Our Mindful Eye

I was quite taken by this little sweet plant this weekend.  I had never seen a plant quite like this.  I thought it would look nice on our dinning room table.  The common name of this plant is a rattlesnake plant and It looked like a painting to me, and to my mother-n-law it looked like feathers,  first born said it looked like leafs inside a leaf.  I can see all of that.  I love how the underside of the leaf is a plum color and the outer edge of the leaf has a slight ruffle with darker green edges.  There is just so much to admire about this little plant.  I can't get over it.  

I believe it's related to what is commonly called the prayer plant because last night as the sun began to go down I noticed it folded up all it's leaves in towards each other.  The technical name for this plant is Calathea lancifolia.  

My mother-n-law took me to a nursery in Orange called M&M Nursery and I fell in love with the place.  Very whimsical with lots of small fairy gardens and some not so small fairy gardens, like really grand with lots of water falls and streams,  make believe villages with miniature plants. Besides all the sweet fairy garden stuff they also seem to have unique and old fashioned plants that I don't seem to see at local nurseries. 

I was so excited about this new addition to our family that I doodled her too!  Just like we named the Italian tomato plant Francisca, who is doing quite well by the way, if you might be wondering:)  I think we will name this little beauty, Beatrice and I will call her Bea for short.  It's really important to talk to your plants.   They grow better, truly they do!

I'm not sure what my creative partner Christina has been seeing lately with her mindful eye, I know she is quite busy with her little grand girls and going on massive hikes but if she has had a chance maybe she will share what she has seen lately at 22 LIMES last week I found it quite magic that I was talking about paying more attention and seeing the yellow flowers on our tomato plants bloom into fruit when her image was exactly that!  

our mindful eye

This past week upon getting back from an awesome weekend away I have to be honest.  I picked up my DSLR once and I didn't pick up the film cameras at all.  The only reason I picked up the DSLR was because I saw these shadows in my kitchen when the late afternoon light came through the kitchen window.  While this image is nothing special, basically my kitchen clutter I was so drawn to the shadows on the white tile.  The rosemary especially with it's little prickly scented leaves casting it's resemblance on the wall behind it. The wine glass too.  

Sometimes when we are able to get away from "real" life for a little bit it's hard to re-enter.  At least for me it is.  I will be on the biggest high while I'm away from the usual day to day routine  to come back to almost like a lowest low.  My eyes are opened to the dog hair in the corners of the bare floors, I see all the things that have to be done.  We are faced with the realities of paying the bills and taking care of our family.  I think that's part of the reason for less of the noticing the little beautiful things.  The funny part is, it's those little ordinary, extraordinary things that help bring me back to balance.  This week I plan to have my eyes more wide open for the little miracles in life.  The yellow flowers that have developed into small green tomatoes, the bundle of peonies and I'm anxiously awaiting to bloom, the shadows and light, things like that. 

I have also been distracted drawing.  My mom gave me the most thoughtful gift for my birthday this year.  She loves to see my little silly drawings and wanted to encourage me to keep going.  She got me so many really nice colored pencils and it has made me want to draw more because they color so smooth and so much better then the ones I had.  I thought it was really sweet last night when my second born Man Cub came up behind me while I was coloring a drawing and said, "mom you have been drawing a lot lately and I can tell you are getting better"  I told him that's what practice does with anything and the more I draw the better I should become.  It's like this evolving thing.  Trying to find your stamp, this could be with photography, drawing, writing, music basically anything because the reality is...it's all been done before.  The only difference is, our unique stamp or style because nobody will take the same picture even when they are taking the same picture.  Nobody will look at an image and draw it alike, we can be given different writing prompts and each of us will write it different there is that but basically it's been done before so all we can do is put our own unique stamp on it and call it our own even when its kind of not.  I hope I'm making sense. 

One more image to share of the same bit of kitchen counter clutter.  The difference is, it's in black and white and it's from a different angle.  We made it to week 9!  can you believe it? Now I can't wait to see what Christina saw last week, I hope you will go visit her too at 22 LIMES. 

airbnb first experience

We had such grand plans for our 25th wedding anniversary.  We had talked about some epic trip we would actually fly to, maybe stay a week.  Oh the dreams the talks we had about it even years before it arrived.  But then.  It arrived.  Much sooner than we thought.  Somehow those 25 years just flew by.  Things happened last year that were out of our control and the savings we had went to a big huge gigantic block wall that had fallen January of 2017.  Sigh.  Life you know.  Then taxes.  sigh.  Life you know. 

But you know what?  Life is pretty awesome and we are really fortunate to live in this gorgeous golden state of California and since our 20th we have gone away some place in California each year at least for a weekend.  Before 20, it was out to dinner because we were in the midst of raising children and we just didn't get away very much without them.  That was a choice.  We dig those kids.  

We almost didn't do anything this year but Rich was like, come on, it's our 25th, lets find something local and reasonable and just have a weekend away.  I heard about airbnb so I jumped on that site and thought "mountains"  I want to smell the pines.  That cabin up there popped up and the price was right and so I booked it on the spot.  Rich was like, wait...we need a place for Abbie to say, I was like, that will figure itself out, I'm booking this!  

That's motorcycle man up there relaxing in the cabin we rented from our hosts Dave and Ben.  The pictures on airbnb didn't lie.  This place was quaint and special, very special.  It felt like home, it had a very welcoming feel and I'm so glad we decided to be a little adventurous and try out this new way of vacationing.  The coolest part, it was Dave and Ben's very first time renting their home and our first time using airbnb and let's just say, it was an amazing experience.  Both ways.  They thought of everything.  I love details and I can tell there was a labor of love put into this cabin, very thoughtfully decorated, furnished and well equipped. 

