thursday night thoughts.

**

*  I watched the season finale of "Flipping Out" (on Bravo) and cried hysterically for over 30 minutes.  That hasn't happened since I saw Gran Torino.  I think sometimes you really just need a good cry.

*  There are some new things on my horizon that I am really excited about.  I have really been looking for another creative outlet and I'm super happy to have found one.

*  Amelia pulled herself up last night on her baby gate, then stood there for about 25 minutes squealing, and laughing and being so proud of herself.  She is so big.  I no longer have a baby, I have big girl.

*  Today I went through my Bloglovin' reader and deleted over 50 blogs.  It's sad to say but a lot of the blogs that I loved at one time feel like they are only full of sponsored posts and product reviews and nothing relevant to me anymore.  Don't get me wrong, I am super happy for them and the fact that they are making crazy money off of their blog and getting free goods, but I miss reading the "real" stuff.

*  We went to Bass Pro Shop last night to get Amelia's photo taken with Santa.  It's free and the set-up is way prettier than the one at the mall that costs $40 to do.  It was cute and I love that I have this photo of her first Santa.  She wore the sweetest vintage red velvet dress.  

*  I have absolutely no idea what I am getting anyone for Christmas.  I have no ideas at all.  I even created one of those Secret boards on Pinterest, haven't pinned a single thing to it.

*  Did you know that Paul McCartney wrote "Blackbird" when he heard about all of the crazy things happening with the Civil Rights movement here in the United States in the 60's.  "I wrote it in the '60s, when the civil rights movement was at its height," he said. "I liked to think of a blackbird as being a kind of symbol for a black woman."

When he told us about it at the concert, it made my heart swell with love for this man. Now every time I hear the song, I feel a whole new meaning behind it and I cry every time.  If you know me, you know I would have been a total civil rights activist in the 60's.  It's something I am super passionate about.

*  Did you see the moon tonight?  Oh my goodness.

Alright, I need to get back to  a little project over here.  I just needed to get some thoughts out of my head, and onto my computer screen :)

Thank you!

xo

janel

as of late.

1.  I am still doing Project Life, and loving it tremendously, but I can't share my pages with you right now.  They will come though :)

2.  Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day!! Yay!!

This is one of the first years I have actually been home for the holiday.  Adam and I got married on a cruise during the week of St. Patrick's Day, three years ago, so we were actually in Belize on the 17th and then for 3 straight years prior to that I was on mission trips to Reynosa, Mexico.  The year before that, I went on a trip to Louisianna and Mississippi to help out with the Hurricane Katrina Relief.  

3.  Adam's parents are in town!! Yay!!  They are spending the weekend in St. Louis with us and we could not be more excited.  We love them so much and are so blessed to have this time with them.

4.  It has been in the 90's this week.  It's crazy and I am totally ok with that.

5.  I started sewing a pillow case dollhouse this week.  I need to take photos.

6.  The Hunger Games is coming out next week!!!!!!! Oh my golly!!!

7.  Also, Mad Men comes back next week.

8.  This week has been so lovely.  Adam and I have taken lots of walks, read a lot of books and sung a lot of goofy songs together. It is so nice being off together.

9.  School is seriously almost over for the year.  I can't believe it at all.  It seems like April and May just zoom by and I can't wait for the summer.  Can.not.wait.

10.  Next month, I am offering free ad spaces in honor of my 32nd birthday!!!  I will accept ads until the end of this weekend so if you are interested, email me :)

love you!

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

lately...

1.  this week is parent/teacher conferences so I have been working 13 hour days.

2.  we are off Friday and Monday which makes a four day weekend!

3.  My classroom is full of clay dust from all of the clay projects we have been cranking out here.

4.  You all have helped us raise almost $5,000 to help us bring home Amelia :)  You are amazing and our hearts are so full.  thank you thank you thank you.

5.  We have had two amazing baby showers this past week and they were beyond amazing (I still have to blog about one of them)

6.  I have been writing thank you notes whenever I have a free minute and my hand hurts :)

7.  All of the clothes, sheets, blankets, wraps, swaddlers, towels and washcloths have been washed and folded and put away.

8.  Everything for baby finally has a place thanks to Adam's "nesting" stage :)

9.  We are all waiting and praying and watching our phones like crazy over here.

10.  God is seriously so so good!!!

11.  so are you :)

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

snow

Last night (or early morning) marked our very first snow of the year.  It's technically the first "real" snow of the season.  Man how I was hoping for a snow day :)  It all worked out. 

