All posts tagged: Five Five Five

Be Audacious

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 5 Post 5 I think we all get so used to letting go of dreams that don’t work out, that we are at a loss for handling ourselves years later when we start dreaming about them again. We doubt if it is ever going to materialize, and we doubt whether we even deserve it because, “shouldn’t it have happened to me by now if I was worthy to begin with?”   We are haunted by thoughts & moments that we pushed to the side at one sad point either due to failure or by unfortunate necessity. These unrelenting ghosts fill us with hope & the audacity to think we can still achieve these greater things.   Let’s be audacious then, shall we?    

Gratitude

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 5 Post 4 Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.  -Melody Beattie   

Happy Days 

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Welcome to the last week of my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 5 Post 3  I remember having chicken pox when I was 10 yrs old and hating that mom had to give me an oatmeal bath because I was so self conscious of my girly parts growing in.  I remember running out to the yard in the afternoon heat with a glass of ice water for daddy as he cut the grass in his weekend trousers and garden gloves.  I remember how my sister pinched my nostrils closed causing me to lose my breath & abruptly wake many a Saturday morning so I’d play Barbies or Strawberry Shortcake with her. I remember before bed time we’d all snuggle under plaid wool blankets in the family room watching ABC’s Happy Days  on Tuesday nights. Now and then scenes from my childhood flash through my mind, and they make me chuckle with teary gratitude.     

On Five

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This is the fifth and final week of my 555 series, a project that was inspired by my time at The Hello Sessions. Week 5  Post 2 Since starting this 555 series I am a bit more disciplined and that feels great. I am more thoughtful about what I say, paying attention to “just enough” instead of wondering if I wrote about too much or about too little.  The sh!t sandwich angle has come back into play, because when one is clearer on what she wants, a light shines brightly on the work she’d better be willing to put into getting it.  I think my mind has started working differently – in a good way, making connections between things that I didn’t before.  I’m even more curious about other people’s works in progress, side projects, and primary work because I get that everything is a multilayered process that in itself can already be pretty fascinating.   

That’s Cold! 

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 5 Post 1  It’s getting cold out here and it’s freaking me out. I am also preparing to go out of the country this weekend where the temps are wet and 10 degrees colder with highs of 45F.  I just bought new sweaters and underlayers & own plenty of wool coats to choose from but am feeling stressed. I called Husband at work to tell him I’m freaking out about packing and whined like a sixteen-year old that, “my life is SO  hard.”  Obviously he hung up.        

Mixed 

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 4 Post 5 I was high-strung for a full day after my therapist told me, “you’re not a laid back person, and it’s OKAY!!!”  I break into hysterical laughter over my friends’ most inane inside jokes but roll my eyes at jokes told by inane people. I miss my family so much but get anxious whenever I have to plan a trip home.  I like spending most of my time alone, but am always thinking of who I’d like to hang out with next. I’m a member of the Mixed Emotions Club.    

Lighting The Wrong Kind of Fire

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 4 Post 4 When a guy is broken up with after a drawn out relationship, he will always claim he was blindsided. He will never admit to have seen any telltale signs. That’s denial at work. But how does he not see his hand in it? Sometimes a man can be like a little boy who likes playing with matches, responsible for lighting a house fire he didn’t expect to start.      

Me too, Maira

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}. Wk 4 Post 3 “I would like to continue doing what I am doing. Writing/drawing books, traveling, visiting gardens around the world. Working with children and the elderly. What that means I don’t know. But I will find out.”  ~Maira Kalman Quote via Design Sponge

Standards Not Expectations 

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Week 4 Post 2 “Have standards not expectations.  Standards are something you have for yourself, and expectations are something you have for someone else. And you control yourself you don’t control other people. If you say that you don’t accept a certain kind of behavior or treatment, people who fit that standard and treat you that way fit into your life, and people who don’t are out. Whereas if you’re like ‘I expect you to do this, that, and the other,’ that’s not something you have control over, so you’re setting yourself up to be unhappy.”  ~Daphne Oz    

Midday 

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Wk 4 Post 1  Halfway through my day and it’s 12:20pm.   Breakfast was a hearty one of oatmeal, berries with almond nut butter and a half cup of a green smoothie. I spent some time preparing my wardrobe for our upcoming trip to Europe.  I am in the middle of developing some drafts, wrote letters, wrapped a gift, read through a magazine, and will exercise in a few minutes for half an hour. For midday, I’d say so far, so good.