Grace Notes and Metamorphosis

This week has been filled with grace notes. The Universe is conspiring to bring a big juicy smack of love and good wishes to me and I can hardly take it all in.

I'm about to set off on the adventure of a lifetime.

When I was a little girl on the farm, feeding pigs and chickens, milking cows, walking endless rows of bean fields in the hot summer sun, I would see jet contrails and imagine the swanky life of the folks drinking martini's in the posh silver tube overhead.  I was a well read little girl on the farm and I knew that there was life beyond the fields that I saw every day.

And now the Universe and Prince Charming are conspiring together to give me the adventure I've dreamed about.

But first I have to pack. Oh no! I have nothing to wear for this life of swanky adventure.
Here's a sample from my closet.

This will not do! Here's how I imagine my traveling wardrobe

Coco Channel, my idea of fashion perfection

And so the Universe comes to the rescue in the form of friends. I spent a cold, rainy Saturday shopping, my very least favorite thing to do with one of my most favorite people in the world, Melynda.

First to prepare me for the traumas that waited in the dressing room, we had a glass (or two) of wine

Then it was off to the torture chamber, I mean dressing room, in which predictably nothing fit. Everything was too long, too big, too tight......not right! I was Goldilocks

without finding just right.

Melynda whisked me away back to her house and her closet and there we happily giggled and slipped in and out of pants and tops until wa-la!

A decent traveling wardrobe emerged.

Wednesday the Universe continued it's joyful outpouring. Joanie invited our lunch bunch over to her house for lunch.  It was a gorgeous spring day, everything in bloom.

My to-do list and everyone else's was as long as usual.  But we collectively decided to ignore the urgent in favor of the necessary--time spent with girlfriends laughing and sharing stories.

Some days are like that, occasionally we get weeks where the stars align, the weather is perfect, the flowers are all blooming and the Universe fills us up with laughter, friendship, love and adventure.

On Thursday, there was a knock at the door.  It was Marijo bearing these!

A bouquet of Lilly of the Valley. I'd forgotten how wonderfully fragrant they are.  Marijo's been away so we spent time catching up, another lovely gift from the Universe.

Joanie and Marijo added to my list of necessary equipment for adventure travel:

a Kindle and a travel purse.  Now I'm all set. My ruby slippers are packed and I'm ready to go!

But before I go, I want to share the adventures of the Butterfly Lady.

For several years now Ann has been teaching children at the local elementary school about the metamorphose process caterpillars go through to become butterflies.

This year she ordered over 100 caterpillars.  Most of them are in the classroom, but she had such an abundance that she's keeping a few at home.

The caterpillars are getting ready to spin their cocoons.  When I popped over to take these pictures, Ann was fighting with the saran wrap.  She was on her way to the classroom to wrap a child in saran wrap as a visual aid to explain what the cocooning process was like for the caterpillar. This is part of the life of adventure the Universe brings to us every day. The caterpillar spinning it's cocoon to transform into

butterflies.  

We are all on our way to becoming something brand new and magnificent.  I'm so excited to be climbing into the cocoon of a jet plane and a few hours later to find myself on a different continent where people speak a different language and see the world differently than I do.  I expect I'll come back changed, hopefully with a bigger, more expansive and beautiful understanding of the world. When I was young I thought once I reached 50, I'd understand life and the world. I'm so delighted to find that isn't true.  There is so much more to learn and see and do. I wonder how this prairie caterpillar will emerge from this new experience? I can't wait to find out.

Ann walks through the universe covered in butterflies 

to help our children see the world they walk in everyday as a magical transforming place.

The big and the small, the every day and the exotic the world is always pushing us to see wonder and delight.

Because I expect my first international travel experience to be challenging enough without trying to figure out how to make a computer work on a different electrical and wifi grid, I'll be taking a few weeks off blogging.  

Until I return, may you all experience your own butterfly moments and may the Universe bless you with the abundance of love and friendship!

