Peaceful Pauses

My Old Swedish Chair

It's true about beauty in the eye of the beholder. My old Swedish chair has seen better days, but I think my Swedish heritage (mother's side) heartstrings plays a tune for its worn wood.

Like most who come across an old piece of furniture, I too, wonder its travels, and the stories it could tell. I imagine they would be such stories, that I would sit quite a while at its feet (as there is no seat) and listen all night long to its tales.

With a fresh blanket of snow, my old Swedish chair felt right at home. She seemed very content standing near the old wire and wood fence amongst the dry twigs. I think it sort of made her stately among the wire fence and dried leaves.

In the cold winter, as life slows down a bit, we tend to slow down too. We don't want to slip and fall, so we suddenly admire the dried, the twisted, the rusty, and the old, as we grasp for those sturdy enough to hold us up. Suddenly a blanket of snow makes things new again.

Once the snow melts, we will once again be sure-footed and clip along with a faster pace. Maybe the fence won't be so pretty, and the vines will be overlooked, and the wood fence needs mending instead of intriguing. But my beloved old Swedish chair always invites me to stop and remember that function is not always a necessity, as is the ability to produce a peaceful pause.

May you find time for a peaceful pause.

from my house to your house,

Elizabeth 

The Postman Rang Twice...

Hello!

I hope this second month of 2013 is treating you well and you are staying warm, if you are living in an area of the world that is now winter. As I sit here on the sofa, under my warm blanket, with my barber husband (who is watching the Super Bowl), there is a cold beautiful blanket of snow on the ground outside. The postman brought me two treats this week, and not only did my  barber husband lived to see  them, I even shared the treats with him. I've been recovering, as you know from my knee surgery, gone-not-so-good, as I call it. And as it is very slow going, it is easy to forget about some of the work I did way before my knee surgery that is now out. When Jo Packham, editor and author of many, many publications, such as Where Women Create, and Where Women Cook, mailed me my treats...well, it just brighten my day to say the least. 

Where Women Create is a publication that is near and dear to my heart, as my workspace was featured on its cover a couple of years ago, and since then, I am honored to call Jo a friend and have the honor to work for her in one capacity or another. WWC has a column called The Business of the Studio in which a topic is discussed and Jo asked that I write it for this year on the topic of photography. A creative subject is selected (last year it was fabric) and what are some business aspects about that topic that one may have wondered about or may want to know. Below is my first column and a sneak preview if you haven't received your copy yet. And if you don't have a subscription, then you may pick up a copy at Barnes and Nobel or order a copy by clicking here. 

Click HERE to go to site to see inside!!

Jo does a fabulous job in finding such very talented and creative women for her issues and highlighting not only what it is that they do, but allowing those women to share their story, where they came from, their challenges, and how or why they got into their field in the first place. All the stories are so very inspirational. Jo is so very good at getting what I call the "big time girls" such as Rachel Ashwell, Magnolia Pearl, Marie Osmond, Mary Engelbreit, and The Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond), as well as, showcasing what I call the "extraordinary average girl" whom Jo puts in the spotlight so that their stories may too, inspire all of us who love the "big-time girls," but actually relate to the "extraordinary average girl." 

I was very honored that Jo asked that I write this year's WWC The Business of the Studio features. As a photographer that is still making my way, I might have a different take on how I view the "business" of photography. But coming from the creative, design world first, perhaps Jo felt I would have a good understanding of what her readers (creative crafter types) might want to know or be curious about in the field of photography. Below is a part of first feature...to read the rest of my article, you will have to purchase this superb WWC issue (well, they are all superb)!

The second treat that Jo mailed to me was a signed copy of Pieography. It is a book authored by Jo Packham, comprised of pie recipes from 39 women (I am one!) who offer their favorite pie recipe as well as a little personal story as to why this particular pie best describes their life or a life event. I wrote about this in an earlier post, but the book publishing date was delayed and so I am now writing about it again. I am thrilled with it and it turned out beautifully. I am very honored to be in the company of so many talented women and to have my photography accompany such beautifully photographed images. If you haven't picked up your book yet, it may be ordered on Amazon, or bought in any major book store such as Barnes and Noble. The stories are so interesting to read (I just started reading them, as I just got it only two days ago) and I can't wait to make these recipes.

My pie was the little fried pie. Being a Texan, fried pies are my heritage, and they just seemed to fit me and this season of my life.

My life and Li'l Fried Pies:

Here are a few of the photos I took for that shoot that wasn't used, but I enjoyed shooting for Pieography so very much...I've shown these in an earlier post, but will share again for those who might have missed them...

I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I enjoyed shooting and writing about both features. I feel so very, very blessed to be able to write and shoot about things that I enjoy...and especially for someone that I admire so much such as Jo. If you don't really know Jo, or even know of Jo Packham, then I really, really encourage you to get to know her here and get to know a woman that truly cares about creative women, what they are about, who they are, and who truly encourages women to pursue their passion. She is "for real" and one of those rare individuals who isn't one way with you and then another way behind your back. She is a creative person herself, and so she understands what it is like to have a passion. And the best way to keep someone like her cheering for creative people like us, is to show your support so she can keep encouraging and inspiring us.

Thank you for sticking by me in all of my creative endeavors and being there when I am absent. Know I think of you often and always know how much I love being here when I am here. I love what I do, I just wish I could do it more often because it just makes me plain happy. :-)

from my house to your house,
Elizabeth

Awesome New Year!

Happy New Year - It's gonna be awesome!

While in the Smokey Mountains, I found it just awesome to be walking alone and hearing only the sound of the rushing water below. Such a special treat for my ears.

