we’ve moved!

Our remodeling summer project is now complete (almost)!

Please come by for a visit! We’d love to give you a tour of our newly decorated Treehouse.

Thanks for your support!
Robin

it’s just a hop, skip and a jump

I was excited when writer Kimberly Saward invited me to this fun exchange known as a “Blog Hop” because it ignited a little fire in me to return to my own personal blogging (much of what I do with Green Treehouse Media, LLC involves ghostwriting for others). It also encouraged me to reach out to other a few other blogging friends with the opportunity to spotlight their work.

I just love happy endings – and beginnings!

Last Monday, Kimberly was kind enough to feature my work on her beautiful blog called Ariadne’s Thread:

“I am a writerly soul and creative. A California native, I now live in England with my husband, Jeff; we co-founded Labyrinthos nearly 15 years ago, and are best known for our work with labyrinths. I wrote my PhD dissertation on the transformative potential of labyrinth walking, and have since published a number of articles and booklets on labyrinths and their associated folklore. As past president of the international Labyrinth Society, I delight in networking with the worldwide labyrinth community. I am, in fact, a community builder at heart, researching the labyrinth symbol wherever it appears in the world, but also working as a social media consultant, and teaching knitting and beadweaving as a way of encouraging creativity, spirituality, and imagination in my local community.

My blog, Ariadne’s Thread, is an eclectic mix of my interests and passions, from my kitchen alchemy and knitting, to poetry, pilgrimage, and divination. For me, Ariadne’s Thread is the thread of divine connection that weaves all this together and connects me to Spirit. My blog invites you to explore my world with me as I spin the thread that is weaving the tapestry of my life.

Today’s social media fascinates me; its potential for community-building is without precedent. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn, and from there connect to the various pages I administrate for community, craft, and labyrinth. You can also connect to me via the Labyrinthos website.”

Kimberly challenged me to answer four questions today about my own work. Here goes:

What am I working on/writing? 

I’m always working on at least five projects at once on any given day. My creative brain actually thrives on this kind chaos! I really enjoy switching among completely different writing venues and topics. I find that doing so keeps my words fresh and exciting. Today, I have a new feature article I’m researching and writing for M&V Magazine’s July/August “The Family Issue.” I’m also reviewing a new smart phone app for ADVANCE for Physical Therapy & Rehab Medicine Magazine that will be released to their readers in June and drafting an article for one of my local small business clients that will appear in Florida Weekly’s May Healthy Living Magazine. Additionally, I’m plugged into all my clients’ social media platforms and responding in real-time to any comments/questions on their pages.

How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre? 

I adore listening to other people convey their dreams for their businesses and organizations. Helping individuals craft their special stories is such a fun mission for me. My tag line “rooted and grounded in a love of words” is absolutely aligned with my own professional goals. Because writing is my second career (I’ve been a licensed Physical Therapist for almost 26 years and have another company I founded in 2008 called Labyrinth Wellness, LLC), I do it out of a pure love and devotion to the craft. I truly can’t wait to come to work every morning. Writing is my dream and now I get to do it everyday. The joy of crafting words and the intense attention to detail I bring to every writing or copy editing project (my love of research is a by-product of my medical training) hopefully shows to my readers. Nothing makes me happier than knowing I’ve delivered my best writing work to a client whether or not my own name is on the byline.

Why do I write what I do?

I was a junior in college when I wrote these words in my journal: “I write because I am confused and seek to understand.” Several years later through intense self-examination and creative exploration, I knew for certain that writing was my true calling. Another quote by George Eliot “It’s never too late to be what you might have been” provided me with the courage I needed to begin equipping myself with the skills I would need to be successful. Initially, I wrote inspirational essays and faith-based devotionals for various publications out of The Upper Room. Later, I focused on educating others about the creative tool of the labyrinth and stepped into my first editing opportunity for the San Francisco area non-profit Veriditas. On a whim, I even approached one of the most well-known trade magazines for PT’s called ADVANCE during an online job fair to see if I might incorporate my physical therapy training into some article writing for their print publication. Along the way, I discovered I loved utilizing social media and experimented by teaching myself how to build blogs, Facebook and Twitter sites for friends. Finally, I decided to go “all in” and launched GTM in 2011 to devote myself to my writing dream full-time. Now, I’m thrilled to be getting freelance writing assignments on all types of topics through exceptional publications such as M&V Magazine.

