Hi Friends,
Our stories truly do matter!
Today I am celebrating the power of words…
as I document a bit of my story.
Adventures
Antiques
Artistic
Birthdays
Blessings
For each of the past eight years, I have focused on a ‘word.’ Throughout our home, there are visible reminders of each word. This year I created Word Stones for my Friendship Garden to carry this mindfulness practice into the garden, too! 🙂
Blogging
Blossom
Books
Breathe
Candlelight
Cards
I just LOVE creating handmade cards in my little Paper Garden studio downstairs! Each one feels like a little ‘visit’ with a loved one the entire time I am working with paper and ink. Mailing cards off to warm hearts brings me so much joy!
Cherish
Children
Chocolate
Connecting
Coziness
A cup of herbal tea, a good book, soft candlelight, and favorite music add such coziness to cold, Winter days!
Creativity
Dancing
Dancing has always been a special part of my life. I can still remember standing on my daddy’s feet and dancing together in the living room as a young child. I loved taking ballet lessons while growing up. During my college years, we all loved disco dancing on the weekends. This year, I’m having a fabulous time line dancing every week at our Senior Center. It’s boot scootin’ fun… and we laugh a lot! Gotta dance!! 🙂
Daisy
Dawn
Dawn is my favorite time of day. 🙂 Each sunrise means a new beginning with new possibilities!
Earth-friendly
Explore
Family
Friendship
Gather
Garden
Gardening with perennials and herbs is one of my passions! My Friendship Garden bed (in the foreground) is filled with perennials given to me over the years from gardening friends.
Grace
Gratitude
Handmade
Happiness
Heartfelt
Herbs
The ‘heart’ of my garden is my Herb & Tea garden, built with love, and surrounded by a white, picket fence.
Home
Hope
Hydrangea
Oh, how I love Hydrangeas (and Daisies)! My wedding bouquet was filled with Hydrangeas. I asked the florist to create a simple bouquet that looked as if I just walked through the garden picking blossoms. It was perfect!
Inky
Inspired
Intentional
Invite
Journals
Morning Pages inspire my creative journey. Looking back through my Garden Journal warms the coldest of Winter days. For the past two years, my Self-Care bullet journals have taught me so much. I can’t wait to begin my 2020 bullet journal. Journaling is one important way that I nourish my creative heart and soul! ♥
Joy
Kindness
Learning
Letters
Love
Memories
Mindfulness
Music
Namaste
Nourish
Old-Fashioned
Paper
Perennials
Positive
Present
Renaissance
My Renaissance (the ‘R’ word that I use for my Retirement) is such a wonderful gift of TIME. After thirty-five happy years of teaching young children, I continue the same goals that guided my teaching ~ learn something new every day, be creative, and make a difference! ♥
Restore
Self-Care
Serendipity
Story
Sunshine
I carry sunshine in my soul each day. It’s a way of life!
Teacups
Teacher
Walking
Oh, the places I’ve walked! I enjoy walking along the prairie, in the desert, on foreign cobblestones, through the woods, and on beaches along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts. When my sweet husband and I first met, many of our dates were spent walking hand-in-hand along sparkling water. We got to know one another as we walked along rivers, ponds, lakes, creeks, waterfalls, and a peaceful bog. He even proposed on a very special hike in one of our favorite places! 🙂
♥♥♥
Every single word on this list holds a part of my life story!
It was such fun to create my long list of words,
and a challenge to edit my list.
(There were so many more words that I wanted to include!)
What words would you include on your list?
Today’s post was inspired by Stacy Julian, one of my favorite Memory Keepers, Storytellers, and Scrapbookers. Stacy’s podcast, Exactly Enough Time (Episode 20 ~ “Words I Love”) resonated with me several months ago. I’m so grateful for her inspiration! As time goes on, I hope to share a bit more of my story here…
I’m hoping that you might feel inspired to tell your story, too.
