Afghans and Infomercials

Dawn-Marie and I have already started our next issue of 365Being.  It will be our spring issue and will contain lots of interesting articles, photos and art. Yesterday I wrote my article about collecting afghans.  I LOVE afghans and they are something that are so beautiful and also useful.  As I am typing this, it is a very chilly day in Minnesota, and to make myself more comfortable, I grabbed one of the afghans I had on the back of the chair and threw it over my legs.  Now I am toasty and comfy and my afghan is colorful, soft and pretty.

Here it is.  It was made for me by a fabulously talented woman that lives in Brainerd, MN.  If you want to know more about her and my other afghans that I have collected, then you'll have to buy the Spring Issue of 365Being.  Better  yet, why don't you purchase a subscription right now and I'll mail you a copy of the fabulous Winter Issue.  And if you do this by the first of January, I'll throw in a copy of the premier issue that debuted in September!!!  Gee this kind of sounds like an infomercial, doesn't it? Well, for only $49.99, you can get 4 bookazines sent to you quarterly AND a copy of the premier issue. Remember, when you order a subscription to 365Being, we always include a free gift for you to enjoy with every bookazine. So if this appeals to you, and I hope it does, please go to www.365being.com and place your order today!!

Oh boy, this really does sound like an infomercial...

Anyway, have a lovely day!!!  Hugs and smiles to you all!!!

Love and connection

Our blog prompt for the day, from the folks over at small box (it's a writing challenge, explained in previous posts) is "What is your mantra for the new year, and how did you come to it?"

This hit me instantly, which is how the best intuition does.  "Connection".  My mantra for last year was "expression", as I needed to get the creative ideas out of my head and into the light of day.  For this year, I think Connection hit because the only way I can share all that Divinity inspires, is to connect more with people.  I've co-created 365 Being with Cat for this purpose.  Now we need to connect the beauty of this with the people who will enjoy it, learn from it, and be inspired by it to share their own creativity with the world.

In case you are wondering if you will connect with the content and syle of our publication, here's a sample page from this issue, with the type re-posted below it, for easier reading.  Re-sizing the photos to open on the blog kinda kills the legibility. 

One of the collaged pages from our winter issue.

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What gift do you still remember from childhood?  I can list a bunch, from the coveted roller skates, to the hand carved (by my brother) ballerina ornament/necklace.  But the first to come to mind wasn’t nearly as costly as the skates, nor nearly so time consuming as the tiny dancer, though I still wear her often.  It was just a completely unexpected, decadently abundant, sugar loaded childhood fantasy of a gift.  It was a whole box of popcorn balls, just for me (there might have been a second box given to the family), from a neighbor who probably took more than the occasional turn as Santa in the Christmas parade, or at the Vet’s Club (we didn’t have a mall).

     His name was Mr. Hacker, and he was a master of the delight of abundance, as well as a master at baking and candy making.  When I was tiny, he gifted me two big old-fashioned tricycles, even though I had a little red one.  This way, I had plenty to share with friends, he said.  

     When I was a little older, about six, I showed him the little china figures I had collected from Red Rose Tea.  They weren’t as fancy as the beauties in his wife’s china cabinet, but I loved them.  On my next birthday, his gift was a whole box of old china figurines, including the prettiest Japanese woman from Mrs. Hacker’s collection of several.  In hindsight, I bet that one came home in a soldier’s luggage.

     One time, he emptied two boxes of balls, collected during a stint as a street sweeper, over the fence, into the yard where several of us neighborhood kids were playing.  We thought we were the luckiest kids on earth!  I can still see him laughing at our astonished delight.

     And then my family moved across town, and I rarely saw my old friend.  That first year, however, he arrived on Christmas Eve with a boxful of handcrafted abundant love, cleverly disguised as popcorn balls.  Yes, I got my elf training from the magical master himself, and that’s a gift I’ll never forget!

The recipe for Mr. Hacker's popcorn balls is in the bookazine, which is available at 365being.com .

Happy Solstice!
Dawn-Marie

December 19th update...

Winter issue is in the mail!
Cat dropped them at the post office yesterday afternoon, so watch your mail boxes!

Be Nice!

So, we're supposed to be doing this daily blog challenge and following the prompts, and some days, we actually manage it.  Cat is better than I, but today's prompt caught my heartstrings, and since I don't have to be on a job site today (Not that I don't have to work. I just don't have to be on time arriving anyplace, which is my equivalent of a day off), I figured I would write it.

The prompt was "Who have you niced this year?"  Now, this is maybe not a common phrase for you, so here's a link that explains it:  http://blog.smallboxweb.com/2012/11/08/nicing-a-story-of-language-building/

As for nicing, I don't have one with pics from this year, but a few of us got Cat good for a birthday a year or two back.  We were planning a girls gathering to celebrate the success of an event a group of us had put together, and at the same time, we heard that Cat's big 50th birthday plans had fallen through or shifted, or some such thing.  We decided to turn our gathering into a surprise party for her.

