Friday and a Little Bliss

Blogtoberfest: Day 18

Just a little bliss this week to share:

By the way, I'm off on a trip this weekend to volunteer with a nonprofit (a day job client) to help renovate someone's house. I am going back to Mississippi to cotton fields and one of the most impoverished areas of the country.

You may remember my post from last year (I Made This With A Whole Lotta Help). I hope to blog from my phone while I am away but just in case you stop by and there isn't an update it is because I probably didn't have service (we are staying in dorms this year and not a hotel) and not for a lack of trying.

This week has been filled with little moments:

Dinner with friends and dancing with their daughter in the middle of the restaurant. Oh the things that I will do with a child that I wouldn't do alone. The giggles, the laughter, the joy of this family just makes me happy to be a part of their lives.

Moments of joy during my daily lunch walks. I love Autumn.

The friendly people where I buy soup once in a while. They are so happy (at least that is what they express) and for that I am grateful. It is always more pleasant to shop where the employees are happy.

Creating art. This week as you've seen from my previous posts I'm fascinated with leaves so I have been painting, stamping, and drawing them. I predict that this won't stop for a few more weeks so I apologize in advance if you are tired of seeing them.

I hope you have a bliss filled week.

A Little Bliss...

I'm linking up with Liv Lane and her Little Bliss List today. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it! 

The wings below in the photo remind me that angels are watching us.

This past week has been filled with blissful moments:

1. Bonding with my brother roofing part of our parents house. It was fun, even though it was hard work, shingling the roof. He knows that I am capable, doesn't hover, so it was a great time and we got it done quicker than we thought.

2.  Spending time with my parents. I stay at their house when I visit, in my old room (which is now my Mom's quilting room), and there are moments when I feel like I'm 16 again. 

3. While visiting my parents, someone asked my Mom what I did in NY and my Mom answered, "She's an artist". No mention of my day job just nonchalantly, "She's an artist". It made me smile.

4. A trip to the orchard with my parents. It took me back to being a child. Autumn in Wisconsin for me is filled with memories of the orchard and a Sunday drive to get apples.

5. My niece, she is a beautiful, almost 19 year old, freshman in college. Love her to death!

6. Superman welcoming me home with a cute note, warm embrace, and muscles to carry my bags up 3 flights of stairs. 

I really am so blessed and blissed this week.

Hop over to Liv's blog and visit a few more lists then look back on your week and remember those simple moments of bliss.

A Little Bliss

Blogtoberfest: Day 5

I am linking up with Liv Lane today and her Little Bliss List. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it!

1. To be home...by this I mean my childhood home. There something that slows me down when I escape NYC and visit my parents. Maybe it's the small town, the wide open spaces, because walking somewhere isn't about getting somewhere but just about walking, the way people say hello - there are so many blissful moments and I am continuing to enjoy them through the weekend.
2. Creating a little art. I spent Sunday stamping with my newly carved leaf stamp (I'll share it will you next week), white ink on brown and black paper. Loved the process and they way they turned out.
3. My niece, she is adorable, even at almost 19. Her energy, spark, the way she reminds me so much of me - I absolutely love her.
4. It is the little things, that seem to also touch my heart. The help from strangers: helping me pick things up at the airport as I juggled too many things and dropped a few. The kindness of giving me a couple of napkins as I sat at the airport with my bags and ate a snack but didn't have one and the thought of taking everything with me to get one wasn't worth it - you saved my sleeve. The man in the airplane who help to put my bag up into storage on the airplane and got it down for me before I even got out of my seat and attempted it - you have no idea how thankful I am for the lack of Fibromyalgia pain, had you not been my superhero I would be achy. 

I hope your week is filled with blissful moments.

Hop over to Liv's blog to share in some other blissful moments from the past week.

My Little Bliss...

If you are here for the Fly Tribe blog hop and want to learn how to win a spot in Kelly Rae Roberts' upcoming Flying Lessons e-course click here. You only have until April 27th.

I am linking up with Liv Lane today and her Little Bliss List. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it! 

