• About…
  • Beautiful Art Books…
  • Beautiful Inspirational Books…

Satin & Sand

~ Reflections on Beauty

Satin & Sand

Tag Archives: Self-help

Beautiful Things I Taught My Daughters…

08 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Satin & Sand in Photography, Reflections, Relationships

≈ Comments Off on Beautiful Things I Taught My Daughters…

Tags

Aging, Coming of Age, Daughters, Memoir, Mother-daughter, Relationships, Self-help, Things I Taught My Daughters, Voss typewriter

Voss typewriter by James Currie

© James Currie

Sometimes I wonder if what I taught my daughters over the years will adequately prepare them for going out into the world on their own.

This last weekend I made a list of some of the things I taught them (it made me feel better):

1. How to draw a face, mix colors, carve soap, blow bubbles, make a wish, and chalk a hopscotch board on the sidewalk.

2. How to ride a bike, drive a car and motorboat, sail a Laser, paddle a canoe, ride a horse, skate, toboggan, throw a ball, and use a tennis racquet.

3. How to write a thank you note, compose a poem, keep a journal, make a speech, say hello in five languages, read a map, and wrap a gift.

4. How to snuggle up with blankets to watch movies on the sofa, sing Broadway songs, play the piano and guitar, tap dance and waltz around the living room.

5. How to bake and decorate a cake, make a French pie crust, mega chocolate chip cookies, maple fudge, and butter tarts.

6. How to needlepoint a pillow, knit a scarf, sew a quilt, and draft a pattern.

7. How to spot constellations and satellites in the night sky and look for the green flash just before the sun sets.

8. How to use a hammer, screwdriver, saw, drill, and car jack.

9. How to use a camera, computer, iron, glue gun, vacuum cleaner, mixer, coffee machine, and hair flattener.

10. How to apply sunscreen, foundation, eye shadow, mascara, lipstick, and nail polish.

11. How to do CPR, dress a wound, and prepare for an emergency.

12. How to make a bed, clean a floor, paint a room, and refinish small pieces of furniture.

13. How to wash the car, use duct tape, cut grass, plant bulbs, and make a flower arrangement.

14. How to make a budget, use coupons, recycle and upcycle, and roll change.

15. How to keep their word, obey the law, vote, volunteer, continually learn and discover, work, and pray.

Try making a list yourself – your child or children could help!

5 Beautiful Ways to Beat the Winter Blues…

20 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by Satin & Sand in Photography, Reflections, Writing

≈ Comments Off on 5 Beautiful Ways to Beat the Winter Blues…

Tags

Depression, List, Photography, Self-help, WInter blues

© Joan Currie

Perhaps when we find ourselves wanting everything, it is because we are dangerously close to wanting nothing. Sylvia Plath

It has not stopped raining for days and more rain is predicted for the next week (ditto for snow). Here are some ways to combat the winter blues, especially if you are alone:

1. Connect with others – phone, G-chat, IM, send an e-card, comment on a blog, go to a coffee shop.
2. Complete one task, no matter how small – organize a desk drawer, bake chocolate chip cookies, read a magazine, fix your bike tire, sew on a button.
3. Embrace the weather – if it is safe, don your rain (or snow) gear and head outside for a walk around the block, hike, ski, snowshoe, skate.
4. Play upbeat music – rediscover 70s disco favorites, cheesy wedding songs, check out YouTube videos of bands reunited.
5. Take a trip down memory lane and look at old family photographs, it really helps you appreciate who you are and where you have come from. If you have gotten off track, looking at a photograph of you as a child can help you reset your compass and resolve to do better.

101 Ways to Add More Beauty to Your Life – Part 3…

23 Sunday Jan 2011

Posted by Satin & Sand in Art, Design, Food, Photography, Reflections, Writing

≈ Comments Off on 101 Ways to Add More Beauty to Your Life – Part 3…

Tags

101 List, beautiful, Beauty, Photography, postaweek2011, Self-help, Stanford University, Word list, Words

© Joan Currie - Stanford University

Continued…

68. Take a class at an art, architecture, or design school.
69. Skip a stone.
70. Sing a camp fire song.
71. Send good wishes to someone in ill health.
72. Take a self-portrait.
73. Hug your loved ones.
74. Sing in the car.
75. Watch a fountain.
76. Look up the origin of words.
77. Greet passersby with a hello and a smile.
78. Post children’s art in your home – you may even rediscover your own schoolwork.
79. Reconnect with a former classmate.
80. Attend birthday parties.
81. Learn how to snowshoe.
82. Fly high in a hot air balloon, glider, or small plane.
83. Teach a child how to bake a cake.
84. Give a massage.
85. Have a picnic.
86. Watch all Academy Award Best Picture nominees for the current year.
87. Indulge in a bubble bath.
88. Sleep under an eiderdown.
89. Use fabric napkins.
90. Attend book readings at your local bookstore or library.
91. Host a family celebration.
92. Become a possibilities thinker.
93. Watch a moonrise or eclipse.
94. Assist someone who is disabled.
95. Grow a vegetable or herb from seed.
96. Watch Cirque du Soleil.
97. Try yoga.
98. Perform an act of courage.
99.  Roast marshmallows over an open fire.
100. Become the person you always wanted to be.
101. Wish upon a star!

