present beauty + the books

today as i walked past my peony bushes, i stopped to notice the change.

the autumn season has arrived... removing, twisting and reshaping, natures will.
i find beauty in summers past, as it lingers beside, autumns, present gifts. 

how could i not?  ; )

i will be mailing some packages tomorrow, and i would love to mail you a couple of books, i have had around here. some read, some never read. if you would like to received them, just let me know in the comments. i will put your name in the drawing.
just one thing, if your name is drawn, you get the books and find they are not your style... could you pass them on to someone, who would appreciate them? please? cool. good lookin out. ; )
UPDATE~ thank you, the books have found a good home. : ) teresa o and yiota, can you please email me, your snail mail addresses. congrats!
one love~
ps: i will draw a name tonight 9pm, so i can get the books mailed out to you, in the a.m. ; )

rambling

hey there.
today i am flipping through pumpkin recipes. by far pumpkin is one of my favorite choices...
breads, bars, muffins... then lemon, then vanilla. yum!

do you have a favorite autumn treat?

slow
slow

typing up a history review test.
cleaning the bathroom, tile man is coming.
dealing with an earache. what is that? i hardly ever get under the weather.
i found our family doctor is retiring, i can't even describe how i feel... did you ever see that movie- "what about bob?" okay, not that bad, but damn close. she delivered both my teenagers babies, she is my rock. : )

slow

im So rambling. i can't help but laugh. ; )

hmm... waiting anxiously on this cookbook to arrive. i have heard really good things about it. i SO need to donate some books, i have too many. can you have too many books? umm... i do.
check back later in the week, i will give a few books away, here on the blog. that will just make me happy, knowing they are going to a good home. big smile.

peace

i updated my shop with two sets of the assorted notecards, i was telling you about. they are SO pretty in person. ehhh naw, listen et me tooten me own horn. lol i think you will like them.

have a most lovely day!

love
love

loving on

today i am loving on...

the sweetest of weather
loving myself enough to schedule my mammogram~ come now, let's be brave together. i love you.
this interesting article
a homemade fried egg sandwich
more apples
paper hearts sent in the mail to me by the coolest of 8 year olds~ eh naw!
the song~ sex and candy by marcy playground~ i love it.
stilla lip gloss in brow sugar~ yes mam!
a drugstore trip~ i could spend forever in those places. cookies- facial cleanser
a good nights sleep
the smell of a bar of ivory soap.
a good hot shower
sharing an extra black plum with a stranger on the train, and watching her bite into it and say~ "have mercy." lol i know right!
big smile!

"while Eeyore frets...
... and piglet hesitates
...and Rabbit calculates
...and owl pontificates
... Pooh just is." 

i dig that!

happy day, my friends.
; )

this weekend i brought baskets of apples home, but not before eating one of the honeycrisps on the way back. love love.

i ended up making an apple crisp + served it with frozen vanilla custard.

i took a stroll through the bookstore, with a pumpkin spice coffee in one hand and too many books, in the other. oh how i wish you were there ; ) ... had to add this magazine, to my goodies. yes mam, i did.

sunday has brought with it, armfuls of sunshine, and brisk autumn air. i easily pick up, where i left off, with the love affair i tend to have, with this fall season. it's as though i have spent most of my weekend, under my favorite quilt, with some sort of printed word, in my palms, for my soul.

"Now with life quieting down around me, I look back through an autumn mind, searching the clear air for the roots of things I watch growing or expiring along the way. Wherever my feet have taken me I have found both goodness and pain; and that's all I have to give. I could depart with washed hands, keeping the silence and telling nothing. But I have no secret doors to hide the memories."
from the book, "to smile in autumn, Gordon Parks, a memoir."


