JUICY DETAILS

"One thing life has taught me: if you are interested, you never have to look for new interests. They come to you. When you are genuinely interested in one thing, it will always lead to something else."
Eleanor Roosevelt

Genuine interest is such a rarity these days...much like genuine, unabashed opinions, expressed candidly, without apology. Without judgement. Simply authentic passion about one's own feelings and opinions...

Thoughts on politics and religion awaken a sense of discomfort for many...but isn't this where the richness lies?

I am genuinely interested in expressive writing, candid art, exposed materials and manufacturing processes, the lost art of handwriting and letter writing, the soothing sound of old records, the smell of citrus, the warmth of stone in sun, the milling of cider, the pace of life beyond the urban sprawl...

What about you? What catches your eye, holds your attention and arouses your curiosity?

How do we find more time to lavish on these genuine interests?

Happy Birthday Mom!

You are an amazing, intelligent, resilient woman. Celebrate yourself today.

"Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

Janis Joplin

WINGS

Sending this one out to my sister who is in need of some wings.

I have been in that place - where faith seems elusive.

Where the very ground of what I knew and held to be the truth has fallen away from beneath me, to leave me vulnerable and exposed.

I wish I could offer a recipe for wings. Instead I offer my love and support...to rebuild your solid ground upon.

Change is constant.

It may not be today or even tomorrow but this raw feeling will change as well.

xo

CHANCES

"Chance is powerful. Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be a fish."
OVID

In delightfully unexpected little ways that will shift my path for many days and years to come. Each choice I make brings me closer to what I desire.


Where will you take your chances today?

PLAYING FAVORITES

Ahhhhhh, the joy and simplicity of childhood...



Life at this time is reduced to a series of tangible favorites. Clearly defined and seemingly unchangeable.

Children often speak in these terms. As adults we loose this ability, this sense of clarity in general terms.

Once upon a time, over 5 years ago, I was nonchalantly asked what my favorite color was. Haphazardly I responded "purple." For 5 years that answer has haunted me...

Flash to today:

"What's your favorite color?" she asks again.

In my grown-up voice I fire back, "Color of what, exactly? To wear? To paint my bedroom?"

In my mind context is everything. Where would this color be? What would it be paired with? I need more information.

Give me more...in an effort to somehow justify or rationalize my color choice

"Your favorite animal?" she inquires.

"For what purpose? To cuddle, to carry me across the desert, to protect me?" I query.

"Just pick an animal, you know, that you like." she calmly encourages (just a hint of patient understanding in her voice).

"An action verb." she insists, "like run, jump, dance..." she lists a few examples in case I need a refresher course on grammatical terms.

"Leap." I carelessly respond.

I can play. It's like MadLibs. No consequences. I hope...

If the answers didn't matter, if there were no consequences and no one to judge your responses, what would YOUR favorites be?

Is there a difference between these answers and your grown-up mind's thoughtful, calculated response?

CLARITY

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” Thomas J. Peters
________________________________________



I love this quote for its reminder to find gratitude in the smallest places... and to build the foundation for my day upon those little things.

Where my focus lies reflects not only my strengths but also my greatest weaknesses and fears.

Today my ONE Thing is CLARITY.

How can I create a sense of transparency and allow for truth and honesty in all that I do and say today?

How about you? What does clarity mean in your life?

YIELD FOR STRENGTH

“Seeing into darkness is clarity
Knowing how to yield is strength.” Lao Tse

How has your yielding created a sense of strength?

COMMENCE LIVING

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting."

Henry David Thoreau

Sometimes I the words I read inspire me to re-evaluate the seemingly small daily choices that I make.

Even a work of fiction can impart a sense of magic and wonder...of possibility.

What do you read that inspires you to live your best life?

HINT

"A discerning eye needs only a hint... and understatement leaves the imagination free to build its own elaborations."
Russell Page


The stark, clarity of the blatant or the uncertain elegance of the subtle...
exposed or slightly hidden...
knowing or imagining...

Which do you prefer?

CELEBRATE

EACH DAY

I am filled with anticipation...