How does my writing process work?

I frequently intersperse my freelance magazine article writing with ghost writing assignments for small business clients and larger non-profit organizations. When I need a little brain break, I’ll check on my monthly Green Treehouse Media (GTM) clients’ social media sites.  I’ve found that searching the web for relevant and timely topics often provides me with leads that I can later incorporate into some of my other work.

I try to journal at least three handwritten pages a few mornings a week or at the very least, scribble down writing ideas in my notebook. I’m old-school in terms of preferring pen and paper during creative brainstorming sessions.

Oh yes, and I drink coffee; LOTS of it (pretty much all day long).

Gosh, thanks again, Kim. That was actually pretty darn therapeutic!

Now, please let me introduce you to three fellow South Florida bloggers whose work I think you’ll love, too.

Meet Michele Haid of Winehooch.com:

“Curious? Well, I love to tell my story. The sip that put the first smile on my face was at a fairly young age. I do not want to say the exact number, but I was not quite legal in this country. Thankfully, I was in Portugal, so it was OK, and I was under the guidance of my more mature and wine savvy cousins. The pretty pink slightly sweet with a touch of effervescence wine was Lancers. That started it all. Luckily for myself and all of you my tastes have evolved and matured nicely. My sassiness and spirit have not.

I am half Portuguese and half Italian. Two of my favorite wine-producing countries. It is my genetic makeup and my mission to further my love affair with wine and share it with whoever will listen. Thank you for listening. This will be a great relationship.

I have been a Wine Professional for over 10 years. I have worked many facets of the industry as a wine buyer, marketer and in sales. Currently, I work for Southern Wine & Spirits as a Fine Wine Consultant for the Island of Palm Beach and Downtown West Palm Beach. I have always enjoyed wine and enjoyed sharing it with others. Winehooch.com is a not-so serious approach to enjoying serious wine. No wine snobs here. We host wine tastings, wine dinners, events, promotions and social media marketing. When I think of wine I think of fun, friends, purple teeth, and every once in a while the wine stain right above my chest. There is a time and a place to be super serious about your wine, never snobby. Winehooch.com is the place to go for wine reviews, tastings in the area, the latest and greatest establishments to enjoy wine, and anything else that is on my mind. Sip and leave the attitude behind.”

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+. Cheers!”

 

Meet Kendall Rumsey of Notes From a Southern Kitchen:

“As a transplant to the white sands of south Florida, Notes from a Southern Kitchen was born with the intent of reconnecting me with my Appalachian roots.  Born and raised in northeast Georgia, the simple life of my childhood was in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of my present surroundings.

In creating Notes from a Southern Kitchen, I began to connect the stories of youth with the lessons of a 40 something year old man.  The transforming moments in a strawberry field or sitting in a musical circle of family and friends, chance encounters with celebrity and the loss of my older brother all provided memories that created the backdrop of Notes.  One of the great benefits of the blog was in helping my aging mother remember these family adventures in her last years of life.

While Notes has continued to evolve over the years, I long for those original days of stories and life lessons.  While time doesn’t allow me to share as much as I used to, my story list continues to grow and one day, when I am able to let career take a backseat to passion, I will share them all.  For now, great music, words to live by and the occasional story must suffice.

As I approach 50, a new project has recently begun to capture my attention.  The Gay 50, a lifestyle blog for other gay men and women who have passed the half-century mark.  This blog, while in its infancy, is a mix of health, style, entertainment, travel, sports, politics and anything else that may be of interest for the Gay 50 set!