We talked about what to gift her, and as she had recently announced an intention to start wearing more hats, we came up with the idea to scour thrift shops for some good ones.  Sue Krebs, Joy Coach extraordinaire at http://suekrebs.wordpress.com, found us a stack, and I had the fun of wrapping each one in a different box, with different paper and trims.  This is one of my weird little fetishes, gift wrapping presents to coordinate with the gift inside, and the others were more than happy to leave it to me.

The Queen of Nice, Cat Isles. 

Now, on the day of the party, as is embarrassingly typical, I arrived a little late (we can discuss my sense of time in some other post), so someone distracted Cat, while I snuck the gifts into the master bedroom, near the front door.  Of course, before we could spring the surprise, somebody mentioned something about the design of the master bath, and Cat insisted on seeing it.  Meaningful looks of panic shot around the room, and while one woman delayed her, the rest of us raced for the bedroom and did a bucket-brigade box toss, to hide the packages behind the door.  As long as one of us casually stood in front of it, she wouldn't see.  Just like the movies, it worked!  Wait, let me add a few more exclamation points to that...!!!  That she didn't notice anything weird about our actions and demeanor still amazes me, 'cause in the movies it always comes off as contrived and improbable, but she swears she didn't have a clue what was coming.

While she admired the bathroom, I slipped back to the kitchen and lit the candles on the cake, and Lisa Fahey got in position with the camera. This photo was her first reaction:

This look made every minute of preparation so worth it!

Her second happy reaction came when she discovered that we had remembered that she is diabetic, and I had made the "cake" from meatloaf frosted with mashed potatoes, so she could actually eat it after blowing out the candles.   Being nice is really just a matter of taking a moment to think about what would be meaningful to another, and when you have a whole committee planning it, it's easy to get down to the details.

Then it was time for the presents.  When she saw the mountain of boxes, Cat was astonished, and then as she realized every box contained a hat, she was delighted.  She had such a fun time, our Queen of Nice, but I think we had more fun repaying her for all the birthdays she never forgets, and all the cards and notes we each frequently find in our mailboxes.

Everyone deserves a movie moment of "being niced".  I hope you get yours!  Better yet, I hope you experience the pure joy of creating one for someone else!

Cat writes the "Be Nice" column in our bookazine, and speaking of that, the winter issue is expected to arrive from the printer today.  Finally.  A little later than planned.  Delay mostly my bad.  I really am working on my sense of timing, I promise.  Subscribe at 365being.com, and see what you've been waiting for.

I'm just as grown up as she is.

Just wanted to share this little tidbit.  Cat gets the goody-two-shoes rep, and I'm pegged as the frivolous one whose inner three-year-old runs the show, but did you see the rabbit ears she did on her cousin in the last blog post?  She does this all the time.  Do you have any idea how many photos I've had to delete for this reason?  She's all Miss Business Manager, and I'm just Li'l Miss Bossy Pants.  Huh.  Like she's soooo grown up.  It's not fair, so here's proof...

The waitress tried to capture the joy the day our first issue went to press.  She managed to capture Cat up to her usual sneaky tricks.  And this is before she gets into the margaritas.

Okay, yes, not only does my inner three-year-old run the show, but I'm a youngest child.  But you already figured that out, huh? :)))

Hope whatever you do for work, you have as much fun as we do!

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

Well I got the biggest surprise today.  I was up in my dad's room keeping him company as he ate his breakfast when the doorbell rang.  I figured it was the FedEx guy as it was about the time he usually drops off packages.  Steve went to the door and yelled up for me to come down because somebody was here for me, so I did.  Much to my surprise it was my cousin Romaine from Pittsburgh.  She flew up here to be with me during this tough time of my life.  We cried for about 5 minutes when we saw each other.  Stopped crying for about 5. Then the floodgates opened again.  What a  wonderful, wonderful surprise.

So for the next few days I will be with my cousin who is more like my sister and we will probably laugh so much and cry some more too.  I love her so much and her being here has brought such joy.

So if you ever have a chance to surprise somebody and bring them some joy when you know their heart is sad, I say do it. Even if  you just make a phone call or send a card, take the time. You will be so glad you did!!! Hugs to you all!!!

New Traditions

Christmas celebration is changing in my family.  Both of my parents are on hospice and may be gone by this holiday season.  When our family got together, we always would play BINGO on Christmas Eve which was also my dad's birthday.

Because we won't have them around for the upcoming holidays, I would like to add one tradition to our celebration.  I would like for all of us to sit down and watch a Christmas movie together.  We are all movie buffs, as are my parents, so this seems like something we could easily adopt.  My vote for the first year's movie would be "A Christmas Story".  I absolutely LOVE that movie and actually visited the house were it was filmed in Cleveland earlier this year.

Here I am standing in front of it.  Since this was the era my dad grew up it, I think it is even more appropriate that we watch this movie the first year AND on his birthday.

By the way, I absolutely loved the kitchen at "A Christmas Story" house.  Could so see myself, in an apron, of course, cooking purple cabbage and meatloaf for my family.

Community...

