Day 243 | August Mail Call

Prompt: Share what you received from Mail Day.

Stephanie | I am loving these cute vintage floral postcards Annetta picked up in Europe. They are so adorable, I want to frame them. Looks like I need to get started on another cross-stitch project with all my new thread she packed into my envelope as well.  

Annetta | Stephanie knows me so well! She made me a beautiful watercolor of flowers that I will put in my studio. I love it when I get her watercolors on mail day, it's such a treat! I also love the little kraft notebook she got me. I have a thing for notebooks. There were also things for my journal that I am excited to use.

Day 242 | Avoid Or Remove

Prompt: What do you need to avoid or remove in order to improve your life? How do they affect you? How would your life improve if you removed them? How could you make it happen?

Stephanie | One thing I need to avoid or limit is facebook. Unless I am actually connecting with friends or family it doesn't serve much of a purpose in my life. The things people post do not add value to my day. It doesn't benefit me to hear about someones bad day or how they are stuck in traffic. Sometimes it is a nice distraction and break in my day, but mostly I am just collecting junk from their news feed.

Annetta | I need to remove the extra work that I have been creating myself. Whenever I clear my plate and have finished my deadlines I have a really hard time sitting back and enjoying being work free. Instead, I find work to pick-up, create new projects that are bigger then I can chew or pitch a new idea to my magazines editors. I need to slow down and just take life in more then I take on work.

Day 241 | First Love

Prompt: Tell me about your first love. Who were they? What did you love about them? How did you feel when you were together? Or tell me what you were expecting from your first love.

Stephanie | I have loved a few people, but it didn't mean anything because I wasn't loved in return. Not truly. My first true love is my husband. I love him and he loves me in return, its honest, respectful, and real love. I don't feel replaceable like I did in past relationships, I was there until something better came along. I don't feel used or taken advantage of. I love that even on my worst days, when I don't say or do nice things, he is still here with me, loving me, all of me. 

Annetta | I married a men who will love me the way that I need to be loved! I say this because one day when I was sitting at church I asked God if I was gonna marry this guy I was crushing on. Instead of a yes or a no I heard, "turn around". So I slowly did as I knew who was in the back of the church. "See that man? He will love you the way that you need to be love." Is what I heard deep down in my heart and I could NOT make those words up because as the time my husband was furthest from my mind. Well, 5+ years later that voice was right!! I LOVE my husband and he is amazing!!

Day 240 | Favorite Holiday

Prompt: Tell me about your favorite holiday/celebration. What do you like about it?

Annetta | I love Christmas and for all it stands for. It was the day Christ was born and is a gift to us all. Its a day my family remembers His birth and spend time with loved ones. We give gifts because we were given the ultimate gift, a savior. It is really a beautiful holiday and season in so many ways!

Stephanie |  I used to love Halloween, and I still do but I have really come to love the 4th of July. Since owning our home, we have put on a BBQ and fireworks show every year. Friends and family come over to celebrate, eat great food, and hang out. 

Day 239 | Expectations and Demands

Prompt: What are some expectations and demands that you have for yourself? Are they fair and realistic?

Annetta | I have many unrealistic expectation of myself, I think we all do. They are both healthy and not all at the same time. My expectations and demands of myself push me to be better, but when not done right they push me to strive. I expect myself to put God first and have quiet time daily while reading a chapter a day from a good book. I expect to be a good, loving and caring wife that's quick to forgive and respect. I expect to be the best mom to my son, one that takes the time to discipline and correct my sons actions when he needs them corrected and love when he needs to be loved. I also expect: -to be a good friend -be a great artist - have a successful business - be a great photographer -have and decorated house -be a designer -blog 3 times a week -shoot in digital as well as film, plus so much more!

Stephanie | I have high expectations for myself. I expect to raise well behaved and respectful children. I expect to home-school my children. I expect to have a happy and successful marriage. I expect to have a clean, organized, and well decorated home. I expect to treat others with respect as I wish them to treat me. I expect to become a good artist and do well in my other creative outlets. I expect myself to do it all, and easily.

Day 238 | August Mail Day

Prompt: Mail things to each other that can be used in the journals.

Stephanie | I made a special trip out today to get fun goodies for Annetta. One item I picked up a while ago at an antique store that made me think of Annetta but the rest was all gathered today. I didn't feel I had anything fun and new to mail off.

Annetta | I made special purchases while in Europe for this mail day. Some I found and some are lost somewhere after a frenzy of cleaning. I hope that I will be able find the other gifts that have gone missing when I eventually meet up with her. Wish I could have given her more, but they are not for the mail.

Day 237 | Do It Over Again

Prompt: If you had to do your life over again, is there anything you would change?

Stephanie | If I had to do my life over again, there isn't anything I would change. Changing something, no matter how big or insignificant changes to whole outcome of my life's path. One little change creates a ripple effect that could lead my life in a completely different direction. 

