Sunday Inspiration: Your Gift
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” –Pablo Picasso In this season of giving I can’t help but feel anxiety and tension about what to give to whom and how much to give to how many — not to mention what I want for…
Read MoreSetting: Carolers, Snowmen, Gingerbread? How Do You Know It’s Christmas?
I’ll confess I’m doing something I shouldn’t below. The “shouldn’t,” of course? Use this photo, which is blurry and certainly not professional. I snapped it for fun one day in October using my iPad. So what does it say about me and this blog, and why am I including it? The Background: This year we…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: St. Andrew’s Day Blessing
Did you know that yesterday was St. Andrew’s Day, which is an official national holiday in Scotland? In case you’re wondering, Saint Andrew is represented in the New Testament to be the disciple who introduced his brother, the Apostle Peter, to Jesus. So whether you have Scottish blood or not, whether the bagpipes make you tear…
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving and Holiday Trivia To Ponder
Here’s a little holiday trivia to make tomorrow more fun. Did you know? Canned cranberry jelly is the least popular traditional Thanksgiving dish. Detractors say when it’s served right out of the can, it reminds them of dog food. Bow wow. Green bean casserole made with mushroom soup and canned onion rings is the second…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into…
Read MoreWhy Authors Do Book Signings
For the first time in a long time I did book signings this summer and fall. Delightful Summer Signings My publisher assigned an enthusiastic new publicist to A Family of Strangers, and she arranged three signings as the book debuted. Two were out of town, lots of fun and productive. One was in Maryland pictured…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Constant Kindness
“Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes the ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust and hostility to evaporate.” -Albert Schweitzer We live in a world in serious need of kindness. While most of us probably can’t manage “constant kindness,” I bet the more we think about kindness, the more we can manage. So…
Read MoreLife Hacks: Make Reading More Fun
Do you ever find yourself on an organizing spree? My confession: I rarely organize. I straighten and I clean when necessary. When piles in my study are taller than I am, or when I can no longer navigate the route to the love seat only three feet away, I know it’s time to clean and…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: “Today I choose life…”
“Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it.” -Kevyn Aucoin
Read MoreTraveling South For The Winter
Did you see me waving as we drove by? I hope so. Southern Exposure will be back next week when I’ve settled in and unpacked. In the meantime, have a great week.
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