Hi

What can I say it was simply been an eternity! I have moved, but am not done by any means. My lift has been completely turned upside down in good and frightening ways. But I know that God is guiding my path, so I let go of as much as possible and try really hard to enjoy the ride. I have said it a lot lately, We only get to do this (life) one time, make the best choice, choose the right attitude, and do it so you have no regrets! So until next time here is LC in her summer ballet debut! I promise I am back, life is finally getting normal! Even if normal means out of control! I FREAKING LOVE IT!

WOW

I would have never guessed that moving is this hard! I am loving the nesting part, this house is a blank slate for certain and I am doing all I can to make it have LIFE! I have also been really striving to "shop my house" or shall I say moving boxes to find great things and rethink them. As for now, every project is mid process and there are about 12 going! HA! I am taking pictures, so do not fear there will be a lot of before and after fun and some great tutourials!

Moving

We are moving, I am terrified, I hate change, but am somehow really excited about the new possibilities a change brings. After several weeks of looking we found a place to rent, so that will be a change, but the landlord seems very flexible. I am not allowed to paint the walls, so I have a lot of creative ideas to bring color to the antique walls of this cute house. I hope you hang around, because I have about 12 projects and re-dos to share as I complete them. Be back around in a day or two, WISH US LUCK!

Guess who is back! A Catch up post!

Ok so I have been away, but it turned into a CRAZY few weeks. First of all, traveling for Christmas, Parties, New Years, traveling some more, I have been SICK for 2 weeks and well we may be moving! So you can imagine I am a tad distracted. But since the past few weeks are a blur I will use a few pictures to give you a glimpse and remind myself! First up, My DEAR SWEET Great Aunt Bea. She is the only thing I have that remotely resembles a grand-parent as my biological ones have long sense passed. ( when I was a kid) So Aunt Bea has assumed the role, whole-heartedly I might add! She is the best, FUNNIEST lady and I am SO blessed to have her!

So to kick off the season we started with a little party at a friends house! The day LESLEY wore a pull-up for the first time!

TOO FUNNY

She really likes being a big girl

Ok so then we hit the road to go to Augusta, GA the holidays with the in-laws. Up first was a trip to a beautiful light show in east nowhere GA. It was great except for the the temp, 35 degrees, and my lack of preparedness I was wearing LOAFERS! HA!

SO, after the great thaw (the ride home from the light show) I still had to wrap presents. But I had been up for 16 hours, had the day from you know where, and I had frostbite. SO I wasn't as concerned with perfection when wrapping like usual. HA! Here is the photo evidence my husband took while mocking me!

I mean really what are you supposed to do with this...

Wes would normally not mock me, especially when I have scissors at the ready, but I normally mock him mercilessly for his TERRIBLE wrapping skills, so it was his payback.

So then there was Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, otherwise known aas my 21 month got overwhelmed and we had to call it quits for a while! HA

But once attitudes were better we resumed Christmas!

Notice that face I am making, Not really sure what that is, but I am too lazy to find a better one!

My nephew got a big ole car, and they had more fun riding it Christmas Day!

Lesley showing off the shirt I made her for Christmas dinner. I am still upset I do not have picture of her dressed up from Christmas Eve services, but alas, I have a 21 month old. It is a miracle I remember to put on deodarant.

Ok so home from Augusta, and my darling cousin Audra came to visit. I am a photographer and we are working on some concept work I have and she was a good sport and modeled for me!

BTW Audra "Auab" is Lesley's FAVORITE person EVER!

So new years was totally uneventful as my sickness was starting to kick my butt and Lesley was/ is still cutting cutting 4 teeth! So we hung around the house... I am pretty sure we dont even have a picture. But we enjoyed chinese food, sweet and sour chicken which Lesley named "hiney chicken" God I love this child!

SO, my sickness, well that pretty much gets us current I am still sick. I go through waves of FREEZING and sweltering! Another hubby mocking pic.

Notice I am under the covers, with 2 layers of clothes and a ear warmer, oh and I was sitting in a heating pad!

Then to top off all the sicky fun we got SNOW! Which is SO exciting! I LOVE SNOW!

