Time’s up! Wishing you all the success in 2008!
So far, so good December 30, 2007
Sweet Escape: Reflections December 29, 2007
Can you believe it? 2007 is coming to a close. I’ve really enjoyed my little blogging break (my sweet escape this week!) to reflect on my life, recharge my batteries, rev up my enthusiasm and get myself inspired for the new year. It is amazing to me what a little R&R can do! I hope you have all had some time to reflect in silence over the holidays! If not, shut off your computer and take some time for yourself right now! Alone time! Quiet time will do wonders for you, and it is not too late.
For some of us, 2007 was a great year. For others, 2007 had its challenges. But for all of us, 2008 offers hope. Hope that this year will be better in some way. We’ll laugh more, love more, care more, get organized, look better, feel better, worry less, eat better, exercise more, weigh less, be more productive while doing less. And our homes will be the nurturing places we desire them to be. Phew, I could go on but I am exhausted already! Just kidding, I love the idea of New Years Resolutions but not the pressure. My solution? I don’t make a big list of unattainable expectations. I look back at my life last year, desiring to slowly build upon my successes and learn from my failures so that the new year holds promise of great reward. Baby steps, but forward motion.
Here is to a new year of inspiration in creating the life we want to live! That is my goal in blogging. I look forward to sharing the journey with all of you! Each of you are a great source of encouragement and inspiration to me and so many others!
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” –Henry David Thoreau
“To succeed you need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you” –Tony Dorsett
“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.” –Winston Churchill
“Success is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.” –John Rohn
“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: Those who are afraid to try themselves, and those who are afraid that you will succeed.” –Ray Goforth
images from Decorative Country Living
Cranberry Blissfulness December 26, 2007
Just popped in with a little post-Christmas hello for my blogging friends! Hello! I’ve been a busy bee entertaining large groups of people in my home — so that means lots of food preparation, lots of presents, lots of clean up and lots of noise! We enjoyed it all, but I must confess yesterday afternoon was the most blissful day of all.
After our final Christmas group had eaten and the gifts were all opened, we sat around drinking lattes, nestled down in plump sofas by a toasty warm fire as SNOW fell outside our window for the first time in probably 20 years on Christmas Day. Christmas snow (any snow, really) is a rarity in Portland, Oregon! Let’s just say our favorite word all together now: COZY. Yeah, I was a happy girl.
Between extended family gatherings, high schoolers, college kids, and 7 year old boys, we’ll be having more fun, more food and more noise all the way through New Years. We aren’t done yet! But for the next few days, I’m relaxing and recharging. Soaking it all in. I’m thinking books, movies, peacefulness and peppermint mochas. Blissful sigh.
Hope you are all enjoying the peace of the season and a rest from the usual routine! Looking forward to the new year of inspiration from each of you and catching up soon!
For those of you who’ve been wondering but are afraid to ask, this was the closet thing we had to an unpleasant rat incident over the holidays. Rats and giraffes (both alive and dead) had mercy on us. But the mechanical rats are roaming freely, twitching their noses and scaring me as I round dark corners. Little boys love that sort of humor.
Christmas December 19, 2007
As we are drawing nearer to the Christmas holiday, I finding myself strangely calm and quiet, yes, introspective! I am increasingly pulling back in my thoughts. I am less able to focus on creativity, home decor and twinkling lights — and inspiration is not springing forth to my blog. While I love all the festive homes, ideas and stories of holiday traditions, I’ve enjoyed each one so much, this week I find myself more in a contemplative mood. The story of Christ’s birth plays through my head and I am in awe of the miracle that took place and all the circumstances surrounding that event. I think about Mary and what she must’ve been feeling, giving birth that night. It is mentioned in the book of Luke that while so many things were happening to Mary, she “quietly treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.” I love that. The thought of “quietly treasuring things” in our hearts.
I think of the song, Mary Did You Know, and I imagine some of the things she was thinking about. I am sure she was weighing the magnitude of her circumstance, the blessing and responsibility God himself had bestowed on her. She was treasuring in her heart what was taking place and pondering what was yet to come. As a mom myself, who has cradled an infant son in her arms, I feel a wave of emotion rush over me as I think about her thoughts that night.
Mary Did You Know written by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene
Mary, did you know
that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know,
that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered,
will soon deliver you.
Mary, did you know
that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know,
that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little baby,
you’ve kissed the face of God.
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of The Lamb.
Mary, did you know
that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know,
that your baby boy is heaven’s perfect lamb?
This sleeping child you’re holding, is the great I AM.
Every time I hear that song or think of the Christmas story, I imagine Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms, stroking his head, kissing his cheeks, holding him close, and treasuring it all in her heart. Such a simple picture but one that really touches me. A tiny baby, born in a humble stable, and an event that changed the world. I need nothing more than to slow down and treasure these things in my heart. I am content to do just that.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas!
