after the hustle and bustle of the holidays i find myself really craving simplicity. i am looking forward to taking down the tree, putting away all the gifts that are strewn around the house, purging the pantry of all the (yummy) junk food that has found it’s way in, and carving out some time and space to breathe and dream into the coming new year.

with children the holidays are always special, but for me i love the quiet lull that follows the inevitable chaos. we spend so much time giving and getting, my soul just simply yearns to Be. it’s the perfect time of year really to sit with gratitude, to bask in love and family, to think about where we’ve been and where we are going, and to embrace a moment of stillness before we jump into action with our new years resolutions and goals.

by jennifer lee

As 2009 comes to a close, make sure you carve out some time to reflect on your year. Whether you laid out specific goals or flew by the seat of your pants, magic happens when you sit down and take stock of all that you’ve accomplished in a mere twelve months. I bet that you’ll be surprised by what you’ve manifested!

Here are a few questions to spark your year in review:
· What are you most proud of?
· What was your biggest learning?
· How did you stretch yourself?
· How will you celebrate who you’ve become?

Include all things big and small. Acknowledge your personal and professional accomplishments and learnings. It all counts!

And here are a few creative ways to commemorate your year:

Make an exploding box for an explosive year: I discovered this fun exploding box format last year and used it for my 2008 year in review. This format lends itself well to a chronological year in review since there are four groupings of three pages. You can organize by the seasons and/or you can do one page for each month. Add pictures on the front of the pages and write notes on the back. I don’t have one yet (hint to Santa), but I imagine the Pogo would print out perfectly sized mini-photos to decorate your box.

Create a “Year of You” magazine spread: Write an article about all that you learned and accomplished. If you won an award, what would the award be for? What would the headline read? Include photos and captions to highlight key moments.

Pen a poem: While I don’t consider myself a poet, I find the simple structure of a cinquain very accessible. It’s a quick creative writing exercise that can capture a thought, learning, or feeling and can be a great way to sum up the theme of your year. A cinquain is almost like a sophisticated mad lib where you fill in the blanks using nouns, adjectives, etc. It goes like this:

· The first line is one word (a noun/the topic)
· The second line is two descriptive words (2 adjectives that describe the first word)
· The third line is three action words (3 -ly adverbs or –ing verbs)
· The fourth line contains four words that express a feeling or make a statement (a 4 word phrase)
· The last line is one word (a synonym or adjective that refers to the first word)
For example, here’s one I wrote to commemorate 2009 being the year that I stepped into being an author:

Write a good old-fashioned list: And then there’s always the good old-fashioned list. Grab a pretty piece of paper or write with your favorite pen in your journal. You can list your accomplishments in different categories so that you can see which areas of your life you’re really tending to and which ones you might want to put more focus on next year. Feel free to use these groupings or make your own:

· health & wellbeing,
· career/calling
· personal growth
· relationships
· fun & recreation
· physical environment
· wealth & abundance

However you choose to honor your year, may you relish in your fabulousness and may 2010 bring you all that your heart desires.

Musepreneur and certified coach Jennifer Lee, of Artizen Coaching, is the creator of the Right-Brain Business Plan. She loves yoga, painting, reading and hanging out with her husband and dog. She blogs at Life Unfolds.

by roxanne galpin

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once s/he grows up.
~ Pablo Picasso

Jenica Mckenzie, in her wishmamas article, asks us to look at ourselves and our surroundings with fresh, child-like eyes. What do I see?

I see much through my child-like eyes ~ these ones in my head and heart that many call naive. I see everything as though for the first time ~ the joyful and the painful. Each experience that vibrates through the channel of my Self feels new. Familiar places cast themselves in a different light, or shadow. Each experience of loss and grief, even betrayal, feels intensified ~ as if I’d never known such things. Each experiential vision of beauty shines like a brand new discovery ~ like the first time tasting lemon pie, or mama’s fudge or date square.

