“True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it goes by. ” -E.S. Bouton
For more moments, visit Amanda’s Soule Mama where she describes her Friday posts this way, “A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”
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“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
-Melody Beatti
Read moreI was so thrilled when I read Shana’s post titled Old School Blogging. I had completed a few of these posts from The Miss-Elaine-ous Life in the past but then the practice completely fell off my radar. This month Elaine is hosting Old School Blogging with Brittany of That’s Vandy.
Here goes…
Where is your cell phone? Charging in the kitchen. It is not holding it’s charge through the day anymore which is stressing me out.
Your significant other? Is the kindest and funniest person I know. And of course, the most handsome.
Your hair? Has to be cut every five weeks. Otherwise I look like a rag-a-muffin. Unfortunately, it also has to be colored these days too. That’s a big bummer.
Your favorite thing? My family.
Your dream last night? I sure wish I remembered my dreams. I just never seem to and yes, I’ve tried keeping a notebook by my bed to write them down as soon as I wake up but that doesn’t work either. I’m pretty sure it has something to do with being the lightest sleeper on the planet.
Your favorite drink? Ice coffee with cream and sugar.
Your dream/goal? For a long time, my goal was to write a book but somehow I just wasn’t doing anything to get there. Recently, I’ve decided that I had set the wrong goal. I’m pretty sure what I want to do is be a columnist. To have the chance to write (relatively) short pieces on topics that matter to me sounds pretty perfect. Also, I just read a piece by Kris Carr about manifesting what we want so considered that dream out there in the universe. If I understand Kris correctly, an editor from a major magazine, website or newspaper should be contacting me shortly…
The room you are in? Our living room. I really am in love with our couch.
Your fear? Dying.
Where do you want to be in six years? In six years, I will have a high schooler and a middle schooler which seems just nuts. I hope I am in the very same place with just a little more calm and direction than I have now.
Where were you last night? On this very same couch reading Mary Coin. It’s really good.
What are you not? A moderator. I recently read a piece by Gretchen Rubin of Happiness Project fame titled “Are You a Moderator or an Abstainer?” She wrote that she has stopped eating things like cookies because five cookies would not feel like a treat after she ate them and she is unable to eat only one cookie. That really got me thinking. I am not saying it got me doing but it did get me thinking…
Muffins? Yes. See above.
One of your wish list items? Light fixtures for our dining room and family room.
Where you grew up? I was born in Providence, RI. I then spent three years on Long Island before moving back to Providence where I spent the rest of my childhood.
The last thing you did? Took the dog for a walk. Brrr.
What are you wearing? My winter uniform. These pants from J.Crew that feel like leggings but look like pants. They have an elastic waist band and a back zipper. Need I say more? And this sweater from Garnet Hill because the perfect pants still need a long sweater to cover the back side.
Your TV? Homeland on my iPad. I’m only on Season 2 so don’t say anything.
Your pets? A crazy dog named Daisy and an old sweet cat named Cos.
Your computer? MacBook Pro.
Your life? Still feeling a little too busy and disorganized but overall, really, really good.
Your mood? Tired because of a cold I can’t kick.
Missing someone? My friend Julie who moved last year.
Your Car? An Acura MDX. It is my first big girl car (leather, blue tooth & seat warmers!) and I’m loving it.
Something you are not wearing? Socks. I have fallen in love with these Ugg slippers. They really keep my feet totally warm.
Favorite store? J.Crew
Your summer? The beach as often as possible.
Like someone? My family.
Your favorite color? Hot pink and orange combined. See below.
When was the last time you laughed? This morning at the gym watching a clip of the Travel Lady on SNL. It was really funny and I don’t even travel a lot.
Last time you cried? A couple of weeks ago when Katherine was sad.
What is one thing on your To-Do list? Start shopping for Christmas so I am not running around like a crazy lady at the end.
The other day, I ran into a friend who I haven’t seen in a long time. I miss seeing her because when we do get together we talk about good books, our favorite writers and what is currently inspiring us. As soon as I saw her (in the library, of course!), I commented on how long it had been since we had talked.
She laughed and said, “Well, I feel like I see you everyday!” It turns out that she is a regular blog reader and therefore, felt like we had been visiting over her cup of morning coffee each day. And then she said something so interesting. She commented on how my pictures have changed and she wondered what I had been doing differently. At the time, I responded by telling her about the amazing photography class I had taken this fall called Picture Everyday at Big Picture Classes with the fantastic Tracey Clark.
As I was thinking back on our conversation, I realized that she may have thought that Picture Everyday was about technique. About aperture and lighting and focus. In fact, there was next to no conversation along those lines. While Tracey has plenty of knowledge in these areas, her approach to photography is much more simple. She encourages her students to truly picture the everyday. To take pictures of the simple and mundane parts of our lives for it is truly these little things that our, in fact, our lives.
