I can’t ever get enough of SMALL things that make BIG change!! These stories are just that!!
CHEERS to these people who took a step in making a difference. Yay YOU!! May we all have the courage to do small things that have a big impact.
I hope these stories inspire your day. -Peace and Love to you. -H
Fall is that special time of year when everything changes. It is a good time to reflect personal change, glorious colors and light, finding things that warm our bodies and soul and help us embrace a new season of our life.
I thought with Fall break coming I would find some fun ideas to help celebrate this beautiful time of year.
It is my daughter & husbands favorite time of year, so this is for you both!! Love you.
THIS IS A GREAT TIME OF YEAR TO…
GET OUTSIDE: We have a traditional First Day of Fall walk through the woods near our home. We also like to rake up a giant pile of leaves & take fun pictures in them.
Last year we invited all the cousins over & hid a giant sized candy bar in the pile & all the kids dove in looking for it. It took forever & by the time they found it, it was a little smashed, but oh so fun!! You could also get fun plastic, cheap toys and throw them in the pile to add to the fun.
Take a drive and enjoy the colors of the canyons. Take time to notice the changes around you. Ooh and Awe over the leaves below your feet & notice the intricate detail of patterns and color.
FOR YOU: Take the time to sit and watch the leaves fall. As you watch them one by one drop to the ground, think of things that weigh you down, that drain the energy from your body or make you feel low. As you notice those things, begin to watch the leaves again and envision your worries dropping with the leaves…going away, slowly drifting away, falling into a pile that will forever take them & leave you feeling a little less weighed down in your mind. Try it. See what happens.
START SOMETHING NEW: We have a great advantage!! We have youtube and other diy channels that you can learn about anything! Its amazing. I loved hearing that one of my daughter’s online friends when asked what he was doing for fall break said, “Maybe I will learn the guitar, fix my bike or how to hack a new game.” It screams of trying something new!! There is SO much to learn & if we just take a few minutes a day to invest in ourselves–think of the many things we would accomplish, learn & grow from.
What is something you want to learn? My list is endless! Italian, how to cook, learn more about energy & its effects, the power of nature, improve my photography skills, getting my creative ideas /writing out into the world, black belt (without being knocked down or throwing people to the ground–haha. not sure this is possible, so I will stick with kickboxing for now. smile), growing tomatoes (not successful yet), so many books to read (endless)…so many things to learn and do. Those are just off the top of my head.
TRY SOMETHING NEW TO EAT: Maybe google some fun chili or crockpot recipes that are full of warm, spicy goodness. You could also make some homemade rolls to make it a meal. Then make a yummy pumpkin, spice dessert like cupcakes with cream cheese frosting or pumpkin pie always hits the spot.
LISTEN TO SOMETHING PRETTY: I have been learning more about the power of music & its effects on the vibrations of the body. It is better to have good vibrations (no song intended. smile. smile). Maybe try some of the classics: Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. I personally like chill music like ‘Light and Motion’ or Carinthia. Its just calming.
RELAX THE MIND: Fall is a great time to put a puzzle together as a family, have quiet reading time or sit and color mindlessly. It gets darker earlier, so light a candle & find an activity that you can just calm the mind.
SCENTSATIONAL: grab a small pot and add cinnamon sticks, cloves, apple and orange slices, rinds, pine cones, etc. Let the scent fill your home with warm goodness.
GET COZY: My daughter always chimes in “lets get hygge” Ever since I read a book on the Danish style of embracing the coziness of what cold weather brings, she says this. We light a special candle that mirrors light throughout the room & creates an ambiance that we enjoy. Sometimes we embrace this sentiment with egg nog hot cocoa, cozy pants & cuddle up in our big blankets and watch a fun movie for fall.
Here are hygge tips from Good Housekeeping: Spend quality time with friends and family. Sit by a roaring log fire. (wish I had my old fireplace. sad face). Keep things simple (recipes). Dim the lights and use candles instead. Decorate the inside of the house with the outside (bring nature in with stone walls, wood floors, big wood tables, piles of logs). Bake bread. Drink cocoa. Don’t deprive yourself (indulge the good things in life–even dessert). Get outside (getting out in nature is key). Pick up a book. Put down the phone.
DRESS WARM: Celebrate the season with a new pair of boots or find a wrap you can throw on to keep you warm while enjoying a beautiful, fall breeze. Be aware of the aesthetics of what you put on and around you. Enjoy the fibers and textures & make sure they make you feel embraced in warmth.
GRATITUDE TREE: One year I found a large branch, stuck it in a pot & filled it with pebbles. On each branch I had my family write down things they were grateful for on little paper leaves & we hung them on the branches. It was a good daily reminder of good things within our life.
Well, I hope these ideas get you in the mood for fall. It is a beautiful time of year. enjoy.
