2011 Word and Resolutions

New Years on the Potomac. It was just us cold and with sparklers but I loved it. I know the kids did too. We get to say we rang in 2011 on the banks of the Potomac looking over at DC. Kind of find that super cool :D

Can you see Josie's face in this? A natural sweet smile! Only because she didn't know she was in the shot ;)
If you look you can see Washington Monument to the left and the State Capitol about the middle.

Reagan Airport. I love this shot.

I am about to babble so I thought I would reel you in with more photos. Suckas!! ;)

One of my favorite bloggers that I have been following for YEARS is Ali Edwards. Adore her. Own all her books. Plan on being her for Halloween ;) Each year she does a One Little Word project.

http://aliedwards.com/2010/12/one-little-word-2011.html

I always come up with a word but forget it by the end of the week. Kind of like resolutions ;) But this year I am determined. Just a slight word that I will try and live by. She said her word chose her and I waited patiently for my magical word to choose me. I had moments of excitement when I thought I had found my sweet little word but the more I would think about it the more I realized the words didn't practically fit into my life. And right now I kind of need to be practical. So I went in pursuit of my word:

Organize (frick it's in my blog title for corn sake!)

to sexy huh? I need to organize our house we are moving in 6 mo. for the 3 rd time in a little over a year. Organize our photos. 17 yrs worth of photos are a hot mess right now and I find that unacceptable. I need to organize and then in 6 months organize again Cameron's therapies and therapists. I am still in a constant struggle to organize my brain for this homeschooling adventure.

But that is the boring part of that word. I want to organize my time better for friends and for me time. It keeps me sane. I want to organize our finances better so we can take cool family adventures in this unbelievably cool area we live in. I want to organize my craft supplies to use what I have and create things that always lift my spirits. I want to reorganize my budget to take workshops as opposed to constantly buying supplies that do eventually collect dust in my house ;) I want to reorganize a grocery list that has been stuck with the same meals over and over and try new foods :D After saying all of this it makes my word 'organize' a bit more exciting for me!! So in a way it is my word to live 2011 by and my Resolution. To live a more organized life!

So bring it on 2011 Kara Davis is about to organize the heck out of you!!!

He is home.

Life just does not seem normal at all when he is not here. I try my best to maintain normalcy for the kids. He was gone for 8 months. No matter what I do to try and make up for it there is no getting around the fact that things are so very very different when he is gone.

But the reality of it is when he comes home there is no perfect home coming. It takes work to acclimate. Right now we are still working on it.

One thing I really want to work on is getting back into the groove of this blog and back into the groove of Snapfish!! Pictures and stories are so important! And if we really do move to England I am going to want to make sure everything we do there is documented and shared properly. So back into the groove I go!!

for me!

Something awfully pretty. That I made just for me. She will be getting a special frame. I made some other pretties. But I can't share. Christmas is coming ;)

Sewing on paper by the way is uber fun. I am addicted ;)

Just when you thought she couldn't get any cooler!

I am sure one wonders if Miss Kara is ever proud of herself when she takes these kind of goofy pictures and there is really only one answer to that. YES!! Seriously I am really only out to entertain myself and if anyone else giggles then that is just icing on the cake!

For my blog loyalists we have discussed the fact that my main military squeeze does not enjoy cooking on the grill. So 15 years later after waiting and waiting for him to just immediately discover the joy of grillin' and chillin' I decided to try. I kept it simple. Marinated chicken breasts, fresh corn, and garlic bread. Veggie stuffed portabella's were roasting in the oven. And well I am not gonna lie to you but it appears I pretty much ROCK!!

At this point and time MR and Mrs lmn-O are standing behind me ;) Mrs lmn-O has known me to long but this is Mr lmn-O first intro to me. Might as well throw the poor guy into the deep end ;)

No wonder Jason hates this. It is so boring!!

I don't think I mind the grillin'!! As long as it's not hot outside!! And living in South Carolina that gives me about 2 weeks a year to grill!

