What color is gratitude ?

Sunday morning.

The Queen of Arts Studio and the Rock Fairy have had a busy business week so I was working on getting some trays of rocks painted so I could have some rock inventory on hand.

Painting the Rock My World rocks in their nice bright colors is actually my least favorite part about the whole Rock Fairy process.

It is kind of monotonous.

The repetitive movement puts a lot of strain on my beat up right shoulder.

I have even considered not painting the rocks anymore and leaving them in their natural state.

But people have expressed to me how much they love the colors.

So I do them in big batches, a different color on each tray.

Usually while I sponge the paint on the rocks, I listen to music to help the time pass faster.

But today, I decided to just enjoy the quiet of the Sunday morning vibe.

Instead of losing myself in the tunes,

I let the quiet fill me up.

I started to make a list of all the things I am grateful for, just like on of the meditations we do at my class on Monday nights.

The list was very, very long today.

The holidays were sweet…

My home and marriage feel oh so cozy…

I have such great friends that I love dearly.

My family loves one another really well, in spite of how very different we are.

I got a “new to me” car this week that makes me feel so special and cared for when I drive it.

(2010 Nissan Rogue in Wicked Black )

My writer-lady friend, Patti Digh launched her new fabulous 37 Days.com website this week with an awesome Live Stream cupcake party.

My rocks are a special part of it, with our new “Your Daily Rock” feature there…

I feel like I am doing a lot of things that I am meant to be doing on this planet, and it feels oh so good.

It is giving me strength and courage to face some of the things I want to do less of and/or improve on.

The word of the year I chose, LIVE, seems to be just the right one at this time.

Living this one precious life as fully as I can each day.

With gratitude.

Always.

Have a cozy Sunday evening, Beautiful Ones.

Cheers !

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The sweet, little 2012 Word of the Year Rock in a Box is still available in the Queen of Arts Studio Etsy shop.

LIVE from the Queen of Arts Studio

I have chosen my Word of the Year for 2012.

The word is LIVE.

I love that it can be used both as LIVE, as in “I will LIVE for today”,

and

as LIVE, “LIVE from Manchester, It’s Kim, the Rock Fairy/Queen of Arts !”

I have to admit that choosing a word was not a sweet, meditative contemplation thing for me this year.

In fact, it was kind of more in response to how intimidated I was feeling by all the incredibly deep thought and soul searching some of my friends in Blogland were doing to begin their 2012 off right and to choose their important Word of the Year.

I think I am in a place where I want to spend a lot less time thinking and planning how I am going to Live this one precious life, and instead get on with the actually Living I want to do.

So the word LIVE feels like a really good fit.

While my  word was percolating, I also thought about how I would want to have my word on a Rock My World rock with “Live” on it for me, and how I have painted rocks for friends in the past with their own Word of the Year on them as a keepsake gift.

And then, I came up with this sweet little box idea :

This small white ceramic box comes from a local craft store.

I added the painted paper flower and the 2012 under a coat of Glossy Accents to create a cute dimensional decoration on the lid

and here we have a lovely place to keep your 2012 Word of the Year Rock !

I also made a second design with a sun.

I have made these sweet things available in the Etsy shop and I would love to send you

your very own customized

2012 Word of the Year Rock Rock in a Box keepsake.

For the month of January, I will be including some extra Rock My World rocks in every package I send out, so you will have your own Word rock in its pretty box and also a few other rock love messages to share.

Also, if the box isn’t your thing, but you would like to have a Rock My World Rock with your Word of the Year on it, the bag of 13 rocks are also available in the shop and I will customize them as you want me to.

Along with enjoying the rocks, you can be glad to know that part of the profits I make from selling the Rock My World Rocks always goes to being able to donate, ship and offer the rocks for free to charitable causes to use for their fund raising efforts.

Here’s hoping that 2012 is full of lots of juicy LIVING for all of us !

Big Love, Beautiful Ones !

Happy New Year’s Eve !

Well, the New Year is upon us.

I have to say that I haven’t reviewed 2011 to see what I have learned.

Nor have I had a deep thought time about what I wish to focus on in 2012.

I am kind of living in the moment right now.

And man, does it feel good.

Enjoying the down time with my husband being home.

Primping the castle a little bit here and there.

Soaking up the furry kid love.

I am excited about ringing in the New Year at our house, with our friends, Lois and Mike, at our Fondue Dinner/Games Night Celebration.

