Craft + Kaizen

Fun Valentines' Day Craft [inspired by marthastewart.com]

Step 1: Pick a yummy candy. I chose Rolos because they're James' favorite (and they were the first wrapped candy I saw).

Step 2: Get out your super cute cupcake liners.

Step 3: Gather the rest of your supplies (i.e., scissors, paper, buttons, super glue, tiny toys, ribbon, and anything else you can think of to make a cute Valentine!)...

Step 4: Flatten the cupcake liners. Place candy in the middle of the bottom liner and use stick glue to attach the outside ridges of the liners together, so that the candy is in the middle of a little closed cupcake liner pocket.

Step 5: Make cute little Valentines using any material you want. I used poster board (to cut out pink hearts), stickers, ribbon, buttons, and the cut-outs of scented Valentines.

Step 6: Using the stick glue, attach the Valentine to the top of the cupcake liner where the candy sticks up.

Step 7: Share with anyone you love, especially your valentine!!!

*Bonus: This doesn't have to be a Valentines' Day craft! I also made Birthday and SpongeBob versions! So much fun! :)

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Kaizen: Self-control. I was tempted to do something that I really felt like doing but knew would destroy my whole day. Instead of giving in, I looked to other outlets--like God, these cutie crafts, and homemade slushes--to get past my selfish temptations and become a better person for it.

Stunning

Kaizen: Generally, I make a point of getting every drab errand done before I can enjoy myself by doing something I really WANT to do. Earlier today, I took a break from all that work and journaled about some stuff I'm really truly thankful for right now. Sure, I had lots more work to do, but I took time for myself, time to build myself up by keeping a reminder of how wonderful life is...

*beautiful images via http://seaweedandgardenias.blogspot.com

Seriously, I have like three more loads of laundry to go...

Kaizen: Today I signed up to volunteer at this place called Trinity Cafe, just because. Well, because I need to start doing stuff for other people. There's more to life...

"At Trinity we are all about smiles, laughter, and honor. So in a sense instead of calling it a 'soup kitchen' you can call it an 'honor kitchen', where we treat our guests with the utmost respect because they deserve no less."

Yay!!! For the precious time between work and driving and errands when I can create or read or write or lie close to my darling or read fun & funny comments from my bestests. Life is good, so truly good...

Ah, "Lost" and "Heroes"; since I DVR them I love to watch them with my dinner after work and school. And I love the surprises and the suspense and the characters and the insanity of their lives. But most of all, I love that my very favorite people in the world are watching, too, and I'm glad to be connected to them somehow, even if it's through the naive excitement of a Hiro or the bizarre adventures of the passengers from Ocean Flight 815.

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
Christopher Robin to Pooh

The title's not so important today...

Kaizen: Walking home from school was painful; the cold--paired with the irony of the bus driving away right in front of my watering eyes--stung and angered me. Seriously, cold is death to me. And yet, I made it all the way home--I sucked up my pride and pulled my hood over my head, I walked faster and faster so that time might do the same, and I thought about how much stronger I would be once I got home because I would indeed survive. Kanye and so many others before him had it right: that which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger...

Looking through old journals, found this:

i remember the way it all began, she said and he replied, so do i but it should've gone differently and she was confused so she asked what did he mean and he told her that when he asked for that first date, he had actually meant to ask her to marry him and she whispered of course.

I love Natalie Dee's art + Kaizen of the day

listen to the wise lil froggie!

lil shrimps are the cutest!

haha she's sooo right...

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Kaizen: My goal was to not put myself down at all today...and I didn't! Yay :)

[in that case, I suppose the next step is to build myself up...]

What did I learn today?

"Freedom means very little if there is no knowledge to accompany it."

"The best revenge is to live a great life." C.P. Curtis

"When you have knowledge--which is power--you don't have power over other people but rather other people do not have power over you." Dan from my Adolescent Lit Class

Kaizen of the day:
Finally telling Joe how I honestly feel (about some things).

A pulchritudinous day

[First of all, I must thank Chloe for teaching me that new, incredible word (which means beautiful, by the way)]

From now on, I'll be recording my "Kaizen of the day". My classroom management professor taught us the concept of Kaizen, which is a Japanese term that represents improving yourself--even if just a little teeny tiny bit--every day. So, my Kaizen of the day today: being content with watching tv and being with other people without feeling like I must be doing something else to make myself productive. I'm pretty sure being with people I love, which made me happy, made the time worth it--especially since something that makes you happy cannot be a waste of time.

Also: the Super Bowl game tonight was the first football game that I've seen in its entirety, no kidding. So I'm kinda proud of that but it actually wasn't hard to do since the game was so exciting! And my favorite commercial? Probably the first Conan one. Plus, I really liked the Coke commercials because they're all about happy.

Oh, and another thanks I owe to Chloe: thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for sharing your hilarious cat pee/t-shirt/ewww story. Like I said, I haven't laughed quite that hard in a very long time. I love you.

And I love you, too.