Also,  your comments on my last post were SO encouraging and helpful and they all made me smile too.  Thank you so much!

Anyway, this week has been really nice so far.  

This week has consisted of:

* project life (obsessed)

* reading

*  painting spoons

*  sewing curtains

*  cutting quilt squares

* organizing books

* snuggling chihuahuas

*  teaching about Charley Harper

*  clay projects with fifth graders

*  stuffy noses

* lots of kleenex

*  The Bachelor

*  Project Runway Allstars (tonight)

*  the cutting down of my FAVORITE tree :(

*  and wonderful conversations with friends

Praise God for it all.

Alright I need to make food and get ready for Project Runway Allstars!!  Does anyone else feel like it's just not the same without Tim Gunn?  

Goodnight!

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

today...

**

1. I made a cute photo to put into our Christmas cards this year with Instagrams.  

2.  I like the "love" stamps more than the "Holiday" stamps this year.

3.  Presents are all wrapped and taking over our living room (we have all of my parent's presents at our house too)

4.  Baby fever is consuming all of my thoughts.

5.  We took a  little re-upholstery hiatus until the foam went on sale at JoAnn's and I will hopefully be finishing up the chair this weekend :)

6. Our quilt that we made with Faith Ringgold is hanging at a local gallery and I got to see it finished yesterday.

It's Wednesday!  I get to hang with my sister tonight.  

life is good :)

xo

janel

P.S. Don't forget to vote :) All it takes it two little clicks.

5 things...

(image)

1.  So, I am kind of obsessed with bread tabs :)  I somehow find them very aesthetically pleasing and I have been collecting them for awhile now.  It was cool to find that I wasn't the only crazy one out there collecting plastic bread tabs. 

So if you want to start saving yours and then send them my way, I would be very much appreciative :)

2.  Mike Perry has notebooks in the school supply section at Target! I am very excited about this.

3.  Next weekend we are having an open house for our condo and I am crossing every finger I have that someone wants to buy it.  I just want a house, like yesterday.

4.  I am going to Massachusetts in about three weeks with a day trip to NYC.  I have been all over the place in my life but I have never been to New York City.  What are some things that I MUST see while I am there??  We are going to see Wicked on Broadway but that is our only scheduled thing so far.  I am so excited!!

5.  I love having a blog.  I know that I sound like a broken record but seriously, I am so thankful for all of the people who I have met (online and in person) through this blog.  You all are amazing.  It blows me away.  Your comments and emails seriously mean so much to me.  So again, thank you :)

I have been working outside all day and I am bushed!  So now I am off to draw in my new Mike Perry notebook, read some Sherlock Holmes, and then...to bed.

night loves.

xo

janel

hello saturday...

(image)

As some of you know, I have been selling some things at an antique mall near my house, with my mom.  I did this for the sole purpose of saving up my money for a new laptop.  A laptop, that is running amazingly, is something that a blogger/etsy shop owner/online class teacher needs to have.  

Many things came into play

*  antique mall savings

*  phones and laptop trade-ins to Best Buy

*  my husband saving his bonus this month (love him)

And now my friends, I am typing to you on my new laptop!!  Eeek.  I am so excited :)

I haven't been able to do a file transfer yet, so I have nothing on this computer but I am loooooving it.

Another thing I am loving right now...

The 108 people who have signed in for this years, 30 Day Journal Challenge!!!

I seriously can not wait for June 1!

Not too mention the fact that June 1 is also my last day of teaching this school year.  Which is another thing that I love right now :)

Have a great Saturday loves.

xo

janel

currently...

**

1.  glad it's the weekend

2.  getting ready to start reading Mockingjay

3.  wishing it wasn't my student teacher's last day :(

4.  out of my favorite pens 

5.  having a great time journaling daily

6. excited about the STL mid-century modern home tour tomorrow 

7.  wondering why somethings in life are moving backwards instead of forwards.

8. ready to be a mom

9.  ready to sell our condo

10.  counting down the days until the last day of school

what is currently going on in your life?

xo

janel

happy may day.

Why hello there May!

Is it just me or has life just completely flown by?

May means that school is seriously over, so so soon.

I can not believe it.