Window Shopping

Anthropologie on King

Prince Charming and I are just returned from window shopping on King St. in Charleston.  This is the only kind of shopping either of us likes, neither of us has started a lick of our Christmas shopping, instead of feeling worried or anxious we enjoyed these frothy creations of delight.

We weren't the only ones out enjoying the pretty windows.  That baby on the scooter is maybe two-years-old. I admired this family's energy, mom and dad walking, sister on the bike, baby pushing like crazy on the scooter.

Another pretty window with various Christmas trees at Anthropologie.

Even the buildings themselves are beautiful.  Here's the old Kress building, given new life as H&M'S home.

Loved these old TV's with their 3-D Christmas scenes.  This picture doesn't really do them justice. Too bad for you and me, they are all sold out!

If you're rocking the hip pink thing this Christmas, Moon and Lola's got you covered.  Even your furry friends are welcome at this shop.

This pair can serve me a cocktail any time!  One thing we loved from our trip to Charleston was the way everyone dressed like a grownup.  Sure jeans and yoga pants have their place, but I'd like to make a small plea that sometimes we all put on our best attire and spiff ourselves up.  Charlestonians set a high bar for the rest of us.

I wanted to take this fellow from a Talbot's window home with me so I could find a little Christmas cheer in his snowy embrace.  The 14-inches of snow we received just before Thanksgiving was gone before the week was out.  It'll be a brown Christmas for us on Pershing Road this year.

Whew!  After all of that busy shopping on the crowded streets we found this little walk to give us a quiet reprieve.  Turns out it was the reflection garden for the Unitarian Universalist Church. Very pretty.

And a little wild as we got into the heart of the garden.

They even decorate their houses uniquely here.  Wonder how they ever got this massive canvas Santa's hat on the turret?!

Our "shopping" trip ended with a glass of cheer at Slightly North of Broad.

We're on our way home now. Wishing you the meeriest of Christmases and good luck on finishing up on that shopping!

Hope

Have you shifted into Christmas gear? Somewhere between frenzy and meltdown?

There's the decorating list, the party list—those to give and those to attend—the baking list, the gift list, the daily chore list, the “should” list....whatever yours is, the gift list, the buy list, the want list, the Christmas card letter list.

God, could you deliver a pause?

And the answer is yes! It comes in the form of Advent. That moment to quite the soul, to listen to the still, quite voice whispering amongst the din, the voice of hope, of grace, of peace.

This year I decided to listen to that still quite voice. I decided to consciously celebrate Advent, the four weeks before Christmas. It seemed so easy, so natural. 

 Right after Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday,

 a day to recognize all that we have to be grateful.

Why not slip right into Advent? A season that celebrates hope, peace, love and joy--easy peasy. Especially easy because our children are grown, we write checks instead of buying gifts and the decorating of the house, the throwing of parties is entirely at our discretion.

Plus we're spending the better part of the month traveling with three other good friends. 

What could be easier than traveling to wonderful parts of our country, visiting unique historic sites with people you love?

Except God is not into easy peasy. 

When you invite God in, he throws the door to your soul open and invites in all the unresolved, insane issues, the craziest parts of yourself, the most challenging situations.

We got through Thanksgiving with grace, joy and praise. 

We transitioned Friday from Thanksgiving to Christmas. 

Prince Charming with Prince Charming-in-training

Prince-Charming-in-training, aka our grown son, suggested we had nothing on Clark Kent who can transition from Clark to Super Man in under 20 seconds when we transitioned the house from Thanksgiving to Christmas in almost as short a time.

So far on our trip to Advent...recall the season of hope, peace, love and joy, we've faced a major, unresolved health crisis, a dear friend, taking a fall, ending in a life threatening coma, and the daily drama of five lives trying to learn to live together in a condo.

As of Sunday, we're half-way through Advent. We've marked the weeks of hope and peace, in the messiest, most human way possible. We've lighted candles, said our prayers, argued, laughed, rolled our eyes and prayed.

We're halfway through Advent....makes you wonder what Christmas, the birth of a child with change and love in mind, has in store doesn't it?