twenty thirteen.

happy new year!

i’ve been back-posting for days, and finally feel all caught up! traveling and/or the holidays always set me back in blog posts. when they combine themselves at the same time — it’s a double whammy.

with the new year, and post-holiday zest, i have been cleaning. purging. and simplifying. i have cleared spaces in my mind that feel more capable to take on new opportunities this year. with that said, seejaneblog might be a little quiet this month. it might be a little quieter all year. some of my current-non-blogging projects demand more attention than usual, and i am going to fully commit to them. i promise to share more details later. but, until then, you can find me daily @see_jane on instagram. i have a few posts planned for later this month and february – toy reviews, two original valentine’s ideas to share, one super-affordable {almost free} craft, and i am prepping for my biggest giveaway ever. also! i will be in utah later this month for Alt. Summit, will i see you there?

hoping your year is fabulous.
xo.

p.s. did you watch downton abbey last night? my myla and i stayed up late, snuggled in blankets by the fire to watch. this will likely be our sunday night tradition for the next few months…

Posted in kiana, KJ, myla, new year, sela | No Comments »

365 days…

i was raised in a religion that is goal-happy. and whether this is what influenced me or not while i was growing up, i make goals like some people breathe. really. it’s a natural behavior for me.

i make goals before i wake up of what i want to accomplish by 9am, what needs to be done later that day, what i expect to do this week, this month, this year, etc etc. i think about these goals in my head, i write them on post-it notes, i type them into my phone… i even make goals for the other members of my family. they love that. {myla, you want to make your bed, everyday. really, you do!}

and, i believe in monday mornings. passionately. every seven days you get a fresh start. every twelve months, you get a new year. it’s like this huge blank canvas waiting to be painted with a beautiful story.

can you tell i am thrilled about the upcoming twelve months… 365 days of life waiting to unveil itself.

{our family – last night, nye in nyc!}

a few of my goals for 2012:

I am going to love every second i get with my husband & kids, whether it’s preparing their breakfast, lunches, dinners, driving them to activities, snuggling at bedtime. i’m constantly overwhelmed with gratitude for the beautiful family i’ve been given.

I am going to focus on being healthy. no extreme weight loss plans, just happy to be alive – balance what i eat, enjoy the outdoors & exercise – often. i plan on trying lots of new things.

I plan on creating. all the time. lots of projects are bouncing around in my head. lots of hopes for this lil blog.

I am going to travel with my family & sight-see, and absorb all the world has to offer.

I hope to always be a true & genuine friend.

and that’s it for now. i am going to post more about this later this month. so, stay tuned!

*****

what are YOU going to do this year?

i wish you all great success and hoping you all find what it is that you love doing…and do it!
…you’d be surprised what a little believing in yourself can do.

xoxo.
jane

Posted in goals, husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, new year, new years day, sela | 7 Comments »

goodbye 2011, hello 2012!

this year was a great one! so many amazing memories, experiences and adventures. this post could be incredibly long if i were to name them ALL so instead i will just highlight a few…

{it’s still long so grab your favorite beverage of choice & enjoy…}

i happily turned thirty-five…

…the kiddo’s were sucker’s for valentine’s day!

i made these invitations…

for a very special girl who became a teenager, with a ♥ teen-y ♥ party!

one of my best craft projects of 2011 was definitely the famous-d-i-y-chandelier!

in april, i was totally honored to participate in Justin Hackworth’s 30 Strangers photography exhibit. Especially since it coincided with the year we moved away from my mom. these photos will always be dear to me…

that same month, my typical tuesday was shown here. it might exhaust you!

at the end of april, kj helped me make these:

because he turned 8! {see here.}

…the easter bunny was super-sneaky when it showed up at night! leaving flashlights for an after-dark egg hunt!!!

in early may, we announced our exciting adventure! the rhodes were moving to Boston!!! our home in utah had an offer on it, we sold husband’s hummer for a city car. we sorted, organized, and packed for months as we prepared for a the yard sale of the century, and… took a trip to Boston in search of our future home…

we had many loving, farewell parties to say our good-byes to utah and all of those we love so dearly. here, here, here, here, and here! …one of the biggest farewells was our trip to southern utah. we spent a weekend in zions, enjoying the southern utah beauty before heading east —

days before our big move, we seriously downsized.

thank you, again, to everyone who supported our lemonade – yard sale!

{and then my blog went private. ::boo:: i missed you all, so much!}

in the midst of this chaos, i made our first blog book, and gave it to husband for father’s day – i’m hoping to finish one of these each year.

