Can you believe it's already day 6 of our Whimsical Musings WM#200 celebrations?!?
Today I'm so very happy to have sweet Lynnette join us as our Guest Designer.
As I sit here writing this, it is one year exactly to the day since I met Lynnette for real! We'd been friends for so long and when I made it across the ocean to NYC for the second time, we were determined to meet. Such a wonderful, sweet, kind person and I feel honoured to call her my friend. When she travelled to Germany on her way to Poland and spent three days here, we really cemented this friendship and I loved really getting to know her. She's loyal, funny, clever and talented. And so much more besides. I feel very grateful to have her on my "team" over here at Whimsical Musings and she has proved to be a wonderful support and someone to rely on for this blog, our other shared scrappy activities including the Counterfeit Kit Challenge and just because.
Please welcome her to this week's celebrations:
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It is so exciting to be here to
celebrate the 200th post of Whimsical Musings. Lisa always provides
such thoughtful and beautiful inspiration to use in our creative endeavors each
and every week. While re-visiting the many prompts, it felt like a walk down
memory lane...a chance to REUNITE with some familiar posts and some that I
still need to connect with. It seemed fitting to choose prompt #135
"Inspired by Reunions" for my layout to share with you today.
The family reunion I documented isn't one of those huge parties that one might think of when referring to a family reunion.
This one included a simple lunch between my cousin Cathy, my sister and me. It had been nearly 30 years since we had last seen or spoken to one another. There had been no hard feelings or any kind of disagreement, but just circumstances, distance and busy-ness that kept us apart. Long story short, once my Dad passed away and my mother remarried, the motivation to get together faded.
It was only after my trip to Poland this past summer that I really started to think about my Wiater heritage. This side of my family has the closest ties to Poland with my paternal grandmother and grandfather coming from Poland in the 1920's. My cousin Cathy grew up in the same house as Grandma Wiater so I thought she may have some stories that she could share. Grandma passed when I was only 7, so while I remember her, my memories are limited.
Love it or hate it, it was Facebook that helped me make the connection with her and she was thrilled to hear from me. We arranged a midway point to meet for lunch and included my sister in the plans. t was a lovely afternoon filled with memories, photos and tears. It felt so good to be reunited with her. There was a certain closeness felt, as if my grandparents and my father (who passed away when I was 6) were with us. We vowed that our next gathering would not be 30 years from now and that next time we MUST meet at a wonderful Polish restaurant in the area to celebrate our shared heritage. It was a beautiful autumn day and I'm so glad I didn't forget to get a photo of the 3 of us together.
Our reunion can be summed up by the note my cousin Cathy wrote in the Christmas card she sent to me..."getting together was a blessing of the year and I have you to thank."
Who Am I?
I'm a busy mom of 2 wonderful children and wife to a supportive and loving husband who makes candy for a living. It is a sweet life!
I'm a busy mom of 2 wonderful children and wife to a supportive and loving husband who makes candy for a living. It is a sweet life!
Even though it is sometimes hard to juggle it all, I love to scrapbook, decorate my home and cook (even though I don't like to admit it). I'm on the Design Team at Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog where I'm known for my staged kits each month. That candy making job of my husband's has its sweet advantages as it afforded my the opportunity to visit Lisa in Germany and the land of my heritage, Poland this past summer. Sweet blessings abound!
Find Lynnette on her blog, The Sassy Scrapper, here.
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How could you not be delighted with this wonderful lady? Such a sweet layout. Thanks Lynnette for joining in our special celebration and for helping out so much behind the scenes.
Just a little reminder to you all about the Whimsical Musings Flickr group here and the Whimsical Musings Facebook group here. Upload your creations to Flickr with the tags WM#XX and WM#200 or to Facebook in the album called "WM#200"! Blog comments all this week and uploads to either location will earn you entries to the prize draw for prizes which were featured earlier this week!
Check back tomorrow for more fun.
What a wonderful story behind your layout Lynnette! There's just something extra-special about the shared history of family - how great that you were able to reconnect and reminisce. This is a beautiful layout. I really like the two banners, one coming from the top and the other from the bottom. Beautiful colors too and a perfect quote about photos and memories.
ReplyDeleteAwww what a lovely story Lynnette - and how brave to not let 30 years become 35 and 40 and more - that would have been the easy option (and why it had been 30 in the first place I guess). Gorgeous page too - that inverse pennant is a great way to highlight the photo and create some symmetry.
ReplyDeleteI know how much that reunion meant to you. Your gorgeous layout is the perfect tribute to it. Can't go wrong with that collection. I spy a few familiar wood veneer leaves! Love you, scrap bestie!
ReplyDeleteLoved reading about you Lynnette. I never knew your husband makes candy. So wonderful that you and your sister could reunite with your cousin. Your LO is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful layout and a beautiful story to go with it :) The layout has so much great texture on it too :)
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to have a visit and a chance to "catch up" after so long!! Love all the wee details, as usual--you do exceptional work, Lynnette. The heart flair, twine, leaves/branches and flowers all help represent the growth such a visit would promote-- GREAT job using those as you honoured this reunion! Beautiful. You inspire me! xoxoxox
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful meeting for you, Lynnette, and I'm guessing that it must've added a feeling of completion for you...does that make sense? I hope you have many more reunions in the future. Your LO is one of those special ones as it tells such a heartwarming story and of course, is filled with so many cute scrapbook touches. I've always been a fan of your style.
ReplyDeleteA beautiful tribute to a renewed relationship. The banners ground the elements with perfect balance. The wood veneer leaves "falling" down the left give it movement. And surprise! I am going to see a cousin tomorrow. You have inspired me to make a layout about our relationship.
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