Double Giveaway!

I'm an avid believer that mornings should be beautiful.  Rushing out the door breathless with little to no breakfast to the music of your cell phone ringing and dinging is no way to begin the day.  If it means getting up a few minutes earlier to ensure you have time to breathe and perhaps simply sit for 10 minutes, do it.  It makes all the difference in the world, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.  Consider it an investment in the rest of your day.

My morning ritual is to light a scented candle and sit quietly in my reading room with a lovely breakfast, journal, steaming cup of tea with coconut milk, and usually a book or two.  So in honor of beautiful mornings, I'm giving away a few of my absolute favorite morning necessities!  

 I love Anthropologie's candles.  They smell divine, burn forever, and what have you ever seen from Anthro that wasn't beautiful??  Nothing.  That's right.  Nothing.  Every person who walks in that store becomes dreamy-eyed and begins to hum and waltz and adoringly stroke every item within reach...  You know it's true.  You do it, too.

Aren't they pretty with their little scalloped edges?  One is "Crushed Peony" scent, and the other "Purple Orchid."  They retail for $18 each.

And then there are these lovelies:

I love, love, love the detail... the splattered color inside, the scalloped bottoms, the beautiful design.  They're just so PRETTY!  Also from Anthropologie, retail for $10 each.

Because you can't have a beautiful mug without anything to go in it, I'm also throwing in a box of my favorite Yogi Tea, Mayan Cocoa Spice OR Organic Chai Rooibos.  Winners choice.

So!  There you have today's giveaway.  Ill be choosing TWO winners, each receiving a candle, mug, and tea of preference.

To enter simply answer this question in the comments section below:

What is your can't-live-without morning necessity?

Whether it's a kiss from your hubby, a cup of coffee, the morning news, or a banana muffin, simply answer and you're automatically entered to win.  Remember comments on Facebook don't count.  You must respond in the actual comment section of the blog.

One entry per person, no entries after midnight Saturday, winners will be selected at random and announced first thing Monday.  Good luck!

Intention

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."  -Buddha

The art of Sabbath practice is intention and awareness.  It's perspective.  It's why red berries among a million other things speak to me in a real, undeniable way.

It's stopping to examine a single bloom along the sidewalk and marveling at the fact that the moment the seed went into the ground, God knew that at this precise moment in time you would stop to ponder it.  It's pausing to wonder will anyone else examine this exact bloom?  Did God in his intimate, intricate pursuit of me cause this very flower to sprout from the earth, for this explicit moment in time?

Of course He did.  

God always sees us.  Sabbath is the intentional stopping to see Him.

Find 5 minutes to stop today.  Open your eyes.  Open your ears.  Commune with Divinity, and your very soul will be refreshed.

Weekend

Saturday morning I awoke to Josh clanging about in the kitchen.  A blanket draped around my shoulders, still squinting, I climbed onto a stool at the table as he cheerfully announced, "Brunch at the Arboretum! Get dressed.  I've already cooked and packed the food!"

I stumbled into Erin's room to rouse her with the announcement before getting myself dressed and gathering my camera and whatnot.  Doesn't matter that I've been there a thousand times, it's impossible to visit the Arboretum without my camera.

We arrived and scouted out a lush picnic spot to sprawl about on blankets in the sun and nosh on brunch. Josh had lovingly whipped up farm-fresh egg sandwiches on beautiful purple toast (China Black Rice Bread, one of my new faves), and a side of roasted cinnamon walnut butter with crisp, green apples.  Our sandwiches were each wrapped with foil to keep warm and crispy and labeled with our names ;-) How cute is he??  He has my heart.

As we were eating, Erin started to prep her camera and realized she had no available memory thanks to a slew of videos she's currently storing for a large project.  She's going to kill me for posting these, but I simply can't resist...  

Upon her realization that she wouldn't be able to take photos she started to pout. Then she made a phone call to make sure she couldn't delete the videos.  Then she tried to convince me they might sell memory cards in the gift shop. Then she went on a tirade about how stupid it was that they didn't because she was sure this happened to people all the time. Then she tried to bribe me into letting her have my memory card, arguing that if she took photos on her camera they'd be better anyway. Once the realization set in that there would be no resolving the situation, she threw herself face first on the blanket wimpering and proceeded to thrash and moan and roll about in frustration.  

It.  Was.  Priceless.

I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle, giggling profusely the entire time, snapping photos.  Watching her tantrum was the equivalent of looking in a mirror.  She's my creative soul-mate in a thousand ways, and this is simply how we respond when our artistic endeavors are thwarted.  We feel as if the world might end, launching us into a dramatic procession of emotions.  Disbelief.  Denial.  Frustration. Manipulation. Hopelessness.  Mourning.  Etc.

It's fantastic.  

Of course when I casually reminded her of the iphone in her bag, she snapped right out of it and chirped, "Oh great! Disaster averted!  We're good."  And so we were off to stroll and savor the awaiting feast for the senses...

Oh how I adore tulips.  My forever favorite.

Red buds, tulips, daffodils...  Stunning displays of blooms stretched into the distance.

Oh the colors...  It makes my pulse race.

We stopped here and there to sit among the beauties, feel the grass between our fingers and toes.  It would be such a travesty not to.

These are Christine's favorites.  She loves how delicate they are, like tissue paper.  You should see her dancing around them practically squealing with delight and giddily snapping photos ;-)  It thrills me. (she's my other creative soul-mate ;-)

Don't you adore how watching someone else love something can cause you to love it, too??  Look at the perfection...

Before leaving we stopped for a final soak in the sun on my favorite sloping hill over the water.

Being a Saturday, lots of families were relishing the day.  During the week I usually get this spot almost entirely to myself... it's blissful.

