Goals, Dreams and Starting a Fire

It's been a few weeks since I've written a post.  We just got back from a week-long vacation "up north" as we say it in Wisconsin to Lost Lake in St. Germain.  It's beautiful, peaceful, full of trees, bald eagles and right on the water which is the best part of being there.

The day I got back I picked up a book that I had on hold from our local library called The Firestarter Sessions by Danielle Laporte.  Wow.  She's feisty, vibrant, enthusiastic, sarcastic and I'm loving her approach to creating "success on your own terms." I'm not even done reading it yet, but it sure is leaving an imprint on me.  It really feels like a fire is started under me...I've been painting with a fever for the last two days ever since I started reading it.  No way can you read this and just sit there.  Her attitude and personality really are motivating to me.  She is unconventional which is inviting because I don't feel like I have to take the "normal" route to create the life I want.  Here are a few of her statements that resonate with me and get me really moving:


"Being your true self is the most effective formula for success there is."  Hmmmm...how's that for eye-opening?!


"Your desires reflect what's truest about you."  Makes me want to focus solely on this so my true self shines through; surely this equals joy, right?

She also boldly asks:  "Would you rather be sufficient or masterful?
                                      Would you rather be bright or a freaking supernova?
                                      Would you rather be well-rounded or on your own leading edge?"

See, I told you she's feisty and motivating!  This one she quoted by Thomas Moore I'm going to share is soooooo spot on it blew me away:  "The need to be normal is the predominant anxiety in modern life."  Wow.
I hope these few words I've shared might light a little spark for you or maybe just get you thinking today.  Thanks for stopping by!

Love this Book

I'm reading The Story of Beautiful Girl right now and I'm loving it (especially since I'm off for the summer and have more time to read). 

It takes place in the south during the late 1960s and much of it is in a mental institution--it's disturbing how they treat these residents--some of them should never have been placed there.  I could go on forever about the injustices of that situation, but that's not the only focus at all.  It is the story of two residents who fell in love there and escaped for one night--one of them a deaf African American man and one a beautiful white girl with some cognitive disabilities (basically put there by her father who didn't want the embarassment of her). 

The young girl gives birth to a baby (father unknown--raped by another resident) and they hide for one night with an old woman out in the woods.  The police and institution authorities come and take the girl back, the man runs and the old woman is left to hide and take care of the baby since the authorities no nothing of this new little one YET.

It's interesting to see how the two of them got to this place in time, what they're thinking and feeling as they hope to reunite and find a better place in this world.

Good Book - The Neighbors are Watching

I just finished The Neighbors are Watching by Debra Ginsberg and, whew, was it interesting.  It is the story of a suburban neighborhood that gets turned upside down after a pregnant seventeen year old moves in with the dad she never knew and his wife who can't handle this surprise.  The chapters jump from household to household and each of them has quite a few skeletons in their closets which really make for some shocking revelations.  Eventually the book turns into a murder mystery and so much is revealed.  It was definitely worth the read, especially if you enjoy drama, mystery and reading about people's little hidden secrets.

Good Book - Every Last One

I've been reading the book Every Last One by Anna Quindlen for a few days now.  I thought it was pretty good, kept my attention, but no major suspense.  Family with three kids, one son a bit depressed, one son a big jock, the daughter a funky writer about to go to college.  Daughter breaks up with long-time boyfriend and he gets really upset.  Well, just in today's reading so MUCH has changed.  I truly feel like I got the wind knocked out of me with something that happened.  Obviously I don't want to give it away, but wow, the grief in this story now.  I almost feel numb like one of the characters does.  My husband says, "why don't you stop reading it then?"  I told him I guess I like books that make me feel.  Is that normal?  I have a friend who just won't read books that upsetting.  Is there something wrong with me?  I guess when they make me really feel, almost physically, they are memorable and they are more meaningful.  They are worth my time.  Maybe they help me become more compassionate to get a slight peek into someone elses world, someone that could be me.  Have feelings for the grief others do go through, even though this book is only fiction.  I just had to write an entry because it really took my breath away today.  I'm not done yet, but I'll say I know it will leave me with quite an impression.

Good Book

I just finished the book Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.  Near the end I couldn't put it down.  It had some mystery, suspense, murder and some big surprises throughout.  It took place in Mississippi and it was a story of an unlikely friendship in the south in the early 1970s between a white boy with a cruel father and a very poor black boy with no father.  The white boy was accused of kidnappinig and murdering a girl after a date with her but her body was never found so he was never convicted; however, he was an outcast in his small town his whole life afterwards.  Years later another girl went missing and he was blamed again.  Some shocking truths slowly come out and it turns into a page turner for sure. 

Cozy...Ahhhhh

Even though I'm not a fan of cold weather, I do enjoy this time of year when you can snuggle up on the couch under a blanket, reading a book or watching a movie.  Life seems to slow down more when the temperature drops.  I want to stay home more and just hang out.  I don't feel like I have to run run run.  I found this picture and it just says ahhhh to me.  I'd love to be in that room reading a really good book on that cushy white couch, at night the fireplace lit up.  Ahhhh.


(image:  Cote de Texas via Pure Style Home)