I would love to know what you would add to this list!

103 Ways to Add More Beauty to Your Life…

22 Saturday Jan 2011

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

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Beach, beautiful, Beauty, Capitola State Beach, Photography, postaweek2011, Self-help, Sunset, Top 103 list, Word list, Words

© 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…

Inner Voice…

23 Tuesday Nov 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Food, Photography, Reflections, Writing

≈ Comments Off on Inner Voice…

Tags

Inner Voice, Lauren DiMarco, Maya Angelou, Moja Maat, Photography, Relationships, Self-help, Writing

w

© Moja Ma’at

The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them.

Maya Angelou

The inner voice is a beautiful thing. If heeded, it can act like a Geiger counter to detect potentially harmful situations. In really serious situations it may seem to shout, but at other times, say at the beginning of a relationship, it may be perceived as a whisper. Heed it all the same, regardless of the intensity.

Consider this relatively benign, perhaps trite, but nevertheless heartbreaking example.  I had the pleasure of meeting a man for the first time over brunch. He seemed smart, savvy, sexy, and we even ordered the same item on the menu –  waffles with strawberries. I was so captivated by his charming stories, particularly the one with a spot-on Elvis imitation, that I did not pay attention to my food.

When he paused to eat, I glanced down at our place settings. His plate was perfectly organized – the strawberries had been quartered and arranged neatly in the upper left quadrant while the waffles were perfectly stacked and he was cutting them with the precision and intensity of a neurosurgeon along the grid lines and then dipping them in a small pool of maple syrup that clung to one side of the plate. My plate, on the other hand, was a mess compared to his! It had not even occurred to me to try to impress him by following suit and putting the food in some sort of geometric pattern or order as I consumed it.

At that moment, my inner voice told me that the relationship was a non-starter – that it was doomed to fail. I chose to ignore it, despite the fact that it had never failed me in the past.

Over time we discovered many commonalities, but we also discovered many differences. Our diametrically opposed skill sets might have complimented each other, but in our case his rigidity that I flagged in the first encounter translated into an inflexible attitude toward problem solving and intolerance for other points of view. Close, but no cigar was his assessment of the relationship and he was right! We both chose to pursue other situations, but I regret that I squandered several precious years with him when I might have directed my energies toward finding a better match.

Model – Lauren DiMarco

Gift of Time…

20 Saturday Nov 2010

Posted by stanfordblog in Fashion, Photography, Reflections, Writing

≈ Comments Off on Gift of Time…

Tags

Beauty, Death, Emily Dickinson, Lauren DiMarco, Memoir, Moja Maat, Self-help, Writing

L at MtnV

© Moja Ma’at

Because I would not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.
Emily Dickinson

I remember sitting at my bedroom desk trying to analyze a poem for a ninth grade English class. As I gazed outside the window for inspiration, I saw that dusk had painted the sky a brilliant conch shell pink and a pale lavender blanket of snow cloaked the ground, save for a grove of birch trees whose silhouette looked like tall paper dolls pressed together in conversation.

At that moment I had the terrifying realization that death would come calling one day. I tried to grapple with the notion that I would not continue in my mind and body for eternity. My view of the world changed on that mid-November afternoon at the tender age of thirteen. Even though I was doomed to see things through the glass darkly as it were, from that day forth, what I did behold was with passion, amazement, and wonder.

At middle age, almost against my will, I have revisited that landscape of my youth. I am grateful for another opportunity to consider my mortality and make choices that will enhance my life as I begin a new chapter.

Time is the most valuable, but diminishing, asset I have. I am now very careful about with whom I give and receive the gift of time. I do not engage in personal relationships that are not joyful, loving, or satisfying and I aspire to have at least one positive experience each and every day.

You, too, can give yourself the gift of time – it is never too late to make a change!

L - MtnV2

© Moja Ma’at

Model – Lauren DiMarco

Archives

Copyright © 2010 – 2023 Joan Currie/Satin & Sand. All rights reserved. Do not use or reproduce without permission. Thank you!

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Satin & Sand
    • Join 325 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Satin & Sand
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...