But we were so sick, hubby tried to go get meds... he didnt have much luck!

So even sick we had to play, there is still snow on the ground 3 days later, and it is COLD OUTSIDE! Thanks for sticking with me for a long post, and I am glad to be back!

Technical Difficulties and a WINNER!!

SO sorry I haven't announced the winner from the Linky party giveaway, or put up my tour for the Nesters party, but my computer was NOT cooperating yesterday! So with out further ado, the winner of the Magical Moments Pillow is JEN from http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/ Thank you to all who linked up and added comments! Jen just visit the shop www.littlechickendesigns.etsy.com and convo me which one you would like and your address and it will ship by Friday! Also, I do plan on still doing a tour, but i have to figure out why by computer isn't reading my camera card!grrr.... Have a great one, be back in a bit!
Lani

My Christmas Wish List

Ok, so everyone keeps asking me what I want for christmas. It is a really hard answer to give. I really do not need for anything, and frankly there isn't much I want for. What I do tend to want is more expensive and not anything I would dare put on a list. But for myself I thought I would make my wish list. If I could have 5 things under the tree for purely selfish reasons what would they be...

1. $17,000 to have all of the remodel work I want done to our house paid for! (this includes giving me a laundry room that isn't in the basement, where the morons who lived here before me moved it to)

2. A table saw! I have just about every other saw and this would be the PERFECT addition to my tool collection.

3. A new Sewing Machine I have one, and it works well, but I hate it's button hole function!

4. 2 new soft box lights and stand. I love soft box lighting for studio work. Plus I plan to become involved with NILMDTS http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/ this year, and a small one may come in handy.

5. Oh and a serger!

So there is my top 5. I hope to make at least a few of them become a reality very soon.

What about you? Is there anything you would really love to have?

I am officially done decorating!

SO I couldn't be more excited! I have officially finished my Christmas decorating and thank goodness, because I want to be ready for The Nesters Tour of Homes.
So now I can focus on several of my handmade presents, and finishing my Etsy shopping. I decided for Christmas this year I was going to get most of my gifts from Etsy, or make them, and I have discovered SO many great Etsy stores. SOOO, I am going to start featuring a store once a week! We are such a talented group of crafters, artists, and bloggers, that we deserve a little nod every now and then. If you have an Etsy shop and would like to be considered for a feature let me know! I will start next week and already hae several atores in mind. I think it will be a lot of fun! Make sure to join the Linky party and Giveaway!

Christmas Memory Linky Party and Giveaway!

I always enjoy linky parties, and who doesn't LOVE a giveaway! SO, I wanted to host a giveaway for Chistmas and make it a Linky Party. To participate you need to blog about your favorite Christmas memory from your childhood and then link it up to MckLinky! Make sure to mention in the post about the giveaway! Up for grabs is a Magical Moments Pillow Letter to Santa Pillow. You will get your choice of pillow to use for one of your own precious children or as a FABULOUS gift! The purpose of the pillow is to help create the magic of the season. For me the magic and wonder of this time of year makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! Also, coming soon, as in once things get a tad less stressful there will be prayer pillows, and tooth fairy pillows. I like the idea of Children writing letters to Christ or to their gaurdian angel. I digress, SO... blog, link it up, and on Monday. Dec 14th I will announce the winner!

http://www.littlechickendesigns.etsy.com/

 http://www.littlechickendesigns.etsy.com/

Tuesdays Unwrapped and Little Chicken Designs GIVEAWAY

So I have been stressing a ton lately. I have been given so many blessings, that at times I think they may actually be trials. It frightens me to think that God is making me stretch and grow when all I want to do is go back to bed. Change is frightening to me and it has been a VERY interesting 6 months. Then in the midst of some craziness I was given clarity! A friend said "why are you affaid?: sounds an easy enough question to answer right? WRONG! I was dumbfounded. When faced with the facts, that God is in charge, that God is leading this change, that God is all knowing, loving, and merciful, what was I afraid of? That same day I found this:

Don't Worry about anything;

instead, pray about everything. Tell God waht you need and Thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.His peace will gaurd your minds and hearts as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

I LOVE that our Lord "speaks" to us when we need to hear him. I love that we guides us to his words over and over again. I love that our Lord gently reminds us. It makes me try so hard as a parent to guide gently.