1. I helped a fellow flyer with a few questions the other day and she called me Wonder Woman. I smiled, it is what Superman (my partner) calls me. Too funny! I love knowing that I've helped someone else - it touches my heart.

2. I've been seeing Dragonflies everywhere. Now seeing them in the park is common but there are so many right now. Earlier this week I had one follow me while took a walk at lunch and I wasn't in the park. I was on Madison Avenue and 32nd Street - no where near Central Park. The universe speaks to us in amazing ways if we are tuned in. To me dragonflies signify change and living in the moment. Dragonflies only fly for a few months of their lives so I need to remember to enjoy the ride and not get caught up in the what will be.

Look close, and past the city street garbage, after it followed me for a few blocks the dragonfly landed at my feet in the upper right corner on the metal edge line of the curb. Amazing.

3. It really is the little things that mean the most: 

a cup of coffee delivered to my desk as I struggled with a project at my day job, 

the man who helped me into a cab after I went grocery shopping alone after work, 

a friend calling just to see how I was feeling, 

another friend emailing with the same concern, 

Superman's unconditional love and support, 

and kitten snuggles.

4. Hanging out with girlfriends at our non-book club night out. We used to be a book club but life has just gotten in the way and we don't have the time to read as much any more so we just get together for drinks, good food, and great company.

5. I am having so much fun receiving postcards from the Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap. My first postcard is from the lovely Lorinda who often pops in here and leaves sweet comments. So much fun to receive a card from someone that I know.  You can find her photos, art, and warm words here.

.

I hope your week is filled with blissful moments.

Little Bliss

I am linking up with Liv Lane today and her Little Bliss List. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it!


1. Thank you to all of you for your warm wishes and kind comments during my past few weeks of fibromyalgia flare pain. I have started to feel better the past few days and will hopefully continue on this upswing. Your kindness warms my heart and your words of encouragement brought a wave of smiles to my face. Thank you!

2. The joys of a kitten. Java has been a handful mostly because or our expectations. We thought we were adopting a small 3 year old cat but surprise she's a kitten, 10 months old. During the past 3 months she's made great strides: she know her name, plays fetch, follows me around, and recently has chosen to not always bite and chase Tucker. Here they are enjoying the view out our 4th floor window. (photo by Superman)

3. I received my Moo postcards for Kat Sloma's Liberate Your Art postcard swap. I am giddy with joy at how well they turned out. I chose to print my favorite photo of my Cold Morning Horse. I can't wait to receive some postcard love. I so enjoy to receive handwritten cards and letters.


4. I feel so blessed to be a part of Rachél Payne's Touch the Moon e-course.    I will be guest posting about my soul whispers aka messages from the universe and intuition. Visit her website to learn more about this magical adventure about the moon, creativity and art. Make sure to register. It all starts on August 27th and runs through October 31st to coincide with the Blue Moon and the Full Moon that occur during this time. Enjoy and I'll see you there!

I hope you have a bliss filled week.

Click the button below and visit the link party and share the love with a few other blogs. Get inspired and remember what brought you bliss and touched your heart this past week.

A Little Bliss...

I am linking up with Liv Lane today and her Little Bliss List. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it!

I've had a difficult week: my fibromyalgia pain has been over the top (some day I'll share more went I won't whine), the day job has been more than stressful,  blah, blah, blah...so the little moments of bliss this week have a little more meaning to me. 

1. Cork love. Friends have been saving corks for me. What I'm going to do with them I'm not entirely sure, yet. I've carved a couple, used some for making marks on paintings but I know that there is a creative cork creation in my future so I will continue to collect them. I love the heart that was burned into the corks from a particular brand of wine that they drink. 

 2. Hanging out with very dear friends, enjoying good food, laughs and great conversation as well as a little entertainment from their daughter who is 2. I love children at this age who are just learning to talk, always inquisitive and the simple joy that they exude is contagious. Thank you friends.

