Tag: beauty

This Week’s Skies…

Look, up at the sky. There is a light, a beauty up there, that no shadow can touch. - TolkienOnly from the heart can you touch the sky. - Rumi Last week was so blazing hot that I hid indoors as much as possible. With this week’s cooler temps, I found my way back outdoors. … Continue reading This Week’s Skies…

The Benefits of Paying Attention

I am over-the-moon that (in)courage has shared my article today. It begins: Last summer our family (my husband, teenage son, and I) took a month-long road trip through the United States as part of Dave’s pastoral sabbatical. We made a loop from our home in Northern California through the Southwest to Kentucky and back through … Continue reading The Benefits of Paying Attention

Take All the Time You Need

Dave may have over-planted our front yard garden. In winter, he dug up all the plants and bulbs between the three white rose bushes. He put in new trim, amended the soil, and planted (or replanted) up to 100 bulbs - ranunculus, gladiolas, calla lilies, and dahlias. The ranunculus emerged first, confirming our hope that … Continue reading Take All the Time You Need

Grief Balms: Snow Globes & Beauty Emergencies

Grief seems to be at every corner this year. Many of us have shared occasions for grief, such as illness and death, the loss of normalcy, shuttered shops and closed schools, dwindling dollars in our bank accounts, isolation and loneliness. Most of us also have personal reasons for grief. For two weeks I haven’t left … Continue reading Grief Balms: Snow Globes & Beauty Emergencies

Bloom Your Beauty

Between the seasonally-grassy yard and the narrow porch walkway facing our NorCal single-story ranch-style home we have a border of three white floribunda rose bushes, Valentine’s Day gifts from my Guy many years ago, that bloom May through November, spring through fall. Every summer, as blooms explode among the greenery, I commit to bi-weekly dead-heading; … Continue reading Bloom Your Beauty

Challenging the Challenge: Why I Passed on the #challengeaccepted

When Instagram began to fill up with black-and-white photos of women tagged #challengeaccepted, I googled it. The lead article mentioned some female country singers promoting natural beauty - no makeup/hair, no special lighting or filters, no glam, just women being themselves. Women supporting women being real women. But that wasn't what came across my Instagram … Continue reading Challenging the Challenge: Why I Passed on the #challengeaccepted

Sprinkle Kindness Everywhere

Someone left a rock dead center on the sign-in counter at the gym. Painted white with black letters reading “Sprinkle Kindness Everywhere” amidst colorful polka dots, it's so out of place it caught my attention. It reminded me of painted rocks I saw while on vacation in Pacific Grove. Someone(s) had painted stones to resemble … Continue reading Sprinkle Kindness Everywhere

Be Where You Are

For most of the last eighteen years, our family has spent one week each summer vacationing in Pacific Grove, California, a NorCal coastal town nestled between Monterey and Carmel. Many years before our annual vacations began, while we were dating and newly married, Guy and I would drive from his childhood home in Santa Cruz … Continue reading Be Where You Are

When One Word Won’t Cut It

My One Word for 2015 was a phrase: Put yourself in the way of beauty. It required action on my part (put) and a goal (beauty). In 2016, I chose Create, which led to a series of connections and blog posts on creativity from various creative friends, many of whom stretched to embrace the creativity … Continue reading When One Word Won’t Cut It

Smile Like You Mean It

In the course of running our weekend errands, Guy and I stopped for Chipotle burritos (yum!). Between bites, he looked at me thoughtfully and asked, “What percentage of women do you think wear makeup every day?” Huh? I looked up at the people waiting in line for food. Three women in a row appeared to … Continue reading Smile Like You Mean It