As a child, I created ~ coloured, cut and paste, designed, imagined. I had tea parties with all my stuffed animals and dolls. Each had names, and each had a place in my bed ~ I never wanted anyone feeling left out. I learned to crochet, knit, sew and cross stitch. And then I decided I must grow up, grow away from such childish trifles. I always felt an element of unreal, living my so-called grown up life stuck in a facade of sophistication, of acquiring things, that only made me feel more unreal.

Then I became a mother. And my children taught me all I need to know. Grow down … be their mom, be myself. And, intuitively, I began to give my babies what they needed most from me ~ creation. Creation, as in forged by my own hands. Birthday cakes, cookies and other goodies to take to school for special occasions, Hallowe’en costumes. Creation, as in making blanket forts on rainy days. Creation, as in playing ~ just getting down on the floor and playing Brio trains, or dreaming up things with piles of Lego ~ creations the makers of Lego never, ever could imagine!

My children taught me that creation and creativity is who I’m meant to be, whom I was, always … from the very moment of conception. I am not my creations, and my creative energy does not cease to exist even after one of “my” creations does. My children have also taught me there’s a quality of sublime in taking feelings to heart ~ in truthfully channeling my joy, my sorrow, and also acceptance.

Motherhood has given me so much … so much more than perhaps I have given it. From supreme joy, uneasy humility, to vicious love that feels just as much like a beastly hunger, as it does an enormous meal. Also, to pain darker than human intellect can comprehend. A pain that reminded me I was alive, all those times, in the wake of my 10 year old son’s untimely death, when I wished to die. During those times, when words eluded me, when I could not adequately express myself ~ creativity rescued me. Healing demands that we be who we are … it demands a certain amount of acceptance, and a great deal of childishness.

The 10th year of my young one’s death has passed, mere days before the 20th anniversary of his birth. And, in the dawn of turning 41, I have discovered that I can paint – with watercolours and a brush, and everything! A paint brush and a pencil are the best visual tools for sustaining my child-like vision.

Dear friends and readers, always remember the child, always remember to look through her eyes, and see, really, really see. Attention to every single thing conceives and bears art.

wish*full workshop offered by hope wallace

*please note that all classes are scheduled in eastern standard time. use this link to determine what time the workshops will be going on in your time zone. day or night, it’s going to be an amazing and unique global gathering. don’t miss it!

*retreat cancellations can be made up until march 31, 2010, and refunds will be given minus a $45 processing fee. after march 31, if you are unable to participate in the retreat you may be able to transfer your spot. please email directly for any inquiries regarding cancellations or transfers.

we are breaking new ground and the excitement is buzzing! as always with something new, there have been many questions about how the virtual retreat will work. here are some answers to some frequently asked questions…

how will the retreat work from a technological standpoint?
during the virtual retreat, each module will be presented in it’s own virtual studio. these studios will be set up like a blog, with posts, links, comments, and other information related to the classes that will be “taught” there, as well a a list of fellow participants so you can all mix and mingle.

the workshops in each module are scheduled to be posted at certain times (eastern standard time – see class schedules) during the retreat weekend. at the designated time you will see each workshop posted to the studio, beginning with a big retreat welcome at 1pm (EST) on friday april 30th.

each workshop will be made up of a series of posts and will be taught through an engaging mix of photographs, video, writing, and will be very hands on. as you refresh your browser and progress through the class, you will see new inspirations and instructions, and new comments, questions and answers all being posted in real time.

all instructors will be online during the time their workshop is scheduled, so they will be able to field your comments, answers questions, and offer guidance and feedback.

in between classes, little inspirations and mini creative activities will be posted to keep your creative juices flowing, including a little yoga video, some creative snacking suggestions, and little sparks to light your way.

are the workshops live?
no. the workshops themselves are not technically live since they will be created beforehand and then uploaded. you will have live interaction with the instructors via the studio blog (in the comments section), and the workshops will be posted in real time, so when you arrive at 9am you will not yet be able to see what is happening at 1pm. this all will add to the “live” and interactive feel of this unique event.

