Jeanne Hewell-Chambers

+ Her Barefoot Heart

Tag: life (Page 10 of 13)

haiti: ways to help

January 15, 2010 / / 25 Comments

people never cease to amaze me in their generosity and willingness to help those in need. what happened in haiti is beyond the scope of my imagination, and the myriad of ways people are offering assistance to haitians is near-overwhelming. small businesses, entrepreneurs, individuals, corporations, and non-profit organizations are stepping-up to help, and they need your donations. as you go through your day, pay close attention. do you wear glasses? there are people in haiti who need glasses. when you put your shoes on, think about all the people in haiti who are without shoes. when you get a drink of water, remember that haitians get thirsty, too. diabetes, heart conditions, developmentally-delayed people, children, and the elderly are segments of the population holding parts of my heart. what are the things you and those you love need to survive daily? there are people in haiti who need the same things – things they are not able to get right now. this is by no means an exhaustive list*, but if you’re looking for ways to help, here are some opportunities you might want to check out.**

there are small businesses and entrepreneurs who are giving of themselves:

  • kelly diels, the crackerjack writer of the blog called cleavage organized and motivated the twitter troops to donate what they have. read how you can join the cause and/or scroll on down to go shopping from the vast buffet of people who’ve donated their goods and services and help yourself while you help others.
  • aidan donnelly rowley is donating $2 for every comment left on her blog. (this from danielle la porte, author of the blog called whitehottruth.com. and just so you know, danielle donated the proceeds from one of her fire starter session. no small thing – the donation or her work.)
  • my friend, lindsey, is donating $2 for every comment on her blog, a design so vast left between now and monday morning, january 18.
  • update: another creative, multi-talented friend, kate is donating the proceeds from an herbal consultation.
  • update: and congratulations are in order for our alana who’s pregnant! she’s researching how to respond to the call for breast milk.
  • update: for a limited time, artist bryce widom is donating $15 from every purchase of The Return or Liberation prints.

to donate much-needed medical supplies, visit:

to provide assistance specifically for haitian children:

if basic needs (food, water, shelter, sanitation) is your thing, here are some options:

perhaps you’d like to help with shelter – transitional shelter, permanent shelter, and/or community shelter:

they need clothes in haiti:

  • shoes: everybody needs shoes, and if shoes are you think, here’s where you need to go.
  • alana reports that sports chalet is collecting shoes through january 31. they’re asking for gently-worn shoes that they’ll ferry over to soles 4 souls, but if you can’t bear to part with your shoes that are already broken-in, buy some to donate.

non-profit organizations are collecting and delivering various items of need:

other compilations of donation options:

  • on his blog, guy kawasaki lists 20 ways to help. (via my whipsmart friend, amanda at violetminded.com.) (just so you know, i was already working on this list when i learned of guy’s list. there may be overlap, but i didn’t copy off his paper.)

* i have no firsthand knowledge or experience with these organizations, so check them out and use your own good sense before contributing. i am receiving nothing in return for mentioning them here except the knowledge that i am doing what i can to help people who cannot help themselves right now.

** if you know of other outreach opportunities, let me know and i’ll add them to the list. i will be updating as needed.

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snow

January 8, 2010 / / 58 Comments
snowthroughwindow.jpg

it snowed here last night.

just a dusting, really.

not enough for even one bowl of snow ice cream

but enough to cause the roads to be icy

and treacherous.

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we spent most of the morning

with our noses to the window

taking in the beauty of the freshly-articulated trees

wondering if we can make it up and down the hills

on our daily walk.

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i love the quiet stillness

the snow brings

and the blue air.

there are those who will explain

the hue and stillness

with great authority

using numbers and

formulas

and studies.

but they’re only theories, really.

educated guesses, really, that make some feel better about the world and themselves

but

sometimes we don’t need to know why

we just need to enjoy and revel in

what is

while it is.

woodsinthesnow.jpg

who’d’a thunk it

January 5, 2010 / / 44 Comments

creation of the collage started on shaky ground – real shaky ground – and for a while it seemed that i would go through 2010 red-faced and collageless. i left my journal at home, see, the one i wanted to shelter the collage, and to make matters worse, my only magazines themed around fiber arts and pottery (not an oprah magazine in sight) (and how can a worthy collage be created without images and words from a staff who knows me. i mean, they really know me.) (which is odd, given that i am not a subscriber.) (or a regular reader, for that matter.)

but then i put on my martyr pants and got busy ripping, and before we got to the end of the 2nd season of lost dvd’s (the television show, i mean), i’d ripped past thoughtfully weighing the pros and cons of every. single. image. i’d ripped my way past looking for words and fonts. i’d ripped my way past justification and rationalization and a whole lotta’ other stuff that i can’t quite name.