I brought a few things from home, my light board, Pippi, lots of cameras even colored pencils, I practically filled that little desk full of my comforts from home. Rich loved the upstair carpet.  It was like a cozy treat for his feet.  The bed was so comfortable and at first plop down on the living room chair my words were "I want to live here"  Rich thought that was pretty funny but he also felt very at home here.  

See what I mean about the details.  I really loved the unique and fun bits of decor in this darling A frame style cabin.  The artwork was special, I even found a drawing Dave did nicely framed in the living room, the bee!  

The outside of the cabin was just as thoughtful as the inside, nicely raked and kept so tidy.  I'm not a kid but I still have my childlike spirit so I could appreciate the fort on the property and had to climb up in there a couple times.  I did yoga on the deck by the pines it was amazing.  We enjoyed dinner outdoors one night by the fire and under the ambient lights. 

I'm such a sucker for light.  Their lights were really awesome too, dimmers, gorgeous light bulbs, pretty lamps and hanging unique shall I say chandeliers, the big wagon wheel and stunning antler lantern above the master bed!  I got lucky and we got back from the village wine and music festival at blue hour so I got a couple nice shots of that time of day.  It sure made me happy. 

The morning light just awed me as well.  I took this picture below because the morning light on the wood floor called to me. 

And you know.  I'm not sure if there is proper etiquette for this type of thing.  I just know that when I go to someones home for dinner or a stay, I like to bring a gift for them.  So we left them a gift before we were on our way.   We noticed they were low on vodka:)

This is the short story of our weekend stay in Twin Peaks.  I have a feeling if Sunset Magazine catches wind of this hidden gem this cabin may be booked solid in no time.  I had a special angel sitting next to me when this cabin popped up at just the exact right time and each of us experienced our firsts together.  This is a place I would for sure return to.  I have a small video below under 4 minutes long of our time this past weekend.  I often don't seem to link it right but if you can see it, the password for this video is LOVE.   all caps.  

Our mindful eye

We are on a roll and to keep on track with our mindful eye Monday postings, I wanted to make sure and post my picture(s) which is a little bit of a challenge since we were away for most the weekend celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. While we were up in our local mountains I was so fired up to see all the dogwood trees bursting with blooms.  I'm excited too because my creative partner Christina is a big lover of trees, flowers and plants and she always seems to know the names of  so many of them.  It was one of those things that stuck with me when I first met her.   We were driving to the beach house for our weekend stay and she was pointing out plants and trees along the way and telling me their names.  I was way impressed and it just never left me.  I think she will be happy about my dogwood tree post and she may even tell me a little something about these pretty trees that I may not already know?  We’ll see:)

I couldn't choose just one image.  It was hard.  The photographs are pretty but they are nothing compared to how my eyes actually saw these trees.  They are really very delicate looking and absolutely stunning to see with your own eyes, especially since they are scattered here or there amongst the pines and oaks and they outshine the other trees with their pretty white blooms. 

I'm super excited to post this week about the cabin we stayed in this weekend and all the little details to go along with that.  We had our very first Airbnb stay and I have so much to share about it.   I can't wait.  I'm working on a short video of our anniversary weekend and I will share some of my favorite images of the sweet cabin in the woods too.  In the meantime cheers to Monday!  Remember to have some fun this week and do at least one thing that fills up your soul. 

I can't wait to see what 22 LIMES was up to this past week.  I hope you go and see too. 

Our Mindful Eye

This week I'm happy to report I picked up the DSLR a few times along with both film cameras.  One is loaded with color while the other is loaded in black and white.  I feel like I lost my touch on the film cameras.  Nothing looks clear and I'm really nervous how the images will turn out.  Like really, really nervous.  I'm reminded that with film I take such extra time and I only get one shot so to speak.  I don't want to waste the film you know?  I remember those types of feelings.  I remember taking action shots, and panning shots and clicking at the exact right moment it was like I knew my camera so well.  It's not like that anymore.  I'm hoping it's like a bike and it will just come back but we will see when the prints are developed.  

I don't think I shared this yet but one of the film cameras was a gift from my long time blogger friend Kate, a while back when I was on Wordpress we became friends because of our blogs.  She was always so encouraging and actually still is to this day.  She knows I love photography and she offered to ship me her grandmothers camera to take pictures with.  It's an awesome Olympus camera.  I've never shot an Olympus before!  I told her I would shoot a role and mail her back her camera.  She then told me she would just send it to Goodwill because she would never shoot it herself.  Then I agreed to keep it.  It's an honor to shoot her grandmothers camera.  A true honor.  It had the manuals, the case, film, flashes, the whole shebang!  Her grandmother took tremendous good care of her camera.  I'm grateful Kate, thank you for trusting me with this special gift.  I've always shot mainly Canon, my DSLR is Canon and my film camera is Canon.  I've just stuck with it, it's a familiar feeling.  I secretly always wanted to shoot Nikon because of Simon and Garfunkel and their Kodachrome song but needless to say, I'm a Canon girl.  