if i buy all the workshops, can i participate in both modules at the same time?
sorry, but no. if you choose to buy the complete retreat extravaganza package (all 14 workshops) you will need to choose which module you want to participate in during the retreat weekend because both modules will be posted simultaneously in two seperate virtual studios (blogs). once the weekend is over, you will be given access to the second studio to work through those workshops at your own pace. you will have until the end of may 2010, and teachers will be checking in to answer any new questions or comments.

what if i live in a different timezone, not in eastern time, can i still participate?
absolutely! this is going to be a really unique and exciting global gathering of creative souls you won’t want to miss! so wherever you are, burning your midnight oil or watching the sun rise, we will all be creating together and you can be a part of this amazing event! use this link to find out what time it will be in your area for all the wish*full workshops.

what if i don’t want to take the classes during the scheduled times on the retreat weekend (april 30 – may 2, 2010)?
you will have lots of flexability with your workshops and certainly can work through them at your own pace if you choose. if you want to join us in real time for some of the classes and not others you could do that too.

you will have access to the module(s) you purchase, as well as the resource room and the virtual cafe (discussion boards) through the entire month of may. if you want to simply buy these as a series of great classes you absolutely can, but both modules won’t be posted in completion until 4pm on sunday, may 2.

if you have any further questions, please feel free to email me. early registration is going on now so go reserve your spot! can’t wait to see you at the retreat!

by hanna andersson

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.
/Ellen Goodman

What will you make of your one precious year? Next year that is.

When everyone else is awaiting Christmas, planning food, buying gifts and decorating the tree I’m sewing paper together on the sewing machine, making my first Travel Journal. I’m dreaming about sunshine, salt water and getting away from the grey skies of December Sweden for a week. I don’t mind skipping the Holiday planning this year, but one thing I still make time for is the New Year’s Ritual. It’s my favorite tradition because I have created it myself!

This ritual has evolved for a few years and mostly takes place in my head. It now includes going through the good and the bad (personal news, events and projects) of the past year, looking at what goals I did finish (and what I didn’t focus enough on), writing down a summary of the past year and calculating some fun statistics, making plans and setting new goals for the next year, choosing a guiding word – and maybe setting up a daily creative activity for the upcoming year… But what has always been a part of my ritual in December is getting a new calendar and personalizing it.

There are so many beautiful Calendars in different brands, sizes, colors and set ups, with amazingly cool cover images and room for all kinds of lists and writing. Get one you like and then make sure you use it in a way that is beneficial for you. I love the Papaya Art Weekly Planner for example. I got mine from the office, and as it didn’t have a cover I created one myself. This year the making of signatures for a mixed media looking Travel Journal inspired me to sew together some fabrics for a calendar cover. I sewed the fabric straps to cardstock and then just folded it over the spiral bound calendar. Very simple, loosely made and easy. I’m not sure it will hold together for 365 days, but if not I’ll just make another one then.

I add most of my meeting and appointments to Google Calendar online, but the personal paper calendar is great for recording daily habits. I also pre-fill it with all the birthday dates I need to remember in bold red, so that (maybe!) I will remember to send out a card or a gift to my friends.

I’m thinking I will during 2010 jot down how I feel (a kind of mood chart) and also record my creative actions (did I write? blog? take photos? craft? knit? etc.) and exercise (did I take the one hour walk? meditate? yoga? running?) and that will be it. To personalize your calendar add your own collages, images, stickers and markers. Write with different coloured pens and make your own code language for the days of your period for example. Even if you use your calendar mostly for business you should make it fun to use, and pretty!

Now is also the time to think about your focus for 2010. In 2008 I did a small collage each day, a Daily Art Card, and I loved doing that. I highly recommending you to pick a daily small activity that will keep you creative all year. It keeps you focused, challenges you and creates a habit of doing something for yourself each day. I didn’t think I could do it, but I did.

I hope to see you creating away on your own happy creations next year!?

