Be Done With it

too often we make a mistake and throw up our hands and just 'forget it', but be gentle with yourself.  You are perfect in your imperfection.  We all make mistakes, we all fall down, sometimes we fall down on others.  Forgive yourself.  Around this time of year especially, I tend to want everything to be perfect.  The perfect dinner, the perfect decorations, the perfect family; and I have to remind myself that the glossy, magazine perfection plastered everywhere is NOT real.  So, I'm giving myself permission to not be perfect, so what if the tree leans a little, the lights aren't all equally distant from each other, the list of imperfections can go on and on, but it doesn't matter.  My husband loves me, my children are loving, healthy,well adjusted and regardless of the stresses in my life I am loving it and where I am now.  So I leave you with Emerson and permission to not be perfect.  

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

under the same moon and stars,

ibs

thanksgiving & love

i LOVE thanksgiving more than any other holiday.  Christmas is great too, celebrating the saviors birth, new years, a new beginning, and all the other holidays through out the year are good, but none are as WONDERFUL as Thanksgiving.  Yep, theres all the cooking and cleaning involved, but the reward is so worth it.  No presents to buy, crazy tall ladders to climb upon for lights, and no monkeys begging to open just ONE present, no pressure to find a great outfit and stay up all night, no, just family and friends and thanksgiving.  So, I am thankful for my crazy family, wonderful friends and good health.  Wishing you all a Happy THANKSGIVING!


under the same moon and stars,
ibs

Miracles You do not have to look for them. They are there, 24 7, beaming like radio waves all around you. Put up the antenna, turn up the volume - snap... crackle... this just in, every person you talk to is a chance to change the world...

-Hugh Elliott

Mustachio

 So I've been slowly getting back into the craftiness, and Mustachio is the result 

 I'm thinking I will make these for the kiddos in our littlest ones preschool class, but this mustached monster is for my eldest monster.  


under the same moon and stars,
ibs

under the same moon and stars

And so I step onto another road.  It will be filled with musings, observations, randomness, inspiration and a sense of me.
For now I'll start with two things about moi:

1)  I DO NOT like knick-knacks.  Truthfully, it isn't the knick-knack I don't like, its the knick-knack cleaning that really bothers me.  I see knick-knacks and I just see myself having to dust them constantly or live with dusty little things surrounding me, and really, neither choice is very appealing, so I try to live tchotchke free.

2)  I do however, collect quotes.  It is very fitting for me since it's not something that I have to dust. So I collect quotes, neat little notebooks of inspiration.  So, I leave you with one of my favorites~ 

You are a child of the Universe, no less than the moon and the stars you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should. ~Max Ehrmann

under the same moon and stars,
ibs

...and one righteous, solid, straight-up cool cat

So, I must blog about another one of my Ah-may-zing friends.  She is a true artist, but without the dark, pessimistic, soul wrenching anguish that some other artist seem to emit.  She is the creative Genius behind Lola and George and the inspiring blog Starry Eyed Charlie.  

                                 a couple of Lola & George pieces


It amazes me that we have known each other for almost 17 years. (Sometimes I forget how old I am but, that is a whole other post for another day!)  She is an amazing force!  A true Jedi master! She has a talent that is rare and a heart that is even rarer!  She is a self described Pollyanna, she has a mouth that can make a sailor blush, she is an African Dancing Queen, and a random mustache wearing mama!  And I luv her all the more for these and a mountain of other qualities she possesses.  She leaves inspiring chalk messages around town, she is a supportive friend, she is a true friend.  And I miss her.  Yes, we try to find time between my monkeys and hers, a moment of down time where life isn't demanding something from us; to talk, however briefly about the what, when, where, and how of our lives.  I think I need to fly out to Vegas and get a fill of Charlie.  Soon, I think, very soon! 


under the same moon and stars
ibs

Strawberry Fields Forever

     I have a dear, dear friend that I haven't seen in a few too many years.  She makes me laugh, she inspires me, she is a muse.  We got together last week (FINALLY) for lunch in a beautiful old neighborhood with great old row houses on Strawberry Street.  Some place unique where the salad makings were held in a vintage bathtub and chalk art graced the walls.  I think it's my new favorite place, Strawberry Street Cafe.  
     I have a bad habit of getting lost on my way to anywhere new, so I left ridiculously early.  Of course, I didn't get lost (this time) and I waited in my car, listening to the rain and watching the (few) people walking about.  I waited like a kid on Christmas Eve.  I think I actually let out a little squeal when I saw her!  It was beautiful.  We filled each other in on our lives, our monkeys, our plans, her adventures in dating (oh, how I wish I were at liberty to share the crazy jaw dropping episodes!), my Whistling Ninjas plan, her soon to be blog.  We talked of the crazies we have known.  (I must admit and say thank you for one specific crazy, because without her I might have lived a Scottie-less life, and that would be sad.)  We talked, we laughed, two friends, soul sisters, parallel and perpendicular.  And it ended way too soon.  We stood outside the Cafe, reluctant to say good-bye and promising that next time will be much sooner than this time.  Scottie girl has a beautiful soul, a unique sight and I am so very lucky to know her.  Until next time,
Under the same moon and stars.
Ibs