Stepping Away from the Edge

Soul Food

Earlier this week, I read dear Jane's post about having flowers at her desk. . . and how she buys them with her groceries at the store.  Because flowers are food, says Jane.  Food for the eyes and the spirit.

Jane's words have been hanging with me all week.

Because she is absolutely right.

Flowers are food for my soul.

So yesterday, when I stopped in at the grocery for my dinner ingredients, I paused first at the flower stand and grabbed a lovely little bouquet of pink tulips.

I grabbed a few of my small vases and my snippers . . . and went to work.

In moments, I had 3 small vases of fresh, happy tulips.  I stuck 'em here and there, in my most-frequented areas of the house.  Today - and through the weekend - wherever I look. . .

I'll have access to my lovely tulips . . .

and I'll feel nourished.

Soul food!

(Thanks, Jane.)

Garden Buddha: Harbinger of Spring

As the snow continues to fall, Garden Buddha whispers to me.

It is coming.

Be patient.

(And I believe him.)

One Little Word Wednesday

Last month, our assignment for One Little Word was to create a "vision board" inspired by our word.   A "vision board" is, essentially, a visual intention -- a collection of images and words of what you'd like to invite into your life.

I have created many "vision boards" over the years -- in many forms.  Scrapbook collections of images and phrases I particularly like.  Bulletin boards of inspiring photos and quotes.  Collages of ideas.  (Before there was Pinterest. . . there were "vision boards!")

I had a great time with this project.  I gathered some magazines and my scissors, and I let the images and words shout out at me.  Then I mod-podged it all onto a 16 x 20 canvas from Michaels. 

Here's what I ended up with (click the photo to see it even bigger):

The process was therapeutic.  The just-looking (not reading).  The cutting out.  The deciding.  The gluing-it-down.

I loved the whole "old-school" nature of the project.

And I love what surfaced in all that cutting and pasting.

SURPRISE!

Dirty Little Secret

. . . because sometimes it's just a good idea to Come Clean. . .

I love jewelry.  I have a giant, standing jewelry case in my room.

And because I am Alway in a Hurry, and because I am Always Looking for the Right Earring, my jewelry case tends to be . . .

a bit of a mess.

Let's rephrase that.

A JUMBLED mess!

(And, as you might notice, it's really the TOP and most-accessible section that is the Real Problem here.  I tend to ignore the drawers, and pile everything in the top section when I am Always in a Hurry.)

Last weekend, things had reached a frustrating, Critical Point in the jewelry selection department.  I decided to Do Something About It.

I cleaned house.

I sorted.  I thinned out.  I organized.

So. Much. Better.

I found things I hadn't even remembered I had!  I found loose buttons.  I found a missing, beloved earring.  I found my high school class ring.  And my Tri-Delt pin.  Amazing things.

I even found enough change for a cup of coffee!

Any guesses how long this will last?

Resolutions

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness.  I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art - write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can.  And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."  -- Neil Gaiman

When I saw that quote flying around on Facebook yesterday, I realized . . . I just couldn't say it any better.  As he so often does, Neil Gaiman has inspired.  He has given me my motto for 2013.

Surprise yourself.

Indeed.

As for the rest of my New Year's resolutions:

• Listen
• Support
• Act
• Consider
• Risk
• Try
• Reach
• Stretch
• Move
• Offer
• Plan
• Grow
• Rest
• Document

So, let it begin!

(Good madness.  Don't you just love it?)

 

The Pull of September

I have always loved September.

When I was a little girl, I loved school.  In fact, the first day of school was right up there with Christmas Day for me.  (That -  and my family's annual trip to the Kiddie Land amusement park.)  Big excitement!  It was all so fresh . . . and new! 

I loved summertime, too. . . don't get me wrong.  But by the time the end of August rolled around, I was ready for the NEW and the CHANGE that September represented.  I was ready for structure.  I was ready for school.  I was ready to get to work!

