Dear Mom...I Miss You

Dear Mom,

I still remember last year's Mother's Day like it was yesterday...event though we didn't get to spend it together, I remember going shopping for your gifts and mailing it to you. I was at Macy's, in the kitchen section, and saw two things that fit you perfectly...a plastic deviled-egg tray case (your deviled eggs were the best I've EVER had, I'm not sure how I'll ever make them as good as you) and a spray bottle for EVOO (I still remember the 1st time you told me about how much you loved Rachel Ray and how she called Extra Virgin Olive Oil = EVOO). I remember you calling and telling me that you absolutely loved both and couldn't wait to use them...and I remember seeing both of them at the house when I came to visit shortly after that, proudly on display. :)

And now, this day, just a year later, is acutely painful and harder than I would have ever imagined. I want you to know, today of all day's, that you were the best mother a girl could every dream of having! I'm not sure that I ever said it enough or emphasized it enough...but my appreciation, love and respect for you is larger than life itself and grows more and more every single day. I will spend the rest of my life honoring you and all that you did for everyone while you were here with us. Thank you for loving me unconditionally, it was something that came so easily for you - and know that on this day, and every day you are loved and missed.

Love,
Kristin

A beautiful, Amy Cornwell necklace that I ordered for my sister and me, in memory of our mom.

When I got back into blogging and posting regularly, I promised myself that I would be more personal and post from my heart. All of the blogs that I follow, that I truly love, are ones in which the blogger is vulnerable, is honest with his/her readers, and doesn't necessarily always post about all of the positive things that are going on in life. We're all human, we have good days and bad days...and we should be able to talk about the bad days just as much as all the good!

This past winter, my mother passed away. She was 58, too young, and it was fairly sudden. We were very close, she was one of my very best friends. I've been more at peace with it lately, knowing that it must have been her time, that she had fulfilled her purpose here on Earth, that she's in good hands, and that she'll always be with me. But unfortunately, days like these will never be the same again. Not a second goes by that I don't feel her absence in my life, but a good friend of hers who I keep in touch with, told me the other day (as I told him how hard I knew today was going to be) that EVERY day is Mother's Day. And I couldn't agree more...I try to live every day in honor of my Mom, hoping to make her proud and living the life she would want for me. I have good days and bad days...and I'm okay with that. She is my mother, she's no longer here, and that hurts. But whether we like it or not, life doesn't stop for anything and we have to pick up and learn how to keep them in our hearts as we continue through life. So I'm learning and will continue to celebrate every day as Mother's Day for my mom.

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I want to wish all of the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day. I am not a mom yet, but I know from watching on the sidelines, that it is NOT an easy job. One day a year does not reflect the recognition that mother's should get for all that they do. So I encourage you to treat every day as if it was Mother's Day. 

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Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted ~ Matthew 5:4 

@Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop - Shoes

Today...

Maggie @Gussy Sews has been traveling with Compassion International in Tanzania this past week, getting to experience the work that Compassion does and the direct effect that sponsorships have on the children living there. Not only has she been experiencing this amazing, and inspiring trip...but she and her other fellow bloggers have been blogging the entire time! Giving us at home a chance to "tag along" on some of their adventures, see some of the things that they're seeing, and feel what they're feeling along the way.

I was amazed though, because not only has Maggie been blogging about her trip, she also (1) updated her Gussy Sews store with new products, AND (2) posted a new Inspiration Workshop post! That took some dedication & major planning on her part. :)

This is my 1st time linking up with Maggie's Inspiration Workshop (a once a month link-up party, in which Maggie presents a prompt that is meant to inspire, connect and encourage creativity among the blogging community). This post's prompt is...SHOES!

And...go!

So my mind shot in a few different directions...I could use my handy-dandy Pinterest to showcase my favorite pairs of shoes out there (Lord knows, I pin so many)...I could take pictures of me wearing my favorite pairs of shoes that I own...I could talk about my TOMS ballet flats & April's One Day Without event  that I participated in (but I've already talked about it here and here)...and then I had it.

