“You don’t need direction, you know which way to go
And I don’t want to hold you back, I just want to watch you grow
You’re the one who taught me you don’t have to look behind
Oh yes, sweet darling
So glad you are a child of mine”

A mother’s job is always evolving, changing, growing. You enter this with certain ideas in mind about what you want for your children, who you want them to be, how your days will be spent. Then you realize that more than likely your vision of your future children is far different than the reality.

When I imagined my children I pictured dark haired, tan, pixies dancing about. Little girls with big dark eyes who loved to sing and perform like me. Lol, imagine my surprise when I ended up with 3 little carmel haired girls, one of which has blue/green eyes! One of my daughters hates it when people watch her, is not into dance or singing, and prefers Legos over musicals. Another daughter is destructive, messy, and adores glitter and dancing. It didn’t take me long to realize that these girls of mine have their own personalities, a wonderful mix of sass and individuality. And it was in both our best interests to just let them be who they were instead of who I thought they should be.

Too many mothers waste precious time and energy trying to change their little ones. Trying to tame wild energy, push quiet sensitivity, restrict uniqueness. For what? For an ideal in our head of what should be. So much could be accomplished if instead of fighting with our kids we embraced, encouraged, simply loved. It is something that I am working on as well, but have seen how much of a difference it makes in my relationship with my children.

Everyday I thank my lucky stars for these little girls in my life. They are healthy, happy, and know that they are loved. This Mother’s Day, instead of expecting gifts and special treatment, I am reflecting on what kind of mother I want to be and how incredibly grateful I am to be a mommy. Happy Mother’s Day dear friends!

Filed under: Parenting ]]> http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/this-mothers-day/feed/ 0 sunnysideupstudio IMG_3151 copy IMG_3129 copy http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/diy-fairy-photo/ http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/diy-fairy-photo/#comments Sat, 11 May 2013 20:20:04 +0000 Connie http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/?p=1653 ]]>

Recently I had the privilege to create a fairy out of my adorable “niece” Hailey. I had so much fun with the photo that I also took a photo of Moira with the sole purpose in mind of turning her into a fairy as well. Well, people liked the photo tons, and many asked how I did it. Hence I am creating this tutorial showing the process that I use to create a soft, magical type of photo. **There are many many ways to do things in Photoshop, I’m sure that there are different things that you can do to create the same effect. This is simply my process. **

1. Open your image in Photoshop. (I use Photoshop CS6)

2. Color correct the image and balance the brightness like you would any image.

3. Create a new layer and change the layer to “Overlay”

4. Using a soft white brush, highlight the skin. This will look very bright and not normal at first, just go with it.

5. Turn the opacity down to something that looks more magical glowing than ghostly.

6. Compress the layers into one.

7. Now is where you can add color effects and whatnot. I used an action called Peachy Glow from The Coffeeshop Blog.

If you aren’t familiar with actions, they are AWESOME.

The Coffeeshop Blog in particular is my favorite source of actions.

8. Once you are satisfied with the effects, create a new layer. This is where you are going to add the wings and the glitter effect.

9. Find a brush pack that has wings that you like. I got mine from Deviant Art but there are tons out there.

Play around and find a pair of wings that you like and add the them to the empty layer.

You may have to do a little positioning and erasing to get the effect that you want.

10. Once you are set with the wings open your glitter brush. (Same deal as the wings, do a search there are tons of glitter brushes out there.)

**Make sure you make another layer so that you have more control over what is going on.

11. I added some larger glitter effect to the dandalion she was holding, turning into a magic wand.

I also add some sparkle lines to add a magical effect. It is all about taste and what you are looking for.

12. From there you can crop the photo or what not. That is the jist of how I turn adorable kids into fairies! Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.

(This was the first time doing a tutorial like this so there is a pretty good chance I am going to confuse someone about the process, lol!)

{Listening} to my girls play house with 1980′s Battle Beasts, too cute!

