be still, and yesterday, I did just that. I was tired, and enjoyed some snuggles with my youngest, Zachary. It was relaxing & restful, greatly needed, and brought me JOY. 

If you are like me at all, I highly encourage you to take 15 minutes and just REST! Everything will still be there when you get back. 

Dinner Time Joy

After calling all 3 boys in the kitchen for dinner, I heard the pitter patter of Zachary coming in and started to try climbing into his highchair. I guess he was hungry and ready for dinner! "What a good listener you are!" I exclaimed as he beamed one of his dimpled smiles at me. As for the other 2, a few more prompts and everyone was at the table eating, but I just had to share this simple sweet joy.

Sunglasses Joy

You know that feeling you get when you find that perfect pair of sunglasses? Well today was that day for Lucas! These green beauties were his "treasure box pick for the day at school & he scored a winner! Remember to celebrate the little things, & much joy will come.

Friendship Joy

Today's EverydayJoy is the simple nature of a positive friendship. We love going to "Mollie's Beach", a friend of ours that has a pond with a sandy beach, as well as a 2 year old friend to play with. The great thing about going to this "beach", is that it is completely relaxing. The kids all play well together, and we adults get to talk all things mommy. Something that I realized as we were driving home that afternoon, was what a positive friend I had. A lot of the time I am the "positive" one in conversations, and that is OK, it's just the kind of person that I am (and I don't mean that everyone around me is negative, either). However, it is nice to be on the receiving end as well, and on this particular day, I really could appreciate it. It brought me joy to converse with my friend about ideas and everyday life, and get that positive encouragement that is so lovely.

Our positive friends are important! Are you an encouraging friend? I'd love to hear about your positive experience!

Hammock Joy

Enjoying our beautiful evening outside!  The simple joy of laying on a hammock, looking up at the sky through the tree leaves is hard to beat!

Park Joy

"The Norwood Park" as we like to call it, is a fun stop on our way home from work and school. On this particularly warm afternoon, we decided to stop by and spend a few minutes playing before heading home for the evening. After letting the boys play on the equipment for a while, I told them I wanted to walk once around the track, stop at the other playground, and then head to the car. Jacob, my 4 year old, who usually loves to do this, and this is our usual routine when there, didn't want to walk the long way around to the playground, and did his little winy thing, but Mama prevailed. I finally convinced him to come with us, even though he was being Mr. Grumpy Pants. It's really hard to stay mad when there's some good music playing, so I put on one of our favorite playlists, and started dancing down the trail...yes, dancing on a walking trail. Sure enough, Jacob started smiling, and our walk ended in a lot of fun! All of this to say, that my EverydayJoy that day was turning my sons frown, upside-down! Seeing my boys happy is truly one of my favorite things in the world.

What do you do to make someone change their frown into a smile? Does that bring you Joy?

Pre-summer Joy

As any teacher can attest, these last two weeks of school can seem the longest! In spite if the long list of things I need to finish to close out the year, I am embracing this lovely three day weekend as a total rest & rejuvenation time.

My joy for the day is sitting by our "pool", soaking up some sun, & watching my boys play. It's the little things like these that helps keep my sanity in check during these last two busy weeks of school!

I would love to hear about your Everyday Joy! Please comment below :)

2014 Run the Creek 5K

Go Baby Go!!! Chip time of 35:40! :)

Happy New Year!

As a new year is upon us, I would like to quickly reflect on the past year, as well as lightly plan for this new year.

2013 was an amazing, exhausting and learning year as I experienced motherhood for the first time! Mr. Jacob Sims Blanton was born 12-11-12, and it has been a crazy ride since. He is by far the most amazing baby I've ever seen, but I know I'm a little bit biased. Now that he is 1 years old, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get back to my pottery a little bit more, as well as do a little more remodeling this year.

In addition to watching this amazing child grow and blossom, I continued my subbing with Montgomery County Schools, and was able to do a 10 week interim teaching art to our local middle school. What an experience that was! This was the first time in a long time that I really looked forward to going to work, which confirmed my love for teaching art.

Football was a big deal this year as my youngest stepson, Connor Blanton, finished his high school football career by winning the 3AA Western Conference and playing at the State Championship. We are excited for what the future holds for him with college, and hope he will get to play wherever he ends up. The end of a 4 year era, but looking forward to possible college ball!

Ronnie's job shifted yet again, and is managing a local banking branch in Oakboro, NC. The best story he's brought home so far is when the local Chief of Police stopped by with a flier stating that they were looking for a lost cow. Come on now! That is just too funny :)

This year looks like it will be a pretty amazing one as well! To start off, I'm still looking for my place in the workforce, and am subbing in the meantime. Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find something that I really enjoy, can use all of my talents in, and pays decent!

The other thing that I really want to focus on is working on my pottery. I want to get my space finally set up, get my kiln re-wired to be outside with new elements, get my sink set up, and start having pottery classes on a monthly basis, at least until the school year is out for the summer. I'll also keep this updated via my Art Blog, if you want to keep checking back.

I'm also really wanting to expand my yoga practice and make that more of a substance in my life. I'm looking at a few options for doing this, and will post more in my Yoga Blog.

Other big news for this year is Matt & Krysta's wedding in June! I'm so excited for this amazing couple as they start their new life together. This will be Ronnie's second child to get married...where has the time gone!

I also have the Cooper River Bridge Run coming up in April, and will hopefully have my best time yet! This is always a great time for the girls to get away, and spend some quality time together. Looks like we may have a smaller group this year, but we always have a great time!