365 Being is participating in a daily blog challenge put on by these folks: http://blog.smallboxweb.com/ (after you read this post, go there to read what bloggers from all over had to share).

Today's challenge question is "What will you do for your community this year".

Easy answer:  Participate!

There.  All done blogging for the day.

Well, okay, that probably isn't a whole blog post, and if I don't write it, Cat will have to pick up my slack, so how about this...

Community.  Hmm.  There are a few different communities to which I belong.  There's my community of friends, for whom I host a monthly open studio...

  There's my spiritual community, for whom I intend to paint more of the mural I started late last year...

  There's my local community, for whom I hope to finish the bones of my front garden, complete with shady picnic spot and Little Free Library (I live in the very heart of downtown Belle Plaine, and have almost the only shade)...

  And there's my global community, for whom I will continue to do my best to live authentically and share the stories of that (both the successful, and the not so much) on this blog, and in the pages of our gorgeous quarterly bookazine, 365 Being, Savoring a Life of Abundance, Joy and Beauty (purchase or subscribe at 365being.com)...

Oh look!  It's a sneak peek at one of the pages in the Winter issue.

Looking forward to the year!
DM

'tis the season to decorate

With the holiday season nearly upon us, I have set out to decorating around the house.  I have some pine on the deck ledge and on the window box.  DM suggested I put some pine in my fountain too, so I did.  Steve has placed a candle in each window giving the house a nice glow about it.  But what makes the house REALLY look Christmasy?  Why it is my leg lamp!!!!!

I asked three people what there favorite movie was and they said, "A Christmas Story".  If you have never seen the movie "A Christmas Story", then you won't understand what this lamp means.  My suggestion would be to watch it.  If you have seen it before, then watch it again and laugh and laugh. Enjoy!!

The Best Decision of the Year

I think the best decision of the year I have made is to do 365Being with DM.  I so wanted to do something that I feel passionate about and by producing 365Being, I am able to write about letter and card sending (which helps promote cards at Bridging the Universe--my little card company), suggest nice gestures people can do (and I am all about being nice), promote literacy and reading (which is one of my favorite things) and many other things. I love too being able to feature artists and writers via 365Being to help them to promote their creations. Working with DM is also a HUGE reason why I made the decision.  We work well together and I think she is one of the most talented people I know.

Together, DM and I want to make a career out of 365Being and hope to increase our subscription sales so that we can do this. Once you have seen our Winter Issue Volume 1, you will certainly want to get a subscription.  Remember, we are a bookazine and we have NO ADVERTISING like most other magazines, so you are getting more for your money.  You might think we are a little expensive, but once you see our creation, you will think it is worth it.  The reason we are a little more is because DM and I do not sell advertising so our costs are higher.  We also pay more for printing and binding of our bookazines because we do not export to foreign countries to print.  We use small local businesses here in the Twin Cities for the printing and binding. Finally, we use quality paper and perfect binding so our bookazines can be saved and perused over and over.

I feel confident that the best decision I made this year will lead the way to success and lots of enjoyment over the next few years.

Have a lovely day!!

Who has influenced you?

DM and I often talk about our dreams for 365Being.  We love the fact that through our publication, we can touch so many lives and hopefully bring enjoyment to our readers. WE certainly enjoy putting the bookazine together and have a blast planning and executing each issue.

Lately I have been thinking about my interests and influences that brought me to this point in my life.  When I was a teenager, I developed an interest in Pittsburgh (that's where I am from) history and the people that came from there.  That is how I learned about Gertrude Stein and since that discovery, I have savored any information I could learn about her.

On a trip to Pittsburgh earlier this year I went to see the house in which Gertrude was born.  Here it is.

It was so cool to see where Gertrude started her very interesting life.   I admire her life of living authentically.  She attended medical school when it was unheard of for a woman to do such a thing.  She lived in an openly gay relationship with Alice B. Toklas.  She appreciated art and collected some of magnificent paintings produced by Matisse, Picasso, Toulouse-Lautrec and others.

Then there is Wanda Gag who spent her childhood in this house located in New Ulm, Minnesota. Wanda was an award winning children's writer and illustrator and is somebody else I admire greatly.  Wanda was ahead of her time in many ways.  She was an early feminist and a member of a progressive group of Greenwich Village artists in the 1920's.  She was also a proponent of sexual freedom.  Like Gertrude Stein, she lived authentically, which I admire greatly.


So that brings me to the lady that lives in this house.

She too is somebody that I admire greatly and also lives authentically.  Who is this person?  It is Dawn-Marie deLara, my partner at 365Being.  This is her beautiful home located in Belle Plaine, Minnesota.  Much time is spent here working on 365Being as well as enjoying delicious food and wonderful company.  I have learned much from DM and she has encouraged and inspired me to live authentically.  The work she does on 365Being is amazing, quite creative and inspiring.

I hope that you will check out the Winter Issue of 365Being which will be available very soon. It is headed off to the printer today and will be available very soon.  Check back on this blog for updates.

I wish for you a fabulous day!!!!