Friday Fill-in #47

1. I enjoy being creative (and on my own) more than anything else.

2. Blogging satisfies my need for expressing myself, connecting with other (like minded) people and writing.

3. When I look at a full moon, I feel overawed everytime.

4. If I want a snack, I usually reach for a glass of warm milk and two slices of honey smothered toast.

5. The most recent movie I saw, Hitch, made me laugh out loud all over again. (I just love this movie)

6. If only I could decide on what I really wanted to do with my life then I could get moving!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to curling up with my book, Eat Pray Love, tomorrow my plans include going down to the German Market to stuff myself with Bratwurst and Sunday, I want to go to the craft fair at the Botanical Gardens!

MSL Day 8: Yoga

Inhale. Relax. Breathe. Exhale. Meditate. Relax.

Sacred

Pictures from http://www.yogawithamey.com/stickfigures.html

MSL Day 7: My baby’s health

With all the additives and preservatives that are put in food these days I am very reluctant to give my baby ready made food out of a jar – I think they don’t have much nutritional value either. With this is mind I busied myself making purees for her today – what you can see in the picture is pureed carrots, sweet potato, parsnips and broccoli. They have all been put neatly into their individual compartments ready for freezing. She is sacred to me so I’ll do everything to give her a good – and healthy – start in life. PLUS nothing beats the satisfaction you get from knowing you made it all yourself!

MSL Day 6: Books

I have gone a little crazy this month buying books. But I LOVE these. The print, the look and the ENERGY of these books are just amazing. Each page holds an A-ha!, a titbit of wisdom or some simple fun activity to do and this is what makes them sacred to me. Looking to be inspired and motivated? These are the books for you (from top down)

How to make a journal of your life by Dan Price
Bloom ( a journal) by Lynne Franks
French Women For All Seasons byMireille Guiliano (its spiral bound so you can’t make out the title in the photo, this one is for the foodie in you)
To Do List by Sasha Cagen
Living Out Loud by Keri Smith (what took me so long to get this one?!)
Quickie Stickies by Karen Salmansohn (inspiring post-it notes)
Do Nothing to Change Your Life by Stephen Cottrell
Sarks New Creative Companion by Sark (a delightful book just looking at it makes me happy)

Unconscious Mutterings 249

1. Treadmill :: gym
2. Stroke :: swimming
3. Exclusively :: selective
4. Lash :: whip
5. Red carpet:: special
6. Credit card :: evil
7. Points :: card
8. Domestic :: violence
9. 21 :: youth
10. Inject :: venom

MSL Day 5: Connections

This is my beloved Sony Vaio without which I would be lost. Its my means of connecting with the rest of the world when I am in dire need of inspiration and creativity. I spend many happy hours with it.

MSL Day 4: Saturday Night Before Bed Ritual

A slice of Victoria Sandwich cake, a mug of warm milk, a copy of the Weekend magazine from the Guardian on Saturday and the picture of coloured hearts my daughter made for me earlier on in the day.

MSL Day 3: People Drawings

At least three times a week my four and a half year old daughter presents me with her ‘people drawings’. Sometimes the drawings are meant to be her mummy or daddy or her baby sister and sometimes they are meant to be her friends at school. But one thing they never fail to do is make me smile

Loneliness

How well I know you
We have embraced each other
Oft in the years past

Your embrace is cold
And your kiss steals joy from life
Yet I let you in

It’s been a while now
Since you’ve called to say hello
But missed you are not

My Sacred Life Day 2: Getting Away

Every so often life overwhelms. Each day is crammed with activity, noise and chaos. Decisions to make, emails to reply, mobile phones to answer. And if you’re a mum there are the kids to take care of, meals to cook, nappies to change. Night after night you fall into bed absolutely exhausted and then you get up the next morning only to repeat the cycle.

On days like this, the last thought before I fall asleep is ‘what did I do for myself today? More often than not the answer is … nothing.

And because life can sometimes be so overwhelming I consciously have to make - and take – the time to get away. Getting away may be locking myself up in the toilet to read just one article from the latest issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. Getting away may be going out into the garden and pruning back the roses and planting fresh bulbs for the spring. Getting away may simply be taking a nap for an hour, or blogging, or having a cup of tea or just STOPPING.

But sometimes life is kind and I get to experience what I consider a real away – travelling to the country side. And that is exactly what I did this weekend. My husband and I bundled ourselves and our two kids into the car and drove up to a country farm. It was lovely. To touch the animals, breathe in the fresh air, eat a meal that had been made with produce straight off the surrounding farms, explore the quaint shops selling stuff that’s unique and not mass produced and cheap. To be able to just stand still take in the views, connect with nature and get away... that was sacred.

My Sacred Life Day One: My Journal

Today begins the journey into My Sacred Life. For the next 30 days I shall be ‘posting pictures from my daily life capturing something that connects me to Spirit’. This unique project was created by Carla of Zena Musings. To read more about it and perhaps to start on your Sacred Life journey go here.

This is my new journal. It is an unusual journal for me because it is so simple, rustic almost. Its cover is made from recycled paper as are the sheets inside. It has a pocket on the inside of the cover for storing little clippings, a slim satin ribbon to mark my page and a plain black elastic band that wraps around the journal to hold it closed. Oh and that’s my little black cat paper clip in the corner.

I say simple because I normally tend to gravitate towards journals with beautiful covers and thick sheets of paper. But there was something about this one that called out to me when I saw it in the shop. It made me want to grab it and begin pouring my thoughts onto its pages. It’s plain, it’s simple but I love it.

This is the place I come to when I want to make sense of it all, whatever ‘it all’ is at that point in time. It is a place where I can truly be me, no holding back, no pretensions, no wondering what anyone else will think. This is the book that will hold my most precious and sacred self.

Superstition

Me?
Superstitious?
Nah!
I only walked around that ladder because there was a puddle of water right underneath it.

Me?
Superstitious?
Of course not!
I got some salt on my fingers when the salt cellar spilt and that’s what you saw me dusting off over my left shoulder.

Me?
Superstitious?
Don’t be silly!
I didn’t have much to do on Friday the 13th that’s why I stayed at home all day.

Me?
Superstitious?
How absurd!
I only crossed the road to get to the ATM not because I saw a black cat coming my way.

Me?
Superstitious?
Whatever gave you that idea?

Friday Felicitations {1}

This is my first post for Friday Felicitations and it’s not as easy as I thought it would be. Friday Felicitations urges us to

‘… to help each other throw out all that negative thinking and acknowledge those
things we have to celebrate. Friday is now the day to blog your
compliments, your accomplishments, something nice someone said to you, or maybe
even something you are striving to make better. Go ahead, announce
yourself to be happy and fortunate.’

This kind of goes against all I and many of you were taught as children. I am sure we have some memory of being admonished for boasting because praise of one’s self was given that label and we were strenuously told to desist from such behaviour. Living in England doesn’t help much either as being modest and understated seems to be the watch word. So for me this project poses a bit of a challenge albeit a liberating one. So here goes:

Feeling blessed to be alive to see yet another year. So many with whom I started 2006 out with never saw it to the end. I am indeed honoured.

Finally finding my voice through my blog and summoning up the courage to put my writing out there, however clumsy. It's been a real journey of discovery for me.

Conceiving after two long years of trying. Baby has started to move around as well which just fills me with awe and wonder every time.

My husband telling me, out of the blue, that I look sexy. I cherish that as I don’t hear it very often!!

Not a great first attempt but it'll get better.

New Blog Project

Just stumbled upon the most delightful, not to mention inspiring, weekly blog project. I was so excited to discover it that I signed up straight away. Perhaps you might want to as well.