Under the Weather

It's not often that I am sick enough to miss work but for the last couple of days I've been flat out with a winter cold. I could feel it happening and tried to arm myself but probably needed the time to rest. So I've been hold up in my bedroom with dog, laptop, phones and even tv (something I don't normally allow into the bedroom). I've been too tired to do anything other than rest and drink lots of tea.

Sick Day Essentials:

healing organic lemon ginger tea with honey...

the remote and a book if you have the energy for either...

plenty of tissues and a wastebasket near by...

maybe an occasional glance at facebook to see what the rest of the world is doing...

a giant igloo of a down comforter to snuggle under and stay warm while the rest of the house is at least 25 degrees cooler!


Well, at least I didn't have the Man cold:

So there you have it...an uneventful couple of days sequestered in my bedroom. I'm so glad I haven't looked in a mirror or else I might have frightened myself! Thank God for the homemade soup I made earlier this week and my patient pup who had to wake me up to make sure I wasn't dead!

Here's to good health!

can I just re-iterate how much this camera phone sucks compared to my beloved camera?!

My Own Brand of Happy

Hey, seeing as I'm turning another year older I just needed to put this out there: I'm Happy! Yes, it's my own brand of happiness and it may be vastly different from your own definition but at this age I've learned to march to a different drum.

My life has not been a bed of roses but I've managed to live nearly half a century without any jail time, drug addiction, and only 2 traffic tickets! I graduated college in 4 years, magna cum laude, spent a semester in Italy, learning another language and culture. I picked a profession that was not the hopes or desires of my parents but fueled a passion I've had since I drew on the walls of my grandmothers house at 5 years old and got scolded for it, but never gave up on it. When I finished college I worked hard to perfect my craft as a designer in hopes of fulfilling my dream to become an art director. I bought my own home at 26 (without the help of parents or a husband) and I joined a church that same year, confirming my own faith and not riding on the coat tails of my parents. I made a major move, bought my dream home and at one point, owned several properties and got to fulfill my dream of becoming the art director and getting my masters of fine art!
Yes, I have been Blessed!

Well, lest you think I'm just tooting my own horn, 
I must tell you that in the past 6 years, I've progressively lost MOST of that and been through a few raging fires...But I am still me, full of hope and potential!

I'd rather not focus on the losses, 
but on the baby steps towards a personal revival and restoration. 


I am still Blessed
and

I am Happy with a capital H!

;-)


Here's a really good series on making decisions in life. Wish I had known this when I was a kid!

Quest for A Garden Seat

You know how those magazine layouts of the rooms you love always seem to have subtle touches that just make them special? I've often noticed a little drum like ceramic stool that serves as a cocktail side table, seat or accent piece in a room. But since I renovated my master bath a number of years ago, I've been searching for the perfect shower seat. Not the old lady plastic kind or the teak seat that will eventually fall apart, but something small, durable and stylish that I can sit on and meditate in my steam shower. Well after a long search I finally figured out that I wanted what's called a garden seat. So the quest turned to finding one that was affordable!

here's a garden variety of shapes, textures and colors

Williams Sonoma Home

pottery barn

this is exactly what I wanted to do with a garden seat...

Put it in the shower!

Ballard had some in fun colors but the price was more than I could afford.

this is a great color but not so great price.

I did a search on thefind.com and came up with these...

these are from Cococozy

My search yielded many nice styles with prices ranging from $75 - $725!

imagine my surprise when I went into a store looking for inexpensive ear muffs and found this white garden seat just waiting for me!  a color would have been nice but I did Not hesitate at the price.

IT WAS $23.99 AT ROSS!
that's right, twenty-four U.S. dollars, right up my tight budget alley!

 and I really love it!

(my camera phone doesn't do it justice)


;-)

Cabin FEVER!

On Sunday night Atlanta got a blast of snow and ice exactly one year from our Huge storm. This one is far Bigger and much more treacherous (a word that has been grossly over used in the past two days). I was somewhat prepared and needed the time to rest (I've been so tired for some reason). All I've managed to do is shovel the ice and snow from the driveway and deck so it wouldn't stay there and accumulate into a block of ice. It's just started to snow again and I just saw footage of a man ice-skating down Peachtree Street!

Let's face it, my home place productivity is very low. I've had my work email open and I've been communicating with my boss, who's in NYC and I haven't eaten much (although the blueberry pancakes I had this morning were yummy). Tomorrow will bring day 3 of school closings and I'm sure I won't be the only one with a bad case of cabin fever!

Caramel Hot Cocoa: My reward for breaking up and shoveling a sheet of ice from the driveway and deck.

took the beach tree out into the snow for pictures!

SO, I've been looking through magazines and came across the same bedroom in two different journals:

See anything different between the two magazines?

slightly different pillows on the bed and mirror than the other magazine spread

 the footstool at the end of the bed is different from the other

 notice the picture on the left has different things on the night stand the the one on the right.

found a similar lamp at Home Goods for $30

Now that I've played 'One of these things is Not like the other', it's time to get back to reality....maybe I'll be motivated to clean my house...nah!

these pics are from last year's snow storm on January 8, 2010

The New Is Here!

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

I'm looking forward to what this new year will bring, good and bad. Last year, I finished a 5 year long project, sulked over some personal failures, worked my derriere off, started this blog, lost all shame, and started some new quests. From July to October I was on an adrenaline high that I'm still coming down from. I look at 2011 as a blank slate. The goals that were once crazy to even utter somehow seem attainable: 65 lb weight loss, financial recovery, finding a permanent job I love, health insurance, refining my creative outlets, re-connecting with friends, learning more, giving more, and as a friend said on her blog some months ago, 'making room for love' (and what a tremendous love she had, in such a short amount of time).

That friend went out in search of love, found love, married, and lost her love all within a year. I admire her courage and strength to make room for love and embrace every facet of it. It reminds me of the 1993 movie, Shadowlands, about the life of author C.S. Lewis. 

None of us are promised tomorrow so we must make the most of today.

I've collected these old watch faces with the intentions of creating collage sculptures but I've not yet taken the time to do that. Standing alone, without their hands, they seem to personify limitless possibilities. Time can be a bittersweet thing...

"Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. ..."

For Now:

I'm Moving Forward, on a mission (no brakes, reverse, neutral nor park)!