The little things.

Well needless to say that last week was a little overwhelming. For reasons other than election day, because life moves forward even during the election. While Nevada counted votes so much happens in our everyday life. 

I had a friend loose her mother last week. I had a friend loose her father last week. My kiddo had a birthday last week. I also was worried because I knew a friend of mine was in a very difficult financial situation. While another friend was taking a leap of faith. 

An ebb and flow of joy and grief. Happiness and heartache. We sprinkle a little bit of Covid and this is 2020. Our stress levels rise and fall with every day and every situation. This week my friend that was grieving her mother last week (and I know still continues to) also celebrates life, her fourth grand baby being born over the weekend. My friend that was in a financial bind has found great relief today. 

Y’all it’s okay to be stressed and overwhelmed and it's okay to enjoy the little things too - even if the little things come in this mist of the big heavy stressful things. What do you do to help relive your stressful days? 

This year I’ve read a lot more than I have in recent years. I’ve started to garden too and I read a book about gardening!  I know next to pretty much nothing about gardening but it’s been fun to worry about peppers and tomatoes instead of politics. I love working on DIY projects and of course going for a walk works out all kinds of stress. My most favorite way to distress will always be surrounding myself with my loved ones. Taking time to celebrate my big kid will always make my heart the happiest.

Whatever it is for you I hope you find something to ease your day. 

A little bit of normal.

This year 2020, has been a rollercoaster, has it not? I mean to be honest the last three years have been a rollercoaster, we sold a house, we built a house, we moved twice in three months but that did not come smoothly and everything that happen in between made it even more challenging. Now we have this crazy year full of uncertainty and COVID and face masks but somehow we have managed to keep doing what we do. Somehow you can’t slow down the months and keep them from coming and going although sometimes you want to just stop and wait a minute. You want to get a better handle on things and plan things out better but nope although many claim that we are in year five of 2020 we find ourselves at the end of month 10.

To me that means the holidays are here and jeez that was fast. I am one that feels like, how we can be ready for the holidays if it was just March yesterday.

This past weekend we went to the pumpkin patch, bought a cart full of pumpkins and we carved them up. It’s a family tradition that we carve pumpkins the weekend before Halloween, partly because my dad’s birthday is on the 24^th and it makes for a great get together and also because it’s hot. Try carving a pumpkin any sooner and you will have mush (in some cases fuzzy green mush) before you make it to Halloween.

It was a touch of normal to go out to the pumpkin patch with a side of face mask and lots of hand sanitizer but it was worth it.

Liam was so cute but like lots of toddlers he really did not want to participate and was really a grouch when it came to smiling for the camera. I am truly thankful for my son and his awesome skills at catching just the right moments – in between on the crying and temper throwing that was really going on!

He even caught some great shots of me as a grandma – see that’s pure talent right there!

From Halloween we take nose dive into birthdays for loved ones every single weekend until Thanksgiving followed by more birthdays and then Christmas! Somewhere in all that craziness I will do my best to decorate accordingly and go shopping for all of it and then we can finally say good bye 2020 and hope to god that 2021 will be better. Just remember that no matter what, the months keep rolling by and life keeps happening. Welcome back to a Weekend Rewind of sorts :)

Go Boldly | Building Dreams

Over the weekend, my husband and I finalized and signed on something big. How big? About 130,680 square feet big! We have been looking for and praying about the possibility of buying land and Friday afternoon we did just that! I have been beyond excited and ideas about everything we want to do have been running around my brain like crazy. What on earth are we going to do with all of that land?

Well it’s not a crazy amount of land, so the cattle farm we wanted is out of the question! Just kidding no cattle farming for us, although the idea of having more pets have crossed our minds.  My husband keeps talking about little goats and I have been teasing him about a little pet pig. Of course he probably is thinking more along the lines of dinner options while I would be more likely to name each one.

Meet Paul, Ringo and John! Just kidding... these are not mine!

For over a year we have known that our current, beautiful and perfect to us for the since the moment we bought it home is not our forever home. Our house is where I labored for hours while we waited for little bear to be born, it’s the place where my son and his friends hung out and celebrated the high school years. It’s a place for countless Friday night barbecues with friends and family. Our house has been our beloved home for 8 yrs and we have lived in it fully, you can tell because each room holds the proof that friends and family have been welcomed here.

