Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

Source: anthropologie.com via tico♥tina on Pinterest

why are we talking about Anthropologie today? well, because the founding member of the IRLO Mashup Team Garden, Nina, of the French Series is weighing in on her dream today. and I love it!

(how awesome is it that Nina carried the theme of the card into her picture!)

So I had this dream ever since I could remember:to become a fashion designer. A good one. Then life took its twists and turns and little by little this passion faded away. I realized the world of fashion could be too hectic for me and perhaps not exactly what I need. In fact I used to be such an hyper active person, always running about, working a lot, doing, creating, juggling everything, going crazy. I came to France and the first year I did NOTHING. It was so hard to do nothing! Then my petite princesse came and I did “nothing” again for another year, professionally speaking. Now I find myself at the verge of two worlds where I need to, I have to do something, yet not get as hectic as before, I could not follow that pace anymore. My dream transformed itself into one of having a boutique, but not just a fashion boutique since I discovered so many other passions: photography, painting, interior design, papercards, writing etc. Do you know the Anthropologie store? I want one like that, on a smaller scale perhaps. It’s a place where I would go to detend, enjoy, enjoy and enjoy, everything. I started a logo, a name, a concept. All I have to do is start to work on it! I even started blogging to motivate myself…

I can’t wait to see Nina’s store, how about you??? let’s support her in her new adventure!

her IRLO Mashup profile is here.

don’t forget to check out our pinterest board to see new members when they are added!

I thought while I was waiting for the fairies to show up I would come on here and tell you about my to do list. I promise that it will make your day at least 2% more interesting.

1. we are on a quest towards minimalism. it is freakishly harder to get there than I wish it was. as in, time consuming! I wanted to make a “30 days to” but I don’t want it to take that long!!! it is, however, sort of inevitable I think. the sleeping room probably has another day of optimization left. and meanwhile, we live in quite non-optimal surroundings… (we haven’t yet even started on the other 4 rooms)

2. I NEEEEEEEEEEEEED to organize, sort, delete, systemize all of our files, pictures, videos…………………………….. because we really can’t keep just buying another external hard drive every time we run out of room. and I’m battling all of my drives trying to be in the red zone right now. UUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

3. I need to track down whatever happened to the picture scanner we bought while in Costa Rica. it wasn’t here when we arrived. soooooo where is it? do YOU have it?!

4. we have various client projects to follow up on. nothing horribly urgent, thank goodness, but all there in my head adding weight. and oh yeah, have to set up two in-person meetings. those always take more time…!

5. we really need to finish our Kaleidoscope site makeover because the portfolio section which already needed to be updated lost all but one picture for each project in the transfer. #headache

6. we need to finish sorting out the details of our self-service sites for Kaleidoscope (Premium Webspots)

7. we need to keep working on our Beauty of One site because it’s currently too confusing and etc. etc. I need to go through all the work that Krista has started and refine it and put it up on the site.

7.a I have a TON of pictures/textures/etc. that need to be sorted and uploaded for stock photography, etc. hopefully develop a little side income there…

8. I need to order new sets of BlankCanvas cards. but I hate ordering, so maybe I could bribe Krista into doing that for me… hmmm.

9. I need to order t-shirts.

10. I need to know where the money is going to come from for above said ordering.

11. speaking of money, we ended up having to get an extension for our taxes because things were just too crazy right around the time that we had procrastinated up until and so yeah, we still have to do those. #timesimnotsureifdeathwouldntbeabetteroption

12. I need to update our Beauty of One social media

13. I need to do at least 10 things for the project related to the trip we are hoping to go on this summer. I need to blog about that also. because I hate when people are vague as much as you probably do.

14. I need to make a very last minute flyer for our church’s youth pastor woohoo! did that in a half an hour

15. I need to make more IRLO Mashup updates and schedule at least 3 more introduction posts = time consuming.

16. I need to figure out what we are having for supper because we need to go grocery shopping. I don’t remotely want to go anywhere today.

17. there is yard work that is being completely ignored. because we can only do so much.

18. there are about 15 things on my church secretary to do list.

19. I want to make a bunch of updates on THIS site.

20. I really want to be the kind of friend who celebrates people on their birthday and checks in with people during the week and all of that. but I can’t right now and it kills me! I recently missed even wishing my friend, Althea, a happy birthday, and that makes me sad. it wasn’t that I didn’t think of her around her birthday, it was just that things happened.

