Enchanted Mama

Choices::

My life has been full of decisions.

big. small. important. seemingly unimportant. each of those decisions helped form and create the life that I  live each day.  though the tendency to ponder how life would be different if I'd made another choice. taken another path. reacted a different way. i want to believe that this is the human condition. 

movies like the family man show this universal truth. acknowledged. understood. when I look back there are times when i wish i had said more. had more courage. listened without thinking. been kinder to myself. held more understanding.   yet, given a chance, I wouldn't do things differently.  

every decision in the exact way i chose provided the growth and wisdom i have today. though at times those moments seemed painful I wouldn't trade that.  

I have a list of "things" life has brought my way. a list that says "see" you can hold onto this. it was hard and painful. the me today asks why. why carry it any longer. 

There is a breathtaking movie playing in the theatres named about time.  I've been to see it three times. the depth of which i have cried and laughed in this movie have carried over into my daily living. Please, please go see this. and then tell me what you think.  there really are no words other than to experience it yourself. 

It comes down to what I chose in life, now, everyday.  am i choosing pessimism or joy. am i choosing old habits or gratefulness.  am i choosing a grudge or freedom. 

i'm a work in progress. though i know each day i can chose one of those things. each day i can look back and say i chose to see the beauty in the moment.  isn't that what life is really about? the people. the love. the joy. the choice. 

 

***all this to say...i was inspired by this lovely lady and this amazing movie. 

 

Inspired by::

This past Saturday, a lovely sunny day, we spent outside. Lunch with the warmth at our back. Bikes. Playing at the Park. Knitting while the little ones played in the sandbox.  The whole weekend was supposed to be this way.  I didn't realize how much I had needed the warmth of the sunshine.  Sunday dawned and clouds covered the light.  The house took on a gray tinge and my mood followed suit. Subdued and moody to match the cloud cover outside.  

Today the sun is attempting to peek through and I plan to sling my camera over my shoulder and head outside in search of that elusive light.  So, I thought we could start off the day with some simple fun, whimsy and inspiration because who doesn't need a bit of that on a Monday morning??!!?! 

Enjoy!

 Inspired By...

---Paperman a Disney short film. I'm sure I'm late to the party on this one but it is too sweet not to share.  

---This sweater , thank you Phoe, just looks so simple and soft. A sweater to snuggle up by the fireplace with latte in hand and read a great book. Oh yeah. 

---Loved this book.  On to this book.  Working toward that 100 books in 2013.  Love the idea of this goal but realized why I read less these days...as soon as I pick up a book every child in the house has something to ask/tell me.  With knitting they assume I can still hear them and tend to play amongst themselves a little more.  Anyone else have that phenomenon in your home?  

---This Fire Cider.  A comparable substitute to Kombucha perhaps? .  Plan to Start our brew this week.

---Love this bunny fabric to create something with. 

 

Do you have anything you find particularly joyful today?  I'd love to hear about it.  Think we can all use a bit of extra sunshine in February!  

Happy Monday to you all.  

 

Squam Love::

Squam can catch you by surprise.

You attend with excitement, too much luggage and an open heart.  You see old friends, meet new friends and stay up until the wee hours of the morning chatting when you should be sleeping.  You take classes with amazing teachers and you are inspired at the same time that you create.  You share meals and breathtaking walks through the forest.  You find yourself tired in the morning, waiting in line for the shower, wishing coffee was just a bit closer with a huge smile on your face.

 

You know that taking a nap would be a good idea yet you decide to spend the time knitting, chatting, and laughing on the dock while the sun sparkles dance on the water.  

You laugh and throw your knitting in the air when the dock, on which you were sitting, breaks and sends you and eight other women plunging into the lake.  You laugh about how loud the screams were that you all sent into the forest.  You giggle as you hang wet clothing over rocks and tree branches and watch the "dock boys" haul your dock away. 

 

You breathe in the smells, the place, the experience.  You wonder how you will ever be able to wait another year to come back.

You have been to Squam.  

You have been changed, yet you know not how.  You find words ineffective to express the experience.

You wonder at the love and care that is put into making Squam the experience that it is.  You whisper a quiet thank you and you peer at the lake one last time before leaving.  You check your luggage and nestle into your seat on the plane home hoping to catch up on a small amount of sleep.  Secret smiles keep appearing throughout the flight as you remember the stories. the people. the ice cream.  

 

You know, beyond any doubt, that the smile on your face is certainly there for a reason.  You are so glad that you went.  You know it was worth it.  

You are surprised, yet again, that Squam could be that good.  that memorable.  that fabulous.  

