rain and a word on creativity

It is pouring down rain right now. Since I'm inside with no where to go, I don't mind the rain showers at all. I have our two screen doors open and the sound of it is rather soothing. The pups are a bit freaked out because of the occasional burst of thunder. And, sadly my sweet husband is a bit preoccupied because he's not able to get his truck (or girlfriend as I like to refer to it, but that's another story) in the garage because we had a massive pile of mulch delivered in our driveway today, and he's worried it might hail.

Earlier this afternoon we started mulching our flower beds. We finished the one in the front of our house, which is the largest, before the storm moved in. Mulching is such a dirty job. I was covered from head to toe.

I know I've posted quite a bit about flowers recently. Truly, planting flowers is one of my creative outlets, and I enjoy them all summer long. Last week, while flower shopping with a friend, she was amused at how I arrange the flowers on my flat in the way I intend to plant them, so I can visualize and design my pots just as I want them to look. This year, my color theme for the flowers in my pots is mainly pinks and purples.

Here is your yogathought for the day on creativity from the creativity guru herself, Julia Cameron:

"We are all creative. Creativity is a natural life force that all can experience in one form or another. Just as blood is part of our physical body and is nothing we must invent, creativity is part of us and we each can tap into the greater creative energies of the universe and pull from that vast, powerful sprirtual wellspring to amplify our own individual creativity.

As a culture we tend to define creativity too narrowly and to think of it in elitist terms, as something belonging to a small chosen tribe of 'real artists.' But in reality everything we do requires making creative choices, although we seldom recognize that fact. The ways in which we dress, set up our homes, do our jobs, the movies we see, and even the people we involve ouselves with--these all are expressions of our creativity. It is our erroneuos beliefs about creativity, our cultural mythology about artists ('All artists are broke, crazy, promiscuous, self-centered, single or they have trust funds') that encourage us to leave our dreams unfulfilled. These myths most often involve matters of money, time, and other people's agendas for us. We we clear these blocks away, we can become more creative."

Namaste'

Yogadiva

(photo by kompot.photo on flickr)

my hgtv

It is so important to create a home you consider a sacred space: a place you feel is a reflection of you, a place you can relax, and a place that makes you feel calm and joyful. I am a true believer this can be done on any budget and in any home! My first home was a condo and almost everything in it was hand-me-downs or from garage sales, and in my humble opinion, it was an eclectic, chic lil' place. Now my sweet husband and I, and our pups and kitties, live in a little bit bigger home and we've made it into place we look forward to coming home to every day (notice the little touches of Zen in almost every room). Here are a few photos:

To go along with my HGTV theme, I also shot some photos of some of my recent gardening projects...only 3 more pots to go, and I'm finished planting for this year:

Here is your yogathought for the day:

Let your creative juices flow.

Boycott white walls.

Fill your home with only those things your truly love.

Plant flowers.

Create a sacred space.

Namaste'

Yogadiva

sunshine personal days and surprises

Today I took a personal day (we get two personal days per school year and I had one left). My original plan was to go to Strawberry Hill Farms, one of the greatest plant and flower places in town, buy some beautiful flowers and spend the rest of the day in the sun planting them. It seems the sunshine has been taking some personal days, too, as it hasn't been working much at all lately. Today was cloudy, rainy, and cold, so my personal day plan has been postponed. I ended up doing some laundry, running some errands, and then pretty much vegging out most of the day.

On a much more exciting note, earlier in the week, I was also thinking how much I would like to get a massage on my personal day, as I haven't had one in a few months; however, because I'm saving my mula to pay for some graduate classes I'll be taking this summer, I decided the massage was something I could live without--eventhough I had a deep yearning to get one. Then...literally, the day after I was thinking about craving a massage, I got a text message from one of my fabulous friend's husband, asking what I was doing this Saturday because he wanted to surprise his wife and buy us both lunch and massages at Spa Shiki. I almost fell out of my chair when I read the text. It worked out perfectly because the May schedule for yoga hadn't been sent out yet, so I was able to take the morning off. I was waiting to post about this until my friend found out about the surprise. I just got off the phone with her to finalize the details, and I cannot wait until tomorrow! I will be rising early, showering, swinging by Starbuck's drive-through, and heading out of town for a great day filled with girl-time fun and relaxation! Thank you my fabulous friend's hubby!!!

Hope your weekend has some fun and relaxation in it, too. And, I hope the sunshine gets back to work, soon. :)

Namaste'

Yogadiva

p.s. The photo is from Spa Shiki's website and is of the hot tub at Spa Shiki.