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Begin Again - It's Spring

 

“The amazing gift of being alive is that no matter what, we can always begin again." 

Sharon Salzberg

I love spring. It’s the sun shinning through the windows, the longer days, the newness of the plants growing, and just the shedding of all the heaviness of winter. This year I am really looking forward to what spring brings. We planted 150 assorted daffodil bulbs in our yard last fall, now we wait to see them emerge from under the snow. I do a daily check to see what is coming up. I see a few have already begun to grown, slowly they emerge. It’s fun to remember where we planted them last fall.

I think of the spring bulbs as a metaphor for myself this spring, maybe you see it too. We are coming out of 2 years of the pandemic and need to be gentle with ourselves. I am emerging slowly, finding new ways to connect with others, and just begin again. I’m trying a practice I recently heard about, starting my day with 10-15 minutes of creative work. I’ll share a few ideas with you here, maybe give it a try if you like.

10 WAYS TO BE CREATIVE FOR 10 MINUTES TODAY

  1. Stitch something by hand.

  2. Read or Write poetry.

  3. Choose a new recipe to try this week.

  4. Go outside and lie on your back and cloud-gaze for 10 minutes.

  5. Write a list of your favorite colors. Rename them by how they make you feel.

  6. Clean up your existing place in your house that is your creative space—10 minutes to clean it up.

  7. Look at a favorite art book and put bookmarks on your 10 favorite pieces.

  8. Take 10 photographs of things that inspire you.

  9. Draw a rainbow and hang it on your wall. That’s your rainbow that reminds you that you can always make art.

  10. Just sit there and imagine you’re in your favorite museum, gallery, or creative space. Then write down what you see.

It was amazing how just taking that 10 minutes a day to focus on a simple creative thing just made my day so much better. I would highly recommend trying it, feel free to choose your own creative outlet. I am going to do #5 this week and I’ll share it with you next time. Go and create something, you will find it is 10 minutes well spent.

I took the time in March do a little redo of my little blue shed, specifically the inside, it took more then 10 minutes. (I’ll share before and after pictures soon.) I hope to have it all done by mid April. I want it to be a more creative space that inspires me and not just a place to store things. I look forward to hosting more gatherings using this space & the yard outside. I wish this Utah weather would decide if we were going to have spring or winter in April.

March/April is also the time I change my house over from Winter to Spring, decorating for the season. The furniture is moved to take advantage of the longer days and more sunlight, and the view out the window vs the warmth of the fireplace. The wool pillows, and throws are replaced with linen and cottons. The candles changed from red to yellow and the scents changed to fresh citrus. I also created a spring playlist on Spring In Town. When decorating for the seasons think of the 5 senses, sight, sound, touch, smell, and of course taste. So let’s bake something for spring. How do you like that nice transition? wink, wink


FIKA - Make time for yourself, or enjoy time with a friend.

Spring baking to me is anything rhubarb, fresh berries, and of course citrus. That brings me to my next fika recipes, and they are all citrus based. I am on the hunt for the ‘perfect’ lemon loaf, or lemon pound cake. I have a few recipes I am trying so far my favorite is this one Ottolenghi’s Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake. Next up is this one from Dorie Greenspan Mix-It-Up Citrus Loaf Cake. The funny thing is after deciding to find the ‘perfect’ lemon loaf, I have found more recipes, gotten emails about lemon cakes, and seen posts everywhere I look. So I have added this recipe from Flourist Glazed Lemon Cake to my baking list. The search might be long but it will be tasty and fun. Follow me on Instagram to see which one becomes ‘the perfect’ one.


A few books I’m reading: 

Living with Color: Inspiration and How Tos to Brighten Up Your Home  

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants 

A couple things to listen to:  

Ten Percent Happier Podcast 

another Spring Playlist 

More things to make: 

Rhubarb-Ginger Coffeecake  

Chai Concentrate

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