3. Sometimes it is the simply things that can make me smile. I get up early and Superman sleeps later every day. The morning is my time to write, to create, to blog hop...I love the quiet. Each morning I get up and make coffee in a clean coffee pot. I said it was the simple things that can make me smile. Superman cleans the coffee pot, fills it with water each day after I've gone to work so that the next morning I just have to grind coffee and have my morning cup. He's the best. xoxo


Also, do me a favor and visit Renee Burke's blog Happily Ever After where I am guest posting today in celebration of her sumMEr of ME series. 

Click the button below and visit the link party and share the love with a few other blogs. Get inspired and remember what brought you bliss and touched your heart this past week.

A Little Bliss

I am linking up with Liv Lane today and her Little Bliss List. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it!


1. This week was filled with friends and joy. The fabulous and always inspiring Pauline Leger sent me an original piece of art as a sweet surprise. The painting makes my soul smile. Thank you my dear friend.

2. I had a great conversation with my niece this week. You remember what it was like to be 18 and how busy you were. I honestly didn't expect her to answer when I called while walking home. I figured I would get her voicemail but, happily, she answered and had a few minutes to tell me about her 2 summer jobs and the classes that she registered to take this Fall as she starts college. She is an amazing soul - love her!


3. Superman and I took a road trip and escaped the city the past weekend. We were hosted by the fabulous Deborah Velásquez  and we had such a great time hanging out, discussing a secret project that is in the works, seeing her studio (oh, what I wouldn't do for that space), and visiting with her beautiful family. Thank you, my friend.


4. My new kitten, yes, kitten, she is much younger than originally thought as she has grown in the past month. Little Java is also in the terrible 2's of kittenhood - biting, crazy energy and sometimes just down right mean. But, a little glimmer of hope this week, she has started to groom Tucker and occasionally sleeps next to him without biting him - so there is hope that she will grow into the spoiled loving cat that I want her to be. :)

How has your week been?

Did you have little moments of bliss? 

Did you savor them and let them touch your heart?

Click the button below and visit the link party and share the love with a few other blogs. Get inspired and remember what brought you bliss and touched your heart this past week.

Moments of a Little Bliss

I am linking up with Liv Lane and her Little Bliss List today.

1. Looking up...in NYC you just don't do it...unless you are a tourist. Well, I vow to do it more often.

2. Visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art on July 4th with Superman. A little exercise for my knees, air conditioning, his hand in mine, and art - it was lovely.

3. Time spent playing and experimenting with watercolors. I am having so much fun doodling with watercolors.

4. Learning that my newly adopted cat, Java, is still a kitten, under a year, she gained a pound in the last 5 weeks and grew. There is hope that I can break her habit of biting, yippee.

Moments of bliss.

Hop over to Liv's blog and see what little moments of bliss others had this week.

What moments of bliss have noticed in your day lately?

A Little Bliss

I am linking up with Liv Lane today and her Little Bliss List. I am really enjoying sharing what has brought me happiness and joy this past week with you. The real truth is that it makes me more aware throughout the week, more grateful, more positive, more present. I love it!


1. Superman is the sweetest. He hid the note that is on the left in my luggage so I found it once I arrived at my parents house.  When I returned home, the note on the right greeted me. I just love him to pieces. xoxo

2. I've been paying attention to the sky more lately. It's forever changing beauty makes me smile. This usually happens after a trip home to the Midwest where the buildings are no where close to NYC high. The world seems to open up for me and now that I am back I want to hang on to that expansiveness. 

3. I stopped on my way into work on Monday to pick up breakfast and the staff asked me if I had been gone on business or pleasure. They welcomed me back with smiles. In a city of 8 million people I guess I am not that invisible. 


4. To the man at the Mandarin Hotel who saw me walk so slowly past him and asked if I needed a cab. I was not a guest. I said thanks but that I could make it around the corner to the taxi line at Columbus Circle. He said nonsense and hailed me a cab so I could go home after getting injections in both knees. A moment of kindness that touched my heart. 


5. Your sweet comments. The feedback from those of you who participated (linked up or visited) during my May Flower Challenge was so inspiring. Thank you for playing and for enjoying it so much!

How has your week been?

Did you have little moments of bliss? 

Did you savor them and let them touch your heart?

