“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.” – Louis L’Amour, author Well, would you look at this brazen little sucker. Previously pruned, leaves gone, confined by its fence while left to fend off winter’s elements… the outlook seemed a bit bleak for this little thing over…
Category: blessings
A Very Good Day (Part II)
Got my birthday (cup)cake after the Garden at SweetArt, where love, magic, sweets and fantastic art are served every time. Because I can say after 45 years…life is short, eat dessert first. I have no other reason for posting this photo than I thought it was funny. That’s some cute advertising. After cupcakes, we headed…
A Very Good Day (Part I)
My big birthday has come and gone, brought to a close with a really lovely visit with my Mom. I loved getting to spend the day showing her around my beloved city. The first stop was the Botanical Garden for the Orchid Show. I’ve been there so many times, but the Garden never gets old —…
Spring Affirmations
A walk through the Botanical Garden this morning revealed some glimpses of color and earliest signs of spring, as well as some fun shapes, patterns and even a few stories. The Garden always seems to be the place I can go to decompress and re-center when life gets busy. Today was no exception. With gratitude, here…
Well, That Sucked. (But It’s Okay)
“Look for something positive in each day, even if some days you have to look a little harder.” You know, some days really feel like they are just conspiring to suck. There. I said it. Admittedly, I don’t feel like this too often. And it’s not because I’m naturally wired to always be a half-full kind of girl….
Distracted Churchgoer, Part II
About a month ago, I was a little on the distracted side at church — to the point of creating a blog post about it. Well…it happened again. In all fairness, I blame these two gentlemen in front of me. They were wearing identical shirts. It’s hard to tell from this photo, but trust me. Identical….
Every Now and Then
“It is not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It’s our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.” – L. R. Knost, author I first blogged about this inseparable couple almost six years ago, but we’d been observing them for years…
Love Made Visible
“Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.” – Buddha Happy Valentine’s Day! While I don’t have a sweetheart this year, I am still so ready to celebrate. Today marks the beginning of Random Acts of Kindness Week (February 14-20, 2016)! Read about it here. A whole week…
Maybe She’s Born With It?
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.” – Brene Brown, from The Gifts of Imperfection I loved this funny little character from the coffee shop this afternoon. Lemme tell ya, she was fearlessly comfortable with herself. She was owning her little owl hat, pink…
Pictures of My Loved Ones
As I’d mentioned in a previous post, when my 92-year old aunt passed away recently, she left behind a gold mine of family photos and history. While I gained new insight into my grampa’s love for my grandmother during my first few explorations through the photos, today I discovered further evidence of grampa’s love. Only this love…
Today I was Grateful for…
“Gratitude is one of the sweet shortcuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there’s always something we could be grateful for.” – Barry Neil Kaufman, writer I just realized that it’s been awhile since I’ve put together a gratitude list. Lately I’ve let outside stuff and…
Looking at Things…Differently
“It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau Dirty gas tanker or a canvas for silliness? Old post-it note or a canvas for an anonymous happy greeting? Old fashioned duct work or a cheery tin man face? Lamp post or a platform for encouragement? Negative space or an opportunity…
20 Teachings to Start the Week
Things have been a little hectic lately, so I’ve been bad about blogging. Here are a few of my recent random iPhone photos accompanying 20 teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh that I found today. Love, love, love some of these. Here’s a link to the full article, but below you can find the free prize inside. 1.) People…
This.
“To help heal others, you must first heal thyself. To do this, you must practice being gentle in all areas of life. Release all emotions that no longer serve you. Replace guilt with acceptance, swap fear for love. Have a warm and caring heart. Every cell in your body radiates peace and, because of this,…
It Will Be Happier?
“Hope Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, Whispering ‘it will be happier’…” – Alfred Lord Tennyson I love that quote from Tennyson. I love to think that next year is going to be happier — especially when this year was such a good one. It’s always fun to look over blog posts to…
Life Lately: Holiday Edition
A few photos on the iPhone lately include glimpses of… …my kitties’ company… and cupcake baking. A full Sunday in the kitchen and I had four dozen from-scratch cupcakes to show for it: red velvet (top left), peppermint (middle), egg nog (lower left), and gingerbread with cinnamon frosting (right row). The irony of this photo…
A Very Good Day
In anticipation of the holiday next week and in an effort to get somewhat caught up, the boys and I all took yesterday off for a full day of shopping and cheer. We went across the river over into downtown Saint Charles for some lunch and a bit of shopping. I don’t get over there…
God Winks
For the past few weeks, for whatever reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about a story I wrote and photographed for a dear friend’s magazine a long time ago. The story was about a local business called Seeds of Happiness (Seeds shown above), but it was never published. It’s bothered me from time to time that I…
Big Guy, Bigger Heart
As if Santa wasn’t already the coolest guy in the world. It seems like there have been a few really special Santa stories this year that have hit me right in the feels. This Santa settled himself onto the floor to make an autistic boy feel more comfortable. Link to full story and more photos here or click…
Lessons Learned
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde Today my grampa would’ve turned 130 years old. We’ve been without him for almost 25 years now. That’s so hard to believe. (That’s him holding me before my baptism.) He passed away when he was just shy…
Birthday Boy
Belated birthday dinner for my eldest. The big 23. A special occasion, smart phones were purposely moved to the center of the table/out of reach, while actual, focused conversations took place among three undistracted participants. It was nice. Of course, once the meal was consumed and after I was given the check, one by one,…
Running Around Town
The Spring Girls on the Run 5K was so much fun that it only made sense to run the fall 5K as well. And it didn’t disappoint. I never get tired of the view of our downtown. Almost all of the races I’ve run have had the arch as the backdrop. So, so lucky. Today’s…
World Kindness Day
Today was the beginning of the latest round of checkups to manage the NF2 disease in both of my boys. My eldest has these scans and appointments more frequently due to chemotherapy, but they’re both checked out on the regular. Today brought more than four hours worth of MRIs for my youngest. We know going…
Decide Ahead of Time
A friend and colleague shared this photo and accompanying story with us today. We couldn’t figure out who wrote it or even if it’s true, but we all decided it was so beautiful that it didn’t matter. So I wanted to pass along. “The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning…
#GoBeKind
After a flood of visceral hatred and ugliness filling my Facebook feed (worse than the typical political spewage), I’ve begun to seriously flirt with the idea of dropping Facebook altogether. I love keeping up with a number of friends over social media, but the constant barrage of negativity and righteous indignation has become too painful. Between the irrational outrage…
hey there, friends 