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Archive for the ‘Promoting Friends’ Category

30 Day Drawing Challenge~Day 2: Draw your favorite animal

Posted in Creativity, Drawing Challenge, Just for fun, Marriage, Promoting Friends on August 8, 2012| 3 Comments »

I am a people person, not an animal person. However, there is one animal in particular that I am quite fond of. Of course there is a story there. To read it, click here. 😉

My favorite animal is…

As always, click on the image to enlarge it. It’s not too late to join us!

Email me and I’ll add you to our list. You can do it!

Don’t forget to visit the blogs of my friends who are taking the challenge with me.

Don at Expatriatism

Zoe at Welcome to Zoe’s World

Freebie at Free To Be Too Much

Girl at GirlGeeky

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30 Day Drawing Challenge~Day 1~Draw Yourself

Posted in Creativity, Drawing Challenge, Just for fun, Promoting Friends, tagged , , on August 7, 2012| 5 Comments »

Back in October, my friend Don and I challenged each other to post once a day for a month. Our objectives were to form good habits, practice the writing craft, and hopefully gain a few new followers in the process. We both completed the challenge, but it’s been awhile. Since then, Don and his wife had a baby, and we took on a teenager. We’ve both had plenty of challenges, but we’ve grown lazy about expressing our creativity.

What to do?

Begin another challenge, of course!

Don initiated this one, so it is an art challenge. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the fine print.) This challenge intimidates me. I don’t consider myself an artist in the drawing sense of the word. Give me a lump of clay and a few tools and I can wow you, but paper and pencil? ~sigh~ I’ll do my best!

After a brief discussion, we decided on a few simple rules:

  • The challenge would begin today, on August 7th.
  • The drawings would be scanned or photographed and uploaded to our respective blogs.

So here’s my self-portrait, Niki style. :

I am often found with my nose in a book, so I though this met the requirements just fine. 😉 This was drawn with a #2 pencil on printer paper.

Would you care to join us? We’d love some company. Just let one of us know so we can link to you too!

Be sure to check out Don’s Day 1 drawing on his blog: Expatriatism, and my friend Freebie’s Day 1 drawing on her blog: Free To Be Too Much.

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October’s Post-a-Day Challenge: Mission Accomplished!

Posted in Joy in the Journey, October Challenge, Promoting Friends, Writing on October 31, 2011| 3 Comments »

I did it! I mean WE did it!

My friend Don and I took this challenge together and we both managed to write every day this month. I’d like to think we’ve created new habits and formed new neuro-pathways in our brains that will spur us on to seeing the world from writer’s eyes, compelling us to share our visions with our readers. Not that we’re all about the numbers game, but both of our readerships have increased with our consistency. Fluke? I think not.

There is such satisfaction in seeing this challenge through because I’m not a great finisher. I’m a great starter, but I quickly lose interest and find the next thing to start. For instance, I have a new challenge for November. It’s a weekly challenge rather than a daily one, and I’ll announce it here tomorrow. Gotta keep the momentum going, but for today, I feel a sense of accomplishment and I’m going to bask in that for a while.

Go visit Don’s blog and read his rebuttal (not really) to my 2011 De-cluttering Challenge, and congratulate him on seeing the post-a-day challenge through to the end. I know there were many days that neither of us had the time or energy to blog, but we pushed through anyway.

 

 

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Hobbies Shmobbies, Part 1

Posted in Free to be me, October Challenge, Promoting Friends, thinking things through on October 25, 2011| 5 Comments »

My friend Sarah and I decided we should get together to make some jewelry soon. Her family was robbed this summer and all of her jewelry disappeared. I told her I have lots of jewelry making stuff that I never use because it was a hobby that I took up so Angi and I could enjoy it together…over 5 years ago. Tawnya and I stamped together because that was her thing. My mom and I baked together because that was her thing. I tend to do that, take up hobbies of friends because I enjoy doing the things they enjoy doing – when we’re together. When we’re not, those hobbies lay idle in the top of my closet.

What are MY hobbies? What could I waste spend hours doing ? If I had an afternoon to do whatever I want to do, I wouldn’t choose jewelry making, stamping, baking, scrapbooking, quilting, etc. There is only one thing I can imagine listing as a true and genuine hobby of mine: Reading. I know, you’re not surprised, right? 😉

I like to think that while I’m engaging in my friend’s hobbies with them, I’m not only enjoying their company, I’m also producing something beautiful. But the same is true of reading. Something beautiful is being produced when I’m holding a book in one hand and a cup of Chai in the other: rest, patience, adventure, and more. It’s been such a long day and I can’t keep my eyes open much longer, so I’ll pick up here tomorrow. In the meantime…

 

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What I’m Reading…

Posted in Big Announcements, Books I Love, Promoting Friends on April 11, 2011| 2 Comments »

March blew in like a lion and out like a…lion. Whew! I’m so glad that month is behind me. It’s been awhile, so I have a lot to share. First up, you may have noticed that I didn’t have a March de-cluttering post. With the tax season looming before me, I decided to de-clutter my many Wal-Mart sacks of papers. White trash. Literally. Come on, I know you’re smiling. 😉 So, I’m still working on it and the countdown to April 18th has begun.  AFTER the 18th, I will post the March/April joint effort that is/was my pile of paper clutter. I’ll be so relieved…

I’ve been reading a few new blogs that I think you should check out when you have a minute.

My Denver friend Don and his wife Ami moved to France a few months ago, and he’s blogging about the experience. He’s a writer, artist, Dr. Pepper enthusiast, and one heck of a Spades partner. Visit his blog, “Expatriatism: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Excellent Cheese” at http://donhillson.wordpress.com/

My college friend, Beckie McCord, has been blogging for a while, I just didn’t know about it until recently. Over the past year, Beckie and I have discovered a bazillion things we have in common, and I like her more every time I read her blog or chat with her on Facebook. She’s a passionate, funny lady, and one of my kindred spirit friends. Visit her blog, “Free To Be Too Much” at http://free2b2much.blogspot.com/

Speaking of blogs, did you know you can subscribe to mine over there in the sidebar? It can even be delivered right to your email inbox. You can also subscribe to the SEVENS blog to receive stories and news about our ministry, and my Sex, Love, and Marriage blog, which I haven’t posted on in over a year, but will be resuming in May. That’s my big announcement for the day. More on that later.

The list of books I’m reading has grown considerably over the past week. Allow me to take a moment and express my appreciation for the Denver Public Library. Never mind. That will be tomorrow’s post for Gratituesday. 😉

What I am reading: The Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture by Peggy Orenstein, and God Alone is Enough by Claudia Mair Burney.

What I am reading with the kids: (Max)Ranger’s Apprentice, Book 1: The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan, (Zoe) The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler, and (Pete) 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson.

What I checked out at the library today: Choosing To SEE by Mary Beth Chapman, and Pure Scum:The Left-Out, the Right-Brained, and the Grace of God by Mike Sares, Pastor of Scum of the Earth Church in Denver. (Several of my street friends/former street friends attend that church.)

What the mailman should delivering in the next few days: City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare, and Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived by Rob Bell. (Yeah borders.com!)

That’s  a lot of reading, so I’m starting something new on my blog. It’s called “Niki’s Book Look”. I’ve done book reviews before, but in most cases it was to get a free book from a publisher in exchange for spreading the word about the book/author via my blog. This new thing I’m doing is for books that I am choosing to read on my own and the only thing I’m receiving is a sense of time well spent, relaxation, free entertainment, and the renewing of my mind. With rewards like that, it’s a win-win situation for me.

What are you reading? What books do you think I should add to my 2011 reading list?

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