Monday, April 29, 2013

Play on Little Children

Dan Dyer - "Play On Little Children" from Paste Magazine on Vimeo.

Brain Pickings which is a daily read for me offers up Literary Jukebox - a song and quote.  This is a song from it.

Sunday, April 28, 2013

52 Week Photo Project: Week 17

Michael and I had several opportunities for photos this week....not only the ones I am posting, but we had an outing to a cemetery where we took a walk and snapped a lot of photos.  These photos were taken at Riverbend Park in Palisade.  The bottom two are of Mt. Garfield which is a landmark we can see throughout Grand Junction.




Saturday, April 27, 2013

52 Lists - Week 16

I love to read. I often have several books on my nightstand.  I keep track of the books I read on Goodreads.com and love that I can have it on my phone and scan barcodes in. This was a hard list to not keeping adding more and more to. You can see the books I have read this year so far I have read 54.


Week 16 - Favorite Books
The Valkyries - Paulo Coehlo
The Pilgrimage - Paulo Coehlo
The Alchemist - Paulo Coehlo
Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
Outlander series - Diana Gabaldon
Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
The Gifts of Imperfection - Dr. Brene Brown
Life is a Verb - Patti Digh
Inner Excavation - Liz Lamoruex
Brave on the Rocks - Sabrina Ward Harrison
Return to Love - Marianne Williamson
The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams
New and Selected Poems, Vol. 1  - Mary Oliver
Home Comforts - Cheryl Mendelson
The Mermaid Chair - Susan Monk Kidd
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Four Agreements - Miguel Ruiz
PoemCrazy - Susan Wooldridge
Living the Creative Life - Rice Freeman-Zachery
Green Guide for Artists - Karen Michel
The Artists Way - Julia Cameron
Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg

Challenge: I will read...
A Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg - which I did start to read and decided I wasn't ready to read it although it looks like a good book just not a theme I want to read about right now.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

No excuses ... just do it ...

Some friends of mine growing up are having a tough time.

Kids that lived down the alley from us - one of the boys has cancer that has spread throughout his body.  He's currently in hospice where they are trying to make him as comfortable as he begins to pass onto the next leg of his Journey.  Reading the comments on Facebook has been tough.  I feel sadness for them all.

We take a lot of things for granted.

As busy as things have been in the last several months - I know I've lost track of things.  Dates going by, weeks running into one another - and before long it'll be summer.

That's why it's important to make the time to do special things.  For us - whether it's poetry dates or photography ... it's about making the invested time and allowing us to breathe in that moment.

...because we ultimately don't know what'll happen tomorrow - but it's our own fault if we don't make it count today, tomorrow and the days that follow.  We have it in our ability to do it ... and we need to stop making excuses for why we don't.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Sunday, April 21, 2013

52 Week Photo Project: Week 16

Michael had a job in Pueblo this past week and one night we were driving back from dinner when I spotted all these murals.  I didn't mention it that night as I thought maybe it was just graffiti.  But when we passed by it again the next day - I said something to him so he found a way to get me close so I could take some photos.  They were really amazing murals and glad I got a chance to see them. 








Saturday, April 20, 2013

52 Lists - Week 15

I have collected quotes for as long as I can remember. Just picking a handful for this list was really hard on me.  In this photo there are 3 journals from high school to college that are full of quotes I collected. Some I read now and shake my head why I put that in there and others I forgot about and thankful to find again.  I have a lot of quotes on my On the Inside board on Pinterest and also My Map board. I also have a tag on here for quotes I post to the blog.



Week 15 - Favorite Quotes

"He knew one of the women well, and had shared his universe with her. They had seen the same mountains, and the same trees, although each of them had seem them differently. She knew his weaknesses, his moments of hatred, of despair. Yet she was there at his side. They shared the same universe."   - Paulo Coelho, The Valkyries

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” - - Rumi

“Try to find pleasure in the speed that you're not used to. Changing the way you do routine things allows a new person to grow inside of you. But when all is said and done, you're the one who must decide how you handle it." - From Paulo Coelho's book The Pilgrimage

“When you open your heart and mind to new perceptions you are shown a whole new way to view your life. - Gabrielle Bernstein - Spirit Junkie

"Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

"You're imperfect, and you're wired for struggle, but you are worthy of love and belonging." ~Brené Brown

“A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you . . .Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question - Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no  use."  -- Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings
of Don Juan

“We have to choose joy and keep choosing it.” - Henri JM Nouwen

“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy-the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” - Brene Brown


Challenge: I will live out one of my quotes by....
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” - Brene Brown

One thing I am trying to focus on is accepting myself as I am.  Often I think I do give others more kindness than I give myself.  So this year I am trying to be gentle, kind and encouraging to myself as well as others.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for...
1. Michael starting to feel better....not great yet, but better.
2. a successful time in Pueblo
3. getting through the snow storm. We traveled through one to get to Pueblo - even though it is sunny and green now
4. a nice evening snapping photos with Michael
5. heading home tomorrow

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Boston

From the Poem Boston by Samantha Reynolds
"without the triumph they deserved
without the simplicity of tomorrow
without the trust that a sidewalk
won’t rupture and swallow them again"

