Gratitude:: day 5 of 30

my mom was an interesting combination of contradictions, which i think have held over to my wacky set of thoughts. she was both very practical and had this beautiful sense of the magic at the same time. i think that love of magic has manifested itself in my love of the whimsical. a blue balloon skipping down the road becomes a lost friend, kitty cat teapots remind me of alice, sunbeams through clouds are god's smiles....ahhh, the beauty and happiness in whimsy.

today i'm grateful for my sense of whimsy - it allows me to find a bit of joy in my days, even when they seem the very darkest. on gorgeous days like today, it makes me positively giddy to look outside my office window to see a bright cornflower blue sky and think it must be like looking into the eyes of the one you love most. the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

hope you have a beautiful weekend.

gratitude:: day 4 of 30

there is beauty everywhere - in the changing colors of the leaves, the white puffs of clouds, the crisp and brown leaves beneath my feet, the scent of change that blows in the wind. beauty surrounds us if only we open our eyes to see.

i am thankful for the eyes to see the beauty.

gratitude:: day 3 of 30

today i'm grateful for smiles. smiles that greet me casually on the street, smiles of friends, smiles of loved ones. smiles of all kinds.

today, why do you smile at a stranger? one of two great things will happen - they will smile back...or they will wonder what you've been up to. *laugh*

and not that forced kind of smile either where your teeth are bared and you're ready to snarl. flash those pearlies in a true happy smile. go on....i dare you.

gratitude: day 2 of 30

it's a simple thing really. waking up in the morning. sometimes it seems as though it is all that we can do some days. and yes, there are days where perhaps it's almost too much to do even that. i know that feeling intimately. but then i think, and realize, i should be grateful that i do wake up and face the day. that the courage is somehow found within on dark days.

i'm waking up earlier these days because of the time change and i see the beauty around me and i'm thankful for that. the sun strikes the trees in my backyard with a special lemon-colored gold the first thing in the morning and slowly, steadily, the gold travels down until it lights up all around it. and i drink in the light with a big, big cup because i know that winter is coming and the silvery-gray light is not always what quenches me. so i store up these memories to cherish during january and february.

gratitude:: day 1 of 30

how could i start this project with anything but gratitude for my family? i couldn't. it's not in me. as i go through my life, i can't imagine them not being a part of me. i would think it would be like phantom limb pain, but it would be in the general chest area as i would be missing my heart.

this shot is not the best - it was too dark in the house, the weather was too bad and i really hate using the flash as we're packed into the dining room. my little emme is two today but we have celebrated her birthday on halloween. it's neat and tidy - two parties in one. and any occasion for cake is good by me.

so...day one:: i am grateful for my family without who i would be incomplete and lost. thank you for being there for me and lifting me up when i could not lift myself. thank you for allowing me to love your children when i could not have my own. thank you for being the beautiful yous that all of you are.