Ännä White's Blog, page 2
January 20, 2015
From Sketch to Painting: A Wabi Sabi Girl
I’ve been doing lots of sketching the past few weeks. I love working out of my sketchbook because it’s so easy to put down and come back to. No mess to clear before dinner, no hand washing required before touching a tiny face, and no fun supplies to keep away from my preschooler. I’ve […]
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January 16, 2015
The Price is Right Treadmill Fall!
I heard about this video on christian radio today while I was driving home with my kidlet from a MOPS meeting. If you haven’t see it yet, take a sec to watch it. Nothing like seeing someone who’s not you fall down in a super embarrassing way to put the day in perspective! The host on […]
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January 5, 2015
One Word for 2015: Wabi Sabi
Like many of you, I choose one word for each new year. I enjoy the process of breathing and focusing my intentions for the year. I was in the depths and fighting for my life when I chose the word courage in 2012. I started changing my life to deal with my anxiety, went to a lot of therapy, […]
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January 4, 2015
Sketch 2015: Clocks
I think this week is one of the few each year when many people stop to think about the passage of time. As I say my last goodbye to the old year and enter fully into the new one I always pause. I’ve been looking back at photos from this past year, and it is […]
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March 17, 2014
Simple Meal Planning for Busy Moms
© 2013 Migle, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio
Good morning!
When my friends come over and see my meal plan on the fridge, they always ask lots of questions. I am SO NOT GOOD at cleaning or decorating or cuteness or any number of wifey things that I feel I really should be good at. But I do cook.
I started meal planning back in 2006 after we bought our first house. I was so excited to have a real pantry, but every time I cleaned it out I realized I was throwing expired food away. We also had a stocked freezer, but I had no idea what was in there so every time I went to the store I would buy something we already had, making the freezer even more crowded and impossible to sort.
Simple meal planning is a time/sanity saver and way to make sure I only buy only what I need.
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In this post, I’m sharing a video tutorial that shows exactly how I use make a simple meal planning system to make shopping lists and meal plans, and I also teach you exactly how to start setting up your own system.
I hope this is helpful to you. If you have questions use the contact form on the site and I’ll answer them in a future post.
CLICK HERE to get the crock pot recipes I’m using in the video!
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March 10, 2014
What It Means to Be a Fraud
This is not what I planned to write to you today. I had something better. Something more. But this is where I’m at. My fingers are tingling as I type because I’m gripped with fear. I’m sitting here in my yoga pants listening to Regina Spektor on Pandora, but my body is reacting as if […]
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February 27, 2014
What to Read this Weekend
Today I wanted to share the page of my new book that I think is my favorite. It’s the “Notes” page where I list all the other books and musicians and movies that I reference. It is quite a mash-up, but very me. I have to love any list that can include Ann Voskamp, Harry Potter, Brene Brown, and Ricky Bobby. I recommend everything here highly, especially if the world is a bit dark.
Brene Brown, Daring Greatly (Gotham, 2012)
Emily Freeman, Grace for the Good Girl (Revell, 2011)
Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin, 2006)
Hafiz and Daniel Ladinsky, The Gift (Penguin, 1999)
Matthew Henry, Whole Bible Commentary (Nelson, 2002)
Anne Lamott, Help, Thanks, Wow (Penguin, 2013)
Glennon Melton, Carry on Warrior (Scribner, 2013)
Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems v. 1 (Beacon Press, 2004)
Phillip Phillips, Home (Interscope Records, 2012)
Rainer Marie Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet (Merchant Books, 2012)
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Arthur A. Levine, 2003)
Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things (Vintage, 2012)
Switchfoot, Hello Hurricane (Atlantic, 2009)
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Sony Pictures, 2006)
Ann Voskamp, 1000 Gifts (Zondervan, 2011)
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February 6, 2014
Books Coming Out, Behind the Artwork, and Why Talking to Yourself is a Good Idea
I know it’s been so long. It’s like when you need to call someone, and then you wait because you’re not sure what to say, and then it’s been too long and it’s just awkward. That’s how I’ve felt about you. But here I am, just leaning right into the awkwardness. Hello again!