The poem says what I had been thinking and feeling as I listened to the news yesterday. 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Sunday, April 14, 2013

52 Week Photo Project: Week 15

This is a photo I took and then used a program on the iPhone called Zitrr Camera to make it into a sketch.  It is of the check-in door of Radiology. Our week started off rocky with Michael making a trip to his regular doctor and then to check and make sure he didn't have a blood clot in his leg at Radiology in the hospital. He didn't thankfully, but we have spent a lot of time in doctors offices this week as his treatment was an antibiotic and he broke out from that so was back in the doctors office. So 2 trips to the doctor office and one to radiology this week. I know he is ready to heal and not be back in a doctor's office for a bit - even though he does have a follow up tomorrow.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

52 Lists: Week 14


As you will see from these lists I put artist in capital letters on both lists. The reason is that for always I have wanted to be an artist. Of course there were other flitting moments that  I thought about other jobs, but really always always I have wanted to be an artist and only an artist, but pushed it away for a multitude of reasons. Yes it is fun to dream of other things, but I am an artist and it took so long to speak those words out loud and mean them that I don't ever want to turn my back on it again. I am an artist.

Week 14 - List your Childhood & Current Dream Jobs
Childhood Dream Job:
ARTIST
Princess
Architect
Archaeologist
Interior Designer
Fashion Designer
Museum Curator
Graphic artist
Singer
Art Teacher
Social Worker

Current Dream Job:
ARTIST

Challenge: How can you integrate one of your dream jobs into your life right now? Keep working on art and finish art website.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Gratitude Friday

I am thankful for...
1. Michael going to the doctors this week (3 times plus a visit to Radiology) - it is one of the least favorite things for him, but I was very worried about him so thankful he went and is getting treated.
2. an easier night for him tonight than last
3. finding dye-free Benydrl today
4. chatting with a good friend this week. She has been in my thoughts and glad to get a chance to talk to her.
5. chatting with another good friend this week as she helped us out by looking at some photos of Michael's bug bit/rash and helping give him some relief before we could go to the doctors.
6. lemon poppy seed muffins - such an amazing treat
7. getting a chance to see family while in Denver
8. Pantry and freezer stocked - been a while since I did some stocking of supplies
9. meal planning and prep - I have done a lot of prep this week so that when it comes to making meals it should be easier on me.
10. Michael buying me the first season of Downton Abbey on DVD
11. being home although we leave again next week
12. pretty trees blooming for Spring

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Judgement

From Don't Let Anyone's Criticism or Judgment Define Who You Are on TinyBuddha:
"Ultimately, I realized that I felt insecure because I was carrying around the words and judgments I’d heard at different points in my life as if they were written into the code of my DNA."

I have done that for 45 years. Some judgement I have been able to let go, but some just linger and haunt me. But it is one thing I continually work on - letting them go.

Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Sarah Kay



I love TED...as I always discover talented, brilliant, amazing people through it.  Sarah Kay does two poems and both have that element I love about poetry....connection.  You hear a line and it says "you are not alone."    I am not sure I could ever do spoken word poetry, but I love it and love how it makes me feel...even when it is sad.  Again it is feeling that connection.

Monday, April 08, 2013

Sunday, April 07, 2013

52 Week Photo Project: Week 14


Michael and I have been traveling a lot for his work lately. We went to Breckenridge this past week. I snapped this photo while going through Glenwood Springs one of my favorite areas along I-70.  

Saturday, April 06, 2013

52 Lists - Week 13


Week 13 - List Things that You Want to Make
art - gifts - a happy life - connections - love, joy & compassion - wall art - prints and mixed media - home changes - painting walls, changing out hardware on cabinets - yard changes - container gardens - curtains for kitchen & dining room -  continue to make homemade cleaners - cookies to mail to friends - care packages for friends and family - a studio that inspires easily - a new recipe monthly - Big Initials for living room wall - take ordinary spoons and create art on them to hang in the kitchen - lotion - lists - doodles & hand lettering - doodle/draw on rocks

Challenge - This week I will make....Freezer smoothie packs

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

A Good Relationship

From TinyBuddha's FB status today: 
"Good relationships don't just happen. They take time, patience, and two people who truly want to be together." ~Unknown

A good life lesson and one I have learned over the years - good relationships just don't happen. I think we like to think that when you love someone - the relationship will just be magically connected together by love and make it a good relationship, but it takes more than love. It does need love - a lot of it, but time, patience and wanting to be together is really key too. I love spending time with Michael. He works from home so a lot of our time is spent together and when we aren't together - I miss him fiercely!  

Monday, April 01, 2013

National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month in April. Now that I am writing poetry - I read more of it too. I find out more about it and never would I have known it was National Poetry Month without it now being a passion.  So in the month of April going to be sharing links, bits and pieces and videos to some Poets I have discovered with my Poem Crazy Passion.

A few weeks ago I discovered Shane Koyczan.  He was on TED to do this poem about bullying. It is called To This Day and it is intense and amazing.  I cry every time I watch it.

Sweet Disposition