21. obviously there are lots of things we should be doing with our kids. Maeve needs to learn to read better. you know, simple, basic things that are kind of important for success in life.

well. that is a small picture of why I am feeling stressed out today. there are easily 10 more things that I want to do and lots of ways the above things could be broken down into lots of little things. everything just takes so. much. longer. thank it should take!

YES we want to simplify our lives, but getting to the simple is an annoyingly long process! and of course there’s always that whole money factor in there. can’t forget that.

having a huge to do list is just rather paralyzing. I regularly pray that if the work we are doing is not in line with what God has for us that he would show us and direct us in the right way. I feel like he is doing that, but it is scary and we have no idea what it ultimately looks like, so we just keep bumbling along one day at a time. sometimes I think he lets us get pushed to the breaking point so that we will be ready for the next thing that he has for us. we’re there, God, we’re there!

I just want to do this again!

ANYway, we’ve been LOVING the creativity you guys have been putting into your pictures for the IRLO Mashup! YOU are what makes this such a fun process. I regret that I haven’t been able to be as active in visiting all of your blogs and doing more faster as I had very much HOPED, but that is for another post titled “Blogging #FAIL!” (which I’ve been wanting to write for a while now…) (and I feel like Kelly from Houtz House Party with all my capitalized words today! hehe)

we all have a lot on our plates and we do what we can, right? hopefully we can all extend grace to each other in the light of that, too (in this case, me, lol)

I have been super impressed with Katlyn of the Dreamy Meadow and her initiative and networking ability. she kinda came outta nowhere and made a big splash, hey? but she’s not afraid to reach out to people, and that’s a quality I’m attracted to! she’s done an awesome job rallying her team. we didn’t even originally intend for people to have to make their whole team themselves, but Katlyn saw that it seemed to be easier to get people on board that way and took initiative. LOVE initiative! Team Mr. Hottie has their own facebook group for team spirit and communication, guys… yep, that’s what I would have done and they are seriously killing it with social media building initiatives – have you checked out the blog angels program yet? good stuff!

the team named after Mr. D is not the only one of interest this week, either. Team Menagerie/Playground almost had an arrest on their hands when Brooke from Covered in Grace tried to take some apparently illegal pictures…???

Dood. I almost got in so much trouble taking my IRLO photo. Police man made me delete all the pics! @HoutzHouseParty @fontenotfour

— Covered in Grace (@CoveredinGrace) May 16, 2012

yeah, I really want to know WHAT this is about, too
let’s stalk her blog until she posts the story, k?

we’ve got some great characters in this race, people. makes me laugh!

ok, on to part of what you’ve been waiting to find out. I mean, we mainly want to emphasize the fun and networking aspect of this race, but what would it be without a little incentive? not that bragging rights aren’t sorta cool… so, some of the other things up for grabs include:

(sorry, the frame is not included with the print and the shirt won’t look exactly like that, since they’re not printed yet, but I’m pretty sure the cards will be a new batch from some of our Costa Rica adventures!)

AND

something from the shop of our very own, the lovely,
Mariah of Thee Fire Wife, mud running beauty queen

one of her ahmahzing bags! {clickety-click the pic to visit her shop!}

and this is the part where I let you know that anyone is welcome to sponsor part of this big prize giveaway!

prize sponsors for teams (that means 10 of the same prize, since teams have 10 people) will get dedicated posts to introduce their product, blog, or site, as well as a code for a free medium (or large rotating) ad here on our site and your info listed on a prize sponsor page. of course we’ll personally follow and help promote you also.

obviously this sounds a little daunting at first, providing TEN prizes?!
but if you really think about it, it’s pretty doable.

what we would suggest is that ad space, shop credits, small digital gift cards to places like Amazon or Target (so you don’t have the shipping cost), etc. are great options that add value to the prize pool and don’t break your bank in the meantime. you could even go together with another blog or shop and each pay in a little bit to share the cost as well as the spotlight. do you pick up what I’m laying down?

don’t forget there is also the individual creativity prize,
so individual items are welcome as well!
individual prize sponsors will be part of a group post and we’ll also follow and help promote you, obviously!

I don’t know, this is all a bit of an experiment and you guys are some very lucky guinea pigs woot!
(so feel free to make a suggestion if you’re feeling smart and stuff)

above all, we are very much enjoying getting to know everyone, so thank you!!!

don’t forget to go check out the IRLO Mashup info page to see the map updated every week!