I wanted to talk about dance. Dance shoes to be exact!

These are all pairs of dance shoes that I used to wear when I was younger: soft pink ballet shoes, tap shoes, & (probably, my favorite) red-dyed toe shoes

I started taking dance classes back when I was 4 years old and didn't really stop until I was about 21. It was my LIFE! I lived and breathed dance 24/7 when I was young...I'm pretty sure my Mom had a hard time getting me to go out of the house wearing any other shoes than my dance shoes. I took classes throughout high school, while also dancing on the school's dance team. When I moved away for college, I danced with the college team for awhile and taught at a local studio...but school got in the way, life got in the way, and now it's something that I look back on with such great memories...it goes without saying that I desperately miss it! You can still occasionally find me dancing in the kitchen :), but that's about it. One thing's for sure...it will always be a part of who I am. 

I think I talked about this in my quilt post, but this past fall, my parents moved out of the house that my siblings and I grew up in. I had to go through all of my stuff that I still had stored there, leading me to find all of my old dance shoes...it was like 'taking a trip down memory lane' and I'm so thankful that I've held onto them all of these years.

I remember dying many pairs of toe shoes (red, blue, black), just so that they'd match my costume at the time. And I remember begging and begging my Mom for those tap shoes in the middle...they look like jazz shoes, but they have taps on the bottom. They were definitely the cool thing to have, back in the day!! :)

These shoes, whether kept in a closet or hung on a wall somewhere eventually, will always represent long hours of practicing my heart out, fun times had with so many good friends, and doing something that I love and that made me extremely happy <3

 I threw them on, just for kicks...please don't criticize my turnout, it has been awhile!

Thanks for hosting this awesome Inspiration Workshop Maggie! 

You got me to put on some old shoes that were just begging me to dance around in!! :P

Favorite Movies as a Kid

Okay, so this is kind of a silly post, but I thought some of you out there might relate or at least get a good laugh out of how ridiculous I am!! Well, my sister and I to be exact. She lives in Seattle and I live in Charlotte...I know, right?! Could we live any further apart?? We don't get to see each other very often, but when we are together, reminiscing and taking 'trips down memory lane' is a must. And when we think back to when we were kids, we always talk about how we were movie junkies!! Our mom was always finding movies for us, that at the time, we thought were the BEST movies EVER! So fast forward about 15 years and I started buying these movies one by one...luckily you can find almost anything on DVD these days. If it's out there somewhere, I'll track it down! It may seem super silly to own all of these movies, but for us it's enjoying a piece of our childhood as we watch them. We laugh, because honestly these are not very good movies...they're cheesy, there's bad acting, and sometimes there's not even much of a plot.
But that's part of what makes them SO good!! :P

Part of me buys them for me, I mean I usually just watch them once...but occasionally, if I'm having a bad day, I indulge again. I think another reason I buy them is to have them around for when we have kids eventually - introduce them to some of the movies my sister and I used to watch.

A Far Off Place ~ A League of Their Own ~ Adventures in Babysitting ~ Double Feature: The Babysitters Club & Troop Beverly Hills ~ Big Girls Don't Cry...They Get Even ~ Buffy the Vampire Slayer ~ Bye Bye Love ~ Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead ~ Fern Gully ~ Flight of the Navigator ~ Girls Just Want to Have Fun ~ The Goonies ~ Hocus Pocus (mostly just watched at Halloween) ~ Labyrinth ~ Might Ducks I, II, & III ~ Mannequin ~ My Father the Hero ~ The Neverending Story ~ Newsies ~ Teen Witch ~ The Wizard ~ The Worst Witch



Just for Christmas: All I Want for Christmas ~ Home Alone 1 & 2 ~ Prancer ~ The Christmas Toy

There are still a few on my to-get list...

The New Adventures Pippi Longstocking ~ My Girl 1 & 2 ~ Willow ~ The Witches ~ Little Monsters ~ Mac & Me ~ The Boy Who Could Fly ~ Little Giants ~ Harry and the Hendersons

Did any of you used to watch these movies?? Can you relate? What was your favorite one?