Things that have been happening here:
1) I am painting lots of portraits on Etsy. This has been quite a surprise.
2) I painted two companion portraits and entered them in the Houston VAA show. I would love to think that there will come a day when I can do something that will probably lead to rejection and not be in a state of complete panic at the same time. Does this ever happen? Here’s a little video of me talking about these pieces:
3) Speaking of videos, I’ve been making quite a few. I kind of love it! Now I know what all those years of talking to myself in the car was practice for. You can check them out at www.youtube.com/athaliahjoy
4) I have 2 new books out:
5) And one more book coming out this month:
Mended is a collection of my writing from the blog, unpublished writing from my journals, letters I’ve written to others, and my favorite quotes. It is my heart, and releasing it feels a lot like I’m stripping in the middle of the mall. But sometimes getting naked, opening your heart and telling no lies, is just the right thing to do. Because this is my story. I fear, yet I am loved. I still fight anxiety every single day, but I can live in spite of that. I can take my fear by the hand and keep walking forward.
So how are you? I’d really like to know. I hope you’re not in the dark, but if you are know that you can keep living through it. It will not always be as dark as it is today.
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October 29, 2013
8 Great Books on Writing and Creativity
Stephen King
Bird by Bird
By Anne Lamott
The Artists Way
by Julia Cameron
Letters to a Young Poet
by Rainer Marie Rilke
Poemcrazy
by Susan Goldsmith Woolridge
Old Friend from Far Away
By Natalie Goldberg
Creative is a Verb
by Patti Digh
And my new favorite
A Broom of One’s Own:
Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life
By Nancy Peacock
“Stories want to be born, but they aren’t attached to the form they take. A story is just as content to be told orally as it is to be written. If I go around telling everyone, it’s happy and gone. The tension is over.”
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October 16, 2013
A Hurried Life {a guest post by Ryan}
In the wise words of the band Alabama:
I’m in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life’s no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I’m in a hurry and don’t know why.
How often do we feel like that? I can’t speak for you, but this comes up more often than I like for me. I hate feeling this way.
I know life is not a race, but it’s hard to turn that drive off sometimes. Just get it over with. Check another thing off my list.
The scary part is when doing things with my daughters joins that list. I don’t want to think that way about them. They deserve better than that. I sometimes run through the things that I could be enjoying with them so that we can do the evening routine and I can have time to myself.
And what do I do with that time? Sit around and feel like I wasted my day because I didn’t get much out of it. Why did I not get much out of it? Because I was somewhere else most of the time mentally. If that’s how I feel about just one day, what do I get if I do it over and over throughout life? A wasted life?
When all this is over and I am dead and gone, what will be left? The love. The relationships. The example that I have set for them by my words and deeds. And as a father of two daughters it’s even more important to set the right example. They have to know that they are worth my time, that I enjoy spending it with them, that they are great just as they are, and that I am here with them because I love them, not because I have to be.
This is so important because that’s the kind of man that I want each of them to be with in the future and the daddy/daughter relationship that I have with them will be the one on which they base their future romantic relationships. Not getting this right could bring up all kinds of daddy issues and I have seen too many of those to take a chance on that happening to my girls.
I will do better today. I must do better.
I will cover myself with a blanket and pretend I am hiding from my girls so they will come and jump on me when they find me.
I will let them play my guitars and deal with the pain of the noise as they play along with me.
I will stay awake and read stories to them when my body feels like nap time.
I will make sure that they see every fish in the pet store again even if we have already seen them twice.
I will answer all the questions about digestion and do my best to do it in an age appropriate manner.
I will make it through another 30 minutes of Dinosaur Train with a smile on my face even though I have seen it five times already.
I really enjoy these things, it’s just easier to sometimes to turn on the cruise control and roll on…
But what comes out of these moments are the memories that will long outlast me and whatever else I think I want to do with my time.
I will be mindful and intentional, for what is life if you don’t live it? Wasted time.
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