Come September, I had a new teacher and a new grade and a new classroom.  I got new shoes and a new lunchbox and some new dresses.  Best of all . . . I got new school supplies.  I loved buying - and then organizing - my new school supplies.  Crayons.  Big Chief pads.  Pencils.  A big eraser.  A ruler.  A new pencil box.

The academic calendar -- September through May with a restorative break for the summer - has resonated with me since first grade.  Even when I was out of school (finally. . .) and working (before I had kids on their own academic calendar), I felt that Pull of September!  For me, September seems to be the most appropriate time to launch new goals and plans and resolutions.  I understand the whole New Year's thing. . . the turning over of the annual calendar and the fresh January feeling that comes with it.  But. . . it's still the middle of winter.  Nothing is changing, really.  Except the number of the year.

So. . . for me, September = Fresh Start.

Or. . . it DID.

Until 2008.

In 2008, September started to represent something altogether different for me.  It was in September 2008 that my cancer nightmare grabbed hold and wouldn't let go.  It was in September 2008 that I entered the horrible period when I knew that something was terribly wrong with me.  But I didn't know what . . . yet.  But words like. . .biopsy . . .  and malignant . . . and lymphoma . . .  were in the air.

September 2008 . . . offered no diagnosis.  No idea of possible treatment options.  No doctor.  No notion of extent or prognosis.  (That all came in October.)  Just the awful. . .

freefall

bottom-of-the-world-dropping-out

clawing at the air for answers

kind of agony.  Through all of September.  It didn't feel like a Fresh Start.  It felt like a nightmare.

In the Septembers that have followed . . . 2009, 2010, 2011 . . . I've slowly come back around.  Those first couple of Septembers were pretty tough.  I went to The Edge.  I plunged over.

Last year, I was much better.

And this year?  2012?  Four years later?

I'm feeling the Pull of September in a very strong way.  A good way.  This year, I feel like dancing at The Edge.

So I bought myself a new box of crayons. 

Just to open them up and see their colorful, fresh points . . . all lined up in the box.  

My new crayons . . . are a symbol of . . .

new beginnings

a time to set goals

an opportunity to re-group and prepare myself for the next nine months

life . . . moving forward

For the first time in a few years . . . September = Fresh Start!

Again!

31 Things: Good Morning

Today, I'm sharing "Day Two" of my "31 Things" project.  As you can see, I've decided to forego the scrapbooking element . . . replacing it with a song from the Soundtrack of My Life instead.  At some point, I plan to post all 31 entries as a separate "pages" feature to this blog.  For the time being, I'll just share a post now and again.

DAY TWO: MORNING

Soundrack:  I Say a Little Prayer (Aretha Franklin)

 

My morning routine. . . is very routine.  While the time I wake up – and the intensity of the getting-up-and-out activity level – varies depending on what my day holds, it is, essentially, the same routine each day.  (I can get completely ready to leave the house in less than a half hour if I need to, but I usually stretch things out for longer than that.)

 

(The view from my bed when I first wake up.  We live high on a hill, so I never bother with the blinds.  I like to wake up to the sunshine.)

What do I do. . . every morning?

• I wake with my alarm (which sounds much like the warning system at a nuclear facility, I’m afraid. . . it’s the only thing that works to get me going!); I don't mind the being up . . . but I  have a hard time with the getting up.

• After a “snooze bar” (or two), I get up an immediately brush my teeth (because I really hate the way my mouth tastes when I wake up).

• I let Jenny out and feed her (unless Tom is up before me, and then he takes care of that one).

• Coffee!  Two cups. . . with a dollop of cream.

• Then I hit the shower,

• dry my hair; do my make-up, and get dressed.

• I make my bed every day, without fail.  I really hate having an unmade bed.

• Eat breakfast . . . same old cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds) every single day. . . with a handful of dried cherries and a sliced banana.  (I share the banana with Jenny.)

And then. . . I’m off!  For whatever the day brings!

