A warm November day

The last 2 weeks have been brutal with the kids being sick and lovingly passing it on to me (lol) so when we had this warm November day - I thought - perfect time to go out and blow the stink off of us! My friend Betsy told me about this amazing place - Spring Hills Farm - 6 miles from our house (I KNOW!) and I packed the kids in the car and off we went.

Hannah, Harrison & I went to the Spring Hills Farm to pick up a wreath, maple syrup and pick out our Christmas Tree (waiting until Wednesday so Daddy can come too! :) ) and while we were there they let us roam the property, look at the sheep, chickens & roosters and very cool old cemetery across the street (the resting place of the 2 original owning families dating back as far as the revolutionary war! We had a blast and can't wait til Wednesday to go back!

 

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inspired by: being outdoors

cheers, meg

We are blessed

It's easy to be sad - to be happy takes work. 

 

Today a blizzard is coming and right now we have rain and flurries. Not fun. Not fun b/c it is 30 degrees out + the above noted weather. But today I feel really blessed. Really blessed. Blessed because I love our home, our family, our life. Do we have all that we "want"? no, but we have all that we need. 

Hannah and I baked a cake together, I set up my knitting and books in my favorite nook of the house & we have yummy pierogies cooking. The clothes are done, the house is straightened. The upstairs smells like yummy incense that I was burning for a friends loved one "Health" and later hot tea and some scary movies are in my future. Harrison & I played cars and Hannah told me "I just love you mom, because"......

Today is a good day and we are blessed for what we have. Thank you to Molly & Aunt Nancy and all that are looking out for us and blessing us like you have. We are very grateful and I am very thankful to your love. 

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inspired by: blessings, family, home, love

cheers, meg

When life hands you lemons.....

Today was the AWE Awards ceremony. Last year I was a nominee and was blessed to receive the Woman of Merit Award. This year I set up a table for Keen Bean Design and met some amazing women (and potential contacts - score!) Anyway, we sat down afterwards for the lunch and heard an amazing lecture from a sef declared "mom-preneur" Cena Block. Her business is Sane Spaces and she gave the most amazing, inspiring speech on how women do it all and get through it shining bright. Talk about inspiring! Did I mention, shes a yogi? AHHHH yes! Anyway, I asked for some excerpts b/c they were insanely informative and I want to share them with you.

• Clarifying Your Perspective and determine whether it serves you
• Understanding Your Self and What’s Important
• Finding your sense of Personal Motivation repeatedly
• Minimizing your own Limitations and barriers
• Aligning Actions with Greater Cause – Making a Personal Contribution

And the four "sanity" dimensions to assess and address are your:

• Spaces
• Systems
• Self 
• Support 

To end her amazing speech I "borrowed" her inspiring yoga image, See! a well balanced business woman!

Ok, onto personal things.... Im learning so much about people and how to feel and to react. I have always worked in fields where acceptance is required. Your clients need to accept your work or you wont be paid, essentially. I carried that feeling into my personal life and really just realized (and found out through the small town grapevine), some do not support me and although it hurts..... its ok. I have an amazing support group of friends and have a more than amazing team to support me & KBD through business. Not to mention the people who do support me outweigh the ones who don't. Recently my feelings have been hurt and I had my emotional moment and then stopped. Its good to feel, but better to get over it. The results of today were not the one negative piece of feedback, but the dozen pieces of positive and amazing feedback! Not to mention, I felt great i my red patent heels!

One thing Cena mentioned, that I have always believed, you need to find time for you. To balance your life. My kids, my husband, my friends and my work are my life. But my hobbies and interests are my glue. Lately as motherhood and age have crept in, I noticed I am taking a new viewpoint. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy 

Im confident in my love, my success, my feelings, my responsibilities and finally my choices. It took 36 years to acknowledge that but I am most grateful. For that I will end my post with some candids of my heart: 

EDITED TO ADD: It is OK to feel "not so great" about parenting, work, life in general. And it is OK to talk about it. I share my feelings to let others know - your not alone. <3 Namaste!


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inspired by: new beginnings and love
cheers, meg

Fabric & Fiber

Sometimes it is hard to find energy & motivation in the morning. Especially when you are awoken by your teething 5 month old & uber energized 3 year old. So. After countless mornings of convincing myself I must be depressed or something I decided to think about things that make me excited, inspired and motivated. Things that when I just think about them my heartbeat hops & I get my act together.