And don't worry Mom I didn't embarrass you to much! ( I always wonder do you ever just blush and not know why!? I am out there doing something loud and annoying I am sure!) Mr and Mrs lmn-O had a great time and a great meal ;)

self discovery

I am 35 years old so it is very rare for me to find out anything new about myself. I had a million places to be today and was running around in and out of places and the last place I was was Lowe's.....

p.s. having to go to more then one store to find a 40 inch round flourescent light bulbs for my laundry room was Mother Stinkin' annoying!!

p.s.s. for future reference if anyone out there has to buy a 40 inch round flourescent light bulb they are NOT at Wal-Mart the ARE at Lowe's ;)

anyway back to self discovery. I am hot, sweaty, tired and done at Lowes and decided to lift my spirits in the garden section. That is when I walked into the big ole Christmas section. And this is when I realized I cannot sweat and look at Christmas decor at the same time. No. It is really pushing my natural boundaries to have Halloween right now but Christmas!?! Not in capris, tank top and a river of sweat going down my back!! It was so UNnatural!! And I love Christmas decor! Come back in Novemeber and find me skipping in the aisles!!

pant pant ok all better :D

Bigger is Better!!

I have to share this blog with you really quick cause after it is posted my sister Kelly will most likely put a hit out on me!! Thank Buddha she is in Illinois cause as far as I know Guido doesn't travel out of the states!! lol

Oh yeah bay-bay who in this picture is representing some serious Aqua Net love!?!?! 1990 and I just don't think I could of gotten it any bigger!!! I tell you what I think today's teenage girls are just lazy! They don't have the dedication like we did back in the day!! And yes you are looking at bright blue eyeshadow, bright blue eyeliner and bright blue mascara all at once!! How does one go about bringing styles back!?!

OK it is just to easy to make fun of the styles of the late 80's early 90's so I will just stop now. BTW my daughters were not int he least bit amused with this picture. More along the lines of confused. Why in the world would I go out in public looking like this!?!

Off to the Market!

Girl's Day!! Of course Brenda coming alone wasn't the original plan. But life took over and she wasn't able to bring her son Taylor. PoohBugLicious ;) That was for you Bren! When she called to tell me it would just be her I knew then I would work it out that we would have a day to ourselves! After massive planning on my part , because obsessing is what I do best!, I thought that it would be cool just to take a stroll around downtown. Believe me with camera in hand you can't be bored strolling through downtown Charleston.

Our first 'official' picture together! In 8 years we have maybe 2 others together! Shameful! We were friends in Utah for 3 years and Alabama for 2 and a half. Embarrassing indeed!


The prettiest girl in all of Alabama I tell ya!! She knows it too ;)

I was emotionally prepared to hit a mess downtown! Summertime alone is a cluster frick down there much less a holiday weekend!! But we were heading down there on Monday so I guess most people were heading home. But when I got on the Interstate the first thing I noticed was the lack of traffic!! And we found a parking spot so fast downtown I seriously got nervous. Something was going to go wrong later!! Oh well great spot let's start struttin' it!! We walked a bit down King Street. Went into a couple of stores. Hated that I didn't have money but then was glad cause it would of all been GONE!!

Then we hit the Market! http://www.charlestonlowcountry.com/specialpages/citymarket.html

A smidgen of history for you!

Then lunch!! To be honest I rarely ever go downtown! I had no idea the best place to eat. All I knew was Brenda doesn't like seafood. Which is kind of a big deal on the coast ;) Since we were on foot I just kind of stopped at the first place we saw. We ate rather fabulous fried potatoes as an appetizer and then of course was way to full for our meal. Normal :D

Back in the Market. Haven't been here since I brought Jeff a year and a half ago. Yeah we never come downtown ;) Such duds.

Here we are 'shopping'! I hate to say it but these shots are set up :D The market is full of artists selling there wares. I know how they feel so I kept my camera tucked away most of the time. I wanted some shots of us enjoying our time here. So we stopped here. Another shout out to Jeff cause this is where he bought Erin's pendants!!

http://sweet-grassbaskets.com/history.htm

Sweet grass baskets are very important down here. I really just can't get into them cause they are a blog into themselves. Take a minute if you can to read the history. Very cool. I took some pictures while upsetting one woman but just kept moving.

