Looking up. Again and again.

We are on Thanksgiving break this week which means I'm currently drinking coffee, watching Mary Poppins Returns, and blogging.  The old-fashioned joy of blogging! I won't waste words, but you all know I am an old soul and will blog until forever, whether it's the "in" thing to do or not.  And I totally get it's not the in thing to do right now. Thanksgiving break has been nice, yet sometimes the breaks are hard for me.  (gasp) Don't get me wrong at all! The time off work is much needed and lovely to recharge.  Sometimes though, my personality actually does a bit better with the structure and challenge of my work life.  It can be hard for me to be at home and not feel like I need to be doing chores nonstop.  

With that said, a thought I keep having is "put yourself on the list."  I take care of my family and school kids really well, in my opinion at least.  The challenge is to also put myself on the list and take care of me as well without feeling guilty.  I don't think I've met a single mom who doesn't struggle with this.  Can you relate?  

One of my favorite lines from Mary Poppins Returns is "There's a different point of view awaiting you if you just look up.-Jack"

Here is my view from looking up!

 The biggest luxury of the week is the gift of time.  We had a quick escape to Kansas City over the weekend and visited our favorite spots! Science City at Union Station, Messenger Coffee, the park, Blick Art Supply, Barnes and Noble, H and M, and stayed in our favorite hotel.  The sleep wasn't super there, but it was fun to all be out of town together, exploring and having fun! KC is just our favorite.  It feels like our home away from home.  

We've also been enjoying the simple pleasure of working a 1,000 piece puzzle together at the table.  Anna is older and often doesn't show up in my photos because I want to respect her privacy/age.  That's something I never thought of when the girls were little! I would say across the board we are for sure in a new season of parenting, as the girls reach ages 7 and 8.  Each stage of parenting is a blessing!

 Brett hung lights on the girls' playhouse!

Favorite girls ever, favorite shoes ever.

I LOVE my wooden clogs so much! I can easily wear them all day long.

Brett captured this one evening and it sums up winter for me. 

Give me a colorful blanket and some light and I'll see you in spring.

 Our favorite bakery/breakfast spot in Kansas City is Messenger Coffee! We bought an extra loaf of country bread to bring home and ate it in one day.  I haven't been eating bread at all, so I splurged and enjoyed this loaf to the fullest.  It is the best bread I've ever eaten!

 Inspiration for my art journal!

I just adore Kate Dicamillo's writing. I have been a fan of hers for years, way back when I used to teach fourth-grade.  This is the newest book in a series of hers. I could stare at the art all day.  The first two books in the series have made me cry, in the best possible way.  

Art, music, words, and books have a way of speaking to me that most things don't.  I'm forever fascinated with them all! 

 Cheerful breakfast plate! Those colors! That light!

 KC is full of beauty and old things!

 That writing on the coffee cup stopped me in my tracks.

 I've been playing in my art journal a lot already over the break!

I kicked off my Thanksgiving break Friday evening by sending out happy mail.

This made me tear up.

I haven't had a good time of day to take outfit pics, but hope to get back to it soon! It seems like some of you appreciate the posts, even if I do feel a bit silly.  I can say I feel so much better mentally and confidence wise when I put effort into how I look.  It's just true!

 I've really tried to keep this blog and my IG for personal use.  Just art, beauty, etc. and not work! Just something I feel is important-to have a bit of separation between the two.  But I did want to give you a peek into something I made at work-a new art center with wordless picture books! 

I am having a lot of fun as librarian and am starting my masters in library media right after Christmas!

 Are you noticing a theme here? Another colorful blanket, another cup of coffee. Apparently this is my self-care theme this winter!

"Whenever I lose my way I just look for a little light to guide me. If you hide beneath the covers you might never see the day."-Mary Poppins Returns.

YES.

Last, I want to end with a story.  Something I don't think I make clear on the blog is how important my people are to me.  By "my people" I mean the gal at the coffee shop, my coworkers, my best friends, my Internet bff's, my family, my students, and all of the people who come in and out of my life on a regular basis.  I don't post photos or blog about them often because I feel like these relationships are deeply personal and I don't want to make people feel weird by posting photos of them all over my blog.  Does that make sense? 

I do want to say a word about this photo though.  This is my best friend and twin on the right and my college roommate/best friend in the middle.  My twin and I text almost every single day.  About nothing and about everything all at the same time.  I mean, she gets emoji's and memes.  Enough said! I know there's not a single thing I couldn't talk to her about.  Isn't that priceless?  I must also say that she homeschools and we obviously don't and no one is more interested in asking about our lives, school, my job, etc. than my twin.  It just proves that differences don't have to be a wedge or point of conflict. 

Now on to my best friend in the middle.  This summer I experienced a real low that I couldn't shake.  I hadn't been in that kind of a cloud in years and I just couldn't shake it.  I remember sitting in a Subway inside a Walmart with my friend, telling her what was going on.  We ate our sandwiches together and she just listened.  On the way home she offered the advice she had, not a single bit of judgement.  Afterwards the texts to check on me kept coming and she mailed me words of encouragement.  She showed up for me until the clouds moved away and the sun came back.  My goodness, do you know what a gift that was/is to me?  I can't even put it into words.  Show up for your people, my rosy friends. Check on them, listen to them, love them even if their choices are different than yours.  It matters endlessly.

This Thanksgiving, I'm of course grateful for art, books, cooking, and the mystery God has placed in our beautiful, broken world.  Mostly though? I'm thankful for people.  I'm thankful for the ones that gently put their fingers under my chin and raise my head up, making me look up again and again when I can't do it on my own.  I'm thankful for the days when my head is raised high and I'm able to share what I see with people like you, hopefully inspiring you to look up as well.

If your head is down, consider these photographs and words my fingers lifting your chin and whispering "look up again."   If your head is raised high, I hope you'll take some time to photograph, paint, journal, and savor the world around you.