Be Beautiful ...

"Every day is so wonderful

And suddenly it's hard to breathe

Now and then I get insecure

From all the pain, feel so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say

Words can't bring me down

I am beautiful in every single way

Yes, words can't bring me down, oh no

So don't you bring me down today"

Eight years ago, the word Beautiful … became much more to me … it became synonymous with the word Bully.  I remember this day … a funeral for my daughter's friend … she was bullied and had taken her own life … at such a young age … The song “Beautiful” was playing at the service, and my daughter was openly weeping … it truly was the worst of times.

So my B word is Beautiful … and I have a second B for you … Bully.

And once again, I have to sit and wonder what the heck is wrong with our society.  Why do we openly worship some of the worst people … just watch almost any reality TV show to realize that some of the meanest people come out on top …

Hockey parents … or parents with kids in very competitive activities … they can be so mean, hurling insults at not only each other, but at the children who are engaged in the activity. 

The internet ... harsh words and accusations can fly from such young minds ... and where are the parents who should be monitoring what their kids do and say on line.

So I am asking you all, be beautiful … love yourself, try to love others, do no harm… 

Teach your children and their children, teach your friends and your neighbours and coworkers ...

"'Cause we are beautiful no matter what they say

Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no

We are beautiful in every single way

Yes, words can't bring us down, oh no

So don't you bring me down today"

Check out the song if you want, Lyrics by Linda Perry, Performed by Christina Aguilera, and click on the Jenny button below to read some fascinating takes on the letter B ...

Saturday Centus ~ The Dress

Okay, I was totally busy on Saturday, girls day with stops at a fabulous vintage fair and a 50's diner for lunch ... so my Centus is late.  This week, Jenny has given us another picture prompt ... and 100 words.  I came in at 100 exactly but I really needed another 500 or so ... lol!

Jenny couldn't get this picture to load correctly and neither could I, please excuse the awkward orientation.

From the moment she saw the Balenciaga in a copy of Glamour, she knew she wanted to make it as her junior year sewing project. She had fallen for the large vertical stripes of ocean blues, greens with a hint of sand.  The local Walmart didn’t have a large selection of fabric so the cheap striped polyester would have to do.  She had done her best work with the dress, toiling for hours, hand basting the slippery and heavy fabric.  Days later she was finished, she slipped on Mama’s gold sandals and carefully slid the dress over her head …

Thanks for stopping by! Just click on the Jenny button below to visit other takes on the picture prompts.  The reads are quick, and fun!

A True RAK ...

Well I just could not believe it when i received a package in the post ... and instead of a return address it had RAK written in the return address space.

I was excited to open the package to find it wrapped in pretty scrapbook paper.  And inside that paper .... 4 beautiful stamps!!!

And I know that the sender knows me well, just by the stamps that she sent ...

A Crafty Secrets fairy stamp collection ... some beautiful Kaisercraft frame stamps,  a Tim Holtz atc sized stamp, and finally a little stamp that says "made with love"

I love each and everyone of these stamps and they will be used ... a lot!!!  In fact I think I will go use some now!  So thank you so much to my anonymous RAK sender.  Thank you for thinking of me and sending me these wonderful wonderful gifts ...
xoxo
Jo

Saturday Centus ~ The Wind

Our fabulous Centus Leader, Jenny, has given us a picture prompt and 100 words this time ... I hope you enjoy!

He saw it first in the birds, they came sweeping across the sky heading east. With his next breath he drew in an unfamiliar acrid smell and started to sense the danger. As he looked to the west, he saw the bursts of red and orange high upon the mountain.  The sky began to blacken, though it was a bright spring day.  Instinctively he turned north, to his home and his beautiful Sinopa.  He knew she would be deep in the den and nursing, their pups, just born would have no chance.  The wind would make the decision for them.

Now click on the Jenny button and read some other fab 100 word stories.

Peace, love & paper ~ Jo

If I had a Zillion dollars ...

... I'd buy me some world peace, bring water to those that don't have it, feed the world, and soothe weary hearts ....

and hopefully I would have change to buy this ...

and this ...

and this ....

and this ...

and every single other piece in the Chanel 2013 Resort wear collection.  And the mastermind behind these creations ... the brilliant Karl Lagerfeld ...

 What I wouldn't do to crawl inside his mind for a few hours, it must be just crazy up in there.   This collection seems to answer the question, What would Marie Antoinette wear if she was at a luxury summer resort?

and besides, my own zany "Marie" inspired wear needs and update!