{and then – i took six weeks off of blogging! ::gasp!:: sorry ’bout that.}

during that long blogging break – we found a painted lady to live in, in the most charming of charming neighborhoods in boston. the home is complete with a tree swing!

we have lots of space for guests, and hope all our family & besties will come visit while we are in new england! {we have NO IDEA how long we’ll stay…}

if you ask big papi, the numero uno highlight of this year, was taking our entire family to a sox game. it was magical.

our little man went to red sox baseball camp – TWICE! he’s already requested to go EVERY week in summer ’12, he makes his papi truly happy by being such a loyal fan.

a total bonus to moving to boston that we never thought about before moving… the BEACHES!

seriously. we had no idea they would be so incredible!

in early october, our baby girl turned 5! it’s crazy that our youngest is not so little anymore. makes me a little sad. {but i also love the freedom of having kids grow-up!} since our move, we are having family birthday parties only for one year. starting with miss five, she requested a homemade barbie cake, an american girl doll, and a fun day centered around her. it was all her heart desired…

one goal of living back east is to travel/sight-see/tour as much as possible! so, our first mini trip was to washington d.c. in october. we had a warm weekend filled with sunshine, monuments, and family. it was perfect! we might go back in the spring for cherry blossoms & georgetown…

boston does halloween right! we headed to salem for the witches festival; we were ghosts & we handed out ghost treats!

continuing into fall in new england, we headed to an apple orchard. because that’s what you do out here, you pick apples! the kiddos loved it, and we made as many recipes as we could with our abundance of apples. also, my apple peeler-corer-slicer just seemed to stay on the kitchen counter 24 hours a day for two weeks. i loved it.

husband had a busy, busy year. he spent 27 weeks traveling for work away from home, the most he has ever been away from us. and, we miss him dearly when he’s gone. because of this, we have a little system where we all take turns going to the philipines with him. it gives us time with him & it helps him be less homesick on a few of his trips.

in November, i went with him & while we were there, we celebrated his birthday with friend in boracay. it was just like the pictures look – beautiful.

our thanksgiving was warm & cozy & our hearts were filled with gratitude as we shared the holiday with friends. and what does one do on thanksgiving in massachusetts? you visit plimoth, of course!

and, to celebrate christmas, we made our annual pilgrimage to mexico. with our dear, dear friends, the blands.

after christmas, myla moosey turned twelve! in proper myla fashion…

an amazing year indeed. heres to making 2012 even better!

for the last few days of the year, we have driven from boston to new york city, for the first time. ten minutes after we pulled into new york city, husband rear-ended a guy, then got a parking ticket. all in an hour! here’s hoping he’s not in jail by the new year!!! ha!

…we will be watching the ball drop right dab in the middle of times square.
it’s all a part of our adventure!

HAPPY NEW YEARS M’DEARS!

what are you doing for new years? watching the ball drop on tv? {look for us!}

…and, come back tomorrow to read all about my plans for 2012!

what are YOU going to do?

xoxo.

Posted in husband, jane, kiana, KJ, myla, new year, new years eve, sela, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

twenty eleven.

i have big big plans for you, twenty eleven…

husband and i were chatting last week, and while he was mentioning goals for 2011 in regards to his company, he mentioned this quote…

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. ~Albert Einstein

these seventeen words sent my mind in a whirlwind.

thrilling excitement.

how often i find myself doing the same thing, over and over and over, and waiting for improvement in so many categories of my life.

how many thousands of situps can i do, and expect my stomach to be flat?

how many times can i remind kj to wear his retainer, yet he still forgets?

how many times can i wish for better relationships but not change my approach to them?

so, as i had almost finished my list of new-year’s-resolutions,
i highlighted the entire list, and hit DELETE.
because, i’d found an entirely new inspiration.

do things differently.

do not go insane.

big things are underway here at the rhodes home,
and while i don’t know where the future will go,
i am going to do my darn-best to apply albert’s theory.
{after all, he seemed like a pretty-smart-guy}

with this new inspiration,
i still have a list of resolutions-
because i am a big-time-list-girl,
new list, slightly tweaked…

with my blog:

• i plan on putting more thought into every post.
• better quality photos. better writing. less posting.
  {this is for me: limiting my time spent blogging… it’s going to be hard!}
• flashback fridays are going to still exist, but may be only once or twice a month.
• i want to meet {virtually} more of my readers. {so, please leave comments!}
• i want to become more familiar with the design-blogging world, to jump-start this i am attending this, next week—i’m SO excited! i started researching all the blogs/speakers who are going to be at the summit, check out heather’s bio, she sounds so entertaining and brilliant! i really can’t wait…
  
• and last, i want to finally turn my blog into a book, it might have to be ten books with how many posts i have, but regardless, this is the year.

with school:

this is an interesting goal, because i was enrolled for this semester, i went to classes for two days, turned in one assignment, then proceeded to drop all my classes for this semester, yesterday… too much life is happening right now to be concerned with projects/homework…

