Words....

I am fond of words.  I like conversation, I love how words can help you "know" someone. I love books, articles, even a well versed text.  I especially love written words and that is generally why I write (or have written in the past.) I read recently that a writer writes because of unsaid words.  I am in a season of unsaid words and a season where the desire to write is strong; the time to write, not so much.

 

Words help me to know people and people seem to like to share their words with me. Sometimes, are these words  just an illusion they want me to see?  Yes, I have lived long enough to know some souls are gifted with just such a way with words.  Even as I see actions, I have often given more chances that I probably should have because of their words. I want to believe the words people use. It is a fault that I listen to words probably as much as I watch actions.  But....still, I want to believe in the words because I want to know people, understand them. 

Being Southern, I believe, gives me a particular love of the world that can be woven by words.  In the South we revere our story-tellers.  We value someone who can entertain us with their words as much as a good drink at a party, if not more. Why do you think there are so many amazing writers who hailed from Southern Roots?  Even those annoying relatives are tolerated, if not regaled, if they have the ability to leave us spell bound with stories of our past, present, and possibly our future.  Culturally, we are a region that loves words, and I am a product of that love.

Purses...

 

I haven't gone back through the last 18 years or so of blogging to determine how many posts I have written about purses but I am betting there is more than one or two!  Purses (pocketbook if you prefer... an interesting side note the term pocketbook is used almost exclusively in the Eastern U.S. and even then, primarily in the South!) are very personal.  Much like shoes, I think they can say so much about personality; even more than clothing or jewelry. 

It is near impossible to buy a purse for someone  (now I am not talking about a cute, little, cocktail number or statement purse but rather those bags we turn to everyday)  unless you have specifically been shown what/which purse they love.  I believe this to be almost exactly the same in the buying shoes.  These items are not just decoration they have to work with our bodies.  The handles/straps have to fit "us" and our lives or even season of life.  I remember the years of not really carrying a purse but throwing my wallet into a diaper bag.  Now, I often forgo the purse and drop my wallet, keys, sunglasses into my computer bag and head out. Just like a shoe has to fit your foot to work in your daily life, so does the size, shape, and yes, even whether it has pockets, snaps, or zippers in a purse matter.  I can look back at my purse styles over the years, and although I have "tried on" different styles, I tend to navigate back to a basic style and fit... much like my basic black pumps that live in my closet as a necessity not an option  

In purses I am not brand loyal or even a brand snob.  If I see a purse I like, regardless of brand, and it fits...I will carry it.  My current bag is a lovely, pink patent, Kate Spade that I have carried in Summers past.  It is still in great shape, fits, and I love the pop of color... not to mention since it isn't current season no one else has the same bag!  One holiday season I carried a bag which had been the giftbag for a set of lotions but was made of red faux fur, trimmed in white faux fur with big, fuzzy, white pom-poms!  It worked and it fit.  It was festive, got lots of compliments, and no one was the wiser it wasn't even a purse.  I once had a friend who made delightful cocktail purses from wooden cigar boxes.  There is probably a great post about cocktail purses somewhere, I just haven't gotten around to it.

All this to say, that bag you haul around everyday says a lot about you.  If it is recyclable tote from the grocery or a Hermes Kelly bag, you are sharing more than you may realize!  Your purse is an extension of that arm it hangs from!

Where Have the Bloggers Gone?

Where are the blogs? Have they died? Are they lost to podcasts and Instagram? And, most importantly, where have the bloggers gone? You know, the people we used to keep up with just like neighbors; the friends made online that just made life a bit more bearable. Oh, I am guilty of dropping the blogging ball myself. I am sure I had a hand in losing track of the wonderful souls that became part of my life online and even some who became IRL friends (and still are). 

When my divorce happened several years ago, I stopped writing. The words literally dried up. Not only did I stop writing but I know I stopped interacting in blogland. My attention span was so short and shallow that I moved to less deep forms of mindless entertainment, such as Instagram and Pinterest. My emotional place only allowed for so much and since the words were gone, scrolling through pretty pictures became my “social media”, even though there was very little social involved. Just a click of a heart and scroll away. It wasn’t like leaving a comment on something someone wrote or responding to the same. 