The image I share this week was taken in my backyard.  I remember taking photography in high school and being told to avoid shooting into the light, now granted that was many moons ago and things change but back then it was kind of frowned upon.   That's weird because when I shoot into the light I get some of my favorite images.  The image above is no exception.  I personally love it.  I love the detail in the leafs on the tree that the birds planted in our yard.  I love the flare from the sunlight, I love the opalescent rainbow colors in the spiderweb thread.  It's just so very pretty to me.  Today I share my image from Sunday evening as the sun was radiating it's golden light.  I also took my own portrait below!  If you want to consider my shadow a portrait.  I sure do! Please don't forget to visit my creative partner Christina and see what she will share this week at 22 LIMES. 

real talk about making coconut inspired popsicles

I was so excited to come home my birthday night to a bag of produce on my porch.  A good friend of mine left me produce for my birthday.  How creative and thoughtful is that!  I'm going to log that in for future birthday gifts because I for one thought it was amazing.  One of the gifts was a coconut.  Keep in mind her card read that I make food pretty and that she wanted me to make the things she put in my bag pretty.  I do like a challenge.  

It's been pretty hot around these parts lately so naturally the first thing that popped into my head was popsicles.  Coconuts are a lot of work.  I had to knock a hole in it first to get out the water.  Then crack that sucker open to get to the meat.  Super hard work.  Not to be ungrateful or anything but for future I really, really appreciate the coconut chunks I've been buying in the frozen food section at Trader Joes.  I will pay a little extra for the work to be done for me...just saying.  However for the sake of the challenge and since I had a real coconut to work with, I put in the work and I think it was worth it. 

I ran to Daiso the Japanese dollar fifty store down the street from my house and when I say ran, I really mean drove.   I needed popsicle molds and of course they had them for a dollar fifty.  I wanted the popsicles to look a little better than average and bought wooden popsicle sticks to use rather than the colorful plastic handles that came with the mold.   I now have 50 minus 8 popsicle sticks for future popsicle making.   Those can be found in the  arts and crafts section of the store. 

My first batch of 4 looked like this (below) Obviously I didn't mix it enough or something??  Because I put the rest of the mixture in the fridge and maybe being cold and going into the mixer a second time made it combine better.  I'm just showing you the ugly ones (below) so you know I'm not Martha Stewart or someone like that....Rich likes to call me Pioneer Woman sometimes, that's a huge compliment.  I think it's mainly the red hair though;) Oh and check out the grout!  It drives me nuts. It's  my reality another not so pretty real life photo.  Someday, I'll have those concrete countertops I've always dreamed of.  

INGREDIENTS:

One coconut (the juice/water from that)

Coconut shavings, I used a cheese grater

One can of organic coconut cream

One cup of berries I used half strawberries half raspberries

dash of vanilla

a table spoon of honey

They taste more tart than sweet and not very coconut-eeee surprisingly. I suppose if you want them more sweet, more honey might be good, or another healthy sweetener. 

Our Mindful eye

This week sort of got away from me.  I had a birthday and somehow the week just felt as if it went by so quickly.  Sort similar to a blur or a quick blink.  I can't believe sometimes how quickly a week can go by.  I literally forgot to focus on the little amazing things with my lens this week.  I did however pick up two different film cameras and shot those.  I used my DSLR for my birthday portrait and also to take a picture of some popsicles I made with the coconut I got as a birthday gift.  Here it is Sunday evening the night before we post and I had nothing to share so to speak.  This will be week 6, I don't want to mess up the flow already.  I happened to find my clear marble while looking for something in my craft cupboard and thought, why not, lets see what my backyard view looks like through this little sphere.  I have taken in our backyard sunsets now for over 19 years and each and every day they are different but today I looked at it through an orb and got to see it upside down.   I also watched my garden grow this week but took the images of its growth with my film camera's.  I guess I can't multi-task very well.  I bet Christiana at 22 LIMES has something thoughtful to share this week.  I can't wait to see. 

I also did a lot of card doodles this week.  I just so happen to know a lot of creative women who share my same birthday month and I like to send them a little card because they all have taught me so much so it's like my thank you to them for sharing their creative minds with me.  Check out this stack of cards.  Maybe that's why I also didn't shoot very much this week, I was too busy doodling and coloring my drawings.  

575 months that's how old I am

I have not done this every single year but I think it's important that a picture be taken of your person, your person being YOU! Yes,  each year on your birthday take a self portrait  or ask someone to take a picture of you.   I'm finding this very interesting with the older I become.  My birthday's didn't phase me too much in my 20's but I must say I did begin to notice some changes in the 30's and oh my word the 40's and especially after that mid way mark.  DANG, I certainly don't get carded any more and even with my sweet freckles and red Pippi-esk hair, I look lake a MAM.  A straight up "yes mam"  That's o.k. though because I'm pretty excited about getting older with each birthday.  It has it's perks  that's for sure.  I become more wise with each added year and I do like that perk.  I mean yes, I notice the creases in my face are also multiplying.  I have some wicked awesome laugh lines around my eyes, that just means I had plenty of laughs in my life and lots of smiles that have created these creases in my cheeks.  The straw sucking drinking wrinkles around my upper lip is not my most favorite crease but I have to take some bad with the good.  Oh heavens and the gray hairs start to spring up, where do they come from, it's like over night...spring, pop, hello here I am!  I'm super excited to fully embrace a more distinguished look of an older gal.  I have a Pinterest board completely dedicated to "When I'm an Old Woman"  I've got it all planned out.  It's going to be the best.  