Click the button below and visit the link party and share the love with a few other blogs. Get inspired and remember what brought you bliss and touched your heart this past week.

In The Picture and a Little Bliss

I have been so busy with my flower challenge during May that I totally forgot to link up with In The Picture over at Urban Muser. So, better late than never. :)  

Also, since I'm still on vacation, I almost forgot it was Friday so I am also linking up with Liv Lane with a Little Bliss today.

The theme during May was Big World, Tiny You.

I recently visited my hometown and stayed with my parents to attend my niece's high school graduation. 

My favorite place where I would escape to was the footbridge.

 A walking bridge across a creek where I would write, cry, walk, giggle with friends, bounce (yes, if you jump the bridge bounces), and simply escape. When my Mom didn't know where I was - I was usually here.

As a kid this was my world, my BIG world. A small town of 5,000 people where everyone knew/knows everyone and this bridge was my escape. Funny to think about that since I now live in NYC where 5,000 people live on the 4 blocks that surround my apartment.

Amazing though, the one thing that hasn't changed is how I escape...now, I visit Central Park on a regular basis. 

I remember the first time my brother and I brought me niece here once she could walk. She must have 2 or 3 years old. We made the bridge bounce and she giggled. 

Hop over to Urban Muser's blog and see some absolutely amazing self portraits all based on Big World, Tiny You. 

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I am also linking up with Liv Lane and her weekly Little Bliss List. I have so much that brought hope and happiness this past week. 

1. My niece graduated from high school this past weekend. Her graduation ceremony was fun. The class video she co-created and produced was phenomenal. She looked absolutely beautiful. I am so very proud of her!

2. Superman is the greatest! He stayed behind due to work and was Captain Cat Wrangler while I was away.

3. I used my Mom's kitchen table to put the gesso layers on my Inspirational Decks that I am creating. OMG, what an amazing thing, a kitchen table. I was able to spread out both decks of cards and use my little roller to apply the gesso. In my tiny apartment this would have taken me 2 weeks simply due to the lack of space. Amazing!

4. I read a good book while flying, which I downloaded on a whim, The Violets of March, by Sarah Jio. I loved the characters and I also love that I was able to finish it in only a matter of hours.

5. My parents amaze me. It is funny that, no matter how old you get, when you return to your family home you fall back into patterns from when you were a kid. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for always encouraging me to be me. 

Don't forget to visit Liv's blog for some inspirational bliss and Urban Muser for some phenomenal photos.

Day 25 May Flower Challenge & A Little Bliss

Welcome to day 25 of the May Flower Challenge.

I'm fascinated with flowers. They are all over my tiny apartment. I photograph them all the time. I draw, paint, doodle them, create them out of paper... I also see them all over the NYC. Each day I will post flowers and I hope that you will join in. The only rule is that your blog post or flickr photo that you link must contain flowers. Click above on the May Flower Challenge Page to learn more. 

Also, today I'm linking up with Liv Lane.  Every Friday, Liv hosts the Little Bliss List link party...it is about listing the little things that have touched our hearts and made us feel joy, peace, warmth, love and/or a little bliss during the past week. So, I'm jumping on the bliss band wagon.  

This week is about family bliss.

1. I'm thankful for the "Moon Taxi" that is always so prompt to meet me at the airport (even when my flight is almost 2 hours late on arrival). Dad's are the best!

2. Hugs from my niece, who even at 18 years old, still gets excited to see me and has to spend the night at my parents house with me. So, fun! Love her!

3. My Mom's garden. It is so beautiful and on my first morning here I couldn't resist taking pictures for a couple of hours. Today's post features shots of a Purple Sensation Allium.

4. No skyscrapers...on the drive from the airport I could see the sky; the smile of the moon, the stars, the silhouette of trees against the sky... I know most of you see this all the time but living in Manhattan - it just doesn't happen. 

5. I'm so thankful, again this week, for Superman. He's back home in NYC taking care of the Creative Team, Tucker and Java, our cats while I am attending my nieces high school graduation. Love you, Superman!

What has brought you bliss this week? Get inspired by reading the other bliss bloggers today by clicking over to Liv's blog. 