Writing is a passion, one day I look forward to devoting all of my attention to words on the page, however in the meantime I will dabble in my blogs, write the occasional story and continue along in my marketing career.”

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Google+.”

 

And finally, please meet Jules of The Wife Behind the Genius:

“The Wife Behind the Genius is a story of survival: a story of how Jules and many, brave women around the world survive their partnerships with their nerdy geniuses and particularly, how Jules survived life at the one and the only, MIT.  (Of course, this could have been the story about the Husband Behind the Genius. Jules is a genius too, though she may not have the Brass Rat to prove it. But she is a great poser in her MIT Alumni T-shirt.) From course numbers to how nerds get their party on to robotic competitions, Jules provides an insider’s look to life at Planet Nerd, aka. MIT.

The Wife Behind the Genius has been happily married to Ted, whom she also refers to as her micro version of Planet Nerd, for 5 years, 6 months and counting. Ted and Jules live in the Sunshine State and don’t understand why people would live anywhere else. Definitely worth noting is that  Jules is the eldest of the three ‘Tall and Hots’ as deemed by her brother-in-law, Austin. She wears that title with honor and humbly accepts the gold medal as the oldest and gawkiest of the Tall and Hots.

The Wife Behind the Genius does have a professional life and hopes that after this blog goes live that is still the case. She is working on her MBA and wants to help businesses do more good in the world. Jules and Ted love the beach.  You can find her by keeping an eye out for the surfer who keeps falling off their board. Or, if you’re lucky enough- it’s possible you might view it as unlucky- you’ll find her at the closest nude beach falling off her surf board. Yep, that’s her.

For more sarcastic and witty takes on Planet Nerd, read more at The Wife Behind the Genius.  Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.”

So, take a minute today and click through to all four of these fabulously diverse bloggers’ sites. You’ll be so very glad you did!

 

turning over a title

My latest feature article for Muses & Visionaries Magazine‘s entitled “Turning Over the Tapestry” provided me with unexpected lessons in tenacity, courage and passion. Though I was very pleased with the outcome (pages 116-121), my own journey through the writing of it was filled with many unexpected challenges.

I was thrilled to have this environmentally conscious assignment for my favorite women’s magazine and couldn’t wait to begin. Yet despite a fabulous start, things began to plummet the more I poured myself into how the article might be received instead of simply letting the work flow through me. By getting too wrapped up in the final result, I nearly missed the joyful artistry of the creative process.

What transpired was my first case of writer’s block. It was horrible, but thanks to threads of wisdom left by other incredibly talented women writers, I finally found a pathway through it.

After many sleepless nights, I turned back to the well-worn pages of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron the very day before my deadline. I used my Morning Pages Journal in a final attempt to write out the issues key to my block.

Through these simple disciplines of journaling and prayer, I was led back to a quote I’d read days earlier in another of my favorite books called Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach:

“It was as if I had worked for years on the wrong side of a tapestry, learning accurately all its lines and figures, yet always missing its color and sheen.” – Journalist Anna Louise Strong (1935)

The quote was presented within the context of that profound moment when we finally come to the awareness that “creating a beautiful life is our deepest calling.” By reading those specific words at that precise moment of divine synchronicity, I was propelled into a familiar, sacred space of understanding once again: Writing is my beautiful life.

Within minutes, I’d written a brand-new intro with an accompanying title I loved that paid homage to a strong female journalist while capturing the true heart of my own article’s theme. I typed, “Just as the underside of a tapestry with its many knots and ties is vital to the finished piece, we can begin to appreciate the interconnectivity of every thread of our own textiles when we realize they each have a unique story to reveal.”

Although that sentence didn’t make the final (beautiful!) version of the article (Read it here: Issue 3- Eco Friendly Textiles), I knew my charge was to simply write and release those specific words.