But, it is.  Believe me, it is!

Maybe next year you should go...just a thought.  

 

My little Artist::

 

Oh, how I love thee.  

 

note to self...remember his little blue fingers and the total concentration he has until we hear the out breath and, "It's done."  He loves creating with watercolor, there's something magical about it, something calming.  Please remember this, for his sake.   

 

 

So She did..::

"She Believed She Could So She Did".

My girlie had her first handmade market debut two weekends ago.  The annual holiday fair at school.  She's been determined to do this for over a year.  Absolutely set on pursuing this dream.  

It happened a few summers ago when we sat side by side in front of my mother's Elna sewing machine teaching her the basics and letting her press the pedal and send the machine whirling through the fabric she had chosen.

Freedom.  

The smile on her face and the learning she did in that first summer were immeasurable.  I, the teacher, wanted her to know the basics, the stitches, the way the machine worked.  How to thread the machine and how to finish it off when done.  She bore this beautifully, in fact she seemed to absorb everything I had to teach her about sewing on a machine.  

Then, she was on her own.  My fabric stash at her fingertips.  Yet another opportunity for me to let go.  To appreciate the thoughts running through my head. "Oh, I was going to use that fabric" or "That one is supposed to be a...." or "No.  That I'm saving for..".  To hear those thoughts and struggle to breathe and say, "Yes, you may use whatever you wish".  

To recognize the girl in me that loved when my own mother had said those same words to me.  To be less concerned about what all the fabric WAS going to be and more interested in what the fabric COULD BE now.  

 

She started slow, tentative.  Reluctant to push the machine very fast more comfortable to amble along stitch by stitch.  Today?  Well, that girl can fly is all I'm saying.  

So with the Winter Faire approaching she and another friend spent days together side by side sewing for their stand.  One sewing bracelets.  One sewing bags.  Both happy to be doing something on their own yet willing to ask questions when they were stuck.  

For me it was delightful. Freeing. Beautiful.  My girl sailing through the fabric stash, ever respectful and helping me breathe and let go...breathe and let go.  

My child as my teacher, again.  

 

And so she did.  She made 86 bracelets to be exact.  There may have been a few days at the end that required some reinforcements.  A late night "ribbon stitcher" along with the big daddy as head "button guy". 

There were looks across the room at one another with this daughter of ours, head down, sewing in the middle.  Smiles were passed and looks of awe.  Her tenacity.  Her drive to create something and follow through.

Her label---completely her design and idea.  Of course, this enchanted mama deemed it just the right name for her.   

 

Then, the big weekend happened.  She rose to the occasion.  She smiled.  She answered questions.  She stood on her feet for hours at a time experiencing "retail".  A challenge at best.  

The weekend flew by and then she packed up her bracelets.  Tired but excited about her first foray into the handmade world.  

She sold quite a few.  She still has some left.  She wants to do it again.    

I know as her mama that more than anything it was a success. She set the goal, pursued the goal and learned a few things in the process.  As much as I would have loved to tell her all about "my retail experience" I tried to let her learn in her own way. Knowing it's better that way.  

 

So I learn to let go of the very children I want to protect and hold so tight.  Recognizing that every time I do they are able to fly more freely.  

I believe that in the end I will have learned more from my children than I ever could have taught them myself.

For now I will smile at my own bracelet, that was made "just for me", from my girlie and love her even more than I did yesterday.  

 

 

Love in Nature::

It's now been eight years since I first noticed them.  All around me.  Everywhere.  

My mom had just passed and I was moments from delivering my second child.  The world felt as heavy as my eight and a half month pregnant self.  In those moments you wonder about life and fairness and well, love.  

Within two days I had gone outside and found eight different hearts just laying there for me to "notice". 

 

I suppose it wasn't meant to hit me until later.  The beauty in this small gesture I had been gifted.  I failed to even realize that this was happening until a year later.  All the hearts placed in my path...

 

Since then my whole family finds them where ever we go.  In fact my son, whom I was pregnant with, spots them even before any of his siblings.  Strange?  maybe.  More beautiful to me now though. He is the one who found all the coral hearts.

 

Now when I see them, I smile.  

I understand that there is so much light as well as dark in the world.  

But ultimately, there is love and all we have to do is be willing to notice.  

 

What have you been noticing lately?  

What if::

What if we focused on all the things we can do instead of all the things we can't do?

What if we believed in ourselves half as much as others believe in us?  

What if we realized that the only one limiting us was ourselves?  

What if...

