30 Days of Happiness:: 25

I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with my young one. I get to see every magical moment of happiness, to taste the tears of sadness, to experience nature happening right our back door.
I am in awe everyday of what we learn from each other and about ourselves.

We've been slowing down the pace here. It seems we've been on a roller coaster this summer. There's too much to do, so very little time. So, our regular routine has been switched up a bit this week. I'm reminded how precious our time is every morning I wake up to see my little one growing up.

We stopped to see a baby deer gracefully walking through our neighborhood. She didn't seem scared and stayed only long enough for us to say a few words to her as she playfully wagged her tail. I'm sure mama deer was very close watching over her little one.


Enjoy your day dear friends!

30 Days of Happiness :: 24

A Prayer of the Heart

The prayer of the heart is the source
of all good, refreshing
the soul as if it were a garden.

St Gregory of Sinai, Egypt

30 Days of Happiness :: 23

Love,
the magician,
knows this little trick whereby two people walk
in different directions yet always
remain side by side.

written by Hugh Prather

30 Days of Happiness:: 22

So, I was thinking about my day, as well as this weekend spent with just O and myself and a poem came up. But a wild thing happened, at the exact moment of logging into my blog a friend, Sarah, called me to look up these words for her.

The Wise Woman's Stone

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone." Sometimes it not the wealth you have but what's inside you that others need.

I was so drawn by these words.
When at the Farmers Market today, I was thinking about what I give to people.
I like giving my soap away. Sometimes a little too much. Sometimes I give words of kindness and hugs....I love to give.
These words felt so right to me....It's not what you give but what you give of yourself.
We all need to be kind to others today and everyday. We have the experience of learning from everyone we meet and that in itself is a blessing.
So, I thank you Sarah for that little blessing in disguise.
And to Erin, thank you for visiting today at the Market.
It was so good to see you, James and Jill. Oscar is still talking about the found tennis ball!
I wish you all well and a wonderful weekend!
Viva Bien....Live Well

30 Days of Happiness :: 21

Working solo today....it's always great to make bread, soap, candles, cookies
and just BE every once in a while.

Dive deep within:
You are bound to hear
The whispering
Peace-sea-messages

Deep Within by Sri Chinmoy

Ah, hope you're having a blessed day.

30 Days of Happiness :: 20

I am not yet born, console me.
I fear that the human race may with tall walls wall me,
with strong drugs dope me, with wise lies lure me,
on black racks rack me, in blood-baths roll me.

I am not yet born; provide me
With water to dandle me, grass to grow for me, trees to talk
to me, sky to sing to me, birds and white light
in the back of my mind to guide me.

Louis MacNeice The Unborn Child
from "Prayer before birth"

A dear friends blessingway

30 Days of Happiness:: 19

I love the most unexpected things in life.
Drumming outside, visiting friends on a whim, having a late dinner.
It's funny, with kids now, unexpected things happen all the time, but sometimes they are so easily overlooked.
So, here's to the unexpected, may it bring you a magical moment and make a happy day for you.
Viva Bien

30 Days of Happiness:: 18

Ah, I didn't realize that I had went away for so long. Without my camera it's really different.
I see something that is beautiful and I have to think twice about my camera being at the shop.
So sad....
Happy, Happy, Happy.....
I made my best blueberry blackberry pie ever! Being my 2nd berry pie ever made, it was easy to judge. But knowing that it was eaten by my family in less than 2 days, I would say it was pretty freakin good.
O has chosen to change up his bed time routine a bit. Instead of reading a few books he has taken up dancing. It's really fun and it exerts a lot of built up energy. So, at bedtime we all dance to about 3 radio songs and crash out in bed.
I would say that's a good way to end a day!

30 Days of Happiness :: 17

I don't remember where I found this bird, but it was on my computer and I thought this was appropriate for how I feel. Content, perched on my branch, looking out towards the future.

I love connections I receive from meeting new friends or from talking to old friends.
I'm very happy to be meeting new friends along my journey of life. No matter what kind of day I'm having, there is always something magical that just seems blossom out.
Today I feel connected to Earth and am feeling very happy, grounded and satisfied.

