Inspiring Story of the Week

May 13, 2010 at 9:05 pm | Posted in inspiration, peace | Leave a comment
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So I’m just sitting here at work, on my lunch break, browsing facebook… and I saw someone had posted a link to a short video about a father and son duo who decided to take part in marathons together. Honestly, the video quality sucked and I can do without the religious music in the background, but I teared up so fast you would like someone had wrung a sponge out over my face.  So I decided to hunt for a better video. Better quality, preferably dialogue other than music… and I ended up finding tons of them!

This is the story of Rick and Dick Hoyt.

Rick was born a spastic quadriplegic with cerebral palsy. His father Dick, pushed for Rick to still be strong and have dreams. He wanted Rick to know that regardless of your struggles, you can always accomplish something you push for.  Rick wanted to run marathons, and eventually the Iron Man Triathalon.  For those of you unaware of what this is, the Iron Man Triathalon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run, raced in that order and without a break…..read more HERE.

Dick wanted to make this happen, and together, they accomplished Ricks big dreams. The family faced many trials but came through with so much faith there is no way they could be anything BUT inspiring. And thus, I have decided to blog about them. I have been spending time watching videos and reading stories… and every single one has made me tear up. They have an amazing story and everyone should have a chance to hear it. You will not walk away from that story feeling anything less than inspired and motivated to create and accomplish your own dreams.

This family is proof that there is SOMETHING greater out there. Regardless of what it is, who it is, there simply IS. Here are some links you can visit to see/read more about them and what they have accomplished. Dont forget to bring the tissues. 🙂

Here is their official website:

http://www.teamhoyt.com/index.html

Check out some videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDnrLv6z-mM

Peace & Love

LEEEEEEEEEEEEEECE ❤

Glee!

April 8, 2010 at 6:29 am | Posted in 1 | Leave a comment

GLEE: open delight or pleasure; exultant joy; exultation.  It may sound overly silly, but I am so inspired by this TV show that hasn’t even aired for a full season yet.  So, since this is my first real blog, and in lieu of the upcoming premier on Tuesday, I will let you all in on why (and how) it has inspired me.

Firstly, The Music. The music is wonderful, they are singing these wonderful, catchy songs that everyone already loves, but they are doing it either acapella or accompanied by piano. And it sounds better than the original! When I’m watching, I find myself doing the following : bobbing my head, dancing while sitting down, and sometimes outright singing.  Glee has inspired me to belt it out more often. In the car, In the shower, in my kitchen..all the time. As a society, we are often keeping our “glee” cooped up, too embarrassed to sing out loud or dance like an idiot. And it feels really good to let it out. 

Second, The Drama. Oh my goodness, this show has alot of drama. And alot of diversity within that drama. Everyone is linked to everyone in a different way. It’s amazing. I find myself crying a little at least once an episode. The writers of this show take so many translatable problems and act them out through music, it’s inspiring, and has taught me how therapeutic it is to dedicate songs to people and feelings.

Third, The comedy. I think Glee is supposed to come off as semi-satirical. It is so hilarious to laugh at the mock teenage/pop culture problems that arise. They are just so blunt and open about the things that happen that there is no way it isn’t satire. I lol the whole time. When I’m not crying that is.

Lastly, The message of perseverance. You take these misfits that are only mediocre to begin with, and you watch them push and push and push until they get what they want. Jane Lynch’s charachter Sue, is throwing as many obstacles at them as possible, and each time the rag-tag glee club of McKinley High  manages to persevere. It shows you that you pretty much just have to keep your chin up, keep smiling, and DON’T STOP BELIEVING! (Hold on to that feeeeellliiinngg)

I think that we can all take a page out of Rachel Berry’s glee book and add a gold star each time we sign our name. We have to know that we are going to be stars one day. It may be a far off dream, but if the glee club kids can do it, so can you!

Hope you’ll all be watching!

<3/ Tomi

Random Decision

March 24, 2010 at 4:08 am | Posted in art, inspiration | Leave a comment

I made this decision randomly after playing on shirt.woot.com. I decided that I am going to start submitting my own designs into their weekly derbies. It’s pretty neat. You get a hefty prize for 1st place, plus commission on each shirt sold… adds up pretty quick. But aside the prizes, I am in the process of building a little shop. Getting my designs out there through an already established site is not a half bad idea.

