Showing the world your magic includes making art--which Mati can help you with, especially in the realm of collage.   

And for this art magic to happen, you'll need to allow for spontaneity and messiness.

Hmm...sounds a bit like the magic that shows up when you let go of control, and allow life to happen!

If your life has gotten stale, take a baby step towards re-awakening its magic by clicking the cover above. (Affilitate link)

Full of writing prompts, questions, and examples, this book is a wonderful guide in moving you forward in drafting your memoir.  

I particularly liked the chapter titled “Choice and Chance” as they are an interplay that exists in all our lives which can be challenging to navigate.  And much of our life story (and what makes our life interesting) resides in that navigation.

 Click on the book cover to learn more.  (Affiliate Link)

Issues (such as brutality and body-image negativity) that are born from and exacerbated by distorted, digitally-manipulated images of female perfection and violence against women and girls. 

It has been a challenging and deeply meaningful journey for me—from my personal explorations that gave birth to the pieces included in my book, the additional writing to broaden what I’ve written for a wider audience, the editing, the book design, the sharing with others, the receiving of praise and testimonials for my book, and the final creation of this book to be used by others on their own journeys for self-acceptance and, ultimately, more fulfilling lives.

It is my greatest wish that Rumble Tumble Joy flies freely out into the world to encourage people to move forward through tough times and towards their greater dreams. 

And one way to do this is through becoming more aware and participating in healing so that we can feel more whole. I believe that as each of us grows in awareness and takes steps to heal, we help others. In this way, one person at a time, we transform ourselves and our global society to be more compassionate, wiser, and healthier.

Click on the book cover and you’ll be taken to Amazon.com to learn more about my book as well as be able to purchase it. (Affiliate link)

You can also learn more through this e-flyer and my website.

In closing, I would love to hear how Rumble Tumble Joy has helped you.

Blessings on your journey.

Last summer, I enjoyed a tour of the Ethel L. Dupar’s Fragrant Garden located within the corporate campus of Seattle’s Lighthouse for the Blind.  

Our tour guide, Helen Weber, encouraged us to look, touch, taste, and deeply breathe in the alternatively sweet, fresh, sharp, and often indescribable scents of the plants.  Not surprisingly, the garden is loved by hummingbirds and bees.

Out of the 80 or so species at the garden, my favorites included: 

• the ultra soft leaf of the Lamb’s Ear,
• the pretty white flower of the Garlic Chives (which also smelled and tasted like garlic),
• the peanut butter scented leaf of the Peanut Butter Plant,
• the curry scented leaf of the Curry Plant (Helen assured us the taste was awful and nothing like curry),
• the refreshing scent of the Lemon Scented Geranium leaf,
• the full-bodied chocolate scent of the yellow flower of the Chocolate Flower, and
• the soothing, fresh scent of Roman Chamomile.

Check out their website for tour dates and times.  

Other fragrant gardens in Seattle include the University of Washington (UW) Center for Urban Horticulture, the Joseph A. Witt winter garden in the Washington Park Arboretum near the Graham Visitors Center, and the UW Campus Medicinal Plant Garden. There is also the Fragrance Garden near Ferndale, WA adjacent to the Hovander Homestead historical site and its gardens.


So don't wait!  Enjoy the loveliness of a fragrant garden today!

July is the month to visit the UW Arboretum to see the hydrangeas—common, mop head, and lace caps to name a few.  Hydrangeas come in all sorts of shapes and colors.  The more acidic the soil, the bluer the flowers.

When I was looking at a lace cap beauty, I was struck with the thought of how much the Divine loves variety, creativity, and beauty.  I mean, just look at the lace cap—who would come up with something like this?  It’s a strange combination that renders the flower odd, wonderful, and beautiful at the same time.

Did you know that maple trees—no matter the shape of their leaves (they don’t all have a five pointed leaf shape, as you see in the photo below)—have samaras?  These are seed pods—non-Latin names include “wing nut,”  “helicopter,” and “whirlybird.” As a kid, you may have liked to pull them apart and stick them on your nose. 

Don’t miss out!  The hydrangeas are gorgeous—so get to the UW Arboretum this month!  And while you're there, decorate your nose with a maple tree samara!

FREE arboretum tours that highlight the hydrangeas during July are on Sundays, 1:00PM to 2:30PM.

And then as part of this same process there is the marketing of the book—before, during, and after it’s published.  Like so many authors, I want to use my precious time and energy for writing my books and stories—and yet marketing is something that must be done.  It's part of the whole package of being an author in today’s world of traditional, indie, and hybrid publishing.

As I continue down the road of getting my book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, ready to go out into the wider world, I appreciate D’vorah Lansky and all the folks that joined her to help us authors be more successful in marketing our books. 