This year, "May Day" will be for:

1.  getting some new tennis shoes (sneakers?, trainers?, what do you call them?)

2.  Playing with my new phone!

3.  lunch out with my honey

4.  antique malls

5.  working on my journal pages for, Ink Blots

6.  being outside 

7. chinese food for dinner.

Sounds like a great day to me.

My question for you is...

"What is May Day really supposed to be for?"

seriously, I have no idea.

All I know is that I would seriously like to see a May Pole somewhere.

Have fun!

ox

janel

31.

(image)

31 is such a random age right?

31 is going to be a great year.

31 is going to be a BIG year.

31 is going to be an exciting year.

31 is one more year until 32!!

Happy Birthday to me <3

xo

janel

Spring Cleaning

Today was absolutely beautiful, it was very "spring-ish."

We opened the windows and spent four hours doing a deep spring cleaning in the condo.

We literally got rid of soooo much stuff.  I can see a garage sale in our near future for sure :)

We cleaned everything and it feels so great!

A clean house can make such a difference!

Would you like to see...

The Living Room

"The Loo"

The Kitchen

The Studio

The Bedroom

I also did a little bit of cleaning and decorating in our little mini house too :)  Here is a peak at the studio and the living room of my little modern dollhouse.  I still don't have a lot of furniture or decor for the dollhouse but I do love what I have acquired so far.

So yeah, our house is so clean!

I am really enjoying it.

I have to do some painting in my studio, it needs to be a more neutral color for selling and showing and I am ok with that because I am ready for a change in there.

Is anyone looking to buy an adorable condo in St. Louis??

Have a wonderful weekend friends!

xo

janel

The Handwriting Game...

I absolutely love handwriting, and pretty much everything that goes along with it.  My dad and I write letters back and forth to each other weekly and we try and really make our handwriting look fancy with our fountain pens.  Handwriting is just beautiful, it's an art.  Courtney posted this great "Handwriting Game" post over at her blog, and I decided to follow suite :) There was a list of questions to answer in your handwriting and I have also typed them out below with my answers!  Enjoy!

1. What is your name?

Janel MacLean

2. What is your blog URL?

http://iheartrunwithscissors.com

3. Write "The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog"

4. Write Your Favorite Quote

"I think everybody should like everybody" -Andy Warhol

5. What is your favorite song?

My favorite song seriously changes almost daily.

6. What is your favorite music right now?

Right now I like rap, Christian, and old school Rock :)

7. Is there anything else you would like to add about your handwriting?

I went from loving my handwriting all through middle school and high school to hating it in college.  My writing was wicked sloppy in college from taking so many notes in classes.  Through journaling, and letter writing, I have been able to slow down and make my handwriting look nice again.  Usually it starts out really pretty and gets sloppier as I progress with whatever I am writing :)  I still love it though.  I even made a font of my own handwriting!!

Now you know what my real writing looks like :)  If you decide to do a post like this (and you totally should) link me up so I can check it out!!  I would LOVE to see what your handwriting looks like.

xo

janel

30 before 31: checking in

In less than a month, I will be turning 31.  Unreal.

Since it's getting really close, I decided it was time to check in on my goal list for the year and see what I still have to accomplish.

I am pretty sure that I will be able to finish all but two.

I'm super bummed about not finishing them all but I did get to accomplish some pretty rad things this year!

Here is my little check in!

I only have like 8 more days to go on that last devotional!

I have painted two more since I scanned this photo in and I will definitely finish the rest by my birthday.

I have purchased the Yudu (which is a super easy way to screen print) and am creating a  screen as we speak.

The third quilt top is done but I am still embroidering names on it BUT I will make it a priority to finish it before my b-day.

My one hope for this is that I can drive to Kansas City maybe over Spring Break to see one of his homes.  I've already been to all of the ones around here.

This is one of those goals that probably isn't going to be finished :(  The photographer who was supposed to be doing this never got back to me so I am bummed.  I want to do something with painting on my dress or embroidering onto it or something artsy.  

I've started doing this with on of Danielle Thompson's online kits but I am not motivated to work on this.  We shall see :)

Adam got sick the night of the concert that we were supposed to go to so we didn't go. We are going to a show on April 16th and even though it's after my b-day by a week, Im still going to count it :)

sooooooo close!

That is it, and I am soooo confident that I will be able to finish *most* of these before April 5th.

xo

janel