Swim

For about the last 5 years I have this reoccurring dream. It's never exactly the same but it always has the same premise.

A cruise ship (that I wasn't on) is stranded out at sea. They recruit me to swim out to the ship, tie a rope around my waist, and swim the boat to shore.

I've never made it to shore. 

I always wake up or can't remember what happens next.

Obviously, that isn't me because that isn't a cruise ship. :)

(Image via google images)

I looked it up the other day because I was curious about the meaning of this peculiar reoccurring dream.

It's impossible to look up the exact dream - one interpretation is:

To dream that you are swimming towards the shoreline, signifies an increase in your financial standing. In general, dreams of swimming indicate an exploration of your unconscious mind and emotions. It is a common dream image for people going through therapy. 

Well, I can tell you my financial standing has not changed in years and I'm not in therapy.

I looked at several interpretations of swimming and others with boats. They all have something to do with emotions. Well, gee, thanks Internet for NO information on what it means to pull a stranded boat to shore. You'd think in this day and age of technology a person could find out what her dream means.

Do you have reoccurring dreams?
What do they mean?

What's up with...

A part of my job is planning meals that meet USDA guidelines. I try to make the meals / snacks healthy, delicious and something the children will eat.

The other day I was browsing on Pinterest for healthy snack and lunch ideas. Unfortunately, what I found was disturbing to say the least. I found food that was made to look like cartoon characters and objects. It was ridiculous.

Tuna salad in peppers and cucumbers...

Source: bedifferentactnormal.com viaCherie on Pinterest

Children should eat food because it's healthy and tastes good not because it looks fun. What happens when they go somewhere else to eat and their fruit is not in the shape of a palm tree?

Source: beautylish.com viaNikki on Pinterest

And we wonder why children have issues with food. whether it being their pickiness or overeating junk food. Food should be food. Food should look like food. Remember there are many many children that don't get to eat every day. There are children that only get to eat at school.

Source: whyloveit.info viaChristine on Pinterest

I apologize if you are one of those mom's that go above and beyond to make your child's meals special by creating characters out of bread. I just don't get it. But then again, I'm not a mom. I'm just someone who sees children everyday that would do anything for a filling meal.

Source: itswrittenonthewalls.blogspot.com viaIt's Written on the Wall on Pinterest

Diary of a former Skinny Girl

You know those "aha!" moments? The ones that so many people who have gained weight have when they look in the mirror one day or something.

I'm still waiting for my moment. I mean, I know I've gained weight. I know I should exercise and eat better. I know my clothes fit like shit. But I want a moment when I look in the mirror and say, "holy shit! I need to do something about this...now!"

I actually have one of those moments several times a day. Unfortunately, it doesn't motivate me. At all. It really sucks. I just hate exercising... until last night.

Last night a friend and I went to this aqua fit class (or aqua torture). Let me tell you, there was NO floating around gently moving your arms and legs. It was a splash fest! Jumping (which I don't mind in water), and moving, and weights. It was hard work. I mean I really thought I was going to have to go to the side and rest. But I didn't. I kept going. Out of breath and really thirsty. I did it! So did my friend. We both loved it! It was a great workout and I was pleasantly exhausted when I got home.

We both decided we needed to ditch the "tankini" for a full piece swim suit if we do it again. There was way too much movement for our suits to stay put. (not a pretty site). We tried the sauna for about 1 minute (too hot) and we were way too chatty for the people trying to sweat it out in peace. We went in the hot tub for about 2 minutes.

I can't wait to do it again. Seriously. I'm looking forward to exercise. I guess it's all of my years in a pool that make water exercise "my thing."

What's your thing? Did you have an "aha!" moment?

It's A Girl: Baby Shower

I had so much fun planning the baby shower for my bestie!

I went with a lime green and hot pink theme. Jess is having a little girl and I love this color combo!