Why? Right now we know that we have out grown our space, not the house itself but garage and outdoor surroundings. We both (husband and me) love to work in our garage and we are constantly climbing over each other trying to make our space work. We both may not have a clue what our house will ultimately look like but we each have a whole workshop planned out in our minds.

Timing. As we set out to look for the next place to call home, we found what we believed to be the one more than a couple of times. We have come across one possible lot of land or one perfect looking house after another each time to understand that it wasn’t the one. The whole time we have counted on one for sure thing. God’s timing, not ours. We have prayed about our plans and we always felt that if we would found something it just fall into place. After evenings of taking a drive aka looking for property, in our area lots of people don’t believe in listing their land. They are old school and they go out and put up a sign “For Sale by Owner” therefor we have seen one beautiful sunset after another driving around to see what we could find. In the end it was about the right conversation at the right time with the right person. Simple no long drives or realtor apps to make it happen.

What comes next? I have no idea, really the easy answer is – we build a house - but of course we have many steps to take before that becomes a reality.  So today I ask you to join us as we begin to understand exactly what we have gotten ourselves into.

Are you a Woman of Influence?

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend a Woman’s Event at my church, this year is was called “Woman of Influence”, and I feel as though it was the perfect title to the stage in life that I find myself in these days. Although truth be told, we are all in that stage in life no matter our age. During this event they had giveaways and if you won something you were encouraged to whoop and holler in excitement, a 92 year old women won something and she joined in and even gave a little dance. She dressed up in a purple flowery blouse with a purple hat and her joy of life was evident, later I glimpsed her with her walker which was also decked out.  Her personality was vibrant and all I could think about was how she was influencing so many of us in that very moment. WOW!

92 years old and loving life!

I struggle and have struggled as a mom so many times, I wonder if I’ve done anything right this whole time and if I will ever get the motherhood down or if by grace somehow I manage to be a woman of influence – mind you with the right kind of influence. I think back to my son when he was three years old and at the time he didn’t call me “mom” or “mommy” he called me “Yvonne”. As I started to go to church and change my life and my priorities, one day Chris got behind me in the crowd as we exited the church and just like that his voice cut through the crowd and he called out to me “Mommy!” The whole world stood still and my breath was caught. What a change in the influence my life was having on him.

Guest Speaker - Pam Tebow

I was able to attend this event with a couple wonderful ladies I love very much and in the moment you realize the influence they have on your life. Momma Rachel (my best friends mom) and anyone else’s mom if you so need her to be or my daughters other grandmother in my case. Her influence has impacted my life for more than 15 years showing me her unconditional love.

Connie from Momma of Dos, is a woman of influence in the blogging world leading and paving the way for so many bloggers that have followed her footsteps. In so many ways a woman of influence showing me that hard work and consistency pays off – follow your dreams and don’t let someone tell you it can’t be done or that (worse) it’s a waste of time. There is a good chance that she’ll take you up on that offer and show you otherwise.

What kind of influence are you? Do you inspire, encourage and love? Maybe you are a teacher,  protector and nurturer - I hope you are and I hope you realize that years from now you’ll step into the knowledge that you have inspired someone along the way. 

Women of Influence 2016

Weekend Snapshots | Jellystone Park

Hello everyone and welcome to the 4^th week of school! Hallelujah we made it! I know I’ve been a little MIA but the beginning of school is always a rough time for me at work, to add on to it we’ve had family member in the hospital and time has been scarce. Thankfully we’ve made it through, my family is at home recovering and the roughest time of year is settling down – YAY!

So of course we should totally go camping right? I know, maybe not the best time, but we did it anyway! Actually we had booked this little trip back in June but it was rained out and moved to this past weekend. So we packed up and headed out and let me tell you it was a welcomed chaos, to completely detach and worry about packing, food, supplies, and clothes and camping gear, was a total de-stressor!

We didn’t head far just an hour or so away to Waller, TX to Jellystone Park, the perfect place to go if #1 you don’t like camping and #2 if you have kids (or you’re a big kid yourself!). Why is it the perfect place to go camping if you don’t like camping? You can rent a cabin! A cabin with a bathroom, bed, kitchen, couch and a TV! See easy-peasy, we decided to use our tent so we booked a tent camping spot, minus some of the luxuries of the cabin the “tent camping” includes water, electrical outlet, one picnic table and a fire ring. Bathrooms and Showers are not far away and super clean, believe me I have been camping all my life and I’ve seen some bathrooms and showers that make you want to pee outside and you feel perfectly fine being stinky so this is a major plus!

