Showing posts with label beauty in nature. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beauty in nature. Show all posts

Monday, January 23, 2012

friends who sew

This past Saturday, what was supposed to be a celebration of my Dad's birthday, ended up being (for us 3 girls anyway) an afternoon of wine, chatting about our lives and brainstorming about our three very different sewing businesses.

You already know me...so meet Jacquelyn and Carrie:


Jacquelyn is one of my oldest and dearest friends- we've known each other since the summer before 6th grade. She is the extraordinarily talented owner and designer of Jacquelyn Brooks Designs. One of Jacquelyn's major focuses is community and she donates a good portion of her time (as well as her designs) to benefits such as the annual Runways and Rescues fashion show.


Carrie married one of my cousins so I am lucky enough to call her family! She is owner and designer of both  Happy Little Monkey AND Monkey See Monkey Do. Carrie is one of the most forward thinking people I know and always has a few projects up her sleeve.

At some point, Carrie was able to snap a few photos of our gorgeous daughters enjoying some cousin time down on the the dock:



Every crafter/sewist/artist should have people like these in their life that GET what they are trying to accomplish and can help brainstorm ideas over an afternoon glass of wine.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

thank-full (a better late than never blog)

Those who are Awake
live in a state of constant amazement ...

~ Jack Kornfield ~


This post has been in my head for easily two weeks now- what are the things in life I am most grateful for? How do I summarize that into a concise blog post that someone would even want to take the time to read? So, round and round in my head it has gone.  
forgive me. this will be messy and unorganized. 
and my grammar will suck.


Last weekend as I listened to my girls laughing in the other room with one of their friends, I was reminded how so much of what I love is processed through my ears. Music...always music. and laughter. from anyone. 


I am grateful for all the people I share love with. 
My family. 
my beautiful, twirly, funny, creative, ever-changing children.
My friends who have seen me through the good and bad decisions- while lifting me with support. 
My wise friend who said: to him...all we are are our relationships and our conversations. 
Another friend- who has seen me through the same.old.shit. a million times. and is still here. and still smiling.
For another friend who said, "what are you THINKING?!? If anyone can get their massage license reinstated within a month, it's you!". And you know what? She was right. 
I am overwhelmed with gratitude on amost a daily basis by how many people I have in my corner and could easily list 100 people who have done extraordinary things to support me (m0mmacat, this means you).

I am thankful for the beauty that surrounds me. For the sun as it cuts through the trees in my back yard, the breeze that brushes across my arm, my peck peck pecking chickens as they search for food and care for the two new little ones...

I am thankful for the time and space I've been given to explore my creativity and find out what I love to do. 
And for the artists out there who are sharing their work. The singer-song writers, poets and philosophers especially. thank you for filling my soul on the days I was most in need. 


and as I write, I am thinking of how much gratitude I have for you. whoever you are, reading this blog. whoever you are...looking at my work on etsy or at a local market...relating to a poem I post or trying a recipe...thank you. Thank you for having an appreciation for a part of me. and our connection.    


last month on my trip to California, at a winery in Napa











Friday, September 2, 2011

perfect loveliness


 
St. Francis and the Sow
by Galway Kinnell
 
 The bud
stands for all things,
even those things that don't flower,
for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;
 though sometimes it is necessary
to reteach a thing its loveliness,
to put a hand on its brow
of the flower
and retell it in words and in touch
it is lovely
until it flowers again from within, of self-blessing;
 as St. Francis
put his hand on the creased forehead
of the sow, and told her in words and in touch
blessings of earth on the sow, 
 and the sow
began remembering all down her thick length,
from the earthen snout all the way
through the fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of
                the tail,
 from the hard spininess spiked out from the spine
down through the great broken heart
to the blue milken dreaminess spurting and shuddering
from the fourteen teats into the fourteen mouths sucking
                and blowing beneath them:
the long, perfect loveliness of sow.
                                                                    
 
------------------------------------------------------ 
The every so lovely Kathryn of Kathryn Kaye Photography has a new etsy shop!
If someone wanted to make me a very happy Helen they would purchase this 
beautiful piece of art for my birthday <3 (oh, or this!) 
Here are Kathryn's other links:
blog (a bazillion photos so striking you won't be able to stop looking until there are no more left to see) 
facebook be the first to know when she makes a new blog post or has a promotion going on!
 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

the bittersweet

"Turn around and you're two
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door"
 As I type this, Ella is experiencing her first day of Pre K. Violet, not sure how to be without her partner in crime is looking every where for her...."where Ella go??". 
Saying goodbye this morning was bittersweet. Violet had stayed home with her Dad so it was just me and Ella. The look on her face when we hugged and said goodbye- it was meaningful- I wish I could describe it better than to say...her face was brave and excited. 
I feel so good about the school we have chosen; a place where peacocks and chickens run free and each child has access to a garden plot. A place where children can be children.


peacocks paying under the volleyball net
perched on the roof of Ella's classroom


Saturday, August 13, 2011

this post is brought to you by red wine, good friends and Lucinda Williams (NOT Bruce Springsteen)

Have you ever had a place
that you could go
and as you are driving up,
your heart slows
your breathing deepens, becoming more intentional
and your body just relaxes?

I am lucky enough to have a few spots like this scattered across Florida, North Carolina and Mississippi; they fill a part of me that is frequently emptied by the repetition of every day.

The one I am thinking of tonight is Lake Serene in Mississippi.

The girls and I usually visit Mississippi for a month every summer and this is the first time I had been back to Lake Serene since college in 1998. It was a much needed drive and I was so happy to be able to share it with my daughters and 12 year old niece.

Everyone should have a place like this, if only to catch your breath a couple times a year.