GRATITUDE + CONSCIOUS LIVING Page 21 of 22

It’s Christmas Eve!

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Christmas is nearly upon us, when anticipation and preparation gives way to celebration!  I love Christmas Eve – there is snow on the ground and magic in the air.  I am spending it at my parents’ house, with young nephew and niece as the perfect little Christmas helpers.  Today will go something like this…

– wrapping up warm to go last minute shopping for new christmas cake decorations (the old santa has last year’s icing stuck on his boot, and the collection of little green fir trees we have used since I was a child has dwindled to just two trees – we need a few more tree friends to make a snowy forest)

– cake decorating with the help of some little people

– watching ‘Miracle on 34th Street’

– taking my parents’ dog for a walk in the frosty park

– posting the neighbours’ christmas cards

– gathering round a huge tree for a candlelit children’s carol service

– cooking up hot mince pies and mulled wine

– putting out some sherry for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph

– reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ to the little ones before they fall asleep ‘with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads’

– putting out all the presents under our tree

– trying to get to sleep, which is as hard now as it was when I was five…

Merry Christmas to you all!

And then there was snow…

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We haven’t had snow like this in England in November as long as I can remember. Down to minus 20 in some places and eight inches of snow expected in the next 24 hours. 

I know it is nothing like you get in other parts of the world, but somehow snow seems to always take us by surprise here. On the news they keep talking about the travel chaos everywhere, but I am secretly happy about the quiet magic that falls over the countryside when snow comes. 

We shuffled downstairs early this morning, before the rest of the world woke up, and sat with steaming mugs of tea looking out over the whiteness.

snow view from studio

View from my studio early this morning

snow view from attic

View from my attic office skylight

back garden
Our little garden
snowy red bush

What’s the weather like where you are today?

Is it just me or is the year rushing past?

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I need to breathe. 

To take a moment to stop, and just be.

To listen and reflect a bit before leaping ahead.

There are some huge things happening in my life in the next few weeks, not least the culmination of a project I have been working on for over a year, the launch of my new creative business venture (more very shortly I promise!) and Christmas in our new home.

It is all incredibly exciting, but also stressful.  Scary even (except for the Christmas bit!)

I have a to-do list a mile long.

I cannot see the floor in my studio for the mess.

And I really don’t want December to come and go without taking time to reflect on the incredible year that will soon be coming to a close. 

So I’m going to stop, just for a while. 

To breathe a little. 

And maybe even drop my to-do list in the bin and see what happens…  I dare me…

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How about you? Has the year flown past for you too? How will you make sure you find time to look back over the past year before December has come and gone?

On friendship

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ginger friends
 

This week I was visited by a wonderful old friend.

She is exactly 12 years older than me which, 

being one full cycle of the Chinese horoscope,

is apparently very lucky

When I first moved to Tokyo,

a young stranger blinking in the bright lights of the big city,

she gave me a place to sleep, 

a fellow English girl in Japan

(Let’s not talk about the fact I had only known her a week,

and ended up staying in her spare room for four months.

I was nicknamed ‘the little squatter’..)

When I wanted to change jobs,

she gave me awesome career advice

over a bagel on a park bench

(and then introduced me to my next boss)

When I left the city for a round-the-world voyage

she let me leave all my junk at her place,

and lent me her beloved suitcase

When I returned from my adventures,

tanned and exhilarated but with nowhere to stay,

she opened a bottle of champagne,

threw me a party at the cutest little restaurant in town

and gave me her key (again!)

When she had her first baby girl,

she made me her godmother.

What a gift.

She has an amazing talent for making small things feel big and special

and is so generous with her energy and kindness.

I wish everyone had a friend like her.

Yesterday she came to visit.

We caught up, told stories and laughed until late.

My turn to pour the drinks and give her the spare bed.

I am not sure if she realises just how treasured she is.

Where would we be without friends?

Have you thought about yours lately, about why they are so special to you?

