(Picture and quote from Alisa Burke, Redefining Creativity)

Happy New Year to all! May 2012 be filled with wonderful events!

Here’s a toast I found on Facebook:
More laughter than tears
More prayers than fears
More time together than apart
More sun than rain
More new adventures to start
More blessings than curses
More forwards than reverses
All this I wish for you in 2012!

Make it a wonderful year! Seize each day.

- Karen

(Photo credit: Artie from “Color Outside the Lines”)

OK, so I wrote on this before, but I am consumed by this. Do you Pinterest? I absolutely love it. I can waste endless hours trolling through the site.

One thing it introduced me to is Polyvore. Have you played on this site? I’m not sure that I know how it works, but the little I do understand is it seems like paper dolls.

You search among various elements of apparel including accessories, purses, jewelry and clothing and put together ensembles. It’s so very fun! I’m amazed at the outfits that people put together. So much fun!

What about you? Do you pinterest with polyvore? What do you think about it? What’s the coolest thing you’ve put together?

Weigh in and let me know.

Karen

Source:TradHome

So, the holiday season is in full swing. How does it make you feel? Are you giddy with excitement, feeling calm and bright or do you have that sort of hyperventilating-I-can’t-believe-it’s-almost-here-and-I’ve-got-so-much-to-do feeling?

I seem to vascillate between these emotions several times each day.

I read several daily blogs that remind me about the true meaning of the advent season, and the anticipation that we should feel about celebrating the birth of our saviour, but, honestly, sometimes that sentiment gets lost in Christmasville – which is what many retail stores feel like to me!

Anyway, I find that if I work on tricks that stimulate the senses, it sometimes helps me to focus (I think this is how stimulants work on the brain of a child with ADD – maybe there is a genetic link……hmmmmm).

Sight. looking at and really seeing the lights on the Chritmas tree. We have these paper glasses (sort of like 3-D glasses) that split the light into stars – they are fun to use!

Smell. Cookies baking, pine, even the cold crisp air outside in the morning can help to wake up my mind.

Touch. Feeling my cat’s fur, touching velvet, even the rough feeling of pinecones or burlap can be stimulating.

Hearing. Christmas carols – even the ones that you tire of hearing can sometimes wake me up.

Taste. Ooooh, this is one of my favorites. All those Christmas yummies – home baked goods, but even clementine oranges that are abundant this time of year and oh so sweet.

What about you? What do you do to discover true Christmas spirit?

It boggles the mind to see how fast this phenomenon has grown! According to Wikipedia (and it’s always right, don’t you know!), the site received beta site status in March 2010 and obtained $27 million in funding last month (October 2011) and is now valued at $200 million. (WOW! from start-up to $200 Large in 19 months!)

Why is it so popular? Could it be that the photos are simply scrumptious?

I read on someone’s blog or Facebook page that there is no way that all the yummy food pictures could co-exist in a world with all the beautiful, skinny models showing off skin-tight jeans, cool boots and oh-so-decadent jewelry and clothes! Perhaps that’s why some of the clothing boards only show the clothing – not on people.

Anyway, I love it and find that I can easily waste spend lots of time browsing around. Occasionally, I also find stuff I want to try – recipes, crafts, DIY stuff, or links to places I want to go.

What about you? Do you Pinterest? What’s your favorite thing about it? How do you find stuff you like on it?

My husband and I recently traveled to see our two youngest children, who are both in college at the same school. Our son is a freshman, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that college teaches kids so much more than physics and chemistry – there are so many life lessons that kids can learn outside the classroom while in college. (One could argue that many of those lessons should have already been learned, but with our son, that isn’t the case. He’s learning quite a lot about being “on his own”.)

Anyway, our son is pledging a fraternity which basically seems to involve being human labor for the fraternity brothers. During the weekend that we visited, our son was driving the brothers to a performance of a rap artist, “Wale”. We heard about the rapper (who, of course we didn’t know of before the discussion), learned about where the performance was going to be held and when and many other details about this event. Interesting to peek just a bit into our son’s world. The discussion recalled for me the kinds of discussions when I was a young child with my grandparents in which they would speak of some friend or occasion and I would have absolutely no idea of who or what they were speaking of, and despite their encouragement, I really didn’t care to know. It was sort of like that, only in reverse. I wasn’t likely to go download a bunch of his music and become a fan. But, we were interested in our son’s activities, but not really motivated to get a more in-depth experience from this musician.

