Stephanie: recently

A couple of bricks hit me recently.

Brick #1: Do more of what makes you happy. Let me repeat, do more of what makes YOU happy. One of my biggest weaknesses in life is being a people pleaser. I always do what others want me to do. I always want to make sure everyone else is happy and sometimes I forget to make myself happy. This year I am going to say "No" more and be better at calling my shots. And sticking to my guns.

Brick #2 Save that green! Like duh, right? My roommate Gillian is building a town home in Pleasant Grove. I don't know what part of the process that struck me, but I realized I need to not be just saving money, but straight up stashing it. I am just a few years away from maybe following in her footsteps and I want to be more than ready. I can't always count on "meeting the one" (not like I have up until this point) in fact, I kind of want to live on my own.

Brick #3 Sewwww no one is going to do it for you. When I was younger, my mom made everything for us. Especially dresses. I loved them! She is always sewing up a new project and it has always just been second nature. When we are watching a family movie, my mom always has to have a lamp on so she can be stitching something. As kids we'd always be so annoyed if she had to have a light on during a movie. Now I see sewing is her passion. When she was younger, her mom wouldn't buy her any of the "cute" clothes at the department stores (which is interesting because her parents had more than enough money). However, her mom, Beth, would buy her all the fabric she wanted. My mom learned very quickly that if she wanted cute clothes, she'd have to sew it herself. I've always admired her talent and passion for sewing.

I started sewing in Junior High and continued through High School. After high school I went onto college and really haven't sewn much since. That makes me sad, especially because I like sewing. After my dear, Great Aunt Helen died a few years ago, she left some money to my parents. My mom bought all of us girls sewing machines. She said it was because she wants all of us girls to continue sewing. What a thoughtful gift! I've had it for two years and finally took it out of the box this year. Now I'm sewing up a storm! I've made a sewing cover and am onto the cutest triangle quilt. I realized that sewing won't come naturally. It sure as heck won't happen when I am a mom. It needs to happen now. I love sewing. My goal is to take advanced sewing lessons soon and eventually teach a basic sewing class to kids. Moral of the story is: sewing is sew fun (catch what I did there?) and no one is going to learn for you.