Somehow, well actually because my ex-husband literally hated my blogging and used it against me in court, I did stop writing even when the words came back other than a post here and there, but I lost my connection to the blogging community. And…somewhere, it seems, it disappeared. 

I work in communications, and by all my research it says blogging is long from having the coffin closed on its existence and its viability. But, when I look at links of those blogs I used to love to read, most haven’t been updated in years...literally…years! So, either everyone has created a new blog or become addicted to Pinterest and the Tik Toc or it is just me? 

If anyone out there reads this, drop a word or two in the comment section and let me know your thoughts as I would like to revive my blog, it truly was the best therapy! Let me know where you are. Let’s catch up like old friends because, with the time that has passed, I am sure we could share for months without breaking a stride.

Now and Then

 

             Now...                                                                      Then...

What a post! I am getting real and showing you now (2022) versus then (2013 - the worst time in my life.) I can tell you all about how much more there is of me NOW: more curves, more brunette, more wrinkles, more physical, spiritual, and mental health, lots more strength, more boundaries, more confidence, more love, more laughs, more grace. But there were some definite "mores" of me back THEN too: more blonde, more sickness, more tears, more pain, more loss, more fear, more thigh gap.

Well, just maybe I would take a little of that thigh gap back and lose a curve or two but honestly, I am pretty amazed at who I have become.  I don't dwell too much on what has happened in the past and the time I lost because of those events but something about these two photos...taken in exact same place, during the same holiday week made me do some comparisons of myself.  

The blonde lady on the right was gearing up for the fight of her life, and little did she know everything about life as she knew it would be gone within weeks.  She had no idea the basis and foundation of her world would disappear.  She had no idea her health was literally failing and would leave her in a medical crisis for the next 3 years.  She had no idea that she would be forging a life as a single parent.  She had no idea she would have to start a life on her own in just weeks. She just didn't know...she was holding onto hope and a belief that commitments and promises were honest and full of truth. Her ability to comprehend how much one could lose was just not there....yet...but she learned.

Through the years since that skinny blonde, went back to her roots...quite literally (brunette joke!) she learned a lot. It wasn't quick and it wasn't easy and I never want to repeat the lessons life has taught me.  No one is more aware of the price I have paid than I am. I did not deserve what happened to me. But, when I look at the plump brunette on the left, I see strength that was earned through battles fought. All the battles weren't won and there are still scars that show from time to time. The wins often look different than I could have imagined.  I have lost a lot but I have gained a life that I could have never dreamed.  Some of it is a trade off...even I know that nothing is ever an even trade. Mostly, though, I am MORE!  I am EXTRA and proud of it.  Ultimately, I have the best win in knowing that those who couldn't take me when I was that "then girl" could never handle or be worthy  of the "now girl".

My Big Adventure

Hi long, lost, friends!

I sat down to write (after about 6 months of being out of the word zone) because I feel kind of excited today, maybe like Pee Wee, without the pervy connotations?  Tomorrow, I start my BIG adventure!  It is probably my most exciting, unexpected, opportunity yet, career wise.  Thinking about it makes me smile and a little scared all at once; isn't that the sign of a good choice?  

You see the last 6 months I have been working in a position that didn't turn out to be a good fit for me.  It wasn't my gig.  I am grateful for the really wonderful people I met and things I learned; but for me it created a level of stress in my life that just wasn't what I needed.   I also was traveling constantly and that was something, that although I have done in the past, not while being married...so there's that.  

My new opportunity will give me new challenges and should allow me tap into the things I do best. There is an energy and what feels like "providence"  in this career move. It has been forever since I have looked forward to going to work and it seems like time has been crawling up to tomorrow!!!  I am, of course obsessing over "what should I wear on my first day?"  It feels like the night before the first day of school.  Please send good wishes and prayers my way!

It is almost here and it is time to take charge of you!