I took a few snapshots with my camera, in the bathroom of course where the best lighting happens mid day in-between getting off work and picking up my high schooler.  I had about 10 minutes to get my self portrait in.  I couldn't find my remote and I used my 50mm and my arms are just not long enough and I shot on manual for goodness sake.  Big deep breath.  This also means none of them really turned out.   I got super crazy too because not only did I take a picture with my DSLR, I took one polaroid, one iPhone photo and one shot with my film camera.  Remember, it's my month to shoot film!  That image will be very interesting.  The film camera only has manual focus.  Did I mention my eyesight is changing?  I think I might need glasses and I'm nervous about the manual focus on my film camera.   I'm going to share the pictures I took with the DSLR here for my 48 year old portrait.  

That opening portrait of me, that's not what that image really looked like.  It really looked like this one below!   Super dark in color and way under exposed.  Yet, this is the best image I got.  I had to lighten it up and switch it to black and white and that seemed to make it more acceptable.   Plus I didn't even mean to take it, I touched the camera screen which engaged the timer and so I stayed where I was right up close to the camera lens.  This is me at 48!

Below are the ones I tried to "pose" for and get my feather crown in the frame but without a remote and super freakishly long arms...they are completely out of focus and by this time I changed the exposure and yeah, they are now overexposed and blurry.  I'm laughing about it, really I am.  I think it's hilarious and so typical of myself.  Then I had to leave and pick up Abbie and now my birthday is over so this is my DSLR best attempt.  Perhaps next year I'll better be prepared. Besides I'm a big fan of IMPERFECTION. I must say, I NAILED THE IMPERFECTION PART. 

It's May Day!!!

You know how I know it's May 1st?  There were flowers on our front porch this morning, that's how!  This beautiful tradition has been enjoyed by us since 2006!  That's 12 years!  This means for twelve years now our Aunt Lynn aka Moon Mama and our cousin Stacy aka Miss Moonspinner have been sneaking up to our doorstep in the middle of the night to surprise us every May first with the most gorgeous little bundles of spring flowers.  That HELLO! grow in their own gardens! I'll be darned if almost every year I forget that it's the 1st of May until we open our front door to the beautiful bouquets they have thoughtfully put together. Each and every year they have been different too, in sweet little handmade or repurposed containers.  I blogged about the span of 2006 to 2013 HERE I sadly couldn't find on my old old computer  picture files the first 4 years of this awesomeness but it's so amazing to see the flowers each year next to our growing girl!  The flower pictures are from May 1st the Abbie pictures are a portrait from sometime in that same year to get an idea of how times grows flowers and children. 

Take a look!  I'll start with today:)  Take a look below. 

MAY 1, 2018

MAY 1, 2017

MAY 1, 2016

MAY 1, 2015

MAY 1, 2014

MAY 1, 2013

MAY 1, 2012

MAY 1, 2011

MAY 1, 2010

How do I begin to express my gratitude for the thoughtfulness of these two women in my life? It's kind of hard to put into words exactly.  I make sure to call them each May 1st to express my gratitude and tell them the stories of how motorcycle man tries so very hard to catch them in the act.  They seem to elude him every single year, it's kind of a crack up.   We are not the only ones these May flower fairies deliver to.  They make some serious rounds to different cities.  This year our bouquets came with a note.  The note made me chuckle because these fairies are a bit feisty to boot.  The note explained how this is their last delivery and if we should have any questions or comments that would be unfortunate, that part made me giggle. I'm a little saddened by the news however I have fully appreciated and enjoyed the last 12 years and it was a lovely tradition.  Thank you Lynn and Stace! Perhaps we can pick up the tradition, we have talked about it an awful lot.  We will see what happens next May.  In fact maybe you can consider being a May fairy in your town!  I set an alert on my phone for next year to remind me to prepare for such a feat. 

mindful eye mindful baking

I'm not sure how my creative partner Christina does it but she can hone into one topic, one image each week.  I on the other hand can never just choose one image. This week I want to tell you a little story about homemade pretzels.  Seems kind of crazy a little story about pretzels and it does happen to include mindfulness. This is how the story goes....  

I was visiting my sister out in the desert, her name is Sarah.  We got to talking about how awesome it is to make our own treats as we were baking homemade banana bread together.  This way we know exactly what we put into our food.  She mentioned she wanted to try and make homemade soft pretzels and I thought to myself,  "hum, that seems kind of hard and crazy, I've never thought about making my own soft pretzels before.  On our drive home I looked up EASY soft pretzels on the web.  The word EASY is key.   I found this recipe and this is the ONE I USED .  We tried it within a few days of my conversation with Sarah and we kind of rushed through the recipe but we had what I would like to call beginners luck.  They were OK and did seem easy.  Easy enough to try again a few weeks later.  The second time was a complete disaster.  I was rushing through it just like the first time, doing a few things at once, cooking dinner, doing dishes you know what they call multi tasking.  The second time felt stressful because I just wanted to get it done and done quick.  I forgot to knead the dough completely, I burnt two fingers in the boiling water, the texture/consistency was terrible, they didn't stay together in the boiling water.  The family members brave enough to taste them thought they were yucky.  They ended up in the trash. 

Which comes to the 3rd attempt.  My mom always told me "if at first you don't succeed, try again"  I don't give up easy anyway on lots of things.  Remember my crane folding story?  This time I read the recipe all the way through once.  Then I calmly and with great intent went through each step.  The past two times I got the water boiling too quick and felt a pressure to get those babies in the water.  This time after Abbie kneaded the dough and it was resting for 10 minutes I started the large pot of water and pre-heated the oven.  We just took our time, enjoyed each step, even danced a little in the kitchen and WAA-LA!  The most perfect batch yet and yes they are EASY, if you just take your time and don't get all panicky about it.  Another lesson in being mindful.  I'm constantly learning these little lessons on how I need to slow it down and enjoy the process. I'm so curious what 22 LIMES was up to this past week, what did she see?