This little "Z" post has been brought to you by the letter Z. the words, Zillion and Zany!

Published!!!

that's right!  you heard it right hear, right now!  I don't like to brag ... but ....
I got one of my layout pages published by my favourite magazine, Somerset Memories!!!

This is an amazing publication that is published under the Stampington umbrella of publications ... check them out, there a publication out there for just about anyone.

Here's my art ... page 44, bottom left, just in case you are interested ...

Anyways, I am just thrilled to be included in one of their publications ... it's a happy "first" for me!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing in my happieness!!!

Saturday Centus ~ I know, right?

Well, I am finally back to writing, playing along with Jenny's meme.  This week's prompt is "Cream together butter and sugar" and we have our usual 100 words plus the prompt words.  Here's my little offering ...

"Cream together butter and sugar” she instructed, in a voice that was sweet enough to melt honey from a hive.

Tonya reached for the remote and snapped the show off.  “I cannot believe that they cast her instead of me … gawd her voice is sickening and her hands are huge.

“I know, right?” said Tiffany.

“And word on the street is that most of the recipes in her new book were “lifted” from some foodies blog.”

“I know, right?”

“Tiffany, either say something real or shut up” Tonya snapped as she stormed out of the room.

“I know, right?” yawned Tiffany.

Just click on the button below to read offerings by some fab writers!

Remember that song ...

yeah ... Yellow ... by Coldplay ....
I love that song, but I have never really been in love with yellow ... sure the song made it seem that yellow was very cool ... but my affair with yellow didn't last long .... until ...

a weekend scrapbooking with my girls .... and oh what a weekend it was!

It started off innocently ... sitting around scrapbooking at Sue's ... then dinner ... and a couple of very yummy yellow Lemon Meringue Martini's .... and then I think we all had a few too many more martini's .... yes they are just that good ... and then we did more scrapbooking ... and wow, those martinis get the creative juices flowing!

Seriously this is one delicious drink, just take equal portions of frozen lemonade concentrate, pineapple juice, vanilla vodka, limoncello and ice.  Blend and voila!  Sunshine in a glass!

so the next morning ... we need to head out to Mink for fabulous coffees ... and the walls have some yellow ... and well other colours ... but look at the pretty yellow ... these are all labels of their chocolate  bars, and if you have never had a Mink chocolate bar, or Mocha ... then I feel for ya!

Sue, Kathy, Izzy, Sue and Iris ... we have a 3rd Sue but she couldn't make it.   Morning Mochas at Mink!  (My favourite bar .... "By Any Other Name" ... yummy!)

So since we were in a little outdoor mall,  we did some shopping, but near the end of the shopping a few of us diehard scrappers were anxious to get back to scrapping, so to pass the time, we played with the yellow courtesy umbrellas .... hey it was a great photo op, what can I say???  lol!

Doesn't yellow make everything look happier!!!

and look ... a yellow line down the middle of the road ... how cool, they must have known we were rocking the yellow that weekend! 

oh yeah, I did not take these photos, my friends did ... i was rocking my little Instax that weekend and I am going to make a little mini album about my yellow weekend ... soon!

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I made a scrapbook page of my daughter in Yellow!  geez. I am really getting fond of the colour, I am going to have to pop up itunes and listen to that Coldplay song again!

My two beautiful girls!

 Thanks so much for joining me for "Y"!  Just click on the Jenny button below to find other Y posts!

and big hugs to those of you that read my catchup post and commented last week ... you really made me smile and feel happy, and hopeful and .... well.... yellow!

X = ?

X ... here's a little story for ya ...  I was getting my new (well new to me) car (it's a honda, i love it) and the insurance agent comes in with 4 licence plates for me to choose from.  2 of them had 8's in them (considered to be a very lucky number in some cultures) 1 of them was really easy to remember and the 4th had 3 numbers, followed by 3 random letters that seemed difficult to remember ... until it dawned on me that the 2nd and 3rd letters were my middle and last name initials ... I pointed this out to Mom, and told her I wish that it had a J for my first name ... and she replies with "well this plate is perfect for you, X, afterall, stands for Unknown quantity ....

so now, my plate is quite easy to remember ... and I am now Unknown Quantity Jo

Okay so by now you are thinking that hey, where have I been for the last 3 or 4 weeks or so ... well at least some of you are thinking that ... truth is, I got stuck on R ... yes R ... a letter with hundreds of words I could write about, but didn't.  I was going to go with Real ... and talk about the absence of Real in just about everything we eat, drink and watch ... especially Housewives ... but I got so caught up in the politics of "Real" that I hit a major block ...  Instead, my R is Rainbows ... and I love rainbows, as does my daughter ... infact she is enamoured with them, they have a secret special meaning to her, and if something is meaningful to her, it is meaningful to me ... so when she asked me to whip up some rainbow jelly shots she found on pinterest, of course I obliged ...

