Going Green

You’ve probably heard moving is stressful. Maybe you’ve even been through it and can distinctly recall the agony you felt waiting to hear on a contract or the exhaustion that overtook you after making beds and vacuuming for showings.

We’ve moved around a bit, so going into it this time I knew I had to do some things that would make the entire process less painful. Less stressful. For me that meant having a project.

So I went green.

I got my interior designer game on and studied HGTV (and Pinterest) like it was nobody’s business. Except I made it entirely my business. I went all Edward Scissorhands on an old fake Christmas tree we planned to throw out. I created wreaths. I cut the underside of a boxwood bush in our yard, and painted a terra cotta pot white. I grew to love Granny Smith. By the time of the first showing, there were deliberate splashes of green all over my house.

Why green?

It tends to get a bit gloomy where I live this time of year. I beg for the leaves to reappear on the trees come mid-April.

Shades of green speak life. Renewal. Clean.

 All the things I want a future buyer to feel.

The good news is we’re coming into the final stages of this wacky transition period and I haven’t completely lost my marbles.

Completely. ;-)

Greetings from Edit Land

I’m immersed in revisions. And this is a good thing. There’s nothing quite like having direction and running with it. I like to joke that entering a season of editing closely compares to visiting a famous hotel in California. You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave. At least it feels that way. I’ve frequented my novel a lot in my dreams lately. Ideas for plot changes filter through conversations. Even in the midst of a fairly significant life transition my family is going through, I still find myself hacking through details in my book. It feels glorious. It’s not that I love editing. I don’t particularly enjoy coming across ridiculous mistakes I’ve made, slashing chapters, disappearing characters, or the laborious task of reimagining entire sections of my book.

But I do love working toward improvement. I’m all in when it comes to that.

If I’m a little quiet on social media you’ll understand why.

I’m playing Edit Twister

or coaching my dog how to tackle edits on the days my brain is mush.

*posting again on Feb. 27th.

Look Closely

See the faces in this picture? These are a few of my book club peeps and hear me when I say these women help make my world go round. Also, I’d like to mention in these tumultuous times, that in our group of twelve, there are at least six faiths represented. Did we plan to establish a religiously diverse book club? No. It just worked out that way and I’m that much more enlightened because it did. I can’t tell you how happily my brain buzzes after an invigorating book discussion with these women. I find I’m often challenged, though not threatened in my own faith. Because I firmly believe only that which rests on a weak foundation is threatened by the differences of others.

I’ve wrestled for weeks about how vocal to be about what’s happening in our country and I keep coming back to my actions—people will pay attention to how I’m living more than what I’m saying. So read this. But I also invite you to observe how I act online and in person. Hold me accountable. (Don’t vent or spew…but if you see me doing wrong to another human being, excluding, or being hateful, you are welcome to come to me and confront me about it. I believe in being open to change. And I’m certainly humble enough to know I screw up on a daily basis.)

Back to my peeps though for a second. I love God. He’s been good to me and changed my life in countless ways. I want others to know that love. However, I’m also really curious to hear about how others are living their lives. I appreciate listening to what motivates and drives them, what rituals and traditions they may espouse to, learning about their unique faith. Here’s a real kicker…the women in my book club have various political leanings as well. Would we choose to shut someone out, to oust them, if they opposed our viewpoint? No. That’s not who we are. Instead, if I may say so, I think most of us feel that someone who doesn’t share our same views actually has the ability to edify us if we’re only willing to hear them.

That’s just it.

It starts with us. We need to be willing. We need to let others in. To cut the fear. To stay accountable. To remain open and nonjudgmental.

And we need to look closely at our own behavior before we try to convince anyone else of anything.