• so, my goal is to be enrolled in classes again, one year from now.
• because of no homework, i want to be designing whenever possible for practice – i’m going to attempt to design at least 2 blog headers a week. if you’re interested, let me know!
• and, just asking: what are your opinions about the new header? like? dislike? miss the stripes? if you are interested in having the stripes on your header/blog, let me know, they’re for sale!

personal/family:

• i want to be in the best shape of my life, at the end of 2011. not just physically. but also emotionally. mentally. spiritually. financially. it’s really time to rock this whole-thirty-five thing.
• here is one you can all help me with, especially my besties, i am helping kiana become a better-hugger this year, by drowning her with hugs. all. the. time. she’ll just love it if everyone is hugging her! so, give the bear a squeeze! give her three squeezes. make sure she reciprocates the squeeze, too!
• stay off my phone, while driving. {meaning: no checking fb, texts, email etc. etc. etc}
• simplify. meaning: less is more. since christmas, i have already taken ten hu-mongo black garbags bags out of this house full of junk. i’ve dropped off bags at thrift stores, re-organized storage… you name it, super-organization is underway around here. and, i am going to apply this in many aspects of our life. with albert’s advice.
• cook. i’ve also home-cooked more in the past two+ weeks than i have in the past year. and i’m loving it – i would like to take cooking classes this year, when offered locally with little commitment. meaning: one hour, two hours, here and there – if you’re interested, let me know and we can do this little adventure together. i’ve been doing my research to find out what is available.
• this year, is the year of home-made gifts. i love giving gifts, and i love making the gifts myself. i just don’t always take the time to do this. i especially want to focus on using graphics in my homemade gifts whether it be paper products, someone wants a new blog design, business card, holidays cards, etc. etc. if you have a request, family/besties, please let me know!
• read. more.

that’s it, for now… more will pop into my head as time goes by…

***

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?”
~Mary Oliver

and one more, in this quote-filled post…

“Never mind searching for who you are.
Search for the person you aspire to be.”
~Robert Brault

Posted in alt. design summit, goals, jane, new year, quotes | 16 Comments »

you shall be missed, 2009.

2009. you were really good to me. thanks for the beautiful memories. you’ll forever be tagged in my head as one of my favorite years yet…..

a few reasons why:

• i went back to college. never realizing till i got there how much a challenging-inspiring, creative-educational outlet was needed in my life.
• had two beautiful family vacations to mazatlan, and cabo, mexico.
• this movie. maybe one of the best films ever!
• got bangs
• sitting by my man for three days of this.
• never-before-seen blossoms showed up on my hindu plant!
• my four kiddo’s celebrated their birthdays with a movie, star wars, princess party {twice}, and a space mission party…i loved planning these little soiree’s!
• one, two, three, four, and FIVE charming weddings we attended this year.
• with insane energy we hosted ten nights of this, friends make my life complete. love love love warm summer nights.
• my summer was oh-so-complete after getting to spend a week in beverly hills with my bearzy.
• i still can’t believe we did this, it literally look my breath away!
• in even more amazement, i can’t believe i went to regina spektor IN CONCERT!

but then there are always the things that had to go in 2009:

• my bangs {recently due to dusty’s continual mentioning of his fondness for my forehead}
• our dear friends moved, please come back!
• much of our stuff. continually on the prowl to keep our home de-cluttered & organized.
• my running shoes. they have been retired to strictly work-out shoes. as much as i’d like to chalk up a 10K or marathon on my ‘have-done’ list, it’s better i accept now that it’s not going to happen!
• kaymen, our dog, was moved from our house to grandma’s house due to his constant old-age pooping in our house. he’s doing much better at grandma’s!
• art history. loved the classes, abhorred the tests!
• black iced-tea at the nordstrom cafe’. was i really the only person ordering it? please come back.

looking forward to 2010 because:

• this little fondness of mine has inspired me to move forward with a few projects. {i will share this with you soon, bloggers!}
• i will learn more about graphic design.
• i am going to drink more water, tap water.
• my hair will get longer, again. maybe healthier, too.
• i have some fun little home makeovers planned, can’t wait to share them with you!
• sugar is delicious, but in the midst of the holidays, i’m tired of feeling blah. can’t wait to be eating healthy again!
• looking forward to going country dancing with some friends, one of these days…
• the winter olympics. go team usa! i get a patriotic high during the olympics and find myself crying during all the ceremonies.
• i am going to rock my budget. really.
• spring & summer will come again.

inside my head, i am off to an excellent start…

2010, come out and show yourself, i’m ready!
happy new year!

Posted in goals, jane, lists, new year | 3 Comments »