now remember: i still didn’t have my journal

so i just crammed tucked the ripped images into my bag, figuring la-te-da i could throw it all away at home just as easily as i could fill the trashcan there, and i pretty much forgot about the whole thing until last night when i couldn’t sleep and couldn’t turn on the television without waking up the dog who would, in turn, wake up the husband who has to get up early so i try not to.

wake my husband up, i mean.

i tiptoed out of the bedroom, fished the ripped bits out of my bag, found my journal, got some glue, and sat down at the dining room table where i was immediately surprised by how many images i had. now you have to understand that spatial concepts is not my strongest intelligence by anybody’s measurement system, but any fool could see that all those images were not going to fit on a 2-page spread in my journal, and i didn’t feel like going downstairs in search of one of those big sheets of paper (and besides, where would i store it) (the collage, i mean), so i just started tearing off any superfluous paper, ripping it right on down to the quick.

to the essential image, i mean.

collage2010rejects.jpg

i eventually came to the last piece, and there i was: surprised again, this time by the hugeness of the discard pile (especially compared to the keypers). coveting wanting my little ole’ collage to be as pretty as emma james‘ vision board, i stuck my tongue out the side of my mouth and started laying the pieces out on the page. but then when i bit my tongue remembered that this is not about planning, i just started squirting glue and laying ’em down, and before i knew it, i was done. finished. collaged.

well, almost.

there was this one image in the discard pile that kept jumping out on the way to the trashcan, and when it leapt out for the third time, i said okay, fine and took it back and glued it onto a page all by itself.

collage2010annex.jpg

i’m calling it the annex.

and here’s the really super trooper amazing part: by the time i crawled back into bed around 5 a.m., all the keypers – i mean, every last one of ’em – had found a home on the two-page spread in my journal.

and i even had a few spaces to boot.

collage2010.jpg

just goes to show, doesn’t it . . .

burn

January 3, 2010 / / 38 Comments
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i hate sunday nights. i love sunday nights.

sunday nights are a transition time for me. the end of the pause. the threshold of beginning.

i am ready for my husband to go back to work. i want him to call in sick tomorrow.

i want to watch another movie. i am ready to get up and move.

i do not want go to back to a life of to do lists. i long for the structure of plans and productivity.

i am a different person. i am the same person trying to be different.

i want to spill things onto the page. i don’t have a damn thing to say.

i love the way i’m beginning to drop down into some philosophical, reflective writing (except for yesterday – that piece was pretty blah). i am tired of being serious, longing to cut loose and romp.

i want to change my update on facebook. i want to drop facebook altogether.

i want to finish my collage. i want to rip up the ripped out bits and flush them.

i want to sing and dance. i want to go to bed and sleep in the fetal position.

i want to twitter. i want to tuck in.

i want to get something done tonight so i’ll be ahead of the game tomorrow. i don’t even want to think about doing anything tonight.

i want to find a book on the writing of lost. if i never see another book, it’ll be too soon.

etc.

etc.

etc.

~~~

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#mindfullist

conjuring is hard work

January 1, 2010 / / 26 Comments
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though i made a valiant effort to talk myself out of doing it, if i do say so myself, i started work on my vision board, my creative collage, whatever you want to call it for 2010, and let me tell you: it’s harder than i remember. first off, the only magazines i have here are pottery magazines, fiber arts magazines, and a few catalogues. not a single oprah magazine in sight. resolved to working with what i have, i sighed audibly then began to flip through the magazines within reach. at first i would notice an attraction to something, then i’d immediately begin to explain and justify that attraction.

that’s NOT how it’s played, and i know it.

then i began to look for words and got hung up on the cliche phrases that kinda’ make my skin crawl but i figured folks would see them, like them, and find me enlightened.

or something.

that’s when i almost joined kelly in her search for a mountain. eventually, though, i pushed past all that crap and began ripping out images at will and just because.

not wanting to get up from my comfy position for reasons i can’t explain, i abruptly switched gears and began to create a list of things i want to do One Day, taking inspiration from shannon and emma (i actually stole borrowed a few from both – thank you, sweeties) because here’s the thing, folks: THIS IS HARD. ask me what i’m going to do tomorrow, and i can whip out a to do list before you finish the question mark. ask me what we need to accomplish by a week from today, and stand back because in under 5 minutes i’ll have a complete schedule complete with task analysis and shopping list. but give me a pen and a blank sheet of paper and ask me to list things i want to do just because, and i’m blank. lost. nada.

i am noticing that there aren’t so many physical adventures on the list, though i do want to run (read walk, mostly) a something-marathon with kipp – if he’ll have me, of course – and one of the items i stole borrowed from emma is dance naked in the rain (although it reads “dance nekkid in the rain” on my list).

travel seems a topic good for at least 5-10 entries, but nooooo. i can only think of a handful of places i want to go. climbing mountains? don’t think so. swimming in all the oceans? i hate sand on my body, so that kinda’ knocks that out now, doesn’t it?

maybe it’s time to switch gears here and set the vision board and list aside and just choose a single word for 2010. just one itty bitty word for 2010. and what, you might well ask, would that one word be?

finally, something easy in the conjuring of a new year. my one word for 2010? JustBecause.

resolutions, schmezolutions

December 31, 2009 / / 33 Comments
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today’s Q: what resolution didn’t stick?

today’s A: n/a. not applicable because i stopped making resolutions long ago, and in doing so, i surrendered. i handed off control of my to others. here, i said, you, whoever you are, you be my rudder. you decide where i go, what i do, who i do it with. you decide my fate, my future, my now. i’ll just float along aimlessly and see what happens.

i quit with the resolutions because i felt inadequate and eroded when i didn’t stick to and complete them. i quit with the resolutions because i felt like i didn’t take up enough space in the world to be worthy of resolutions. i quit with the resolutions because i just didn’t think it was worth it. i didn’t think i was worth it.

but oh my goodness how much can change in a month’s time.

i still won’t make resolutions – but i will make something akin to plans. (not tonight, though, cause i’m watching mama mia.) (and i’ve had maybe a wee bit too much wine.) (but not enough to affect my spelling skills, just my planning skills.) (and don’t worry. i’m not leaving the house.) tomorrow, though. yes, tomorrow i will create a collage for 2010. tomorrow i become the architect of my own life.

and it may or may not involve words.