 

I've been thinking about these "what if's" a lot lately.  

I realize that I'm usually the only one in my world that doesn't think I could try, accomplish, or venture into new areas.  I'm the only one who says, "no, no, that will not do."  

It's amazing really.  I'm a great cheerleader for other people.  I see their strengths.  I see their potential.  I see all the incredible things they already do, big things as well as small.  When it comes to myself though, I focus on all the things that aren't right.  The wrong timing.  I'm not ready yet.  I should be more educated, smarter, slimmer, etc.   

Why is it so hard to see ourselves for all that we want to be and all that we already are?  

As a woman, wife, mama, friend, sister, etc. etc. there are lots of reason not to.  It takes time.  It takes energy.  It takes patience.  I don't know about you but all these things are usually lacking in abundance around here.

Sometimes I wonder though how many reasons are based in truth and how many are just excuses?  

Especially when it doesn't have to be big to be significant.  What we focus on doesn't have to change worlds or move mountains.  All it has to do is be something that moves us.  That delights us.  Something that while doing it we see our own potential.  

What if we see all of our challenges, hang-ups, lack of time, energy and excuses for what they are and do that something we have wanted to do anyway?

What if we tried to see what happened before we actually talked ourselves out of it?  

What if we were our own cheerleaders once in a while?  

 

So I ask you my friends, "What are we waiting for?"  Why should we focus on anything less than our amazing selves?  Why not at least try? 

What if we did?  

Wouldn't this world be an even more amazing, creative, inspiring place to be?  

 

 

A weekend to::

:: Play at the Makerie with the multi-talented Lizzy House and finally take her class, that I have wanted to take for two years, on Pattern Design.  wow.

:: Meet local creative women and sit and chat and create together.  

:: Find handmade treasures at the Firefly Market by some very talented artists.  

:: Enjoy a meal with Stefanie Japel a very talented knitter and lovely all around lady.

:: Soak up all the gorgeous blue skies and sun at Chautauqua.   

:: Expand on some creative ideas I have brewing.

:: Spend time with my family at home eating delicious meals a'la the Big Daddy.

:: Rest after creating, and crafting, and being inspired.

:: Dust off the old sewing machine and get her going once again.  

 

Hope your week started out well.  

Happy Monday!  

 

Creative possibilities::

Today I bring you a few creative possibilities in the fair town of Boulder, CO.  

Ali has been hard at work to create an amazing retreat, The Makerie,  for all those looking for a creative place to gather.  It looks incredible.  I happen to know a few of the teachers that will be there and believe me they are fabulous.  Not only will you spend an entire weekend with artists and creatives of all sorts but you will meet the most lovely of friends and get to know the magical world of creation out there.  My first experience with something like this was at Squam and that was life. changing.  

Last week, as if it couldn't be any better, Ali opened up another option for a one day package.  So whether you want a full weekend or one day she has it covered.  She is connected with some top notch people like the amazing Amy Krouse Rosenthal, my dear Lizzy House, knitter extraordinaire Stefanie Japel, incredible photographer Allesandra Cave, and local artists with big talent.

Its bound to be a retreat that is talked about for a long time.  So if you can, sign up.  If you wonder how you can do something like this for yourself...well, just close your eyes and do it because you are so worth it!  

 

Another exciting part of The Makerie is the Firefly Market that will be happening during the retreat.  A gathering of creative talent all in one place!  Doesn't that sound fabulous?  This is run by a trio of mighty talented ladies and will be the "place to be".  

This event is also open to the public so make your way down if you are local and take a peek.  

 

The final announcement happens to be one that I'm involved in.  Boulder, Inspired is a gathering of community and creatives all for the sake of collaboration.  A trio of us have put together events called Creative Coffee and Design Evenings inspired by Swiss Miss {Creative Mornings} and Apartment Therapy {Design Evenings}.

Our first event will be:

"Kicking off a series of creative conversations, local assemblage artist, Kristin FitzGerrell of Studio22 will pull you up by your scrappy bootstraps and inspire you to share what you love about the process and the passion of living creative lives.

This debut Apartment Therapy Design Evening will be March 16th, 6pm at Design Within Reach."

We have big plans for these gatherings and hope that all of you locals out there will make it down for the premier event.  

That's all for now.  

Happy Monday.  

Be creative.   

 

What we're born to be::

This amazing video by the IntegerGroup called Be Infectious was discovered through a new venture I have begun called Boulder, Inspired.  I will tell you all about that soon.   Today though, I had to share this inspiring creation.  

This is what I want to remember everyday!

Enjoy.