Garden Dreams

Yes, I realize it's snowy outside and we've been out of school for four days.  The second week in January is hardly the time to be thinking about planting.  But I can't help it.  The seed catalog came in the mail this week and I'm determined to have a garden this year--especially since I will not be seven months pregnant during planting time!  So, in accordance with my semi-obsessive nature I have reviewed the seeds I already have, decided what I want to order, and planned my planting complete with a layout!  The winter seems more survivable if I can contemplate spring.

Leave it to Robert Redford...

to create fabulous clothing.  I want one of everything in this catalog!  The style is so natural and feminine and yet there's an element of bohemian...western...hmm...it's just so hard to describe.  It is kind of pricey but the sales bring some things down to what I might consider paying.  Of course, I won't be ordering anything for a few more months at least.

Snow and Squares

 

While the weather conditions are right for making more of these outside...

I'm making more of these inside...

And dreaming of the day when the weather conditions are more conducive to these.

Getting my Brain Together

I have all these ideas meshing around in my head and I wanted to get them all in the same visual place.  Each one inspires me so I'm hoping seeing them together will increase that inspiration exponentially and get me moving in this direction.  Also, I'm having trouble keeping track of where I'm finding everything so this is just as much a list for me as anything.  Here's what they are and where they can be found if you're interested:

1. This is the wall color of the room.  Fortunately, it's already painted so that's a huge job out of the way.  It's just regular old Wal-mart paint.  The color name is Dune.
2. I love this print by Sarah Faulkner!  I know it's more romantic than baby but I think it's so sweet and magical without being cliched.  It was what made me pick birds as the theme.
3. Okay, so I know these aren't birds but when I found out about Buttercup the first thing I wanted to make was a floppy bunny and these are my models.  But, this company has all sorts of great floppy animals and I may not be able to resist buying some others.
4. I like the ambiance that paper lanterns provide and World Market has many for acceptable prices.
5. The inspiration for the color scheme as well as being so exactly part of the theme!  Willowbaus has several great bird mobiles!
6. This is just an example of the type of fabric I want to use for the curtains.  White eyelet-pretty but not frilly.
7. These are some collected pictures of tree murals which is something I want to do on the wall.  The tree with the scrappy leaves and the light up birdhouse (also something I want to do) is found here as well as an informative diy tutorial here.
8. BHG.com has the instructions and stencil patterns for these designs.  I am repainting a dresser and desk to go in the room and want some designs along these lines to go on the drawers.

So that's it, for now.  I'm excited to see what all this smushes into as my creative process evolves.  Come back in a few months and maybe I'll have pictures!

Contemplating

So I'm thinking about starting this sucker up again.  Thus, the reason I have spent so much time on this rainy Saturday editing, deleting, and just plain playing with the layout.  I'm thinking it's going to be a little different.  My view of what qualifies as a "magic bean" has broadened quite a bit since I started.  I'm considering making it more personal.  I think I might include the fun stories I have started acquiring about my cute kids in my library.  I think I might like to write about my creative projects because reading blogs about the creativity of others has become a huge inspiration to me.  I think I would like to write thoughts about books...not reviews, just thoughts.  And maybe I'll use some of my own photography since I now have a digital camera.

I intend to make this more of a journal of me rather than a collection of various things outside of me.  So, read on if you wish (if anyone is still out there reading).  I cannot guarantee frequency but, who knows, maybe I'll get into it.

Forgiveness

Forgetting the things I don't need to remember
so
I can remember the things I don't need to forget.

One Step Closer-a personal magic bean

...and the money you'll spend! I have a grad school! And, for those of you who are wondering, we won't be moving out of state!

The Cereal Question

2 share and I were talking about this the other day. The question was: Which cereal best defines you and why? After much deliberation I have decided my answer is Cheerios. It is unobtrusive and happy, lacking in excessive sweetness but able to offer solace when needed. What would your answer be?

A Dream

I was at a house that was on a hill. The hill looked a lot like the hill we used to live on when we lived in the trailor only there were more houses on it. Lots of family and friends were around. Some of them were walking on the hill. Some of them were in the house. I knew they were there more by feeling than by sight though. The only faces that I saw were Mom's and Dad's and "Giggleman's" and J's and "Flower's". A storm was brewing--we could hear the thunder. And we had all moved out onto the back patio of the house to watch it.

A rainbow appeared. But it wasn't a normal rainbow. It started out as just a red, yellow, and blue line coming up from the horizon. Then, as it arched, the colors merged to create the orange, green, and violet. When it hit the other end of its arch there was a loud noise-like a tree splitting only much much bigger. A lightning bolt came stretching across the sky from behind the house (and us). A split second before it actually happened I knew; the sky was going to split open. Behind the bolt, like a zipper being unzipped, was a gap where the blue of the sky parted revealing black and stars. The further the bolt went towards the horizon the bigger the split became.