At Jellystone there is something for your kids to do all day long, they have the swimming pool area, with kid’s slides and they have a few grown up slides too, they have a lazy river and a splash pad. Out of the water they have miniature golf, a playground, human fooseball, giant tetherball, a craft center and a stocked lake for fishing. The park organizes something to do all day, like free craft time and a train ride twice a day. You can take the kids to meet Yogi Bear (although Hailey really didn’t know who he was!!) and they throw in things like a Foam Party and a Fire Truck that comes out to spray the kids down! Really you will not be bored, they also plan events all year round for Halloween, Christmas, Easter and even Mardi Gras! 

We ended up using our trip to celebrate my little bears best friend's birthday and it turned out to be awesome! Just before the trip I made some shirts for the girls to celebrate their "wild" side and they had a blast. Even my 19 year old was able to have a good time, he even ended up have a little fishing lesson with the girls and they all did so great. Hailey was able to cast her line several times but most of all she was able to bond with her big brother. This crazy weekend was just what we all needed after some very stressful weeks in the real world. Little Bear says her favorite part of the trip was spending time with her fiends and family, sound like a girl after my own heart.

Finally being able to sit down and re-cap my Weekend Snapshots feels super good, remember to check out the other ladies at 3twentysix & The Reinvention of Jessica to see what they were up to this weekend! 

Yummy Breakfast! Eggs, bacon and pancakes! 

Yogi who?

Besties having fun! 

Human Foosball! 

Fun in the Sun

My little bear fishing! 

The girls just hanging out :)

My whole world...

The much needed group selfie!

A great feeling of accomplishment when you get the tent to fit perfectly back in its bag! 

Back to School | Seeing Things Clearly

Most parents around this time of year are running around getting everything ready for the next school year. You are probably stocking up on supplies, buying new school clothes, and maybe getting doctors appointments out of the way.

This year little bear is going to 1^st grade! How did that happen? Just the other day she was tiny and fast asleep on my chest, I could hear her little breath and feel her warmth… and this really did happen the other day ha! She is still a tiny human to me and even more precious she is a little girl. She is full of sassiness and life, Hailey is known for being a little fearless and in the same breath she is a worrier and an over thinker. At this young age she can dance around the house and not care who’s watching but then worry about what her friends at school are going to say about one little thing or another.

We are like this as grown-ups too don’t you think? Dance around the house with a broom and then fret about what to wear to an event and what others might say about you. Even the most confident worries some times. Thankfully our kids have us to back them up and help them out, so don’t forget about all the little tiny worries your kid might have as they take on this big scary new school year.

Towards the end of the school year Hailey started telling me about her trouble seeing in class, I knew then that she was going to need glasses – mind you my husband and I wear glasses and we have worn glasses since we were young kids. I was not totally surprised. Since little bear worried about what kids might say if she showed up to school with glasses from one day to the next and as a mom I also worried she’ll loose them or take them off because she is not used to them. I decided to wait and get her glasses when school was out.

So over the summer we went to the optometrist and she picked out her new glasses! After she tried on each and every pair of course! Just a few weeks in and little bear is super great with her glasses she wears them all the time. We chose to get her transition lenses to wear out and about to protect her eyes from the sun and a pair for indoors with a blue lenses to protect her eyes when she is one her tablet or watching TV. She has been super responsible wearing them and she even will switch them out when she plays on her tablet.

I think it’s important to build up her self-esteem and make her feel comfortable about the changes in her life. Although she worried about her first day at church and what her classmates would say she still rolled with it as she got ready for church and made sure her outfit matched her glasses :)  

She walked out of her room the other day hands on her hips and simply stated “I don’t care what anyone says about my glasses, I can see everything now!” I know I am a little bias but to me she is the cutest tiny human wearing glasses that I have ever seen! 

DIY Planter Box

A few months back I came across a few wood pallets, why wood pallets? If you have not come across the wood pallet craze just go to the wonderful land of Pinterest and type in pallet and welcome to my world of madness. The possibilities are endless!!

My new toys!

Over the past few months I also acquired a few new toys for my projects!! I introduce to you my, Miter Saw, Orbital Sander and a Nail Gun :) put these together with some fresh pallet wood and my wheels started turning. One idea came from a Pinterest post like this one here, of course this one has already finished pieces of wood that you simply cut down to size and follow the instructions to make a very Chic Planter Box.