In the spirit of blessings and giving I wanted to give, and I hope that in giving something made be me through blessings, you are blessed!

I wanted to host a giveaway for Chistmas! To participate you need to blog about your favorite Christmas memory from your childhood and then link it up to MckLinky! Make sure to mention in the post about the giveaway! Up for grabs is a Magical Moments Pillow Letter to Santa Pillow. You will get your choice of pillow to use for one of your own precious children or as a FABULOUS gift! The purpose of the pillow is to help create the magic of the season. For me the magic and wonder of this time of year makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! Also, coming soon, as in once things get a tad less stressful there will be prayer pillows, and tooth fairy pillows. I like the idea of Children writing letters to Christ or to their gaurdian angel. I digress, SO... blog, link it up, and on Saturday Dec. 12th I will draw the winner!

Busy Bee

Good Gracious I am busy! I am almost done puttin gup my tree and decorations. I am also almost done sewing for the year. I have almost started Lesley's new play room! OMG I can't wait to show it to you.

I mean to post everyday, I come up with great things, then when it comes time, I can't remember a thing! So I have decided that instead of keeping a pad of paper and pen with me at all times (because I enevitably lose the pen) I will start carrying a micro recorder with me to record what I am thinking... wonder if it will help? HA! Anyway, I have makign ornaments and all sorts of presents, and I hope to have time to show it all to you in the next few days so stay tuned.



PS: the bathroom redo that I started like 6 months ago is finally done! Will have pics up this week.

procrastination

So I am in the studio tonight with about 8 orders that are due out this weekend staring me in the face, and I am procrastinating. I can't get my embroidery machine to cooperate, and my sewing machine bobbin keeps balling up on me, needless to say I am frusterated. But, not nearly as frusterated as I would be if I didnt have my ever present play list keeping my favorite tunes playing to keep me mellow. I am really enjoying a few new artists I discovered a few weeks ago, Anya Marina, Keri Noble, John McLaughlin, and Nick Drake (who many people may have already known) I just discovered. So what keeps you sane when everything is falling apart?
Oh an I am SO EXCITED about NEW MOON! I can barely stand myself right now!

LONG WEEKEND!

But man was it good!! Saturday I went garage saleing and found SOME AWESOME stuff! I can't wait to take pics tomorrow and show you all what I plan on doing with all of it. Saturday afternoon I had a senior session then today we spent the ENTIRE day with our best friends. It is three couples, we have all been friends for close to 8 years! I am exhausted! We have such an exciting week ahead, I can't wait to get it started. OH and I will have my tour of my work room this week as well! Have a great night!