{Watching} Lilo & Stitch (for the 1,000th time) with Moira

{Eating} leftover cilantro-lime pork tacos… yummo….

{Wearing} my DIY bird’s nest necklace and loving it!

{Feeling} excited to substitute some upper level jazz classes tonight

{Playing} Bollywood music to choreograph to

{Reading} gardening blogs, websites, and books for inspiration

{Hoping} that I can find some new recipes to use all our awesome produce

{Smelling} my Scentsy Hello Yellow candle warmer… if I was a smell this would be it!

{Counting} the days until the garden sale near my house, we need flowers asap =)

{Loving} the warmer temps and all the fresh green outside… bring on the sun!

Happy Monday friends!

Filed under: Homestead, Life, Photos ]]> http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/today-4/feed/ 0 sunnysideupstudio IMG_3107 IMG_3105 copy http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/this-just-pinned-12/ http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/this-just-pinned-12/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:56:31 +0000 Connie http://mysunnysideuplife.wordpress.com/?p=1645 ]]>

How is everyone doing today? What a pretty day here in NE Ohio… too bad tomorrow’s high is 43…

Here are some things new on my pin boards!!

1. DIY Lightbulb Vase

2. Recycled Sumo Bowling

3. Cupcake mani

4. Veggie Spiral

5. Blue Tutu Dress 

6. Yellow Door Color Palette 

7. Colored Pencil Jewelry

Fun links huh? I can’t wait to do some of these and I definitely need to find a dress like that pretty blue one. =)

Have a great day friends!!!

** Follow my boards here on Pinterest

Why has this caught my eye? Well for starters every locket is one of a kind. It is all based on your interests, your personality, and style. There are so many charms to choose from along with different sized lockets in different metals. Secondly, the lockets are only as pricey as you want them to be. You can start out simple and then add on over time or as your tastes change. I put together my dream locket and everything came to under $70, which included  5 charms and a large locket. Not bad!

I love that you can design your locket around any theme or interest from Sorority Sisters to football teams. And you aren’t locked into a certain design forever. Here’s another favorite design I found:

I also like the fact that a girl started the company because she was motivated to get herself a car for her 16th birthday. Talk about girl power! I am going to host a party probably in June once the recitals are over with, I can’t wait to get my own Living Locket!!! Definitely check out the Origami Owls website and see what it is all about. What would your locket look like?

It is no secret that I have had a less than great childhood. Even today my blood-related family gives me enough grief to remind me why I  prefer a couple states in between me and them. It wasn’t until college that I started to let my guard down, when I joined ZTA and became part of something that really is forever. And I am lucky enough to have three daughters that understand that all these ladies are their “aunties” and that they are also part of this awesome organization.

Two year ago!

In the past week I have seen a couple of sisters whom I haven’t seen in years. Even though we don’t live too far from one another our lives are busy, we all work in and out of the home, and time seems to fly by. But the stars seemed to align and I have gotten together with them three times in one week… and it is like we just saw each other yesterday. We just picked up where we left off, our kids played happily, and we got to talk and catch up. It was lovely to say the least.

Yesterday at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Four Zetas and a lot of kids, lol!

I am so lucky to have these ladies in my life. I don’t have to pretend that my life is picture perfect, I can be real. I don’t have to be super-mom, have perfectly polite kids, and I don’t expect any of them to be that either. We are family. It is refreshing to be with gals who get me and know where I am coming from. And the fact that all of our kids get along despite not seeing each other often is icing on the cake.

My philosophy is that life is all about balance and fate’s way of making up for my lack of a blood-related family is to give me my Zeta sisters. When I feel down about how things are going I remember that, call up a sister to talk, and keep moving forward. And I would do the same for any of them, no questions asked. Love my sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha! ZLAM ladies! 