Ronnie and I will also be celebrating our 4th anniversary in April, and It's hard to imagine it's already been 4 years since our wedding. Not sure what we will do to celebrate this year, but whatever it is, I'm confident it will be great :)

Like I said, I think this year is going to be awesome as well! I'll try to keep my blogs updated a little better this year...not let a whole year go by without writing! Happy New Year everyone! :)

Useful Wine Bottles

Ok, so I found a great use for old wine bottles other than vases. Use them to keep your potted plants watered. First thoroughly water the potted plant, then fill up a wine bottle with water and plunge into the soil of the pot. This will help keep the soil moist so that you don't have to water as often. The below pictures show flowers that I did this to last Thursday, and haven't watered them since, even though we had 100+ degree weather for 4 days. Anyway, I hope you can use this helpful tip :)

smb

No Sew Roman Shades

Ok, I did this project as per the directions from the pinterest link. One thing I would recommend is to really measure exactly the dimensions you want to fit into the window. Mine are a little short of the sides. Other than that, it worked great! I also used a fabric bonding glue that was similar to rubber cement, and I would try something else that is easier to spread on the blinds. I just used the tube to spread one thing line on each blind, which actually worked fine, and might have actually been easier than a thinner glue. This also allowed me to hang the blinds almost immediately after I finished them. Feel free to ask any questions about this project. I figured that it cost me about $20 per window, mainly because my fabric was $6 per yard, and I got 4 yards. The heat'n bond tape was $3, and the fabric glue was $3, and the mini blinds were $4.50 each. I also do have leftover fabric (from the width- I couldn't have gotten any less in length), which I plan to make a table runner, and maybe place-matts as well. One thing that was really important in the fabric choice was letting in as much light in as possible, thus the lacy type fabric. I was a little skeptical about the flimsy fabric working, but it ended up working just fine. Also, another tip, is to somehow make things a little square-er. I'm not sure how, but maybe use a large piece of cardboard or something. Anyway, here are two pics of what I ended up with.

Teaching how to create a coil pitcher - excerpt

Pottery Class

Well, it's been a little bit of a struggle to get my centering down again, but I think I have it, and have graduated from 1lb to 1.5 lbs to throw at one time, and will probably try 2 lbs tomorrow. I'm really excited about seeing what I will accomplish by the end of this class!

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Hot Summer!

Well, summer is here with a vengeance, and it is HOT! So far we had fun going to the beach and playing a little golf. Golf has been going well with my elbow, and I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel :)

School is still cranking, and I can't wait till this first summer session is over. I have been making progress in my pottery class, and hope to create some beautiful pieces by the end of summer.

I'm looking forward to Deb and Ian's wedding celebration happening next weekend! I found a dress yesterday, and it looks really cute :)

Well, lunch is ready, and I have another online quiz to take, so until next time :)

smb

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Summer School!

Well, that was a short break! I've already started summer school. I'm taking a 3 credit hour online research course through UNCC, and a 5 credit hour ceramics studio course through MCC (Montgomery Comm. College). After summer, I will have 4 classes and student teaching left to complete my Masters! Now if I can just get a job from all of this hard work :)

The ceramics class is kicking my but both physically and mentally! I'm there Monday - Wednesday from 8:30am-4:30pm....that's a lot of clay. Really trying to perfect my centering and pulling techniques so I can start pulling larger pieces. I think if my elbow will continue to heal, it will make doing this much easier.

Speaking of my elbow (nice segway, huh?), I have my 4 week follow up doctor's appointment today, and hope that everything is healing the way it should. I really want to play golf next week in Myrtle Beach, but don't know if that will be possible yet. We'll see.

After the doctor's appt., Becca and I will be going to look at a car she may buy. It looks great on paper and in pictures, so we'll see what the real story is. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that it will be "the one".

Ok, have to get back to my research homework, so have a great day!

smb

School Out!

Just finished up the spring semester and it feels good to be done with that. Trying to figure out if I'll be doing summer school. I must admit, I've enjoyed the break so far, but if taking summer classes helps me to obtain my master's sooner, I'm ready to do it :)

Had a great time in Charleston for the Cooper River Bridge Run. I finished the 6.2 miles in 1:17, which was really good, and a time I was proud of.  We had a great time spending time with friends and family and I look forward to next year's race :)

I'm also really looking forward to our Myrtle Beach camping trip coming up soon. I hope the weather will cooperate, and we'll get a lot of beach time in. I also hope my elbow will be recovered enough to play a little golf!

Just wanted to give an update of life, so until next time, live life to the fullest!

SMB

My Crazy Life!

To anyone who actually reads this, my life seems to be spinning at cyclone speeds! Between school work & class, remodeling the cottage, working in the yard, cooking, cleaning, laundry, working at the fitness center, sub-ing for Montgomery county schools, and training for a 10k in April, I sometimes feel like life gets out of control. This why I'm so thankful for the wonderful weekend I was able to spend with my husband! We had a great time watching tv, working in the yard, and even had time for a little motorcycle ride :)

The cottage is mostly done, and I do feel a huge weight and pressure lifed from that, and my focus for the next 8 weeks will be on training for the Cooper River Bridge Run, and school. These two much be the priority, and hopefully all of the other stuff will get done as well!

Well, until next time,

Sarah M. Blanton

November to Remember, Week 2

Well, it hasn't been a great week, but we are back on the ban-wagon! I weighed in today, and next Monday will post any percentage change. Need to be down 4% of current weight by Thanksgiving, which is only 3.5 weeks away!

One thing that I realized is that I cannont keep cookie dough in the house...I just don't have enought will power to eat it in point size portions...... Also something that I am working on this week is to eat small portions at dinner time. For example, I really needed to have eaten 1/2 as much lasagna and bread last night as I actually did. The other thing I will be working on is trying to eat by 7pm, and get into bed by 10 or 10:30pm, so I can get up to workout in the mornings :)

Well, until next time..... :)