On another note, I dropped my camera. It's at the shop getting fixed, so it'll be a couple of weeks before it's returned to me. Thank goodness for the 4 year warranty I bought! So, in lew of recent pictures, I'll be posting some older ones until I can figure out how to take decent picture with my other camera....don't hold your breath.

30 Days of Happiness :: 15

Yes....it is all about the blueberries!
Blueberry tarts, ice cream with blueberries, mint and walnuts, purple tongues and teeth, blueberry pickin and sorting, loving......everything blueberry. There ought to be a blueberry festival....I can see it now, throwing blueberries at the people running down the streets. I think that does happen somewhere with tomatoes, maybe Italy?
But to really think about it, that would be a complete waste of these tasty little burgers!
And I am truly going to miss when blueberry season is over.....until then, on with the tarts!

30 Days of Happiness :: 16

I love having completed a project that was in the long term works. By long term, I mean 5 months. Liking to have complete projects finished in a short rather than long term I would say that I'm a typical Virgo. Except for knitting which I know it's going to take me nearly all year to finish a project!
So, in completion, I gave to Oscar his Valentines gift (from this year). It's a box that I decoupaged (it's not perfect, it's my first decoupage) with various pictures of animals, words (like puddle jumper, perfect, believe etc..)
that remind me of him, colors he enjoys and I couldn't leave out his hand print.
Ever since he was able to stand, he has loved to scan his hand in our scanner making his hand print. He has done various things with his hand; colored them, cut them out, given his hand for birthdays.
Filling the inside with a beautiful perfect flower, rabbit fur and writing a love message to him,

just telling him how much I enjoy his little soul.
Anyways, so I finally gave the finished product to him, which he immediately went outside and filled with various sizes of rocks. I think he likes his box.

And I can't let you go without a picture of something blueberry!


The recipe for this was simple:
I used Amy's cheat sheet for the crust
and the filling was blueberries, some with strawberries
some arrowroot powder, maple syrup and a squeeze of lemon.
Bake for approx 25 minutes
Very simple and very good!

30 Days of Happiness :: 14

Happiness is finally rolling my Peace Fleece yarn so that I can start with my Winter projects.
The yarn in the back right is a wonderful trade that I received from a spinner. I was admiring it how beautiful it was and decided that it made a good trade for some soap and candles....lovely, can't wait to find out what it will turn out to be!

O has requested a hat made from this fabulous Peace Fleece. He searched through my stash and came out with these two colors. Yes, I have told him that it is not Winter and he still wants a wool hat. The green and cream are colors that he requested.

Ah, and happiness is finally getting to the order of 15 candles.....out the door as of today!

30 Days of Happiness :: 13

Some much needed rain is just what we needed....for our lovely flowers, blueberries and veggies

30 Days of Happiness :: 12

Hope everyone enjoyed some fireworks last night....of course I forgot to bring my handy dandy camera, but we had a great time anyway.

Riding my bike....feeling like a kid again

30 Days of Happiness :: 11

Happiness is doing some morning blueberry picking with my little love and topping the night off knitting with my friends drinking a mocha decorated with a flower on top.
Happy 4th!

30 Days of Happiness :: 10

Ah, some freshly roasted asparagus, a little salt, pepper and a sprinkle of parm chez.....
fresh food.....it always makes me happy!

30 Days of Happiness :: 9

Thank you for all the Birthday Wishes. It turned out to be a lovely day for a party!

O's notebook that I finally finished the night before. So simple, I got the design for it from Martha Stewart. I measured the drawing pad and added about an inch for sewing around and then add another pocket on the opposite side for color pencils, crayons, water colors.

For Os, I made an open pocket for the crayons, because we gave him a basket of art supplies with some watercolors that will fit into that same spot. I sewed the ribbon in between the two pieces of felt.

A very lovely doll house given to O by my bestest friends!

I'm truly honored to have such wonderful family and friends that care so much for our family!