And at some appropriate time, perhaps they might even be spun, pieced and quilted into a little story all their own.

birthing-day: a little story of hope

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”– Proverbs 13:12

I’m beginning to learn that the timeframe of my life is mostly (totally) out of my hands. I pretty much have zero control of when my dreams will finally be realized. Zip. Nadda.

Take a couple of weeks ago for instance. I walked into the gorgeous women’s co-working space of Muses & Visionaries ready to embrace a productive New Year. Two minutes later, I’m trembling uncontrollably, stomach in knots, watching boxes of Issue Two of M&V Magazine being delivered through the front door and into the hands of the brilliant women who created it.

Because inside those boxes, a personal dream of my own was waiting to be unwrapped.

Flash back (many) years, to a quiet teenager sitting cross-legged on yellow shag carpet flipping through stacks of the latest fashion magazines. She appreciates all the gorgeous photos and celebrity updates, but she is instead drawn inexplicably to each one of articles. She reads every word. She fantasizes – not about being one of the beautiful models on a shoot in NYC – but about becoming a contributing writer with a little bio and a byline. And so, she writes. Diaries, essays, poetry, short stories – all she wants to do is sit in her room and write.

But eventually that dreamer-girl grows up and gets a sensible degree in a solid healthcare profession. She marries, works, moves around the country, works, moves back to her hometown, tries (forever) to have a baby, works, has a miracle baby, tries (forever again) to have a second baby, works, finally gives up her second baby dream and moves to Florida with her little family to begin a brave, new life and more sensible work.

But her kind and sensitive husband encourages her to take some time off her work. He sees she is grieving and dying a little bit more inside each and every day. He encourages her to explore her options. He challenges her to return to her childhood dream. He sends her to a writer’s workshop for her birthday. He empowers her to take a chance.

So, she writes. She walks. She works with sea turtles. She writes some more. She drives on school field trips. She cries, and she waits (and waits and waits) for whatever comes next.

Sad stuff happens. Joyful stuff happens. Many years pass. Her son grows.

Friends come and go. And still she walks and she writes…

…and she braces herself as she waits some more.

And then, on a beautiful, cold, spectacularly bright Tuesday morning a stack of fresh M&V Magazines are placed into her arms by a smiling blond-haired angel named Sasha. They are surprisingly heavy. They smell delicious. They feel like Hope.

She looks down into the radiant face of Lesley Stahl on the cover (sorry, Ms. Stahl, but the metaphor works) and as she cradles the bundle close to her heart she realizes on an intuitive level the gift of Grace that she has just received.

For although she was always a writer at heart, now she is a writer at work.

(Visit the wonderful site of http://www.magazinemv.com and SUBSCRIBE today)!

resiliency: a brief photo study

On our Monday morning walk, Lily and I encountered these images all within about twenty feet of each other. Here’s what we think they were trying to teach us:

When those around you are dropping like flies…

Hold tightly to Love…

Brace yourself…

Because holding the space can be lonely at times…

But even in the face of great adversity –

KEEP SMILING!

Make it a great day, friends.

stretching into fall

It was quite a busy summer up here in the Treehouse. Our baby bird flew off to high school. To be honest, this chick hasn’t quite come to terms with it all, yet here it is October.

I’ve struggled to make sense of these joyful years of motherhood breezing past far too quickly. Working on the fly like I did nearly all of summer between coffee houses and car lines – scrambling to meet deadlines while trying to live in the moment with my kid – obviously stopped being effective long ago. A snippy, shrill and not too fun “me” continues to inhabit this normally serene, creative little space.

It’s way past time for her to fly away, too. Something has to give…

Last night, I caught sight of my own words advocating self-care, fitness and focus in my latest article for Muses & Visionaries magazine “Safe Stretching: What’s the Most Effective Way to Improve Flexibility?” and felt like a complete hypocrite.