Wordless Wednesday

Helping Hand

My Father

As I was preparing to write this tonight I was hit with wonder and awe, I have had several things relate back to a single idea all day. The idea that God gives and takes away. The thought that strikes me is that you never know when either will be a blessing. So then, as I was logging in to write this post, (I detoured to Faccebook) the peice that ties it all together was in front of me. I friend who is a flight attendant posted
"God blesses those people who patiently endure testing. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him" James 1:12 
she was refrencing the fact that she is working 3 legs tonight with cranky people. LOL! Then, I read the post of another friend. Her cousin lost a son today. She had BG twins, and while at daycare the boy was put down for a nap, and no one noticed that he didnt wake up. God gives and takes away. Why? What is his reason? i have fought these thoughts so much over the last few months, to the point of depression. Then about 2 months ago I realized the trial can also be a blessing. Now I am not saying that losing a child is a blessing, but I was illustrating how precious life is, and how we must always lean on Him and ultimately not ask why? but what is God trying to tell, teach, show me?
I should probably give you some back story. My family has had a very rough few months. Back in May my husband lost his job, he was encouraged to resign, as it looks better on your teaching record apparently. Well this also meant, we later found out that he forfeited his unemplyoment.... they failed to tell him that. Then, we were living off our savings, and the money was literaly GONE! My family was going on vacation, and my parents paid our way, a humbling moment honestly, but appreciated. It was one of the most amazing 10 days of my life. My entire family was there, and we laughed more and loved more, and worshippe our Lord more than I can honeslty ever remember. We then returned home to discover that while we were away our hot water heater had burst and flooded our basement ruinign alot of our things. But it was all things that were relegated to the garage sale pile or Goodwill. So I wasn't TOO upset. But, it was VERY stressful. Mold was growing, our hot water heater had to be replaced, it wasnt to code apparently and that was an extra $2200.... GREAT!!!!!! Then we remembered we had purchased American Home Shield a few months ago on a whim... they paid $1100 for towards the water heater (not the code stuff though) Well we worked things out with our insurance company and they said make a detailed account of everything damamged or lost so we can cut you a check so you can replace them. I had forgotten that we carry FULL REPLACEMENT on our home and its contents! So we are receiving a sum that will be enough to continue to carry our family for a few more months. SO... i started thinking, when has something REALLY stressful been a blessing.
1. Diagnosis of Stage 4 endo, 3 months later I was PREGNANT!
2. My first mothers day, holding an 8 week old, our home was hit by a Tornado. $35,000 check MORE than covered the damage, new roof, new deck, fresh paint, fresh EVERYTHING. On an aging house we were going to have to really save to try and fix up!
3. Wes is laid off from a job, no income, gets in to Grad School, mostly because of reputation and favor, gets GRANT money to help us pay bills and for school, finds out it is 99% online and otherwise he gets to stay home and be with me and our daughter.
4. The Worst moment of my life. I awoke to find my daughter unresponsive and not breathing. She was twitching, I began CPR. about 15 minutes later she was out of the woods. Now you are thinking how is this a blessing. Well it is a blessing that I remembered CPR I was taught 10 years ago. It is a blessing she happened to be in our bed or we would have not found her until morning and it would have been too late. it was a blessing that I got a wake up call to spend more time with her, pay closer attention to her, because it could be gone too quickly, and even if we are only speaking of her youth, I will miss this stage when it is gone, so I better pay attention now.

So I ask you when has something really stressful, been a blessing. When have you been patienty tested? Also, I am working on an idea of paying it forward if you will. I want to be a blessing in others lives, I want to do something where we create a top ten needs list, and a top ten wants list, and see if through miracles and blessings we can't help others meet some of their needs and wants.
Anyway, if you are still with me thanks, and enjoy this... i found it today too... all signs pointing to one idea!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUtFV127i-s&feature=player_embedded

A Resolution

So again it has been months! I am still reclaiming my life and with several set backs, we are finally getting there. We have been having some of the best and worst weather, so that has created obstacles. The biggest however has been our garage/basement. Our hot water heater burst, and $10,000 of damage later we are trying to rebuild. But enough about why I havent been around. I am here to say that I AM going to do better. I need this resource and outlet. I need to know there is a place where I can just say what I feel when I feel it and know that it isn't a big deal. So from here on out I will be open, honest, and hopefully insightful. I have done SO many projects that I need to share with you, so many ideas, SO many things that I barely know where to start! But I will start and it will be tonight!

Hello is anyone there?

Ok so I realize it has been months! LOL, but I have a good excuse. Life sort of went in fast forward, and out of nowhere it is the middle of August and I am about to have surgery. I have also spent the majority of the summer "claiming" my house. We moved in here in March of 06, we spent the next 5 months graduating college, getting married, and starting new jobs. Within a year I was pregnant and on bed rest quite a bit, then you know I had a baby, our home was hit by a tornadoe, and needless to say I got busy! So here I am 3 years later and finally making my house my home! We are re doing the yard, the kitchen, both bathrooms, and soon enough the garage/basement will be partially closed in (fingers crossed.) oh and my photography business is doing well, and I am slowly but surely designing precious childrens clothes. Anyway, so there you have it. I promise to have pictures up soon.

