five {really} good things
1) I snapped this photo just after I finished recording the "poem of possibility" that is the list of 2013 "one little words" over on Ali's blog. This is the third year I've done it and each time I enjoy it all the way to the tips of my toes. I really try to think about each word as it's own little one word poem. Makes me so happy. You can listen here.
2) The Seafoam Project Life Kit is here! Love Elise's aesthetic so much (she designed this kit). I dove in right away when the box from Amazon arrived, and I can't wait to use it this year. I'll be pairing it with some favorites from the Clementine edition I bought last fall (it isn't important to me that every layout be from one kit). And I'll be sharing some layouts and ideas and how it's going here on the blog. I loved working with Project Life last year and am almost finished. Just need to do the last two weeks of December. [This is the first time I've ever (almost) completed any kind of big creative project like this for my family. Not kidding. It gives me hope for the unfinished quilts and other good things hiding in my studio AND is proof that this kind of memory keeping really is that easy!]
I share my approach to Project Life in this post and will be sharing more next week. And if you are new to it, head over to Becky Higgins' site to watch an adorable really short video and learn more.
3) Next month, Vivienne is running a new course called "Be Your Own Beloved." I love the premise behind this course: It is a 28 day photo adventure designed to cultivate self-reflection and self-compassion through the practice of taking self-portraits. I am really looking forward to this one. Viv's having a giveaway on her blog right now for one spot, but even if you don't win, I hope you will come along.
4) The newest issue of Sprout Magazine (an adorable online e-zine) is all about inspiration. So many inspiring contributors. And I'm delighted that Amanda featured my Soul Mantra jewelry in this issue (there is a free shipping coupon code inside).
5) I've been wearing a lot of headbands lately (as evidenced by my self-portraits on Instagram). I never was really a headband person. My head is not small, which means headbands often squeeze my head until I have a headache. But when my late summer hair cut went a bit awry, I started to look for ways to get through it. Enter the headbands from Specifically Random, a shop I came across last spring. They come in sizes. Yes. Sizes! I've been adding some crochet flower pins to them that my mom sent me. I don't have a link for the pins, but these, these, and these on Etsy look similar. They would also be easy to crochet.
And you? What are five really good things over in your corner of the world? I would love to know.
Happy weekending,
Liz
five (really) good things in make a list.
Reader Comments (7)
Thank you Liz! Loved the reading of the words so much.
1) You Liz, you are one of my 5 really good things--your luscious way with words, your open hearted sharing of the every day magic of your life, your poetry classes (hint, hint.)
2) Laurie Wagner's e-writing course "Telling True Stories" which I found through--YOU! I'm learning to wake up to the moments around me and write them down and not let them fade into the air.
3) The book "How to Train A Wild Elephant" Simple Daily Mindfulness Practices for Living Life More Fully and Joyfully by Jan Chozen Bays (I found it through a website called LifeUnity (I think). I've decided that in order to write fully present, I must learn to BE fully present. This week's practice is using my non dominant hand--sounds like a story.
4) The word "story" which is my OLW this year and nudged me into taking Laurie's writing class. I'm starting to get snippets and glimpses and not be afraid of seeing more of my life.
5) Which brings me to an e-mail conversation that I had with Laurie Wagner about feeling blocked and locked up and she talked to me about humility. And I realized that the thing that has really kept me from writing all this time is that I was afraid of being mediocre--I wanted to be "special"--very, very special. I can keep that fantasy alive if I don't write, but if I do, it shrivels up. What I saw for the first time is wanting to be special is pride and a bit of arrogance--the opposite of humility. Humility is the only way I can keep writing--just show up, put lines on the page and accept whatever comes out, jewels or dust. "As she said "Let's keep it simple. Le't s make lists--just write down lines. It doesn't have to resemble A PIECE. Just lines and some humility."
1. Broadway Cellars' Prime Rib Thursdays with my son;
2. Making photo birthday cards at the drugstore;
3. "Galway Bay" by Mary Pat Kelly;
4. A flash fiction piece I'm writing - 222 words;
5. Elena cutting and highlighting my hair tomorrow. She's back from maternity leave!
Hey Liz, thanks for the heads-up on Viv's class and the sized headbands!
Five good things:
1. Baby, it's cold outside, but we've got a good furnace and lots of herbal tea.
2. 30 minutes of aerobic activity this morning. Yes!
3. I am loving all the vegetables that I'm preparing and eating these days. Newest revelation: steamed eggplant.
4. Sprouting paperwhites in the dining room window.
5. Smiling at myself in the mirror. Feels goofy but important.
5 good things from a little island...
1. a clean smelling house...pine-sol and apples and cinnamon
2. a little bit of computer purging accomplished
3. chocolate-y cinnamon-y chai tea
4. the 4th book in the game of thrones series...so gooooood
5. big fluffy snowflakes..falling slow...falling pretty...
I need to go and listen to the poem!
Five good things from here:
1. Sugar cookies: I am apparently sweet-toothed out after the holidays and sugar cookies are my new just right dessert, not too sweet and previously unappreciated by me.
2. Being able to walk longer than a few minutes with the pup. It is so nice to slowly get back to our usual routes. I missed the woods and the fresh air and the movement outdoors.
3. A new Mary Oliver book, a Christmas present from my sister. Humorously, there are at least two poems where she says something about her thinking too much, which is what this particular sister tells me about me often.
4. Psych, which is my latest TV addiction. It's funny and I particularly love the friendship between the two main characters.
5. Sandwiches and dill pickles, always a treat.
I also had the same problem with headbands until I picked up some headbands from Specifically Random at a craft show last fall. Love them!