I do not think I have ever published two blog posts on the same day (God forbid), even after my long recent pause. However, a group of my blogging homeys collaborate every two weeks on a Tuesday to sound off about a specific topic. It’s called “Let’s Blog Off”. The current discussion is "Guilty pleasures: what's your favorite show on television?"Hmmm. First off, let me say that enjoyment and education are available on TV. I believe in watching TV with purpose as opposed to aimlessly channel surfing or leaving it on in the background. It's OK to turn it off and pick up a book (or a Nook) when your show is over! That said, my most embarrassing TV confession would be that I love watching Bethenny Ever After on Bravo. I know. I can't believe it either. Here's how it started. I was captive on a flight from New York to West Palm Beach and wonderful Jet Blue is so awesome with their free-flight-long- cable. I had finished my book, so you see it was a perfect storm that brought me to the wacky world of Bethenny. I really can't stand her, couldn't be more different but I grudgingly admire her success at self-marketing. That is a quality I really really admire. Think Madonna and now Lady Gaga. Bethenny Frankel has that certain something, be it annoying or not. The world is her oyster and she made it herself.
Check out what my fellow bloggers had to say!
CREATING AN INSPIRING WHITE KITCHEN
Today's Let's Blog Off topic queries the source of our ideas. Where does creativity reside? Is it within or is it outside and all around awaiting discovery? For me the answer is both. Yes, it's all around us, for sure, but it also requires the eye of the beholder to breathe life into it. Here is a recent example in my life of something I saw which inspired a blog post.You may have the panache to pull off a monochrome white room that invites and stimulates the senses but for most of us going all the way with white runs the risk of BORING. Since white is so "white hot" at the moment, especially in the kitchen, I’m going to share with you the secret of how to make white pop.One thing to remember is white is a team player, it’s all about the colors around it. As you know, I love art (a big source of inspiration). I recently came across this image in Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine which is a perfect example of how white can glow when surrounded by the right color. I see it work time and again. White cabinets plus color equals stunning. If your taste runs more to the conservative think camels, taupes or warm beige walls to create the contrast.
If you’re more daring go for Apple Martini Green or Sky Blue. The nice thing is if you want to go for the gusto paint is a safe bet. It’s one thing you can change fairly easily and reasonably.
Another thing to remember about white is that it’s just not white. There are probably hundreds of whites and they all read differently depending on your lighting and location. The lesson here is to test your whites on site. Consider the color for a full 24 hours so you can see how it looks as lighting changes throughout the day.
Many times wherever you find white you will also find black. You can tastefully mix black and white cabinets or if you have guts and great lighting the walls could be black, as in this example. This photo also serves as a great inspiration for many of the newer homes we have in my area with cathedral ceilings but short stumpy cabinets (thank you Mr. Builder). If you can't afford to change the cabinets take advantage of the great space above for art. Here, it carries the eye upwards taking attention away from shorty cabinets.
This stunning Apple Green back splash looks like glass but it's actually a colored plastic by Opticolor! So there you have it, inspiration of the day all inspired by a whimsical little piece of art!
STOP THE WORLD AND...BLOG OFF
Every two weeks, an intrepid group of bloggers participate in something called a Blog Off. We share our take on the same topic on the same day. Today's topic is If you could stop the world for one day, what would you take the time to do?Well I'm not really sure what that means but I can tell you that since I found out about the topic all I can think of is a little ditty by the 80s group Modern English. It's called I Melt with You. Click here for convenient YouTube video. I know the chorus begins with "I'll stop the world and melt with you." SO I decided to head on over to Google for the rest of the lyrics. Maybe there would be some clue there about what to write."I Melt With You"Moving forward using all my breathMaking love to you was never second bestI saw the world thrashing all around your faceNever really knowing it was always mesh and laceI'll stop the world and melt with youYou've seen the difference and it's getting better all the timeThere's nothing you and I won't doI'll stop the world and melt with youDream of better lives the kind which never hateDropped in the state of imaginary graceI made a pilgrimage to save this human raceNever comprehending a race that long gone byI'll stop the world and melt with youYou've seen the difference and it's getting better all the timeThere's nothing you and I won't doI'll stop the world and melt with youThe future's open wideI'll stop the world and melt with youI've seen some changes but it's getting better all the timeThere's nothing you and I won't doI'll stop the world and melt with youWhat I found was a whole lot of optimism, just what we need in our stressed and distressed world. I don't think we need to stop the world but maybe we just need to stop, not even for a whole day, but just once in a while for a few minutes. We I go go go and in the going sometimes we I lose the point. So today I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna be here now and I'm gonna hold a positive thought for this world of ours. If we all did that maybe it would make it better...Join me? Check out the links below to see what other bloggers had to say.
