owl eyes…

are watching  youuuuu (to the tune of Private Eyes)

A telephone pole in my neighborhood.

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A bit more of the house – bedroom!

A bit more progress on the house. I love our bedroom set 🙂

With Myra WonderPup, you will also see Ted and two of my Ellies. Ted is in charge. He is also very patient. He tolerates the ellies (elephants if you don’t speak Kelly) very well, even though they are always pestering him for stories. But they are both young ellies, and he understands that.

Rows of jewelry boxes on the dresser, and another Ellie.

My nightstand, the picture is of me and B, the journal sticker says Destined to be an old woman with no regrets.

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Some color for your day

B went out to play in a poker tournament, and I had a lovely evening at home. I made pizza for myself, watched some of Notting Hill while I ate, then had American Idol on while I painted and played in my Wreck journal. Felt good to get covered in paint and glue!

The tags say Have fun, grow, embrace, dream, embrace life, scatter joy

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Some recents and currents

I am currently reading Gods Behaving Badly, courtesy of a great review from Library Girl Reads (Thanks Angela!) A fun, entertaining read, and makes me remember how much I was fascinated by Greek mythology.

I am also halfway through The Riddle, the second book in the Pellinor series. I put it down to read Gods Behaving Badly, but I can’t wait to get back to this. A really great fantasy series, with a strong female lead, who is trying to find out who she is, and trying to do the right thing, while doubting that she is really the one who can save her people.

B got me Wreck this Journal (check out the customer images, they are awesome!) for Valentine’s Day, and can I say how much fun this journal is?? I am admittedly a journal whore. I love new journals. I stand in bookstores and look at all the new journals with lust and longing. And I can very much suffer from the journal perfection — it is so lovely and beautiful when I get it, I don’t want to Wreck it by using it! I feel intimidated by its newness, by all the blank pages. But this journal will have none of that, thank you very much. I have dipped my pen in coffee and ended up drawing the coffee genie, who was still sleepy and not granting wishes yet, I traced my hand and drew in my lovely engagement ring that I still love to look at all the time, I burned off a corner of a page, drew an ice cream cone by dipping my pen cap in my coconut milk vanilla ice cream (lovely after a dinner of potatoes and roasted veggies). I ignored the directions entirely on a page that said to leave it blank on purpose. I drew a scene or two from our upcoming honeymoon, specifically a sea turtle that I want to meet and a lovely hammock that I want to lay in. I colored outside the lines, and wrote a message that color doesn’t have to be contained. It is wonderful fun. I highly recommend it.

Some new music, I recently downloaded Dusty in Memphis from iTunes. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I only really knew Son of a Preacher man, but I am so swoony about her voice and songs now. This album is great to listen to while you are making dinner.

For long, happy mermaid soaks in my tub, I am loving the Jasmine Vanilla and Black Currant Vanilla aromatherapy body washes from Bath and Body Works Sensuality line. Pour some in, light a candle, breathe in and just enjoy the delightful smells.

What are you listening to, reading, loving?

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Fish and flying giraffes

Mom! Come quick! There are fish outside my window!!!

That’s nice dear.

Mooooom! I’m serious! There really are fish outside my window!

Alright dear, that is quite enough.

Hey Mom!!! Now’s there’s a flying giraffe outside my window!! You have to come see this!

I have had just about enough of this from you. What have I told you about that imagination of yours? You are going to dream your life away. It’s time for you to grow up and stop this nonsense.

Nobody ever believes me. 😦

For everyone who believes in the fantastical and magical and unlikely. For everyone who dreams and wishes and can see the possible even when others can’t — don’t stop believing. Don’t stop imagining and dreaming and wishing and playing. Just because other people can’t see what you see, doesn’t mean it isn’t true, or that it isn’t worth holding on to.

And when someone tells you that there is a flying giraffe outside their window…take a leap of faith and believe them. Try it, just once, and you might see a whole new world open up in front of you.

Photos taken in downtown Raleigh

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Lovely, delicious blooming

For Savannah, Brandi, Lira, Jess, and all the other lovely souls who are blooming into themselves and beginning to tap their great potential — including me!

