Freshly Pressed Thank You!

Taking a cautious step off the roller coaster ride of the last few days, I jump right back in front of the computer and proceed to type up a Thank You post to WordPress and ALL the readers who stopped by to comment and lend support to me and my blog!   My “Freshly Pressed” experience was a real eye-opener to the power of being on the front page at WordPress.   A thrill all good bloggers should experience in their life-time.   The sudden surge of attention, comments galore and gobs of “likes”.  

The day started like any other day and to be quite honest, I rushed through my post thinking of all the “stuff” I had to do that day.   Had I known the whole world would be reading my blog post, I am sure I would have added more pictures and many more words to charm the reader.   But little did I know!   Upon returning from running several errands, I see several “likes” and a few comments.   I answer one and then I see “it”….another comment Congratulating me on being “Freshly Pressed”.   I think …No Way!  But sure enough ………

Me…….my post……..on the Front Page!   For all those who have had the honor of being FP’d you know exactly where I am coming from.   You just sit and watch – you don’t know what to do!   The good ole Stats number keeps rising and you can literally be there and watch it go from 111 to 150 in the matter of minutes.   It takes your breath away!

I knew the moment (or hour) when my post was moved and a new WordPress blogger was being honored.   There were no comments lined up for my golden approval and I knew in my heart the “likes” were being given to another.  

Quite honestly, I was relieved!   Now don’t get me wrong…..I absolutely LOVE attention and recognition and gosh, if I can write something to help another…..I am the happiest person in the world.   It was just a shock since I never imaged I would be so honored and recognized.  

Thank you WordPress and ALL you readers…..next time though .. I will have more pictures and absolutely more charm!   And one more thing … ALL you readers

Be Ready for your Turn!

Finding my Creativity

Some days my creative personality plays hide and seek and insists on playing games with me.   It hides somewhere deep inside and taunts me to seek it out.   Each time I come within reach, it jumps and hides again.   It can be a challenge and I could easily give up … but the urge is strong.  I look to discover something unique and inspiring.

I find that when creativity eludes me the best approach to coming up with an idea is to step back and re-focus my direction.   Instead of trying to work on something for someone else or find reason for what “they” would like, I turn the tables and ask myself what “I” would like.  Once I am drawn to those things that excite me, the creativity spark is ignited.  

How do I want it to look or what do I want it to do.  It may not turn out to be a masterpiece, but a perfect masterpiece should not be a concern.

Recently I started an “Idea Book” which is simply a 3 ring binder where I keep ideas.   Quotes, magazine pictures, websites to visit or sticky notes with a topic to write about.   Reading past posts or papers I have written helps stir up additional ideas about subjects I want to write more about or discover something new about.

Drawing up an outline of ideas is a thought that may work well with the current Post a Day Challenge.   I have successfully written each day in January but that is a mere dent in the challenge … for there are 11 more months to go!   I could look at this as a dreaded task or better yet develop an outline of ideas that I want to learn more about.   If I am accomplishing something and working in a direction of some type of goal, I am sure my creative personality will still egg me on at times with the game of hide and seek, but it will be great fun when I win and say “You’re It!”

Chicago Garden Show

One World One Heart – Meet fellow bloggers!

The WINNER is ……. Yasmintoo.etsy.com  and you can find her blog here

Congratulations!   Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by and commented on my blog …..I will be revisiting and connecting with more of you wonderful folks.  Thank you to Lisa for such a Wonderful Event and for all her hard work!!!

Welcome and thank you for stopping by!   This is the first year I am participating in this fun and exciting event called “One World One Heart” for an opportunity to meet other bloggers across the world!  The Magic Carpet holders joining along in this magical event each have chosen an item to give away as a prize to a lucky person.  I have included the logo and link for more details.

 

 One World One Heart 

                                               Make sure to check it out!

My giveaway is a set of Creative Crafty pot holders that can be used to protect those creative crafty fingers of yours as you cook up some delicious meals!  Included in the set are two hot pads embroidered with a positive saying – one “I am Crafty” and the other “I am Creative”. 

Both embroidered with “I am Happy” on the reverse side. 

The oven mitt has “I Love Life”  embroidered on it.  The set is 3 items – 2 hot pads along with the oven mitt.  All the items are assemblied using Insul-Bright for added protection.

