for goodness' sake, Miriam!

Miriam is, hands down, one of my most favorite people in the universe. Check out her goodness. Just in time for Valentine's. 

 Bowl of conversation hearts. I love always having a bowl of something colorful and happy on my counter top.

My new Valentine's nail polish. LOVE.

Cactus in Arizona. So fierce and yet so beautiful. 

for goodness' sake, Zina!

I've finally decided to call this little project "for goodness' sake!" The word "lovely" is terribly overused, don't you think? 

I loved Zina's pictures and text which, kinda works out well because I l.o.v.e. Zina. 

Enjoy.

Some paper white bulbs I grew inside that bloomed right before Christmas. They just amaze me how they fulfill the measure of their creation like it's no big deal to be a gorgeous, incredible smelling, elegant flower that sparkles. 

A sunrise I witnessed after spending the night in a parking lot in a ghost town in the middle-of-nowhere Utah desert. I love sunrises and I love abandoned buildings...put them together! Bingo. And that happens every morning whether I'm there to see it or not. So great. 

Last weekend I was snowshoeing in the mountains and came across these little undisturbed bunny tracks laced with shadows in the late afternoon. Nature is a continual dazzle of simple, unnoticed beauty to me. I feel like I could look forever and never stop being marveled.

I bet you l.o.v.e. Miss Zina now, too, huh? She's a keeper, that Zi. 

Thanks to everyone who's sending in their goodness! I hope they brighten your spirits like they do mine. 

Keep checking back because we've got more coming up!

kylee found some goodness!

It has been so fun finding little spots of goodness pop up in my email!

I'm actually loving the descriptions people are pairing with their pictures almost a little bit more than the actual images themselves- gasp! Did I just say that? Ok, well maybe the words and the pictures are equal in happiness. 

First, we have some goodness from Kylee:

Colored pencils. A seemingly common drawing tool but the ordinary things in life can often be the prettiest.

  I took this picture while biking across the golden gate bridge. I particularly love this one because of the simplicity of it. Just a small part of such a large bridge is truly so pretty.

 There is this antique shop I'm pretty much in love with and when I saw these old books, I knew I had to take a picture. Pretty words with pretty covers.

See how fun that was? So come and play! 

Email your own little lovelies:

cuposammyjo [at] aol [dot] com

a call for little lovelies

I don't know about you, but sometimes the smallest details can strike me as surprisingly unique and beautiful. Maybe it's the artist in me. Maybe it's my sensitive spirit. Either way, today, as I was sitting in my parent's office, I happened to notice a few little scenes worthy of being captured. 

(1: pretty rugs, 2: Archie pup with his baby, 3: one of my dad's paintings)

Don't ya think little snapshots of happiness, loveliness, and easily unnoticed beauty deserve some air time? I for sure do. So here's what I'm thinking: send me your own photos of happy details and I'll post them here on my blog for all to see! Let's honor the goodness, I say! 

Who's with me?

email: cuposammyjo [at] aol [dot] com

So I bought Chas some new shirts for his Bday...

 And what's the first thing you do when you get new clothes??? Fashion show photo shoot. Duh. 

I do have a few things I like to say about this photo shoot. 

First, we may have a had a little too much fun taking these pictures. I mean, how could either of us have known that Chas would be such a natural in front of the camera, so aware of his body and the space around him? All I did was hold up my iPhone camera and this boy went straight to work.

Secondly, we (I) may have had a little too much fun taking these pictures.

And finally...

Holy Hannah my husband is smokin' hot! Jeeze louise.

And now, without further ado...

First off, we have a nice blue V-neck tee. 

Perfect for everyone's inner hipster.

Next up is this light gray henley. 

That shot on the left was Chas' amazing response to "smolder!"

And here's what we get when we layer the henley with the v-neck. 

Ok, can we please just have a moment of silence for the picture on the right??? What the heck!? Probably only the best looking picture of anyone I've ever seen in my life. Did I tell you I'm married to him?

Let's finish things up with a nice, army-inspired baby blue button-up.

And lest we take ourselves too seriously...

Sorry, Daybook, you've got nothin' on this ish.

Happy Birthday, Chas!