31 Things: Jewelry

Today, I'm sharing "Day One" of my "31 Things" project.  As you can see, I've decided to forego the scrapbooking element . . . replacing it with a song from the Soundtrack of My Life instead.  At some point, I plan to post all 31 entries as a separate "pages" feature to this blog.  For the time being, I'll just share a post now and again.

DAY ONE:  JEWELRY

Soundrack:  Peaceful Easy Feeling (The Eagles)

 

I love jewelry.  I always have.  Some of my earliest memories . . . are of my mom’s jewelry.  Clip-on earrings.  Shiny brooches.  Matching necklace-and-bracelet sets.  I used to love it when she would let me “play” with her jewelry box. . . when she would show me different pieces and tell me their stories.

I had my own jewelry box as a girl.  It was one of those little boxes with a music-box ballerina that turned and played a little song when you opened it.  I loved it.  I thought it was so special.  I remember being intrigued with just when that ballerina would “shut off.”  I used to try to close the box very, very slowly while peeking inside to see if I could see just when she stopped.  Then I would open it really, really quickly to see if I could trick her into a slow start.   I kept my own special jewelry in there.   I had a monogram “K” pin made of Genuine Redwood.  And a Santa Claus Pin with a light-up red nose.  A few little-girl lockets and bracelets.  A charm bracelet.  And a few other oddments that I had picked up here and there.  I loved all of my jewelry!

As I got older – probably fifth grade or so – girls around me started to get their ears pierced.  I so wanted pierced ears!  There was a girl in my fifth grade class. . . her name was Linda, and she was very quiet.  We weren’t really friends, but her desk was near mine.  I remember that she had very, very blond hair – and pierced ears.  It all seemed so exotic to me, then!  Pierced ears!  Linda wore these little mouse earrings with blue jewel eyes.  I coveted those mice!  I wanted them!  I begged to have my ears pierced.

But my parents said NO.

As I grew a bit older, my desire for pierced ears grew stronger.  By seventh grade, EVERYone had pierced ears.  Absolutely EVERYone.  (Really!)  I was obsessed!  I wanted to wear big hoops and dangling, filigree earrings that would hang down to my shoulders!  (Gone were the days of cute little mice earrings.)  Whenever I shopped, I spent all my time admiring the earrings.  All of my friends exchanged earrings for birthday and Christmas gifts.  I was so left out!  I begged.   

But my parents said NO.

I was too chicken to pierce my ears myself, and my friends weren’t daring enough to do it for me, either.  So you know what I did?  I pretended to have pierced ears!  I collected . . . pairs of things.  Buttons.  Beads.  Pieces of wire.  And I glued them to my ears!!!!!  One of my friends even gave me broken earrings from her collection to help me with my ruse!  Every morning before school (in secret, of course), I used Elmer’s Glue to glue junk on my ear lobes!  It was tedious.  It was ridiculous.  But I achieved the look I wanted!

Ultimately, my mom caught me.  She was irritated with me. . . and she thought I was silly. . but she took pity on me.  She decided that I must really, really want my ears pierced if I was desperate enough to glue crap on my ears every morning.   She relented, and I got my ears pierced for my 14^th birthday. 

Finally!

All these years later, I still love jewelry.  I have a great big stand-on-the-floor jewelry box (sadly, no ballerina!) full of all kinds of jewelry-treasures.  (Although I don’t have my monogram “K” made from Genuine Redwood any more, or the light-up Santa Claus pin, I do still have several pieces of jewelry from my old ballerina jewelry box still lurking about!)

Every day, I wear my wedding ring . . . and 2 pairs of earrings (because I love my pierced ears so much I got them double-pierced in college).  I often wear a bracelet (or two or three), and sometimes a necklace.  Nothing special, really.  But things I love!

(And, just for the record, I let my own daughter get her ears pierced the first time she asked – when she was about 10 or 11!)

