Choices

20 February 2011

Reaching


As I've mentioned before I haven't really noticed nature. I'm not an outdoors kind of girl. Unless of course we are talking about sailing or spending time on the beach. That is the only time that I get excited about being outside and look around to see what is offered. I've had people try and make me enjoy the great outdoors and I think they would agree that it just made themselves miserable; more so than the misery that I was feeling.

I have noticed in the last year the trees and how they connect with the sky. I'm not sure what this signifies but I'm sure that this awareness is a message.

It appears to me that trees serve many purposes. They protect, they provide shelter, they can be beautiful, they grow, they die, they fall, they are useful in the modern world, they can be less than beautiful and they can be the source of too much attention. A tree is a gift. As with any gift it is our choice to recognize, appreciate, cherish, sometimes re-gift and keep them in the proper perspective.

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to they eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 2:9

This is a tree that I discovered about a year ago and I finally took a picture. It's quite intriguing.

14 February 2011

Happy Birthday Linda

I am excited to follow Linda's birthday bash all this week! I have enjoyed following Linda online for almost a year now. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in her handmade gift exchange. That was a great way to blindly create and make a new online friend! (Looking forward to the next one!)


Happy Birthday Linda!
If you would like to follow Linda just click on her birthday bash link!

12 February 2011

Changing Years

We may already be 43ish days into 2011 but it is still a new year. Thinking about the purpose and possibilities of 2011 has me thinking of past years. I've had tremendously exciting years as well as terribly disappointing years. I've had years of newness and years that were so void they just passed by without even waking up enough to know what year it was. I think I prefer not to ever have another void year.

2011 - several online friends have been discussing what their word for the year is. I don't know my word yet. What I do know about this particular year is this: It's a year that will not be void. It will not be a disappointing year. It will be a year of purpose, which in of itself is exciting. I don't know how 2011 will end and I may not have a concrete goal on this date for the year but I know that no matter what 2011 will be one of the best years I've had in the last decade.

2010 - this was the year of change. I didn't recognize it at the beginning of the year or even in the middle of the year but I definitely embraced it the last part of the year. Some of the best things come when unplanned life happens! 2010 was the return of several things for me. Thanks to my cousin Shannon http://www.blu-bambu.com/ I was able to return to a more artistic way of thinking and looking at life everyday. She introduced me to Shona http://www.shonastudio.blogspot.com/ . I really enjoyed working through her book. I may not have finished all the projects or published all my work as requested but I thoroughly enjoyed every moment and it opened my eyes to things that I had missed in my prior void years. I found many muses through this process and to this day I enjoy following each of them and see how they are inspired. Seeing others inspiration creates inspiration. It's kind of like smiling - it's contagious and it spreads to places unknown.

My cousin also implanted a phrase in my mind and it has meant far more to me than the words. "No naughty negative self talk!" That was used in an email conversation regarding a project for The Artistic Mother. (and no I'm not a mother so no one has missed any monumental news) However, as I look back at 2010 and all the changes that occurred I realize that that phrase has been life changing. I think that when you have so many void years that you yourself become void. You lose your sense of self worth. That self worth has been regained.

The picture above on this entry was a great day. It was a day driving home from a new job and my eyes were wide open. I couldn't take my eyes off the sky. And in the FB world most of my friends were posting pictures and comments regarding the sky. It was remarkable so I had to take advantage of the moment and snag several pictures (while driving because I didn't want to miss it).