Counting Your Blessings December 16, 2007
I really wanted to share about this book and its author during Creative Inspiration Week, but long story short it didn’t happen. While I didn’t get it posted that week, the good news is that now I can give it the special attention it deserves.
While many of the women I featured during Creative Inspiration Week have written books and are sought after by magazines on a regular basis, I think we can also be inspired by women who are more or less just starting out on their journey of influence. We don’t all have publishers or connections to magazine editors, but it is the most determined among us that will succeed in whatever we set our minds to. For some bloggers and aspiring authors, writing a book is something they dream about. Polly, from the blog Counting Your Blessings, shared with me a little bit about her first book and how she took it from a dream to reality:
I suppose I’m not unlike many bloggers in that I’ve always hoped to write a real book someday. And, like many others, the blog slipped into my life at just the right time and has been wonderfully fulfilling. Yet I’ve always been kind of nutty about books, magazines, photo albums… I love them! So when I found a way to put together a few words and few pictures, and actually see it all in a bound form, I couldn’t wait to try it out. And that’s what Vintage Christmas is – my first try. Truly, just my own photos and a few of my own comments – nothing deep or complex. Because I was self-publishing I didn’t have to worry about what everyone else was going to think. I just put it out of my mind and told myself that if it’s garbage in the end, nobody will have seen it but me. It wasn’t really about whether it’s popular or not. For me, it was about trying. It was time to step away from my fears and give it a go. Now that I’ve waded into these waters, I’m excited to go a little deeper and start working on that “real” book!
I am proud of her for taking this step and I really wanted to share it with all of you. I really encourage you to stop by and visit Polly’s blog. You can find out about her Vintage Christmas book and start reading a bit of her life story in her recent postings on her blog, which I am sure will make a fascinating book one day!
I am turning off the comments on this post to honor Polly, who currently has her comments turned off on her blog as well! She is a humble person and wants to share from her heart. I love the idea of occasional silent posts, although I think I only managed ONE in spite of my intentions! In an effort to make Polly feel at ease about being featured, I decided to turn off comments on this post. I debated on this because I really wanted to be of encouragement to her and I KNOW you are the best encouragers EVER. But, because I want to be sensitive to her desire to have no comments on her own blog right now, I decided to follow that through for this. But I would love it if you would visit her blog and get to know her! You can however encourage her via email (info on her blog) if you want to contact her personally.
Congratulations, Polly, on your first book! Thanks for sharing about your journey!
photos are copyright of Polly at Counting Your Blessings
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Sweet Escape: Four Poster Coziness December 13, 2007
In the new issue of House Beautiful almost every article refers to the word COZY. Of course, I was very drawn to that idea! Especially right this minute because I am absolutely freezing! I am wearing a coat with a fur collar, that is how cold I am, even in my house. If I could type with mittens on, I would. I am ready to go put on my PJ’s and leap under my covers to be cozy in my bed, but I want to be ON TIME this week for my Friday Sweet Escape so I am staying up a bit longer to put this together. Because I love you all, I am a dedicated blogger.
So for our Sweet Escape this week, of course we must escape into Four Poster Bed Coziness! What? Is that lame? Pathetic? No adventures, no trains, no Scottish castles, no dreams of buying equestrian estates, just coziness? I know, this month just begs for posts on holidays and coziness. It is hard for me to focus on anything else!
Speaking of being cozy, do you know what my favorite movies are to watch when I want to be cozy? Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride II. I have watched those movies dozens of times. I laugh and cry the whole way through. I love everything about those movies. I adore the house (it’s cozy), cry about the daughter getting married, laugh hysterically at Franc. I might have to go watch it again right now. Love that show. It is the kind of movie I just want to watch wearing my flannel pajamas and bunny slippers. In a four poster bed, if I had one.
Ok, so coziness. Here are a few bedrooms with four poster beds that looked pretty cozy to me. Remember awhile back when I told you I was going to turn my whole third floor into a cozy master suite? I still am going to do that. Just haven’t gotten there yet, but I am still planning on it. A few of these cozy photos are my inspiration photos, so for those of you who have been my BFF you probably have seen some of them here before.
Thanks for indulging me in my cozy fest. You know, one of my BFF Shelbi Keeper of the Chocolates said the NICEST thing to me the other day (and please visit her blog for a great post on giving to a worthy charity!). She said I have the best girlfriend blog EVER. That is because I have the best girlfriend blog READERS ever.
Top photo: Cathy Kincaid, Above, Rob Melnychuck: cottage living
Above, Gemma Comas and below, Paul Costello: Domino Magazine
Above, Carolyn Roehm via Peak of Chic
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