How is your garden growing?

Let's see, I think we planted our tomatoes and zucchini two weekends ago and this week I notice they have all taken some leaps in their growing process.  I was a little nervous because this is the first year I planted our small garden in the front of our house and not the back.  I'm very intimidated and completely overwhelmed with our backyard.  We have our privacy back because after an entire year of not having a fence our block wall was completed this past January. 

I thought I would plant a garden back there but as I took in the blank canvas of really hard clay like ground I just couldn't think of conquering it just yet.  It's still dirt minus a tiny little square of baby grass motorcycle man planted.   That part is actually pretty sweet.  

I wasn't sure how the plants would do up front because the sun exposure time isn't as much but so far they seem to be doing just fine.  The Italian tomatoes I started from seed even look to have some hope this year.  Those seeds I have tried twice without success.  I'm hoping this year is the year for the Italian tomatoes to grow into fruit.  Below is their progress:)

This is how the zucchini is coming along (below)

Below are the carrots which get a lot of shade so we will see how that goes, I'll keep a watch and start to separate them and space them out once they grow a little taller in their tops. 

Last are the indoor plants.  One of Abbie's school mates gave her a sweet little mini rose growing kit.  They were teeny tiny seeds, a cute little pink tin to plant them in.  We did that and I had no idea one could grow roses from seeds.  But looks like they are growing alright.  The forget me nots are plugging along too.  The little bokeh army man was found in the front garden while planting our spring garden.  I just want to remind you that the plants need a few key ingredients, water and sun light of course but a little kind talk does them good.  I did an experiment once with a good apple and bad apple, it was mind blowing.  Since that experiment I realize talking to your plants is a good idea.  They will grow better, promise. 

Our Mindful Eye

“You must write it all out, at any cost. Writing is thinking. It is more than living, for it is being conscious of living.”

— Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Christina and I decided to post on Monday's from here on out.  That works really great for me especially this week because Sunday was April 22nd which is earth day.  We spent both our Saturday and Sunday at the ocean.  The ocean has always been a place of healing for me.  Nature in general is a good place of healing but the ocean specifically speaks to me.  It's salty air, the feel of the soft sand beneath my feet, the healing salt water on my skin.  I can get lost for hours just combing the beach for shells.  One year I especially needed the ocean and for a bit each day after Abbie would get out of school I would drive us to the beach and we would swim together in the ocean.  It felt so good.  She will always remember it too, she was in elementary school but even to this day will remind me of our after school beach trips.  It felt like a life saver at the time.  I think it was only a matter of two weeks that we did this but it felt like a long enough time to make it a solid memory.  Even after our little beach craze during the week, we would also jump in the jeep and head out to Seal beach to watch the sunset as a family.  This ocean wave I share today is from Huntington Beach though.  

While we sat on the beach for Earth day I did a lot of people watching and since Abbie and her friends were a few life towers down from us, I didn't really have anyone to take pictures of....except for strangers.  I could have sat for days watching the people come and go.  This girl in particular caught my eye and I think she goes perfectly with the opening quote.  She was sitting all by herself writing in a journal.  She had beautiful red hair that blew in the wind.  She reminded me of a much younger version of myself.  I loved being by myself as a young woman and I would go on little adventures by myself with my camera in hand.  I would write too.  I was a writer even back then.  Writing my thoughts has also been a life saver, much like the healing properties of the sea.  

I hope you don't find me creepy, taking a picture of unsuspecting strangers, it's not something I normally do these days but this one was irresistible.  I had so many questions in my head, she was so mysterious.  Do you ever make up stories about people you see?  I do.  I know they are totally not accurate but it's fun to imagine.  

Lastly, please stop by and visit my friend Christina and see what her mindful eye might share this week, you can find her at 22 LIMES.  I included a picture of the pair of us below.  She took this with her Polaroid camera.  We don't live near each other.  We live a few states away from one another and we met each other for our first time ever a few years back in Oregon.  This snap shot is from that trip.  Have you ever met up with a stranger and shared a bed with them the very first night?  That's us! Perhaps we have a little adventure in our blood!  Sometimes I can't even believe I did that!  We have been great friends since that epic trip and we happen to love to do projects with each other.  Check us out on Instagram under ourmindfuleye, we will post there each week too. 

National Letter Writing Month

I didn't actually begin the month realizing it was National Letter Writing month, I started the end of March and it flowed into April.  I was posting my envelope drawings on Instagram and one of my friends told me it was National Letter Writing Month.  You  know me!  That's all it took, an entire month of the year dedicated to snail mail!  I'm in!

I've liked to give and receive letters since I was young.  I remember my pen pal from Austria before internet and social media was even a thing.  I was at our local Hallmark card store and they had a pen pal exchange.  I joined and got to know a girl almost just like me from Austria.  We wrote up until I got married and then we somehow lost touch.  I've tried to find her, even wrote about her, here on this blog.  I've never been able to find her but it was the first serious start to my pen pal love. 

