I sent out Christmas cards last week, and I was blowing and going through the list, hand addressing them (because I wanted to practice my new lettering skills) and I got to my grandmother’s name: Marynell Reece.  She passed away this last July, and seeing her name on my Christmas card list stopped me dead in my tracks.  So I stopped and had myself a good little cry.  She would have loved our Christmas card.  Not because it was well designed or because I had (for once in my life) gotten them out on time, but because she LOVED my daughter.  She really got a kick out of her ‘babydoll’.  And she would have loved this stage where Taylor is feisty and hams it up for people, that is just the sort of personality my grandmother loved.  And I am heartbroken that she doesn’t get to see these stages in Taylor’s life.  She would have laughed so hard at the picture of Taylor in her Halloween costume clearly thrilled at the prospect of candy.  After all… the sweet tooth in our family comes directly from Nannan–the rest of the food in her fridge might be moldy, but you could be guaranteed the Hershey bars on top of the fridge were nice and fresh.

Nannan also loved Christmas.  We always had a big to do with the whole family, complete with FAR too much food, too many gifts and a lot of chaos. The more chaos the more my grandmother liked it.  So this first Christmas without her will be especially hard.  Grief is like that… both predictable and unpredictable.  It hits you in the moments you expect in the most… like opening presents on Christmas morning, or in traditions that will fall by the wayside because she isn’t here to make them happen anymore.  But it also hits you in the unexpected moments, like sending out your Christmas cards. Or for me, walking into Allen Fieldhouse for the first game of the season to watch her beloved Jayhawks–in our seats near the band because she always enjoyed watching the drummers. This is the last photo I have of my grandmother with Taylor.  It was taken just a few weeks before she died, and I love how it shows how much she loved Taylor.  Smitten doesn’t even begin to cover it.

My grandmother was a force to be reckoned with and had a pretty fiery personality.  She taught me a lot about how to be a strong woman and to work for the things I wanted… but also how to enjoy life. She loved her family and was NEVER afraid to speak her mind.  I am so grateful to have had 32 years of my life with her, and been able to create such a strong bond.  I miss her so much, but I’m also so glad that she had a life well lived.  And if I have my choice, I’d like to go out just like her, after a weekend of celebration and family, after 96 years and a long successful marriage, with tons of family.  May we all be so lucky.  

I’ve been mostly MIA from the blog-o-sphere for 3-5 months, and I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to get back into blogging.  Partially I started this blog to document our homes as we fixed them up… and then we had a baby.  And life became much more about hanging out with her and spending time as a family. Oh and my husband got a new job that moved us to a new town and with that job he is working about 1.5 time the amount he was before.  So now we BOTH have full time jobs (I like to call them full time plus jobs because they are both full time with a little extra required) and a whole lot less free time. And because we knew that going into purchasing our new house, he made me promise we decided not to purchase a fixer upper home.  So my DIY posts have been few and far between.  I’m not doing as many because (see above) and the ones I do, I haven’t necessarily had the time to photograph, write up and post. And although all the blog experts say: pick a theme and stick to it (i.e. DIY or parenting or cooking or lettering or…) in order to be successful, that isn’t really why I started this blog.  I have a full time job.  I don’t need to have a ‘successful’ blog, I write because I love to document or share the things going on in my life lately.

So  with that, I wanted to write this post (that sounds like a bunch of excuses) to sort of head the blog in a new direction.  I am going to write as often as I can fit it in my life, which might be 3x a week or it might be 1x a month. I am going to write about my hobbies and things I’ve been doing lately, some DIY, some parenting, some faith lessons, and who knows what else might be thrown in there.  If you want to follow along on my journey, GREAT (you can follow me on insta, like me on facebook, or subscribe to emails over to the right)! If not… keep on your merry way and find someone else to follow… no hard feelings!

And now onto a life update and what I have been up to lately.

If you follow me on Instagram (@amusingmj), you know my new obsession has been with hand lettering. I am LOVING learning to hand letter in beautiful ways and I am so inspired by some CRAZY talented letterers over on Instagram.  Maybe soon I’ll post a who I follow and why, so you can see some of their amazing work! I am also trying my hand at watercolors too… because I think watercolor flowers are amazing! Here are a few of my pieces that I’m really proud of:

I love that so many of the hand letterers use their skills to write bible verses, so for me it has become a great way to meditate and focus on scripture. Plus how pretty do all these flowers look exploding out from behind the banner of scripture??

Plus I have learned about an amazing thing called embossing (that is the gold, raised, shiny part below) and I am OBSESSED.  Love it! 

Secondly, I have started taking piano lessons again.  I took them as a child for several years, but when someone posted on our neighborhood app about teaching children piano lessons, I quickly sent her a message and asked if she was willing to teach adults too.  She is this precious woman who is a retired school music teacher, and my lesson time is smack dab between a 6 year old girl and an 8 year old boy, and I missed out on piano bucks last week because I forgot to write down when I practiced <insert several crying laughing emojis here>. But I am having so much fun getting back into piano and unlike as a child, I actually like practicing the piano (sorry mom!) and I would love to be able to play better! Plus I want Taylor to learn to play when she is older… and I don’t want to have to tell her I quit and can only play  the first half of Oh When the Saints Go Marching In to show for my 6 years of piano lessons as a kid.

Third, I am starting a new workout class at a local gym, I’m going to start with a 28 day fitness challenge that includes nutrition and bootcamp classes, so I am hoping to start getting back into good shape.  Say a little prayer that I can survive jumping back in to working out… starting is the hard part right?!?

So, that is where my time has been spent lately, and check back later this week for Taylor’s One year update… 3 months late.