I first caught the travel bug when I was seeing Mexico for the first time at the age of 12. it was only 2 weeks of my short life, but I felt like I could have lived there forever.

several years later as I traveled through Guam, the Phillippines, the Micronesian Islands, Hong Kong, and China on an exploratory trip with my dad the bug burrowed its way deep into my heart. as a 15 and then 16 year old girl living in the “small” (population, 600,000) town of Fuxin in the Liaoning province of China, I knew that I wanted to someday be able to return there with my future husband. (which we got to do for our first anniversary and he loved it!)

I’ve just met Rosie of Craftbotic who is the second member of the IRLO Mashup (the what?) Team Mr. Hottie, and she is from the UK, which is another place that would be quite awesome to add to my roster of travels someday!

Rosie grew up as a tomboy but she now understands the more traditional girlish dream of marrying her prince charming

Most girls dream about their wedding from when they have been read those first fairy stories….I never really dwelled on the idea. I didn’t play with dolls or put on my mum’s clothes. I liked playing in mud and with my brother’s Thundercat toys! 25 years later and I’m not married, but really hope to be one day and more specifically to my gorgeous boyfriend. We have a few obstacles in our way: living in different countries being the biggest. So my absolute dream is to live in Germany with my boyfriend, to find a job teaching in an International School and speak fluent German so I can make friends and talk to his family properly. Then I want babies, lots of his babies….ooo and I want to be able to bake like his mum, travel the world and keep learning everyday. It’s a good job I believe that dreams come true and know that when it eventually happens, it will be treasured that little bit more than if it had all been given to me on a plate. So keep your fingers crossed for me. Rosie xx

I know how hard it is to be separated from your love by many, many miles, and I am excited for when Rosie will be able to make this dream come true!

go check out her IRLO Mashup profile here!

we’re in the middle of a HUGE house mess from some sorting and rearranging we are doing, but I’m hoping to start getting some prize info up on Wednesday! keep the creativity coming, guys!

we certainly have hope that someday we will be able to afford lasik, but until then we are blind without contacts or glasses.

there are a few things that drive me batty about glasses, probably the most annoying of which being that I can’t just go directly from wearing them into contacts without having a dizzy indent in my nose from where the glasses used to be!!! I have to plan my day thinking how long before we’re going somewhere that I will need to put in my contacts if I don’t want to wear my glasses. LAME.

another thing that is frustrating is trying to figure out which eyeglasses actually look good on me, let alone staying remotely in style. (unfortunately that ship has sailed and I’m not that fond of swimming) but I always love when I can try glasses on virtually!

I was recently introduced to GlassesUSA.com and they have one of the better systems I’ve seen; it’s called the Virtual Mirror. I decided to help Mr. D try out some glasses. he doesn’t know about it until this is posted, so I’m sure he’ll be super impressed with my choices for him, LOL

how sweet is it that you can try glasses on right here on our site?!

]]> http://www.ticoandtina.com/hey-four-eyes-im-talking-to-you/feed/ 11 http://www.ticoandtina.com/to-those-whose-hearts-walk-around-outside-their-bodies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=to-those-whose-hearts-walk-around-outside-their-bodies http://www.ticoandtina.com/to-those-whose-hearts-walk-around-outside-their-bodies/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 03:28:29 +0000 ticotina http://www.ticoandtina.com/?p=2875

Source: 123stitch.com via Jodi on Pinterest

this quote is so oddly true…

I think every year I appreciate my mom more. it’s not that I didn’t appreciate her before, but as I see how she relates to Mr. D and our kids, us as a family unit, me as a mom, I just can’t believe how blessed I am to have her. soooooo many people don’t have the awesome balance of support and hands off approach that my mom gives us. much more common to the general population is lack of support, judgment, and/or overbearing control. and I am so thankful to say that I have the opposite of all of that in my mom.

I think part of it is that she prays. a lot. and she leaves it to God.

I don’t think she can ever realize the impact she has on me/us just by the way that she lives her life. it’s weird to say, but I’ve seen her grow and change so much in the last 10 years, and I can honestly say that I couldn’t find one thing about her that I would change (except maybe sometimes being a little too nice to some people, lol).

I can remember when she was a much more afraid person. a much more worried, harried person. a much more controlling person. a more moody person.

she is none of those now. she gives me hope that God can do all of those works in me also. she just makes you feel good when you’re with her, and I don’t think there is a better compliment than that. our kids are so blessed to have her in their lives!

thank you, Mom, for being the person that God made you to be, and not being content with any less!

to my children, I pray that I can be the mom that you need. I’m so very sorry for the times I have inadvertently made you feel like you were a bother. you are not. you are my life. I couldn’t possibly be more blessed than I am to have you! you make my life SO much more full than I could have ever imagined. I love you!