Then there was this shot. Straight from the hip so my camera was barely lifted up and no one probably knew. Jason did some Photo Shop work to it so it really brought out the green in the fresh sweet grass!! This picture is so cool to me!!

I mean seriously how can you walk past a Ben & Jerry's without going in!?! I think it is illegal to walk past in some states ;)

It had the cutest little seating area in the back that we rested and chit chatted for awhile.

Brenda is going to be mad at me for posting her picture. But doesn't she look like a advertisement for ice cream loving!?!? I promise I didn't 'catch' her making this face she is posing for me!! :D

We are strolling back to the van now so we can go to the Battery. So many more pictures to take!
I am going to share my other pictures in a 3rd Brenda blog! I don't want to overwhelm people with my Beautiful Brenda!!

Happy Birthday Nao-MiMi!!

Thank God Naomi and I are so photogenic!! And the two of us together!?! Let's just say it is a good thing I have such an expensive camera to capture all the gloriousness ;) Why am I rambling about this? We could go to the opening of an envelope and I would take our picture!! Besides the aforementioned fact we are stunning also because I have so many lost years and lost friends that I have NO pictures with!!! Being that in a normal Military life people come and go with great frequency and I would give anything to go back with my camera and just catch a couple shots of me with my friends. I have loads and loads of pictures of my girls growing up with kids but almost never me. And even though allot of these people are no longer apart of my life now they definitely helped define whom I have become.

But back to the person that is helping define me even more to this day!! So if I end up even more quirkier you only have her to blame!! She turned 32 yesterday!! We had dinner at her house with quite the crew. She offered me a Mimosa and I said YES!! I made her a Key Lime Cheesecake and bought her a Microplane. You just can't properly zest without one!! And I made her paper flowers!!

I had visions of a vase full of these. Like maybe even a dozen!! But then genius here decided to try them out a few hours before the party!! After I mastered the first one which took me 45 minutes! I waddled off to the store to buy her a bud vase. Kind of lowers her expectations ;) I still love them!! She will get more!

Josie was quite excited when we said we were going to Naomi's to celebrate her birthday. She immediately assumed there would be fireworks!! Which I blame on the Buytas's for entertaining her so well in the past. Now she has high standards for any Buytas Party!! And we also explained to Cameron that we were just 'pretending' the cake and candles were for Naomi. We all knew they were really meant for him! He did like he always did and blew out every candle in the house!! But the cake came and went with no fan fare so all Cameron had left was a Off Candle. Which he very kindly sang Happy Birthday to before he blew it out!!

And on this sad pity-thetic Cameron note we headed home!! Thank You Miss Naomi for inviting us and of course thank you for being my friend!!! Happy Birthday!

6 weeks later!

I don't care what Jeff says I am flippin' stunning!! Picture was taken yesterday by Hannah!! I literally sat on the ground on front of Cameron's school. No shame when it comes to the possibility of a good picture of me ;) Why am I sitting on the ground? It smooths out the neck's' ;) Gives the illusion of only having one!!

Well it's been six weeks since my Cervical Disk Surgery! I feel confident and great that it happened. My left hand is usable again. No more 'shakes' that take up my arm. My shoulder and shoulder blade no longer feel like a hot knife has been gently put into them. I still experience pretty bad pain in my spine where the extra bone was placed. He said that would take longer but it sure would of been nice to have a smiley face on the calendar!! I am still very limited to the amount of time I can sit in a kitchen chair or even this desk chair. And by the end of the night I am getting some serious Ben-Gay action going. Menthol sincerely rocks my world!! My neck where the incision was made still aches once in awhile. But what I have noticed the most is what sitting on the couch for almost 2 months will do to a body. I have no energy at all!! I get worn out so very easily. Not that I was a pillar of health when this all started but now I am so much more out of shape!! I would give anything for an indoor pool right about now. I am being weaned off of allot of my meds so my sleep schedule is almost back to normal. That makes a HUGE difference! So hopefully I might be tagging along with Jason when he goes to PT in the morning.....hopefully ;)

BTW Jason found out that he is going back to Iraq in Sept. After taking care of me all these weeks he says he needs to go just to have a vacation!! I was quite the demanding patient. Requiring all that food and water!! Poor Jason!