 

We are just a few days from the turning of a calendar page that will mark the beginning of another New Year. I thought when the calendar turned last year that maybe, just maybe we could breathe a sigh of relief.  I was wrong. I didn't think 2021 could outdo 2020 in shear stress, loss, fear, and plain out jumbling of life - but I was wrong.  I could write a post singularly on the things that went south in my life personally, not to mention so many people I care about, but I am not going to do that.

2022 is my year of hope, celebration, surpassing goals, and seeing personal success.  I am going to focus on what wonderful things I have.  This doesn't mean my life is perfect but it means I am going to find the perfection between the thorns. God has been so very good to me and I often forget that fact,  I am excited about what is to come.

I am going back to why I started blogging. I am going to celebrate life.  That includes my amazing, too good for me, husband. Why he loves me, I don't know but am so blessed he does.  Love after 50 is different and we are still technically newlyweds so I am sure I will share the struggles and triumphs of this season which includes blending families and lifestyles. My husband truly took a withered vine and nursed it back to health and continues to love me daily and helps me grow stronger.  He makes me feel like anything is possible. With him, by the way, his name is David, I have learned to dream and my creative spirit is being watered to life. Things I long had felt I lost the ability to do or the passion to pursue have bloomed and I am not afraid to share without shame. In a past life I was made to feel as if sharing the things that brought me joy was wrong and annoying, but the great thing I have learned is that it doesn't matter because it brings me pleasure.  I will be sharing the creation and evolving of our home and gardens, time with old and new friends, exploring food, entertaining and adventures...not to mention products I have tried, books I have read, life with children who are now young adults, and of course life with 3 big dogs.  Oh...and a liberal dose of fashion, shoes, and skincare/makeup just to round out life.

Transparency is a word I have often used in the blogging world but I am committed to it...the good, the bad, and the ugly - which, when you think about it is truly all part of the beautiful thing we call life.

Ultimately I have realized my greatest gift is that I am a Lifestyle Curator.  My greatest talent is helping to create lives that are not just beautiful on the outside but also the inside in the deepest part of one's heart.  We can have both and they can both be real and transparent.  You can be perfectly put together and have a day that is just off and that is okay. Tears are okay. A messy house is okay.  A beautiful life is one where you can be all those things and continue to strive for peace which is the basis of the ultimate beautiful life.

I love you for taking a few moments to read my words. Your comments mean more than you will ever know. I would very much like for you to leave a comment with your greatest hope for 2022. Let the best be yet to come!

5 months and here I am!

 Apparently, the foam shortage also left me with a shortage of words to share!  We now have taken delivery of the furniture we ordered back in April so I will give you a little sneak peek:

We are really excited to see another spot in the house coming together.  The rug was a local find, after looking online and at 5-6 six shops, we ended up circling back to the first stop! We are still looking for the perfect coffee table, have started planning a bit of additional cabinetry in the breakfast room, AND a whole house painting. My husband likes to get it all done in a snap. Yes, I am preaching patience to a man who lacks a bit of it.  I will praise him as he has been amazingly patient with my process!  Look for a better post with more details shortly.

I wish I could say that the Summer of 2021 was lacking the stress of Sumer 2020, but I can't.  I know most people seem to feel the same.  I could write a very long post on the stresses of this past summer (another thing that zapped my creative spirit.) I learned that I had to re-evaluate what and who I let into my inner circle, which is not something I expected to do at this point in life.  Overall, it came down to being the season of "knowing your circle."  It has not gone without a fair amount of wear and tear on my heart but life moves on.

The best I can share is my husband and I had some wonderful trips, which were great after the no travel of the months before!  I also have started developing what I should probably call dreams.  I realize that isn't very much information but they are in the baby steps and I hope to launch with all the fun and fanfare in the next few months formally.  If you are the praying kind, my new endeavor could use some positive support!

On to the next thing...It is September - officially FALL 2021!!! I love Fall and wish we had more of it (here in SC we still have 90 days!!!)  Either way, I am digging into Fall Fashions which means more than leggings and a sweatshirt ala' 2020!  I finally pulled out some Fall fashion this week and can't say enough how much I love the greens that have returned to the fashion palette this season.  

Thanks for coming back to read after all these months! I hope to keep in touch better in the future!

Keep an eye out for exciting things.