What will today bring YOU?!

PLACE HOLDER

What occupies the space between your thoughts?

WALKING AWAY

When do you find yourself needing to walk away?

Today my ONE Thing is gratitude.

Life is truly unexpected and miraculous! I am so truly grateful for the ability to sit still, talk and listen with a dear friend tonight. I am grateful for the ability to forgive each other, to move forward together on whatever path we choose and to have the strength to walk away. It feels really good to have come so far...
Thank you:)for your honesty, your willingness in the face of great discomfort and your commitment to going with ALL of your heart.

"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." Confucius

xo

CONFESS

“Confess to yourself in the deepest hour of the night whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. Dig deep into your heart, where the answer spreads its roots in your being, and ask yourself solemnly, Must I write?”
Rainer Maria Rilke

What would you rather die for than be forbidden to do?


Afterthought:
I found this quote and it so sums up exactly how I feel about my ability to write and communicate:

"One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter."
James Earl Jones

TEAMS

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
Joanne Kathleen Rowling (author Harry Potter)

Tonight I enjoyed a lovely guilty pleasure - Twilight Saga Eclipse.

I left behind the duties of my day and escaped to drinks, appetizers and the movies with a dear friend. Our conversation spanned many areas of our lives and landed, of course, just as the previews were concluding on THE question: which team are you?

And for once I had the perfect answer (kudos to Kate:)

I am officially team Why Do I Have to Choose?! Honestly, I deserve a real,capable, 360 degree man who is able and willing to discuss literature and design, complete basic home repairs and share his feelings all without breaking a sweat. I don't need a teenage actor portraying a wolf or a vampire or drama over who's more handsome or more breathtaking or who's better at saving the day.

Edward or Jacob?

Why do I need to choose?

Although I am completely willing to shell out $12.50 to spend a few hours of my time daydreaming at the movies...

I am team "Why do I have to choose?!"

“Our choices in life are made according to our sense of our own worth”
Kaylan Pickford

How about you, who do YOU choose?

BON VACANCE

My mind reels with the possibilities! 5 days. No responsibilities. No structure to my time.

Certainly there is a feeling of longing and absence. Simultaneously there is an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the ability to step away and be..."independent".

Like the elf who wants to be a dentist in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, my mouth is learning to form this very foreign-sounding word. In-de-pen-dent.

My days are anchored by a familiar routine for which I am truly grateful. I am blessed with an amazing daughter. We are both experimenting with this new-found independence!

Summer sleep-away camp.

Today my one thing is: GRACE.

I will savour the slow and beautiful in all that I say and do.
How can I define the word grace in how I choose to live today?

I'm curious - what does GRACE mean to you?

ONE Thing

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!"
Og Mandino

Deliberate action.

My golf coach reminds me that once I start to swing just think of ONE thing...

Plan, strategize, put everything in place and then once you're there just think - what's my one thing right now?

One thing.

Right now my one thing is typing this blog post.

When I'm finished my one thing will be sharing the end of this day with my family.

In this moment, what is your ONE thing?

POSTCARDS

I am enjoying blissful day dreams of recent sweltering summer days...cold ocean swims and bare skin nestled into warm sand or against scorching pool tiles...



This chilly, drizzly July weather is good for crafting and letter writing...shrinky dinks and postcards to far away places all happened today.

I wrote a special someone a stack of sleep-away camp letters and postcards today. Hard to believe!

I recall my father writing long letters to me in college and paper-clipping articles from the Wall Street Journal against their yellow legal pad pages. His precise, fountain pen print was unmistakable. He took the time hand-select intriguing stamps. At the time, it was a pleasure to receive mail, of any sort. But I must admit that I rarely made the time to write back to his considerate correspondence.

I get it now...I am hoping for a stack of postcards in return next week...I'll even stop by the Post Office to hand-pick some playful stamps.

And yes, there will be a care package!!! Summer camp is so...super:)

How often do you check your mail box? Do you ever get anything good anymore via snail mail?!