Feature Friday

Welcome to the first installment of Feature Friday!
Today I am featuring a very talented and witty woman. Nikki from The Lucky Mrs.T! http://www.theluckymrst.com/ I have to admit up front that I am somewhat biased because this fantastic gal is my cousin. But more importantly she is FUN. She is a very strong Christian, a talented artist, a supportive wife, and fur baby momma to Daisy. Nikki is always changing things up and you will never know what to expect when visiting. Her Birthday is tomorrow and she and Jonathan (my favorite new cousin) will celebrate their first wedding anniversary in 9 short days! So don’t just take my word for it go check her out. She is great and I am blessed not only to know her in real life, but for her to be an amazing member of my family. Love you Cuz!

Monday Music Musings

WELCOME to Monday Music Musings. So I have decided that (hopefully) every Monday I will share with you music, be it an album, and artist, or just a song it will be music related. I know that I always love discovering new musicians, so I thought I would make a point to broaden my horizons and share what I find.

Today.... I want to tell you about Jack's Mannequin. WOW! I am in love! To start with both of their albums are fantastic. I love the piano and somewhat raw quality to the vocals. "The Glass Passenger" is the groups second album it chronicles McMahon's battle against Leukemia. It is raw, honest, and emotionally charged. There are several songs that are darker and some that are very up tempo but no matter the sound, the emotions of fear, fatigue, and ultimately survival are poignant! I for one have found the "The Resolution" is likely my new favorite song. With lyrics like "And I'm alive And I don't need a witness To know that I survived I'm not looking for forgiveness I just need light I need light in the dark as I search for the resolution" I feel that I am being let into a very personal place. I think what is so awesome about "The Glass Passenger" is it is personal. Most music isn't, and often it really has no significant meaning... that can't be said about this album. So check it out! Here is the website http://www.jacksmannequin.com/ all of their work is available on Itunes as well! I hope you enjoy!

Care to come along?

So it has been a week and I am sure most of you have grown used to my random absences. I do apologize though; I wish I was better at blogging. I just feel I have nothing worth hearing. Therein lies the problem. I think a problem a lot of moms have and why so many of us have turned to blogging. We don’t really think what we have to say is too important, but we hope that someone will think that what we say matters. I have had a rough week, not like lately, no deaths in the family or natural disasters, but emotionally. I realized I missed “ME” the old me. The “me” before I was a mother, the “me” that read A LOT! The “me” that traveled, went to museums regularly, sought out new music, and tried anything new at least once. That version of me was confident, contemplative, intellectual and informed. I realized this week that I do not love this new not improved version of myself. Not in the sense that I am like an insecure teenager but more a person who just woke up and realized they were on the wrong track. Maybe this all sounds crazy, I am sure it does, but just maybe you too have had a moment when you realized you are changing and not for the better. Don’t get me wrong I love being a mom, but who said that I can’t be the old version of myself and still a mother? I think the old Lani is actually better suited to be a mother than this current version. So I guess my point is I am getting back to me. So be prepared for more blogs, more information about the world, things that inspire me, things that make me look at the world in new ways, and things that simply entertain me. I hope you are willing to join me.

Since 12 is my lucky number...

and that is how many FOLLOWERS I have now I thought I would share with you publically what several of you already now. I decided to start designing a childrens clothing line. This has always been something I wanted to do, and i had talked about it with a friend a while ago, then I decided "what am I waiting for?" I have so many ideas so I got started. I began designing, buying supplies, and equiptment, and prepapring. I set up a blog, (very soon to be a .com) I set up my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7128932, my paypal, and ordered my clothing labels. Well, then to my complete excitement my friend whom I had previously discussed this all with expressed her desire to do it with me!!!! You cant know how excited this makes me. Lindsey, http://www.thelifeofmrslanghans.blogspot.com/, is one of my very best friends. She is someone that God seriously made just for me! I couldn't ask for a better friend and I am so excited for her to join me. She is so talented and I know that together you are going to just LOVE what we create. Our first few lines have already been designed and soon enough I will be sharing them all with you. So Since 12 is my lucky number I hope that my 12 followers will bring me amazing luck and success!