* iHanna lives in Sweden with her cat Smilla, surrounded daily by fabric and paper scraps, acrylic paint, notebooks and embroidery floss. This is her first wishstudio post, but she has been writing a blog about art, craft and creativity for the past five years, called iHanna’s blog. One year of the blog is also published as a print-on-demand book called A Creative Year that you can buy online together with the 2010 Creative Year Calendar!

More New Year Inspiration from iHanna
* * How to End a Year in a reflective mood
* * How to Start a New Year in a Creative Way
* * The Daily Art Card Project

in the spirit of the holiday season, it has been a really fun week here in the wishstudio! thank you to all of you who played along. here are thw winners of this weeks amazing prizes…

the last giveaway of the week is this beautiful (5×7) print, helen’s visit, signed and matted by artist susan tuttle

I feel a primal connection to the seasons. Here in Maine there is a boldness to each season that does not allow you to be a passerby. I pay attention. I am awestruck, surprised and delighted each day by simple beauty in an ordinary world.

This call to notice influences the way I experience all that is around me.

The eye is your artistic voice.

What do you see in your daily life that surprises and delights?

Here is my list:

* the way the smoke from the wood stove curls slowly out of the chimney, filling the air with a sense of nostalgia, comfort and peace.

* how eyes catch and light up when my child and I look at each other.

* while we wait for my son’s school bus, I marvel at the mackerel skies, like a white beard peppered with grey, over a field of apple trees stripped bare by the coming of winter. I can see a handful of overripe fruit still hanging on, not yet ready to succumb to the depth of frozen stillness.

* the shadow and light cast on the wall by the twinkling Christmas tree lights. I remember what it feels like to dwell in the heart of shadow, in the heart of light, and am reminded that there could never be joy without sorrow.

* the rose you gifted me with tells me there is perfection in simplicity.

Susan Tuttle is a mixed-media and digital artist who resides in a small-town community in the state of Maine. Her first book, Exhibition 36: Mixed-Media Demonstrations + Explorations, was released by North Light Books in December 2008, and her second book, Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements, a technique-based publication on digital art, will be published by North Light Books in May 2010 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Susan is a frequent contributor to Stampington & Company publications and other mixed-media books. You can visit her site at www.ilkasattic.com and her blog at www.ilkasattic.blogspot.com through which she is offering online digital art workshops on the subjects of photomanipulation, digital montage, and a variety of Photoshop techniques.

here is your last opportunity to win a spot in maddie’s amazing ecourse yes! , which encourages you to awaken your wishes and deepest dreams. in addition you will get to choose a print from her lovely shop as well.

by kari ramstrom

Making things, in a broad sense, is my vessel of choice for living creatively each day and my blog is my “stage” to share insights, inspirations, photography, crafts and daily randomness of this journey of motherhood. I’ve always loved finding treasures and making things. Every beach walk would include picking up shells, stones, driftwood, and other evidence of life beyond me. Every walk in the woods would return with brilliant fall leaves, acorn caps or sticks and stones. My grandmother taught us to make sun prints with natural objects; my mom and I would make rock people or totems; dried plants would be picked from the roadside and made into wonderful autumnal arrangements with my grandmother’s hands. My grandfather soldered together square nail sculptures. It was always exciting to guess what he would make us for Christmas each year. You could say it’s in my blood to be crafty.

It wasn’t until I had kids that everyday creativity was necessary for my own sanity. When Lowell was born I wanted a baby book for him that was tactile and interactive. Not just dates and numbers scribbled down. It was then I created my first “altered book”. I took a cardboard photo album and glued, stitched, copied onto fabric, painted and embellished to my heart’s content. I came up with a keepsake book that was an experience to go through, with windows and doors, pull tabs and a mini quilt within it. It also encouraged me to photograph the everyday life of my newborn. My journey had begun!