D’vorah’s recent 30-Day Book Marketing Challenge & Blog Hop was a wonderful way to learn!  The informative daily emails with important information broken down into small chunks that one could choose to read that day or later on was a great way to get me thinking and implementing new things without having an information overload meltdown! 

Want some easy book marketing tips from the Challenge? Click here. 

I recently implemented Sharon Williams' LinkedIn tip and now my soon to be published book, Rumble Tumble Joy; some of my published stories; as well as an anthology I’m included in are highlighted on Linkedin.  Easy to do?  YES!  To see how I’ve implemented Sharon’s tip, click here.  (Scroll down until you see "Kathryn White's Publications")

To find out more about my short stories for inspiration, joy, and widened perspectives, click here. 

To find out about my short stories for children, click here.

To find out more about Rumble Tumble Joy, click here.

And to help an author spread the word about her writing, please "Like" my Facebook Fan page!  Click here to access it. 

Alas, tea time is unavailable, though you can visit it in your imagination and still enjoy a quiet respite from the noisy traffic of bordering streets.  Water features, a gazebo, benches, and abundant blossom beauty make this a must-be spot.  And even lovelier—the entire garden is a pesticide-free zone.

Don’t wait!  The blooming season of these marvelous roses is short.  Be sure to sojourn here soon.

Every Sunday from January through November, there are free walking tours from 1PM to 2:30PM at the University of Washington (UW) Arboretum.  A volunteer leads each tour which starts at the Graham Visitor Center. Each month a different area of the arboretum is featured. Directions and maps can be found here. 

In March, my dog and I enjoyed a tour which featured the tour guide’s favorite plants.  Not being a botanist and not wanting to take notes, but just enjoy the walk itself—I cannot tell you the names of any of the species that she pointed out.  Incidentally, they all seemed to have difficult names to remember, spell, as well as to pronounce.

What I did learn:

*  The UW Arboretum is 230 acres.  The land is owned by the City of Seattle and the plantings are owned by the UW.

* As a species, magnolias go back 58 million years.

* Beetles existed before bees.

* Cherry blossom tree trunks have horizontal striations to their bark.

* Seattle is not such a great place for cherry blossom tree health because it is so wet and damp.

* Horse and buggy races used to be held on the main thoroughfare—Azalea Way.

* New trails within the arboretum will be created as part of the light rail system sited on the UW’s main campus.

* There are promiscuous flowers in the Winter Flower Garden.  (Yes, some difficult to remember name so I can’t include it here, though I do include a photograph of the flowers in the slideshow at the end of this blog post).

As described on the UW Arboretum's website, April through June tour topics include the following:

April is the month to see Rhododendrons in bloom.  Arboretum weekend walks will feature some of the over 1,800 Rhododendron species in the UW Botanic Garden collection. The April tour title “Rum Dum Rhodies” honors the Rum Dum Rhodie club who practiced hybridization in a friendly spirit of competition.

May is when most plants are in blossom and so the May tour title is "Flower Power." Arboretum weekend walks will wind among the many flowering plants in the arboretum. Tour guides will discuss some of the flowering plants as well as teach visitors the workings of flowers through fun experiments and discussions about pollination.

June is a perfect month to check out the Pacific Connections Garden with a tour title of the same name. Tour guides will take visitors to see plants used for various display gardens of Chile, China, Australia, New Zealand, and in the northwest. The tour will also include a walk through the newly planted New Zealand forest area to show off new acquisitions and see how the forest is faring.

Information about other events at the arboretum can be found here.  

So make some time to visit the wonderful UW Arboretum.  Whether with a tour guide or not, it’s the perfect place for ambling, picnicking, or just sitting on a park bench enjoying the arboretum's vast beauty.

As I continue down the road of getting my book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, ready to go out into the wider world, I have met my vulnerabilities and fears many times and have been called to move through them and grow through them again and again and again.

I’m now at the stage where I am gathering endorsements and testimonials for Rumble Tumble Joy.  I’m truly grateful for the people who have read my book with sensitivity and openness and shared what they have found and received from my book and their own self-explorations while reading it.

As a preview, here’s what people are saying so far:

To read more endorsements, click here.

My vision is that by releasing Rumble Tumble Joy for a wider readership it can help women and girls look more closely at how they are treating themselves and others (often brutally) and thus make empowering changes in their thinking and behavior so that they can live more joyful and fulfilling lives.  Although this book is primarily written for females, I know many males suffer from these same issues and I am grateful if my book can provide even wider support.

My book can be utilized in book clubs, women's and teenager's classes, college and university course work, retreats, writing workshops, healing circles, and other places where individuals are seeking ways to begin conversations about body image and increasing self-esteem and self-love.