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“Yours, Truly”

Truly was born at 11:11 on November 11. She was born Truly Amber Devine, but she didn’t tell many people that. She figured Truly Devine was bad enough. The Devine came from her father, not The Father. She didn’t have much to say about that, as she had never met him. Or them, as she hadn’t met The Father either.

Her mother thought that Truly was a beautiful name, she loved sounds with -ly in them, and she told Truly once that names infuse people with power, so she wanted someone who would always be true. But then again, her mother also believed in television psychics, so Truly didn’t put much stock in that. The Amber part, well, her mom loved crystals and rocks and colors. Truly figured Amber must have been her mother’s favorite when she was born, but she never asked. And she knew that her mother had never once uttered her full name outloud before she was born and realized that she was naming her only daughter Truly Devine.

But Truly figured the name you were born is the name you kept,  so she tried to make the best of it.

This is mostly from a dream and from the early morning kind of awake kind of asleep state I was in this morning.

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dreaming of tropical breezes

The winds outside are cold, certainly for down here, with temps in the 30s and 40s right now. I’m itching to play in the sunshine, feel the tension of winter melt away in warmer weather, wander around with my camera, sit outside and sip coffee, feeling the unhurried sense that seems to come with warmer temperatures.

But even more than spring temperatures, I am dreaming of tropical breezes, turquoise blue oceans, wandering around barefoot in the sand, and playing in the water. Oh, how this mermaid misses the ocean and playing in the water. And this mermaid used to be a proper mermaid, one who spent much of her youth diving off the coast of Massachusetts, scuba diving, snorkeling, playing with fish and lobster in their native homes. Sadly, it has been a long time since I spent any length of time underwater.

And like most mermaids, I was born with a strong desire for travel and exploration. Mermaids are naturally curious creatures. And it has been far, far too long since I have done any proper travel. My travel of late has been home to New England, either from North Carolina, or before that, Oregon. Nothing exotic really.

But not for much longer, dear reader! I just booked a very special trip for B and I to go to Belize….a honeymoon, you might even say 🙂 Is it May 24 yet? I can’t wait! And we have three days of scuba diving booked. B is going to get certified before we leave, and your Mermaid Truly is going to take a refresher course, just to be safe and comfortable. I am a mermaid who is all about safety, especially when playing underwater. I haven’t been diving in years, I can’t wait to do it again, and to get to share it with B, who has dreamed of diving his whole life.

This is where we will be staying

This is one of the renowned snorkeling/dive spots,where you can swim with nurse sharks and rays!

This is one of the most famous Belize dive sites but it is a full day boat ride, so I don’t know if we will make it out there. But it is lovely to look at.

This is the island we will be staying on – Ambergris Caye

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Friday fill-ins

From Friday Fill-ins

1. Give me _sunshine_and warm weather___ and I’ll dance with joy____.

2. Whenever _it rains, I want to curl up with a good book, a snuggly blanket and good tea____.

3. I wish _to spend more of my life traveling, writing, doing photography and painting____.

4. _My gluten-free, dairy-free cheesecake that I made____ was the last thing I ate that was utterly delicious.

5. To live in this world is to have the option to choose joy or unhappiness, to choose to make things better or to leave them worse, to open your heart to love, despite the risks, or to live too afraid to take a chance.

6. Other than this one, _(hmm, don’t know really, I’ve been a bad blog friend commenter lately)____ is the last blog I commented on.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to _going to the Comedy festival_, tomorrow my plans include _a photography and journal exploring adventure in Raleigh with B_ and Sunday, I want to _paint, read, cook, and set up the house more!

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Spring springs

Spring begins to step out of her shell early here

but still reluctantly

Trees, dipped in cotton candy pink paint, have begun to pop up here and there

Buds and morning dew are artfully arranged on trees like christmas lights

Birds chatter happily to each other in the mornings

while geese fly about sounding bossy

But Spring is still timid, too timid to spring up all at once

and everytime she starts to warm up and allow herself to be seen and felt

Winter grumbles and complains and tries to squash her spirit

And Spring will play along for a while, letting Winter think he is winning

But Spring is not one to hide herself away forever

She is all about making a proper entrance, when she will be most appreciated and loved.

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