I am the owner of Bloom Art Studio in Mokena, IL. I LOVE ART! I am a middle-aged woman who vows to live each day artfully and with intention. Teaching art, walking the dog, painting, photography, reading books and writing are my favorite ways to pass the time.
There’s been so much I have been taking in lately. I’m feeling really healthy and happy and I’m training myself to manage stress. Whether the anxiety and edginess I’ve been experiencing this last year is caused by the beginning of menopause or not, I refuse to allow it to do damage to my body by not dealing with it in a healthy way. I now do this kind of internal stroking/comforting of myself when I begin to feel myself getting aggravated over minor things. It’s working! In over a week now I haven’t felt a heaviness at the top of my chest, nor have I experienced acid re-flux in my stomach from internalizing stress. It’s awesome how powerful the mind is in controlling the body’s responses to things.
I’m having a really good time with this app folks. It’s just plain fun. If you have the iPhone 4 all I can say is GET IT! A few of the photos in this post were made with Instagram. They have a square, retro snapshot look. There are about 8 or 10 different styles to choose from for any given photo. I love it.
Some books I’m really enjoying. Photo is an Instagram.
I’m having a virtual blast pinning my favorite photos and finding new ones. The cool thing about Pinterest is it keeps track of the website you found the photo at so you can always go back and refer to it in the future. If you check out Pinterest and want to join, send me an email and I’ll send you and invitation. It’s exclusive-by invitation only. If you’d like to check out my personal Pinterest boards click over here.
I love blueberries.
I can’t get enough of these super berries overloaded with antioxidants. I’ll eat them in almost any form except syrupy blueberry pie. My favorite-way to eat ’em-a small handful of fresh, firm blueberries plopped in blueberry yogurt. Delish.
Blueberries...I can't eat enough of them.
I’m seriously loving Welcome Back Kotter episodes….
My husband and I have been watching a few of these every night and it’s wonderful because it really takes me back to the 70’s when I was a young kid in grammar school. The theme song, the opening scenes, and the clothes take me back to what seems like a gentler time.
Here around Chicago, after weeks of relentless heat, finally tonight some cooler weather blew in-and just in time, too, because I was really in the mood to take my bike (affectionately named) Sunny out for a spin. We were pedaling around the bike paths for 30 minutes and it was just what I needed. It felt so liberating to have a cool breeze blowing through my hair….it was absolutely pleasant.
Taking Sunny for a spin.
I have this wonderful bike path that snakes through my subdivision and it’s really enjoyable, especially when the locusts are humming, a familiar late summer sound that I really love.
The bike path right behind my house.
I brought my iPhone with so I could snap some photos along the way and play with my Instagram app. I saw these lovely hibiscus plants in front of my neighbor’s house. I couldn’t resist.
I particularly love the shape of the leaves.
What did you do today that left you feelin’ groovy?
Last week I was reading Jennifer Louden’s blog where she mentioned the ‘Thimble List’, an interesting concept she seems to have developed. According to Jennifer, a thimble list is different from the popular ‘bucket list’ in that items on a thimble list are obtainable, usually simple pleasures and generally involve easy ways to enjoy life to it’s fullest. Your Thimble List can change weekly-that’s the fun. Items on a Bucket List usually contains larger, more adventurous things to achieve before a person dies. The items on these lists usually take a lot more effort and money in order to accomplish them.
I agree with Jennifer in that I’m not now, and never really have been, the adventurous type. What I really need in my life is more moments of peace and solitude and creativity, and all the little things that bring me joy. I agree it’s important to savor those little things in life that sometimes get overlooked and taken for granted. I sat down this evening and put together my own little Thimble List of simple pleasures. Feel free to write one of your own. And be sure to let me know the enjoyable, memorable things in life that you savor.
Emily’s Thimble List
1. On these blisteringly hot 90+ degree days, I am so grateful and mindful of how fortunate I am to have air conditioning. Being cool and comfortable is something I’m most grateful for.
2. I intend to cozy up in a bed with freshly laundered sheets, just not quite so tired. I want to curl up with a really good book and read till I fall asleep.
2. I’m one of those people who drink coffee at midnight-anytime of day is the perfect time for a fresh pot of delicious coffee. Coffee with sweet creamers is one of my top ten favorite things.
