Slow Blogging....

Ugh! I'm such a "slow blogger" these days and can't seem to find my ol' blogging "mojo".

 In reflection, hubs and I are busy enjoying our empty nest, even during a pandemic,
life seems to keep busy...although we really miss eating out once a week.

As a teacher, working from home has been very odd. It's hard to believe sometimes the reality of this Corona Virus Pandemic. Luckily, I have found my hand stitching to be a great comfort during my numerous Zoom Meetings each day as know one can see what I'm doing! LOL!

Anyhoo, that doesn't leave me with anything crafty to really share with you here on the ol' blog. But!

If you are new to my blog, I welcome you to take a look around by clicking on my tabs at the top of the page and my post labels at the bottom of the page. With seven years of quilting documented here...there's plenty of inspiration to be found and friends to meet by following the blog links on my sidebar. 

As always...

With SMILES! Val

An "Enchanted Anniversary"

This past weekend we had fun getting all dressed up as we attended a local fundraiser.

It was an evening spent enjoying friends, good food and lively conversations.

It also found us celebrating our Thirty-First Wedding Anniversary!

 Here's to Thirty-One more babe!

With SMILES! Val

#1 of 20 in 2020: An Exquisite Back-County Gig!

Happy New Year!

Our New Year found me already checking item number one off my 20 in 2020 list:

An Exquisite Back-Country Gig!

Hubby and I packed our Winter gear and headed to the mountains.

We stayed in a cozy AIR B&B next to the Payette River:

We went for Winter walks during the day and enjoyed brunch at a cozy restaurant.

Once evening came, we strapped on our snow shoes and began a mile and half hike along a Tiki torch lite path to a Yurt in the mountains of Jug Mountain Ranch, McCall. I can't even explain how refreshing this was. The snow was soft and fluffy and continued to fall in big flakes the entire night.

We enjoyed an evening of meeting new friends....

 ...over a festive, candle lit, six course meal of the most delicious food.

 Our party hats were so fun and though a challenge to actually keep balanced upon our heads, 

we had many laughs as we tried! We were all quite a site as we snow-shoed out at 12:30am.

The New Year, like many of you I'm sure, always finds us reflective and filled with  curiosity about what the New Year has in store...as it is always full of surprises isn't it! I know for us, we'll continue to be intentional about celebrating our relationship and this wonderful life we have together. 

How about you? What is something you are planning to intentionally celebrate in 2020?
With SMILES! Val

Be At Peace

The Idaho Botanical Garden's  Holiday Lights in Boise has been on my bucket list for a few years. 

It's nestled in the foothills and it was not only beautiful to walk through, the city lights shimmering in the background made it even more spectacular!

Replace Holiday Loneliness with New Explorations!

Our holidays have become more nontraditional since being with family is not always an option. This use to make me feel lonely and sad. But over the past few years, I learned that I was literally making myself miserable dwelling on the past. This is one of those pivotal moments that I realized I was focusing all my energy on situations I can't control and even worse, I was missing out on opportunities to discover new traditions with my husband! I've learned to replace my loneliness by embracing our freedom. Our freedom to explore new ways to enjoy the holidays without all the hustle and bustle! Yes, we can sleep in if we want to and skip all the holiday cookie baking if we want.

This past Thanksgiving found us enjoying a four course meal and an overnight stay in the city. No meals to shop and prep for. No dishes to clean up. It was quite heavenly to be honest.We had a lot of fun together and found ourselves coming full circle from when we were first married some 30 years ago, grateful to still be the best of friends. We dressed up fancy and even enjoyed cocktails in the hotel lobby bar.
(Not exactly something we would do with children! LOL!!)

Hubby works Christmas too. So this past weekend we found another "light walk"

 and enjoyed a wonderful steak dinner out. It was just perfect.

So creative...