After stepping into the altered art world, I joined an online altered art message board and participated in swaps and round robins. I found a whole group of people that were as busy as I was, but took the time to do something for them that brought immense pleasure. I soon began to realize that I wanted a place to share the projects that I had been working on and make myself accountable for taking the time to do these activities. I had just begun to hear about blogs and realized it would be the perfect realm for me to have a diary of my creative life, share it with others and make connections. So on a cold November morning in 2005, my ArtsyMama blog was born.

These connections and daily creating became even more important for me when my son was diagnosed with Autism at the age of two. My whole world was tipped upside down and expressing me and making time for me in this time of great distress was essential for me to remain whole. With my blog, I immediately experienced the joy of sharing parts of myself with the world and formed relationships based on common interests and inspiration. Over time, ArtsyMama has transformed into my state of being. My home has become my creative haven since the vast majority of my waking hours are spent there. I enjoy sharing pictures of my vignettes, estate sale find and our activities and love of the outdoors.

I’m often asked how I balance it all. It’s all there, together, everyday…always. The seasons change outside the window, the kids grown up before our eyes, my photography hangs on the walls and my notebooks and projects are scattered throughout. It’s about taking the time to be present. I cannot imagine (a fulfilled) life any other way. It’s all treasures to me. Bits and pieces of our lives that bring meaning or symbolize something that is precious. My creative path and that of parenthood is forever unfolding before my eyes. I try to remain mindful and open hearted and remind myself that creativity is the life force that interconnects everything.

todays giveaway is one of jen lee’s inspiring writing journals. it is filled with lovely wisdom and helpful tips on finding your own writing center and then putting pen to paper.

jen is a storyteller, a photographer, a teacher, a writer, and a mother. her journey and life in new york city is as inspiring as her amazing work and presense in the creative world! read all about her art, her storytelling retreat and her life on her website jenlee.net

to win this journal, please leave (one) comment on this post by the end of the week. a random winner will be chosen and will be announced here on saturday december 19th.

what kind of creative adventure could you go on where you had absolutely no travel expenses to pay, no accommodations to book, and you didn’t have to pack your bags and leave your family behind?

where could you go and gather with kindred spirits from near and far, nurture and play with you inner muse, learn from and be inspired by talented artists, and get messy with paint, words, glue, photos, ideas and dreams… all in your pajamas with your favorite mug in hand?

once you register, your registration packet will be sent to you where you will choose your module(s) and get all the info on participating in the artisan trunk show!

around this time of year, we like to sit as a family and reflect on what makes us happy. we exchange words around the dinner table, snuggling on the couch, or while cooking in the kitchen. and while i believe that just speaking the words out loud is enough, i also find myself trying to remember the sweet sentiments that come out of the kids’ mouths.

every year, we usually scribble our gratitudes on little slips of paper and keep them in a basket on the thanksgiving table and it will stick around until the holdiays. after that, due to my total dislike for clutter, the slips sadly make their way into the recycling bin. this year, i made a little book out of scrap paper and had my daughter gray write out a title page, which she entitled “the gilbert family gratitude journal, 2009″. every day of november and december, we make time as a family to jot something down that we’re grateful for. and every time we have guests (and we have a lot of guests!), we’ll encourage them to write something down, too.

there’s something so satisfying and heart-warming looking through the pages so far. i love my daughter’s handwriting and i love seeing the world through my children’s eyes. i love hearing what my husband offers up for gratitudes. i love seeing our friends and family participate. what i’m most looking forward to, however, is taking out our 2009 gratitude journal next year and seeing how far we’ve come, what has changed, and what has stayed the same. i hope we’re always as grateful as we are this year.

find nina’s blog here and her shop here

by brandi reynolds

I remember talking to my life coach about plans for my big dreams and asking her how I could avoid those unmotivated times that we all have. My perception was that those times that lack motivation or inspiration were the death bell for someone trying to pursue artistic endeavors.

