This week’s Project Life freebie are printable 3×4 (or 4×3) quotes.  They are great for when you don’t have a ton of pictures from the week, but want to have something graphic rather than just words.  These are some of my favorite quotes, and you can find more on my Quotes board on Pinterest.

Click here to download the Week 2 Project Life Printables featured above.

I used the “Crowd Quote” printable in my spread–and I love it.  It just is so true of mothers, of lovers, of friends.  We all seek out those familiar faces.

This is my very first attempt at Project Life, y’all.  It is full of instgram and very little else.  :)  I know to be better about documenting our week next week.  I did journal a little about what January has been like for our family–and I just love seeing the random bits of our life come together.  This seems like a great system–and I’m excited to see how it becomes more “alive” as I get more comfortable with the medium.

There is the printable, which really adds a fun “Pop Art”/Andy Warhol-ish kind of look to it.  I can picture the people in the crowd wearing 3D glasses and watching a movie (but really, they were gathering to watch the results of a 1930s election in New Zealand!).

I am excited to get more creative with my process–but I definitely need to be “collecting memories” more throughout the week.  I need receipts and papers and pictures and little journaled moments.  So fun!

If you love the printables–please Pin them or share them with a friend on Facebook or Twitter.  I would love to build a little Project Life community here on Fridays, so I’d like the scrapbook-y people to know this formally non-scrapbook-y person is alive and blogging.  :)

This is a secret and wonderfully easy recipe I discovered in our first year of marriage.  All you need is one chicken breast (or a can of chicken breast if you want ridiculously easy) boiled and shredded, plus 5 cans (although, I often use frozen corn) of other ingredients.  It makes a huge pot and is inexpensive, too.  It is a favorite in our family and can be doctored up however you like–I’ve served this for birthday parties, at summer barbeques, and at least twice a month since we got married.

To top the soup, I slice 5 tortillas into strips, toss those with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.  Then, I bake them at 400 until golden brown.  They get soft and tasty in the soup, but not soggy like tortilla chips.

If you decide to try this soup (and you should!), you will only be out about $5, you’ll be able to feed your whole family, and it only takes about 20 minutes total.  Inexpensive, nourishing, and easy.  Those are my requirements for dinner.

I hate hearing “No”.  I absolutely hate it.  It scares me, it embarrasses me, and I’m pretty sure I avoid it at every stinking opportunity.

I’d imagine, if you are like a lot of other American women, you don’t particularly like hearing “No” either.  Maybe you’re scared of that very tiny word, too?  Maybe you don’t like stirring the waters, rocking the boat, making a scene, or starting anything.  But, BUT, this can’t be.  Not if you’re going to live a life of passion!  I can’t anymore run from the word “No” and expect a passionate and amazing life than you could remain illiterate and plan to read each and every classic.

I plan to hear “No” 100 times in the near future.  (Go to Life as an Artistprenuer for the backstory and a really pretty FREE download to keep track of those “No’s”).  If I can achieve this task by December 31, 2012, I’m going to buy myself this nice little present.  I figure that by the time I’ve heard “No” 100x in a year, I’ll no longer be afraid of that answer.  I’ll look down and remember that “No” isn’t that bad, and really if you ask the right question–you’ll get “Yes” more than you’ll get “No”.

a golden “Yes!”

I’ve been at this for the whole month of January, and I haven’t even gotten 5 full “No’s” yet.  But, I have gotten a lot more opportunities than I would had I not asked.  Not many people value a timid and polite woman.  You can be bold and respectful, and I bet you’ll start seeing some amazing things happen.  And, if you do hear “No”, I can also promise that it’s not as bad as you’d think.

If you’re working towards a “No” goal, you start thinking of questions that will likely garner a “No”.  (Because people are going to keep saying “Yes”!!).  Those are the big, scary, important, exciting questions.  The ones that feel weighty.  Those are the ones that will likely bear good and exciting fruit.  Ask those questions.  Get comfortable asking big, scary, important, and exciting questions.  If you do it enough big, scary, important, and exciting things are bound to happen.

By the time my Year of 100 Golden “No’s” is over, I’m sure I’ll be able to say I’ve conquered my fear of hearing that one little word.  I’ll be able to look down at my hand and know that I’ve heard “No” before and I survived.

