My summer wishlist...

Summer Hydrangeas from my garden.

Summer just arrived, but this morning's monsoon and 60 mph winds don't feel too summery today. 

Yesterday we celebrated my nephew Landon's Birthday at a baseball game.  Nothing sames summer like a baseball game and it got me thinking about what I want to do this summer.

Every season brings a fresh start and I love to set intention and hadn't yet taken the time to do that this year.

Years ago I'd always scratch my head and say where did the summer go?   Or spring would emerge and I'd think, why didn't I do any of those snow day projects I'd been thinking about?   You know how it goes.

So here's what I'm planning this summer....

• Visit the Farmer's Market every week - started this week and came home with an armful of yummy fresh produce and had an awesome dinner last night in the backyard.
• Go to the Botanical Gardens - have always wanted to go there and plan to take time off on Fridays for some exploring
• Travel to Africa with the Yale Alumni Service Corp - I know, not your run of the mill item, but looking forward to an awesome and exhilarating adventure with some very cool folks
• Create more white space in my calendar in August - I tend to cram too much into the week and don't leave openness for spontaneity and possibility
• Eat lunch outside as often as possible- why not? 
• Sand and restain bench in living room - this was on the list last summer and I never made it happen, though I did buy the materials to do the job last year (hey it's a start!)
• Write....craft extra blog posts for later, ponder a submission for an essay contest (not for winning, just for the practice of writing), and who knows what else

What are your intentions for the summer?  

Secrets before sunrise

Compliments of Pinterest, my latest obsession

"The morning breeze has secrets to tell you. Do not go back to sleep."

I first heard this line from Dr. Wayne Dyer, though apparently Dr. Dyer actually borrowed the quote from Rouemy, the Persian poet. These great thinkers believe we are closest to God between 3-4 am and that it's the time that we get the greatest inspiration.

Had it been a woman who had come up with the thought, she would have incorporated something about peri menopause in there. Not as new agey perhaps, but possibly more accurate.

Dyer describes inspiration as the time when an idea takes hold of you and brings you to a place you were always intended to go, as opposed to motivation, when you get hold of an idea and bring it to it's conclusion.

The sentiment often rolls around my head on those early morns that find me tossing in my bed.

Rather than fight it, I often heed their advice, drag my butt to my comfy overstuffed chair and start writing. Most of my blog posts are crafted before 6 am. It is when inspiration, or maybe it's more like pseudo coherent ramblings, strike me.

And it turns out I really like writing. This shouldn't come as a big surprise to me, I always loved English class, but have viewed writing as something to be done for work or school, not for enjoyment. I can also wield a mean red pen when editing others' work, a skill I inherited from my father.

Even when I began blogging, it was more a social media necessity, something a business owner has to do to to develop an online presence to stay in the game.

Do I dare say, it's almost a hobby? Possibly, but as Dyer and Rouemy suggest it's when my inspiration is running the highest, and through writing I almost always learn something about myself.

Maybe a hobby with less sleep deprivation would be preferable, but why mess with a good thing and risk missing future secrets from the morning breeze.

Well the sun will be rising shortly so it's time to hit the save button. Who knows when I'll post these musings, but that's part of the beauty of inspiration. Capture it and it will be there when you need it.