INVITES - THANK YOUS
I searched for the perfect invite for a couple of weeks. Yes, weeks. I didn't want to purchase generic invites that have you filling in all of the details by hand. I had 50 invites to send out and I wasn't going to hand write all of them. Then, I searched Etsy but, couldn't quite find the perfect one. That's when I turned to "old faithful" otherwise known as Pinterest! I found the invite below on Ontobaby.com. This site is fabulous! I was able to customize the invite with the colors I chose and the wording / font I selected. All for FREE! It was perfect. All I had to purchase were the envelopes - which I purchased at Office Max for about $14 (they were a special size).

I also found Thank You cards to match the lime and hot pink on the same site. All I had to do is print them off for Jess and give her the remaining envelopes so she could send thank yous for all of the fun gifts she received.

Thank you card

Ontobaby.com has invites / thank yous / tags / and so much more for baby showers, weddings, and parties. I will definitely be back!

////////////////////////////////////

FAVORS - TABLE DECOR

I wanted a simple yet, not cheesy favor for everyone in attendance. I found heart shaped tins at Party City. They were perfect to fill with the lime and hot pink Sixlets I found at Hobby Lobby. I also, purchased a couple (8) packages of the "make your own flowers." I mix and matched the colors to create adorable favors for everyone!

For the centerpieces, I also wanted something cute but not cheesy. Jess is not cheesy. I was able to use glass vases and silver chargers from work. I personalized them for the shower by purchasing Washi tape at Michael's and wrapping each color around the vase. I also purchased lime and pink stones to sprinkle around the vase. The finishing touch was a silver floating candle.

Jess's mom took care of the food. She made these adorable cake pops and fabulous pavlova with homemade lemon curd and berries.

Instead of a guest book I asked each of the guests to share some "wishes for Elodie." I found this form on Pinterest.

Source: laurenmakes.wordpress.com via Laura on Pinterest

Jess isn't a huge fan of games (and neither am I) but, I found this one on Pinterest (where else?!). I printed it up myself so it would match the pink theme.

Source: blogs.babble.com via Laura on Pinterest

Here are a few photos from the shower

Jess and I before the guests arrive... isn't she just glowing!

 "Oh, how adorable!" I bet you can't guess how many times that was said!

Super cute swim suit she received. Even has a built in diaper! Genius!

So, that was my weekend. I am finally able to breathe. I feel like I have been planning something since after Christmas. Whether it was planning for our trip to Florida, or planning the employee party, or planning for the craft fest, and finally planning a baby shower. I'm done.... at least for awhile.

Miscellany Monday

It's a snow day!
There is nothing better than a Monday snow day! I have done nothing today except watch a little Sons of Anarchy with Bill. The wind is blowing and the snow is drifting... It was almost 80 degrees last year on this date. I'm ready for summer!

----


Do you have a quick and easy way to read all of your daily blogs? Did you know that Google reader is going to discontinue the service as of July 1st.? You can follow me on Bloglovin. It's a great source for following all of your favorite blogs. It keeps track of which blogs have posts available to read and even suggests new blogs that you might be interested in.

Click here to start following My Green Pen.

Did Ya Miss Me?

Hello Friday! Holy Hell I'm so glad to see you!

My life has been a whirlwind for the past month. I have had no time and more importantly very little inspiration / motivation to write.

Here's my Friday five.

I swear you will see more of me from now on - not guaranteeing posts every day but, I have a feeling it will be more than none.

1. My friend Amy and I. So silly!

2. I did my first "voice over" work. It was for the North Dakota Association for the Education of Young Children informational video. Apparently, what usually takes people about 20 minutes to read through took me over 2 hours. I guess I forget how to read when there's a mic in front of me! Luckily it was my husband that was working on the video.

3. I was in Bismarck on Monday to advocate for our kiddos! Bill HB1422 was good. Then they went and changed it and not in a good way! Then it was passed onto the senate. We went to the senate committee meeting on Monday to share our thoughts on this bill. Right now it's a waiting game. We're emailing the committee with our thoughts on this bill. Crossing our fingers!

