Laura Griffin Designs

A special poem…

A friend sent me this poem by Marianne Williamson & I thought I’d share it with you today. It’s a great reminder of all we have to offer the world.

Our Greatest Fear

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson, From Return to Love, Harper Collins, 1992

Let your light shine,

A weekend retreat…

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a “Great Big Dreams” retreat in the North Carolina mountains hosted by singer/songwriter/blogger Christine Kane.

You never realize how stuck you are in the everyday motion of things until you take some time to break away, contemplate, & unwind. I can’t say enough good things about the few days I spent there. And how often to you get to just be in nature, journal, and enjoy scenes like this?

All the women that I met (about 24 in all) were incredibly generous of themselves, sharing their stories, their talents, & their laughter. Such an openness is rare to find so soon after people meet for the first time. This may become an annual ritual!

Along with group discussions, there was a morning session of subtle Yoga with a wonderful local teacher (from the Asheville area), a oneness blessing (also known as Deeksha) by two blessing givers, a masseuse on site who worked wonders on everyone, and our own personal organic chef to cook delicious vegan meals all around. The greens from our salads were from the organic farm on the property. All of our water came from a stream on the property as well. We had a personal concert from Christine Sat night which was fabulous…I keep telling myself that one of these days, I’ll learn to play the guitar!

Christine hosts these retreats four times a year for any women who might be interested. Check out her webpage here for more details. In the meantime, here are some images from the weekend I thought I’d share to give you a taste of what it was like… (more…)

A new friend…

Check out the new friend I met outside my front door today…

It will be so fun to watch the babies hatch & learn to fly for the first time! Sometimes I am just blown away by nature & all the beauty we so easily take for granted. (more…)

Back from the mountains…

…and I had a wonderful, restorative weekend. I’ll post pics & more about the retreat soon.

In the meantime, I thought I’d share a lovely picture of dogwood flowers that my mom took during a recent trip to Alabama.

Is this really a diet?

Last year, I decided it was time to start eating a bit better. I’ve never really done the strict diet thing before. I think I tried Body for Life once a few years back, but didn’t have the energy to cook all the specific foods after the first month.

So this go ’round, I decided to make it easy. I just picked out healthy foods I actually like eating that take less than 10 minutes to prepare & I only buy those when I go to the grocery store. Let’s just call it pure laziness.

Crazy enough, within a few months I dropped down to my high school size…just eating yummy foods and occasionally doing some power-walking/running around my neighborhood. Weird, eh? Some friends & family asked for secrets…so here are some of my fav foods these days:

1) Fresh Spinach:
Man, I hated spinach growing up…probably because I was only exposed to the creamy mess from the grade school cafeteria that had a smell you couldn’t forget. But when I was re-introduced to spinach last year in salad form, I got addicted. It is incredible topped with fresh strawberries or raspberries, pine nuts, & Ken’s steakhouse Lite Raspberry-Walnut Vinaigrette. Mmmmmmmmmmm….yum!

2) Lean Cuisine Pot Stickers:
I love having Lean Cuisine dinners at night. Pop ‘em in the microwave and you are done. Again – pure laziness. I’ve grown totally addicted to their Asian Pot Stickers. Only 260 calories & they taste awesome! For some reason, they only sell them at Target here in town, and not any of the grocery stores. So every time I hit my local Target, I buy them in bulk (usually with a questioning look from the cashier) & hope they don’t get discontinued.

3) Fresh fruit & vegetables:
I especially like strawberries, apples, bananas, blueberries, & carrots. Great snacks on the fly. If you live in North Texas, you can actually go pick your own fresh blueberries in June at some of the local farms outside of Dallas!

4) TLC Crackers:
Kashi makes these “tasty little crackers” & I’m addicted to the Honey Sesame ones. Lots of fiber & they don’t taste like cardboard. Kashi also makes some great frozen dinners.

5) Pomegrand Juice: This stuff is a mixture of Pomegranate & wild berry juice and is made by Odwalla. I used to drink one or two Sprites per day and now replaced it with water & Pomegrand. It is really tasty stuff with tons of anti-oxidants. My only complaint is the high price sticker (around $12/jug), but if you belong to Sam’s club – they sell it pretty cheap there.

6) Cottage Cheese:
Another thing I never ate growing up because I think I was thrown by the strange texture. It is wonderful with fresh berries on top, though, for a healthy power snack.

7) Grilled Chicken Wraps:
The cafe in my work building has a lady that makes the most awesome chicken wraps with carrots, lettuce, tomato, & fresh avocado. They come usually in whole wheat or spinach tortillas…and I have them most days for lunch.

That’s about it – no more chocolate or high sugar sweets. Funny enough, as I transitioned to eating healthier whole foods, my body doesn’t crave the other stuff anymore. Who knows how long this will last, but at least it’s working for now!

Quotable #3

Working on some clay projects for a manufacturer, so no projects to share today. However, I thought I’d share another “quotable” with you. Today’s quote is from Robert Frost…

I love this one & like to keep a copy of it at work. Sometimes it’s easy to want to avoid difficult situations & find some way around them. As if they would magically disappear over time (which of course, never happens!). It could be anything from avoiding that growing mound of dirty laundry to holding off from having a much needed conversation with an employee at work. Frost’s quote always reminds me that the best path is to take the issues head on. It is usually not nearly as big of a deal as we think it will be – and makes life far less stressful in the end! So what are you avoiding today?

Tuesdays with Morrie

I absolutely love this book & movie, and I only recently found out they made the story into a 2-person play. All I can say is wow. I went to the production tonight in a small theatre in Addison. The environment was so intimate (with only 70 people) & the play was so moving that there wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the end! I’ve been hearing one of Morrie’s favorite quotes in my head all night, “We must love one another or die.”

The actors (Gary Taggart & Joe Nemmers, pictured below) were phenomenal. I’ll definitely be back to the Watertower Theatre for more productions in the future!

For those of you that may not be familiar, Tuesdays with Morrie is a memoir chronicling best-selling author Mitch Albom’s relationship with his favorite college sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz. It was compiled from meetings with Morrie on Tuesdays during his fight with ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease). Below is a synopsis from the theater’s webpage:

“When Mitch’s former Brandeis sociology professor and mentor is diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease, the career-obsessed sportswriter plans a brief visit to re-connect and say goodbye. As their friendship rekindles and the visits become a weekly ritual, both teacher and student discover a tender and touching connection to each other. A powerful, deeply emotional story, Tuesdays with Morrie examines the true meaning of life and love.”

What a great show. It will be playing for one more night…so if any of you are in the DFW area – I highly recommend attending tomorrow!

Emerson

Here’s another quotable for you…

I especially like this one when I’m at the end of one of those “everything went wrong today that possibly could go wrong” kind of days. You know the ones – where you stub your toe on the way to the bathroom, you lose your keys and are late to work, the price of gas goes up $.50 overnight when you’re on an empty tank, etc., etc. *LOL*

quotables…

I discovered this company called quotablecards in the late 90s and have collected quite a few of their greeting cards, journals, & magnets. They basically take famous quotes and let their graphic artists work their magic with them. I thought it might be fun to snag some royalty free pics & do some quotables of my own on the blog every once in a while. I’ll use some of my favorite sayings & maybe share song lyrics as well. So here is the first.

So often I get stuck in that rut of “If only…” Do you know that one? “I could do this if only this weren’t happening”, or “if only this weren’t that way”. I forget to step back & realize that those boundaries & borders are all self-imposed! Step outside of yourself & dare to do something beyond what you think you are capable of today.

What can you make out of legos?

How ’bout one of these?

Or one of these? (more…)