I yelled to Giggleman and the others to grab hands. I said it must be the end of the world. We started floating up towards the crack in the sky-all holding hands. And we started singing. I can't remember the song. But I remember that it was something that came from inside me and I had to sing it and then, I realized, that everyone was singing and everyone knew the song and it was coming from inside all of us. It reminded me a little bit of "A Mighty Fortress" but it was richer and more melodic than any song I've ever heard.

And then, I "woke up". I was back in the house that my parents live in now. And I went downstairs and told Mom about the dream. She said it was interesting. And said laughing, "Maybe it's a sign."

And then I really did wake up.

A New Bird

There is still mystery in the world.
Isn't it amazing how much we don't know?!

Reminiscent

I remember when I was young I had a book of illustrated Disney stories. They were the classic stories-Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Robin Hood . . . . I remember there was a page that had all the Disney characters together. And I remember one day while I was looking at it with my dad he got out a magnifying glass so we could look at Tinkerbell on that page (because she was very very small). I think that was probably the spark that led to my love of fairies and fairy tales.

It is so seldom now that I find good pictures of those beloved Disney characters from my childhood--those animations that were made more beautiful by the hands of the artists who would sit for days and days to draw the movements of the characters. I'll admit that the computer animation is amazing but there is something magical about the way they used to look. Anyway, I found this picture and I had to save it-a symbol of the beauty in my childhood that I refuse to forget and hope, someday (years away!), to pass on to a little girl of my own.

A Special Sighting

I saw a hawk on my way to work this morning. That in itself doesn't sound too special. But it was the way I saw the hawk that made it special. He wasn't flying high over my head. He was standing under a tree a few yards from me. We stopped and looked at each other. It was a wonderfully eerie sensation to look him in the eye. Then, he flew away. And as I moved on I heard him screech. It was one of the most mysterious and alive sounds and it made my insides all swirly.

Childhood Friends

There is something special about knowing someone since before they had inhibitions. You forge a connection. J, my mom, and I were looking through family pictures yesterday afternoon and came upon this one. He (yes, he!) isn't blood related. But he might as well be. And when you have people you call family even though they don't share the same tree, well, that qualifies as a bean.
Plus, I just really wanted this picture posted for the world to see! He doesn't do this anymore. All testosterone!

Double Rainbows

I saw one Tuesday. And every time I see one (double or not) I can't help but feel that it is magical. I know there is a scientific explanation. But I don't think magic has to be unexplainable to be magic. When you think about it, what happens when light is filtered through water is really very strange and wonderful.

Incidentally, this picture was taken by someone (not me) in Kauai. We saw several while we were there too. It's no coincidence that Hawaii's license plate has a rainbow.

A Wild Magic Bean (I didn't "buy" this one)

On the way home yesterday I was thinking about the word "irrational" and the negative connotations that go along with it. Rarely is it considered good or beneficial to be irrational. I have had eyes rolled at something I have said because it was considered irrational. Logical thinking is prized in our society. We're taught in school to have logical arguments-reasons for what we think . . . and believe, for that matter. Now, I'm not saying logic is bad. Logic is good. Logic is important. But, where did we get the idea that just because it is good to be logical it is bad to be illogical? Who has commanded that everything has to be logical? What if it isn't always bad . . . and what if it is sometimes necessary (and even good) to be irrational?

I would like to point out that the action that allows us to be Christian was completely irrational. A holy perfect Being becoming a man and facing pain and death just to be with us? Highly irrational behavior on the part of that Being.

So, here's "the sprout": Perhaps there is a time and place for "irrational" and "illogical". Perhaps ration and irration are not opposites as we have made them to be but are complimentary-both good and useful.

From: The Dog and the Shadow

"Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow."

Aesop

From: The Giggleman's Mind

I know that The Giggleman's mind usually expresses itself in a mildly twisted manner. But sometimes twisted can be thought provoking-you know, breaking a paradigm and whatnot. And I thought this particular expression of his was rather provoking of thought. He titled it "The Utterance of Thought".

Houses of Parliament by Claude Monet

For My Own Inspiration

In your future career, would you like to:

*Work with children and young adults
*Reach out to diverse communities
*Share your love of books
*Keep up with the latest technology
*Develop leadership, organizational, and decision-making skills
*Use your dramatic and artistic talents
*Bring positive change to individuals, families, schools, and neighborhoods

*Most of all, do you want work to be challenging, surprising, and fun?
Consider becoming a librarian who serves children and young adults.

What do librarians who serve children and young adults do? They . . .
*Empower and motivate young people
*Promote and nurture the habit of reading
*Introduce students to the latest electronic resources
*Collaborate with other educators
*Build programs to link the library to community groups
*Choose resources to enhance the library collection
*Provide parenting education and family literacy programs
*Design and provide engaging activities that help young people develop their creativity, interests, and talents

A librarian who serves children and young adults helps young people discover themselves!

From: www.ala.org

I have heard a piece of advice common among motivational speakers that says if you have a dream or aspiration you should write it down and put it somewhere you can look at it. They say it makes it more tangible and there's some crazy percentage of people who do this that actually achieve what they write. So, this is me, writing it down.

Midsummer Eve by Edward Robert Hughes