This weeks theme is “Madness”. My shirt submission is titled “The Madness of Cupcake Revenge”. Basically a crazy looking cupcake eating people. There is frosting and there is blood. Missing body parts… but I think it fits the theme. Hopefully my next one won’t have to be as….tragic.

Anyways, I would love for all you readers to visit this link. Check it out. If you have ever purchased a shirt from there, you can log in and vote for my shirt! That would be rad! If not, buy a shirt so you CAN vote!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY CREATION. Please keep in mind the theme…. 🙂

Much love-

Leeeeeeece

Attitude is Altitude

March 20, 2010 at 7:12 am | Posted in inspiration, love, peace | Leave a comment

Does it make you nervous the first time you hold the hand of your crush? The first time your kiddos take a step? Ride a bike? Roller skate?

I love going shoe shopping. Painting my nails. Wearing my engagement ring. Scratching an itch.

It’s handy to wave at people when you are calling them over or just being friendly.

I enjoy clapping until my hands hurt. Jump roping and skipping.

I’m a writer.

Imagine not being able to do any of those things.  Not being able to do pretty much everything you do on a daily basis.

Have you heard of Nick Vujicic? He knows EXACTLY how that is. Nick is a motivational speaker. He was born with NO limbs. As in no legs and no arms. He has had quite the struggle. He has also learned to adapt. Most people do in situations they were born into, but Nick is extraordinary. He is enthusiastic, goal oriented, unashamed, and my inspiration for this blog. Clearly. I watched a little video about him and for a guy who has had it a little harder than most, he has quite the sense of humor. He truly is amazing. Check him out HERE.

Much Love..

LEEEEEEEEEECE ❤

A couple handy links

March 17, 2010 at 2:11 am | Posted in art, inspiration, love | Leave a comment

How many of you LOVE etsy.com? There are so many creative sellers! I love browsing the shops. However, I HATE having to click “next” to move on to the next page and sometimes it can take too long to load. In my opinion, if it’s more than a fraction of a second, it’s simply not fast enough. Not with the bazillions of items to view and drool over. Aside from that, I get so much inspiration from so many of the sellers that I sometimes reek of it. 🙂 I get ansty, fidgety, and suddenly feel the need to create and re-create. So, for all of you who are the same, PicClick released a super rad Etsy browser that pretty much allows for instant gratification. There are results upon results of whatever it is you are searching for. Plus all the handy buttons at the top allow you to pick a category. If you keep scrolling, more results will keep coming until there are no more left to view. It’s AMAZING. And at the top, there is even a little slide bar that lets you choose the size of the images. Start drooling Etsy lovers!

And guess what? There is even a browser for Ebay! It works exactly the same way. I’m not crazy about Ebay myself, but those of you who are will seriously appreciate the Ebay browser. Actually, I think this is the first from PicClick.

So maybe this is not directly a post pointed towards inspiration, but I do find Etsy to be a rather inspiring place to chill. That doesn’t count? Sigh. I just can’t win with you 😉 Even still, you will love being introduced to the new way to browse the most amazing handmade shop location.

Happy Etsy-ing!!

LEEEEECE ❤

I <3 Buttons!!!

March 15, 2010 at 10:00 pm | Posted in inspiration | Leave a comment

I made a decision the other day. My wedding bouquet, and those of my bridesmaids, will be made of buttons! I love buttons. They are adorable in every shape, size, and color. However, I was checking out some prices for vintage ones and I cannot believe the price! I found a site that seemed pretty cheap. But once I picked out only TEN buttons, I had already spent $80!!!! Ridiculous.

So today I am feeling inspired by three things: buttons, vintage, and LOW cost.

Check out all these super cute buttons!!!

In my search for a low cost way of finding some vintage buttons for our bouquets, I found a blog that inspired me to be even more crafty for my upcoming wedding.

Lisa Pace has her own way of making her buttons look fantastic. She basically glues CLEAR buttons to different papers. In this instructional blog post, she uses vintage newspaper, sheet music, and ledger paper as backgrounds. I don’t think I will take that same route, but I will definitely be doing something similar. I can’t wait to post pictures!