My official follow up appt. with my Doctor is this Friday. I will let you all know how that goes!!

for my Madre!!

Now that I finally have my Mom reading my blog on a regular basis all I want to do is walk around my house and take random pictures for her!! So here are some pictures for you Mamacita!!

I told you about the beads I sewed on my flower. I love it. I love how it defines the center just a little bit more.

I have majorly messed up two paintings since I did my precious pink flower. One of them I got frustrated enough to throw away. I may regret that later. The second one I just put away. So I was getting mad at myself cause I sat down at my desk wanting to create something specific. You can't always do that. So this time I just started doing stuff. Putting whatever paint I felt like whatever paper and glitter I felt like and used whatever products made me happy. I know it isn't something I can sell and really isn't what I would call my style but it was FUN to make!! And that right there is all that matters!!

I mean seriously how can it NOT be fun to use glitter!?!?!

I notice you can barely read the quote so let me share!!

"I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble. "

Helen Keller

I found it in a magazine and cut it out and glued it on. I love Helen Keller! I have quite a few quotes in my house from her.

What a desk looks like after having 'fun'!!

Always an inspiration!! Fresh flowers in a pretty vase!!

New shoes!! Time to look into my summer ballet flats! Well at least here it is ;) I hear it is still chilly in other parts of the states.


What the inside of Cameron's Art cabinet looks like. He has been wandering around bored today! I was trying to get him to paint but on this very rare occasion he said no!

A $5 dollar sign from Office Max and I am so happy! It made me laugh thinking of it on my bathroom door so I thought 'why not!?! People always ask where the bathroom is so now I have it properly labeled!!



And let us all admire my fire pit. Right now that is about all I can do. It rains off and on right now. And the minute I say I want to use it I can promise you rain :( But never you fear she will be used!!

OK enough of my rambling!! Just thought I would post some goodies cause we had a pretty laid back weekend so nothing interesting is really going on around here!! Tomorrow is my 12 on the 12th!! So I will be back soon!

Reinventing the wheel!

For some odd reason that blog title came to me and I decided to stick with it. When I look at my *new* craft area (no longer will I refer to it as the scrap area) it strikes me how funny it is that rearranging stuff always makes things feel new. I did not buy a darn thing!! But after shaking things up a bit I feel like I have a whole new area!! I have not been inspired to create anything in almost a year. Which is hard for me because it is always in me to be create something. I never stop thinking about it. So to not have the urging to sit down and actually do anything was hard. But since these past weeks when I have been forced to spend many (MANY) hours sitting on my couch right next to my area it forced me to think about what I needed to get my spark back.

One thing that dawned on me was my table was facing the wall. Kind of hard to be inspired facing the wall. So we flipped the dresser and my table. Now I have perfect view of the whole living room and the TV. I can talk to the family and watch the TV. Bring on the Friends DVD sets (hi Brenda!)!!

Another thing that needed help. My POS paper holder. So excited when I got this thing 50% off. But it was not sturdy at all and finally gave out.

Jason had an idea to build me a simple stand. I had the idea to reuse the shelves that was in my old one. And voila!!! Also!! We had just enough paint leftover from doing the dresser two years ago!!

Yeah I am finally working on something!! I have been wanting to play with tissue paper and paint for literally years!! A smidgen to much pearl paint the tissue paper is actually a much brighter pink. But I have never done this before so I shall live and learn.

My (almost) finished product. I want something more. Not sure what it is so I will step away until it comes to me instead of doing something I will regret! I love it and it was SO much fun!!



Another reason I love this set up is we all know Cameron loves to paint. He saw me painting and asked to paint also. I knew I wanted to start a blue base for another painting so I put him to work!! He can paint and I can keep a better eye on him. I just know I am going to end up moving his art cabinet in here!!


And look who else ended up using the table this evening. I am so so happy with this set up!! And Miss Josie B asked me if she could paint a flower tomorrow. This set up is going to be perfect for the whole family!!

Now if only I can guarantee we can keep the table free of clutter ;)

some say that I am quirky

But of all my quirkiness in this blog installment I only have to share 6 of them!! But to know me is to love me and I do believe you will love my quirks!!

