Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Today is a Special Occasion


This morning I was reminded of this story...


A friend of mine opened his wife’s underwear drawer and picked up a silk paper wrapped package: “This”, he said, “ isn't any ordinary package.” He unwrapped the box and stared at both the silk paper and the box. “She got this the first time we went to New York, 8 or 9 years ago. She has never put it on. She was saving it for a special occasion. Well, I guess this is it.” He got near the bed and placed the gift box next to the other clothing he was taking to the funeral house, his wife had just died. He turned to me and said:
"Don't ever save anything for a special occasion. Every day you're alive is a special occasion."


I remembered those words through the funeral and the days that followed when I helped him and my niece attend to all the sad chores that follow an unexpected death. I thought about them on the plane returning to California from the mid-western town where my sister's family lives. I thought about all the things that she hadn't seen or heard or done. I thought about the things that she had done without realizing that they were special. I'm still thinking about his words, and they've changed my life. I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting on the deck and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time in committee meetings. Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experience to savor, not endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.


I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event - such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, the first camellia blossom. I wear my good blazer to the market if I feel like it. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries without wincing. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties; clerks in hardware stores and tellers in banks have noses that function as well as my party-going friends.


"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now. I'm not sure what my sister would have done had she known that she wouldn't be here for the tomorrow we all take for granted. I think she would have called family members and a few close friends. She might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think she would have gone out for a Chinese dinner, her favorite food. I'm guessing I'll never know.


It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew that my hours were limited. Angry because I put off seeing good friends whom I was going to get in touch with - someday. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write - one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and daughter often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives.

And every morning when I open my eyes, I tell myself that it is special. Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift.


...Try not to forget friends...
xxx

Similar thoughts here and here





Friday, December 7, 2012

Believe

Never ever doubt that make believe can exist...




...Have a magical weekend friends...
xxx

Monday, December 3, 2012

Meh


Feeling a little under the weather today... Possibly the aftereffect of an epic weekend, although I think that it is just that time of year. It has been an abysmal year, and I am really quite exhausted. In a way I am so ready for a fresh start in the new year, but the idea of yet another year leaves me feeling apprehensive...

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

What Is Art?


"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
Pablo Picasso


"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." 
Pablo Picasso


"Art lifts man from his personal life into the universal life."
- Leo Tolstoy


"Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen."
 Leonardo da Vinci



xxx

Friday, November 23, 2012

Sonder



sonder

n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk

What a beautiful thought!
Have a wonderful weekend friends 
xxx

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Right Mind




The right side of the brain is the bit that seems to be especially important for our emotions. Language, on the other hand, gets done almost completely in the left side of the brain. And this is one reason why we find it so difficult to talk about our feelings and emotions: the language areas on the left side can’t send messages to the emotional areas on the right side very well. So we get stuck for words, unable to describe our feelings

— Robin Dunbar

xxx

Monday, November 12, 2012

Asking Too Much

I am in love with Andrea Gibson...



Asking Too Much
- Andrea Gibson

I want you to tell me about every person you've ever been in love with. Tell me why you loved them, then tell me why they loved you. Tell me about a day in your life you didn't think you’d live through. Tell me what the word “home” means to you and tell me in a way that I’ll know your mothers name just by the way you describe your bed room when you were 8. See, I wanna know the first time you felt the weight of hate and if that day still trembles beneath your bones. Do you prefer to play in puddles of rain or bounce in the bellies of snow? And if you were to build a snowman, would you rip two branches from a tree to build your snowman arms? Or would you leave the snowman armless for the sake of being harmless to the tree? And if you would, would you notice how that tree weeps for you because your snowman has no arms to hug you every time you kiss him on the cheek? Do you kiss your friends on the cheek? Do you sleep beside them when they’re sad, even if it makes your lover mad? Do you think that anger is a sincere emotion or just the timid motion of a fragile heart trying to beat away its pain? See, I wanna know what you think of your first name. And if you often lie awake at night and imagine your mothers joy when she spoke it for the very first time. I want you tell me all the ways you've been unkind. Tell me all the ways you've been cruel. Tell me—knowing I often picture Gandhi at ten years old beating up little boys at school. If you were walking by a chemical plant, where smoke stacks were filling the sky with dark, black clouds, would you holler, “Poison! Poison! Poison!” really loud or would whisper, “That cloud looks like a fish, and that cloud looks like a fairy”? Do you believe that Mary was really a virgin? Do you believe that Moses really parted the sea? And if you don’t believe in miracles, tell me, how would you explain the miracle of my life to me? See, I wanna know if you believe in any god, or if you believe in many gods. Or better yet, what gods believe in you. And for all the times you've knelt before the temple of yourself, have the prayers you've asked come true? And if they didn't did you feel denied? And if you felt denied, denied by who? I wanna know what you see when you look in the mirror on a day you’re feeling good. I wanna know what you see in the mirror on a day a day you’re feeling bad. I wanna know the first person who ever taught you your beauty could ever be reflected on a lousy piece of glass. If you ever reach enlightenment, will you remember how to laugh? Have you ever been a song? Would you think less of me if I told you I have lived my entire life a little off key and I’m not nearly as smart as my poetry I just plagiarized the thoughts of the people around me who have learned the wisdom of silence. Do you believe that concrete perpetuates violence? And if you do I want you to tell me of a meadow where my skateboard will soar. See, I wanna know more than what you do for a living. I wanna know how much of your life you spend just giving. And if you love yourself enough to also receive sometimes. I wanna know if you bleed sometimes from other people’s wounds. And if you dream sometimes that this life is just a balloon that if you wanted to you could pop—but you never would because you’d never want it to stop. If a tree fell in the forest, and you were the only one there to hear, if its fall to the ground didn't make a sound, would you panic in fear that you didn't exist or would you bask in the bliss of your nothingness? And lastly, let me ask you this: if you and I went for a walk, and the entire walk we didn't talk, do you think eventually we’d kiss? No way. That’s askin’ too much—after all, this is only our first date.

xxx

Friday, November 9, 2012

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Bad Fortune

Threw my bad fortune
Off the top of
A tall building
But I'd rather have done it with you

Your boy's smile
Five in the morning
Looked into your eyes
And I was really in love

In Chinatown
Hungover
You showed me
Just what I could do

Talking about
Time travel
And the meaning
And just what it was worth

And I feel like some bird of paradise
My bad fortune slipping away
And I feel the innocence of a child
Everybody's got something good to say

Things I once thought
Unbelievable
In my life
Have all taken place

When we walked through
Little Italy
I saw my reflection
Come right off your face

I paint pictures
To remember
You're too beautiful
To put into words

Like a gypsy
You dance in circles
All around me
And all over the world

And I feel like some bird of paradise
My bad fortune slipping away
And I feel the innocence of a child
Everybody's got something good to say

So I take my
Good fortune
And I fantasize
Of our leaving
Like some modern-day
Gypsy landslide

Like some modern-day
Bonnie and Clyde
On the run again





Monday, November 5, 2012

Happy Birthday Baby B!

One year ago today my beautiful baby niece was born...
She stole my heart.




Happy Birthday Baby B!
Wishing you a year filled with love, laughter and loads of magic.
Love you more than you could ever imagine.
xxx


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Alice Auaa in Wonderland


Despite the fact that most people seem to have celebrated Halloween this past weekend, it really is only today. So in the spirit of things, I have decided to share the Alice in Wonderland inspired, spring 2013 ready-to-wear collection by Japanese Gothic Lolita label, Alice Auaa.  












All images Style.com

xxx