{check out more of my 365 Project!}

If you have little ones the museum is a really fun place to visit. It is designed for ages 8 and under so we are reaching the end of it’s appeal for Gabby, which makes it tricky for me. I definitely would recommend going on an “off” time so that your little one can get to experience all the fun areas- Amelia really enjoyed pretending to be a doctor and “fixing” Gabby’s pretend broken arm while Moira loved the house and water play. Everyone loved the grocery store area where Gabby was a banker, doling out money to tons of kids. And let’s not forget all the learning that happens naturally when kids play-

• Building and creating architectural structures
• Understanding the different food groups
• Organizing food in the grocery store by category (i.e. fruits, vegetables, grains)
• Counting money in the bank
• Learning seat belt safety and traffic safety rules
• Observing how dams and various objects affect water flow
• Gross motor skills from digging in the sand and pouring
• Learning about paleontologists and site digs

Yay for another unschooling field trip and cheers for another of Cleveland’s wonderful places to visit!!

(Doesn’t Spooky look pitiful with the ears on? Lol!)

We went to lunch with family and had a lovely egg hunt.

The girls are sugared out on the little bit of candy that they got and everyone is pretty happy.

I hope that your day was happy and bright.

Cheers!

“I am NOT a thing!”

These words came out of my 8 yr old’s mouth when I was talking to her about why I was upset about underwear. Underwear created by Victoria’s Secret supposedly for college aged women (according to a statement on their Facebook Page), but in reality 15-16 year olds (according to a statement by Chief Financial Officer Stuart Burgdoerfer), and by associations younger teens and tweens. The slogan for the new line of underwear is called Bright Young Things.

Things. Not girls, women, ladies, chicks… things. Ponder that for a moment. You are no longer a girl or a woman but a THING. Feel free to start to get mad now…. A THING doesn’t have feelings, a THING isn’t a person who can be violated. A THING can be used, discarded, laughed at… without feeling remorse.

I explained to Gabby that it had nothing to do with the actual lace and cotton, but about the words on that lace, the girls who the underwear are meant for. Girls who shouldn’t have inappropriate messages on their underwear to be cool and who shouldn’t worry about being sexy. And while I know that other companies have tries to tap into the tween demographic by using over sexualized products to sell, Victoria’s Secret is a lingerie company that also happens to sell sweats and tee shirts on the side. They are in the bra and underwear business.

Maybe you still think that parents are over reacting and that this line isn’t aimed at tweens, that college women are the target audience? How about the fact that Justin Beiber was the performer during their fashion show in November. I know tweens…. I have classes of them who very loudly vocalize their music preference, and Justin Beiber is their guy. College girls? Not so much.

Today alone I have read at least 5 blog posts, watched 2 news reports, and listened to a live conference regarding this topic. I am happy to see people talking about this because so much is at stake. It is not about the underwear alone. It is about the message we are sending to young girls about their body and their self worth. It is the message we are sending boys about the value of our girls. Is a girl only worth something if she is sexy?

Many commenters blame the parents. “If you don’t like it then don’t buy it” was written by many. And to a certain degree I completely agree. But companies need to take some responsibility for their marketing and products. Specifically marketing padded swim tops to 7-11 year olds, makeup to 8-12 year olds, and high heeled sneakers to 6-12 year olds is wrong.

It is a slippery slope of little girls wanting to be older younger and younger. Your 8 yr old daughter comes home and tells you the “cool” girl at school got her legs waxed and that she now wants her legs waxed. You explain that it isn’t appropriate, that body hair is normal and natural, and you let it go. However, at school your little girl is now getting made fun of for having hairy legs, she gets called names and is picked on. And thus the unattainable beauty standards viciousness begins.

So what should you do if you are a concerned/pissed parent? Well go here and sign the petition to start. Boycott companies whose products oversexualize young girls. Write letters, blog, and spread the word about this serious matter. But most importantly educate your girls about the importance of just being a kid and why it is better to wait for grown up stuff until she is grown up more. Say no to padded bras, mascara, high heels, thongs, and such to tweens and even young teens.

Want more resources?

This book is a good place to start, along with this one.

Also, this tee shirt says it all to me- a message I would be proud to have my daughters wear.