 

On Everyday-Ness

When I was young, it seems I was always waiting for . . . something.  The Next Big Event or Special Day or Turning Point that would mark my life and make it "special."  I was totally bored by the ho-hum, everyday cadence of my life.  I wanted Big Things. 

As I grew older, I started to get it.  I began to get a glimpse of what was actually behind all those "life-is-a-journey-not-a-destination" quotes and inspirational posters.  That Special Days . . . were special, sure.  But they weren't . . . everything.

And then I got cancer.

All I wanted, then, was Everyday-ness.

I craved the ordinary, "normal" pace and cadence of life.  I wanted to feel a breeze and drink some wine on my patio and pet my dog and see movies with my husband.  I wanted to talk to my mom on the phone and send cards to my sister and hug my kids and cook a plain, old, ordinary dinner.  I wanted to meet my friends for coffee and sit through committee meetings and sort the mail and pull weeds.  I wanted to put gas in my car and run errands and vacuum my floor and watch tv. 

Yes.  That kind of excitement. 

Sometimes, you have to have the absolute wonder of Everyday-ness threatened. . . to completely appreciate its value and loveliness.  Or . . . that's how it worked for me.

Back in January, in that flurry of goal-making so common to a fresh, new year, I stated that I wanted to "Celebrate the Ordinary" as one of my annual goals.  I try to do this every day.  I really do!  But I was looking for a way to do this with more intention.  Then, a while ago, I saw a new online class being offered by Big Picture Classes called  31 Things. 

31 Things . . . is a class designed to to celebrate the everyday-ness, right now, right here . . . through 31 daily writing and photography prompts.  It's a class designed to help document, understand, and celebrate the routine, daily stuff of life. 

When I read about the class, it seemed like a perfect fit for me!  Not only did I find the content and the structure appealing, but the timing actually works perfectly -- tucked neatly between the end of a very busy work time and my upcoming travels.  I signed up right away!

Day One started yesterday.

So now. . . I'm immersed in 31 Things.  I'm still figuring out how I'll share the process on my blog.  I know I will.  I'm just not sure in what format*. 

Stay tuned!

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*There is also a scrapbooking component to the class.  One thing I know for sure . . . I am not a scrapbook kind of gal!  Although I'm often inspired by the scrapbook journals other people put together, I have found that the scrapbook format does not work for me.  Rather than becoming an extension of expression, scrapbooking becomes a barrier for me!  So, I will NOT be participating in the scrapbooking element of 31 Things.  Just sayin'.

 

 

Pin-Up Girl

When it comes to keeping track of things. . . I'm a pin-up girl!  I love bulletin boards, and I make good use of them all over my house.  Not only do they help me keep track of little bits of things . . . the flotsam and jetsam of my life. . . but they also serve to inspire with visual reminders of Things I Like.

This week for Ten on Tuesday we're talking about what's pinned on our bulletin boards.  Here are things you'll find on the boards scattered about my house:

1. Photos - old and new, but all of them cherished
2. Cards - with images and phrases I like to keep where I can see them
3. Schedules and Calendars - spinning classes, exercise classes, curling league schedules, hockey games; if there's a schedle, I keep it on a bulletin board
4. Business cards -- especially those that I need currently or don't want to lose track of in the short term
5. Take-out restaurant menus - you never know when you'll need a quick bite!
6. Memories - a £5 pound note, a Paris Métro ticket, a business card for a restaurant in Paris
7. Safety pins - when I find them, I generally stick them in a nearby bulletin board
8. Goofy little things I want to keep track of -- packets of buttons from a new shirt, a list, a doodle that's worth saving, a plastic baggie containing loose pieces of this or that
9. Paint chips or fabric swatches -- just so I can get a visual picture in my head
10. Buttons and decorative pins -- things I would never really wear. . . but that I like the look of (or that make me smile)

How about YOU?  What's on your bulletin board?

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Join the fun!  Sign up for Ten on Tuesday here.