For Valentines Day

As Valentines Day draws near, I realize that I have never before been in a relationship with someone over Valentines Day... And so the question comes, what should I get my husband?

Do I borrow some of Hamlet's words

and make it into a loving card?

Do I make him a batch of cookies?

Or get even more crafty, and make this Bee My Valentine?

Or I should give him a card telling him how I love him?

There are many ideas out there, now I just have to figure out what to do.

What will you all be giving your special someone on Valentines Day?

These pictures simply made my day

A girl (Katie Sokoler) who wants the world to be more colorful, is a Treasure.

Instead of letting the snow turn brown, she added a little color

How awesome is this snowball?

And when waking up to a dull gray block, she decided to trace her feet

I would love to walk on that sidewalk

Her blog and flickr are filled with pictures that may get your creative juices flowing, inspire you, and at least make your day a little brighter. Happy Blogging!

Added to my Treasure Chest

These make me want a Polaroid camera, and wish that Polaroid film was back in production.

A Polaroid that looks like a painting is a new treasure, discovered at This is Not My Work

And these clever treasures were discovered on on of my fave blogs, You Are My Fave.

Already a Treasure

I am so proud of my big sisters, Amber and Helena. I love them, and I am incredibly lucky to have them both in my life.

Today I want to introduce you to my oldest sisters blog, Life in the Pitts. She is very funny, and a great storyteller, I just love to read her blogs about what's going on in her life! About 5 months ago she and her hubby moved to Pittsburgh, and since then she has unleashed the crafty-ness from within.

This is her most recent project, just in time for Valentines Day! You can read about how she made it on her blog :-)

These are just some of the styles of checkers she makes

And this is one of the styles of her checker boards.

If you head over to Keepin The Castle you can find out how you might win one! Don't worry if you don't win though, because she'll be opening an Etsy shop soon, and selling them there! I'll post the link as soon as it's set up.

You should go check out her blog, it'll be one of your new treasures soon :-)

Some things I've learned

I'm no genius, and I know I still have a lot more to learn in life. However, I wanted to share with you all some of the things I have learned so far.

First give value, then get value. Not the other way around. To increase what you receive, you must increase what you give.

Be proactive, not reactive.

Mistakes and failures are good. When you allow yourself to learn from them.

We are responsible for what we do. Unless you're a celebrity.

Don't beat yourself up.

Set goals. It's important to focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want, and keep that focus steady. A good way is by setting goals, and reviewing them frequently.

Your attitude changes your reality. When you use a positive attitude instead of a negative one, you start to see things and viewpoints that were invisible to you before. When you change your attitude, you change what you focus on; then the world can be seen in a new light.

Gratitude is a simple way to make yourself, and others, feel happy.

Never compare yourself to others. When you compare yourself to others, in a way you're letting the world control how you feel about yourself. A more useful thing would be to compare yourself, to yourself. Look at how far you have come, what you have accomplished and how you have grown.

80-90% of what you fear will happen, never really comes into reality.

Don't take things too seriously. Taking yourself, your thoughts and your emotions too seriously often just seems to lead to more unnecessary suffering.

Write things down. Many of your good or great ideas may be lost forever if you don’t make a habit of writing things down. This is also a good way to keep your focus on what you want.

Live below your means. Look for bargains and discount stores. It helps to separate needs from wants.

If you want to be at the top of Maslow's pyramid, find a job you love. It's good to be passionate about the things you're doing. It helps you to enjoy life more.

The 80/20 rule -Or the Pareto Principle- it means that 80 percent of the value you will receive will come from only 20 percent of your activities. So a lot of what we do, may not be as necessary as we think.

Most success boils down to perseverance, determination, tenacity, and other products of personal accountability.

Life is an exploration, and maybe certain lessons must be experienced to be understood. Yet I wonder how much pain we could prevent if we taught life’s important lessons to our young people instead of relying on the real world to teach them for us.

Added to my Treasure Chest

I have discovered many delightful little treasures on a few different blogs, and so I'll have to post them all on different occasions.

Everyday I think I will find new Treasures from Classy Covet, which is a newer blog on which she shows us things she covets, and makes us all wish we had money to burn. Like these, which can be found at Urban Outfitters. I didn't even know they sold home decor until I saw this!

She is also hosting a give-away, the winner of which will receive a pair of these classy earrings, made by Bold Minimalist

Also, today I found Appleseed Gifts which is a blog, and a store, all in one!
What caught my eye was her homemade jewelry, which is very reasonably priced.

This little treasure is one I'd like to purchase for myself. It's called "In My Heart." Perfect for Valentines day!

And, she has an awesome "Taking Flight" necklace that is being sold to benefit Jackie Stanley's Hope For a Cure research in lung cancer. How awesome is that?

I hope you enjoyed my first posted treasures!

My Thoughts and Treasures

Over the past few years, I have been developing more of my own personal style and taste. I have discovered many things that I like, and many things that I don't. Due to the people I have been surrounding myself with, incidents in my life, and things I have read, my opinions and beliefs have evolved and been strengthened. And in some instances, they've changed completely.

I understand myself, and many other things, better than I had before.

That is why I am creating this blog! I have one that is dedicated to mine and my husband’s life together; however, this one is a place for me to stash the things I see, and the way I see them. Things I like, things I don't like, my opinions, my thoughts, and the treasures I discover. Maybe I'll even start to get crafty and share my efforts with you all. :-)

It would be wonderful to get some good discussions about different points of view and opinions. In any case, I hope you will all be entertained by the things on here.

My hope is to share beautiful things and truths with the world.

And if I can't do that, at the very least I can share my thoughts and my treasures.

"To be nobody but yourself in a world that is doing it's best, day and night, to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." -E.E. Cummings