 

Top 27 reasons to love Chas: 

1. Biggest, bluest eyes

2. He's a gentle giant

3. Homeboy can edit a mean film (and by "mean," I mean quite happy and inspirational)

4. Giggles when I hug him

5. Giggles when I kiss him

6. Giggles in his sleep

7. Gives me twirling hugs

8. Rides scootie everywhere in warm weather

9. He's not a tight wad or a crazy spender (perfect balance)

10. He's always optimistic

11. He never whines or complains

12. He's patient when I'm whiny, complaining, or negative

13. The man has a healthy appreciation for good style

14. He is always serving me

15. Righteous priesthood holder to the core

16. Has a sweet, sensitive spirit

17. Seriously never gets defensive

18. Rocks the seersuckas like no one else can

19. Loves his Yankees (and is forgiving when I don't)

20. Supports me in every way (including working so hard to help pay off my grad school loans)

21. He comes from the most amazing family

22. If you're quiet enough, you can hear all his still, small jokes

23. Lately, he gives me a little full-body massage almost every single morning and/or night (I don't even have to ask...seriously)

24. He makes me Italian food

25. He speaks fluent Italian

26. He has a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ

27. Just look at that face! How could you not love him!?

Liza did an amazing birthday tribute post for Chas. We're talkin' baby pics, people. You won't wanna miss it. 

YEAR ONE

Sunday was our happy, happy, happy, happy, happy 1-year anniversary! 

First of all, I still refuse to believe we've been married for a whole 12 months. Only the fastest year of my life. So crazy. Crazy like our crazy love for each other. Friday night we had dinner at the fancy schmancy restaurant we ate at our first day as a married couple. And, just like last year, I ate so much that I spent the rest of the evening pretty much nauseated. I love when I do that to myself. But sometimes so much good food is worth the belly ache afterward. This was one of those times. 

I'm sure you all already know this but I love saying it soooo...

this has been the happiest year of my life! And not just because marriage is great, because it is. But this kind of joy comes from love of self and love of Chas.

Here's to our first year together AND 

to day 1 of year 2!

 engagement pic

 Linds' amazing cakes made just for us!

 outside the Draper, UT temple

 making carbonara for Valentine's Day

 be still, my heart

our first little Avenues apartment

 ski/snowboarding

 wedding day kiss

our first big purchase: scootie!

 wedding day twirling hugs

 and then we discovered photobooth

 Liz's spring dance recital

 Chas' bday present to me

 California trip (Angel's baseball game)

 remember when Chas was on T.V. ?!

 family wedding "love fest" luncheon

 new glasses = handsomeoverload.com

 Hires always turns our frowns upside down

 it's important to document wedding color outfit coordination

Bette: "If Chas never changed out of this outfit, I wouldn't be sad."

 coloring!

not an unusual Friday night scene for us

 

 Blue Lemon reception

  wedding cake

The beginning.

perfectly imperfect

(Just a red velvet cupcake family night treat. I luuuuuv red velvet and this was pretty good, just a bit way too sweet. Plus, I think I'm over cupcakes. Cookies are better.)

There are things that I like and dislike about blogging. Mostly, the likes outweigh the dislikes. Blogging gives me a space to write and be creative. It connects me with people. I never started this blog with the idea that people I've never met would read what I write. I just wanted a fun way to record fleeting thoughts, important events, and anything in between. 

But sometimes the blogging dislikes, though comparatively few in number, can be quite annoying. For example, I've recently been a lot better about being more happy and satisfied with just my life, just the way it is. Cue "those blogs." You know the ones I'm talking about? The blogs that make you feel like a fairly ugly, fairly unstylish, fairly loser-ish kind of person. Like why don't ALL pictures of me and my husband look like they should be in a magazine? Why don't I live in urban coolness? Why don't I have a puppy/straight-across bangs/a gazillion perfect outfits/14,000 followers? And there's definitely more than just one of those blogs out there, my friends, and they are definitely all detrimental to my sense of what's real and what's...not me.

Cue reality, please.

Psshhh. Pahh-leeze. I love my real-human, real-life in our Salt Lake City, UT basement apartment. Ok, ok, so maybe I genuinely do want a puppy but that's because and only because Sam and puppies are like mac and cheese. I love that Chas and I are both done with school. I love that I have a Masters degree and a career. I love that I have some cute clothes but would probably choose to stay in my jammy-jams all day, if I could. I love that a fancy date for us will almost always be Hires Big H cheeseburgers and onion rings. (I actually don't love that most pictures of me don't turn out amazing but eh- there are worse things, right?) But mostly, I love that although ridiculously happy together, Chas and I aren't perfect. We have hard days at work. We have things we want so, so badly but don't have. We have things that make us weak, things that make us human.

This article is what prompted most of these thoughts. It's pretty interesting. After reading it, I felt genuinely amazed at how a happy, married life is considered so weird and foreign in today's world. But here's a reality check: we're a happy, high-functioning married couple...and...drumroll...we're not perfect. 

Don't ya just love it?

I made it!

Remember how I told you that it felt hard to put into words my love for Chas' family and our time spent together over Christmas? I'm much better with pictures than I am with words. 

So I made a little movie which will hopefully do a better job of showing you all the goodness of the Kelly family.