happy sunday~
ps: having trouble loading pics to blogger, anyone else having trouble? xo

just sit there and look pretty

just sit there and look pretty
take no chances
be what others expect you to be
use the word never often
save your good clothes for special occasions

tap your foot when you really want to dance
never buy a red pair of shoes
don't write anything just read what everyone else has written
wait for that special someone to make all your dreams come true
travel the road most traveled
don't take a stand for anything
fall for everything
never take time to stand by the water and have a moment to yourself

each time you day dream tell yourself your being silly

believe people when they tell you...
you're not thin enough
not pretty enough
you need to shake your ass in a music video to be popular
tomorrow is guaranteed
dreaming won't pay the bills

money equates class

don't jump in rain puddles after the age of seven
hide your wings when you feel like flying
you must see something to believe in it

or...
be strong
hold your head up high
grow unshakeable faith
seek balance but don't get too disappointed when you can't find it
love often
realize the grass ain't always greener on the other side of the fence
let compassion guide you
don't take crap
your happiness is in you not in someone else
breath deep
make time for you
fall and get back up~ it makes the next fall less painful
befriend the unfriended
laugh until you cry
live
live
life
enjoy the journey

**********
this is my contribution to "just sit there and look pretty." i had the sweetest time, heading out and photographing my daughter. this project opened so many doors, for us to speak about~ especially about being a teenager, hopes, faith, love, the future...
a big thank you to my daughter, she helps me be more brave everyday. to say i love her... it's not enough. ; )


happy day, my friends. 
xo
ps: thank you debi, for the inspiration ; )

... the brightest sunlight has filled my small part of the world,  and along came a huge headache. could it be the autumnal equinox? hmm...
please go away migraine, please. what else can a girl do at a time like this but put on my jackie O. sunglasses, rest in bed, and dream of chocolate covered, ice cream bon bons... i know, right?

i will have a shop update soon and there will be oodles of new notecards, and in variety packs. : ) oh  yes, i have included the doughnut w/sprinkles on notecards as well... for those of you who so sweetly wrote me about them. i am SO proud of these. big smile!

love
love
ps: in between resting, i am sneaking in pages of "room". just started.

on this international day of peace...
i wish you a gentle and love filled walk, on the path you choose today. ; )

see you on thursday, for pretty fun.

one love~

it was something like beautiful

when i moved to the river west area as a little girl, i was filled with nerves. the houses were terribly close together and it seemed as though the concrete streets, were always filled to the brim, with people and noise. i didn't mind the noise much, i was used to that. it was the change, that brought me to being a fish, out of water.

soon i realized, all that was made up in my mind, would easily be changed.

although the flags that hung from stoops and rear view mirrors, had different hues, we were all more alike, than different.

it was almost funny, how fried plantains brought lillian and i together. the sweet and salty treat, merged  two islands, and friendship was born. we would sit next to one another for field trips, to the pumpkin patch and the apple orchard. at that time, the apple orchard seemed a million miles away, from our homes.

seasoned skillets, caribbean beats and bodegas were a part of life. lessons of the streets began in the morning, and didn't end until the street lights, began to beam.

there wasn't enough paper in my diary, to catch the ink that would flow the good and bad times, that raised me. i swear to you, there were more chapters in that diary, on being poor, than anything else. i believed in the black Jesus that hung on our wall, afro and all, swirled on velvet by the coolest artist in the hood. that painting was my light then. and it did me righteous.

death was a chapter, i am still not able to comprehend, but i promise you, seeing the hearse carrying papo's young body, laden with flowers through the neighborhood, was tragic, but all the same, it was something like beautiful. God was present in those streets that day, and as we stood on the curb, there wasn't a time or a penny that could separate us, as a neighborhood.
that night, more truth flowed from my pen, and the sentence i had placed on myself, would be lifted, by my own doing.

books and education, would separate me from the neighborhood, hell, these things would at times, draw a line between even me, and own family...or so i thought. shit, there was nothing like returning to the hood, to really school me.

piri thomas once said, "the cruelest prison of all, is of the prison of the mind."

the neighborhood raised me up- love and butterscotch candy( from my grandmothers apron pocket) would guide me.

if you got through this post, i thank you for reading. ; ) 
* something like beautiful, is a book i appreciated reading.


one love, my friends.

hey there! how are you today? 