I have to conquer this fear of “No”.  It is certainly no way to live life, and it makes for a terrible story…don’t you think?

What is the scariest question you’ve ever asked?  Did you hear “No”?  What was the hardest “No” you’ve heard?  What did you take away from that?

I had the very best time going to the beach this week.  I think it was my favorite adventure yet.  It involved so many things I love.  Gross Gas Station food, the beach, an impulsive and quick trip, and shells…lots of shells.

My grandparents visited this week on the way to and from Florida (our house is a nice halfway point to spend the night) and my grandmother was quick to remind me of my childhood love of rocks and shells.  I loved carefully and tenderly collecting all different types–cataloging them like a mini-scientist.  My tastes were not discriminating…I would grab a sparkly rock from the mall parking lot just as readily as a perfectly formed and preserved conch shell on the beach.

But, the truth is–you can’t collect them all.  There are more shells on the beach at any given moment than you can grab…and there are new ones being washed up with each incoming wave.  This is kind of like the sweet moments in life.  You try and catch them in your mind’s eye.  You try and put them down on paper or make a lasting imprint in your conscious.  But, you can’t collect them all.  The moments of life are so vast and numerous, it would be impossible to remember each and every one.  However, I think that makes the memories we do make all the more sweet.  They are a carefully curated collection…made more precious by their scarcity.

My moments at the beach this week were among my favorites with my children, thus far.  I am so blessed to have photographs and a jar full of shells to commemorate those magical feelings that permeated our short beach trip on Tuesday.  I can’t wait to tell them about that trip someday.  That’s part of the magic of parenthood–the holding close the memories that they can’t possibly remember for themselves.

I ended up ordering a different binder than the Becky Higgin’s one, mostly because I was worried about the durability of a cardboardy binder in my house.  I’m sure it’s a fine product, I just went with a faux leather one.  I was disappointed to see that the most popular “template” or “photo pocket pages” (Design A) were sold out.  So, I settled on another Photo Pocket Page design (B) and went with it…just so I could get started.

Husband surprised me with a Wacom tablet for Christmas, so I was anxious to try it out.  I created a few freebies for y’all who are doing Project Life.  There are two 3×4 journaling cards (really 2.75×3.75 so they fit in the sleeves) and a 4×6 .png frame to layer over a photo.  I hope you’ll love them and incorporate them in your albums–if it’s something that goes over well, I’ll probably do a Project Life Friday Freebie each week–just to keep me on track in my own memory keeping.

Next week, I’ll share some of my own progress with Project Life.  This week was all about assembling the materials and getting excited about the project.

Just click here to download the .zip file that contains the 3 free downloads.  If you like this freebie, please feel free to share via Pinterest or Facebook!

Related Post:  Less Fuss Memory Keeping (still my MAIN way of daily memory keeping!)

Chicken Bruschetta Bake

During the week, I like simple simple simple dinner choices.  I don’t like to spend more than 30-45 minutes total working on dinner–and most of that needs to be oven time.  However, it is essential to Husband and I that we eat dinner as a family each evening.  So, I have gathered many go-to recipes that I know will put dinner on the table quickly and nutritiously.

This is a Kraft recipe, but I like to make it a little healthier by using my own stuffing mix.  I use this recipe, but there are about a billion and five others online (and hey!  no one says you can’t use Stove Top!!).  This is comfort food through and through.  It’s not fancy.  I wouldn’t serve it to Husband’s boss.  But, kids love it and it’s beyond easy.

Make this.  This week, maybe.  Try it and see if you like it–put it in your rotation if you do.

Easy.

This is just a sampling of the Look Book section of The No Brainer Wardrobe.  As you can tell, I live in those boots during the wintertime.  No soggy socks and no wet hems.  Glory!  I am also wearing 3 different fashionABLE scarves–which are AMAZING in every way.  They have this great gauzy texture that the women in Ethiopia weave, and it just contours to your neck and keeps you warm and toasty without being suffocating.

Today, if you’re visiting from Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy for WIWW, go download The No Brainer Wardrobe now–if you are among the first 15 to use the code WIWW you’ll get 50% off the cover price of the book.

Untitled from hayley morgan on Vimeo.

Eleanor in Australia

Roosevelt accomplished great things in her life, but she was demure about those accomplishments. The Big Things she achieved just weren’t that important to her. What Roosevelt really wanted to be remembered for was the way she lived her life.

