Friduss Family Mission Statement v 2.0

It's the end of the year and my family has spent a bit of time reflecting on this past year.  My husband and I sat down to re-write our family mission statement because where our kids are today, well, we felt like we needed an update.  We kept the things that we need to continue to work on as individuals and as a family, and added some new ones.  Always one to try to outdue myself (working on that!), I wanted this one to more closely resemble actual subway art than the last one.  And so with a few ideas I got to work using Make the Cut.   

It's in the same spot as the last one - our kitchen which looks out to our deck.  Yes, it is big.  I was initially going for something that would be 2' x around 4' but once I got into the design program I quickly figured out it would have to be bigger.  So it's actually 2' by about 6.5'.  I know, right?!  

Thankfully a good friend of mine has a sign shop and she was able to cut it for me on her machine using a roll of vinyl I purchased.  Weeding was NOT the time of my life, however, the actual application was a breeze.  We decided it would be easiest to cut it into five pieces from top to bottom and they all went on like buttah!  I also added a collage of photos of the four of us through the years to hang next to it.   

I am super stoked at how great this turned out.  It took me five days of designing to get it just the way I wanted it.  Make the Cut was an easy choice because I needed to able to export it in a file format my friend's sign shop could use, and really that program is much better at manipulating fonts than the Silhouette Studio.  There are probably at close to twenty different fonts.  I honestly lost count. 

So there it is.  The Friduss Family Mission Statement v 2.0.  We're moving into 2014 with the right frame of mind for sure.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Good Life Project Living Creed

I saw this on Pinterest some time ago and was immediately smitten.  It was written by Jonathan Fields, who has lead an extraordinary life - you can read more about him here.  This creed, more than anything I have read in a long time, really spoke to me.  So I decided I wanted to put it in a frame somewhere where I could always refer to it.  I purchased a frame a month ago, and finally sat down this Sunday to make this.  I created the page in Photo Shop Elements, and then added it to the frame you see below.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Saturday Morning Musing

The way of the miracle worker is to see human behavior as one of two things:  either love, or a call for love. ~ Marianne Williamson

Saturday Morning Musing

The worst thing you can do for your children or people you love are the things they could and should do for themselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln

Saturday Morning Musing

As you grow older you will discover you have two hands, one 

for helping yourself, and one for helping others.


~ Audrey Hepburn

Saturday Morning Musing

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. ~ John Wooden

In Accordance with Necessity

Above all else, it is about leaving a mark that I existed: I was here. I was hungry. I was defeated. I was happy. I was sad. I was in love. I was afraid. I was hopeful. I had an idea and I had a good purpose and that's why I made works of art.  ~Felix Gonzalez-Torres

Thanks Penny, I needed to hear this. 

She Stood . . .The Return of Saturday Morning Musings

She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away, and surely it has not, she adjusted her sails.  ~ Elizabeth Edwards

This one moved me this past week when I read it.  Does it remind you of anyone in your life?

Saturday Morning Musing - Words

Something to consider in light of the current political climate and the twenty-four news cycle that seems determined to never let us to never let us take a break from it.

"Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind."  - Rudyard Kipling

Ego Tripping - This Saturday Morning's Musing

From the distinguished Nikki Giovanni:

Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why)

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built 

   the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
   that only glows every one hundred years falls
   into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
   drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
   to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
   the tears from my birth pains
   created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
   out the sahara desert
   with a packet of goat's meat
   and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
   so swift you can't catch me

   For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
   He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
   as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
   jesus
   men intone my loving name
   All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
   the filings from my fingernails are
   semi-precious jewels
   On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
   the earth as I went
   The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
   across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly
   like a bird in the sky... 
 

Just Be You

I think the reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.              ~ Rita Mae Brown

In Honor of Steve Jobs

I know I've posted this one before, but given the death of this true visionary, I thought I would share his words with you all once again.

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do. 


~ Steve Jobs, Apple Computers 

Happy Saturday everyone!

The Road Not Taken

I'm in a Robert Frost mood today . . .

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

 

Musing about my Kids

Good morning everyone!  It's been a good, good week.  Fall is upon us and we finally have open all of the windows weather!  The world is full of possibilities.  With that in mind, I am sharing a quote with you from Shel Silverstein.  It's included on my a layout that I created for my youngest son this past July.  While going through my almost completed book I came across it and it made me smile all over again.  

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. 

Listen to the don'ts. 

Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. 

Listen to the never haves, 

Then listen close to me... 

ANYTHING can happen, child. 

Anything can BE.

  

Thanks for stopping by!!

Saturday Morning's Family Manifesto

I saw this on Pinterest a week or so ago and it has stuck with me every since.  The author is Angela Sunshine Doell and she writes for SheLoves Magazine.   She wrote an article some months back about her Family Manifesto and how she has this prominently displayed within her home.  For those interested, here is a link to the article.  My husband and I have been toying around with working up a family mission statement for a while now.  It's not done yet, but until it is, I am going to be borrowing this one:

Well said.

Saturday Morning Musings - Beauty

Beauty once seemed to me to be an accident of nature. ...But now that I can see my life on my face, I realize we earn the way we end up looking. Time, it seems, gives us all a chance to really be beautiful. ~ Anne Curry  

White Water Musing

It actually has nothing to do with White Water, but I'm headed there later today with the kiddos so why not?  I've been very busy this week - back to school is in full force.  I am still  working on one scrapbook project and I will be thankful when I'm done and able to turn my attention to something else.  Pushing through, pushing through.  In other words - be patient with me.  There's more crafty goodness coming - at some point anyway.

Today's gem is actually about habits, and more specifically about changing them.  I am in the midst of this massive undertaking and am finding myself standing on this quote:

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time. ~ Mark Twain

This Morning's Musing - August 13, 2011

This Saturday's Morning Musing is from award winning columnist Maureen Dowd: 


"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for." 

Saturday Morning Musings

Good morning everyone. I hope you've had a great week.  It's been quite hectic around here.  My youngest son started Kindergarten this week, and my oldest goes back to school on Monday.  So right now we are in transition from summer mode to school mode and let me tell you there is never a dull moment around here as a result.  Today's quote is something that I came across when I was looking for something to share with my boys about being themselves and fitting in.  Now I'm sure they won't be able to get the true gist of this for some time but I'm planting seeds right now.

Don't try to be different.  Just be good.  To be good is different enough. 

                                                                                

                                                                                                   ~ Arthur Freed

Saturday Morning Musings

What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.
                                                 ~ Leo Buscaglia