I read about this incentive project to encourage letter writing called Vive La Snail Mail on the Shutter Sisters site. Check it out if you're like me and LOVE to find your actual mail box full!

MARCHING

I have a new-found fascination with marching bands...

There is something so enthusiastic and proud about this summer tradition.

SUMMER TRADITIONS

Thought I'd share a glimpse of our weekend...Coronado Fourth of July parade...Part 1.
ENJOY!

BLOOMING MOST RECKLESSLY

"Everything is blooming most recklessly;
if it were voices instead of colors,
there would be an unbelievable shrieking
into the heart of the night."

Rainer Maria Rilke

CREASES AND FOLDS

"I am too alone in the world, and yet not alone enough
to make every hour holy.

I am too small in the world, and yet not tiny enough
just to stand before you like a thing,
dark and shrewd.

I want my will, and I want to be with my will
as it moves towards deed;

and in those quiet, somehow hesitating times,
when something is approaching,

I want to be with those who are wise
or else alone.

I want always to be a mirror that reflects your whole being,
and never to be too blind or too old
to hold your heavy, swaying image.

I want to unfold.

Nowhere do I want to remain folded,
because where I am bent and folded, there I am a lie.

And I want my meaning
true for you.

I want to describe myself
like a painting that I studied
closely for a long, long time,
like a word I finally understood,
like the pitcher of water I use every day ,
like the face of my mother,
like a ship
that carried me
through the deadliest storm of all."

Rainer Maria Rilke

I love Rilke's ability to create these stark visual images with his words. A recent book wove German poetry into it's narrative...what a lovely reminder of its beauty and sadness.

In the places where I am folded I am a lie...like the crease of well-read letters...the stories we tell ourselves and others to get through the day.

I am grateful for the beauty of these words, the company of wise people, the truth that I know to be myself and the courage to write a very difficult letter.

I SCREAM

Happy early 4th of July!



ENJOY!

STILLNESS

“Stand still. The trees ahead and bush beside you are not lost.”
Albert Einstein





Yesterday I had the opportunity to walk and stare up at the trees, leaves and sky over head...here I found some stillness.

Within the chatter of minds and the busy-ness of our days it is sometimes very challenging to find even a moment of peace, quiet, stillness. Even when the noises of our outer world dies down to a mumble, this only seems to create an opportunity for our mind's internal volume to rise and fill the void.

Does this ever happen to you? In the dead of night, in the eery silence of our urban landscape, my thoughts find their purchase and take hold.

For many years I tried to create stillness by sitting quietly...completely impossible for me! The feeling is similar to that of holding a hummingbird in one's hands. The bird would immediately resist, flap its wings and restlessly try to get away. Much like my mind when I TRY to sit and be still.

Now I prepare for stillness, accept the cracks in my inner quiet where noise seeps in and surrender to some of the imperfection inherent in my silence and stillness...

There are few times when all is still and quiet. Often my stillness follows periods of intense exertion - after a long run, at the end of a rigorous hike, post yoga class. I've learned that while I move my mind processes, digests, transforms thought into movement and somehow in the process achieves a semblance of stillness. This stillness is a feeling that's similar to diving under water - everything becomes suddenly lighter in weight, quieter, dampened...

Recently long walks and a few buckets of balls at the driving range create a balanced stillness in my life.

“One's action ought to come out of an achieved stillness: not to be mere rushing on.”
D.H. Lawrence

What does stillness feel like for you? What brings it?

SUMMERTIME

Picture summer...








In my memories summers are filled with rolling green lawns, chatty cicadas and mutant grasshoppers, muddy creeks perfect for wading, distant whistles of soccer games, dark thunder clouds and tornado warnings, heat rising from asphalt, endless games of hide-and-seek, cotton covered yards, suicide slushees and grilled cheese sandwiches dipped in ketchup, whole weeks spent pool-side with friends, the smell of suntan lotion and grease...

Colorado summers. Life in urban So Cal is soooo different!

Today I am grateful for a bucket of balls and my daughter, an opportunity to play at the pool and neighborhood ice cream stores followed by swings...

What does your summer look like?!