Wednesday, July 27, 2011

MOA mini

Our Mall of America trip is finally recorded!
I constructed a small homemade/hand stitched book a few weeks back...
...and stuffed it full of everything we could collect for the two days we were there!
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Since it was Aly's birthday weekend, I dedicated the opening page to her.Here's a close up of the stitching of the re-purposed pages I saved from my Mexico notebook last summer. There are about ten pages stitched and attached to a ribbon bound tagboard cover.I tried to document the cute and important things, like this one where Aly made her first purchase (with birthday money). She chose these crazy, square earrings with little Eiffel Towers on them. I thought they were funny because they looked like capital letter A's! Later she purchased an outfit to wear for her actual BIRTHday that matched them to a tee...by the end of her birthday extravaganza (with all the rollercoaster riding and such), she lost one. I kept the sole survivor with the intention of using it on THIS page. Can't find where I put it to save myself!Whether it was swimming at the Waterpark or shopping in the mall, we had a blast.
Aly's favorite, by far, was the sushi...
...whereas Brandan prefered the rides at Nick's theme park...
...but I REALLY enjoyed the aquarium! I rigged this page to hold the photo we got at Sea Life......so you could see the open and closed versions!
Sweet treats...
...and mini golf made our trip complete!
Now, if I could figure out away to close the book on it...all would be just right!!
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I finally came across the original story of what my cousin Bev was trying to teach me back in February
...and I wanted to share it here...
HOW DO YOU LIVE YOUR DASH?
I read of a woman who stood to speak
At the funeral of a friend
She referred to the dates on his tombstone
From the beginning...to the end.
She noted that first came his date of birth
And spoke the following date with tears, (1922-2002)
But she said what mattered most of all
Was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time
That he spent alive on earth...
And now only those who loved him
Know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own;
The cars...the house...the cash,
What matters is how we live and love
And how we spend our dash.
So think about this long and hard...
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left,
That can still be rearranged.
If we could just slow down enough
To consider what’s true and real,
And always try to understand
The way other people feel.
And be less quick to anger,
And show appreciation more
And love the people in our lives
Like we’ve never loved before.
If we treat each other with respect,
And more often wear a smile...
Remembering that this special dash
Might only last a little while.
So, when your eulogy’s being read
With your life’s actions to rehash...
Would you be proud of the things they say
About how your spent your dash?
-Author: Unknown

4 comments:

rcprncss said...

Candi, such a cute album! I miss seeing your art! Love this! Looks like a great time.

Louisa

Shel said...

It looks great! I have most of the same embellies!! I'm thinking about taking the wimp way out and making a shutterfly book! Just not enough hours in the day!

Mrs. Weddle said...

the album looks awesome. love all the little bits and pictures :)

Pam said...

I adore this so so SO much!!! I love all the bits and receipts, this is so awesome! It has such an eclectic, but cohesive feel. The kids will treasure this for sure!!