These shots ... oh to die for yummy!!!  but they took about 4 hours to put together ... not a solid working 4 hours, there was about 45 minutes between each layer at least ... These photos are before we cleaned up the glasses ... my daughter took these to her party, and finished them off with a little dollop of whipped cream and cake sprinkles ... they must have been adorable
Are you Sitting down???  this is going to be one lengthy post, and we are only up to S ... and for those of you that know me S could only be for scrapbooking ... I actually went to a retreat with some friends last weekend and had a blast, and got a lot of scrapbooking done.  I still have a passion for scrapbooking and other paper art, like ATC's, cardmaking, and altered objects ... and more and more I find myself dabbling in mixed media pages, incorporating paints and sprays and mediums and well just stuff ...  this is a page of me I did on that weekend ... I have an alter ego,and this layout is about that part of me ...

The best thing about Scrapbooking, is that it has led me to meet some amazing women, and we are all now the best of friends.  It also led me to blogging and to meeting some wonderful blogging friends.  Scrapbooking has been a big blessing to me.

T .... time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking ... and where it is going so fast i do not know ... but what i do know is that in life's hourglass, the glass is firmly glued to the table and there is no going back to turn it over and start again ... we only have just a finite number of bits of sand, and is it me, or does it seems to everyone that as the bottom of the hourglass fills, the sand seems to slip through quicker and quicker ...

So I am determined to have fun and play ... in some way, every day ... there is no reason to grow "old" ... and I encourage all of my friends and family to enjoy, and get some play time in every single day!

U ...  underground .... it's a place i never want to think of ... I know for a fact that I will never be a cave crawling spelunker ... the thought of being underground just brings chills.  So what am I doing here ...

This was our ride ... we are heading into the mine 

all signed up for a mine tour (daughter dearest planned this excursion for us and Grandma and Grandpa) ... and well, after seeing the museum, the outbuildings, and everything else, it was time to climb 45 stairs and then enter the mine ... and it was Fabulous!!!  but underground is so totally different ... no sounds from birds and wind ... and the air smells so different, you can smell the minerals in the rock ... and it was dark and damp ... water constantly running down the inside rock walls ... and cold ... constant cold ... would i do the tour again?  YES!!!  it was fun ... and hopefully it's the only underground experience I have ...

in the underground ... the mine shaft ...

V ... well here i am again, stuck on a letter ... this was my second reason for not posting for weeks on end ... and I am ashamed that I am so very very late.  I feel like I should be chastised by a white rabbit screaming "your late, your late" at me ... "very very late!"  and speaking of white rabbits, is it just me, or do some of feel like you have too have fallen into wonderland, and that tea may never come?  'nuff said about stuff and nonsense ... let's just leave it at very very .... for V!

Now, for those of you still with me ... cuz this is one mega post ... i am on to the last of my "late" letters ... W.  And please stay tuned because there will be a test! What to say about W?  again, so many options ... Wanderer is a word that I would use to describe my self.  Not that i wander about the earth visiting mystical hidden gardens or forests that speak in the language only known by trees ... Nor do I visit the great cities ... my wandering is all on the interior ... in the heart, the soul, and the brain ... I love to explore the nooks and crannies .... the clear paths and the blinds of a good maze ... Images conjured from books read long ago spring forth with new life and collide with memorized song lyrics, light, space and colour ... now and then I insert a bit of reality to see what comes of this inner space ... and for the most part, it is beautiful ... or at least that is what i feel in my heart ... and I think that I will always explore this inner space, happily wandering in an ever expanding land of beauty and peace ... 

For those of you still with me .... there is no test .... i was just pulling your leg ... but thanks for reading and sticking with me!  I am linking up with Jenny's meme, Just click on the button below to read some wonderful posts about the letter X!