But at the same time, my own healthful words inspired me with hope. Because if the same old bird who wrote that article earlier this summer, can write this desperate autumn confessional now, then something must be shifting, right?

Check back soon. I’ll keep you posted…

history + happiness = tiny typewriter

I spent a lovely, rainy morning with some delightfully creative folks at The Historical Society of Palm Beach County. On the way out of the museum, I spotted this gorgeous little beauty:

If you’ve spent much time around me, you likely know that in addition to tree houses, I am an absolutely freak for old antique typewriters. This gorgeous old girl was SO INCREDIBLY SMALL (seriously, like the size of a basketball).

In my excitement, I did manage to ask the kind docent if I could snap a flash-free photo with my cell phone. Thank goodness the answer was “sure.” Thanks!

we love reading “muses & visionaries magazine”

We’re thrilled to have a new wellness and fitness article in this fabulous publication: Muses & Visionaries Magazine. Subscribe to this exciting magazine today to be sure you receive their very first print issue debuting Fall 2013. Gorgeous photography and timely, relevant articles for women.

Click here to read Robin’s article “Women and Sleeplessness: Causes and the Exercise Solution.”

living healthy all summer long

We’re excited to be writing for On Your Mark Performance Center each month now in the Healthy Living section of Florida Weekly. Here is our July article (click on picture for article link):

Just in case you missed our June article, here it is, too:

Stay tuned for more news on additional health and wellness articles coming soon from Green Treehouse Media.

(We’re kind of proud to be putting over two decades of Physical Therapy professional practice to work in this newest way for our clients- sharing our healthcare knowledge while still following our creative passion for writing).

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

happy father’s day weekend

and a soggy summer begins…

Happy Last Day of School to all the teachers, staff and students in Palm Beach County, Florida!

Stay safe and dry today, and have a GREAT summer! 🙂

 

Poem by A.A. Milne and painting  by artist Jon J. Muth both found on page 29 of one of our favorite books:

A Family of Poems: My Favorite Poetry for Children

Words to Live By…

Wise words shared by our good friends at Notes from a Southern Kitchen. Thanks, Kendall. I needed to hear this today…

Notes from a Southern Kitchen

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(mayday) may day!

My Day.

I just learned that it is a federal offense to send a false “Mayday” distress call three times in a row without cause.

(A little like calling for “Beetlejuice,” I suppose…).

Anyway, I’m not risking it. Not today.

I wanted to wake up this morning feeling like this:

But instead, I feel like this:

Proof positive once again that I was born into the wrong century as I am clearly the girl in the foreground with the “what the ____?”  look on her face wanting to slam a tetherball around that blasted pole.

And as I type these words the Positive Thinking app on my iPhone has chimed the same quote it has been stuck on for over a week now:

“Happy thoughts attract happy people into your life.”

Mayday!

🙂

(Last two photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – click photos for direct link)

a day for the earth

Woodsy Owl is my guest blogger tonight:

I was toddling around when Woodsy first hooted his Wisdom all those years ago.

I danced to his catchy little ballad then, and I live it to this day…

Hoot, Hoot!

world water day 2013

Two years ago, just before Thanksgiving, I felt a strong urging to write the word “water” on a chalkboard in my kitchen.

I’ve never erased it.

One of my closest friends asked me about the word last week. And I did a super lousy job of explaining it to her.

You see, we were having a dinner party that night. I had fussed for an entire week over clean bathrooms and food menus and table settings and other incredibly important details like that. I was very busy.

In fact, I’m pretty sure at the precise moment she asked me about the word, I had just filled ten tall glasses to the very brim with ice cubes and fresh, clean water right from the filtered dispenser in the front of my refrigerator.

Water.

Thirst quenching, body nourishing, life sustaining water right from my very own refrigerator in my kitchen in my house in my neighborhood in my country of America.

