Grateful

Grateful for so much...

my list for today:

family
judson
home
work
car
health
georgia
friends
sunshine
good doctors
clementine oranges
vanilla candles
calzones
flowers
gardens
music
new baby smell
wedding memories
kristin
cheese
chocolate
coffee with cinnamon
playing hookie
honey on warm buttered toast

Love After Love

The time will come

when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other's welcome,
and say, sit here. Eat.


You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you
all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.


Sit. Feast on your life.
-Derek Walcott

Wedding Bells!

this saturday.

february 13, 2010.

i.

am.

marrying.

my kindred fella.

and

my

heart

is

so

happy

and

grateful!

...the sweeter the song

Saw Crazy Heart yesterday with my sweetie.  Loved it.  It's seriously the best movie I've seen in a long time.  And I love the tagline:  The harder the life, the sweeter the song...  Check it out!

Your Forever

(Source Unknown)

Not talkin' 'bout a year

no not three or four
I don't want that kind of forever
in my life anymore
forever always seems
to be around when it begins
but forever never seems
to be around when it ends
so give me your forever
please your forever
not a day less will do
from you

People spend so much time
every single day
runnin' 'round all over town
givin' their forever away
but no not me
I won't let my forever roam
and now I hope I can find
my forever a home
so give me your forever
please your forever
not a day less will do
from you

Like a handless clock with numbers
an infinite of time
no not the forever found
only in the mind
forever always seems
to be around when things begin
but forever never seems
to be around when things end
so give me your forever
please your forever
not a day less will do
from you
-Ben Harper

Love what it loves...

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
-Mary Oliver

Give All

Give all to love;
Obey thy heart;
Friends, kindred, days,
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit, and the muse;
Nothing refuse.

'Tis a brave master,
Let it have scope,
Follow it utterly,
Hope beyond hope;
High and more high,
It dives into noon,
With wing unspent,
Untold intent;
But 'tis a god,
Knows its own path,
And the outlets of the sky.
'Tis not for the mean,
It requireth courage stout,
Souls above doubt,
Valor unbending;
Such 'twill reward,
They shall return
More than they were,
And ever ascending.

Leave all for love;—
Yet, hear me, yet,
One word more thy heart behoved,
One pulse more of firm endeavor,
Keep thee to-day,
To-morrow, for ever,
Free as an Arab
Of thy beloved.
Cling with life to the maid;
But when the surprise,
Vague shadow of surmise,
Flits across her bosom young
Of a joy apart from thee,
Free be she, fancy-free,
Do not thou detain a hem,
Nor the palest rose she flung
From her summer diadem.

Though thou loved her as thyself,
As a self of purer clay,
Tho' her parting dims the day,
Stealing grace from all alive,
Heartily know,
When half-gods go,
The gods arrive.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not one is missing...

St. Augustine, FL

"Look up into the Heavens.

Who created all the stars?

He brings them out like an army,

One after another,

Calling each by its name.

Because of his great power

and incomparable strength,

not a single one is missing."

Isaiah 40:26

Redeemed

(Source unknown)

I am in a place in my life when I see how beautiful redemption is.
So many moments I spent in pain, hurt, anger - are now replaced with joy and contentment and peace.
Despair is replaced by dreams coming true.
Not sure of all the words, but am oh, so thankful!
Be blessed today, dear hearts...

reminders to myself ::

I love blue

I love cinnamon and sunshine

I don't care about fancy shoes

I am not a fashionista

I love porch swings in the country

I am a loner

I need to create things

I miss my dear friend

I miss my family

I long for deep connection and understanding

I'd be lost without my mama

I love cozy and warm

I love with my whole heart

I've been through hard things

I've been through incredibly delicious things

I know who I am - and am reminding myself again today

Dreaming

1. Front Porch, Stop By For A Beer, 2. from the back porch..., 3. Lonely Porch, 4. Gothic Oak Bluffs Porches, 5. porch., 6. autumn on the porch, 7. beckwith ranch porch, 8. Porch Steps, 9. Classic Summertime Porch

dreams. come. true.

kin⋅dred/ˈkɪndrɪd/ [kin-drid]
–noun
1. a person's relatives collectively; kinfolk; kin.
2. a group of persons related to another; family, tribe, or race.
3. relationship by birth or descent, or sometimes by marriage; kinship.
4.natural relationship; affinity.

Pinch me...

...I must be dreaming.

How did this beautiful light find me?

I was hoping he would...and it's better than I could have ever imagined. As much as I love words and quotes, I'm speechless to describe his effect on me. All I can accurately formulate in my mind that's echoing in my heart is thank you...

Thank you for this delicious soul that appears to recognize mine...that sends me notebooks to write down beautiful words and music that is sacred to my soul. That has a voice like a sunny afternoon. I'm in the middle of a dream come true. And I think the longer one waits for something to manifest...the less likely that they'll ever take it for granted....at least that's my deep hope....

thank you, thank you, thank you

Ring, ring, ring...

Am delighting in his daily phone calls. I mean - seriously - they're a little bit of heaven. right. here. on. earth.

Beautiful work...

Was that you that painted your favorite indigo blue

Take a peak at the work of Mary Anne Radmacher. Her words and illustrations thrill me! The above piece is one of my favorites. I discovered her work when I lived in Salem, Oregon at a delightful shop called "word garden".

Am reading a book of hers called Lean Forward Into Your Life: begin each day as if it's on purpose.

It's a great book - to read and re-read. Find out more about Mary Anne here.

Birthday eve...

Oregon Coastline, 2007

Where did my twenties go?!

On this, my last day to be 29, I say "Bravo" to myself - and the last delightful decade...

for risking

for growing

for loving

for moving

for working

for striving

for laughing

for enjoying

for traveling

for longing

for believing

for dreaming

for experiencing

for connecting

for celebrating

for sharing

for experimenting

for living from my heart

for being brave

for hoping

For Living.

You done good, girl!

One word...

an⋅tic⋅i⋅pa⋅tion   /ænˌtɪsəˈpeɪʃən/ [an-tis-uh-pey-shuhn]
–noun
1. the act of anticipating or the state of being anticipated.
2. realization in advance; foretaste.
3. expectation or hope.
4. previous notion; slight previous impression.
5. intuition, foreknowledge, or prescience.

Enough said...

Daring

I've often heard people use the phrase "daring to dream". Today, I know what they mean. It can take courage to dream. To open your heart and let it say, "Wouldn't it be great if..." Full of juicy specifics...and bold requests. It takes some gumption to open yourself to the beautiful possibilities...knowing they may not come when you want, in the way you want. You may still be left waiting.

But today, I take the pleasure of imagining - of wondering -could it be time? Could it possibly be time?

I hope so. I sit on my couch and love the sunshine and wonder.

Following...

I just want to say -

to write out -

that I

follow my heart.

I listen to my heart.

I wait for the whispers and

shouts and songs from

my pure and alive and

holy heart.

I quiet all else that would

be too loud - that

could in any way keep me

from hearing and knowing

my heart - - hush - shhhh -

I wait for the beautiful

words - the manna for my being.

Whispering wind...

Just thinking about possibility tonight.

About the percolating bits coming together.

Bits of a dream - coming true - 'before my eyes'.

Could it be?

I'm wondering tonight.

Listening to the whisperings of my heart.

Answering back in loud calls of "YES"!

Imagining the avenue or lane where

the light will come and greet me.

Where the divine yes will come and embrace me.

After waiting so many seconds....

No real answers.

Just very aware of my heart rising

to the occasion.

And daring to believe.

Daring to dream - yet again.

"There's something in the wind."