Good morning! Usually this blog features interviews with other people as part of the You Pick Six interview series.
Well today, I’m just popping in for a minute to share a different kind of interview. Boston Voyager Magazine interviewed me for their Inspiring Stories from Quincy series.
I really appreciate the opportunity to tell a bit about myself and my story. Thank you Boston Voyager!
Hope you’ll take a look at the interview when you get a chance!
The weather was perfect today. Sunny with a bright blue sky. Dry and in the upper 70s. So I decided to grab a very late lunch (or early dinner) and sit outside for a bit.
Since I brought a salad from home every day this week, today I decided to go to B.Good. I still love their Power Bowl, but switched things up with a veggie burger and vanilla milkshake. I’ve gone years without having a milkshake and this is my third in a month! What is happening?!?!
Anyway, I sat outside enjoying the weather and sipped my milkshake. The veggie burger was in a bag on a table. As I sat there, I noticed a seagull. It kept trying to pull a bag of food out of the trash, but without any luck. I took this picture above.
Then the bird noticed me my bag of food on the table. This bird strutted right on over with no fear. So I took another picture.
Then, this sly seagull walked right on over to me. Jumped up onto the table. In my face. Then tried to snatch my B.Good bag! I had to grab it away first!
Then this brazen bird had the nerve to stay there on the table. Looking at me defiantly. Like it was thinking, “Really. You couldn’t just give me your food.”
I took another picture. Then decided it was time to head back to the office. Maybe the universe was sending me a sign.
There’s no need to go into the details of what’s causing Americans stress. There are way too many. It’s impossible to keep up. This country is a horror show.
A Bloomberg article called Freaked-Out Americans Desperately Seek to Escape the News, says it all. Many of us are probably familiar with what is explained in the article.
“Just this morning I had a guy come in who is so distracted by the news that he can’t get his work done,” said Jonathan Alpert, a New York psychologist. “The levels of anxiety and stress I’m seeing are profound.” Those heightened stress levels are reflected in Americans’ chosen leisure activities.
This phenomenon explains my obsession with British gardening and interior design shows. Season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale has to wait. I cannot bring myself to tune in.
When I tear myself away from rage tweeting, I’m tuning out the dystopian nightmare that is life under trump. I no longer capitalize that monster’s name.
Anyway, below are three wonderful shows that I’ve been watching on Netflix that will get you blissed-out instead of stressed-out.
The Great Interior Design Challenge
I’ve also been sprucing up my own indoor garden and hope that my new basil plant will keep growing. It’s quite nice picking a few leaves in the morning and adding them to a salad that I pack for lunch.
After learning that wild strawberry plants can grow indoors, I’m hoping to add one of those as well. Just looking at plants calms me down. Sort of like mini forest bathing.
Any good shows that you recommend? Please let me know and have a good weekend!
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Screenshot: Big Dreams, Small Spaces
Three months! 90 days! The time has flown by!
When I first learned about #The100DayProject, April was just beginning. It was still cold and raw.
Now it’s July. This week is supposed to be humid and well over 90 degrees each day.
I had a few intentions going into the #100DayProject. To take a big leap and try something different. To heal from my father’s death in March. To pay tribute to him and follow in his footsteps. Toward the end of his life, he did some beautiful paintings and his creativity bloomed. To start the process of bringing more art into my life.
This online project has been wonderful and connected me to some local creative people that I’m looking forward to meeting in person. I’m so glad that I joined in!
Today’s watercolor illustration is a wedding cake inspired by a photo of a pressed flower cake by Lori Stern. It may be the most beautiful cake I have ever seen!
One of the things that I’ve learned from this project is that you never know when inspiration will strike or where it will come from. Many days I thought I would create one thing and it ended up completely different.
Starting the process and being open to an unexpected end result is a common theme with artists. Recently, one of my cousins had his first art exhibit at West Medford Open Studios. I walked around and spoke to a few of the other artists that were there as well. Two of them both mentioned how they really don’t know how a piece will end up. It’s usually a surprise to them. Some things are out of their control and as artists they have learned to accept it. A life lesson to be sure.
In my 20s, I would often read the end of the book first, because I always wanted to know how things ended up, so I would be prepared. Oh, dear Lisa — my younger self. So much of the time there is no preparing for the future, even if we know the end.
I found that when I did that, I was often still shocked by how the story unfolded and got to that end that I already knew. There are no shortcuts. Life is the unfolding. The journey. I will be 54 on my next birthday. I’ve learned a few things in those intervening 30 years. If I’m lucky enough to get 30 more, I cannot even imagine where the journey will take me.