How was your weekend??  Did you get out and soak up the beautiful Spring-time weather?

Hidden

Where I've been hiding lately... is here.  Without question this is my favorite place to work and write and dream, soaking in the sun, particularly this time of year.  Quite conducive to dreaming, wouldn't you say?  If you aren't familiar it's the Dallas Arboretum.  This particular spot is a lovely patio area overlooking White Rock Lake, the downtown Dallas skyline just in the distance.  

Josh and I are members and it's only 5 minutes from our house, so I make it a point to go at least once or twice a week.  A book, a journal, a blanket, maybe a snack or a kombucha... my perfect day.  Sometimes I stay for hours.

When I was a kid I was absolutely fascinated by The Secret Garden.  On weekdays the Arboretum gets little to no traffic so it feels totally private and secluded.  Dreamer that I am, of course I pretend it's my own secret garden, of sorts.  The vivid colors, the gorgeous floral scents, the warm Spring sun and cool breeze off the water...  It has a totally therapeutic, healing effect.  I can't get enough.  It quite literally does something to my soul.  

As a teenager I travelled to Europe for the very first time and as soon as I set eyes on Holland, I fell instantly in love.  At that point I'd seen a good bit of the world already, but something about Europe captured my soul.  It's truly been a love affair ever since.  I was there in April while the tulips were blooming so I've forever associated the two.  This time of year at the Arboretum, 500,000 tulip bulbs are springing up in every vibrant color and shade imaginable, entirely reminiscent of the Netherlands.  

With it's fountains and benches and patches of lush, green grass as far as the eye can see... it's both a secret garden and Europe in my own backyard, perfection in a thousand ways. 

If you've never visited the Dallas Arboretum during Dallas Blooms (when all the tulips are blooming) I certainly suggest you make it happen in the next couple of weeks.  Take a picnic and a blanket and someone you love, and consider it a mini-vacation.  Don’t forget your camera!

PS-I'll be posting a ton more pictures in a bit, just in case you need more convincing... ;-)

Vlog

Last night I sat staring blankly at my computer screen for quite some time, watching the cursor blink. And blink. And blink.  

Finding it difficult to express in writing precisely what was going on in my heart, I had the sudden, brilliant idea to try out a video blog.  (I believe they're affectionately referred to as vlogs.)  Totally inspired, I clicked on my little imovie icon and started rolling.  

NOT my greatest idea ever.  Let me just tell you why:

1-It's totally raw and unedited.  Normally I would consider this a good thing... yeah, um, not so much.

2-The lighting is atrocious.  Particularly at 11pm.  In a dark, back room.  On a laptop, for crying out loud.

3-It's scary to see yourself on video.  And kind of freaky.  Especially when you look haggard and exhausted.  Under atrocious lighting.  At 11pm.  In a dark, back room.  On a laptop...

4-It's scary to hear your voice on video.  You sound different than you think you do.  You sound different than you think you should.  You immediately begin a psychotic argument inside your head, "I do NOT sound like that.  That is not my voice.  No it isn't..."

5-When you slur your words because you're so blasted exhausted, you can't backspace to correct it.

6-You just kind or ramble and dart your eyes in weird directions and wonder why on God's green earth anyone would care about a single, blasted, only partially-coherent word coming out of your mouth anyway.

7-The lighting is atrocious.

8-You have no idea how to upload the stupid thing to your blog anyway.  

9-You suddenly, shockingly realize you're wearing your husbands gigantic football t-shirt in your vlog debut.  NOT okay.

10-And finally, the lighting is atrocious.

I learned all of this in 10 minutes flat, and I think it's safe to say that vlogs are likely not the direction I'll be taking the blog in the days and weeks to come.  Although I have to admit that I am, quite shockingly, still open to the idea, I will not attempt to tackle the project at 11pm.  In a dark back room.  Under atrocious lighting.

The end.

What do you think?  I'm taking a vote.  Video blogs--yay or nay?

Write

Write your own story.

I keep hearing the words roll around and around inside my head.  Write your own story.  Write your own story. Ever since I stumbled upon those mugs back in December, the words haven't left me.  Write your own story. The past few months as I've browsed thrift shops with Erin who has an adoration for old typewriters, we've stopped and caressed the keys of machine after machine.  She says she wants one that still works, so she can type and not make corrections, so her words will come out authentically.  No backspace, no auto-correct, no delete.  I love that about her.  Write your own story.  Something about her words speak to me, stir something in me on a deep, soul-level.  Write your own story.  In my mind I can hear the click, click, clicking of an old typewriter somewhere in a sun-filled, quiet back room...

A couple of weeks ago I get a call from my friend Debbie.  She says she's been reading my blog and has something for me, thinks I'll love it, wants it to go to someone who'll appreciate it.  She shows up with this:

Click... click... click... images of a quiet, sun-filled room...  that beautiful little writing desk my husband just gave me... click... click... click... a stirring in my soul...  a steaming cup of hot tea... click... click... write your own story.

In light of everything that's happened the past few days and weeks, the shifting and shaking and life-altering decisions that have been made, I think it's time.  I think it's finally time.

Write your own story.  I think I will...

PS--Debbie also brought me these adorable little beauties, vintage Kodak Brownies.  Oh-so-appropriate, don't ya think?  What better to go with an old typewriter that an couple of old cameras? Every story is better with pictures.

PPS--My apologies for the subtle crypticness of the blog lately.  I can't stand it when people are vague, so it's a struggle for me to be just that when I know how irritating it is, but what I can say this: just consider it a teaser of sorts--it will ALL make sense in the weeks to come... ;-)  

Are you writing your own story?  What does that look like for you?