Her answer surprised me. I expected her to give me some tips on how to maintain my energy and motivation, maybe some affirmations or visualizations to do. Instead, she said (and I’m paraphrasing here): Brandi, we all have our winter times. If we didn’t we’d burn out. You need times of contemplation or rest to give you energy for your spring an summer times. Think of it like the seasons. In your ‘spring’ time, you start blossoming with new ideas and growth, in the summer you see those ideas give fruit, in the fall you reap the benefits of all your energy and work and then you need the winter times to rest and prepare for the next stage of growth.

I have to be honest, as wonderful as that advice was, I kind of resisted. I was speaking to her during one of my spring times and was loving all the energy and excitement I was feeling around my creative endeavors. I didn’t want rest, I wanted to keep going, keep blossoming and just grow, grow, grow!!!

And yet, here I am in my winter time. I am very connected with nature so my natural rhythms tend to follow the earths. Colder temps and shorter days usher in my own times of cocooning. I fought these winter times in years past, not realizing they were a necessary part of my cycle and plowed full steam ahead towards burn out. I felt the need to resist this year as well but those wise words from my life coach kept playing in my head.

So instead, I have let go of schedules and deadlines. I am saying no more often. I am not connecting as often. And I have found something interesting. The well spring of creativity has not dried up within me. In fact, new ideas are constantly bubbling to the surface and now I find that I have time and space to leisurely explore these ideas because I don’t have a lot else going on. Who knows which ideas will blossom and which will die off naturally but it I don’t so feel tied to the outcome these days. Allowing my winter has taught me that I can trust that the spring will come again.

For the past few weeks I have been in the midst of a move to a brand new home after living in the same home for almost ten years. Perhaps the most wondrous thing I experienced was the sheer and unexpected ‘lightness of being’ I felt in letting an accumulation of things GO. For my new home I only moved what I truly found to be beautiful and necessary (and yes, in that order) as well as various pieces of art and photography I had collected over the years from my artistic friends.

While my new space is quite small, it is filled with light in every corner of it’s being and *my favorite room is my studio. From the first moment I stepped into this room on the top floor overlooking the apple trees in the garden, I knew that I would create a space for fresh dreams to ignite my artisan spirit.

visit my studio photo set here…

In the past year I had often visited paint shops and would happily peruse the chips delighting in the vast array of gorgeous colors. Even the names of the paint would stir up my imagination as I pondered choices such as ‘happily every after’ ‘fireflies’ ‘cloud white,’ gossamer blue’ and ‘burnished sun’.

Most paint shops have an area for ‘mistints’ and my local paint shop had shelves filled with brilliant bursts of color for a mere five dollars a gallon. I found a wonderful deep lavender, a cheery tangerine and a perfectly harmonious moss green that managed to find their way home with me .

As I began to decorate my little studio with a joyous golden yellow, strings of twinkle lights and vintage jars filled with pretty Japanese papers it occured to me that these simple yet energetic endeavors were giving me an exuberant burst of creativity I hadn’t felt in a long time. Filling a pretty jam jar with colored pens I could barely wait to get started on an idea I had for Christmas presents ~ writing my seven word poems and putting them in little matchboxes decorated with japanese papers. Perhaps I would even include a miniature print of one of my photo’s as well.

I realized I would need a bigger work table for my projects so I picked up an old door at a salvage yard for ten dollars eventually planning to paint it with the moss green mistint I had found at the paint shop. I filled a vintage suitcase with a collection of ephemera found at thrift shops such as worn books of poetry, photo albums, and beautiful illustrations from old magazines. Over my new ‘desk’ I arranged inspiration pages from various photography magazines, an old map of India, as well as a selection of my work.

Professionalism is way overrated. It is the spirit of the amateur that people in creative occupations– in almost any occupation– need to cultivate more than anything else. A couple of hundred years ago, “amateur” was an entirely positive, noble description of someone. The word comes from the Latin amator, which means “lover.” An amateur undertaking was something you did out of love, for the pleasure of doing it– something you did out of passion.
– Kurt Andersen, in “Ode to Amateurism” ~

Returning with a renewed gust of inspiration for my writing and photography, I am once again moved to create out of love, out of passion, something soulful, satisfying and poetic. As I awaken with the songbirds and wander into my studio in the mornings I realize these very simple and inexpensive flourishes to my personal artistic space is a ‘beckoning’ to the muse as she is lured to join me for coffee and ponder fresh dreams as we stretch out on the floor with freshly sharpened pencils and sketchbooks.

