Not a hugger

Have you ever had one of those moments, an event actually, where you experience something completely and totally amazing and you want to share about it with everyone but when you sit down nothing coherent comes out?  All of your thoughts are crashing about, fighting to be the first in line.  And you’re just left saying things like…..

“It was awesome!  It was just so awesome!  Really, really, really….. just awesome!”
(I was told this weekend that “awesome” was an abused descriptive word and that we shouldn’t use it anymore.)

Coming away from the Arkansas Women Bloggers University Conference was like that for me.

I cannot sum up what this weekend means to me other than it has almost done the impossible….. It has made me open to the idea of hugging.  If you know me.  If you really and truly know me then you know that the phrase “touchy-feely” is not at the top of my list of characteristics.  Honestly it’s not even on the list.  Not even in the ink in the pen that might write the list.  But each year these women–this group of creative, supportive, beautiful, funny women make me open to the idea of a hug.  At least for the weekend “hugging” is on my list.

A list that also includes:

Laughing loudly

This was accomplished on many occasions by myself and others much to the detriment of those around us including but not limited to one would be Tevya from Fiddler on the Roof.

Dancing Spontaneously

The lobby music at the Embassy Suites Northwest Arkansas was just so wiggle worthy!

Occasional outbursts of childish abandonment

When you give a room full of bloggers and endless supply of rubber bands in all shapes and sizes, there is no way that seriousness can hold any ground.

But the biggest lesson that AWBU teaches me is that I am not an island.  As much as I want to be the hermit curmudgeon living in the woods, this community pulls me in like a tractor beam.  And I am powerless to fight it.  Nor do I really want to.

Dang it!

Here we go again: Arkansas Women Bloggers University

I’m excited!

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It’s time for Arkansas Women Bloggers University!

Follow all the fun as the Arkansas Women Bloggers descend on Rogers, Arkansas for an exciting weekend of community, classes, and crazy fun!

Check out my post with the hashtag #AWBU on my Instagram & Twitter accounts.

I’m going early for the Taste Arkansas sponsored Foodie Friday event “The Abundant Bounty of Arkansas” so you better believe there will be some good eats!

I am also joining in the Handmade Marketplace again this year.

Crocheted dishcloth

So I am frantically making completely prepared with all my crafty creations. (Confession: I may have just crocheted a cover for a coffee tin. It’s possible that this train just went off the rails)

A stitch in time

I spent the evening before school starting working through a well stacked pile of mending.  Let’s just say I didn’t stitch most of them up in time and didn’t save 9.

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Obviously these were both repairs for the female side of the family.  I love being able to pull out my stash of old lace and crocheted doilies to fix and item both practically and beautifully.  I imagine myself as Ma Ingles from the Little House books working away in the lamp light.  Pay no attention the HGTV or BBCAmerica episodes droning in the back ground.

Back to school prayer bookmarks

***If you will go to my current website you will find an updated version of the bookmarks.http://www.jeanettadarley.com/back-to-school-prayer-bookmarks/

I spend a lot of time working up little graphic design things for the church I work at.  These were my latest creations and I thought that I would share them.  We can all use some prayer on the first day back to school (and through out the year).  Students & teachers alike.  Just tuck these into your planner, pin it to your bulletin board or tape it to the inside of your locker.

Student Prayer Bookmark

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Click here for the pdf printable version. Student Prayer Bookmark

Teacher Prayer Bookmark

Teacher bookmark front

Click here for the pdf printable version. Teacher Prayer Bookmark

Have an awesome year!

Into the great wide open

The unknown is a big ball of irony.  It can be scary and exciting and freeing and vomit inducing all at the same time.

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Kind of like flying.

The unknown usually encompasses a great deal of change.  If it didn’t it would probably cease being known as “the unknown”.

Change never fails to make me panic on some level.  Even when I am the one pushing for it.  I like my habits and routines and the familiar.  And it seems that the deeper those ruts are worn the scarier it is to climb out.  But as much as I despise change, I have a lot of faith that things will work out.  It may not be anything I thought would happen and I usually come away with a freeing feeling that I don’t have to have all the answers or an agenda or a 10 year plan.  Sometimes those plans close us up and keep us from being open to what God has for us.