So the next day, we walked to a Starbucks in a nearby hotel lobby to get our morning coffee. We were standing in line and none other than Wale himself strides by on his way out of the hotel. The young guy standing in line behind my husband was so excited. This guy was probably 21 years old and said, “Wow! That’s Wale! I’m so excited! I can’t believe he just walked by!”
To which my husband replied, “Yeah. Did you see his show last night at the (venue name)?” Well, you would have thought that my husband had asked the guy what planet he lived on. He looked at my husband (you should know that my husband has a full head of white – not gray – hair and is, shall we say, seasoned; meaning he can get discount coffee at McDonald’s) with this look of incredulity the guy said “You know who Wale is?” the guy asked. To which my husband proceeded to reply, “Yes” and give a number of other details about Wale that demonstrated he did. Of course all these details were learned only one day earlier from our son. Nevertheless, the guy was rattled. He had thought he was standing in line behind a really old guy and here this guy was cool enough to know about Wale. It seemed to force him to reevaluate his opinion of my husband. Anyway, it was really sort of funny in that ironic way.

I’ve seen a lot of this saying recently, and it really is true: “Pay attention to the little things. With time, you will realize that they are the big things.” This is a little story but it made me smile. What about you? What little things have made you smile lately?

This quote is attributed to Mel Brooks, that brilliant, funny mind that brought us so much laughter. I love what it says and would love to live it out personally.

Have you read all the tributes to the late, great Steve Jobs, founder and saviour of Apple? One of his quotes that has been all over the blogospher is “You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” 

It was taken from a commencement speech he gave at Stanford University in June, 2005. He had already been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the time of the speech, so perhaps mortality was more on his mind. There are many wonderful bits of advice in that speech, not the least of which are his final words to that group “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

This advice is a bit different than that of Mel Brooks, but, to me, says a bit of the same thing – keep going, and be true to yourself.

Have you ever been at a life crossroads and had to choose a direction? Sometimes it feels like jumping off a cliff, sometimes it feels like a warm embrace, but both occasions require you to go forward, and not retreat.

I’ve been studying that a lot lately and have found inspiration in all those that seek to make a difference and elect to do things that are so very cool – especially, when I read about accomplishments by some that happen later in life.

What about you? What are you moving toward? How and where do you find the courage? What inspires you? Care to share?

What do you do to bring yourself out of the doldroms? How or where do you find your inspiration or muse? What changes in scenery do you seek?

Do you ever find that you fall victim to the big, green-eyed monster envy? It is insidious. Some companies’ marketing approach is built on it. They show you stuff that you don’t have and work very hard to make you feel like to have to have it and you become very envious of those that do. Or, you go to someone’s lovely home and rather than simply admiring the lovely setting, the nugget of jealousy creeps in and you become envious of the owner of this house. Come on, admit it, you’ve been there. Maybe it came over you when you got an email from someone and you saw at the bottom, “Sent from my iPad2″ and you realized you don’t have an iPad2 or even an iPad …..hmmmmm, that envy creeps in.

Well, the saying “Learn to admire without the need to acquire” seems to apply. I am going to work diligently to adopt this mantra. I really like it. It gets right to the heart of the matter. It doesn’t even send the guilt that “Count your blessings” sometimes does, at least for me. It simply suggests that we admire, without feeling that we have to do anything to try to match up.

I’m going to try it. What about you? What opens the door to your green monster of envy? How do you keep him at bay?

(I’m writing this upon hearing the news that Apple icon and master marketer, Steve Jobs, has died. What a legacy he built. RIP, Mr. Jobs. We love the products you brought to us.)

Now, we are empty nesters. Our house is quiet. Our grocery bills are small and our laundry is light. Interesting change of pace. Some very nice elements to it. However, the change is one that I’ve yet to fully accept, if I’m being honest.

I’ve always loved quiet and solitary pursuits, but lately, it feels a little too much like a blanket over my head – a little bit warm and cozy, but also a little suffocating.

How about you? How do you handle transitions in life? How do you discover the next curiosity? How do you illuminate the smaller path?