I had to take pallet wood and cut it down
to fit planters like this.

I figured I had so much spare wood plus, I know how to cut wood, I know how to sand wood, I know how to stain and paint – how hard could this be? I wish I could tell you this is a step by step “How to” post to make my planter box but it’s not. Although I’ll show you a bit of my process along the way, truth is I had always worked on projects with someone by my side, my brother and my husband normally doing the “harder cuts” for me and me doing a little here and there. This time I was bound and determined to make this box by myself.

The transformation

My first challenge was cutting planks of wood down to size using my Miter Saw to do the dirty work, the Miter saw is more commonly used to cut across wood or to take a piece of wood down in length, not to cut down the width of a piece of wood. I walked away from this project a couple of time during this process. I was frustrated with how hard it was to get clean cuts, eventually I came back to it and cut what felt like a million little pieces. Afterwards the rest was a little easier, sanding and staining was much more fun.

I decided to stain all the wood pieces first, then assemble the box it's self.  I dry brushed an antique white over the stain to get it an aged weathered look. I added some handles and stenciled letters as the finishing touches. The final product came out beautiful!

Although my cuts were rough and sometimes uneven, in the end it gave my box a natural aged look. Overall the project was a learning experience, making so many cuts lead to getting to know my Miter Saw really well. I've completed a few more projects since then and I think I've got the hang of it now!

Rough Draft and Plans: 

Bloom where you are planted

A few months back Pastor Tim preached to us about praying BIG AUDACIOUS PRAYERS, since then when faced with decisions or a chance to do something or go somewhere – we take a deep breath and we remind each other – BIG AUDACIOUS PRAYERS. Over the past few months we have been faced with some decision making, some dreaming and some big ideas to bring change into the lives of our little family, in the midst of this before the outcome was revealed or before things have had a chance to be finalized I was reminded of something else – I was in my backyard, my little piece of heaven on earth and I was reminded to BLOOM. I was reminded to bloom right here, right now, to bloom right where I was planted in this very moment at this very time.

This has been a continuous way of life for my husband and I, over the past few years, when faced with an opportunity for a promotion. During the turmoil of who and when, we had to pause and be reminded to bloom right where we were planted. In other words to be grateful for our blessings – I remember talking to my husband and saying “you do your (current) job fully and honorably, don’t worry about anything else”. In my own job I’ve wondered sometimes “why”, why here and why now, over and over again I’ve realized I am where I need to be in this moment and time.

In all of our plans and dreams recently I’ve lost track again of where I am currently planted – or have I? Thankfully, I haven’t, my mind wonders and runs wild sometimes but my heart is right here. I was working in my little piece of heaven on earth the other night, checking on my plants, watering the yard, treating for bugs and cleaning up. I got carried away and before I knew what time it was, my husband was taking little bear a bath and I was outside in the silence of the evening, the sun just finished setting and I turned on the lights to our patio I sat there and just listened. Where are we going, when are we going, how are we going… to take the next step. Pray big audacious prayers, but take care of what’s around you right now, right here – take care of the blessings daily don’t take them for granted. How can you ask for more, dream for more when you are not being a good steward of what’s laid out before you now.

Not only should I bloom in the right here and now, but live life in full bloom. Make the most of where you are take care of it as if were the bigger and the better because truly it is bigger and better than where I’ve been before. 

My current chalk art for my home, as a reminder to live life in full bloom.

A special thanks to Angie Makes for beautiful watercolor flowers! 

Albarrán: Jewelers Reunion

A few months back I had the great pleasure of interviewing Kayleen McCabe from the DIY network’s show Rescue Renovation, it was the first time I ever formally interviewed anyone and as it turned out it was best conversation I could have had. Talking to her about her life and passion, learning about her past and what her goals are, I began to see parallels between her life and mine. I realize I do not have my own DIY show and I am by far not a contractor or public speaker, all of that a side she brought me to a moment of clarity.

She spoke about the trades in construction and how her family raised her around construction her whole life, although she was encouraged to go to college and pursue higher education. She quickly realized that what she really wanted to do was to continue to build and create with her hands just as she had been taught to do all her life.