Roosevelt wasn’t always proud of the way she lived. She grew up in an unhappy home, and described her childhood as “one long battle against fear.” As the self-described ugly duckling in a family of pretty girls, she was painfully shy and self-conscious. Reading about her early life, it’s difficult to believe this is the same woman who said “Don’t be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticizing you. The chances are that they aren’t paying attention to you anyway.”

Roosevelt did overcome those early fears, motivated by her innate zest for life and spirit of adventure. Roosevelt believed life itself was a great adventure, and she strove to meet it head-on and experience all it had to offer. She was interested in everything, and she believed everyone had something to teach her. (Is it any wonder that she was famous for her knack of bringing out the best in everyone she encountered?) Roosevelt believed firmly that life was what you make of it, and that happiness was a state of mind, not a state of circumstances.

Eleanor and Franklin with their daughter Anna

Roosevelt’s life was filled with hardship, but she firmly believed that when people faced difficulty—or disaster— they could find the strength to do what they had to do. As Roosevelt famously said, “A woman is like a tea bag—you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.”

Eleanor wasn’t always in “hot water,” exactly, but she felt the pressure of being the President’s wife and a mother of five. She insisted that her husband and children come first, despite the many demands on her time, and she refused obligations that interfered with these relationships. Roosevelt believed that everyone—but especially women—needed to carefully consider what in life had the most value for them—and then pursue those things with all their hearts. To do otherwise would be to miss the whole point of living.

Eleanor and 4 of her children

We know Roosevelt for what she accomplished, but Roosevelt knew what she wanted out of life, and it wasn’t any of those things we tend to remember her for: “I know my satisfaction is not in politics, not in the interesting things I do. It is in being with people I am fond of and feeling that in some small way I can make life happier or more interesting for them, or help them to achieve their objective. To me that is much more important than anything else in my life.”

I turned to Eleanor Roosevelt to learn a little about my nation’s history, but I was surprised to find not a dusty woman of history, but an inspiring model of spunk and pluck. If you’re interested in learning more about Roosevelt, I highly recommend her autobiography You Learn by Living, which was first published in 1960, when she was 76 years old. It’s striking how fresh and true her insights seem today, over fifty years later.

If you want to know more:

Leadership The Eleanor Roosevelt Way

Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage

Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady

Author of this biography, Anne Bogel is a starry-eyed dreamer who loves discussing big ideas over a good cup of coffee–especially if the topic is good books, womanhood, or the church (with a side of fashion and fun). You can find her blogging about all things feminine at Modern Mrs Darcy or about matters of faith and life at Anne With An E. She also tweets @ModernMrsDarcy.

1.  Follow their blog for a bit.  If you still like them after awhile–maybe you could be friends.  Reading someone’s blog is a little like becoming acquainted with someone.  However, remember, the opposite is often not the same at this point.  Ask yourself: Do I feel kindred with this woman?  Would I have more questions to ask her about herself?  Is she interesting?  What could I bring to the friendship?  Is there a venue I could talk with her?

2.  Join the conversation.  Oftentimes, there are other ways to engage with bloggers (like Facebook or Twitter) outside of their own space.  Of course, you can leave comments–bloggers LOVE comments.  However, if you really want to get to know someone, answer their questions on Twitter.  Ask them questions of your own.  Leave a “Good Morning!” on their Facebook page.  Basically, this is your first move.  Make it casual, make it about them, make it genuine.  Blog girlfriends often come around just like real girlfriends.  Sometimes it’s a compliment on a haircut, wearing the same outfit on accident, bonding over a mom story, sharing a common background.  Think about these things and try to relate and connect.

3.  Email them with encouragement.  I am most compelled to get to know women who email (or tweet!) to encourage me or to let me in on their burdens.  This is just like real friendship, don’t you think?  This is the moment where the line is crossed from blog-friend to genuine, real, good friend.  You would be amazed at how fast you can become close.

4.  Offer to lighten their load.  Is she having a baby coming up?  Offer to guest post for her.  Is she launching something big?  Offer to promote it (or help get it done!).  Does she need tips about blog design, or advertising, or writing?  Can you help?  Offer!  Partner with her in helping her dreams happen–and she’s likely to link arm in arm with you, too.