Annetta | I can understand why someone would 'want' to do their lives all over again, I personally wouldn't. I've learned, years ago, that only I can decide the course my life will take by how I react to life. Life has thrown me some major curve balls, but I choose to enjoy it non-the-less because honestly we can never really do it all over again. I wouldn't change my life and I take responsibility for where it is today. I am happy with it actually.

Day 236 | One Question

Prompt: If you could ask an all knowing higher being of your choice only one questions and they had to answer it, what would you ask them? What would you hope the answer would be?

Stephanie | Will everyone in my family live long, happy, and healthy lives? 

Annetta | I get to ask many life questions, for wisdom and many other things through my relationship with God and Jesus Christ. I don't have the answers to everything because there are just some things we will never know, but this relationship is fulling. I don't walk around with a sense like I'm empty or missing something. I walk around with a purpose and joy in my heart.

Day 235 | Greatest Moments

Prompt: Tell me about one of the greatest moments of your life so far.

Stephanie | I remember being 4 years old and going to an ultrasound appointment with my mom and being so mad, sad, and disappointed to learn that the baby sister I so desperately wanted was to be born a boy. I got over my disappointment and loved my little brother like crazy when he was born. Fast forward to the middle of my sophomore year and I discover my mom is expecting, I was so surprised, we never expected another sibling. I was over the moon to learn I was finally going to have my little sister. At 16, I was planning the baby shower and picking out nursery decor. Being there watching her be born was one of the greatest moments in my life.

Annetta | I remember my great moment in my life was on my wedding day after the ceremony. We had a beautiful wedding, it was very elegant and just the way I wanted it. My husband and I had only dated 2 months before he proposed and were engaged for 6 months before we got married. It's when we got announced as Mr. & Mrs. Bosak as we walked into the reception hall that I will cherish the most. That was the moment where mu husband and I get to spend the rest of our lives together. Our kids will be born and cherished, but they will also leave to have their own families. My husband and I are Mr. & Mrs. Bosak for the rest of our lives, it is really a moment to be cherished!

Day 234 | Turn Mundane Into Beautiful

Prompt: Think of something really mundane and uninteresting to you, now describe in a way that makes it sound breathtakingly beautiful or fascinating.

Stephanie | Mason jar with lemon water: Cold and refreshing, over-sized jar clutched in my hand, light zest of lemon dancing on my tongue. Sweet smell of citrus. This is summer. 

Annetta | Doing the dishes: beautiful dishes getting clean as a fresh breeze blows through the open window by the sink. Window sill lined with greenery next to the dishwasher soap dispenser that came from the cute aisles  of Anthropology. The send of lemon hits your nose as you spritz the counters with your organic cleaner. Kitchen? Done, it is clean and now a place you enjoy your morning cup while listening to the song birds.

Day 233 | Travel Vision Board

Prompt: Fill your journal with pictures of places you want to visit. Find images online or cut out from magazines. Free travel brochures are a good source of images. Fill the pages with the sight you want to see, places you want to relax, etc.

Stephanie | I want to travel to tropical places. Places covered in sandy beaches, warm sun, and towering palm trees. I would love to travel all over the world, but tropical locations will always be my first choice for the destination. 

Annetta | This past trip to Europe I got to see Prague, which has been on my to-see list for some years now. Very happy that I got to see it and experience the place for myself. To me, it is quite different then how others portray it to be. I'd love to explore more of it's unpopulated area's, something I got to do some a little while there. Another place that I would love to explore for weeks is Vienna. I'd actually love to explore the whole country side of Austria as I fell in love with it's rolling hills when we passed through it to get to Italy. Honestly, the only places that are on my travel list is anywhere in Europe and Hawaii for obvious reasons. I'm not interested in other countries to explore, but Europe and Australia, it has something to do with me having to take a jumbo jet to get there.

Day 232 | Cry

Prompt: What makes you cry?

Stephanie | I cry when I don’t feel respected or values, when people walk all over me. I cry when my emotions take over and I feed myself bad and negative thoughts. I cry when I feel like I don’t have control over a situation. I cry when I get frustrated and I cant figure out how to express myself in words.

Annetta | I cry when the frustrations of parenting overwhelm me. It always seems worse than it really is. Parenting has been the most hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. I come to my husband for wisdom and comfort, but he always know what I should do. Of course its hard to receive his wisdom in the moment, but in time I really see how wise he is in so many things. (My paint hadn't had time to dry before it got dark so I didn't write the words down in my journal.)

Oh and this video -------> http://sfglo.be/UQ

Day 231 | When Someone Helped You

Prompt: Tell me about how someone has recently helped you? It could be directly or through a service they created/provided.

Stephanie | I was able to have a date night thanks to my friend’s older daughters. We don’t get to have date nights often (like once a year) because we don’t have sitters. My hubby planned a surprise date night for us and was very sneaky in coordinating sitters. He left work early to drive 45 mins away to pick up the girls. I thought it was odd when I hear him walk in the door early since that was a day he was normally off early from work, he walked into my office with roses in hand and the 2 older girls following behind him, giggling as they just pulled off a great surprise. I was so shocked.