Hello my friends,

I am hoping that as I close out my year, that you are closing out your year out in a very peaceful and happy way. I am still very much on crutches, and still very much not walking.

However, that has left me time to indulge in one of my greatest addictions that I am going to pass along to you. But before I get to that, I want to share with you my word for the new year.

Every year I like to focus on a word or theme, if you will. And for 2013, my word is "wisdom," as I can never have enough, and many times, I think, I just lack it all together. Proverbs is filled with scripture on wisdom and it isn't hard to find guidance from the best teacher in that area. Matthew 7:7-8 says: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

And that leads to me to my addiction, which has led me to much wisdom that I would like to pass on to you...

There is a website that I go to almost daily, usually every morning and once at night, called TED Ideas Worth Spreading. 

Click HERE to go to website

On TED's "about page" here is partially what it says:

TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences -- the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer -- TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.

In short, in my uneducated lingo, it's a lot of very neat stuff said by tons of very neat people, in very small formats, that after watching even just one talk, you walk away feeing a bit wiser.

When you click on the site, (which can be read by IPhone too!) this is how I navigate every single time, but of course, you do what you want. I ALWAYS just click on the top of the page, the left, that says "Talks" and a whole new world opens up to you. Then when the next page opens I always go to the left of the page and I always check "all events" and "all lengths" and then below, my favorite category is "inspiring" and "courageous," however, all the categories are spectacular. Not a single talk is over 18 minutes, and some as short as 3 minutes!

I wanted to give you a treat for the New Year. I have so many, many favorite TED talks, it was so very hard to choose for you. But below is something I think you will enjoy very much. Click on the first talk below and then read what I say about it after it:

Click HERE for the first talk

I came across this talk recently and thought it was something so cool to think about for 2013. I mean, seriously, we have all been there. And when a better time to think of something new, then  the beginning of a new year? So, if you are having a bit of trouble deciding on what new thing you want to do for 30 days, may I suggest this next talk as something new to try? Please watch - it is AWESOME!

Click HERE for the second talk

I found this talk so moving on so many levels, especially now, as I have been pretty much on my back for eight weeks, lots of pain and have lost almost 15 pounds due to meds, no appetite, and very upset stomach - hard to keep food down in the beginning. But then, after watching this talk, I decided to turn it around and think....hey! That's awesome! Fifteen friggin pounds gone! I mean, while I have absolutely no muscle tone whatsoever, and it isn't a "food plan" I would want to go on again, but it is 15 pounds off this fat butt of mine...awesome! :-) Well, I may be stretching the "awesome" part a bit, but you get my drift. 

The point is, there really is something in our daily lives, no matter how wrong our day (or life) may be going at the moment, that we can truly seek to find that awesome moment. Right after I watched this talk, I emailed my good friend, Debbie Dusenberry (of Curious Sofa - check our her fab site) who emailed me the image below. My reply to her was: You're awesome! She had no idea I just watched this video, but at the time, she was offering me some support for an issue I was having and I thought how awesome to have a friend like her in my life.

But back to having an Awesome New Year! I did start to think about some of the really small stuff that really is sorta awesome when you stop and think about it for a moment...here are just a few of my personal daily "awesomes" lately. I didn't realize that in my head, I was really kinda nodding my head up and down and saying "awesome" to myself when:

*Finally being able to sleep on my side for at least 5 minutes

*Taking off an old bandage and not taking any scab off with it so I can put on a fresh bandage (really is a cool thing)

*Taking a hot bath (or any bath really)

*Getting poked only once in the arm for a blood sample (rarely happens)

*Put on my own sock for the first time

*Discovering there IS an Andy Griffith show I haven't seen before (that was truly awesome)

*On a very windy day, and so sick of TV, I just listened to the wind storm all day, wondering what the heck was blowing around in our yard, but not worried - it was awesome to listen to the wind all day long and snooze off and on

So there you have some of my awesome moments lately. Nothing too exciting over here, but if I can find some awesome moments in my currently small world, I have no doubt, that for the next 30 days, in your world too, you can make the choice to find at least one awesome thing a day. 

I hadn't found my awesome moment today yet, as it hasn't been a good day for me - that is until just a moment ago. There is some noise outside, some beating of loud bass, in the far distance that is jusssttt barely enough of a strong beat to drive me nuts and I can't concentrate at all - or sleep. So just now,  my barber husband brings me one of the best gifts he ever gave me some time ago: Bose noise blocking earphones! They are perfect for airplanes, or in the case, some bass playing outside. And as I put them on and clicked the "noise blocking" button, and pure silence, I breathed an "awesome" sigh of relief! 

Now, if you have just FOUR minutes to spare, I PROMISE you, that this TED Talk will not disappoint, and it will be a talk that you will remember, pass on, and use as lesson even to your little ones...I have watched this one over and over again...please watch it...I just had to share it...

Click HERE to see fabulous talk

Now is this a guy you would want as a friend or what? He has it all...a giving heart, humble, brave, and willing to pass his wisdom on to those of us who wish to be more like him - and the best part of it is? He has no idea that we want to be like him...he thinks he is "just sharing" what he learned.

And I think that is where we find wisdom most of the time. We have to seek it, and as our heavenly Father promises, we will find it. And once we gain some wisdom, we have a responsibility to share what we learn. And the only wise thing I can really share with you at the end of this year is that there are so many wise and experienced people out there from which we may learn. And how awesome is it that TED Talks makes it only a click of a button to have access to all that wisdom and insight?

May 2013 be awesome for you and may you find wisdom from wherever you seek to find it.

From my house to your house,

Elizabeth