5.  Try to Skype or G-Chat to see them “in person”.  Generally, the women I call true and real friends in this blogworld, I have talked to via Skype or G-Chat.  There is just something about seeing their mannerisms and hearing their voice and sitting in conversation that solidifies a relationship.  Brooke could tell you that our chats are often without makeup, in our pajamas, with frequent interruptions from our little people.  Jessi is sweet as good old Southern sweet tea, and talking with her made me feel like we were fast friends.  Susie and I are normally talking about goals or plans, and she is the most encouraging woman–full of grace and always open to redemption.  Sure, the first time you “meet” in person and video chat can be awkward.  It’s a risk, for sure.  I feel silly and nervous every time.  Engaging and seeing their face, though, makes them stick in my mind as real people–not just perfect faces on a screen.

6.  Try to meet in real life.  Nester and I went to church together and became dear friends, then I met Ellen and Tracy through Nester (Slipcover Weekend).  I went to Relevant because Ellen and Tracy (and eventually Nester and Caroline!) were going and I wanted to spend more time with them.  Ultimately, Gussy and I ended up becoming good friends that weekend.  Maggie (Gussy) and I had been aware of each other online for a couple years, but it wasn’t until we met in real life that we became friends.  I worked up the courage to ask her to meet with me to “dream big dreams” and she DID!  So, now we’re buds.

Going to Relevant was huge, because I was able to meet so many people I’d worked with, written to, tweeted with, etc. only now we were meeting in real life.  Putting a real face (rather than just an avatar) to their name made them real and made them stand out to me in a sea of similar.  It became a little bit like looking for my friends in the cafeteria!  On Twitter, they are the first I look for, etc.

7.  Plan a weekend.  If you can, plan a weekend where you can be friends “in real life”.  Not doing blog things like you’d do at a conference, but just hanging out.  Eating breakfast together, grabbing dinner, shopping, laughing over a silly movie.  Whatever, you just want to start making more connections offline that on.

Blogging friends can become real life friends in an instant.  It only takes a kindred connection–just like when you make a friend in person–and then a little dedication to cultivate the friendship.  I encourage you, in 2012, try to make connections in the blog world.  It’s much less “go it alone” and much more “girl, can I help?” when you have other people cheering you on and feeling a real life spark.

Do you have a great story of how a blog-friend became a real life friend?  Do you have any other secrets to share?  Please fill us in down in the comments!  I’d so appreciate it. 

Imagine that.  My son.  Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.  Born sick as could be.  Imagine that.

I didn’t.  I knew his labor would likely be fast and furious–like his two brothers’ before him.  I was fairly certain that he’d have a head full of hair, as the other two had.  I was certain that his daddy would adore him from the first moment.  I didn’t imagine things wouldn’t go well, that we wouldn’t be just as blessed and fortunate as with our first boys.

Really, though, we were blessed.  Of course, we were blessed.  It is impossible not to be blessed when tiny feet and that baby soft skin are involved.  But, oh, we did not feel fortunate.

Asher was sick.  He was so sick.  His tiny body couldn’t handle the immense infection that had invaded for some reason–we still don’t know the cause.  The doctor’s words, “septic shock” and “body functions shutting down” still ring fuzzy in my ears.  I still feel the sting of the hot sobs.  I still remember wanting to get as close to the floor as possible, feeling like the world was spinning and wasn’t to be trusted.  Things were not right.  This baby, my baby, he should be well.

Today, as he is cutting his first teeth, as he is navigating the living room army style, as he giggles with abandon–I look back on the days he spent in the NICU.  I remember the wracking heartbreak, the visceral fear, the uncontainable grief of those first hours and days.

I re-read through the comments on the posts from his time in the hospital…remembering how each prayer was answered in such a timely and direct way.  Some of the women who commented are dear friends now–and I had forgotten they had been praying for my Asher. Gosh, I left out so much of the emotion and seriousness of that time…but, it floods back to me–even reading the “brave faced” and “optimistic” words.

Those days were a blur, but I know–without a doubt–that Asher, our sweet #3, he is blessed.  He is fortunate.  He is full of abundant life.  We are so fortunate, so blessed beyond measure.

once sick, and now so well

an excellent piece for parents with babies in the NICU

Washington Times article about tips for what to expect in the NICU