Life is in the Details

U.S. Botanical Garden

I never want a macro lens more than when I visit the U.S. Botanical Garden. There is so much beauty to enjoy here. The colors and textures are so vibrant.

Our intention for our Friday field trip was to go to the garden and paint. The kids and I packed up our watercolors, sketchbooks, pens, pencils, and snacks and headed out. Ironically we never even sat down, instead choosing to wander around taking in the sights and smells of all the incredible flowers, plants, and trees. I still have this stubborn cold that has lingered now for 3 weeks so I was crushed that I couldn't enjoy the amazing aroma of the orchid room. I love that smell! I miss that smell. I need to go back when this stupid virus runs its course. And I'll bring my paints and hopefully use them next time.

Ryan brought a pen and his summer journal and wrote a poem about the plants he saw and recorded a few species that he especially liked.

 

There is so much inspiration in this one place. I heart the U.S. Botanical Garden.

 

This is your life. Wear your passion.

A friend sent this to me a little while ago and I've had it saved on my desktop since then. But it should not live only in my digital world. I need to make this colorful and hang this up in my home. Such good stuff! This is what *I* want to look at and be reminded of every single day.

Quote that I loved today

This quote arrived in my inbox this morning and I loved it.

This inspires me to love more, live more, get dirty, and just go with it. 

[taken from an email from Values.com]

Inspired By...

 

The past few weeks I've been inspired by...

• Cool sewing projects from http://mialuna24.blogspot.com (and thank you to Google Chrome for helping to translate this site from German to English so that I can understand some of what it says!) - see the photo of that colorful jacket. Love Love Love it! I think I'm going through a bright::colorful phase.
• This awesome family adventure that started out in 2008. They are taking 2.5 years to travel from Alaska to Argentina together... on THEIR BICYCLES!! This sounds an amazing way to spend a few years!! I would SO be up for something like this even if on a super-small scale.
• This beautiful scarf from Presser Foot
• Doodle Stitching that I checked out from the library on Monday. I brought some muslin and embroidery floss that Jessi let me borrow from her friendship bracelet-making supplies to bring with me last week while I was taking Mike to the doctors and tried my hand at some stitches. I definitely need practice - they are harder than they look. The French knots are still tying me up and sometimes they don't work at all. I will have to give it another attempt when I'm alone and able to concentrate. Ryan was with me and I was helping him with some of his wax sticks and clay and wasn't able to figure out what I was (consistently) doing wrong (though I did get 5 or 6 of them and they are so cute). A good even blanket stitch eludes me as well. But I am persistent so I will just continue on!
• A great blog and site about changing the world in 15 minutes a week

Inspired By...

 

 

 

Love Soup inspired the above vegetable broth-making session today. There are lots of big pots of soup in my future as fall ushers in winter squash and I LOVE roasted butternut squash soup and bean soups. Mmmm!  I'm using this Light Vegetable Broth from this book as the base for most of them.

Other things that are inspiring me lately:

• Boltage - a program that encourages kids to walk and bike to school
• Smitten Kitchen's Homemade Poptarts - I'm so making these within the next few weeks
• Amazing flower art 
• Chris Guillebeau
• Quinoa Falafel 

What's inspiring YOU this week?

 

Some other things picked from the garden.

Inspired By (& Blog Update)

I've been working on some blog updates this past week. I'm working on updating the navigation bar with some new menu items. So far I've added a Health & Fitness page and there is a FOOD page as well as a FAQ page (frequently asked questions) in the works. Keep the emails coming on any questions that you've been dying to ask me. I've also updated the left sidebar <---- with my certifications and some things that I love.

Now onto what's inspiring me lately.....

Ryan and his creations with paper and wax sticks.

I have a feeling this may come in handy if I decide to go to normal gyms at some point: Unbanning Your Vibram FiveFingers From Your Local Gym

Beyond Banana Bread from the amazing King Arthur Flour blog. I have a few brown bananas on my countertop just waiting to become muffins. I was so inspired by this that I had to make these this very morning!!!

 

So happy that a Lego a Day is back. It makes me want to run into my son's room and dump out the Lego bins and get building with the kids. And Ryan was already at it this morning, then asking for the camera so he can take photos of it!

What's inspiring YOU lately?