Our stories truly do matter!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Warmest hugs,
♡ Dawn
Petals. Paper. Simple Thymes 
Wonderful post, Dawn. A good starting place for the rest of us to realize how thankful we should be for what we have and how to move forward in our lives to help others. I hope you and your family are having a lovely holiday season.
Many thanks, Judy! Creating a list of “Words I Love” is another step in memoir writing. Each word holds so many stories! I can imagine a special scrapbook or journal with one page for each word on my list. So, this blog post was a fun way to begin! Judy, I think we might both share several of the same words on our lists. Kindred spirits are like that!
Heartfelt thanks for your wonderful wishes, Judy! We are enjoying our time together immensely. The small moments have become so meaningful this year. We are making some new holiday traditions, too! Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday celebration this year, too! Warm hugs!💗
Dawn,
What a lovely post. We can all use a gentle reminder of savoring every moment of every day. Enjoy your upcoming Christmas.
xo,
Karen
Such sweet words, Karen! Words are so powerful! Carefully chosen words influence our thoughts. Living life with gratitude and a positive mindset adds sunshine to our days. Karen, I’m certain that your list of “Words I Love” would contain many of the same words and some surprises, too! 😊 I’m really happy that I tried Stacy’s challenge to create my own list. The words have been floating through my thoughts since June. When I finally put pen to paper, my word list was much longer. It was a real challenge to narrow down my list of words! I’m planning to handletter my 64 words in my bullet journal. I’m very curious to see how my list continues to evolve throughout the new decade! Be sure to let me know if you create a list of your own. I’d love to hear your words, too.
Enjoy this wonderful time of year with your family and friends, Karen! Warm hugs!💗
Dawn,
YOU captured the essence of YOU!! Beautiful entry!
Love your boot stompin’ buddy,
Kim
Yay!😊 Kim, if these words sound like my story, that means I got it right! Your stamp of approval means so much!💕 I have been thinking about just the right words for the longest time. I’m sure that I will continue to tweak my list as time goes on. I’m looking forward to adding a new word next year. It’s already ‘dancing’ around in my head!
Love you, Kim! Let’s bundle up and walk any chance we get during the holidays!💗
My apologies for taking so long to read your lovely post, Dawn, and my gratitude from having now read it. Lovely. Absolutely lovely. Your words resonate with me and they tell your story well. It would take me at least one blog post to tell my words. 🙂 Perhaps one day. In-the-meantime, here’s wishing your the merriest of Christmases and joy in this season.
You have been on my heart lately, Penny! Thank you for your very kind words, sweet friend! It was a fun challenge to create my list of words. 😊 I exchanged the words on my list several times until they felt ‘just right’. From time to time, I look forward to sharing more of the stories that each word holds! I think I will add one more word to my list each year. It feels like a unique approach to memoir writing!
Sending our warmest wishes for a cozy Christmas with those you hold dear, Penny! Many blessings!💗
It was a delightful Christmas, though very busy with Christmas Eve service obligations and then a houseful of guests. Fun, busy, tasty – and now hoping the kiddos don’t leave any on their sneezes here. 🙂
I am obviously way behind but glad not to miss this. I love all those words and will probably keep this list. My favorite is Picasso’s. I’m working on learning to be young. The word that comes to mind first to me was resilience. I’m needing a lot of that this year. Wishing you the merriest of Christmas’s and a very Happy New Year.
So happy that you stopped to visit, Marlene! It’s such a busy time of year. I really enjoyed creating this list! Resilience is such a great word ~ one that perfectly describes you, my friend. It was such a delight to spend my days with young children for 35 years. So, I think I will always feel ‘young at heart!’ 😊 If you decide to create your own word list, I hope you will share it, Marlene!
Wishing you and your family a cozy Christmas and a creative New Year filled with much good health. 💗
Thank you, Dawn,
You are a J😊Y to all who know you, Marlene!💗
You are sweet to say so, Dawn. Love and hugs to you.