Annetta | Last month I photographed a beautiful wedding. The more I shoot weddings the more I see that a second photographer is needed to capture all the things I have no time for because I'm focusing on the bigger picture. My friend helped me out and despite her full and busy schedule, she made time to photograph the first half of the wedding and the most important. She's also a HUGE help to me in the photography group I am leading here in Seattle. Thank you Michelle from the bottom of my heart!

Day 230 | Don't Know About You

Prompt: What is something most people do not know about you? Is it because they do not ask or because you keep it a secret?

Stephanie | I don’t think I have any secrets. I am an open book. If someone wants to know something about me they just need to ask, I don’t just offer up information randomly.

Annetta | I don't really have secrets as keeping secrets about myself is pretty hard. I'm fairly open about my life as my joys and struggles help others. I guess something people don't really know about me is as a little girl, I didn't have much friends. I spent most of my days playing by myself in the woods behind our apartment. Living with 3 brothers and being the only girls took its toll sometimes, but I would find the peace I need in my kingdom through the woods. I remember my church 'friends' would all go to each others birthday parties, but I was never invited. That part of my childhood was really hard on me and it went well into my teens. I played Barbies with my 10 year old friend while being a Sophomore in high school!

Day 229 | Not So Useful Talents

Prompt: Create a list of your 'not so useful' talents. Such as losing keys, usually being late, best at making a mess, knowing all the words to a cheesy movie, etc.

Stephanie | I am really good at reading emails and messages on my phone and forgetting to reply. I don’t like to write back on my phone but rather on the computer, but by the time I get to the computer the notification is gone and I have forgotten to reply. I am also really good at getting overwhelmed and stressed out. I take on too much and am often being pulled in many different directions.

Annetta | Today's prompt was a little difficult for me. I totally understand un-useful talents as people are quite skilled in the oddest of ways. When it comes to me, I don't own any 'not so useful talents'. What I did manage to come up with isn't really a 'talent', but just something that happens. I get seriously tipsy after drinking only a half glass of wine. When I am at a restaurant I never order a full glass of wine and if I do, it stays half empty. I just can't hold my liquor and am proud of it too. It's also an ongoing dinner joke between my husband and I.

Day 228 | Acts Of Kindness

Prompt: Tell me about one of the kindest things you have ever done.

*both of us, without knowing it, had been in the account saving our work at the same time. this resulted in the post being saved but not published. our apologies!*

Stephanie | One time I went to a store and when we parked I noticed the car next to us had been broken into. We informed the staff at the store and they made an announcement over the loud speaker. We continued on with our shopping. When we were done and went back to the car I noticed the cars owner had returned to find her window broken, she was on the phone with the police or her husband reporting the problem. She had two small girls with her. I knew she should be there a while waiting for the police to arrive. Having had my car broken into, I know how much that can shake you up, how violated you feel. I pulled out some juice and snacks from our car and gave it to the little girls. The last thing that mom needed to worry about was her hungry and cranky children.  

Annetta | I believe that kindness isn't in the big things or acts, but in the little ones that go unnoticed by the world, but touches the heart of whom it was intended for. I remember one day after shopping with my son we got stopped at the grocery store in the parking lot by a young man. He said that it was him and his brother, they were hungry and were looking if anyone had spare change so that they can get some food as they hadn't eaten in days. To me, it never matters if the story is true or not, it matters how my heart will react. Instead of giving these teens money I went right back into the store with them and told them that they can purchase whatever they needed for as long as the food would stay fresh. At first they were modest in their choices, but then ended up with a few days worth of food. Walking away I was happy that I had finances to bless these boys with food in their belly, but so saddened that it took I don't know how many people to get some.

Day 227 | Photo Prompt

Prompt: Share a current adventure with a photograph.

Annetta | My family and I just had a beautiful adventure in Slovakia. We actually just got back yesterday and are still recovering from the time shift. There are so many beautiful things that I can say about our trip, but I hope that the images I'm sharing say it all for me. Our adventure took us to Nitra, Kosice, Prague, Cierny Balog, Kolin, and my favorite city ever Banska Stiavnica. We visited castles and drove through the country side filled with wild flowers. When I dream of an adventure this trip will be what I'll be dreaming of. It was also so good to see my husbands beautiful family and to spend time with my in-laws. I will miss the cafe's, evening walks, beautiful country and day trips.

Stephanie | I took my girls to a local farm called Early Bird Farm to pick blackberries. We have never done any sort of U-pick before so this was new and exciting for us. While at the farm we got to check out the 500 chickens, the many fruit trees, veggies, and the u-pick flowers, my fave. The farmer and owner Rawley was very nice showing us around and talking to us about the farm and how he just recently bought it from a couple who retired and moved to Florida. The girls loves exploring and picking (and sampling) the berries, we plan to go back often.