What I wish I had said to her was that I leave that word there so that I will see it every time I pour a drink or make a pot of coffee or boil a pot on the stove or wash dishes in my kitchen using water. What I meant to say is that I promise I will never again take water for granted. What I wanted to say is that I will always remember that having access to this clean drinking water means the very difference between life and death for me and for my family.

What I need to confess right now – to you – is that I still often forget that I have this completely undeserved blessing in my life and that I have needed to be reminded for the past two and a half years of this fact by reading the same single word written in my own chalky handwriting on a little blackboard in my kitchen about my personal responsibility to conserve it

every single day.

Today is the 20th anniversary of World Water Day.

The U.N. estimates that more than one in six people worldwide do not have access to 20-50 liters (5-13 gallons) of safe freshwater a day to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

Tonight, I will remember.  Tonight, I will give thanks. Tonight, I will think of all the “others” who do not have safe water.

And I pray that I will match tonight’s compassion with much more responsible action tomorrow…

to live in clover

A “Lucky” Irish Toast

May the luck of the Irish
Lead to happiest heights
And the highway you travel
Be lined with green lights.   

(Check out Island Ireland for more fun facts and quotes).

We’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day all week long here in the Green Treehouse! Send us your favorite Irish sayings…

real is relative

The danger of loving my work is that sometimes the lens I aim on the rest of my life can get a little stuck and out of focus.

Yesterday, I took myself outside the Green Treehouse for a much-needed New Year’s walkabout.  I get so accustomed to the cozy view from my writing desk looking out my two little windows – both the “real” one and the virtual one –  that I can occasionally forget to take an honest look around the world.

Hours of riding beside my husband as we drove to our families’ homes to celebrate Christmas provided me with plenty of WiFi-free windows of time.  As we journeyed farther north, I watched the scenery transform into snapshots of my childhood. Looking at the well-known landmarks, it suddenly all felt unexpectedly transient and intangible.  Not the trees or the mountains or the sky, but the buildings and the billboards and the exits to the towns I knew so well. This troubled me.

A question slowly surfaced. I began to wonder,

“What is Real?”

The only answer that came to me with any clarity was what Real was not:

Real is not anything man-made. Real is not houses or highways. Real is not cars or careers. Real is not old family photos or even the memories of the times when those cherished photos were taken. Real is not favorite foods shared or even  joyful holidays and traditions. Real is not rooted in gift-giving, although I do rather suspect it can be found somewhere in gratitude –  the non-reciprocal receiving of the loving gifts of others.

(I’m still turning this idea over in my understanding, so I will let you know).

Nor do I believe that “real” can be harnessed in the focused and intentional planning and striving for our dreams. For although our dreams are most certainly real (if they are in fact our dreams and not those that well-meaning others have kindly dreamed for us), all the endless and exhausting “striving for” such dreams is unreal.

Really…

It all comes down to our personal lens.  How healthy and effectively we relate to our work, our world and our wonder is directly connected to our present sense of how we see ourselves.

We can love what we do, but what we do cannot define us. Because work is not Real either. It is just work and is also made by us. Our work can be important and rewarding and most certainly for the greater good of all, but it is still simply something that we do rather than who we are.

Along those same lines, we can love our loved ones – our relatives – but our loving them does not make them any more or less “real” either in terms of who they are to us or to themselves.

But Love – love in its purest, most unaltered and natural sense –  is most certainly, most undeniable

…Real.

Blessings to each of you in the year ahead,

Robin

the aspens have (twelve) eyes

Binsey Poplars

BY GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 1844–1889

felled 1879

My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,

  Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,

  All felled, felled, are all felled;

    Of a fresh and following folded rank

                Not spared, not one

                That dandled a sandalled

         Shadow that swam or sank

On meadow & river & wind-wandering weed-winding bank.

  O if we but knew what we do

         When we delve or hew —

     Hack and rack the growing green!