This month I had an unusual amount of thank you notes to write.  Randomly I would receive mail that would include a small gift and then that would prompt me to write a thank you note.  Remember my post card pen pal whom I met through my blog when she found me in Bella Grace?  She sent me a packet of Forget Me Nots and that gave me the idea for her drawing and note.  I have also planted those seeds and they are beginning to grow! Mancub has a friend who had the most beautiful necklace on and when I asked her about it she said her aunt made it.  She offered to have her aunt make me one too! I paid her because I believe artists should be paid for their talents and she made me the most adorable heart shaped pendant.  A thank you note was in order.  Even when I say thank you in person sometimes I still want to write a thank you note.  It's a dying art you know.  I don't want it to die so I keep on writing them. 

You don't have to get a gift to write a thank you note.  You can write a note so someone special and tell them how much they mean.  In the midst of my handwriting month and because I was posting pictures of my drawings a really good friend of mine did just that, she sent me a handwritten card just telling me how much our friendship meant to her.  I've just noticed when you put it out there you seem to get it back.  Try it. 

Then there have been a few instances where someone will admire one of my silly doodles and ask if I might draw them a letter.  I love when people are bold enough to ask. I think some people are afraid to ask because they think it might be rude, but it's never rude, it's more like a compliment and I learn in turn to ask for things because they are not afraid to ask me.  I say yes of course and then I think of something specific to them and draw them a note. 

Lastly there are times when the notes are not as fun to write because someone needs encouragement or something really sad happened in their life.  Those letters are more rough to write but I also think they are important because when sad things happen it's nice to be thought of too. 

Happy National Letter Writing Month.  Guess what?  Next month I will be calling it FILM month.  My sweet cousin gave me a baggie full of film to shoot.  It's currently hanging out in our refrigerator and freaking out Motorcycle man.  He thinks it's weird.  

mindful eye

This week I didn't pick up my camera nearly enough.  I made a new recipe and used it to take a picture of that and this image above on Saturday.  Saturday was a productive day and also a fun day.  I drew a note for a friend. I accidentally found out that April is national letter writing month.  I've kind of been crazy about writing letters and drawing envelopes this month because of it.  Today I dropped off three letters at the post office.  We made a trip to our bank, we bought dog food for Max and got some laundry done.  When middle of the day came, we decided with the encouragement of our only girl to make a trip to the beach.  We are blessed to live somewhat near the ocean. I read Harry Potter for an hour while the girl sun bathed and motorcycle man people watched.  The pair of them also went for a walk to the pier.  That was a lovely way to break up our Saturday.  All work and no play isn't very fun.  When we got home we gardened.  We pulled weeds and planted tomatoes and zucchini.  It was getting dark when I realized I needed to take a picture for our mindful eye project, I'm wondering what 22 LIMES will share?  I also wanted to fold a crane which I had not done yet.  I did both:)  I folded my crane and took a picture.  

Now about the crane.  My neighbor and friend Lynda is battling cancer right now.   This is her second battle in fact.  She has had a rough time of it.  It was discovered 8 years later after her first bout.  It was a routine colonoscopy that discovered Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma right after this past Thanksgiving.  She has already been through quite a bit.  She began by having the tumor removed just after Christmas.  She then had 2 rounds of chemo over the next 6 weeks.  I began folding her cranes for what she calls phase 2 of her treatment.  She began phase 2 on March 19th with stem cell harvesting.  This went incredibly well and what could have taken a week and possibly donors only took one day with her very own harvest!  God is so awesome.  She had a little time to rest before she was admitted to City of Hope on March 26th, she has been there ever since but if everything goes as expected she should be home by April 23rd.  In the meantime she has had her 2nd birthday when the stem cell transplant happened and then had to go through some major chemo and is now recovering from that.  Thats been the really rough part.  Folding cranes is not a very big thing.  It's a very small thing in fact.  However I fold her a crane each day and while I do that it slows me down.  It gives me time to pray for my friend and then I can send her a quick text to show her the crane. It's just a small bit of encouragement, the biggest most important part are the prayers.  I get so busy sometimes I forget to stop to pray.  The crane folding helps me to remember.  

Here is her gold crane today.  It was the hardest crane I have folded so far.  The shiny paper was persnickety and it turned out kind of crinkled and shows lots of imperfection.  I like the imperfection part.  It reminds me of how imperfect we are as human beings .  I'm constantly screwing up.  I wonder about myself sometimes but thankfully God shows grace and love and is a safe place to land.  Couldn't do it without Him.  The little blossom on the bare branches reminds me of HOPE.  Hope is very important.  

Lots of love to my handful of readers. 

snack time

“You need a tribe of women around you who are endlessly devoted to helping you succeed. There’s power in that”

— Ann Shoket

If I'm talking about snacks why would I begin with a quote on women supporting women?  Because, this is how it happened:)  I was introduced to a woman named Amy by another woman named Gina.  Gina knew that Amy would be an inspiration to me and would encourage me in my healthy lifestyle.  Gina is an artist and a real live person who I've spent time with, she and I worked side by side in her studio to make come sweet ceramic dishes.  How beautiful is that for her to share her time and talent with me?!  If you are looking for a unique piece of art visit her IG page here SO MANY IDEAS .

OK, as  I was saying, Gina introduced me to Amy and while I have not met Amy in person I have had a few positive exchanges in our in boxes.  In fact since I was recently struggling with healthy choices and had somewhat fallen off my health wagon, I reached out to her, but more in the way to let her know that her posts and blog inspire me greatly.  She then shared a recipe with me and I tried it today.  She thought it might help with my sugar carb type cravings which also trigger me to make not so good choices.  I loosely followed her recipe because that's how I do things  - not a recipe follower so to speak.    I didn't buy dates because I didn't want to buy the large quantity Sprouts seemed to only offer.  The rest of the ingredients I got from the bulk bins so I didn't have to buy a ton and  it worked perfect to buy only what I needed. I believe the dates would have made these a bit sweeter however they tasted just perfect to me exactly how I made them.  I skipped on the dates and rolled them in  raw unsweetened coconut.  Yum.  I also think dried apricots would be a nice touch.  I blended then all together in my Ninja  Bullet type blender, then rolled them into balls.  It was super easy and quick.  

