Summer Days Short but Sweet

Layla enjoying an ice cream cone. Layla singing into the huge outdoor fan on the deck, hair blowing in the wind :). Little Miss Hollywood. Sweet cousins and their books.
You'll have to excuse the quiet around here.
These are what my days have been made up of lately.
love. love. love.

Layla's birthday is in 21 days so there is party planning going on as well :).
Previews of DIY'd birthday decor are coming soon...
Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Nourishment.

Things that are nourishing my soul right now.

This lovely woman and her healing blog.

Spaces like these.






This book that I am nearly finished with. It has made so much sense and brought such a feeling of peace to my frazzled mama heart as of late.

creating with your hands.


Can I live in this for the rest of the summer?


Solitude.


What is nourishing you?

Kindness.

Kindness.

A word that can be so loaded. I believe that every person on the face of this earth, regardless of race, religion, sexual preference, etc., desires to feel kindness. Kindness and love. Warmth for another. Connectedness. To not be a alone.

How choices are made, lives changed, based on the loss or gift of kindness and love.

I feel a deep sadness in my heart and have for a while. I feel the pain of others so enormously. The tone of my brother's voice over the phone, calling from North Carolina, living on his own for the first time, the loneliness, the sadness from a recent loss in his life. The pain of watching a loved one struggle through a very difficult change in their life.

My own pain. From events and memories that I didn't realize were still holding me bound. Things that I thought were fading into the dust of history. I feel as if I am grieving. Grieving for what could have been. For the things lost. Needing to cry these things out. The tears to be a balm for old wounds.

I know this post is vague but it's something that I needed to get out.

Hope everyone has a happy weekend and I send you all love.

And kindness.

What Layla has Been up to Lately.

playing in a kitchen cabinet



giving me "the face"


dancing near the window.



my precious angel girl.

I never realized how much my heart could love.

Right now she's singing along to Disney's Mulan and dancing in her jammies.
My heart is full.

I know there's got to be a blue sky waiting for me.

Hello all :)

Monday official start of the week. A lot of things have been brewing and stewing around here lately. A lot of digging, and figuring out where I am headed on this path to living my passion and making it happen. I am in the beginning stages. Planning, brainstorming and researching. Making up a game plan. I set a goal for myself at the beginning of the year that I would be selling my creations, my crafts, by New Year 2012. And that plan is still in motion. I am doing some research and this week plan to get cracking and crank out a few items (that I entirely plan to take photos of and post on here) and prepare to be sold. A local antique store here, owned by a friend of my mothers' is letting me set up a shelf for my items to be sold locally, so I am super stoked! Once I get everything set up I will take some photos of the layout at the store so you guys can check it out.

My brother was home for the weekend, and although I wish that I had pictures to post, sometimes aren't you just happy experiencing the moment instead of being behind the lens recording it? I love documenting life moments, sure, but sometimes I just like to soak it all up right then and there.

We hung out and watched "Easy A" and "Mystery Science Theater 3000" (our favorite). We quote movies to each other all the time. It's almost like our secret language, because half the time no one knows what we are talking about. We'll be laughing, and spouting of hilarious lines from movies or shows and everyone else around us is like ...."uhhh......"
:)

I am sad he had to go back home today. Back to Charlotte NC. Back to work. Back to being on his way to becoming an awesome chef. I am so proud of him for going after his dream, and doing it all on his own. He's going after what he wants and making it happen.

I think I'll take a page from his book this week and set the wheels in motion on this "Dream Train".

Here goes nothin!

Thoughts of the day.

one of my favorite pictures to remind me to lighten up! bwahahah.



1. Discovering over and over again, that I am being looked after by something much greater than myself. Pure love.

2. "Life is too sweet to be bitter." fave quote of the week (not sure who where it's from)

3. That there are individuals out there in the world, that are seeking joy, inner peace and living like they mean it just like me!

4. How the powers that be, gently nudge me when I start to forget myself, my beautiful authenticty, and if that doesn't work, they rough me up a little for good measure ;).

5. Nourishing literature that is full of things that are exactly what I need right now.

6. Moving my body whether in through downward dog, with a colorful hoop spinning round my middle, chasing my little girl all over the house, or dancing in my undies while getting dressed for the day, being in my skin and appreciating every scar, every dimple, every stretch mark because they all tell the story of who I am. Of where I've been. Of me.


7. Simple everyday life. My daughters giggles, the smell of my husbands t shirts, the window rolled down singing along to the radio, wind in my hair



8. Realizing as the end of a VERY exhausting week, that looking back, through all the daily ups and downs, I AM BLESSED.

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL.

Learning to Be.

Layla. Cooler than cool.



I know I am being a "bad blogger", and not being as regular as I would like posting blogs about my daily goings on. And I do promise to put more effort into carving out time to do this. It truly is therapeutic for me, even though I don't think many people read all this, that was never what it was about anyway. I've been feeling a little "adrift" lately. That's the only way I know to describe it. I feel like a kite on a windy day. I feel this tremendous need for grounding and focus but it's just eluding me. Have you ever felt like you are trying to do a million things at once and not doing any of those things to the best of your ability? Yea. That's right about how I feel. I am working to amend this, all the while honoring where I am at right now. I am doing what I call "my therapy". It's sort of a crash course in soul nourishing, that I have set up for myself. It involves a lot of journaling, self accountability to my yoga practice, speaking positively to myself and those around me, crafting, and soul painting.
Not quite sure how long this process will last. But I hope to come out of it more actualized, calm, and grounded in myself.
Taking time to cherish the little moments, the precious spaces between. Which I will update and post about soon.
My husband's birthday is also this week.
25 years old.
It's hard to believe. We've grown from naive youngsters getting in way over our heads to going on 5 years of marriage with a little spritely fairy girl in tow. I plan to make him a birthday card this year and hopefully something else special. I'm sure he being so techno savvy gets weary of my humble hand made gifts, but I think they touch his secretly sappy heart.
It's funny how love can mold and change your soul, and how age and experience can change your perspective on the truly important things in life. I've found in my short almost 25 years that it's just this.
Live simple.
Show kindness.
Give love.
Be grateful.

I promise to return and post again soon, until then blessings to anyone who happened by here.