When I started my "Half-Baked and Firefly Free" blog one year ago today, I did so on a sort of whim, hoping that I would be able to be more discplined with my computer and keyboard than I was in keeping a written family journal. One year later, it is amazing to look back at hundreds of posts documenting and celebrating the ups, downs, and everyday moments of our lives. What a journey this has been, one that I have found incredible rewarding and worth every moment of time invested. The photos in the collage above are a mere glimpse of what this year has involved. Through this blogging adventure, I have been able to stay connected with family and friends, I have met new friends, and I have been able to share my art and thoughts with people across the globe. I find that utterly and amazingly humbling.
As I launch into my second year of blogging, I wanted to make a few changes. The most significant change is that I wanted to select a title that was simpler and more reflective of what this blog is all about. As I reflected on our lives, my mind kept coming back to the idea of the "table." In our family, as it is in many homes, it seems like most of our most fundamental activities center around our table. The table is where we share meals, where we discuss important issues, where we share the highs and lows of our day, where project get done, where the kids draw and paint and create.....it represents the heart of our home. It stands for connection. For nurturing. For heart. My scrap studio table is where my creative ideas take shape and come to life......where paper and paint and glitter and fabric and thread and ink and so many other things come together to document our lives. The table is where the fabric of life is made and shared.
And so, I have renamed this blog "Table Scraps" to communicate what this blog is all about. It is a place where I connect with family and friends (new and old). Where I share the highs and lows of our everday. Where I create and hopefully inspire creativity in others. Where I connect and discuss and share my thoughts on important and sometimes just fun topics. This blog is a metaphor for our lives, and I hope that you enjoy the changes that I have made. It is my hope that you will "pull up a chair" often to share with us in this amazing journey that God has called us to, and that somehow the contents of this blog may inspire or encourage you and help you to somehow see and experience God more fully.
To celebrate my first year and to launch "Table Scraps," I have put together a package of scrapping goodness.....lots of fun things to inspire all you scrappers out there! To be entered into the random drawing, just leave a comment below telling me some of the favorite things that happen around your table....the winner will be drawn in the morning, and the goodies will be on their way to you......just a glimpse...the package includes a brand-new full set of 3-inch acrylic Autumn Leaves alphabet stamps, so you won't want to miss this one! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the experience.
27 comments:
My favorite moments happen around our table. We play Cranium.....have long conversations with the kids, we craft together, and we keep each other company while cooking.
I don't know what I'd do with out my table!
Nicole, I love your blog!!!! I so have it bookmarked now!!!
My favorite moments that happen around a table, is actually the table at my parents house!! (Mine is just used to hold clean laundry most of the time!) I have so many wonderful memories around the table, we sit as a family just to catch up, we have holiday dinners, we play a lot of cards (and cranium too)!! The table is a place where my immediate family have laughed (sometimes even so hard that "someone" falls off a chair), we've cried, we've shared so much!! No matter how old I get there will always be wonderful memories that have begun just sitting around Mom's table!!
Thanks for such a great question!!
Lori
Love your new blog! I'e been trying to click on your old one and it kept saying ERROR. So glad i've found this one!!
Our table has a history, its been passed down from my husbands grandparents. The oak is still in great shape, but shows some of the wear and tear from the previous owners. Lots of Italian meals have been shared by not only us, but Grandparents/Uncles/Aunts and people who are no longer with us.
We spend time eating/talking/praying as a family. Teaching our son how to write his name, creating fun shapes with playdoh, writing cards and letters to our families. Normally the table serves the purpose of the daily mail findings and other "collections" of things.
In the fall it has apples, pumpkins, and a big wooden bowl. At Christmas it holds the big wooden bowl along with our friends and family's Christmas cards and in the spring, normally the wooden bowl is there again with some fun spring flowers in it.
Our table is the center of our home. The best place to be!!!
What a great topic!
~Heather
Hi Nicole, I love your blog! Checking back here, that's for sure!
My favorite moment around the table, is at my granparents house! I love it when my whole family gathers around for chrsitmas dinners, sunday dinners, birthday parties and coffee and cake:)
We go along so well, and have all sorts to talk about. There is always laughter and joy in that house, and has been as long as I can remember! And I hope I can enjoy happiness there for many many years to come:)
xxoo
Mari
Happy Blog Birthday to you....
What a great idea for your new title.
Let me tell you about my kitchen table. It is a huge white Martha Stewart table I bought at K-Mart. I fell in love with it. My BF said it was too big for the kitchen but I had to have it & I still love it... Poor Martha would cringe if she saw how much stuff is on this table. It is where we dump our keys, bags, mail, etc, etc. when we come home.
It is where we eat our meals and play cards. It is where my DS does homework. I love to sit there and chop carrots & onions, etc for our meals.
Although it is far from the Picture Perfect tables that Martha sets, I am sure if she knew how much LOVE is around this table she would agree that our messy table is a "Very GOOD THING".
Maria
Happy blog-anniversary! LOVE your post.. it's just beautiful!
The table at my parents is where we shared our meals, talked about our day, where I did my homework, my school artwork and projects, where my mom and dad at times sat there with me to help me through the difficult assignments, where I fell asleep on my books, where my aunts and uncles and my grandparents used to play cards, where we shared birthdays, Chinese New Year and Christmas family dinners, where my parents taught us to play gin rummy.. looking back.. so many things did happen at that table.