Also, don't forget to visit the other May Flower Challenge participants by clicking on their links below.

Participate by linking your blog post to my blog post. Each day during May, starting on May 1st, on my blog post I will have a linkytool available so that you can link your specific blog post (not just your blog but the post itself) to my blog post. And, please remember to link back.

Participate by linking to the flickr group - May Flower Challenge- and adding a photo of your flower creation. Make sure you add your photo to the linky below each day that you post.

Day 18 May Flower Challenge & A Little Bliss

  Welcome to day 18 of the May Flower Challenge.

I'm fascinated with flowers. They are all over my tiny apartment. I photograph them all the time. I draw, paint, doodle them, create them out of paper... I also see them all over the NYC. Each day I will post flowers and I hope that you will join in. The only rule is that your blog post or flickr photo that you link must contain flowers. Click above on the May Flower Challenge Page to learn more. 

A few found street art photos to qualify as my flower a day in May for my May Flower Challenge.

Also, today I'm linking up with Liv Lane.  Every Friday, Liv hosts the Little Bliss List link party...it is about listing the little things that have touched our hearts and made us feel joy, peace, warmth, love and/or a little bliss during the past week. So, I'm jumping on the bliss band wagon.  

1. Found flowers...seriously they just keep crossing my path.  I am having so much fun with my May Flower Challenge - posting a flower a day in May. Those of you who are participating, I hope that you to are having fun. You each are inspiring me with your flower photos, stamps, drawings, paintings, collages, paper flowers - - flower art!  By the way, it isn't too lane, join in some flower fun at any time and share your flowers.

2. During the past weekend, Superman and I attended a small artist fair in NYC.  I just had to have this. 

Designed and made by Jessie Driscoll of Made From Coins. This lovely little flower is made out of an antique silver dime. Visit her site to see and learn more.  

6th Street Flowers At My Feet                     Photo by Jazmyn Henry

3. The found flower bandwagon...a dear friend, Jazmyn, who lives in the NYC keeps seeing flowers. She is an avid reader of my blog and a huge supporter of my creative journey.

This lovely flower presented itself to her one day and she just had to snap this great photo, share on her facebook page and tag me.

It made my day.

4. A big thank you to Superman this week. He not only has made dinner for me most of the week but he also has been the cat wrangler.

With a new young cat in our house poor Tucker has had a workout lately and their play time has been rather rambunctious during the day while Superman works from home.

Little Java is half of Tucker's size but full of spunk.

What has brought you bliss this week? Get inspired by reading the other bliss bloggers today by clicking over to Liv's blog. 

Also, don't forget to visit the other May Flower Challenge participants by clicking on their links below.

Participate by linking your blog post to my blog post. Each day during May, starting on May 1st, on my blog post I will have a linkytool available so that you can link your specific blog post (not just your blog but the post itself) to my blog post. And, please remember to link back.

Participate by linking to the flickr group - May Flower Challenge- and adding a photo of your flower creation. Make sure you add your photo to the linky below each day that you post.

In The Picture and a Little Bliss

Today I'm linking up with Urban Muser 

and Live Lane's Little Bliss List.

Urban Muser hosts a self portrait link up each month and inspires us with a theme. This month her {in the picture} theme is shake it out.  I was inspired by a child, who in the middle of the bus, had a fit in public. He literally laid on the floor of the bus on his back and kicked and screamed. Oh, there are times when I wish I could that - - so, in the privacy of my own home, I did. 

Tucker was fascinated.

Fits    - - Shake It Out Theme hosted by Urban Muser {in the picture}

By the way, I felt so much better after letting it all go. The tension released, I laughed, I smiled - it is crazy to think how much stress my body was holding on to. I recommend you try this (in private, of course, you would look a little strange if you did it on the bus). :)

 Make sure you hop on over and check out the other amazing self portraits this month.

I am also linking up with Liv Lane's Little Bliss List. Each week she encourages us to share the little things that have touched our hearts and brought us a little bliss during the previous week.