I walked away for my interview with one main thing in mind that day, the Albarrán family. My family came to the United States in the 70’s and they knew one thing for certain when they came here, they knew Jewelry. My father, my grandfather, my great grandfather, and my uncles from generation to generation have passed down the knowledge that ties to their very fingertips as Jewelers.

This past Saturday I was able to host an evening in my home to honor the men of our family.  Due to timing and last minute planning, I wasn’t sure I would have a great turn out and in the end I missed many of my uncles that I grew up with that were not able to make it but the turnout was still great.  My 82 year old grandfather, father, brothers, uncles and aunts came over for a night of storytelling and catching up.

They reminisced about how they came to learn this beautiful art form, they spoke about the ones who have passed away and left behind a legacy of knowledge no school could ever teach them. They laughed at some of the toughest lessons learned and in the end I hope they realized that they continue to enrich our lives.

Coming to the States, they came here with a promise of a better future for themselves and for their children, they have become fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers hoping that their children and grandchildren get higher education- a better life. Truth is no matter what we do with our future I’d like for all of us to know that this trade of being a Jeweler is not a small thing, it’s an amazing art form that transcends from their generation, to our generation and hopefully to the next. I hope that the secrets of an Albarrán Jeweler are never lost, because to wear something that one has made is an honor and a privilege. 

We shared an article written in a magazine in Mexico City 1985

Enjoying the Grub 

4 Generations of Albarrán 

My beautiful Tias 

Weekend Snapshots 5 | Easter Love

This weekend Snapshots is pretty much brought to you by Easter! Of course! Thanks to the Easter Holiday we had a long weekend and for me a two day work week being that we just made it back from our Spring Break trip! Don’t forget to join the other ladies at 3twentysix,, The Reinvention Of Jessica, Onixj and Independent Mami as they recap their weekends too! As always you never know what you’ll find on a Weekend Snapshot, maybe you’ll find a great idea for something you can do next weekend!

I’ll be honest with you, momma was not ready for a Easter weekend. We had mountains of clothes to wash from our trip, our fridge was on empty and I was in no way ready for Easter Baskets, plastic eggs and candy! SO of course come Friday I was decide to set off on yet another adventure! HA! We couldn’t help it, we have been meaning to take little bear to the Museum ofNatural Science for a very long time, so why not Friday?

If you haven’t been to the Museum in a while you definitely need to go they have made some pretty awesome changes throughout the Museum. Recently they upgraded the Planetarium to something called Digistar 5 System, although I’ve been explained what all that means in the technical sense, it means it looks even better than ever. Hailey was amazed, she swore we were moving the whole time, so if you try it out let me know if you think you are moving too. The whole experience is very trippy!!

We also saw the National Parks Adventure in 3D on the Wortham Giant Screen!! It was epic! What made it even more amazing was the fact that we just came back from hiking through the Red Woods and I swear there is a scene taken from the very spot we visited! Little Bear was like, “OMG we were just there!!” and yes she says OMG not Oh My God. What can I say, six year olds. drama. going on sixteen half the time.

Lastly we spent quite some time in the Cockrell ButterflyCenter, because girls :) Seriously if you are a girl or have a little girl or maybe you are just fascinated by butterflies you should go and you should go soon! It must be butterfly season because they are everywhere! They fly right up to you and land on you! Way cool! The girls would not leave until one would actually land on them. For some reason Little Bear was not having any luck, I thought we would never leave, then suddenly one landed on her hand and one landed on my hand at the same time! Then I was geeking out like a 6 year old!! I was like, “OMG!!! Babe come take a picture of us!!!!!

Of course we spent all of Saturday washing, grocery shopping and getting Little Bears stuff ready for Easter. This Easter Hailey was all about candy, toys and bunnies, can I have some, when can I have it and can I have more? We have raised Little Bear in Church all along and she herself will read her bible and uses her bible story app on her tablet all the time. She has a very good understanding when it comes to Jesus being the reason for the season but this weekend she was over taken by the Bunny hype. Before Sunday Service she was asking if they were going to have an Easter egg hunt for them and she was grumpy when we explained to her that was not going to happen. After church I had her tell me what she learned in her class and she gave me a full recap of the Resurrection of Jesus (full blow recap in little bear style too!) , later that day when we forgot pack something for our little Easter Party she shrugged, “Oh well, at least Jesus came back to life right?” LOL yes and we are very glad He did too! 

You talkin' to me? 

Cousins are the Best!! 

Hoppy Easter!! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!! I know we did :)