The Importance of Experiences

Lately, I have been coming here to write, and have either gotten sidetracked, uninspired, or began incomplete posts that I have not felt inclined to finish. But today is different, today I am inspired.  I'm not sure if I have posted about my new work situation, but I have recently been blessed with the opportunity to spend two more days a week at home with my daughter.  I am so grateful for it, and feel much more present in her life than ever since it's begun.  Thank you to my boss for creating this dream come true for me!

Today, in honor of fall, Zoey and I went to one of my favorite places in our area, a place I have spent a good amount of time at, but have not been to recently.  It's a county park, with a greenhouse, horticulture center, the cutest bonsai trees, and breathtaking grounds that include a stone gazebo, and a magical garden maze of sorts. Deep Cut Gardens is the name of this glorious place that I hold dear to my heart.  When I was younger, I had always dreamed of being married there -- that didn't happen, but hey, that's life. I loved my wedding. (just sayin)  Anyhow, the place has been updated, more flowers planted, more paths created, new gardens, etc.  It looks incredible! Even more photographic than I remember.  I brought the jogging stroller, we strolled, and hiked, and stopped and smelled the flowers, took lots of adorable photos, ran, blew bubbles -- it was so much fun! We both truly enjoyed ourselves.  On the way out, we stopped by the greenhouse, which I was thrilled to see was open for us to walk through, and as we were about to enter one of the park employees came out with a butterfly in her hands -- a butterfly she had found caught in a web and saved.  She brought it over to Zoey and I, it must have been exhausted from trying to escape the web.  So it just sat in her hand for a bit, the park employee told us it was a yellow spotted purple butterfly -- beautiful, eventually the butterfly worked up enough energy to fly away, but I just absolutely loved that Zoey had this close encounter with nature.  It's not every day something like that happens.  One of my biggest focuses for Zoey is to provide her with experiences. 

P.S. I can't believe what a little girl my daughter is turning into.  It's like she is not a baby anymore.  It's kind of sad, but she keeps getting more and more fun, as well as more and more sweet.  She now likes to cuddle, and hold hands, and caress.  ::::Sigh::::



Is that The Carlton?

Little Adventurer 1st Birthday Party

This past weekend we hosted our baby's first birthday party. It was a small celebration with mostly family and our nearest and dearest friends with babies and without babies.  The weather was HOT,which threw things off a little but I think everyone had a great time nonetheless. We put a lot of effort into setting up the yard for the big day but people wanted to be in the AC for most of the celebration. I couldn't blame them and my little lady and her baby BFF had a blast playing in the yard for a bit. That's all that matters, right?  Zoey was so happy and such a party animal all day. I felt like she knew the party was for her. I started off the day taking lots of pictures but fell off quite quickly. We were so busy enjoying our company, and entertaining to be bothered. 

A few details:

Painting Progress

I haven't been putting in as much time on this than I would like to but I have made a bit of progress.  I need to buy some new paints. I'm running low on some important primary colors.  I can't wait to see what this morphs into though.

#highchairart

I really love taking photos. It's been a passion of mine for so many years.  And I'm so thankful for many things in my life that have contributed to my motivation to take more and more photos.  The more photos I take and play with, the more I feel confident in my "art".  Social media -- namely Instagram, getting married, and having a baby, are a few of the contributors off the top of my head.

I have recently started hashtagging photos of Zoey's meals on her highchair tray table with #highchairart to try and "start something".  I have a lot of mommy friends and I am hoping they will catch on and post some pictures under the hashtag.  Sadly, I haven't been very lucky yet, but if any moms out there read my blog and use Instagram, please post a photo to the hashtag #highchairart.  Have fun with it! Get creative!  Or just feel good in supporting my "creative movement" :) 

Thank you!

Motivational Moday

I always have a little notebook that I keep in my bag, it's filled with lists, ideas, lyrics, doodles, random thoughts and rambles, poems, etc.  Today, I was referring to my notebook, looking at some ideas I wrote down for Zoey's first birthday party and I came across a few motivational phrases I had written out back in May.  I figured I'd share them here:



Sometimes life isn't what you want it to be... It's HARD.  But all you can do is hope that one day things will be the way you imagined. OR embrace what your current situation is and make moves towards your vision. Take Control.

Turn your negatives into positives.  Let the things that bother us become something else.  -Meditative Practices- things to laugh at.

PERSPECTIVE is important - MIND OVER MATTER is REAL.

WE HAVE TO EMBRACE THE Life we have.


I guess my message to myself was to not let life's circumstances bring you down.  It can always be worse.  I always tell myself that things happen for a reason.  There are lessons to be learned, and strengths to acquire.  "This too shall pass"

She Gets It

Spotify suggested I listen to some TED this morning on my way into work.   I figured it might be a nice way to start my morning.  I had to share this, because It's great.

Seeing

It is HOT out there today, but I am thankful to be able to go for walks no matter what the temp may be.  I just returned from a leisurely stroll in NYC, where I work.  NYC is such an amazing place.  I have such a deep love/hate relationship with this city.  I am very happy that I get to spend time here though.  I try to remind myself to go for strolls or even take the subway to another part when I can, because there is so much to see and do and take in.  Sometimes you look around, but don't actually SEE what is around.  Sometimes you need to awaken your senses, remind yourself to truly see what is around you and in NYC that can be such a game changer.

I truly enjoy just LOOKING UP in NYC sometimes.  Next time you are in NYC remember to look up in the sky.  You will not be disappointed.  Today I walked to Rockefeller Center for a Blue Bottle Coffee (I love their New Orleans Iced) and some fresh air. I used to do this on the regular, but it has been some time.  The farmers market was set up today. I love farmers markets, what they stand for,  and their aesthetics. I really need to visit them more often.