i found a few mugs at goodwill, last week. they are just perfect, for the autumn season...

cider, coffee, tea. i kind of love them ; )

simple 

simple

everyday life
slow

i downloaded this series from i tunes. update~ i had problems with the itune download, so decided to be patient, and ordered the series on dvd, from amazon. ; )
if i run errands today, and grab some magazines and ice cream  yogurt, i think it should make for a most beautiful weekend. big wink!

and thank you, for the patience and love, you offer me as i walk toward, being brave. : )


big smiles + happy weekend!

xoxo

morning seems to have arrived rather early, for me today.
words, words, and more words, spill from my heart, as i sit at my desk.
im hoping i will be brave enough, to share these words with you, very soon.
through sleepy eyes, and a starry soul, i am grateful for the blessing of this day.

praise to the most high

peace~

i couldn't help but play with my camera, for a few moments today... a bit of fun, balanced things out for me. i felt myself breath easier, right away. ; )
what makes you breath easier?
im hoping you are enjoying, this lovely tuesday.
much peace~

****

i had an easy going weekend. how about you?
i spent time in an old, used bookstore, with my honey. love love. i  brought a used book home and read the afternoon away. it had that old library smell... swoon!

i am most grateful today for ~
prayer
family
clean water
a washer + dryer
food
you
good neighbors
written words on pages
this season

i baked with the freshest eggs + i used those eggs in sunday dinner~ our neighbor brought over a huge amount of peppers, from his garden, so i cleaned them and stuffed them with~ italian sausage, breadcrumbs, colby jack cheese, onions and mushrooms. i made a quick tomato sauce and slathered them with it.  yes i did! they were So good and So loved.

happy day my friends!

"I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart." Alice Walker


xo

hey there friend!
im living life to the fullest over here. teaching in full swing + being completely present for it.
i must admit, i kind of love that. ; )
slow
slow
this morning the sun took it's time coming up. i waited... wondering if it was just going to be a rainy, dark morning. then the suns rays, began a slow dance, on my  curtains~ filling my room with the sweetest glow. i appreciate that.

i baked a bit. i ended up not having most of the stuff i needed for the recipe, but how can you go wrong with graham cracker crumbs and a stick of butter, as a base. yes indeed... warm from the oven.

autumn is arriving in the sweetest way~ chilly temperatures, last years blankets to read under, and favorite recipes, to fall back on.

slow
slow
for the weekend

isn't this a lovely mention? thank you, friend. ; ) i say we all have a breakfast party, after a slumber party.
; )

congratulations to rayfamily! you won the spot in the sensational snap society e class. Thank you again to ~alice in paris for her generosity.

and a classic song/video~ in my heart. doesn't this video, melt you? ; )

"...your whole being is beautiful"


peace and love, my friends.

hi there, my friends.
was your looong weekend good? i certainly hope so.

i stood by the water and i raised my hand in thanks
i was positive God had been there shortly before me...
how sure of my self huh? ; ) yes indeed!

i allowed all that had ever been wrong become right with each footprint i shared
the sand in my feet
the sun upon my palms
wind freeing my heart
chance befriending me

and as i sat with my little family
Jah handed me all i needed

thank ya fadda
message clear


live life~

faith leading my way~
how easy it would have been to try and bottle the time up
id have none of that
out and out

i SO love the times that live in my heart

each time i lay my head on a pillow i seemed to fight the sleep
not wanting the moments to end...
the love to leave me
the family roots to forget me
"eh eh eh eh eh eh"

loving the beat + the message of this~ yesterday~ today~ always

come naw, rest ya self, tell me, how ya been? ; )

warm hugs, my friends.

ps: have you signed up for the giveaway? ; )

"my dear art"

so, were going to go with, "dracula" for our first read of the semester. yep, i'm that teacher. lol
i think it will be interesting, fun, and just perfect, for the cooler and rain ridden weather, that has come our way.

it's a tea sipping, journal writing, dreaming, kind of day... and i'm all over that. : )

have a simple and loooooong, labor day weekend!

one love