3. Make time to hug my dog and look right into those soulful eyes, being mindful of how lucky I am to have such a sweet animal to co-habit with. He brings me such joy.
4. Take after dinner walks with Xander just as the sun is going down and catching little glimpses of the summer Fireflies, the scent of gardens as I pass by and watching the simple joys my dog experiences as he is running along side me.
5. Enjoy a hot stack of homemade, aromatic blueberry pancakes. (With fresh coffee). Heaven. And good for you, too!
8. I can’t wait to revel in the laughter and warmth of my longtime girlfriends when we meet this Friday. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen eachother and I’m sure there will be so much to talk about, and some tears, too.
9. I intend to take in the quiet of the house and try to think clearly-no interruptions.
10. I hope to enjoy a leisurely game of Rook with my family, sharing snacks and laughter for an hour or so as often as I can.
It’s your turn….what will be on your list?
Except for taking a trip to Paris someday, I could probably die a happy gal if I don’t manage to accomplish everything on my ‘bucket list’ (under the tab above called ‘In this Life’, if you’re interested). It’s good to aspire to more difficult things and to hope to see far away places. Just don’t loose sight of what’s really important-the simple things in life that comprise daily life. Live your life to it’s fullest.
If I had five spare hours and $500 extra to spend on anything I wanted and not necessarily on the same day, what would I decide? The gals over at Life BeSprinkled posed these questions last week, so I gave it some thought and decided to do a little bloggity about it.
If I had an extra $500 to spend, I think I would indulge in a new front door for my house. How boring and domestic is that? Well, I’m not in the mood to travel and anyway, where can $500 take you these days? So, why not replace an ugly eye sore and make my home more inviting? Ever since we’ve lived here we’ve had this ugly white front door with a large 24″ X 36″ window in it that I absolutely hate. I would purchase a door like this one and have it painted a spruce green to match the splashes of color in my home’s white bricks. I would only want little windows at the top for light….and more privacy. They say green is always a great choice for the front door since it’s a color that is said to represent balance, peace, compassion, growth, renewal, and harmony.
If I had 5 hours to spend all to myself, I absolutley, without a doubt would use that time creatively-painting and collaging and just reveling in art. I’d put on some Italian or French Bistro music and paint my heart out!
This is how I
Now it’s your turn…if you had an extra $500 to spend on anything you wanted, (no bills, this is supposed to be fun!) and if you had an extra 5 hours to yourself only, how would you spend that time? Leave me a comment or blog about it. Just a little drive by blogging.
Yes, you read that right, I’ve been going to the same YMCA camp for the last thirty-one years. I started going as an excited giddy girl when I was sixteen, accompanying my then boyfriend with his parents, and I continued on until I got married to that boyfriend at twenty one and have been going every year since then for the last 27 years. Whew. My husband loves it, I tolerate it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all that bad-I have had years where I enjoyed it more than others, but in general, I’ve grown terribly tired of it and I long for greener pastures-er…turquoise waters and palm trees on the vacation front. Who knows when those dream vacations will come true, but until then I suppose I will make the best of it. Here are some photos of things that caught my eye this year. I had a lot of fun jazzing up my photos using my Instagram App for iPhone 4. In fact, I have nearly come to completely abandon my Kodak fancy camera and almost exclusively use my iPhone 4 now for taking photos. The apps are a blast. It was the most fun I had on my vacation. Not. 🙂
A view from the beach looking out at quiet, reflective waters.
This year only two of our five children came with us. For a variety of reasons our three oldest kids (23, 21 and 19) opted to stay home. This didn’t sit well with my husband who has a hard time dealing with change and the prospect of his kids growing up and out, so after much bluster, begging and badgering from him to go, they won out, stayed home and had a vacation of their own away from us.
(I wish I could have stayed home, too.)
There were rowboats to use whenever we got the urge to venture out onto the lake.