I made myself a hot cup of lavender calming tea.  It was a really nice treat to drink my hot tea and eat the  EASY PEASY RAW SNACK BOMB You can find the real recipe at WHOLE LIFE WITH AMY.  You see what I mean about women encouraging women? It's the best thing ever.  I'm lucky enough to have strong women family members along with some amazing life long friendships and it truly does take a tribe.  I hope you find your tribe.  The kind you can be yourself with and the kind you can grow with, the ones who build you up and not tear you down.  

encouragement

“Don’t be discouraged today. Yes, you’re aware of your weaknesses and failures, but for each of them there’s forgiving, transforming grace.”

— New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp

I have noticed a couple of things since sugar has come back into my life.  It has robbed me of my glow.  I looked at an image from this weekend of a little nature walk we went on and all I could see was a very flat version of myself.  My glow was gone, even my lips lacked color and my eyes were indeed very dull.  It's really hard planning and eating colorful foods that feed my temple in an honoring way.  Last year I lost 26 pounds.  That's a big deal.  I was feeling so good, so much energy.  It had all positive affects.  It was hard though, it took a lot of work and dedication and of course preparation.  I got lazy.  I lost my drive.  Sugar was and is a big part of that downfall. It's like my weakness, my kryptonite if you will.   I have not drowned yet.  I'm still staying somewhat afloat but I have gained 7 of those 26 pounds back.  If I relax too much and stop swimming I will for sure sink to the bottom and feel as if the swim to the top will be too long and hard and I may decide it's not worth it.  I don't want to make that choice so I meet you here today.  It's like a pep talk to myself but also anyone else who may need it. 

I opened my devotion book today and when I read the first few words, I was like "God, you are so cool!"  Here you are meeting me here in my defeat! I always say I can't do it alone.  He is my biggest strength in everything I do.  He is my strength and my friends and family are the encouragement He gives me. 

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ”

— 2 Corinthians 12:9

This morning I was thinking about a few different plans of attack.  I thought I could begin by jotting down the good things I do for my body, mind and soul in a day.  Because I normally focus on what I fail in.  Actually I will obsess about how I didn't succeed, then I sort of beat myself up about it.  I'm not very gracious with myself.  Rather than focus on the things I may have failed in.  I will write down the good things and give the glory to God for helping me to accomplish the good things.  It can be as simple as brushing my teeth:)   

What did you do today that was good?  Don't think about  the soda you drank.  Think about the water you drank.  Don't think about how you failed to floss today, instead get excited that you brushed your teeth.  Below is my attempt of the 10 good things I did that were fulfilling today and healthy, mind, body or spirit. 

mindful eye

22 limes came up with a great name for our project, she texted me last week and wrote "how does mindful eye sound?"  Sounded absolutely perfect to me.  I knew she would be the one to come up with the name, she is really creative with her thoughts.  I love to be around people like her.  They inspire me, they push me along, they make me want to improve, do better and be better.  She is a good far away friend to have.  It's strange because I'm an introvert, I've taken the Briggs and Myers personality test about 5 times in my life and every single time the results are the same, INFP.  Out of the 16 different personalty combinations, that's what I get every time.  INFP is an acronym and it stands for Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving.  If you are interested you can google Briggs and Myers personality test and find one to take on line. I find it a little strange that my largest most dominate trait is introvert, yet I love people and I love being around people.  Let me clarify that though.  I like being around people one person at a time.  I really feel uncomfortable and get a little anxiety in a room full of people.  However one person at a time is amazing to me.  I love meeting new people that I can learn from.  I have never traveled much and I stay very local in my little bubble so meeting new people and having conversations with others who have had experiences or do things different than me, help me to grow as a person. It doesn't mean I have a ton of best friends, it just means I know and interact with many different people.

This week I found that I picked up my camera more.  I also found that I was frustrated a lot with the images I took.  For example I may take a dozen shots of the same thing, changing my settings and focus and only keeping 1 or 2 of those images.  

Thank you Christina for your encouragement and idea for this project. Let's see what 22 Limes did this week!

Look how much this cat grass grew in one week!  Insane.  

Hello Spring

“hello, sun in my face. hello you who made the morning and spread it over the fields...watch, now, how i start the day in happiness and kindness.”

— mary oliver

Last weekend I planted some cat grass for our cats.  It sits right by the window that NYLA and Garfunkel like to sit in.  7 days ago when I planted the grass it was just a planter box filled with dirt and buried seeds.  It quickly began to break its way through the soil and became this fresh kitty grass.  I had a nice conversation this week with a creative friend of mine.  We have had quite a few projects together in the past.  We both have found that with accountability and encouragement from one another we are far more likely to succeed in our creative ideas.  We have decided that....yes.....that we will do our best to pick up our big girl cameras every single week and post a picture on Sunday.  Now this week (cough, cough) I managed to take pictures of this grass growing.  Which was not my exact vision of my first post for our new project.  However I did pick up my camera and I did take a few pictures.  I'm really very excited to see what Christina has posted, you can click on her blog HERE - 22 LIMES to find out.  I have not clicked on it myself as of yet.  It's like Christmas though, I'm super excited to see what she did this week.   Our conversation was on Thursday I believe, so keep in mind neither of us had a full week to shoot.  I find it rather perfect though being spring has recently sprung that I should share a picture of new growth.  I have to remind myself often that it's not about perfection, it's about grace.  

just keep swimming

It's funny though because we both talked about how our focus with our 50mm's is not exactly as crisp as we would like to see it.  I question if it's actually my vision.  It was an affordable lens that was highly recommended.  I shoot a Canon and she shoots Nikon so keep in mind although we are both using a prime lens they are different and we are both having the same struggles.  Either I need glasses or I need to just keep practicing and this project will be good practice. 