In looking back through my recent pictures, I realized how much my photography has changed since taking Picture Everyday. I take pictures of things I would have walked by the month before. I have stopped to notice things that would have escaped my eye without the reminder to pay attention. I have actually signed up for Tracey’s latest class called Picture the Holidays which I am sure will be filled with much of the same goodness. Really though, I have probably already learned what I need to know.
Stop. And pay attention. It really can be that simple…
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“Talking about our problems is our greatest addiction. Break the habit. Talk about your joys.”
-Rita Schiano
Like my pink shoes, perhaps?
For more moments, visit Amanda’s Soule Mama where she describes her Friday posts this way, “A Friday ritual. A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
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There are a lot of good ideas in the world and The Matinee Club is one of them.
A few years ago, when I began to have large chunks of time on my own when the girls were in the school I tried to go to the movies. I would scour the schedules to find a matinee that would end in time for me to make it to pick up. And I couldn’t find anything.
And then, this year, I learned about The Matinee Club. Two women in a nearby town must have shared my frustration and they did something about the situation. Now, once a month, between October and May, I am going to the movies. My friends and I are able to choose between two first run movies that are shown at 11:30 giving us plenty of time to sit still, enjoy the show and get to pick up on time.
While the concept itself is just fun, there is something else fun happening. For various reasons, I have attended my second choice movie in both October and November and I’ve loved both films. It’s been like when you dread a book club book and then discover that it is a great read.
In October I watched Rush whose summary reads, “A re-creation of the merciless 1970s rivalry between Formula One race car drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda.” And in November I saw Ender’s Game whose summary reads, “Young Ender Wiggin is recruited by the International Military to lead the fight against the Formecs, a genocidal alien race which nearly annihilated the human race in a previous invasion.”
I never would have chosen to see either of these movies but given the circumstances, I did and I am so glad. I can’t wait to see what my choices are next month.
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Don’t tell my husband but I agree with him that I subscribe to many too many magazines. I will admit that I put some issues in the recycling bin before even trying to read them. Tonight though I picked up the latest edition of Yes!, a magazine whose tag line reads, ‘powerful ideas, practical actions.’
Yes! magazine publishes themed issues quarterly. Their winter issue is titled, “How to Eat Like Our Lives Depend on It.”
Tonight, when I opened the magazine, I flipped to a chart that consolidated research conducted by Food and Water Watch. I have always known that the United States and Europe have very different food rules but somehow seeing so much research consolidated in to one spot made the differences really obvious.
A few striking examples include:
United States: Widely Grown
Europe: Two Crops
United States: None
Europe: Required
United States: Widely used on poultry
Europe: Ban on use or import
United States: Widely used
Europe: Banned
Artazine (herbicide used on fruits, soy, corn, sugar)
United States: Widely Used
Europe: Banned
This issue like so many others right now (gun control, economic inequality, education) feels so big that I would prefer to hide under a blanket than do anything about it. It seems though that the people at Yes! might have a point. Perhaps we should be eating like our lives depend on it. The Europeans already are. I wonder why we are so far behind?
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The weather on Saturday was gorgeous. And by some magical calendar miracle, both girls were free in the afternoon. We all took the dog for a long walk and I used the opportunity to take lots of pictures.
Here are a few…
“The most wasted of all days is the one without laughter.” – e.e. cummings
Or the one without ice cream…
For more moments, visit Amanda’s Soule Mama where she describes her Friday posts this way, “A Friday ritual. A single photo-no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”
Read more
I am not a scrapbooker but I love the classes and materials that can be found at Big Picture Classes. I’ve found that there are tons of writing prompts to be gleaned from scrapbooking ideas and this site. One of my favorites so far is Quick and Creative Quizzes: 125 Journaling Questions to Ask and Answer by Wendy Smedley and Angie Lucas.
Here is a quiz that I thought would be fun to complete.
The Last…
book I read: The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell. I wrote about this book yesterday and I still can’t stop thinking about it.
place I visited: Providence, RI. The girls and I traveled there last week to visit my mom.
TV show I watched: Homeland. I am so far behind the times on this one. I am still watching the first season but after hearing so much about it, I finally decided to take the plunge. Let’s just say it is taking all the strength I have not to spend entire days on the couch watching it.
meal I prepared: I just finished making home-made chicken soup for the first time ever. We had roast chicken this weekend and I made broth from the carcass. Tonight I added chicken, veggies and noodles and it was awfully tasty, if I do say so myself.
person I called: My friend Melissa. I had a hard time understanding exactly what Katherine was supposed to be doing on her homework and I had a feeling that Melissa’s son would know exactly what to do. I was right.
person on my camera: Katherine. It’s hard to tell in the picture above but she stood by the front door this morning watching the first snow flakes of winter fall.
thing I Googled: Number of people who died in the Haitian earthquake. Sadly, I wanted to know how it compared to the typhoon in the Philipines. Answer is that they are both pretty horrible.