          Since country is so tender

     To touch, her being só slender,

     That, like this sleek and seeing ball

     But a prick will make no eye at all,

     Where we, even where we mean

                 To mend her we end her,

            When we hew or delve:

After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.

  Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve

     Strokes of havoc unselve

           The sweet especial scene,

     Rural scene, a rural scene,

     Sweet especial rural scene.

Source: Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poems and Prose (Penguin Classics, 1985)

With special thanks to The Poetry Foundation for their listing of this great poem.

In looking for something special to post tonight on the eve of a quite notable date, 12/12/12, I turned to dear uncle Google and read about the symbolism of the number twelve with great interest, yet without much emotional connection. After that, I returned to the poets for my Truth.

I was led once again to a remarkable Victorian voice which I heard first at the dedication of a labyrinth I helped to build a three years ago in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. The Gerard Manley Hopkins poem shared on that crisp fall morning before we began our work was God’s Grandeur. I was captivated by its final three words:

“ah! bright wings.”

Last spring on a Utah ski lift I felt a unique kinship with the aspens. It seemed as if every dark, snow-dusted nodule was like an eye staring into the very depths of my soul. I was fully exposed to their stares in the thin air and the blinding sun. I couldn’t have escaped even if I had wanted to do so. I felt a question from each tree first whispered and then shouted. Each time it was the same –

“What will you? What will you do to be our Voice? We are watching you.”

I did not recall the profound phrase I took away from that experience until this very moment when I found the poem above (which I had never read). My wisdom phrase that day was “The Aspens Have Eyes.”

Tonight, I shall spend time reflecting again on this question, for it is mine alone to answer. And though I know with all my being that it is why I am a writer, I still can’t for the life of me figure out the next step I am to take.

Yet, even still, I will trust that the aspens will somehow help me to see…

sometimes it’s good to be crabby

The past couple of months have been extra fun for me as I’ve helped one of my favorite clients promote their fantastic charity event via social media:

The Palm Beaches Crab Cake Cook-Off for Childhood Illness & Trauma

It’s been a blast sharing all the details of their event via Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare and hearing how business sponsorship and ticket sales have climbed. Tonight, everyone in attendance has been invited to blog, tweet and post their photos and comments LIVE from the event in a specially designated area:

Watching so many local restaurants, caterers, beverage distributors and businesses come together via social media to help parents and kids in our community has been an incredible experience for me. The Crab Cake Cook-Off Committee at Community Partnership Group has done the most amazing job planning the event which will begins tonight at 6:30 pm.

Tickets will be available for purchase at the gate so there is still time to #BeCrabby if you HURRY!

This entire experience has demonstrated for me (once again) how the power of the web can be used to do great things in the world…

dream a little dream

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about dreams lately. I do this when I can’t sleep…

And it is in those wakeful wee and watchful hours that I ask  myself questions such as this one:

“How many exquisite, glorious dreams sent to heal the world has Heaven mourned because the dreamer, weary and discouraged, relied only on her own strength and could do no more?” – Sarah Ban Breathnach from Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy

And I remind myself of Wisdom like this:

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” – Proverbs 13:12 

And I believe a statement like this:

“Dreams are necessary to life.” – Anais Nin 

And I try my very best to summon a courage like this:

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. ” – Henry David Thoreau

But before long, my critic voice interrupts and says things like “get your head out of the clouds” and “you’re just a ‘daydream believer’ ” and (worst of all) “wake up.”

How many other dreamers sigh at this final insult, roll over and tumble back into sleep like I so often do? Could this instead be a helpful clue? Could it a key to reclaiming our Wonder?

Perhaps it is only in fully awakening that we can appreciate the treasure of our dreams. We have to secretly slip them out from under the pillow case and tuck them deep into our pockets as we tidy up the covers. We need to keep them close at hand throughout the day so that we can finger them over and over again lest we forget. We need to touch them with our heart-tips to remember that they are ours – and ours alone – to hold onto like an alarm clock whenever we may be tempted to fall back asleep.