ACCEPTANCE

I know with great certainly that our attitude has a tremendous amount to do with the quality of our lives. My recent readings have enabled me to understand that sadness results from resistance to what is happening. Thinking that this "something" that was so unpleasant and undesirable should not be part of my life. The past few years, the holidays have of course magnified these emotions as while most are celebrating the holidays with family, I often find myself alone, waiting for my husband to get home. I didn't know how to cope with this. Until, I realized that  I was wasting so much of my emotional energy on resisting the change that was happening in my life. There was this deep feeling reminding me that I'm in charge of my emotions.  I learned long ago, that I can accept my present circumstances even if I don't approve of them. I need to do that once again.

BE AT PEACE

My Uncle John use to always tell me to BE AT PEACE especially during the time that I was conquering Cancer at a young age. I find myself reflecting back to those lessons learned and journals kept. In my acceptance IS MY peace. It's not that I approve or that this is how I thought our family would evolve, but I do not move forward expressing regret, resentment or even rejection. With my acceptance, I have found the strength to actually begin to embrace my situation of being alone as an opportunity to be in control of my life and celebrate the healthy relationships I have.

I hope nothing more for you, my readers, that this holiday season finds you AT PEACE.

Many of us suffer loss in one form or another, and the holidays can magnify these feelings of loss, 

thus I will end with this from my Uncle's writing, 

grateful he left me so many manuscripts of his writings before his passing back in 1999:

"Peace comes from the realization that in any circumstance life remains filled with goodness. This situation may include a variety of unfortunate and undesirable facets, when they are accepted with insight and dealt with with patience there is to be found a treasure within ourselves."

"Anyone who searches for the rainbow of peace will find the gold of inner strength. Suffering can be seen as the dense rainfall in which the rainbow is hidden for the moment. Worry or grief is like remaining in the rain rather than standing in the sun and observing the rain from a distance, the only place from which the rainbow can be seen. This life of the sun must be present to see the beauty of the rainbow." 

My friends this holiday, I challenge you, that whether it be you or someone you know, to stand in the bright and warm sun of peace rather than curse the chilling rain. Merry Christmas!

With SMILES! Val

Our Anniversary Weekend

We both took a little extra time off work last week and escaped to this quaint little town of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho to celebrate our 30th Wedding Anniversary. It's rich in history as for centuries before it was turned into a settlement, the Bannock and Shoshone Indian tribes gathered here to bathe, rest, and worship in the natural, odor-free mineral waters found in this quiet valley. 

In 1911, the State of Idaho began developing the hot springs into what is now a main street of hotels, restaurants and ol' time western bars that greet visitors with a smile and continue to offer fair prices.

We were spoiled from the moment we arrived and truly  enjoyed the inclusiveness of our Anniversary stay.
We were able to schedule mineral soaks, evening dining and enjoy complimentary wine tasting and
 breakfast without ever leaving our Inn.
It was all amazingly relaxing and rejuvenating.

Both private and public hot spring pools and tubs can be found in every hotel and park. 

Seriously, it became "normal" to greet other guests with a quick hello as we passed each other in hallways and common areas bundled up in bathrobes and styling flip flops. Which okay, admittedly felt weird in the beginning, but of course, didn't take us too long to get use to. 

We also enjoyed some out door recreation in-between all those mineral soaks and found 

snow-shoeing to be the perfect way to see the winter landscape.

As we reached the peek of our hike, we were thinking another mineral soak would be perfect just about now! Luckily we had that and a couple's massage scheduled once we returned to the Inn.

So yeah, no machine sewing to share, but thanks goodness for hand sewing on a long drive.

Tomorrow reality sets in and it's back to work, but never the less, we're so grateful to have gotten away to celebrate that which makes the day to day so worthwhile and awesome!

 
PS: Please feel free to comment and share an anniversary celebration of your own.

Thirty Years Ago....

A peek into an old scrapbook reminds hubby and I of our joyful beginning

 as husband and wife thirty years ago today. Thirty years!! 

(No digital photos back in 1989.)

My handmade wedding dress, vowing to be "Together Forever"...we sat and chuckled over breakfast as we flipped in reflection through this old scrapbook. We found ourselves discussing how lucky we feel to have grown-up together, amazed at how much we've accomplished and conquered, grateful that our marriage only grew stronger as we've traveled this so-called journey of life together. 

