Purple Inspiration

What to do on a gray snow day? Make a mosaic full of gorgeous color...

For more beautiful inspiration, please visit:
1-Lucyina Moody, 2-via Brocante Home, 3-Polly Wreford, 4-Green Gate
5-Cabbages & Roses, 6-Country Homes & Interiors, 7-Sussie Bell, 8-Lucy B Campbell
9-Ton Bouwer, 10-Selina Lake, 11-Alicia Bock, 12-Niki Jones
13-Alvas Hus, 14-Debi Treloar, 15-Vintage by Nina, 16-Chris Everard

Do What You Love

I started a small online shop in 2004 and wrote "Do What You Love" a couple of years later to share what I'd learned in starting my own small business. Reading it today, I think most of these thoughts apply to turning any dream into a reality. I hope you enjoy it, and if you don't have time to read Steve Job's 2005 Commencement Speech today, please bookmark it for later - it is an amazing story full of great advice.

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It happened to a lot of us. Second grade, blissfully painting a picture of a tree, then some kid said it looked like a stick with a ball on top and pointed out that our socks didn't match.

As adults, many people say they'd like to start a small business doing what they love, but they don't know how to get started. Maybe that's because they don't ever want to run into that kid from the second grade again. But if we take a look at what successful artists and designers are doing, we can see that a difference of opinion doesn't stop them. This week I visited a hip online shop that sells colorful stationery with trees that look like a stick with a ball on top, and my favorite boutique sells ensembles with artfully mixed mismatched fabrics.

I run into people asking the "How Do I Get Started?" question pretty often, so I thought I'd jot down what I've learned so far, and maybe it will help someone else take the first step...

• Do what you love *
• Create some quiet time to think and imagine
• Carry a camera and take photographs of the things that inspire you
• Keep a personal journal-scrapbook of your ideas, writing, sketches, and photographs
• Play with opposites and mix elements, colors, textures, patterns, and words in new ways
• Trust in your innovative “what if” ideas and try them out
• Keep going – with each step that you take, you gain insight and skill
• Share your work with others
• Connect with, share and learn from others in person, from books and classes, and over the Internet **
  

Each of us has a gift - something unique and wonderful to share. If you want to start a small business doing what you love, you'll find you can do it - just take one step at a time.

* Steve Jobs - 2005 Stanford University Commencement Address
** Another Girl At Play

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I'm working on doing what I love, and will be reopening my little online shop again soon. Do you have a dream you're working on?

February's Magic

It's February 2nd, and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, forecasting 6 more weeks of winter. That's fine with me - all is as it should be. I wouldn't want to hurry through winter and miss out on February's magic!

Photos by Zuzu: 1-frosted grasses, 2-blue spruce needles, 3-hoppy footprints, 4-squirrel restaurant

Wishing you a beauty-filled day!

Nope, No TV

Erin left a comment with my last post: "i find it fascinating that you choose to not have a television. i have toyed with the idea myself. have you blogged about it?" So, here's my post about not owning a TV...

Our TV was too big to bring along when we moved here, so we sold it at a garage sale. It was odd not having a TV at first - no more Gilmore Girls, or decorating shows or my favorite British gardening show, Ground Force, but after a few weeks I started noticing a positive difference.

Not watching TV has opened up more time to do the things in life that we value most. I started cooking all of our meals from scratch, and meals were more enjoyable because we were not hurrying to finish in time to watch a show on TV. After dinner, we spend time watching the sunset or the fire flickering in the wood stove, play a game, or talk - relaxing and spending time truly being together. When the phone rings, instead of letting it go to the message machine because we're watching TV, I answer it, happy to spend time visiting. We go to bed earlier and are more rested.

I found the dramatic music and images on the TV news upsetting, so now I read the news and check the weather via the Internet. I also didn't like all the commercials. The more I am distanced from advertising, the more content and grateful I am for what we have. We have enough. We don't need more, and more, and more. I still enjoy window shopping via the Internet, but I don't buy to "keep up with the Joneses" and I'm perfectly capable of researching and comparison shopping before making a purchase. No TV means less advertising.

What about the programs on TV? No, I don't miss those now either. Occasionally we borrow a DVD from the library and watch it on the computer, but we choose the movie, and we choose when to watch it, without commercial interruption.

Certainly, people can own a TV, watch specific shows, and lead a quality life. But I've had enough TV. I read "In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.* So for me, nope - no TV.

* Information via csun.ed

Passport Not Required

I used to work in software, testing website applications that were at the time cutting edge, but that are now quite commonplace. Do you ever stop and think about this whole internet, search engine, photo sharing, blogging, technological miracle that allows us to visit anyone anytime in a blink of the eye?






I do, and I am completely in awe. The first image, "Tulip Orange Lady" is by photographer Rieko Koizumi, who lives in Japan. The second image, "L'Etoile" by Edgar Degas, hangs at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. And the third image, entitled "Morning Mood...2", is by photographer Tatiana Mikhina and she is from Russia. I could spend hours visiting each site - no passport required. :)

I hope you enjoy visiting these as well!

Soft Whites

While many are blogging about the coming of Spring, I am blissfully wrapped in the quiet of Winter. You would think that I would tire of white indoors and out, but no. On lazy afternoons when I wake from a nap, I am pleasantly surprised by this tiny, beauty of a cottage - enjoying the matinée performance of light, shadow and color while the snow falls outdoors.

Our cottage isn't finished. We still have upper kitchen cabinetry to build, and flooring and finishing woodwork to do. But that will take a few more pennies in the pocketbook, so until then, I'm adding more photographs to my Cottage Inspiration Lookbook, all in soft whites. I hope you enjoy these as well!

Photographs: 1-via Brocante Home, 2-Laura Ahsley, 3-Ton Bouwer, 4-Ginger Barber,

5-Country Living

The Evening Star

(To view full size, you can click on the image)

I'm joining everyone for Outdoor Wednesday today over at 'A Southern Daydreamer'. Please click here to participate in and/or view more posts. Thank you, Susan, for bringing us all together today! :)

Photo by Zuzu