“Live by the trinity of what is good, true and beautiful.” – Alexandra Stoddard

Alexandra Stoddard is an accomplished author, speaker, philosopher and designer. She has written just under thirty books on everything from decor to memoir to lessons learned and shared for all mothers and daughters.

I would love to meet this unbelievable person. I just recently finished her Gracious Living book. She can get a bit pedantic and sophistic but I get the sense that is who she is and it is authentically revealed and shown through her literary voice.

I absolutely feel I could connect with her on a personal level, I certainly do via the pages I read. I am not as refined or learned but I am also not as well heeled or traveled either.

Alexandra had an idyllic childhood in Connecticut and an esteemed mentor, the infamous Mrs. Brown of style and interior design who took her under her wing at a very young and impressionable age. Alexandra parlayed her experiences and teachings into her own NY based design firm with hard work, loving staff and passionate dedication in a time when young women were expected to marry, not create a start-up.

She was blessed with Peter, a husband who not only shared her aesthetics ( he was a NY attorney specializing in ethics and a journalist ) but uplifted her further, always questioning and presenting new perspective. Together they shared forty years of blended family bliss (he was married before with children and together they had two daughters) until his peaceful passing two years ago, at the age of 92. She still holds her joyful get togethers they started at their cottage in Stonington, CT on Positive Thinking and Happiness.

Women with great attitude and lives inspire. Here is a woman who did it all with aplomb and documented the whole thing and every step of the way. She lives a fully and balanced existence and has never sacrificed the wisdom of a cozy, warm and serene homestead for any of her worldly accomplishments.

When I read her, I cannot believe how energetic she is. Focused and dedicated with a confidence, zeal and strategy that would make any president or CEO, swoon with admiration.

“To be your most creative self, you need to accept the responsibility of carving out your own niche. Search and seize activities best suited to your unique abilities and aspirations.” – Sue Patton Thoele

Affirmation for today: “I have the power to reframe my reality.” and ” I am worthy ” – Cecilia

The critic inside you, everyone has one, although some are meaner than others, will keep you from uncovering, discovering, and crystallizing dreams, thoughts and ideas.

Break free from your inner bully, take down the barrier to your creative and wise self. The critic is your ego mind and it wants you to fail, not to do well or dream so it can say “See, I told you so.” because the critic LOVES to be right, but don’t let it be, don’t listen. Be on your higher self side. Have your own best interests at heart. Your positive voice wants what is best for you and what is best for you is to get all the crap out, release the ugly and capture the beauty, whoever you are, because we are all creative. You are already there.

Newport Beach – May 1, 2016

As you may have already heard, I mean seriously, it’s yesterday’s news, Pantone picked Rose Quartz and Serenity as their two colors of the year for 2016. It’s the first time they highlighted two hues.

Rose Quartz is exactly the color of rose quartz stones. Rose quartz crystals are beloved for their romantic energy.

Serenity is a light, almost powder baby blue which is a color that soothes. Blue in all of its phases is lovely.

Being one with a piece I paint takes lots of time sometimes and then when the vision is clear, it’s an instant.

Lately, I have been really into coral like pink, hot or pastel. Violet, lavender and just barely there blush is also provocative.

What’s your favorite today? You can change your mind daily you know.

Keep editing, continue fixing, do some more removing, find a new life or use for something and up-cycle it, change and move things around, experiment, paint.

Make your home feel like a jewelry box.

Let lighting and light fixtures enhance and bring in nuance and drama.

Let the floors be a backdrop.

Remove window ware and brighten up the space.

Let fresh paint be your flexible friend and let colors you adore be the whipped cream and cherry on the top.

Use mirrors to reflect your precious self and the scenic outdoors or well staged indoor views.

Good Question

Part of me is selfish and needs to express herself, hoping upon hope it will reach another human being and connect to their core.

But just as self-centered is the need to find out who I am and as I unfold on the page, I reveal hidden or unsaid parts and unfurl my soul.

I must believe that somehow this will all be very interesting or important or sweet or something to someone out there – OR I wouldn’t bother posting it.

Nothing like a good pen. I could write and write and write with a good pen. And, lined paper, preferably wide spaced, like the kind a child learning how to first draw her letters practices on.

My preferred pen is the Pentel refillable EnerGel. It glides smoothly and quickly over the page. Its liquid gel ink hits the spiral notebook, diary or legal pad with aplomb.

I write every day or try to in my spiral notebook. I attempt to get it done before anything else enters my brain or I see something that takes my focus away. I usually feed the cats, get a cup of coffee and head back up to my room and write while Cindi nuzzles her nose, lifting her blanket and covering herself with a fluffy layer, beside me.

My life is important enough to annotate, dictate and re-evaluate. That’s just a cute sentence but seriously, I let that energel pen rip for at least three pages.

I started writing morning pages years ago when I first read Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. It must have been about fourteen or fifteen years ago. I get all the junk out of my negative, monkey mind. I propose my schedule for the day and imagine the future. I complain, judge, criticize and rage on the page. And then, I can shower or bathe with all that behind me and released. I can start my day.

I have written volumes of early dawn ramblings in plenty of spiral notebooks. That’s why it’s so important to have the right pen. The stream of thought is faster than my typing but I have a rhythm with my handwriting. I can tell how angry I am by the size of the block letters that take up five or six spaces.  I swirl my script when I am enchanted with the world around me. I jot down facts I would otherwise forget, later.

I re-read my intimate diaries from time to time. The same issues keep coming up, year after year, until I resolve them or find solution, usually as action that needs to be taken with plenty of forgiveness, self-love and acceptance. And when I improve, my nearest and dearest, my attitude and my perspective improve too. I see my growth, my flaws and my transformation in written form, before my very eyes, as a testament to the process.

I take my current journal with me everywhere I go. And, most of the time, I am gripping a Pentel EnerGel, medium or fine point, in blue, black or purple ink.