A Very Kelly Christmas 2010 from Chas Kelly on Vimeo.

And, might I add, there's probably no better way to capture a family FULL of filmmakers than through a film...if I do say so myself. :)

fun facts

A while back, I was given a "Stylish Blogger Award" from Biscuit Mcghee and Haley K. One thing that I really love about the blogging world is the sense of genuine nice-ness that so many people so willingly dish out to basically weird strangers, like myself. Both these ladies always send me lots of love and support in their sweet comments. Also, their blogs are great. So check 'em out, yo. 

 Anywho, part of receiving this award is writing 7 fun facts about yourself. Then you're supposed to pass the award onto other bloggers buuuuuut it's getting late and I'd honestly rather be snugging with Chas so I may have to take a rain check on that last part. Sawies.

But for now, here are some things you should know about both me AND Chas. (Mixin' it up.)

Sam: 

1. Apparently I have abnormally small pinky toes and toenails. They kinda curl downward, leaving almost no room for a nail bed. Chas lovingly refers to it as the "humpback scrinchel."

2. I have sneeze attacks. My record is over 20 in a row. Just today we counted 8. 

3. I kinda can't stand crazy passionate Utah Ute fans...especially when their hate for BYU supersedes their love for their own team. Why does college football have to be so weird and vindictive?

4. My heaven will be filled to the brim with puppies, Oregon, and Hire's Big H cheeseburgers, fry sauce, and onion rings.

Chas: 

1. Loves Gwen's Stefani's "Sweet Escape" and is not ashamed to admit it or sing it...very loudly. 

2. Would rather die a horrible death than have to eat Cool Whip or margarine. It's the real deal or nothin' for this boy. 

3. He makes various sound effects and giggles in his sleep. 

4. Has this magical power of always being able to pick out the best new cereals for us to try. It's truly a gift.

hang on

Last week was rough. 

As a therapist, working every day with the saddest of sad situations, you learn really quickly how to keep a healthy amount of emotional detachment from it all. Get in and get out. But every and now and then, at least for me, there are certain things that hit hard inside. That's how last week was. 

I think it started on Wednesday and got worse on Thursday. By Friday, I couldn't hold the sadness inside me anymore. It started bubbling to the surface right after my last group. You know when you're using every single once of focus to keep the tears from running down your cheeks? With deep, deep breaths and some little prayers, I kept it together. On the ride home and then sitting with Chas in our living room, I was finally able to let it all come pouring out. I cried for a while. Luckily, this is probably only the second time I've been affected by my work like this. And thank goodness for that. I really do pride myself on being able to keep a healthy distance from all the trauma I read and hear about in my art therapy world. But I guess it turns out that I'm a human, too. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: sometimes us humans just need a good cry.

You know what else I need? A few things. And this Saturday just so happened to be chock full with lots of them.

First, as always, is this bundle of joy.

Then, add a little Ikea. We came home with a bookcase for the living room and plants for the kitchen. 

Finish off with some happy live music. We took Bette and Tess to see Guster. Is there anything better than a killer concert? Well, probably puppies. But this show was definitely up there. 

And in the words of our good friends, Guster: 

Hang on, hang on.

There's a twilight, a nighttime, and the dawn.

Who knows how long?

Just hang on. Hang on.

So thanks, Saturday. You were just what the doctor ordered.

2011 To Do List:

Read scriptures daily. 

Attend the temple monthly. 

Continue to pay $1000 every month on my grad school loans.

Get full health insurance.

Be expecting. (Yay!)

Exercise 2 times a week. (Once it starts warming up, of course.)

Magnify church callings.

Paint simply for the love of painting.

Take life one day at a time.

Focus on gratitude and the positive.

Strengthen my faith and testimony.

As you may or may not have already noticed, Chas is the star of this blog.

And as such, we have another post featuring our very own Charles (in charge)!

 

Here Chas is displaying quite nicely his very own, original painting...circa 2nd grade. My mother-in-law had it framed and surprised me with this. Seriously one of the best Christmas presents ever. And, yes, I definitely did cry when I opened it. As an art therapist, I'm a sucker for children's art in general. But baby Chas children's art?? Kill me now with cuteness.

And maybe I've semi-analyzed baby Chas' art and maybe I've made connections between the painting and Chas' personality. Ok, ok I did...6 minutes after unwrapping it.  :)  Here's what I see:

I see so much fun, bright, happy colors inside not just one, but two square containers. And that's exactly Chas- fun, bright goodness all carefully contained...twice. In other words, Chas has loads of light and happiness all contained and kept quietly inside a very gentle, very humble outside. 

Every time I see this painting displayed in our living room, I'm reminded of all that's on the inside.