On February 15th I will pick one lucky winner who will receive this creative crafty gift!   What you need to do is leave a comment and a means to contact you should you be the winner.  You can either leave a link to your own blog as contact information or your email address.  If you would rather not post your email address you can send it privately to mailbox@therunninggarlic.com and I will receive it there.  The cutoff time to leave a comment will be 9 AM (my time) on February 15th.

I will be checking out all the amazing blogs participating in this event and hopefully win some cool prizes along the way and make some great friends!

Once again Thank You for taking the time to stop by and best of luck with the giveaway and all your life ambitions!

Gardening Blogs and other events

My blog has been accepted and listed on Blotanical  and I am really happy about that!  I have clicked on the Blotancial  website in the past and looked around at the different  gardening blogs that are listed there.  I found myself reading many of the experiences from other gardeners and when I left the site I was content in knowing that there are many others who love to garden and blog about it too!  In my most recent visit I decided to create an account and submit my blog – it took a few days, but the email arrived yesterday saying I was accepted … yes!  I will be spending more time on the site discovering and reading some good garden talk.  If you are listed, let me know and I can favorite your blog!  I love all kinds of garden talk and what amazes me is the pictures and stories from different parts of the world – you get a taste of what living there is about and realize that there really is a huge world out there.  Thank you Blotanical for accepting my blog … you made my day! 

 Along the lines of discovering blogs from all parts of the country I came across The Whimsical Bohemian blog last week and  seems I stumbled upon this wonderful blog just in the niche of time.  You can read more detail about this event that she hosts called One World One Heart which starts January 25^th – less than a week away.  I plan to participate and am gearing myself up for the fun ahead.  The idea behind the event is an opportunity to connect with bloggers from all over the world – you must have an active blog and a gift to giveaway to one winner (or more if you decide) when the event concludes on February 15^th.  Do check out all the details if you are looking for a fun event where you can meet others from all over!

 I also received a program flyer in the mail the other day from the Midwestern Herb and Garden Show announcing the speakers and activities for the 2010 show which is set for February 12 – 14^th.  We have attended the past 2 years and it seems to keep getting better each year.  This year the keynote speaker is Mel Bartholomew, Author of “Square Foot Gardening”.  I checked out his website very briefly and noticed he now has a cookbook — so I will be heading back to scope out the contents and read up some more on his theory.  We will definitely be in the audience to listen and learn all we can!  The whole 3 day event is free and many local vendors will be there sharing their knowledge and goods.

 Fun stuff ahead !!!

Colors Inspire

I was in the fabric store last week checking sales and looking for inspiration.  I realized how colors really do inspire and make a huge difference … in many ways!  While looking at different fabrics I found myself saying  no, that color won’t do; I need warmer hues … where IS that magic color??  I was waiting for the roll of fabric to just jump out and say … here I am!  I decided to actually “look” at each fabric and make a decision.  This was time-consuming, but very important.  In the past I have picked up fabric, brought it home and there it sat (and still sits).  It doesn’t inspire or excite me.

Having just the right colors will influence how you feel about what you are creating.  Your colors can be strong and bold or warm and calm or a combination  of other sorts.  The impact that color has on you is what matters and how we choose many if not all the items in our lives.  We want the colors that make us happy, confident, motivated (all those good feelings) to surround us.  Most people have a favorite color and are drawn to that same color all the time.  Lately, I have been drawn to warm, country colors that invite the feeling of well-being and goodness.  I want to surround myself with all these happy, warm colors!!

While in the store I came across this new product I have never seen before and was immediately intrigued.  The product is called Aqua Gems and they seem pretty cool and amazing!  They start out very tiny -

 

They come in several colors and I wanted one that would Inspire Me! so I picked Hot Pink Topaz.  How they work is you simply add 4 cups of water and they become hydrated – check this out …

 Before

 After

How cool is that?!?!?  It took about 5 hours – directions say 4-6 hrs.  They are non-toxic, completely biodegradable and environmentally safe.  Uses = cut flowers, soil substitute for growing plants, candle accents and plant safe fragrances can be added which sounds totally awesome!  I took a few cuttings from a vining plant I have that I know will root up real good and will see what happens.  What a marvelous invention and inspiring to boot!