Thanks for the question.. I've never really thought about the significance of a table.
Happy Birthday! I think your blog is awesome!! Congrats!
We talk about our 'favorite thing of the day' around our dinner table. Sometimes that opens up discussion for the 'not so favorite things too!' Which is good. It gives us a chance to connect with our three kiddos!
Hi Nicole!
I have to admit being a lurker at your blog. :) You are definitely a gifted writer.
Our table holds a myriad of memories. When we were first married it was a table for two. Then as the boys joined us we added one leaf, then two. And it has always stayed that way.
Our table is always full. We have been blessed with a bounty of food to share and people to share it with. We can always squeeze in another chair and I love that the boys always feel free to invite people in......even at mealtime......even without asking........even if we really don't have enough or are having leftovers. Someone it always works.
Thanks for making me think of all the times I've cleaned the playdough and/or markers from the table. For all the frosting that oozed over the edge of the Christmas cut out cookies as we frosted them. For the many games that have been played around it. For the times when my second son disappeared at almost every meal as he leaned too far over in his booster seat and tipped over. Loads and loads of sweet memories.
Happy blog day to you!
My table is the table where I scrapbook, while a statue of a boedda is beaming down on me and my cuddly rabbit is sleeping at my feet!! How lovely is that :)
Good luck to you!
we used to have a small kitchen table in a nook in the kitchen. we would come home every day from school and all four of us would eat together.
every night my mom would insist that we share the "best and the worst" of the day. usually they were silly little things and we groaned every time she asked ('cause she made us answer!) but now that i think of it, it really means so much that she took such a strong interest in us. :)
My favorite time around our table is when Dan and I are just hanging out playing Rummy or paying bills. Of course I'm kidding about the bills! Love the new site. Remember blood is thicker than water.......pick me pick me pick me pick me pick me pick me. Get the message :)
I love how the new blog looks, very nice!
Lately, b/c my husband has to work so late into the evening, it's a special event to eat with him, so that is really my favorite moment, when we are all together, laughing and telling stories. It really makes my day:)
Sonja
hi & congrats on your blog-a-versary!
favorite thing around the table...time to pause and not move, to ask how each other's day was and a chance to connect.
love your blog banner.
my favorite table moment is when i go home. my dad always has some sort of sports game on the tv. after we finish dinner mom will go do something else, but my dad and i will sit around and watch the game and hang out. we don't always talk sports, but its wonderful just me and my dad time.
Hope you have another fun year of blogging and creating! =) I really like the inew name "table scraps". I can visualize some great logos!
Great question and blog...I've tagged you into my del.icio.us account!
Happy Blog Birthday-what a cool idea.
My current table is my scrapbook/craft nook, but like others who have answered, I always enjoyed the family dinner time growing up. We ate, played games, homework and my dad even taught me how to play poker (using matchbooks only of course!) around our table.
I love the Nick @ Nite "Family table" ads - it is truly a place of fun and fellowship for our family. We still have Sunday dinner st my mom's most Sundays after church.
How blessed I am!
Thanks for the reminder. =D
I can share your thoughts. Indeed when we look back on the stuffs we blogged, we have documented so much of the little and big things in our lives. Amazing. And these can be turned into precious scrapbooking pages as well. Congrats on your 1st year anni on blogging.
Happy 1st birthday blog day. I just have to have the news on when we are at the table. All the time news. Mostly my table is covered with stuff too. I am blessed to have 2 tables and the second definately has all my scrapbooking stuff on it. I am glad to find your blog.
this is a beautiful blog, great job!
faves around my table are my sweet girls and hubby:)
wow. Happy Blog Birthday!
my favourite things that happen around my table... that is scrapbooking! I also like dinning with my family on the same table. It actually draw everyone together.
wow. Happy Blog Birthday!
my favourite things that happen around my table... that is scrapbooking! I also like dinning with my family on the same table. It actually draw everyone together.
The favorite events around our table is sharing news, which today was extra special good news as it looks like 6 months from now we have someone new to be scrapbooking about. It is supposed to be a secret but I am so excited !
Happy Blog Birthday!
Playing cards or board games and laughing like there is no tomorrow.
good times
My table:
scrapping
dinner
family
kids
holidays
celebrating
prayers
nostalgics
so he is used very well.great blog!!!
what a great qquestion - and i really like the new name you have for your blog. my table was handmade by my dad, who is a fantastic wood worker. we went to antique stores and got books from the library to help us design it.
since i was just finishing college when he got to building it, we decided it needed to be portable and easily made bigger or smaller. we decided on a gate-leg design where you can put the sides up to make room for more or put them down if i was living in a place that didn't have much room.
the table top is made from the stair risers in the school where my dad used to work. when they decided to tear it down they had an auction and he bought a bunch of the oak from the school. So my table is especially meaningful to me.
it has scratches in it, but as the renowned wood worker george nakamura has said - don't refinish that because that is evidence of your life. so it will continue to be used and passed down through the generations, as a sort of "living" heirloom.
thanks for asking about my table, i think i should probably make a page about it now!
angie
Happy blog bday to YOU.
The table! It is used for talking, appetizing, scrapin, discussing, working with my laptop and changing my dog into her clothes! :) Nan
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