A look back at 2011

While I haven't blogged as frequently as I would've liked this year (especially in October and November!), I have tried to post as many quality posts as possible for the year. Last night, I sat down and made a list of blog ideas for 2012 and now the ideas are just pouring out of me....It feels good to be inspired.

In case you are a new reader, or you don't read every post, I wanted to share some of my favorites for the year. Sometimes it is fun to look back at everything that has happened...but this year hasn't really been a fun year....a lot of serious things have happened.

I love blogging about stories. To me, blogging is a much cheaper form of scrapbooking. A place to share stories, along with photos...not just the happy fun things, but the serious, real stories.

Even if nobody reads them, the blog posts are a place for me to record my history and my feelings.

This has been a memorable year. I will never forget some of the life changing things that have happened this year.

Summer of the Storm
Before and After Photos
Ode to the iPhone
Destruction in the Heartland 
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Life
KC+Art-and the Joplin Community Mural-#1 & #2

Fall Memories (good and sad)
Charlie and Me
Sweet Special Granny
A Lifelong Journey Still can't read this without crying
Morgan's English Tea Party Parties and showers are so fun! I love planning special things like this for my friends.
The Smallest Act of Caring
Eagle Bluff

Goals for 2012

This is the time of year when people are looking ahead to the future. Here is a little wish list and goal list for 2012. I am hoping to cross a lot of things off this list! Looks like it is going to be a fun year!

Hipsta at the Marriott!

Way back in November, I got to go to the Missouri State Teacher's Association convention in St. Louis. It was the first time I have ever missed two days of school in a row, so it was a little stressful planning to be gone, but it was a very interesting experience. We stayed at the Mariott in downtown St. Louis.

Even though I was supposed to be paying attention to the meeting, it was my first time...and I didn't recognize any of the people that they were honoring or any of the bi-laws that we were voting to change...I paid attention as much as I could, but I mostly just read my book...

Thursday night I got to go to a St. Louis Blues Hockey game...it was short walk from our hotel. It was super fun. The Marriott was a historic building....it was beautiful. Here are some of my favorite hipstamatic photos of the structure!

Destruction in the Heartland: Part 8.....homage to the memorial built by volunteers

When my aunt sent me this article from the New York Times about Joplin, she suggested that I go find the house and take a few photos. I knew exactly which house the article was referring to and I really wanted to take photos.

I haven't photographed much of the destruction since June...it just hasn't felt right. But this is a really special place. And many of the destroyed places have been rebuilt or are in progress, so things are looking good in Joplin again. It looks like a scene from an art installation, and it feels a little erie wandering through the property. I felt like a trespasser, but amongst all the volunteer signatures, I felt like I was paying homage the memorial, dedicated to the people who spent hours cleaning up our city.

Please read the article above, it tells the story.

 You can see a new home going up beside this one.

With frozen fingers, I juggled my iPhone and my Nikon to snap a few additional photos.  I like some of these even more than the others....a different, edgier feel to the photos...a bit of redundancy, but still very moving.

Thanks for reading.

Merry Christmas

This is a particularly special Christmas for my family. We will be spending our day together in a new home.

After the tornado, my mom's living room was completely destroyed.

It wasn't flattened like many of the apartments in her complex, but she lost all of her furniture and we spent hours going through the debris, collecting things that were special to her.

In the photo above, you can see a  little antique Christmas tree buried with cotton candy insulation and ceiling planks.  It belonged to my great-grandparents. My mom keeps it up all year. When I first climbed into her front door into the war-zone of her living room, I figured the little tree was a gonner....but somehow...it made it. We even saved most of the little colored light bulbs, scattered in the soggy wet carpeting of the living room, mixed with the broken glass of the screen door and splinters of wood.

This Christmas, a friend at school donated a small tree, and another donated some ornaments and now both trees have a special place in mom's living room. Side by side, a few small presents underneath.

The gift I am most excited to give this year is a painting. It used to hang above my mom's couch. (The brand new couch she just got in April, that was soaked and ruined). I painted it high school and even though it probably wouldn't be worthy of a major gallery...it was a special part of my mom's home. After the storm, we found this painting in the back bedroom. It had traveled down the the hall and wrapped around a bedpost. It was dirty and badly warped.

I had the canvas cleaned, re-stretched and re-framed. The only evidence of its damage is a small gash, a battle scar in the middle.

I am really excited to give it to my mom....I hope it makes her new house feel more like her home.

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas everyone!!

Photo Collage Friday {Saturday Christmas Eve Edition}

Some of my favorite photos from around the house. 

I love this time of year. 

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!!