šš Happy Halloween! šš
{Anne Nagel in a Universal Studios Publicity Still, 1940 | Pinned HERE}
{Anne Nagel in a Universal Studios Publicity Still, 1940 | Pinned HERE}
Hello, August! Weāre ready to keep enjoying the lazy hazy days of summer. Weāre ready to keep eating our weight in fruit and vegetables from the local farmerās market. Gobbling up blueberries still warm from being picked on the way home.
Weāre ready to keep enjoying time with family and friends that we have not had the pleasure of being with in many, many moons.
Weāre ready to work on puzzles on the sunporch while the breeze drifts by. Weāre ready for early morning swims and evening runs to get ice cream after dinner.
Weāre ready to stay up late eating popcorn while we watch old movies. Weāre ready to soak up all that you have to offer and weāre grateful for this time off from school and the chance to appreciate being within the moment and making every second count. Weāre going to drink up each day until the last drop.
{Austrian actress Mara Lane lounging by the pool in a red and white striped bathing costume at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, 1954. | Photo by Slim Aarons | Hulton Archive | Getty Images}
I saw an interesting video on āMeet Cutes NYCā earlier this month, āMailroom Love šā, and the filmmaker asked the couple he was talking to, whatās the secret to 50 years together? And the womanās (Alice) response was that āitās much harder to like a person than to love a personā. And she LIKES her husband, Geoffrey.
That gave me pause. Love is a word so easily bandied around. And you can love someone to the depths of your soul, but that doesnāt mean you can be with them on a day to day basis. Liking someone is much harder. Continuing to get up every day and not only love but like the person you are with is sometimes a difficult challenge.
I like the person I am with. I like him in the valleys and I like him on the mountain and I like him as we traverse this space and I like him as we have continued to grow up together. All relationships are not smooth sailing, seasons come and go, storms blow in and out, but we continue to weather them together and I LIKE him and I LOVE him and I couldnāt ask for more than that.
So, hereās to 19 years of marriage with someone that I truly love and really LIKE and respect and value and who still makes me laugh and is the only person I want to be in the trenches with.
{“Robert Redford, US actor, and Jane Fonda, US actress, cuddling as they pose for a studio portrait, issued as publicity for the film, ‘Barefoot in the Park’, USA, 1967. The Neil Simon comedy, directed by Gene Saks, starred Redford as ‘ Paul Bratter’, and Fonda as ‘Corie Bratter’. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)” | Pinned HERE}
As Clairee says, “Now, it’s almost time for the Easta’ Bunny! Run on down!”.
So, hurry up and get those eggs dyed and those baskets ready for his arrival. š„
{Doris Day | Circa 1965 | Studio Portrait: “Doris Day wears a high-neck, yellow jacket with a brooch on her right shoulder, as she prepares to paint a basket of stacked eggs” | Getty Images | Pinned HERE}
š Happy Valentineās Day! š
To me, Valentineās Day is a celebration of L-O-V-E in all its many shapes and forms, and although itās highlighted on this day, there are 364 other days in the year when it should be celebrated too.
May your day be filled with love in all its many shapes and forms.
{American actress, singer and dancer Debbie Reynolds, circa 1955. Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images | Pinned HERE}
All the little nisse have been tucked away until next Christmas. Every space has been dusted, swept up and mopped and there is now a bareness to our home. But that has been softened by greenery and twinkle lights still peeking out here and there.
To me, we have now moved into the darkest time of winter and we need all the warmth and magic that we can bring to a space.
But there is a beauty to sparseness, a beauty to stripping something back to the bone and enjoying it in its simplicity. There is a certain magic to this time of year not to let go unappreciated. Each season holds its own enchantment.
As with every New Year we stand on the edge, balanced, reflecting on what has been and what could have been. While, also dreaming about what is to come.
Let the countdown begin…
{Joan Collins | Image Found | Pinned HERE}
I love these in-between days. The space between the holidays. It isnāt wasted time to me as so many people feel, I think they are vital days. It is the time to relish in what has been, to reflect, to be and to prepare for the New Year to come in as much as you can prepare for the unknown.
There are no expectations on these days. Weāre not scurrying around wrapping, baking, delivering gifts, doing pre-Christmas cooking and baking prep. Weāre just being.
Watching movies, listening to Christmas music, basking in the glow of the twinkle lights. Going on long walks, reading, writing, working on puzzles, playing board games, visiting with loved ones and being still. These days have a rhythm all of their own. They are sacred days. We walk on almost hollowed ground. Where we watch time slip away from one year as we get ready to move into the next.
{Image FOUND Via Steven Singer | Inscribed on the back by my grandmother: “Bev & Chuck Merritt Dec 22, 1962” (Although she meant 1961) | Pinned HERE}