as always my friends
I wish you love and joy
as you style your life
I want to thank Deborah at
for her lovely feature on her blog today ... all about my style!
linking up with
... lessons from the garden ...
I have spent much time in my gardens lately.
A few weeks ago I made a conscious decision to slow down...
in an attempt to organize my life and reflect on the direction of my priorities...
in this
my time of life transition...
Feeling no real mastery in any aspects of my life ....
with unfinished organization abounding...
I set off to my garden...
with a solid plan of a new direction and design.
After almost two weeks of ripping out and cutting back...
I had a solid design plan in mind....
until....
I realized this bed of coreopis had sprung up as an amazing blooming border....
I had planted it last year as a quick color fill in...
and up until recently, it had all but died back...
it was on my list to pull out to fulfill my new design vision...
I realized I couldn't get rid of something that was thriving so beautifully...
so I adapted my design scheme....
and incorporated the thriving coreopsis throughout my front borders.
revising my design vision to highlight what I actually already had.
I realized this was such a metaphor for my life right now....
So often during this time of my life transition....
I think I know exactly how I want my life to look like....
what I want it to be...
for the last year I thought for sure it was all about going back to a big career,
only to realize recently I would have to say good by to so many parts of my life that I really enjoyed...
just to get there.
Simple things like having time to change out my decor seasonally....
in a slow process that celebrates the changing season...
To breathe in the changing light of the approaching summer...
Time to spend in gratitude for the life I have...
and
to savor the resource I hold dearest....
time...
and the the personal choice in how I want to spend it...
I don't know at my age if I want to trade that in...
for an endless to do list...
always feeling like I can never accomplish what I need to...
to get where I want to go...
and
missing so much of what I hold dear...
along the way.
This week I have had the time to
style new centerpieces...
with pieces that I love... and have found along the journey that is my life...
Driftwood found on a beach walk with Ellis the summer before she left for college
flea market bottles filled with tiny branches plucked out of my Mother's Day bouquet
a key from a Parisian garden gate,
white rocks from our midnight stroll along the Thames when Jeff and I
met Ellis and Elliot in London.
My very favorite piece...
the ceramic 'cup' filled with sand.
Many years ago when we hiked during each of our homeschooling days...
Ellis found this in back of a rarely traveled arboretum.
It is a piece done by an artist who made each piece individually from recycled materials...
then placed them out in random places to be found....
a treasure just waiting to be found by an unsuspecting traveller
with a note to go online and record your find and hear from others with the same fortune.
This is my very favorite art... ever.
This week I have had the time to invest in simple beauties...
long awaited peonies from Trades Joe's...
filling my kitchen with such striking pleasure...
it brought sacred moments to even to my daily chores.
This week I made the time ....
to return to a spot that always heals my heart and soul...
and do a hike full fo gratitude....
for being... there.
This week I remembered how an hour of daily hiking...
is always the best investment for both body and soul...
I have put it back on my daily musts.
to return to a spot that always heals my heart and soul...
and do a hike full fo gratitude....
for being... there.
This week I remembered how an hour of daily hiking...
is always the best investment for both body and soul...
I have put it back on my daily musts.
This week I had the luxury of time...
to wrap my mother's present in love and beauty... with a touch of honeysuckle from the garden.
I had slow mornings with coffee...
in which I could watch the sun rise and paint my living room
with the promises a new day brings.
This week I have also literally had the time
to make my life my art...
working on my outdoor art wall...
a large project...
that has been unfinished for years....
I have broken it down into an hour a day...
and now am well on my way to completion....
With a celebratory summer cocktail party on the horizon to be sure!
I have learned well from my garden this week.
It is fine to have a vision for the future...
but it is just as important
to be able to truly experience the beauty
that is life right now.
This week I believe the key is to
meld the two...
an ongoing search for balance to be sure.
as always my friends
I wish you love and joy
as your style your life
.... this is my mantra, this is my prayer ....
.... keep your head up....
and remember...
there is always a higher power...
keep your heart strong...
because truly loving...
sometimes involves great courage.
as always my friends
I wish you love and joy
as you style your life
.... a week in gratitude ....
In slowing down...
my mantra this week has been
gratitude....
gratitude for having the choice to....
begin mornings with...
coffee and candles...
gratitude for...
the tools for my trade this week....
gratitude
to know...