…But as the wife, I have a somewhat obligation to stick with my husband and alas, so I went again. My hubby started the week off on Monday by having a little bit of a pout because no one wanted to do anything with him (like a boring boat ride), so he stormed off on his own with his thermos of ice and pop and a smirk on his face and bade us an indignant farewell. I left and drove into town on my own to buy much needed groceries, and for a bit of retail therapy as respite from the mosquitoes and the (yawn) thrills of campdom. When I returned almost three hours later, he had just beaten me back by a few minutes and was as red as a freshly boiled lobster. It seems that in his little snit, he was so intent on getting his thermos, pop and book that he forgot to bring the sunblock. So, for the rest of the week he was in “don’t touch me!” pain, blistering and almost unable to do anything much except puzzles, keeping to the confines of the cabin…{{sigh}}…see what I mean?
So, I took to the beach by myself and tried to make something positive out of this sunburn saga that would bring me a little peace, solitude and a good photo or two.
Trying to relax sans husband, which isn't so bad, I have to admit.
The highlight of our trip was watching how much our dog enjoyed the freedom of running around the area that surrounded our cabin, the woods and the lake just behind us. He was suffering from a case of unadulterated joy. It made my heart happy just to watch him. He behaved so well, and stayed right by us, never straying once. He loved to catch the frisbee by running off the dock and going ‘PLOP!” into the water after it. He swam and ran and chased chipmunks-And didn’t get one tick all week. Love that dog.
Commander Xander-the official Camp Dog. Lover of all things woods, frisbee and water.
In my leisure I read a wonderful book about how to nurture my soul. In it I read something very profound and it went like this:
“The key is to give up the project of making yourself something shiny and big and to recognize that we are very ordinary people. By learning to discover and value our ordinariness, we nurture a friendliness toward ourselves and the world that is the essence of a healthy soul.”
A lovely book that filled me with good things. The soul is a good thing.The path from our cabin that leads to the little dock that sits on the quiet lake called Sugarbush.The quiet little lake that our cabin sat upon where Xander found such joy.Canoes stacked just so-they resembled gigantic sardines.The sign says it all....fun and retro. It screams summer camp.Camp fresh, no makeup and a little worse for the wear.
I’m a little more natural, less makeup and a little worse for the wear. For I’ve survived another year of the same old, same old vacation spot. Maybe next year I’ll be donning a French scarf and walking around Paris, or maybe I’ll be reading books on the beaches of Bali. Until then, I suppose I’ll have to keep to the ordinary vacation spots, because like the Soul Handbook says, there is value in the ordinary and that is the essence of a healthy soul. We’ll see.
I went thrifting yesterday and I spotted this really sweet turquoise Sonoma skirt for $3.99 on the rack. I just couldn’t not take it home. It won’t fit me, but as I looked it over, I realized this could very easily be made into an apron. I love the clean country print with such nice touches at the hem. Easy Peasy!
I made this collage at an art gathering at one of my Meetup groups a few months ago. I really love the theme of the middle aged woman. The wax gives it a bit of an ethereal affect.
It’s been raining fairly regularly here over the last week, and when that happens everything just suddenly greens up and looks spectacular. This is the first week of summer and here inmy backyard it’s beautiful. When we first moved into this house 13 years ago we had this Weeping Willow planted as a tiny tree in our back yard. It’s taken all this time to grow and stretch out it’s wide arms to look as majestic as it is now and we just love it. This tree is one of the things I love most about my house.
Of course it wouldn’t be summer with out playing Fisbee and Xander lives for it. The weather is perfect here, breezy and temperate and right now as I type this, it’s almost Autumn like.
I want to share this with you…I saw it today and it really touched my heart. I’m so heartened by this sweet dog’s ability to adjust and make the best of life with a little help from some kind humans.
A quiet window in a stone building which sits in the woods.Xander checking to see if anyone is occupying the little hermitage at the woods.
This weeping willow is so beautiful and is one of my favorite things about living here.
I took a little trip to Goodwill on Thursday, birthday 25% discount in hand, in search of my favorite find-books. I got really lucky and scored some awesome titles. I think Target and the Borders that went out of business donated some of their castoffs to Goodwill because there were tons of paperbacks shelved there that appeared new. I love when I run into unexpected treasures; it makes the hunt that much more fun. So, here’s my pile of goodness….see anything in there you would have snatched up? Click on the photo to make it bigger if you are really interested.
I also scored three cups like the one pictured…I love these extra large mugs they have that vintage yellowware look to them.
Some books I’m really enjoying. Photo is an Instagram.
Why Jane 