The muse is deeply attracted to a buoyant inviting energy in your surroundings, so make your spirit visible…make it heard, bring it to life with a little cheery color and panache. Let your imagination soar as you ‘paint’ your own magnificent personality into your creative space with a colorful brush of wild abandon!

by kimberly wilson

“To err is human, to stroll is Parisian.” – Victor Hugo

How often do you take a step back to savor the simple things of everyday life? You’re busy. Running from one meeting to the next, knocking to-dos off your lists, and filling your body with caffeine to keep up the momentum. Thankfully I had the opportunity to indulge ten days Parisian style and was enamored with the attention to small touches coupled with the savoring of simple experiences. Let’s explore how you, too, can bask in the art of everyday from the comfort of your own home and city.

1. Food as art. You have to eat, why not make it a sensory-pleasing journey? I have a tendency to eat standing up or by throwing an organic frozen meal into the microwave and, sadly, I don’t think I’m alone in this confession. Even if you’re not the next Julia Child, set the stage for a savory experience by creating a welcoming table. Use your best china. Dust off your fancy glasses. Learn to make a fancy fold with your cloth napkins. Light candles and turn on jazz music. Top it off with a glass of bubbly or your favorite tea. Let your daily dining be a work of art.

2. Home as a haven. When you walk into your home, what do you see? Clutter, inspiration, or oodles of should-dos? How can you make your home a place where you can bask in self-care, feel at ease, and entertain others? Flower shops were eye candy for the spirit in Paris. Each time I passed one I was in awe at the beauty evoked in their windows or outside the shops. Play with setting up your home in a way that nurtures your senses: comfortable furnishings, uplifting scents, soulful tunes, tasty treats within reach, and clutter-free.

3. Signature style. The French have an artsy street style that constantly inspired. It wasn’t that the clothes were expensive or fancy, it’s how they carried themselves with amazing confidence. Whether donning vintage cowboy boots, over the knee socks, tights with shorts, chunky scarves, or short skirts with tall boots, they oozed style. You have to get dressed everyday so why not think of it as a creative expression of yourself? Try red lipstick, a big cocktail ring, faux fur scarf, or bright pink tights. Own your creative spark.

4. Connect. Couples were kissing on many street corners. People greet each other with the double kiss. Friends would meet at a café for a quick espresso or cup of tea and then were off within an hour. Making dates with friends can feel like another to-do in an already packed schedule. Why not try a quick “meet me at the corner café for a cup of tea?” Although you probably won’t find me engaged in huge displays of affection on the streets, I was definitely encouraged to up my affection by giving more hugs, walking arm and arm with my beau, and meeting more friends for a quick catch up over a pot of tea.

5. Delight in tea. I’m an everyday tea sipper but not to the degree that I savored it at the many sidewalk cafés. I’m more of a mug-on-the-go kind of gal. The art of sitting, sipping, and watching the passer-bys, journaling, or reading while indulging in a pot of tea felt like a decadent must-do. You may be more of an espresso girl, try the same savoring tip. I never saw people walking around with to-go cups (despite oodles of Starbucks). Parisians enjoyed the experience of their beloved beverages. Why not take 5-20 minutes out of your busy day to indulge in this sacred moment of self-care?

My journey to Paris encouraged a reconnection to celebrating the everyday. From sipping tea, snapping photos of objects that inspire, and seeing the beauty in the mundane – even savoring a carousel ride. How can you incorporate a bit more strolling into your day as you go to work, to the grocery store, and all of life’s errands in between? Life beckons you to stroll, sparkle, and revel in the eye candy that surrounds you everyday.