CPS #219

The amazing thing about technology is that it helps you be a part of events when you can't be there in person. I had intentions of going to my sister's graduation today, but with the 3 hour drive there and the 3 hour drive back and having to be in the office tomorrow, it would have been a really tiring day. Fortunately, the graduation ceremony was being broadcasted live on the internet, so I was able to enjoy the ceremony in my jammies.

The commencement speaker, Erik Weihenmayer, talked about facing adversity and going into the storms the life throws at us, instead of running away from them. I especially liked the analogy that he used to compare great people to alchemists.

You know, they can take the lead that life piles on top of them and they'll figure out a way to transform it into gold.

With an alchemist, they don't just do the traditional things that you hear about. They don't just deal well with adversity, they don't avoid it, they don't even overcome it as you hear so often.

These alchemists have figured out how to do something radically different. They've figured out how to seize hold of that storm of adversity that seems to swirl around us to harness its energy and use that energy to propel themselves forward to places that they never would have gone to in any other way.

With an alchemist you can throw them in the midst of a fierce competitive, uncertain environment, you can strip away their resources, you can throw roadblocks in front of them, and they'll still find a way to win. And I'd argue that they don't find a way to win despite adversity, they find a way to win because of it. I think if we want to learn, if we want to grow, if we want to strengthen great teams around us, if we want to innovate, if we want to create a whole new paradigm that the world follows, I think the way we harness those challenges in our lives is our greatest advantage.

Imagine while the world is digging in its heels and focused on surviving, you're out there using the energy behind this momentous occasion to drive forward, to make ground, to make an impact.

That's a pretty good quote, right? He also joked in the beginning of the ceremony that it seemed like people were more interested in his seeing eye dog than him. It is difficult to miss the dog, as he was a giant German shepherd.

I was earlier out in the crowd and somebody said, "That's the most amazing dog I've ever seen, man's best friend, what a noble creature." Then I was walking up the aisle and I think I heard him say, "Oh, by the way, that's our speaker, he climbed Mount Everest blind."

I'm used to taking a back seat to the dog.

While I was listening to the names being called out, I tackled CPS #219. I wanted to finally break into my DCWV Nana's Kitchen stack that I bought a few weeks ago. I loved the green paper, so I started with that and built the card from there. I decided to pair the green with yellow and red (yes, like a traffic light). I didn't have an oval die to match the sketch, but I did have a Nestabilities die that was a similar shape and hadn't gotten a ton of use recently. I love the bright colors and cheerfulness of the card and the extra dimension and sparkle of the gems.
Card Specs:
Ink: Colorbox chalk ink in Warm Green, Blackbird, Warm Red, Yellow Ochre.
Stamps: Fiskars- Friendship Garden (flowers), Fiskars- Petals From Scratch (sentiment)
Punch: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Fiskars Threading Waters border punch
Paper: Die Cuts with a View- Mango Frost, Nana's Kitchen
Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels 4
Other: Black Sharpie Ultra Fine Point marker

At Target today, I bought a new bottle of nail polish on a whim and did my nails after dinner tonight. Yep, they are yellow. Yep, I'm going to wear them to work tomorrow. Neener neener. Sally Hansen in Lightening. Can you tell that I'm ready for summer?