And oh how I still remember the joy I felt during this very moment pictured below 

as we walked down the isle after our wedding ceremony...as Mr. and Mrs.

And shoot, he can still surprise me with flowers that bring those same tears of joy to my eyes.  

Of all the wishes I had as a little girl, I'm just so very, very grateful that the one of my being married to my very best friend is the one that came true! We've overcome tough hardships including cancer, depression, and most currently Angioedema. We've celebrated as we've built a successful life and  shared the joy of becoming grandparents. I'm just so humbled to be HIS wife. I seriously can do anything with this guy by my side as he makes me the best me I can be. He always makes me smile. He makes me laugh. I'm the lucky one!!

I plan to keep these right on my desk to enjoy as I also relish in everyone's mouth drop 

expression when I answer: "How long have we've been married" . LOL!

When asked how we did it, I share how we started out and continue to be best friends and communication has been key in our marriage over the past thirty years. We're grounded and simple even in these modern times of technology and social media. We continue to have weekly dates and enjoy a simple, drama free life together.  We like, care, listen and support each other. We have fun. We hope to inspire others by our example and I truly thank you for stopping by and sharing in our celebration.

Best of 2018 Linky

I like participating in Cheryl's "Best of" Linky Party as it creates the opportunity and motivation for me to look back and see how my year of blogging and quilting has been. 

 My "word" for 2018 was CREATE. But....in reflection, well, THAT didn't really happen now did it. I find myself wondering, how can so much happen in a year, and yet, so much not. In review, I did finish seven quilts, but if I were to be honest, it was more a year of self growth than creative expression. It's not the details that matter so much, but truly the lessons learned. My lesson being that of acceptance and choosing to move forward and authentically begin to creatively define myself not as a teacher, or even as a mother, but a creative women who's esteem is independent of these outgrown roles. So today, I reflect upon 2018, grateful for my lessons learned but planning to be more authentic in 2019.

#1: My little buddy asking to teach him how to sew.

I cherish my relationship with this little guy and am so grateful for his presence in my life.

As I move forward, I will continue to cherish the fact I am a grandmother and value that I have grown to understand my role as such. I offer my daughter and grands comfort and wisdom. They need that kind of grounding in their busy, busy lives. I offer that. Lucky me.

#2: Hubby and I discovered a new hobby we  really enjoy together. As I move forward, I'm so grateful we found Golf as it challenges us and finds us laughing a lot. But most of all, I've grown to appreciate that the one childhood wish I had, that came true, was that I married my best friend. This man truly completes me. He is so patient, so kind, so wise. He makes me a better me. 2019 will find us selling our home and downsizing and really just having fun within that process. We're excited!

#3: Our Annual Piggy Bank Challenge continues for it's 6th year!

As I move forward, I'm grateful there are still a few others of you that like to save spare change as much as me. I'm grateful that even though I haven't been really "quilty" this year, that you continue to follow and join in on the challenges and linkys I offer. Thank you!

 

#4: Our Eye Spy Swap was a huge success.

Receiving 1,758 views, this was just so much fun! I move forward, valuing the community we have in our blogging world and commit to continuing to be an active part of it.

 This swap lead to...my favorite finishes of the year. They all make me smile as I think about the five energetic boys they were each created and gifted to over the past year.

#5: Career Transition. Retired Quilts and yes, Jackson.
As I move forward, I'm so grateful I had the confidence and opportunity to move into a mentor role at work and thus, start to value the time this has created for me to perhaps expand myself creatively outside of work. Time has been presented as an opportunity to embrace new found freedoms as for the first time in thirty years, I'm truly living without the obligations of children. I'm liking it. And, of course, there's always comfort found in having a loyal companion like my Jackson by my side.

So there you have it: The 5 Best Lessons learned here at Val's Quilting Studio. I want to thank all of you who have become my blogging friends over the past years.  I also want to welcome you if you are new to my ol' spot here in blogland. Please take a look around, and if ya are even a little bit inspired by what ya see, I hope you'll follow too. In the meantime, happy holidays to you all and thank you Cheryl for hosting this party. Click on the picture below to check out everyone participating and celebrating: