Friday Favorites

Welcome to Friday Favorites! Today I am sharing only one favorite from this week (actually from the weekend) because as they say in Steal Magnolias, "There's a story there." All the fun is taking place thanks to the link up from Andrea, Erika, and Narci! 

Here's my story:

What's in a name? Chances are you might be reading my name incorrectly. 

When I was a kid I would explain it like this "Car rhymes with Mar" and you put "in (-en) at the end". Then later on in college a fella' at a party said "OH Mar-en. Like the fish Marlin but the "L" swam away." Yeah. That's it. Whatever works for you, Dude. 

I used to hate when people mispronounced my name or gave me nickname to avoid saying my name incorrectly. But then I wonder if my Great Great Grandmother had the same issues? 

 My Great Great Grandmother raised 14 kids on this Danish farm. 

When I was growing up I was always hopeful searching the shop shelves that I would stumble across a plastic cup, toothbrush, pencil, or key-chain with my name. It took me moving to Europe to finally find a ceramic cup with "Maren" painted on the outside. You better believe at 29 years old I was still a tickled 7 year old back in that knick-knack shop from years ago.  

Last weekend when Husband and I were visiting the monastery in Ettal, Germany I ran across my name again! This time there was a German translation of the name "Maren" printed on a greeting card. It's not the best quality but I couldn't resist and bought it!

Here's a German translated excerpt:

 "She has a good imagination, 

can delegate well and 

loves socializing."

The Danish translation is:

"of the sea."

I used two coordinating pieces of scrapbook paper to matte the card and added it into a picture frame I had on hand. Voila! A personalized piece of artwork to hang over my desk. I love the way it turned out!

Okay, I lied. I said I was only sharing one favorite today but since we are here... 

On a recent shopping adventure I found these jars cheap, cheap, cheap. I just fell in love with the polka dot lids and the colors...simply perfect! It's a good thing these were the last three jars or I might have gone over board and bought more.  I have no idea what I am going to put inside but I sure am enjoying looking at them (even empty) on my counter. 

I hope everyone has a blessed weekend. Enjoy every second! Don't forget the Back to School Giveaway is ending in just hours from now! See the details here.

Make Life Beautiful,