* The weight of a down comforter…there’s always a cool spot and always a warm spot.

* The square patch of sunlight on the bottom left-had corner of my bed my bulldog finds every morning…pure heaven for her.

*Dangling my feet…i love to dangle my feet off  the side of a dock or a swinging wooden bench…something about swinging them back and forth without feeling the ground underneath.

*Hearing a song for the first time that moves you & keeping it on repeat for an hour…

*Peanut butter, ritz crackers and a glass of milk

* Watching kids have fun with Lucky  Charms.  I love the ways kids get so excited when they see the colors the milk turns as the colored sugar dissolves or how they carefully separate the marshmallow shapes and the wheat cereal and put them in two different piles.

A few of my favorite quotes:

be gentle with yourself.  you are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.
- max ehrma

do not go where the path may lead. go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. 
- ralph waldo emerson

finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day. you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. 
- ralph waldo emerson

happiness is a journey, not a destination. for a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. but there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. at last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. happiness is the way. so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one. 
-souza

live with intention. walk to the edge. listen hard. practice wellness. play with abandon. laugh. choose with no regret. continue to learn. appreciate your friends. do what you love. live as if this is all there is. 
-mary anne radmacher

walk with the dreamers, the believers, the courageous, the cheerful, the planners, the doers, the successful people with their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground. let their spirit light a fire within you to leave this world better than when you found it…
- wilfred peterson

* Watching little kids eat vanilla and chocolate icecream.  They pile a heaping scoop of each flavor in their bowls and start to mix it up together, fascinated by the marbled swirls of brown and white colors blend together and form long ribbons of shapes.  The mixing is not finished until the colors blend into a brown goop and the kids get even more excited becauase they now have  ”icecream soup!”

* Although this is frustrating, I always get a little burst of energy running awkwardly through airports ( luggage flapping at my side) trying to make a connecting flight.  Everyone looks at you with great understanding.

* Watching little girls line up their dolls and stuffed animals at night and hearing them say, “I love you, Teddy, I love you, kitty, I love you, Jane, I love you, Cha-Cha, I love you all & sweet dreams….”  Each “I love you,” is straight from the heart and so delicate hearing it in that little girl voice.

* Finding those couple of stray french fries at the bottom of my McDonald’s bag.

* Nothing compares to the smell and crackling sounds of a real fire in the fireplace.

* Remember how fascinated I was when I learned the word, palindrome…. kayak, racecar, won ton not now, was it a rat i saw, sit on a potato pan otis.  I spent the entire day finding words and phrases that were palindromes.

*Cutting a thick deli sandwich in half.  I love to see the perfectly straight and even layers of turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mustard layered evenly on top of one another.  The first bit looks so clean and inviting.

* How a snowy day actually can come as a relief.  You know that you are comfortable and safe inside your house & you’re not missing anything outside because the world is at rest.  You  can nest into activities that make you feel warm (can certain activities make you feel warm….??): baking, napping, reading by the fire, organizing old photos (but spending more time looking at them and capturing the memories), writing, and chatting with an old friend.

* Geese flying in a V-formation together.

* A new year! For me that means: new possibilities, new risks, saying yes & saying no, trying harder (and, after that, trying more), being patient, embracing obstacles, forgetting about fear, reaching out, making goals, appreciating my life.

*The worn postage and faded ink on letters sent to my grandmother from my grandfather.

*Blueprints from buildings (especially when used as artwork on walls of a home).

*Pillows placed on porch swings made from vintage grain sacks and military blankets.

*The way the lines from the illustrations in the book, “The Giving Tree” have so much personality and depth.

*Saturday morning=pancake morning=sticky fingers=whiffs of maple syrup and goodness throughout the whole day

*Faded ocean colors and fresh layers of sand on surfboards lined up against wooden beach homes.

*Peeling off the leaves of a steamed artichoke and dipping each one in melted butter & sea salt.

• The mystery of the ukuele
• grilled cheese & tomato soup…especially in the dead of winter
• haphazardly arranged desks
• the many random things I get done while waiting for a kettle to boil
• the way my fiances’ fingers feel against my neck when he fastens the clasp on my necklace
• the vintage red leather covered chair inside an old photobooth
• champagne-poached pears
• internal landmarks
• espadrilles made from catalan cotton canvases
• joie de vivre & je ne sais quoi
• fish, meaty lamb shanks, sweet paprika, cayenne, mint leaves, Moroccan lame, and  vegetable couscous
• the scent of my mother’s red lipstick

• the taste of a cinnamon stick after it has been soaking in a hot toddie
• finally spotting  the aluminum road sign on the side of the road with the name of the state that you’ve been driving 1000’s of miles to eventually see..you just know you’ve finally arrived.
• the exact second heavy milk actually turns to fresh whipped cream
• cocktail recipes found in old cigar boxes
• home-made muffins wrapped in parchment paper
• the mineral and grapefruit essence of a Spanish albarino
• the gently folded napkin notes found in tin elementary school lunch boxes
• animal shaped cookie cutters
• a small yellow finch perched on a periwinkle painted bird feeder
• knowing that even when my grandmother’s mind escaped her, there were memories in the bones, blood, muscles of her hands, reassuring her that she would always remember how to crochet
• the cheap & half-full bottles of shampoo that line the dark wood planks of an outdoor shower at the beach

A few inspirations for this Sunday night…

• opening up a container of Play-doh and finding the perfectly molded cylindrical shape 
• the way shadows reflect on a face from crimson colored glass lanterns
•  watching sugar crystallize from the heat of a torch on the surface of crème brulee
•  prosciutto, mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil
•  eating black-eyed peas on January 1st
•  fragrant wisteria spilling over a white picket fence
•  emptying the kitchen “catch-all” drawer to find lots of little treasures that I “thought” I was missing

This evening, while taking a walk through the neighborhood, I caught a whiff of a family drying clothes.  There was a certain smell of cotton and fresh dryer sheets.  The smell warmed me.   I started thinking about Sunday night inspirations…and so, I begin, the Sunday Night Inspiration List…here are a few for tonight.

• aged terra-cotta pots covered with moss
• lattice crusted rhubarb pie
• ball point pen messages written on bananas
• the basic ingredients of sesame paste – tahini, lemon juice, chickpeas, olive oil
•  the discreet layer of flour felt on a handwritten baking recipe
•  the natural curve of an orchid stem 
• The  shaggy cap of a shitake mushroom
• The whiff of a hot candied pecan stand, a hotdog vendor, or cotton candy machine  hitting you exactly four steps after you walk past