Say it with a card…

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Having recently been overwhelmed by kindness I have many thank yous to say right now. There are many ways to say thank you, but I like the hand made way…

Here are some of the cards I have been making in my new studio this week, using gorgeous ribbons from East of India, Tim Holtz’s Distress Inks and hand made paper from Southern India, recycled from cotton rag.

postcard detail
postcards
Say it with a card... ty+card+25%25Say it with a card... ty+detail+25%25

How do you like to say thank you?

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Learning to paint Jesse Reno style + 6 month blogiversary

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 paint pots

Anyone else signed up for An Artful Journey in California in February next year? For Jesse Reno’s class? It is going to be awesome, I just know it.  More energising days of organised creative chaos in those beautiful mountains, in the shadow of that magical redwood forest, with old friends and new. So exciting!

california  The Presentation Center, home to all sorts of creative magic at An Artful Journey

I started this blog after attending An Artful Journey last year, and it was a really important moment for me.  I began listening to my own creative whispers, and so many great things have happened as a result. 

And this is just the beginning…

In fact, today marks six months since my first ever blog post, which talked about the importance of doing what you love. And signing up to An Artful Journey again is one of the ways I am trying to stay true to that. With Squam coming up next month it is fast become a twice-yearly creative pilgrimage to the US, but I know it is going to be important again, for different reasons, as next year is going to be HUGE (you’ll have to wait a while to hear more about that…)

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For now, I just want to take a moment to thank you all for making this blogging experience so special, for leaving comments, sharing your stories, and hearing mine. To think that I knew nothing about this whole world of lovely creative souls just six months ago. 

What a precious thing this is, really.

Overwhelmed by kindness

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Housewarming gifts and cards have been pouring in before we have even had the chance to send out our new address to most of our friends. We have been overwhelmed by the kindness.

Here are a few of the things which have made my heart leap in the past couple of weeks, and which are indeed warming our new place:

  • A bay tree by the back door (I have dreamed of this ever since doing postgraduate study in the beautiful Roman city of Bath several years ago, where all the houses are honey coloured stone and many have bay trees outside).
kindness_baytree

 

  • A gorgeous original painting all the way from Spain, created especially for my new studio by the lovely Judit of Pilgrim of the Moon – so kind!  Thank you Judit – how did you know the colours would be perfect?
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  • Flowers, flowers, flowers – these are now all over our house!
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  • A hand-stitched picture of the Chinese character for love
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We were also showered with welcomes (and vital rubbish-disposal information!) from our new neighbours, a new bird feeder for the garden and cards and messages galore…  I feel full of love for the world today!

Thank you everyone!

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Photos of the house to follow shortly I promise…

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Exploring

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When you move somewhere new, you start each journey from a different place.  We only moved 10 minutes from where we lived before, but I have started to see things I never noticed before.  Like this gorgeous stretch of river.

river
What have you discovered near your home recently?

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This month I am joining in Susannah Conway’s August Break, sharing daily photos of my life this August. Why not check out who else is joining in, or have a go yourself?

Paradoxes

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Paradoxes shells
 

I love to travel yet I love to nest (especially right now!)

I love to be surrounded by people yet I love to be alone

I love extremes and excitement, yet I love calm

I love to dive in, yet I love to sit back and watch

I love crooked old houses, yet I love zen minimalism

I love adventure, yet I love the comfort of what I know

I think we need to appreciate our own paradoxes to be true to all parts of our selves

What about you?

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This month I am joining in Susannah Conway’s August Break, sharing daily photos of my life this August. Why not check out who else is joining in, or have a go yourself?

Pottering about

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Thinking about our new garden today, and realising how little I know about how to care for it. My gardening history to date has revolved around pots of basil and the odd tomato plant on many an apartment windowsill. Our house was empty for a few months before we moved in as the previous owners had emigrated to Australia. As a result the garden has gone a bit wild.  It has lots of tropical plants in it and I kind of like it that way, all a bit crazy, but it seems a shame not to be able to even see the sunken table, never mind eat dinner at it! Time to get green fingers…

feet and pot
Photo from recent island travels in Greece – photos of our new garden coming soon!