Friday, October 22, 2010

Rekindling the spark


Here are a few of the people who rekindled my spark this week:

1. Aimee, the amazingly talented doodler behind Artsyville.  Her work is bright and witty and utterly delightful.  On Wednesday, when I couldn't figure out how to take pictures of my journal page (and considered giving the whole thing up), I remembered that she often uses paper as a backdrop for her work, so I gave it a try and it opened up a whole new set of possibilities!

2. Ben Cuevas.  He knit (knitted?) an entire skeleton.  A skeleton seated in the lotus position, which was created, in part, as a meditation on transcendence.  I am in awe.

3. Scoutie Girl, who wrote about the dangerous spiral of criticism and how to deal with it.  The article is directed mainly to artists, but I believe the message is universal.  My favourite line:  "Recognize failure as a part of the process and act on your ideas as if it doesn't matter."

4. My three year old daughter, who has perfected the art of negotiation -- and at such a tender age.

The Husband:  Let's go.  We're late.

The Three Year Old :  I want to take all of my babies.  (Note: there are millions of them.)

The Husband:  Your Barbies (note: also millions of them) are already in the car.  Why don't you leave your babies at home?

The Three Year Old:  No.  I want all of my babies.

The Husband:  Okay.  You can take two babies in the car.

The Three Year Old:  No.  All of them.

The Husband:  Two babies or no babies at all.

The Three Year Old:  No.  All of them.

Guess how many babies made it into the car?  Let's just say that my husband and I are still marveling over just how much you can put in those reusable shopping bags.

Happy Friday friends!

P.S. Here is my quote drawing before I coloured it and cut it out:


Is this something you might want to print out for yourself?  If so, let me know in the comments and I'll upload the pdf and post a link.

Edited to add:  Here are the links to the black and white pdf and a colourful one too!

13 comments:

  1. This reminds me of a quote I saw last week: "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words." (Author Unknown)

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  2. I LOVE this quote - how ironic that you have it on here. I just made a new gratitude journal for myself yesterday, and this quote along with one from Melodie Beatty were the two I printed to tape inside the front cover for inspiration.

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  3. I love that quote! I would love to have a download of it... in color!!!

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  4. I love this quote so much :) and I think your daughter's skills are awesome! I got a good laugh out of the mental images!
    I was able to right click on the quote image and click Save Image to be able to then print it out. Not sure if you'd need to make a pdf. how hard are they to make?

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  5. Thanks Laura, Roxann, Maggie and Liberty!

    Laura - Love that quote! The thing about both quotes that resonates for me is that idea of a personal connection -- that we can bring out each other's songs or creativity. It's a very good thing.

    Roxann - What a coincidence! What was the Melodie Beatty quote?

    Maggie - I'll make one up and send it to you!

    Liberty - We laughed too. We do that a lot around here! I tried the right click thing too and it totally worked. Still figuring this stuff out I guess. :)

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  6. Love the quote. It's amazing how timely what you find is. Are we all on the same wave length?

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  7. Great quote! I would love a pdf link.

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  8. Thanks Anonymous, Amy K and Jo! I've added the links!

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  9. When my niece was about that age (a little younger actually), she didn't like to wear clothes. My sister told her she had to stand in time out until she would put clothes on, because they were trying to get ready to go somewhere...they didn't go out that day, and my niece stood in timeout for three hours. She wasn't budging. After my sister sent her there, she refused to leave, or put clothes on. It was a matter of principle at that point. :) She's 7 now - hasn't changed much.

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  10. 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

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  11. Carin - Wow! Three hours? That is quite something!

    Roxann - "It turns what we have into enough, and more." Love this! So true. Thanks so much for sharing!

    Amy K - You're welcome!

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