I don’t know how I could have possibly lucked out so much in the mom department! my mother-in-law is also not only supportive, but is not controlling or judgmental, either. thank you so much, Mayela, for being the example and encouragement you have been to David growing up and for the way you pray for and help our family now, and for loving our kids so much, too

thank you, God, for giving me this amazing husband and beautiful children that bless me with the title of mother.

do you have a mental “someday” list of dreams?

is it filed away in the deep recesses of your mind or do you keep it in the forefront?

maybe you haven’t allowed yourself to even create a mental someday list… maybe you are afraid of getting your hopes up about something that may never happen.

I want to challenge you to let yourself sit down and dream.
what is in your heart?

we believe that we were all created for a reason and that what we do in this life has eternal significance. we believe that we are most fulfilled and effective when we are doing what we were created to do. but I think we often get lost on the journey to our understanding of what that is.

the everyday decisions we make are either detours or catalysts to our purpose.

does that sound a little nerve wracking to anyone else or is it just me?
but…

I HAVE GOOD NEWS!

the difference between whether what you are doing now is a detour or a catalyst to your dream is totally up to you.

your focus and attitude about your situation is the difference between whether you are stuck in a rut or moving forward.

I haven’t gotten to know the second IRLO Mashup member of Team Laundromat too well yet, but I like Lena of Mom2MemphisAndRuby already! she is choosing to do what she can do now to work toward her dream, while maintaining a great attitude about it!

here’s what she has to say:

My dream is to become a photographer. It is a something I do now for fun… and even though I’ve always loved to take pictures, over the years it’s become so.much.more. With a full-time day job, a home to manage & 2 little kids with various extracurriculars… I find it nearly impossible to do anything for myself! Bummer, right? No! I have recently signed up for another photography course to help me learn this skill! It can’t hurt, right? To figure out the ins & outs of my new camera is a challenge, but one which undoubtedly will have a great impact of my dream of someday becoming a respected photographer. You know… I don’t even need to do it as “my job.” I just want to do it, and be amazing at it! I love taking photos of children, and totally random still-life! One extreme to the next! Ha! I will find my “niche” one day, and until then I will photograph, I will practice, I will learn. It will happen! I just know it!

how awesome is Lena’s way of living in her current life situation???! no room for defeatist mentalities here! I also love how she has a flexible mindset, leaving room for her dream to grow and evolve. she’s the perfect example of what we believe it takes to live a life of adventure!

go check out Lena’s IRLO Mashup profile here!

did you see the map yet? I think we’ll try to update it once a week or so. FUN!

sometimes you get a really cute, very tall blogging friend

Alyx of Everyday is a New Adventure seriously cracks me up, and I’m sure you won’t be sorry if you get to know her, too! I’m happy to have her in the IRLO Mashup race and so far the Taxi Team is really setting a high bar for creativity! Check it:

please do note that these pictures are pretty open ended and we really love to see your creativity coming out in thinking outside the box! the card and at least part of your face needs to be in the picture so that we know you actually had it in your possession, so Alyx’s picture fits these requirements in a creative and humorous way (follow the IRLO Mashup board on Pinterest to see when each new creative profile is posted! you can also see some other creative uses of the cards on this Pinterest board – send us your pictures!)

Alyx answered part b. of the bonus question, “Tell us what adventure means to you, in your life. Are you living a life of adventure? How or how not? What is holding you back?”

To me, adventure just means taking risks – taking chances. If you have a dream, you go for it. I’d have to say that, yeah, I’m living a life of adventure right now. I’m living in a foreign country with my husband, thousands of miles away from friends and family. There’s something new each day, and that’s what I live for – the chance to treat each day as a new adventure. Right now, the only thing holding me back from more adventure (aka all the traveling I want to do) is probably money. Life’s expensive, yo!

you’ve got that right, Alyx! traveling and enjoying different cultures is something close to our hearts also. we’re making plans for a possible traveling adventure this summer and it feels like a huge risk…! we’re hoping to tell you all about it soon

in the meantime, check out Alyx’s IRLO Mashup profile here!

and feast your eyes on this fun map I asked Krista to make so that we can chart the BlankCanvas™ card travels!

Mr. D is currently formatting a spreadsheet to track all the points from you crazies, and we want to start talking about PRIZES next week when we are back home! you guys are seriously ROCKING IT!!!

