Creating our Lives

Well, mes amies ... how did your weekend go? Did you have time to take a look at your wardrobe and see if comfort still equaled elegance? I hope you did. I have to admit that this is something that I have been working on for the past several months. I happily hauled several bags of clothes off to either the battered women's shelter, the homeless shelter, or to women in my Church who needed the clothes more than I did. In return, I "had" to get some new clothes. LOL! I then proceeded to only purchase clothes that either:

1) I could foresee myself wearing 5 years from now (unless a miracle happened and I lost weight ... and then, Quelle Horreur!!! I'd have to go shopping again!!).
2) They were good quality clothing. They would actually last 5 years. With that being said, I refuse to not get a bargain, so this didn't mean that I've been spending all my money on clothes either. More about that later ... I have some great tips for you clothes horses, but that's another day.
3) They were truly "me." They accented my body type to its best advantage and they were colors that looked best on me.
and lastly,
4) They passed the "Do I LOVE it, not "just like it" test.

So ... if you're like me, you probably didn't finish the challenge I gave you over the weekend. That's okay. I still have drawers I haven't gone through. So, let's keep going, shall we? Only, now, let's add the four (4) new challenges I've just given you to the mix.

If you did try my challenge and looked for comfort and elegance (you can even change that out to excellence if you can't perceive yourself as elegant yet, but we're going to work on that, I promise!), then I congratulate you, and I also hope that you'll share your experiences. Please, when you have a moment, share your triumphs, challenges, and stories. We can all learn from and help each other!

In the meantime, I'm giving you another Coco's Pearl. It's a graphic I created for the Graphic's Fairy's Brag Monday party that I always participate in. I used her "freely given" label at the bottom of the graphic to highlight Coco's pearl (you can find her link to the right). I hope that you'll really take her wisdom to heart. Let's go forth and create our lives!!

Bonjour mes amies, and have a wonderful week!!!



P.S. As always, please feel free to click on the picture and then right-click to save to your computer. No mass production, please. However, please feel free to share via Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus so that others can get their own copy and join us in our quest.

Spreading our Wings

For this week's Freebie Friday, I wanted to explore a subject close to my heart ... that of overcoming our fears and forging ahead. You might ask ... what does this have to do with beauty?

Well, quite a lot, I think. Have you ever seen someone who cannot look you in the eye, who is a little hunched over into themselves, or perhaps who denigrates themselves by making excuses or apologies for either their looks or their actions? Do they seem beautiful to you at the time? Probably not. It is definitely difficult to see beauty in a person who has no confidence.

Likewise, I have always had a very difficult time seeing beauty in a person who tears others down in order to make themselves feel better about themselves. They might have beautiful features, but their attitude is not beautiful and it shows in every negative word or vibe that they radiate.

In either instance, the person is obviously not comfortable with her true self. She does not appreciate or see the beauty she has inside and therefore either tears herself or others up ... and in the process her true self cannot shine through. That is so incredibly sad to me.

The fact is ... we need to find the courage to see inside ourselves, to see our real selves, and to love her.

I love a quote by Oprah Winfrey that says:

I was once afraid of people saying, “Who does she think she is?” Now I have the courage to stand and say, “This is who I am.”

Isn't that a wonderful quote? But I think it's almost putting the cart before the horse. How do we even get to the point where we worry about someone saying "who does she think she is?"

We have to decide that we are going to fly and spread our wings. That's the first step. Have you ever watched butterflies? I have several beautiful and large lavender bushes in my yard, which I love to watch everyday. They attract beautiful little white butterflies (at least I think they're butterflies, I'm definitely not an expert). I love to watch them flitter and fly their delicate individual dance. They seem so free, light, and have such grace and beauty as they flit from one lavender stalk to the next.

They are free, light, carefree, and going about the business of their lives as they were intended to do. I believe that is how we should live. Living without fear, living without the weight of the world on our shoulders, living with a joie de vivre, going about our lives with the purpose that we are here for. I believe that each person has a beautiful purpose, that only he or she can know. It is inside of you and you were born with that specific purpose. However, you, and only you, can have the courage to look inside, see that purpose, and find the courage to live passionately and to the fullest and not let fear keep you from doing it.

When you do that, once again, and I can never say this enough ... the very unique beauty that is yours will shine through.

So, why do we not do this? I believe it is because we think we have to be the perfect person that others think or perceive us to be. here's another quote that I love:

"The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself." ~ Anna Quindlen

So, mes amies ... that is my challenge to you (and myself) this week. Take some time, just for you, to look inside your heart and see the "real" you. What is holding you back from being that person? What can you do to release those fears? Contemplate on if you could ... then you would ...

In other words take the time to figure out that if you spread your wings, where would you fly? What would your carefree dance look like? Where would you flitter with grace and beauty? We can't know how to get where we want to be, if we don't know where we are going.

And, to give you a reminder of this challenge, I have created a wonderful quote by Vincent Van Gogh that I hope you will enjoy. All you need to do is click on the picture below to see the full size, and then right click to save to your computer.

Please feel free to print it out and display it to remind you. Or, you can use it as a desktop wallpaper to remind you of your challenge this week. All I ask is that you not mass distribute or use for any personal gain. You may, however, send any and everyone to my website for them to download their own personal copy.

So, au revoir, mes amies. Spread your wings and fly!!

Bisou Bisou,

Lorraine

P.S. Thanks to the Graphics Fairy for use of the Swallow Print.