Aged and Gilded (Palazzo-Interiors & Gardens)

Dejeuner de Soleil

That's exactly what I want to be doing---having lunch under the sun! Lunch is my absolute favorite meal. I love to while away the afternoon hours with good conversation and great food over a glass of wine--all under the sun, of course. I love the sound of clinking tableware, laughter, and the chatter of words I can't quite understand in the background. What is your favorite meal of the day?

Campagne Decoration

British Homes & Gardens

Campagne Decoration

The English Home

Campagne Decoration

 

British Homes & Gardens

Pure Style Living/Jane Cumberbatch

I'm Having A Moment

Yes, I occasionally have a moment. I've shared them before. I try to avoid them but sometimes they sneak upon me. You know--everywhere you go, there you are. Today was not a good day. I'm feeling terribly out of sorts. I had expected to solve a personal issue that has been looming over me for quite some time but the resolution was postponed...again. Everything in due time, I suppose. And once again, it is raining here in California. Not the cozy-drizzly-let's-light-a-fire variety but rather the grey-and-gloomy-is-there-any-hope-on-the-horizon sort. Or maybe that's just me being negative.

But sometimes...I feel...like an empty room

In the Romantic Style/Linda Chase & Laura Cerwinske

I feel...adrift without a paddle

I feel...like I can't seem to get my foot in the door

 

It's as if I'm locked out...or is it locked in?

 

Living in Provence/Barbara & Rene Stoeltic

And maybe...I don't even have the key

1. Antique Skeleton Key

And then...there are the doubts...will I ever...really...bloom? Or am I just forcing the issue?

 

British House & Garden

Is time running out?

 

The Swedish Room/Lars & Ursula Sjoberg

Will it ever be possible to have my cake and eat it too?

 

British Country Homes & Interiors

Am I in this by myself?

 

House Beautiful

Okay, that's enough. Thanks for attending my pity party.

Springing to Life

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."  Charles Dickens

Mr. Dickens must have been in California when he wrote that--it fits the description of our climate perfectly. After weeks of rain, we are being treated to glorious sunshine. Nevertheless, a sweater is always at the ready. I find myself happy for just about any reason. Spring makes me think of planning; filling notebooks with ideas, and getting rid of the old and bringing in the new.

 

Maisons Cote Ouest

I'm having a terrible time getting adjusted to the time change but loving longer days. I'm thinking of flowers that I want to plant--old fashioned heirlooms like foxglove and delphineum and some of my favorite roses. The lavender is already blooming.

 

This was an impulsive purchase for the garden. ( I use the term "garden" very loosely as I have yet to plant a proper one.) I couldn't resist those massive pink faces calling out my name.

It is always a treat to have flowers in the house. Here is just a bit of spring for my kitchen counter--a little bit of sunshine to start the day.

Resolutions

Yes, I know it's cliche but I make them anyway. As I read other blogs, I sense that a collective consciousness is rising. People are re-prioritizing, re-evaluating, and deciding what really is important in creating a joyous life. It doesn't seem to be at all what we once thought. 2009 was a mixed bag--we learned what the audacity of hope could bring and what the voracity of greed could take. Some of our belief systems fell to the way side. But change is good. The institutions which we took for granted and vested in, we discovered were playing a dangerous game of smoke and mirrors--and we were the losers. We face a new decade now. We're coming to realize that at the end of the day, we are all we really have and that we'd better take care of that.

1.  Live in the present. This is actually quite difficult for me. I'm so continually looking forward to the future that I sometimes forget to enjoy the here and now. Case in point--I realized on New Year's day after a quick calculation that I am actually a year younger than the age I had convinced myself I was!

2.  Get healthy (ok, thinner).  Sounds shallow and I know it probably is but I can't help myself.

3.  Less sugar (the bad kind, anyway). I think we all know by now that anything white, powdery and available for consumption is probably not a good thing.

4.  Be more glamorous (damn it!) I AM a year younger after all.

5.  Practice gratitude. This is a biggie.  I thought I was doing this but if that were true then #1 would be a moot point. You can't possibly be grateful if you're not acknowledging what exists right now.

6.  Live larger, love harder.  I wish this one for all of you as well. I want to open myself up to adventure and all the exciting possibilities of life and give back in a way that is more meaningful than ever before.  Won't you join me?

What are your new resolutions?

Lost at Sea

Eternity begins and ends with the ocean's tides.   Anonymous

  

...it's always ourselves we find in the sea.  E.E. Cummings

Butterflies are Free

I've had endless conversations with my girlfriend and others who believe that I may have lost sight of what "living" really means. It is true that I'm always "running out of time" and feeling as if there "aren't enough hours in the day." I find it difficult to sit still without doing something "productive." I get up early and go to bed late to push myself to meet one deadline after another and yet...what is it that I'm really trying to accomplish? And would it really make me happy?  Maybe the lesson is that all things happen in their own due time no matter how hard we push. And maybe, we really do have enough time as long as we're doing the right thing with it. I came across this quote and it helped to put things in perspective.

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough."
Rabindranath Tagore

"The caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity."
George Carlin

Which are you?

Happiness is...

The grand essentials of happiness are:  something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.  Allen K. Chalmers

 

Are you happy?

In Bloom

As long as we are persistent in our pursuit of our deepest destiny, we will continue to grow. We cannot choose the day or time when we will fully bloom. It happens in its own time.  Denis Waitley

 

There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.  Anais Nin

 

Flowers are not made by singing "Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade.  Rudyard Kipling

 

With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy.  Lope de Vega