be in love with your life. every minute of it.

i settled in with a cup of coffee this morning.  super strong and dark.  well, actually it was a deep and soulful cup of coffee...

at least that's what the bag said.  i'm a sucker for good marketing...but aren't we all.  i'm not sure what deep and soulful tastes like, but i did really enjoy this.

i messed around for a bit, sewing random scraps of handmade paper to a blank page as i mulled over my week.  there were some bad moments this week, but also some really good moments.  i looked up and there is my sewing pouch.  it says -

Be in love with your life. Every minute of it. - Jack Kerouac

 a powerful statement.  be in love with your life.  the good.  the not so good.  every minute of it.  because life is not perfect, but it is pretty good to be alive.    

 i thought i would share that with you on this fine friday.  it's been a long time and i wanted to say hi...

ask a bird...

"ask a bird how to fly and it might tell you to remove the weight from your wings"

-from the book Chasing Slow, by Erin Loechner

i am the bird right now and i am removing the weight.  it's such a relief letting go of things.  i didn't think i had that much stuff, but i did...it was just very well organized.  i became a master at stowing stuff neatly when we lived in our tiny house with four small children.  i didn't realize how a lot of my stuff was weighing me down, but apparently it was...that is evidenced by the lightness that i'm feeling now...the joy i feel when i see empty spaces.  i'm finding that i really don't need much to feel happy.  

life is changing.  it always is really, but this change feels more profound.  two of my kids are living on their own, one is only halfway here...working and going to college and my baby...my 6 foot tall baby... is finishing up his junior year of high school and then he'll be a senior.  oh my...they weren't kidding when they said kids grow up fast. 

books on my table right now.

i'm rolling with the changes - along with my sweet husband.  we are talking about the "not so far away for us" future...making plans and i'm feeling excited.  i like our new plans.  we are in the beginning stages right now, so i won't share just yet.  because...have you ever felt when you have a new idea that you want to keep it secret until you've had some time with it?  yes, i need time with it, to mull over it, nurture it, let it grow.

seeing this little crane in the picture above made me think of my 1000 cranes project.  even though i started this in 2011 (?) i have only gotten to 850.  part of the changes i guess.  i used to fold these while i waited around for the kids.  well, not so much waiting now.  but, i'll get there someday : ) 

meanwhile, spring has really arrived in my little piece of this world.  flowers springing up, birds tweeting, warmer days... 

so, if you're here today, reading this...i wish you spring too.  

one for friday...

happy spring...

happy first day of spring.  it's a bit overcast and drizzly here, but that's what makes the flowers grow, right?  what better way to celebrate spring than with a new plant.

or two.  i've always wanted one of these strange little "air plants" and for $2.98 i made my dream come true.

i am going to try it out in this sweet little glass "house" that my sister gave me several years ago.

cute right?

i am filling up my shabby buffalo journal from a couple posts back. 

and since i'm feeling green today, i'm considering this piece of leather for my next journal.  buttery soft, mossy green.  very different from any of my other journals.  but different is nice sometimes.

i hope you're having a lovely spring day...

always

it's 

Spring)and everyone's

in love and flowers pick themselves

-e.e. cummings

the light and the dark and the dust and the cracks...because that's how the light gets in...

oh my...it's been such a long time.  i haven't felt like i've had too much to say lately or maybe it's that i've had too much to say.  do you know what i mean?  this morning i found myself sipping coffee alone and reading and when i looked up...the light...oh, it was so beautiful.  i grabbed my camera and just started snapping.  27 pictures in all.  after my yoga and my shower i went into my studio and cropped them all, quickly, no editing, and then just as quickly chose one from each space i photographed and ditched the rest.  bam...recycled.  today is the day i said to myself.  i'm going to write even though i don't have anything to write about.  i'm going to post these pictures even though they are not perfect.

even though this table is old and dusty and cracked.  but the crack  makes me think about that leonard cohen song...he says, "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in"...

even though my buddha statue is no work of art, it is from t.j. maxx.  and there is a loose pile of kleenex next to it cause i ran out and i didn't have an extra box in the closet so i just plunked a pile of them there.  next to my statue.  and the lamp post from the crooked lamp that i bought at walmart years ago and never replaced.  the dark and the light here...magic.

even though this one is pretty dark and you can just make out my plants which is a new hobby for me this past year and i haven't killed them yet and that makes me feel happy.  and there's the sliver of forest out the window to the right. still grey and leafless, but i know if you look on the ground there are patches of daffodils and there's a bird feeder right out there too where there are birds right now...a red cardinal too...and some little squirrels scooping up whatever drops to the ground.

