Testing The Waters

I've always subscribed to the notion that we are each here for one reason... "to live OUR lives."  This goal sounds simple enough but sadly many people are not living their lives. Many are living the lives their families want them to live, the lives society deems "correct"-- afraid to step out of the box and listen to their soul's cry for expression. Everyone has a purpose and in order to live our life's purpose we each have to courageously step forward, put one foot in front of the other and allow our individual path to reveal itself to us.  FIND WHAT INTERESTS YOU There are many occupations in this great, big, beautiful world of ours -- as  Confucius  said "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." I can say from personal experience there is no profession  more challenging (and at the same time rewarding) than that of being an artist. Many people sit in judgement of others pursuing artistic endea...

There are so many unusual shows on television these days. If you flip through the channels on any given day or night you will undoubtedly stumble across a show about a group of people, from a major city in America, living their lives in front of cameras - why? Well, they do get paid, they do attain some kind of celebrity from the show and if they are really business savvy they can parlay their new found success and money into an empire. It may sound like I have an aversion to Reality Shows but I don't. I sit down and watch like everybody else (personal favorites are Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Real Housewives of New Jersey) NEWS FOR ENTERTAINMENT What I take offense to are the shows and publications that are masquerading as "News" sources.  To my knowledge the "News" is supposed to supply the public with impartial information not salacious stories, half-truths and unsubstantiated "facts." I recently read an article that accused Beyonce ...

Horses are majestic creatures and deserving of our appreciation for their enduring legacy - a legacy that includes their service to our world and culture. SOME HORSE 4-1-1 The horse's earliest known ancestor was the Dawn Horse - they were roughly the size of Labrador retrievers. They roamed North America and Europe an estimated 50 Million years ago (yes, million). Mustang is a term that derives from the Spanish word: "Mesteno" which translates to a horse that has escaped; an ownerless and stray horse. The Mustangs (Wild Horses) that continue to run free in Nevada are believed to be descendants of the original horses brought here by Spanish explorers Coranado and DeSoto in the late 16th century.   By the early 17th century horses became crucial members of our civilization, Native American tribes and American settlers began to use horses for transportation, hauling, and as barter items. The invention of the automobile changed our society forever - this ...

By now you’ve read the post – 45 LIFE LESSONS – it’s a wonderful column filled with rich life lessons. This column was written by Regina Brett, and she is always correctly credited as the author of the column EXCEPT FOR ONE FACT… she is not 90 years old. This column has been posted, re-posted, emailed, and sent around the Internet accompanied by a photo of an older, chic lady wearing glasses ...             THE LADY IN THE GLASSES Iris Apfel - Fashion Icon The woman wearing the glasses seemed very familiar to me and so I did a little research and found out she is actually Iris Apfel, an American Business woman and fashion icon (naturally look at those glasses – how fab are they???) In 1950 she and her husband Carl Apfel launched "Old World Weavers" - a textile company, the company closed in 1992.  Iris Apfel worked on numerous design restoration projects, including work on the White House for nine different Presidents. Apfel i...

On every street in every neighborhood discarded Christmas tree's litter the sidewalks. Just a couple weeks before these same tree's stood in living rooms and were adorned with lights, tinsel and ornaments. Oh how the mighty have fallen! Stripped of their baubles and abandoned they now serve as harsh reminders that the holiday's are in fact over. NOW WHAT? After taking down all the decorations I looked around my home and for some reason it appeared larger in size. Why? I asked myself. I mean I knew it was the same square footage but why did it look and feel larger to me? Yes, the Christmas decorations have been taken down and the space that was once filled with Holiday adornments now seem stark and bare - which can create a more spacious feel - but I think its more than that. I think my home feels larger because it is still glowing with the Holiday Spirit. This season we entertained in our home, we hosted Thanksgiving and a couple Christmas parties as well. We ...

When I started this blog on January 22, 2010 it began as a test. I was curious to see how many people would actually read my writing. At that time my writings were all over the place. A year later I created a more focused goal for my blog - I wanted to use my blog to motivate and inspire others. I shared personal stories from my life like the one I wrote on my Grandmother called:  Things My Grandmother Taught Me  and human interest stories like the one about Phillipe Petit, the man who walked a tight rope across the World Trade Center (  A Tight Rope Walk To Inspiration ). About six months ago I decided to use my blog as a stepping stone.  My long term goal is to obtain work as a freelance writer for on-line publications so I decided to use my blog as a show case for my writing. And well, now I've decided to take that goal one step further. I will continue to post new stories every week (on Wednesdays) but now once a month I will do a feature story covering an a...