I LOVE stories about individuals who have such an incredible impact on the world & this morning I came across yet another great story to share…
Douglas Tompkins (founder of The North Face brand) and Kristine McDivitt Tompkins (She grew up working at Patagonia & became their first CEO) both had a love of the beautiful country of Patagonia. Their marriage truly became a force for change.
Wow what changes they have made. Here is a glimpse of their story
I hope you enjoy their story as much as I did. Have a beautiful day & know that YOU are here for a purpose. Your gift to the world is to find it!!
-Peace to you. -H
$4 PICTURE holds $2.4 MILLION DECLARATION
A collector who spent $4 at a Pennsylvania flea market two years ago for a dismal painting because he liked the frame now finds himself the possessor of a first printing of the Declaration of Independence.
The discovery was announced yesterday by David N. Redden, head of the book and manuscript department at Sotheby’s in Manhattan. Mr. Redden described the document, found behind the painting when the collector took the frame apart, as an “unspeakably fresh copy” of the declaration. “The fact that it has been in the backing of the frame preserved it,” he said. Of the 24 copies known to survive, only 3 are in private hands, he added.
Mr. Redden said the unidentified owner bought the painting, “a dismal dark country scene with a signature he could not make out,” for its gilded and ornately carved frame. He told Mr. Redden that he discarded the painting, which he disliked. When he realized the frame was crudely made and unsalvageable, he said he got rid of it also.
“But he kept the declaration, which he had found behind the painting,” Mr. Redden said. “It was folded up, about the size of a business envelope. He thought it might be an early 19th-century printing and worth keeping as a curiosity.”
Recently the owner showed it to a friend “who became quite enthusiastic and urged him to look into it further,” said Selby Kiffer, an Americana printing specialist at Sotheby’s “At that point he called us.”
“The discovery of any first-printing copy of the declaration, even a fragmentary one or a poor copy, would be exciting,” Mr. Kiffer said. “But on this one, the condition is beyond reproach. It was folded up when we first saw it — the way the owner said it was in the painting, less than one-tenth of an inch thick. I had to agree with him it was just as well that he kept it that way.
“There has been absolutely no restoration, no repair. It was unframed and unbacked.” Only 7 of the 24 copies are unbacked, he said, which increases their value. -taken from nytimes, 1991 article
I just saw this story on Mysteries at the Museum & they mentioned that the print went for $2.4 Million (highest auction item ever)
ART ANYONE?
If you’re not an art connoisseur, it looks a lot like a bunch of squiggly lines on a page. But to an expert, it’s a stunning find – an original Jackson Pollock, an American painter and an artist considered a master of abstract expressionism.
How this painting came to be on display and up for sale in a local Toronto gallery is the stuff of legend. You may remember the unbelievable story surrounding a woman named Teri Horton, a retired truck driver who loved to frequent thrift shops around North America. When she entered one of them in California in the 1990s, she spotted a picture lying unused in a corner, a piece of artwork that no one seemed to want.
She hated it but thought it was funny. And she was going to buy it for her depressed friend. And she brought it to the counter and the lady said it was $8 and Teri said she’s willing to pay $5, she doesn’t love her friend that much. They were planning on drinking some beers and throwing darts at it. But a friend of hers was dating an art teacher and he looked at it and said ‘you very well may have a Jackson Pollock on your hands.’
And she came back with the statement ‘Who the F is Jackson Pollock?’ And it all began from there. That statement became the name of a 2006 documentary featuring her story, including her struggles to prove her five buck painting was really the masterpiece many claimed it was. It was finally authenticated and now there’s no doubt about its value.The painting has since been assessed as being worth a stunning $50 million, surely the greatest flea market bargain in history. -taken from Oddee.com
One day, an employee at a tool-and-die company in Indiana spent $30 for a few pieces of used furniture and an old painting of some flowers and decided to strategically hang the picture to cover up a hole in the wall that had been bugging him.
Some years later he was playing a board game called Masterpiece in which players attempt to outbid one another for artwork at an auction. Much to his surprise, one of the cards in the game featured a painting of flowers that looked a lot like the one he had on his wall. He found that his painting was similar in style to the work of Martin Johnson Heade, an American still-life artist best known for landscapes and flower arrangements.
He asked the Kennedy Galleries in Manhattan, which handles many of Heade’s works, to take a look at his painting. They verified that the piece of artwork covering the hole in his wall was a previously unknown Heade painting, since named Magnolias on Gold Velvet Cloth. In 1999, The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston purchased the painting for $1.2 million dollars. -taken from Oddee.com
MORE If you liked these stories, here is another link to many other thrift store finds that were incredible treasures. Wow! http://boredomtherapy.com/incredible-thrift-store-finds/
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