Photo: new beginnings

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My daughter’s birthday outfit from yesterday. She’s always trying new things and collects photos of her outfits for her “fashion blog”.

What’s new is how she put this together and it looks so conservative but then she adds a pink leopard hair band and a tan knit beret and she knows how well it works and gives it that stamp of her style onto it.

The boots were on sale at Target and she wanted them because they were so similar to my new boots from my birthday.

Instead of just letting her go with would fire the sake of being weeks, I’m starting to offer suggestions but I also defer to get final judgment. I dint want to discourage get but I also don’t want her to think everything she chooses works when sometimes it doesn’t.

Title and Tagline

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Title and Tagline

These are things I always have trouble with so any suggestions would be greatly welcomed.

I’m happy with my title: Griffins and Ginger Snaps.

I’ve always used a variation of my name our my online user name and I really wanted to get away from that. I love griffins and collect them so that was perfect. I also love alliteration and I think I might have been baking ginger cookies when I was creating my blog.

The tagline, however (an experiment in my writing) definitely needs some work. I wrote about so many topics that I have a hard time pinning down a one sentence description. In the past I’ve used single weird sentences:

Teacher. Writer. Parent. Friend.

But that seemed kind of hokey.
Whittling it down to simple opinions or travel or life advice or any other descriptor seemed to short change it without actually emphasizing the variety.

My tagline is a mess.

Maybe some readers can tell me what they get out of coming to my blog and that might help me nature my space down a bit.

Why I’m Blogging

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Today’s assignment: write and publish a “who I am and why I’m here” post.

Who am I and why am I here?

Sometimes I have no idea. On both counts.

Very introductorily, I’m married with three kids (9, 10, and 17). I’m an unnatural redhead, was a teacher for ten years; I’m in treatment for depression, recently converted to Catholicism and currently my favorite movie is Guardians of the Galaxy, TV is Supernatural, music is alternative, either twenty+ years or twenty minutes old.

I’ve always written. I have notebooks and notebooks, scrap papers filled with names and places, quotations and references.

When I became a parent, I started writing down things that worked for me as a parent and put my focus there until I began to include travel hints and keeping anecdotes from my travels.

When I joined the online community in 2008, it was through fan fiction. What I discovered from then to now is that I’ve been writing fan fiction, even if only in my head since I was a kid. Star Trek, The White Shadow, BJ and the Bear, Lou Grant; Lou Grant was probably my favorite – writing, journalism, Woodward and Bernstein. It was everything I wanted, including a redheaded feminist.

After fan fiction, I began to write more personal stories, incorporating my educational background and parenting skills plus I found I was really interested in writing about travel and more recently religion and spirituality and my depression.

Although I keep some aspects of my life and family private, I keep my blog public because I feel like some of my posts help people. I like sharing my experiences for that reason and to show some that they are not alone in their depression, their anxiety, or their contemplation of who they are or where they’re going.

I would like to make money writing, and this is a good way to try out different styles, different themes, and see what interests people and what doesn’t plus the feedback is invaluable and something that I can’t find anywhere else.

The online community that I’ve found is that – community; a family in its own special way with the best support network I’ve ever come across.
As far as writing topics, that’s ever evolving, but for the present I seem to be interested in and enjoy writing about: depression and anxiety, faith and my spiritual path, parenting and education, LGBT+ with a centering my attention on youth and trans issues, travel, and whatever else catches my fancy or crosses my bloggy path.

Weekly Photo Challenge: New

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A series of recent photos; all New:

1. Mason jar project (I will be changing the year to 2015 this weekend)
2. Probably my favorite Christmas present despite my “no toys” rule: the Doctor Who Companions Set with my favorite companions!
3. First card of the New Year. Quotation from St. Francis de Sales and artwork of Bro. Mickey McGrath.
4. New journal and new rosary.
5. New t-shirt – in favorite color. Gishwhes. Haven’t worn a t-shirt in years.
6. Close-up of my absolutely favoritest companion, the uncomparable Donna Noble, fiery straight talking snarky redhead! My wannabe alter ego.

Annual Mason Jar Project

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Beginning in 2013, I started keeping a mason jar, an idea I discovered on Pinterest. Throughout the year, you add your happy thoughts to it; then on New Year’s Eve you read through them and remember all of the good times from the past twelve months.

In 2014, I also added a couple of things that weren’t happy but that I wanted to remember and reflect on as the year came to a close (the death of my first church friend, Shirley and the suicide/death of Robin Williams.)

I’ll share three others with you:

3/21: Flower show. It was a good day.

6/4/14: Went to the evening Ascension Mass. Saw A! She’s using a walker – since she broke her leg. It was great to see her.

8/4: Dominican Conference Center. Retreat w/ Bro. Mickey this weekend. I can’t wait! I need this.

Recs- Bro. Mickey McGrath

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This is my first original piece of artwork from my retreat with Bro. Mickey McGrath.

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Bro. Mickey’s website

I had the pleasure of meeting Bro. Mickey at a summer retreat last year. It was one of those wonderful cross-sections of everything you want a retreat to be: fun, contemplative, spiritual, artistic, creative while bringing you closer to yourself and to G-d.

These are three of his many works: the first is a card; the second was posted on his website.

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This third one is in honour of today’s Solemnity of Mary:

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I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do.