It's hard to focus on yourself as a mom because you stop your life to help your wee-ones. You put your needs aside for their best interests. I know there is a way to make everything work, but b/c Im so new to all of this, I havent figured it out... If you know, please share! But until I figure out how to still have interests & work on them while keeping my babies happy, here is a mini photo collection of what gets me smiling and out of bed instead of crawling under the covers b/c 7am fussiness is not my dream alarm clock.

A hand knit alpaca & bamboo scarf for a new wee-one



The new fabrics for lavender relaxation pieces I make for KMS.



A hand knit scarf from Irish wool... I LOVE this!



On Monday Ill be at the Martha Stewart Show in a new section that hasn't been "unveiled" yet. I was beyond excited to get the invite to participate. Martha is, of course, one of my mentors (well, through her publications, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting her... yet!)

I need to wear something stylish and colorful so I am going to knit up a fab scarf from the yarn above. Ill add a huge silk golden sunflower pin for added umph. (the pin & swag is my signature swag for KMS, kind of like Julia Roberts signature color being Pink in Steel Magnolias).

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inspired by: fabric, fiber, martha stewart and creative crafting
cheers, meg

A whole month has passed?

I cant believe a whole month has passed since my last post. Time really flies with 2 wee ones, a move a baby who hasn't been feeling well & just general life. Ill make this a picture heavy diary of what has inspired me to smile every day b/c with out these images I would have been inspiration-less. We are officilaly in Dalton in Rob's grandma's home. We love it here. 18 acres of silent beauty. I hope we can find a home or build a home with similar outdoor peace. it is truly a HUGE blessing. Hannah loves it and it helps calm Harrison's coughing. Its wonderful.

Playtime with a good buddy. Hannah had a smile from ear to ear all day. She hadn't had a buddy date in a while.



Harrison in his golfing gear - squish!



4 months old and trying to stand!



Peace



Smiling outdoors.....

On top of my luvies making me smile...... I ordered new fabric, have knitted almost daily and feel like a new gal. I will have pictures soon when the fabric arrives... I think YOU will be inspired too.

G'nite

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inspired by: my children.
cheers, meg

At home inspiration

Happy Valentines Day!

Since being put on bed rest a week ago, I have been less than enthralled with life. Its been a challenge to look at things and find inspiration when I cant leave the house. Yes, a house under duress with the new baby's room still under construction! So who better to inspire than my little lady who gives me the most happiness + a belly pic of our lil man who is still cooking (thank you!)

I ordered some fabulous fabric that arrived! The tease is I can't do anything yet. Argh. I need to get rid of this pain so sewing can be done... my itchy fingers are desperate!

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inspired by: Hannah & Baby Hughes

cheers,
meg

Are you ready to pass out?

Pull up a chair and be prepared... the new Architectural Digest is here! And oh my there are a lot of inspiring photos to peruse. And obsess over. And wish for! I had a binder that is full of pages of blips from magazines. A table, a lamp, paint color, accessories..... It is my inspiration binder and these images will be great additions.

Fresh & Cool, the cement table is amazing!

The blue lapis glass table is delicious!

I love the 360 degree view

This bath is better than a SPA, clean & fresh

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inspired by: an amazing publication

cheers,
meg

This blog is inspired by....

Hello all - im meg: a mom, wife, crafter, lover of fabric & yarn, obsessive organizer, music addict, food critic (new at cooking), multitasking energizer bunny. I have a great almost 3 year old lil' monkey, Hannah and a new lil monkey still cooking.

It finally hit me that blogging doesn't have to be all business. It can be fun & personal too. With all the seriuosness of life, sometimes I forget the things I love. Being a Type A personality dictates that writing things down helps me appreciate life. What better place to share inspirations than on a blog for others to post their inspirations too?

This blog is about crafting, family, cooking, friends, books, activities and daily happiness that's inspired by..... anything. They say before bed you shold write 5 things that made you happy for the day. Its a hard task to keep coming up with new ideas! Let's see what happens with this blog....

Things that inspired today:

Lavender & Fabric: I'm sewing eye pillows, dryer pillows and neck/back pillows out of some delicious fabric like Michael Miller's collection. The lavender makes everything smell yummy. Our daughter Hannah likes to help. "I help you, mommy!" - those words make me melt.

Happier: A great book on achieving happiness no matter what life hands you. A GREAT read. The title is linked to amazon.

Alpaca Yarn: A great friend is having a baby and gifted me with some yummy alpaca yarn to knit a blanket for her upcoming arrival. The color is the bottom shade. Taupey goodness.

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inspired by: happiness

cheers,
meg