then there's this faint patch of sun on my china cupboard, where i just stack the dishes on top now and the door that was never quite right after one of the kids ripped it off it's hinges years ago and then we glued it back together and screwed it back on.  and the little ball of light to the right that landed right on my refrigerator.  my rusty old, on it's last legs refrigerator, that makes a horrible noise everytime it stops running and i always wonder...was that it? 

and moving on to my front door, where i realize that the dogs' collar and name tag and leashes are still hanging there even though he has been gone for 9 months now.

and my poem home...my pretty little poem home...and the shafts of light that fell on the kitchen floor right behind.  the white floor we have always wanted to replace, because who has a white floor when you have a bunch of little kids and a dog and we probably will replace soon, even though we no longer have little kids and a dog.

and finally, this super dark one with the light falling just right on my chair in the studio. the one i got for free that is way more comfortable than the one i bought brand new. and the window where right outside there is another bird feeder for finches and all winter long they have been coming to eat while i work away in here. little olive green finches that i don't know the name of cause when i looked them up on google there were so many olive green birds...

and i realize that i actually have a lot to say. and that even though i thought my pictures weren't perfect, i see now that they really are.

the shabby buffalo one...

goodness, gracious, the months just slip by quickly don't they?  i had some free time one day and on a whim i decided i needed a new journal.  i wanted it to be simple, which is not always an easy thing for me.  most things i do end up looking very neat.  i get that from my father.  he is a very precise kind of guy.  but really, i told myself...you got this.  i worked quickly.  i pulled out a shabby piece of leather - buffalo hide.  it was wrinkly, distressed and dirty on the back side.  kind of like it was run over or something.  so i cut a piece.  i only measured once ok.  i found a rough scrap to use as a closure.  i pulled out paper.  not good pristine paper.  old papers and scraps and things with paint already on them.  i started folding.  not all the same size.  i tore some fabric.  added a piece of lace that was on my table from something else.  

i found a shabby piece of sari silk and tied an envelope in the back to keep notes and scraps for adding in later.  i bound it quickly and simply.  sewed on the strap.  and then i immediately started using it.  like, the minute i was done making it.

i have it halfway filled already.  it's a very free wheeling kind of book.  no worries about "messing it up" since it's already pretty shabby.  i've stitched and stapled and glued.

added dried up leaves and bits of nature.  and lots of string.  i love string.  shabby string.  

and random bits that i've kept around for one reason or another.

the fabric pages are ongoing works.  when the mood strikes.  i just tuck the needle into the fabric and leave it there for next time.

lots of words from books, some poetry, collage, old lace.

experiments, gesso and paint.  don't like it?  cover it up with paint.  and then more paint.

special bits from cleaned out drawers.  reminders.  to create happiness.

to let things go.  to just wing it once in a while.  you know what i mean?

poem home...

so...you know i've been decluttering a bit this past year.  and i've made a lot of progress...so much free space now!  but i'm not aiming for minimalism...my true goal in all of this clearing out is simply to whittle my possessions down to just the things that i truly love.  the things that are special and meaningful to me.  it can get tricky with sentimental items.  sometimes a little re-do is necessary.

i have had this dollhouse since i was a tiny girl.  my older brothers built it for me and i had many years of enjoyment out of it.  it had grown a bit shabby and had been relegated to the cellar years ago.  but it was always in the back of my mind.  i definitely couldn't part with it.  so for a couple of years, i experimented.  i painted it green.  not crazy about that.  back to the shelf.  then i painted it pink.  not great.  back to the shelf.  then i painted it white.  better.  i discovered chalkboard paint.  i painted the roof with that.  then i considered painting the whole thing with chalkboard paint 'cuz you know i love that stuff.  but no.  back to the shelf.  i don't what the final inspiration was...perhaps it was from falling asleep while reading a good book.  i woke up one day and decided to write on it.  four ultra fine sharpies later it went back to the basement.  not finished, but it needed something.  then one day i wrote myself a note.  "stop overthinking it...finish the damn dollhouse already", it said.  so i dug up a couple of thick sharpies and added some more words.  added some vines around the windows.  put a tiny chair inside.  done.  done enough.  

now...i love it again.  it wears a collection of some of my favorite poems and lyrics and ramblings from books i've read.  and yes, even books that i've fallen asleep while reading.  it's a new life for a very special memento from my past.  a better life.  not on a far away shelf.

after i took these photos, i put it on the small table in my foyer.  yes, i have a foyer.  it is small, but there is room for a small table for keys (and dollhouses) and some hooks for jackets and a place for shoes.  on a side note, i love my foyer because my tiny house (the one before this one) had no foyer and in fact, only one person at a time could fit in the tiny space just inside the door.  so yes, i am really darned grateful for my foyer.  

anyway, my little house is the first thing i see when i walk in.

an unusual piece of art.  to inspire me every day.

with a chalkboard roof for impromptu notes.

it's a happy little poem home...