1) I just shared this one with a few of you but now it is time to share it with the world!! When I am adjusting the dial on the volume of my TV it HAS to be on even numbers. The same with my thermostat.

2) anyone that has ever had to hold a conversation knows that I frequently stop mid sentence to go on to a unbelievably different subject. Which always leads me into incoherent babbling.

3) Music CDs and DVD's have to be catagorized by A to Z. But books are on the shelf by height. Short to tall.

4) I don't eat cow. Haven't in over 10 years. Not a political reason ;) My tummy does not appreciate the work it takes to digest it.

5) making someone do a straight from the gut kind of laugh is pure heaven to me. Strokes the ego a bit.

6) I am addicted to the lives of presidents. I am not a strongly political person but I love reading biographies on the families of past Presidents!! It is my fluff.

This challenege was given to me by my cousin Laurie!! I am supposed to tag some people of my own to take on the challenge but I don't really have anyone who has taken this bloggging adventure with me. So I shall let you in on some of my quirkiness and if you find it in yourself to leave me a comment share one or two interesting facts about yourselves!!

12 on the 12th

I got this idea in one of my scrapbooking magazines. The scrapbooker had taken 12 pictures on the 12th of each month for of course 12 months. I thought it would translate well into a bloggging idea!! I did take 12 pictures last month but never got them all on here. But I press forward and promise to try and do it every month from now on!! Most of my pictures were taken in the living room cause that is where I have spent the most time these past couple of weeks.

#1 Doggie smooches!! I tried to capture it. These two are smooching all of the time!! But noone out there needs to worry about seeing little black and white Zoe shaped puppies they are both fixed ;)

#2 my men watching TV

#3 Cameron totally ignoring his father!

#4 good now I can finish my TV show

#5 the source of all of my stress!! This is killing me but I can't take care of it yet and I surely don't trust anyone else near it!! I have intentions of getting this area reaaranged in hopes it sparks some creativity in me!

#6 Jason is such a trooper! He went into Starbucks to get my favorite drink!! Venti Chai Frappucino!! I told him I needed one cause it would make my neck feel better ;)

#7 I love this display in my living room!! I just started collecting blue glass. So perfect for my beachy feel. I wish my blue walls showed up better cause the bottles are so pretty up against it. And I took this picture of my girls back in Utah. Right there in our living room. Jason had brought home a light kit and we were playing with it. This picture will forever be up in my house!!



#8 Mission Control. My home for the past couple of weeks. The Princess Pillow Throne. All my cups, magazines, and meds up next to me. Oh yeah even my dinner. Flowers from Naomi still alive!!! I seriously think my bum has made a permanent impression on this poor couch! I have tried to move to other sections but I always come back to this spot.




#9 ooh a sad picture. Miss Josie B finally pushed the last of her Daddy's buttons and she lost her door. I knew the time would come. She will not get it back til Saturday.

#10 darn this picture is a bit dark. But here is my Mommy's graduation picture when she became a nurse close to 20 years ago!! I am still so immensely proud of her!! And next to it is a owl of hers she let me have. As a kid I always remembered her owl collection. She doesn't have them displayed anymore so I asked if I could have one.

#11 My birthday present!! Finally up and framed. We won't go into when my birthday is let's just be happy I finally have this ;) I asked Jason for a picture of him and I when we were 11 yrs old. We were both born and raised in the same area but never met. I seriously believe that at some point and time we had to be in the same place at the same time. I love this picture cause I have always referred to Jason and I as Linus and Sally. My Sweet Babboo!

#12 I went back to Mission Control. I wanted to show everyone my vantage point. What I see as I am laying like a lump on the couch. In all of my glorious lumpness. Cameron got Jason down on the ground and is making him pay for all of the injustices in the world!! He is a very intense little boy :) Can't you tell by the look on his face!?!

I know this is a simple 12 pictures. I didn't wander very far out of the living room but to me it is a testament to what I have been going through anyway!! I hope my cousin Laurie is still doing this adventure with me!! She did it last month. Girl I don't care if your a day or two late!! I can't wait to see your 12 pictures!