I’m expecting Rumble Tumble Joy to be released in 2014.  

If you would like to be notified when it’s published, please sign up for my newsletter by clicking here.

Thank you for your interest and support.

Namaste.

Are you bored with the same old doodles you draw on napkins, notepads, and meeting agendas?

Do you feel anxious or stressed and need a cheap, easy outlet to release these emotions?

Do you want to do something creative and satisfying?

Try Zen doodling!

You just need paper, pencil, and a pen or marker.  The paper can be cheap or more durable and expensive like watercolor or drawing paper.  You can use a regular ball point pen, but Sharpie markers in fine and ultra fine sizes or the waterproof archival Sakura Pigma Micron pens tend to create more durable and pleasing lines.

At the top of this blog is a photograph of two Zen doodles I recently completed.  The steps:

1) With a pencil, I placed a dot on each corner of my journal page. I did the same with the paper tile.  

2) I connected the dots to form a rectangle or a square (though you can do this zen doodling in any shape such as hearts, circles, and squiggles).  

3) I then started playing with a variety of shapes and lines to create  sections as well as micro designs within sections of my rectangle and square. 

4) Sometimes I used pencil to create the designs and then went over them with the Sharpie marker.  Sometimes I just used the Sharpie marker directly.

As you doodle, you become focused and relaxed.  It's like the wonderful “flow” state that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

Need some doodle design ideas to help with your creations?

Check out these books. (Affiliate Links)

Mail Art-- it's everywhere! 

Haven't seen any besides what I've posted in terms of creating your own from scratch or emailing a cool e-card with museum art?

Want to receive or give a gift of creativity?


Kat Eye Studio hosts post card swaps--visit her site and join the "Liberate Your Art Post Card Swap."  According to Kat, this swap "encourages you to create, share, and liberate your art out into the world, where it can do its greatest good."  You'll need to sign up soon to be part of the fun!

Also, check out postcrossings and The Post Card Press for more ideas.

The bottom line--bring delight to the mailboxes of the world and YOU!

Each day starts off with a short passage to contemplate and includes tasks to complete to enhance your integration of that day’s consideration.

The book is also enjoyable to dip in and out of, to read out of order, or to peruse the table of contents to find a passage that meets a specific question or challenge you are currently struggling with.

Click on the book cover to learn more.  (Affiliate link).

With 2014 fast approaching, I enjoy taking some time to reflect on 2013--a year of challenges, growth, and fun!

It’s been an exciting year with writing and sharing my short stories, moving forward on the design and future publication of my book Rumble Tumble Joy, meeting new people, learning new things, and entering the world of social media.   

Social media has been a great tool for informing me about what others are doing in terms of the arts as well as for the good of the world.  And, in turn, I’ve enjoyed using social media to share with all of you books, movies, TV series, art, conferences, classes, and so many other things that support beauty, wellness, the environment, and life-affirming living. 

So if you are looking for something inspirational, entertaining, or educational, please check out my blog posts—I’ve organized my posts into categories.  My hope is that as the posts within each category grow over time, they provide a selection for you to peruse and easily find something of interest.  My Facebook and my Pinterest pages, and to a smaller extent my Twitter, provide additional information and visual treats.

Please tell others about my writings and social media outlets.  As an artist, it delights my heart when people enjoy my creations.  In addition, I enjoy spreading the word on the wonderful things others are up to through my use of social media.

Thank you for your interest, engagement, and support.

Best wishes to you for 2014!

Kathryn

Well, I've discovered PicMonkey.  It's way too fun and easy to use!  You can make photo collages as well as mess around with your digital photos to render new artistic visions.

Don't try this if you've just gotten dressed for a party and you sit down for a few minutes to catch your breath before you leave the house.  You'll never leave the house.

It's like scrapbooking, but without sticky paste!
It's like capturing your favorite quote, but with more pizzazz!
It's like opening up your favorite book and losing track of time!

You've been forewarned!

Have fun!

With her usual keenness, she shares information on 10 primary archetypes that exist in contemporary society—such as the visionary, the caregiver, the fashionista, and the spiritual seeker. 

For each archetype, Caroline Myss includes a one page summary as well as more detailed information on the archetype’s primary life lesson, the overriding myth, the main lifestyle challenge, the inner shadow, typical behavior patterns, and more.

As you read the book, you’ll probably find that you have the characteristics and interests of several of the archetypes—which makes sense and also provides even deeper insights.

As the ancient sage Socrates said, “Know thyself.”  So click on the book’s cover to discover more! (Affiliate link)

And check out this “Know thyself” website for what other great authors have to say on the subject.