Puppy Love

My parents rescued a sweet little great dane puppy on Sunday. My dad named her Olive and she's a sweet little girl. So here are a couple pictures of her and then I'll show off my boys a little too. ;]

Olive!

Sleepy girl!

Gregory & Olive playing

Crazy man, Paco!

Brothers sleeping together, too sweet!

Consumed Consumer? Not Me.

I am proud to say that I have yet to buy one single holiday related item and I don't plan on it. Yes, this includes gifts. No, I'm not a scrooge or against Christmas...I just really need to save my money. I think that too many people are spending too much money on gifts and decor when all that really matters is spending time together. I guess that's part of being a consumer though, stores make us believe we need all of these things to have a great Christmas. So I'm just going to sit back and listen to everyone else talk about their gifts and decorations they've bought, all while knowing my bank account will not be at all suffering due to societies expectations of what we should be doing for holidays. So for now, I'll just admire all the pretty stuff on Pinterest and possibly tackle some DIYs, only if I have the supplies at home. ;]

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Perspectives on Motherhood

My UNC-Charlotte class, Perspectives on Motherhood, is coming to an end. My professor (who I often brag about) gave us our final exam questions the other day and I can't help but get excited to write the essays for them. There are six (?!) essays to write and only three will be turned in, the topics are fun to write about. I'll admit, I'd rather write a 10 page paper than take a 20 question test, that probably makes me a huge dork but I don't care. Let me just share a couple of the topics I have to write about, they're fairly easy especially after reading a ton of articles about motherhood for our class. Feel free to leave me a comment telling me what your opinion is on these! 

• To father a child means to contribute the sperm that fertilizes an egg; to mother a child means to nurture & care for it. Obviously, women cannot father children; is it also true that men cannot mother them?

• We spent a lot of time this semester critiquing the concept of the "good mother". Explain what this concept is, why it should be rejected, and why it does NOT mean that we should have no standards whatsoever for mother's actions. 

And this made me think of a blog post that I just read earlier today. I'm a huge supporter of natural and home birth and I couldn't have said what she said better. Head on over to Dear Baby and read Melissa's post on natural birth. It's about the 3rd post down, sorry, I couldn't figure out how to direct link it to the specific post since for some reason I'm not able to click the post myself.

Bows, Bows, Bows!

I made a bunch of bows the other day and here they are! If you're interested in buying one, they are $5 each. I will not be adding these to Etsy this time around but I do still accept Paypal, so orders are welcome! Just send me an email by either using the link at the top of my blog or you can send one to Owlive (at) hotmail (dot) com. Don't forget to include the bow number so I know which ones you want. I can also make matching button earrings for any of these bows, just ask! Earrings are also $5 per pair. Each bow roughly measure 2.5 x 4 inches and include an alligator clip on the back.

Ten Things Tuesday?

1. Globes!

2. Wreck This Journal. A few of you might be getting this from me as a gift in the future. Google image this and see all the fun stuff people did with their journal.

3. I've been wanting a pair of red jeans. Crazy? Maybe. Cute? Possibly.

I'm hoping I can pull it off and look as cute as this girl in them:

4. I've been wanting to read this for a while, just haven't gotten around to it - but now that they're making the movie for it, I must read it.

5. I love reading stories from mommas who support natural birth (and home births, too!!) & this one is beautiful. Click HERE to read the birth story of her 2nd daughter, Luna. The rest of her blog is simply sweet.

6. You should all go check out Kaelah's Honeybean Boutique. I just bought these and can't wait to pair them with some skinny jeans and a cute top! She has tons of other shoes/clothes/accessories!

7. I just love these free printables! Find more here. 

8. This lady made a blog to share the stories about her lovely MIL. 

Click on.

9. I can't get enough of Aerie's rollerball fragrance. It's heavenly. 

10. and of course, a Pinterest find to close. If you know me, you know this is beyond true about my life: 

Tattoo Lover

I've had this girl on my arm since I was 19 and we've had a love/hate relationship. Eventually, the hate just took over and I couldn't ever find the love for her anymore. I found myself covering her up anytime I'd go out in public to avoid anyone asking what it was or if they could see it. Or the famous question, "is that supposed to be you?" would irk me like no other. I wanted there to be something I loved there, something I was proud to show off. It's taken me five years to think of what I really wanted to cover her up and to find a great artist to do the work. I had a great tattoo guy back in Jacksonville but that's quite a drive for a tattoo when I live where I do. I finally came across Thomas Sigmon, who works here in Conover at Westside Tattoo. Most of you already know that I decided on a peacock to cover the girl. The feathers are going to do a great job of covering up the main part of her and even with the outline done, you can already hardly tell she was there before. I'm smitten. I love this peacock and can't wait to finish the rest of my arm and have one cohesive sleeve. The peacock wraps around my arm and covers up the sloth tattoo that I had on my wrist also, not because I didn't like it but because it wouldn't go with the rest of my arm when it was finished. I can't wait to get him colored in! So here ya go, before and after pics (sorry for the lack of clarity on the peacock, this picture was taken with my laptop camera):

Change for Thought

I can't live without change. I'm constantly moving, constantly rearranging, constantly looking for something to help me feel renewed. I am not a creature of habit, even though I'd often like to be. My daily routine isn't much of a routine at all. My days are always different and I do well with that. I don't like working a Monday-Friday 8-5 job because I get bored with it. I love my ever changing weekly work schedules. I do things on a whim and often make quick (sometimes irrational) decisions. If I take too long to think about something, I'll never do what I desired in the first place.

• Yesterday, San Francisco was calling my name and all I wanted was to move there. Of course, this isn't very realistic, but a girl can still dream...right?
• The longest I've ever stayed at the same job was a year.
• Today, I took my car to get an oil change and ran into my old Prius. I found myself missing it dearly, enough to consider trading my car back in for it and enough to talk to someone about doing so. Still on my mind.
• The last few weeks I was back and fourth with what to do about school. I finally settled on going to CVCC for the next year to get my Cosmetology license.
• The longest I've ever lived in the same house, other than my childhood home, is two years.

I've never really seen my constant desire for change to be a problem until it was really brought to my attention today. Am I ever going to settle down? Am I ever going to be happy staying in the same place for a long time? Probably not. I can't see myself buying a house, that means commitment to staying in the same area forever.

But this isn't just about where I live and what I do, it's about who I love. I can see how anyone would doubt a relationship with someone who always felt the need for change. I will honestly say that it has been an issue before. I get bored and move on. My track record won't lie about that one. I'm fortunate enough to be with someone who has kept my attention and who has stolen my heart. When he's not with me, I miss him and want him with me. I'm not attracted to anyone else but him. He's got my full attention even when he's not present. This amazes me. I don't doubt the potential our relationship has one bit. I want to have a family with him, one day. That is something that I definitely am committed to and do not expect or want to change at all.