4. My husband raises money for prostate cancer every year through something called Bros on Broadway. It's a huge event in Fargo every February.  You may have heard of the national event called Mo-vember. The folks at the HoDo in Fargo decided to do their own event during a different month to ensure the funds raised for the American Cancer Society stay in Fargo. By participating in the event in November the funds are not guaranteed to stay in your area. So, anywho, I was interviewed by the newspaper. The topic was facial hair and how the wives and girlfriends feel about their husbands and boyfriends growing out some crazy facial hair. It was a fun article and they even included some funny photos of my husband throughout the years. **This year Bill raised the most money for the event!!**

5. When you work with children you just never know what's going to happen from day to day, so, when a little girl arrived with this bag I was a little curious. Then she proceeded to tell me that it's a present for me! Ummm... I sure hoped it wasn't something she took from her mommy's drawer. Thankfully it was a beautiful picture that she drew for me! But, seriously, you just never know.

I also got to spend a lovely evening with my bestie on Thursday night. I can't wait to tell you all about the baby shower I'm having for her this weekend - stay tuned! She's just the sweetest ever! She gave me a gift for putting on the shower. I appreciated it - in fact, I love my new leather Coach iPhone case, but, you only have your first baby girl once. I want it to be super special for her. I know she'd do the same for me.

Enjoy your weekend!

Shop Update

Check it!
Lots of new items posted.
By the way, I love creating custom items. If you see something but, would like it in a different color - email me to check possibilities.

Interested in purchasing something?

Visit the website here.

It's the Little Things...

I've been a busy bee the last two weekends so, when I had the chance to sit down and clean off my desk and organize my drawers I was so excited. Yes, excited. I love organizing. It has a calming effect on me. You'd think my entire house was organized wouldn't you? Nope. It's not. Ever since I began the adventure with Poppy and Pippa my weekends have pretty much been planned out for me. Work, work, and more work. I used to use my weekends to organize and re-organize.

My husband even commented the other day that we've switched roles. He's the cleaner and I'm the mess maker. I really need to work on that but, for now, I get to show off my clean desk. I should've taken a before picture - Just know that this desk was piled with bins and boxes from the craft fest.

Now, it's all put away and organized.

Take a gander at these organized drawers!

Check out all of the new items I listed in the shop. I believe I took over 600 photos and edited them this weekend.

It's FRIDAY!

It was another crazy week! I'm looking forward to a week of work. Just work. Plain old doing my job and that's it. Last week was filled with preparing for the craft fest and this week was spent getting ready for the employee party for about 160 guests. I have been busy planning a super fun party with my partner in planning - Josh. We've planned the parties for the past couple of years and this is our final year... or so we say. I am so excited for tonight! Next week will be a normal week - for the most part. I hope to get back to blogging every day again.

So, it's Friday. That means it's time to look back at the highlights of this past week.

1. Relaxation with my hubby. We went to Zero Dark Thirty on Sunday (before the Oscars). It was a fantastic movie! I highly recommend it.

via

2. Relaxation... again. It was nice to take a break from creating for Poppy and Pippa. I filled orders on Tuesday night and that's all I did this week with it. I have a lot of photos to take. In fact, I tried to take photos after work on Tuesday but, Whidbey wasn't making it easy so I gave up. He loves to lay right where I need to take photos. It's ok though because he's adorable!

3. Six of the Seven Early Childhood bills passed in North Dakota. There's a lot of work to be done before everything is all said and done. I have a trip to the state capital to testify planned. I'm passionate about offering high quality early childhood education where I work and I am passionate about making sure it's available in the rest of the state.

4. I purchased a new dress from LOFT for the employee appreciation party tonight. I love it!

What do you think?

5. It's Friday. Whew.

Source: google.co.uk via Tiffany {Living Savvy} on Pinterest