I definitely appreciated the online support that I had when Mr. D and I were getting our parenting feet wet. we chose to do quite a few things differently than our “real life” circles.

one of those things was my breastfeeding of our children for 23 months and 17 months (because our son was just “done” earlier) instead of the 12 or less that was common among my friends. initially I didn’t really want to talk about it because I felt they would think I was weird and different in yet one more way. I had no question about what I was doing, just didn’t feel the need to discuss or justify it to anyone.

Jamie has a series on her blog called “Clever Cleavage” where she lets others share their breastfeeding stories, and back in January she posted my experience there. (you can’t currently access the site because the huge amount of traffic crashed it for a bit, but her button is there on my sidebar) while some of my views differ a bit in practice from Jamie’s, I really appreciate and VERY much agree with her way of looking at things.

There seems to be a war going on between conventional parenting and attachment parenting, and that’s what I want to avoid. I want everyone to be encouraging. We’re not on opposing teams. We all need to be encouraging to each other, and I don’t think we’re doing a very good job at that.

this quote is from her recent interview for Time magazine [read more]

Jamie’s mother breastfed her until she self-weaned at 6, so it is no surprise that Jamie herself is still nursing her 3 year old. I don’t feel like I would personally aim to breastfeed that long, but like I said in my interview on her blog,

I also thought it would be weird to have a child walking around, talking, and also breastfeeding. What I discovered was that since babies don’t start running or spouting full sentences overnight, it is a gradual thing that doesn’t add any weirdness to breastfeeding. I can’t speak for beyond two years, but I would imagine if you keep going it’s the same concept.

I really don’t think I could be part of a controversial Time cover like Jamie and her son Aram were this week, but it was a choice on Time’s part to create a buzz, and buzz there is! I actually addressed my views on this type of thing in my interview as well.

I just think a boob is a boob, regardless of it’s current function, and that means you don’t really get to decide how others will view it. Last I checked we weren’t living in the Garden of Eden anymore, so everyone can tell when you’re naked

I do think, though, that the mothers who go about the act of breastfeeding with the obviously abrasive attitude that they have something to prove to the world by letting their boob hang out for unsuspecting passersby to see, are merely doing a disservice to their fellow breastfeeding mothers, particularly those who choose to be more modest. These abrasive kinds of mothers are those who would hold the glance of a passerby as if to say “yeah, my boob’s hanging out, it’s natural – see, I have a baby to prove it, whatcha gonna do about it, huh?!”

but Jamie had no such look about her, she stayed true to her real life self – humbly passionate about something she believes in. and humility is something I can always applaud.

I don’t know what will have the greatest impact on the US’ view of breastfeeding, but I answered the question “What is your view of breastfeeding in public?” with this:

Here is a thought, maybe trying to force public breastfeeding on the over-sexed culture that is the United States is attacking the problem from the wrong side… I believe many women are sending mixed messages by allowing themselves to be objectified through what they wear and participating in ads, movies, and pornography. We tell men “look at my boobs!” with certain cuts of shirt one minute and the next, “you pervert!” for being uncomfortable with breastfeeding. What if we started standing against all of that with the realization that it would help to return some of the respect that is due to our bodies and our breasts. I would like to see us attack the real underlying problem and not just one of the symptoms of that problem.

whatever the case may be, I want to stand in support of Jamie for challenging the less than supportive view of breastfeeding that much of the US has developed over the years. and even more importantly, thanks for maintaining an attitude of grace for all mothers as we each do what we believe is best for our kids based on what we have learned and who we are at the moment, Jamie!

I’ll hang out with almost anyone, but if you’ll take funny pictures with me then you definitely score major points. conversely, if you don’t have the time of day for funny pictures, I will likely find you a little stuffy but if I can make fun of how stuffy you are then you’ll probably gain back a point.

see how this works yet?

ok, so in honor of turning 30 the other day last year I got Rhonda to take some pictures with me in honor of teenage girls everywhere. we intended to take more, but we ended up not having much time. I actually discovered later that I forgot to post one of them, but I can’t find it at the moment so I’ll have to get it up at some later date.

in any case, the idea is to try to get inside the mind of a teenage girl for these sorts of pictures, but sometimes our maturity just shines through…

I was actually channeling my inner mannequin for this one. how creepy are these?!

and obviously these are our fairy faces.

and finally, we got our men to join us. Mr D. said “I’m eating my cupcake”

do YOU take funny pictures? I’d obviously like to laugh at you, so send me a link!