The time for contemplation will come later in January, I think.

But for now,

in this very moment,

I am so very grateful for this sweet life full of beauty and love that I am living.

So here’s to this New Year’s Eve Day, Beautiful Ones,

and may the New Year bring us all much, much more good Being !

Cheers and big Love !

Share the Joy of Christmas !

My Christmas visit back home to Canada was full of incredible moments of joy !

I received a beautiful gift from my friend Suzanne who gave the Chica-dog a cozy and fun place to stay over the weekend.

I sat in an old wooden church lit with candles and sang along with Christmas hymns and carols with all the joy in my heart.

I got to watch the joy of the kiddos opening gifts from Santa, and others who love them to bits !

I got to see my beautiful 20 year old niece, Jessica, shine so brightly with the glow of her first real love.

I witnessed a family come together in action, patience and kindness when the amazingly beautiful 13 pound rib roast almost hit the floor and the cooking juices spilled all over the kitchen.

I, as always when I go home, felt the joy of how beautiful my family is and how we love each other so well, in spite of our differences and our imperfections.

I felt the peace of having my life partner, my best friend and my Love beside me through it all, appreciating and soaking in the joy himself.

I even witnessed a little Christmas miracle when my frozen windshield washer fluid that had been stuck for two days, started to flow just after I had silently prayed it would, and exactly when I so needed it to on the slush-filled highway!

And the sweetest of all the joy-filled moments and my most memorable gift of Christmas 2011 was given to me my this little guy who eats from my sister Kristina’s bird feeder in the gorgeous cedar in her front yard :

This precious little creature trusted me enough to land in my hand and eat sunflower seeds from my finger tips!

I cannot tell you how thrilled, touched and awed I was by this simple moment.

It is going to live in my heart forever, I think.

This joyous Christmas time reminded me once more that when you start to notice and celebrate the small moments of joy in your life, they increase exponentially ! They really do !

And what could be sweeter than a life full of JOY to share ?

I wish you beautiful moments of joy and celebration, my Friends.

Big, big love !

 

More joy at Meri’s Musings…

Haiku My Heart–A Joyful Wish

In Joy, I wish you

Love, Light, Peace in all seasons,

And for all of time.

Merry Christmas, Beautiful Ones !

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More Haiku and Holiday Love at recuerda mi corazon.

Choosing JOY !

When you walk up to my door

you will find the same thing as if you looked into my heart.

You will find

the joy that I have created.

My holiday mantra has been “Do it with joy, or don’t do it.”

That has been a challenge every single day.

But I am arriving at the end of the holiday prep. time so much more joyful for having made that choice over and over again.

I am over-joyed with the idea of spending time with my family and friends during the holidays.

I am joyful about the gifts and the giving that I have done wherever, and however I can.

I am filled with joy and gratitude at the abundance of all that David and I have.

We really need for nothing.

Most of all, the joy that comes from the amazing amount of Love that I have in my life is filling my heart, and I know it is shining outwards to be shared.

In Joy, I wish you Love, Light and Peace

in all seasons,

and for all time, Beautiful Ones.

 

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Share more joy at Meri’s Musings.

Loving my winter weekend…

I had a very cozy weekend spent mostly in sweats.

The wrapping got done.

A big pot of chili was made.

Some books got read.

( I am reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran, and David is reading Inheritance by Christopher Paolini).

Naps were savored.

And furry pets happily hung out with the two of us, basking the in the glow of our pretty Christmas tree.

I also managed to do a couple of art journal pages.

It is taking some time to get back into the flow of making pages regularly.

I am feeling a little rusty.

But it also feels so good to get back to this practice. I missed it !

A kind of doodle page.

This figure emerged from a blob shape I drew in pencil on an old dictionary page.

Love those intuitive exercises. Especially when I am feeling rusty in my creative process.

This little sad-looking girlie reminds me of something out of a Tim Burton cartoon or something…

The second piece was all about my quest to keep the light around me wherever I can in these darkest of December days.

I played with some spray inks and a Crafter’s Workshop Sunburst Stencil to create this page.

I love the Maiori quote.

Going to keep those shadows behind me…

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Lots of stuff to do today.

Post office,

grocery shopping,

one last gift to buy,

and meditation class tonight.

I hope you have a light-filled Monday, Beautiful Ones !

Shine on !