I purchased a Sizzix Original after doing loads of research to find something that will make my life easy for the crafting I have ahead of me. Or more like, for the crafting Tomi and I have ahead of us 😉 (thanks of all the help!!!) There were several machines that seemed like smart purchases. The Cricut, for instance. It does absolutely everything. The ultimate lazy crafters tool. And I can’t wait to have one. But for now, I stuck with the Sizzix. It’s small. It’s handy. It does what I need it to do right now. And in the future, I will keep this thing as it seems I can let it have all the small jobs. Once I have my own crafting room that is 🙂

Anyways, I will be using it to cut out felt flowers for my bouquets. The buttons will be stacked in the centers. These are going to be adorable. Check out some examples in the “Photo” tab. I [heart] buttons so much. ❤

As a side note, I have started collecting these lovely little notions. Let me know if you have any you would like me to take off your hands 🙂

Much love-

LEEEEEEECE

Tomi’s Introduction

March 14, 2010 at 7:23 am | Posted in inspiration | Leave a comment

Hey you..yeah you..subscribe!

On a little less bossy note: Im Tomi. If you did your homework and clicked on the “Who We Are” tab you would totally know that.  Im writing this blog with the amazazing Elicea.  This might be  reiteration but I’ll tell you about me anyways. I am a newbie blogger, so I’ll just copycat Elicea’s Intro style.

I’m 21. I’m from Price, Utah. Home of the Utah Raptor. Sadly, that is the only cool thing about Price except me. I am a manic bibliophile and audiophile. I live for books and music. I also on a smaller scale live for movies. Either amazing or overly crappy. I watch the movie Juno at least 5 times a week. I really love any movie featuring ten gallons of fake blood or robots fighting robots. On that topic, do not bash Transformers or I will own your soul.  I love quirky things including, but not limited to bubbles, babies, landscapes, cars, women, men, flowers, clothing, and cooking.  I have an addictive personality, which could be a shortcoming or a blessing however you want to look at it. I can fall in love with something, whether it be a song, a food, a person, or a pair of shoes.  I usually love it so fiercely until it falls apart.

I try to be pretty positive but there are things I need a ‘dislike’ button for: Bad friends, Judgmental people, homophobes, racists, the color yellow, the noises people make when they eat, Kracken from the sea(which is a giant squid for all you landlubbers) , Prehistoric sharks,  and people with bad hygiene.

Well, that’s all I have for now.  We would love feedback! so..on the bossy note again: Leave some!

Elicea’s Introduction

March 12, 2010 at 1:17 am | Posted in art, inspiration, love, paint, peace | Leave a comment

Hello! First let me say, if you are reading this, don’t forget to subscribe. 🙂 There is an email subscription icon on the right side. Enter your address and you will be lucky enough to receive an email notification every time we post! I’m so jealous of you that I might even subscribe myself…

Anyhow, my name is Elicea. Almost everyone calls me Leece, so feel free to do so. If you checked out the “who we are” tab, then you already know a little bit about me. I’m going to tell you a little more anyways. I know you are so excited!

I’m just a 24 year old girl living in Utah. Go ahead. Ask if I’m Mormon. I suppose you can say I am. I was “saved” when I was 10 years old. Here I am, 14 years later and I dont remember the last time I stepped into a church. I drink very very socially. Like once a year, if that. I do not smoke. I use profanities more than I would like and am currently working to resolve that. I can be judgmental, hypocritical, and mean. But when that happens I try to correct it. I am a lover of many things, including my wonderful fiance, new pets, bright and over-used colors, mis-matched furniture, simple art, interesting books, most things metaphysical, sweet treats, anything crafty, the smell of tomatoes, super hot bubble baths, buttons, and egg cartons.

When it comes to the things I just cant stand, there aren’t many to list. But please keep in mind those things bother me to the point that I feel like punching throats. The things that bring out such violence in me are: loud snapping, Otis snoring, Tim & Eric, flakiness, cleaning up legos, carrying anything at all…. If I think of more I’ll update this.

I am crazy obsessed with love and everything about it. After all, it is an umbrella emotion 🙂

Lately one of the most inspiring things to me have been egg cartons. There are about a buh-jillion things you can do with them and I plan on utilizing them for pretty much all of those things in more. What are these amazing things I can make from egg cartons? Well, that I cannot tell you. Of course, you can always look it up…. but you will get no word from me until I have started completed said items.

In ending, I want to say I am so excited to be doing this blog with my amazing friend Tomi. She is one rad sista.

Check out one of my favorite photos EVER!!!

Peace, love, and all things inspiring –

LEEEEEECE

PS – dont forget to check out the other tabs. Go to “YOU!!” and tell us a little about yourself!

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