Category Archives: Art

101 Ways to Add More Beauty to Your Life – Part 2…

23 Sunday Jan 2011

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© Lydia Hudgens

Continued...

34. Travel to a foreign land.
35. Buy flowers from a farmers market.
36. Stargaze.
37. Create a family tree.
38. Taste exotic fruit.
39. Buy a painting from an art school.
40. Make a cat purr.
41. Learn a few phrases in a foreign language.
42. Visit a cathedral with stained glass windows.
43. Watch a sunrise.
44. Read to a child.
45. Learn to play a musical instrument.
46. Ride a horse.
47. Laugh out loud.
48. Snuggle.
49. Wear your best watch or jewelry.
50. Cry at movies.
51. Display your treasures and collections.
52. Listen to Puccini, Tchaikovsky, or Chopin.
53. Wear cowboy boots.
54. Ride in a fast boat.
55. Watch Masterpiece Theater.
56. Notice your city or town’s architecture.
57. Say “Yes” more often.
58. Listen to a new music genre.
59. Learn a limerick.
60. Buy fine cotton or silk sheets.
61. Write with a different color ink.
62. Visit a National Forest.
63. Buy or make new sofa cushions.
64. Learn to skin and/or scuba dive.
65. Greet your baristas by name.
66. Buy balloons.
67. Believe in miracles.

To be continued…

103 Ways to Add More Beauty to Your Life…

22 Saturday Jan 2011

Posted by in Art, Dance, Design, Fashion, Food, Photography, Reflections, Travel, Writing

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© Joan Currie - Capitola State Beach

Part 1.

1.  Watch a sunset – see the green flash.
2.  Admire rainbows, jet streams, and beautiful cloud formations.
3.  Look through a kaleidoscope.
4.  Use your “good” china and silverware.
5.  Take a road trip.
6.  Decorate a birthday cake.
7.  Blow bubbles in the sunlight.
8.  Examine a postage stamp, dollar bill, or coin through a magnifying glass.
9.  Buy a bird feeder or bird bath.
10. Walk in the woods.
11. Drive in a convertible with the top down.
12. Visit a planetarium, aquarium. or zoo.
13. Learn calligraphy.
14. Hold a baby.
15. Place photos of you and your loved ones at your happiest around your home.
16. Go to the ballet, opera, or theatre.
17. Create a secret garden.
18. Learn to dance the cha cha, tango, samba, waltz, or swing.
19. Read poetry.
20. Spend time with an octogenarian, nonagenarian, or centenarian.
21. Wear something red.
22. Light candles.
23. Ride a zip line, climb a wall, or jump on a trampoline.
24. Make a snow angel.
25. Visit an art museum or gallery.
26. Play catch with a dog.
27. Doodle.
28. Watch fireworks.
29. Paint one wall in your home your favorite color.
30. Volunteer.
31. Buy a couple of goldfish.
32. Forgive past wrongs.
33. Say “I love you!” more often.

To be continued…

Looking inside: Nautilus…

15 Saturday Jan 2011

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© Joan Currie

The greatest explorer on this earth never takes voyages as long as those of the man who descends to the depth of his heart.  ~Julien Green

My mother has an impressive shell collection from her travels around the globe. My favorite shell is the Nautilus, half of which is pictured above. I like the way its mother-of-pearl, chambered interior is surprisingly far more beautiful than its exterior.

I started thinking about my other favorite things that also have lovelier insides such as; pomegranates and exotic fruits, amethyst and agate geodes, stalactite and glow worm caves, chestnuts, bees’ nests, eggs, secret gardens, coral reefs, cathedrals with stained glass windows, kaleidoscopes and telescopes, Russian dolls, and jewelry and music boxes.

I know many people, too, who on first meeting may appear gruff or cantankerous, but are really among the sweetest and gentlest people with hearts of gold once you get to know them.

Resolutions Revisited…

01 Saturday Jan 2011

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© Lauren DiMarco

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.
Abraham Lincoln

In the 1980s we bought most of our electronics, jewelry, and toys from a catalog showroom store. We liked the idea of having the opportunity to preview and test out the merchandise before making a selection and, as a result, were always satisfied with our purchases.

On this first day of 2011, I am reviewing my resolutions for the year. I wish there were some way to test-drive some of the action items, as I did in that retail store, before investing the time, energy, and money necessary to make them happen. Several of my big ideas are fraught with considerable risk and I need to figure out how to manage that element. If after careful evaluation, I decide to embrace the projects full on, then the possibility exists that, by this time next year, one or two of them may have come to fruition!

Model – Lauren DiMarco

Year in Review…

29 Wednesday Dec 2010

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© Joan Currie

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
Seneca

In several Christmas cards this season, I received beautifully-crafted letters depicting the phenomenal year of accomplishments the senders had enjoyed, that included exotic travels, impressive job promotions, second marriages, massive home renovations, and elite athletic pursuits.

After reading the letters, I must admit I was a bit dismayed that my life did not seem as exciting or fun-packed as those featured in the missives. So, after Christmas I sat in my favorite coffee shop and wrote a mock brag letter of my own detailing all that my family members had accomplished this year. I was truly surprised, delighted, and grateful at what I saw on the page before me! I recommend this exercise and I plan to share my findings with my nearest and dearest as we sign off on 2010.

Angels…

18 Saturday Dec 2010

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© Gabriela Camerotti - http://www.gabrielacamerotti.com

O welcome, pure-eyed Faith, white-handed Hope,
Thou hovering angel, girt with golden wings!
John Milton (Comus)

I remember fashioning angel wings from wire and tulle fabric, and decorating them with soft down feathers, and gold and silver glitter for my daughters’ Christmas pageants in elementary school.

Beautiful Home for the Holidays…

13 Monday Dec 2010

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© Lawren Harris

I’ll be home for Christmas
You can count on me
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree
Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love light beams
I’ll be home for Christmas
If only in my dreams.
Buck Ram

As I gazed at my friend’s Christmas tree laden with presents last night, a wave of sentimentality swept over me.

When I lived in Boston, my parents campaigned vigorously each year for my young family to visit at Christmas. The ten-hour drive to Toronto was always fraught with danger in December, particularly around Buffalo, where we often encountered terrible snowstorms. Despite our protestations to stay in the safety and comfort of our own home, my parents, then in their fifties, would tag on our heartstrings by saying, “this may be our last Christmas,” followed by some grizzly tale about a friend or relative who had met with an untimely death just months earlier.

We always resolved to have Christmas in our own home, but caved at the last minute and made the drive to celebrate with them. This modus operandi continued for over two decades, and for my children, Christmases have been associated with their grandparents’ hearth and home.

For the first time, we are not going to be spending Christmas with my parents as they moved into an independent living facility this week after months and months of deliberation and heartbreak. Christmas, as life, will go on – just a little differently this year.