1. Happiness Fairies...they just keep showing up in my life. This past week I arrived at my day job, opened my computer, and was greeted by the message below.

Serious bliss for most of the morning. It now greets me every day.

2. I am completely enjoying my April Paper Coterie Instagram photo prompts each day. They bring a little bliss to my days filled with spreadsheets and phone calls.

3. I love my early mornings. I wake at 6am so that I can do something creative before I start my crazy day job day. It is also, selfishly, the only alone time I get.

4. I call the crew in the picture to my right, my Creative Team and 6am friends. They greet me each morning. Tucker often sits on the end of the bed, sleeps, looks around, purrs, etc. By the way, these are his toys - he sleeps with them, kneads them, fights with them, etc. Happily their true input is to make me smile.

Just a reminder that on May 1st my May Flower Challenge begins. I am hosting a link party each day. The only rules are that your blog post or flickr photo that you link must contain flowers. I'm fascinated with flowers. They are all over my tiny apartment. I photograph them all the time. I draw them, paint , doodle them, create them out of paper... I also see them all over the NYC. So, each day I will post flowers and I hope that you will join in. Click above on the May Flower Challenge Page to learn more. 

Little Bliss List

Every Friday, Liv Lane hosts the Little Bliss List link party...it is about listing the little things that have touched our hearts and made us feel joy, peace, warmth, love and/or a little bliss during the past week. So, I'm jumping on the bliss band wagon.

A smile can really change my mood. I don't know about you but living in NYC means that you often see the same people during your commute. It also means that you usually don't acknowledge one another, you don't say hi, you don't chit chat...you just go about your day. This past week there were moments of stranger kindness, even in this big city, that made me smile:


1. To the man who held the bus door for me when my hands were full - thank you.


2. To the woman who assisted me when I dropped my purse on the bus the other morning. You could have walked past but you stopped and helped - thank you.


3. To the pizza guy at the shop around the corner from my apartment who waves at me every night when I walk past - thank you for creating a sense of community.


4. To the woman who sat next to me on the bus, asked to look at my photos while I did on my camera instead of pretending not to look but looking anyway, your kind words meant so much - thank you.

5. To the man who gave me his seat on the subway the other night because he was kind and could tell that I was not feeling well - thank you.


6. To the artists who risk defacing public property to add their touch of creative panache to the city, you make me smile, often - thank you.


7. To the person who wrote the message in the photo below - I do hope that you find your love story that doesn't suck - but thank you for the out loud laugh when I walked past your message and the smile that stayed on my face for the next few  blocks.

What has brought you a little moment of bliss this past week?


Click the button below and visit the link party and share the love with a few other blogs. Get inspired by reading their blogs and remembering what brought you bliss and touched your heart this past week.

As always, thanks for being a part of my creative journey. - Lori

The Little Bliss List

Every Friday, Liv Lane hosts the Little Bliss List link party...it is about listing the little things that have touched our hearts and made us feel joy, peace, warmth, love and/or a little bliss during the past week. So, I'm jumping on the bliss band wagon.

Little moments of kindness from others this week that brought me moments of bliss:

Gramercy Park - Behind the Gate

1. So much blog love this past week from all of you. Thank you - reading your comments brings me little moments of bliss all day long while at my crazy day job - they pop up on my phone as I have them forwarded to my email.  Thank you for the way that your comments warm my heart all day long.  By the way, there's been so much love that I haven't gotten around to replying and or visiting your blog in return. I'll get there, I promise. 


2. I've had a busy social calendar this week - very unlike me. Dinner with childhood friends from Wisconsin and their 2 beautiful daughters. So much fun to visit with them in NYC.


3. Girl's night out - meeting up with very dear friends and sharing drinks, food, and fabulous conversation. Love you two!


4. A sweet treat left on my desk by a "happiness fairy" in my office. I arrived to work on Wednesday greeted by a cupcake with sprinkles and a sweet note from a coworker. Sweet bliss!


Click the button below and visit the link party and share the love with a few other blogs. Get inspired by reading their blogs and remembering what brought you bliss and touched your heart this past week.

As always, thanks for being a part of my creative journey. - Lori