What Are You Carrying?
Every two weeks, an intrepid group of bloggers participate in something called a Blog Off. We share our take on the same topic on the same day.Today's Blog Off topic is "What are you carrying?" Good question. As I pondered it, while driving to my appointment today, I heard an interview with Dr. Marc Agronin, author of [amazon_link id="0306818531" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]How We Age: A Doctor's Journey into the Heart of Growing Old[/amazon_link]. He was discussing the qualities and essential parts of ourselves that we carry into old age. This got me thinking about how I would approach this Blog Off topic. What are the gifts I carry with me now that I did not see at 18? One thing is a sense of perspective. They're not kidding when they say "hind sight is 20/20". Today I think before I act. I look beyond the present moment. I have also managed to carry with me a general sense of optimism. Yes I have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, haven't we all? But for me, behind it all, hope is always there. Today I carry with me the hope that my children will be everything they wish for themselves. I believe everything happens for a reason and that there are no coincidences. I honor my intuition and I also have some weird inkling that if I keep plugging away at this blog something will happen. I don't know what but I hope and it keeps me going. The MOST important thing I carry with me is my attitude.Check out the links below to see what other bloggers had to say.
WHAT IS LEGACY?
Every two weeks, an intrepid group of bloggers participate in something called a Blog Off. We share our take on the same topic on the same day. Ok, so I'm a day late but better late than never, as they say. The topic this time is "What is legacy?" Such a huge topic in one word! When I think of legacy I think of a few different things. Naturally I think of where I came from and the legacy given to me by my Jamaican mother, grandparents, aunts, uncle etc as well as my very American dad and his parents. I guess having close relatives in another country (and a dad who worked for the airlines) has made me aware and appreciative of this great wild, wide, wonderful, world we (how’s that for alliteration?) live in. In fact, legend has it, some of my very first words were "Pan American"! I love my country, don’t get me wrong, but there is nothing like foreign travel to give you the big picture! This awareness and experience connects us to humanity in all its varieties and has brought me to the realization that we are really all one. So a big thank you to my parents for their legacy to me and for having the temerity to haul two little girls around the globe and sharing their adventures with us.
The next thing I think about is what I will leave behind when I’m gone. I have two beautiful children who are a precious legacy of the human kind. Then there is my work and my art. These are the things that will hopefully outlast all and be around to speak for me in the decades after my demise. Everywhere I have designed a kitchen I have left a little legacy behind and hopefully touched a soul or two along the way.
Last but not least there is my writing and my art of which I have not yet created nearly enough. I hope to change that. If you want to check out some of what I have created you can see it here. Check on the links below to read what other bloggers had to share.
WHY DO WE LOVE A GOOD STORY?
A group of my blogging homeys collaborate every two weeks on a Tuesday to sound off about a specific topic. It's called "Let's Blog Off". The current discussion is WHAT MAKES A GOOD STORY-STORY TELLING. Without further ado:
Story telling is like a kitchen. Huh? I'm sorry. Can't help it. It is. Think back to your childhood. I bet there is a kitchen you can remember in there somewhere. Either it's your own or, as in my case, the kitchens of my grandmothers. The kitchen is a story in itself where there was always something interesting afoot. The smells were enticing as well as the flavors and activities. What other room of the house offers as much? Well story telling is like that. A good story teller can engage all the senses. It goes back to our very roots in childhood. For me, it began as soon as I learned to speak. If I could shut up long enough I could listen to a story. My own mother read Alice in Wonderland and the stories of Hans Christian Anderson to me. Soon I was following her around the house with a book just begging her to show me how to read, as if it was something she could just easily explain in a couple minutes! I finally cracked the code in first grade. Books, and their stories have been a big love in my life ever since. Another story telling memory is from when my own son was very small. I made up my own series of stories tailor-made just for him about a crazy dragon named Smokey who sported polka dotted swimming trunks! (What was I smokin?)
Then there are the family stories. They only survive if we tell them artfully. Who knows if they're even true? (Let's hope not all of them are). Nevertheless they are the threads that tie us together from generation to generation connecting us and making sense of where we find ourselves. Check out some of the other responses here.
Next post I will announce the winner of the Orgaline drawer organizer. Stay tuned!