Lastly, we need a name for this project.  I have no clue as of today what the name might be.  She seems to have a witty mind for that sort of thing.   Any ideas out there?  The project only has these requirements.  We use our DSLR's and we post each Sunday.  We don't even have a theme, it's basically whatever might strike us each week. 

Inspired today by Man Ray

“Of course, there will always be those who look at technique, who ask “how”, while others of a more curious nature will ask “why” Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.”

— Man Ray

It's been such a while since we have spent time in our mother daughter project but this weekend we had some time and inspiration.  The inspiration came from artist Man Ray.  While he was a painter he is most known for his portrait photography.  I love Pinterest for inspiration because honestly even when I might think I'm coming up with my own ideas, they have already been played out by another.  It's just the way things seem to be.  So why not take an old photograph by someone I really like and use the mother and daughter as models.  Mother takes picture of daughter and daughter takes picture of mother.  The image of daughter by mother is taken with Canon 70D, the picture of mother by daughter is taken with iPhone 6Plus.

Our inspiration is from a photograph called Woman with Long Hair, the date is 1929.  I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share but if not I'm sure someone will let me know. I found my image and copied it from Pinterest.  See below inspiration piece. 

Woman with Long Hair - By  Man Ray 1929

Below is the image of my daughter.  I asked her to open her eyes because I think she has the most beautiful eyes and it's what I wanted to see in my image.   Taken with Canon 70D ISO 200 F 4.5 the light from her bedroom window which  faces the West.  I edited photo with app TinType. She thinks it looks creepy, I think it looks dreamy!  

Below is the image of me, taken by my daughter with my iPhone.  Edited with the app TinType and we went with eyes closed for me,  she did my hair in braids and then we took them out just before the shot so my hair would be wavy.  I love how she didn't want the dark red lipstick and didn't want the crinkled hair.  She wanted to stay as close to her natural look as possible.  I love that about her.  It's not always that way.  Sometimes she is up for a more modified look but today she wasn't and I always try to respect how she is feeling in the moment. 

Below is us together after the photo shoot.  We just laid on the floor and  with the help of the good old selfie stick, we took this blurry image. :)  These were taken today March 18, 2018.  She is 16 on this day and I'm 47.  

I'm grateful she is game for my "projects"  If you are reading this, thank you!  

MARCH MINDFULNESS

I have decided that March will be my month to focus on mindfulness.  There is this really amazing Dutch publication called FLOW.  This magazine is in my top 5 magazines to read.  It's pricey, yes.  However it only comes out quarterly and it's fully worth the money in my humble opinion.  We all have our splurges.  There are a few magazines I will for sure invest in and will not toss out.  This is one of them.  Sometimes this magazines offers extras, like work books and activity books. Actually it always includes a fun little extra.  I picked up an extra a while back at the bookshop called 19 days of mindfulness by FLOW.  

This 19 day workbook will get me started.  I flipped through the 19 prompts this past weekend and planned my March calendar.  I realize although I claim to be a free spirit, I do realize planning helps keep me focused on all the fun stuff I want to do each month.  I planned my mindfulness for this March.  Right off the bat I notice that the first few pages have a strong emphasis on meditating but not in the what they call new agey way of meditation.  Basically the advice given is to just sit still and start with 10 minutes.  Sit still and listen.  LISTEN.  Just listen to the sounds around you.  I did this today.  I set my timer for 10 minutes, sat on a little blanket on the ground with a pillow under my booty.  I started with my eyes closed.  I heard things like, the clock ticking, the cat jumping up on the chair, the city bus, lots of car traffic, a few airplanes flying over, the wind-chimes and even the ice-cream truck.  That actually put a gigantic smile on my face.  Do you know what song it was playing?  "It's a Small World"  I wonder if you know the words to that song?

It's a world of laughter

A world of tears

It's a world of hopes

And a world of fears

There's so much that we share

That it's time we're aware

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small world after all

It's a small, small world

There is just one moon

And one golden sun

And a smile means

Friendship to every one

Though the mountains divide

And the oceans are wide

it’ s a small world after all

Kind of like word board first born son put together this week:) 

The 10 minutes went by fast.   More quickly than I thought.  I decided to open my eyes for part of it.  Have you every watched the sunlight dance on water and reflect onto the walls of your living room? I'm sure a good number of you have.  That's what I was watching while I was simply thinking of nothing but the moment I was in.  I was thinking about the light as it danced across the walls onto the window molding and listening to those sounds.  Watching the kitty's  eyes perk up as she too listened to the different sounds.  I don't think there is any right or wrong way to being still and not letting our minds race.  It's finding the time to be still.  I'm pretty sure I have 10 minutes in a 24 hour day to just be still and to listen.  No thinking about what I need to do with my life but rather what I'm doing in that very moment. What do I smell? What do I hear?  What do I see?