I am more intentional in my work...
when I am dressed for the occasion.
For me....
taking the time to dress with denim apron ... and intent...
makes me more in the moment....
in the garden.
gratitude .....
for knowing in the creative process....
sometimes....
things get much uglier....
before the beauty is realized.
gratitude...
for spending time with my husband....
on a Tuesday evening...
in Downtown Disney....
and...
gratitude for....
bittersweet moments of reminiscing together....
of priceless moments...
with our children....
knowing we were all in....
all the time...
relishing each moment ...
with no regrets...
gratitude now...
for the time...
to spend where I choose...
in search of beauty in an ever changing vision of family and self...
the simple gratitude ....
of outfits that brings me joy...
on a weekend of mornings
spent with my cherished daughter...
hunting for flea market treasure ....
gratitude ....
for really knowing...
deep down inside....
as always my friends
I wish you love and joy
as you find your gratitude
linking up with
.... in the garden ....
I have spent much of my last week...
in the garden...
feeling behind in everything...
and stressed about every. thing.
I retreated to working in my garden...
pulling out... hacking back...
I had forgotten how much I loved working my little plot of land...
and the connection it has to my soul.
Years ago
before the birth of my youngest...
I had a miscarriage....
afterwards...
I remember losing myself for hours at a time...
in the garden...
Some years ago...
when we had plans to sell our little house...
and move to a larger...
and
with the realtor in the room...
with the realtor in the room...
I started to tear....
at the thought of leaving my beloved little garden behind...
and realized then...
I couldn't.
I have watched my children grow up ...
here in the garden...
When we homeschooled...
each year they were given their own little spot...
to make it their own....
Until this week...
I had forgotten....
not just about loving my garden....
but more importantly...
I had forgotten how much
I love to garden.
The physicality of it....
the digging in...
the cutting back...
the hard work ...
the sore muscles that come from a days hard labor...
and the cathartic benefits of such to the soul.
How did I forget something I love...
I think it was when my children began to leave home for college...
I just didn't know what my life was supposed to look like...
my heart was broken...
and I was lost...
I did spend time in the garden ....
in a frenetic pace...
I took down trees..
pulled out vines...
trying in vain to pull out the pain from within.
... but I lost the planting part...
the hope ...
the part that believes...
that what you put in today...
will have benefits down the road.
I lost touch with the magic of a garden.
With my children moving on...
I replaced my sadness with...
a burning ambition ....
to retrieve a carrer I had left behind...
turning myself into an obsessive on a single track...
working myself into such anxiety...
that waking up in the middle of the night ...
with attacks of panic....
became my norm.
Until... this week... when
I decided to step away...
and go...
into the garden.
This week I realized...
I want my garden to have a true place in my life....
as well as so many small luxuries...
like coffee and candles to start the day...
great hikes and mountain bike rides.
I want to surf again.
To do house projects...
to reconnect with my neighbors...
to continue to put my family first.
I realize I want to slow down.
Slow down enough...
to appreciate the beauty...
of sweeping the floor...while it is bathed in sunlight....
I am realizing...
even though....
I thought I wanted my life to look one way...
as my kids left....
I just really don't have my answers yet...
I only know now...
I am intentionally seeking a slower pace...
one that allows for plenty of time...
in the garden.
as always dear friends
I wish you love and joy
as you style your life
t
.... a sunny saturday ....
top-Rachel Zoe, skirt-H&M, bag-forever 21, shoes-dollhouse, hat-Neiman Marcus, statement necklace -Tamera Beardsley, encrusted pearl cuffs-Tamera Beardsley.
I must say...
my favorite part of this outfit...
the way the fringe moves on the skirt...and it's knit... so it is comfort all the way.
My flat shoes and shopper made it the perfect outfit... for walking the hills...shopping in
Laguna Beach...
and ending up at the Montage for sunset cocktails.
I must say...
my favorite part of this outfit...
the way the fringe moves on the skirt...and it's knit... so it is comfort all the way.
My flat shoes and shopper made it the perfect outfit... for walking the hills...shopping in
Laguna Beach...
and ending up at the Montage for sunset cocktails.
as always dear friends
I wish you love and joy
as you style your life
thanks so for stopping by
.... this week...
I'll be away this week...
making my life my art... one day at a time ....
in my garden.
wishing you love and joy
as you style your life.
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