~~~

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i am holding my heart with both hands as i say thank you to gwen bell for putting this challenge together, and thank you to members of my new twitter tribe. i have, through this challenge and on twitter, found my right people – my tribe – and my life will never, ever be the same.

blogliography for this post:
acey
alana
angela
bryce
coach dian
danielle
emma
gwen bell
julie
julie
karen
kathy
kelly
lindsey
lisa sonora beam
molly
mandalove
mary
morag
mynde
nicole
rebecca
susan
thewordwire
zura
and my family: andy, alison, and kipp.
and other members of my twitter tribe who don’t have blogs.

best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge. today’s post answers the question “what resolution did you not keep in 2009?”
~~~

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best web tool 2009: the envelope please

December 27, 2009 / / 27 Comments
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in 2009, after spending much time auditioning many, many web tools, i learned and put into use hootsuite, evernote, dropbox, amazon s3, skype, delicious library, things for task management, scrivener for writing, process for outlining and braindancing projects. i rejoined facebook, set up a flickr account, learned how to create and post a video via vimeo. i researched, learned, and began to use these and many other web tools, but hands-down the best web tool of 2009 is twitter.

far from being a top gun or even a squirt gun on twitter, i am learning my way around and have made some good friends – some very good friends – there. in one of our getting-to-know-each-other email conversations, karen introduced me to havi and her post on finding your right people. my right people are on twitter – i’m sure of it – and to think that i would not know my tribe had i thought myself out of participating in gwen bell’s best of 09 blog challenge.

twitter folks are some of the most encouraging and supportive people i’ve ever happened to come across. so many seem to enjoy learning and sharing bits they find intriguing, interesting, informative. though i’m still learning twitter etiquette (i’m up to question #2768 to my manchild), i am mightily impressed with the good manners that prevail even in a world of 140 characters. “thank you” tweets come across my screen with delicious frequency, and every time i see one, i pause and think of somebody i can thank on twitter or off.

i enjoy the easy, non-obligatory rhythm of twitter – need to miss a few hours or days? no pressure. just rejoin when ready and pick up where you left off without feeling the need to go back and catch up on everything you missed. there’s no getting behind on twitter, and that’s a big relief.

i especially like the way twitter is shaping my thinking skills, helping me think crisply, with brevity, succinctly distilling my thoughts down to the essential. i have, however, read so many blog posts about how twitterers will not waste their time with anything but witty, sharp repartee, i do have a tendency to think myself into silence, even though these same folks also say they will not follow anybody who doesn’t post with regularity. “just listen to that smartass inner voice i know you have,” my manchild kipp (@lloyddobbler on twitter) tells me, “and take dictation.”

even having said that, twitter gives me 24/7 opportunities to take risks – to have my say and walk away without growing wrinkles and gray hair worrying too much about how my 140 strung-together characters will be received . . . something that is, of course, made easier given the small, miniscule number of followers i currently have. and while we’re talking about followers and following, a question: what is an acceptable discrepancy between the two? because i fear looking pathetic if i follow more than 32 times the number of followers i have at any given time, i’ve created a wait list of people i want to follow. i pick up a few followers, i follow a few more. that’s my system.

even though i know everybody has their own reasons for being on twitter, i sure do like the fact that so few people come across as hard-core, pushy, it’s-all-about-me sales people . . . even though i have noticed that some people have a tendency to send their own self-promotional tweets out several times an hour. but so few people do that, i just turn it into a game and make bets with myself about how many times those who do will post the same tweet in any given hour.

so, you see, twitter is more than distracting, clock-eating, short bursts of communication. yes, it’s so much, much more, and that’s why had i a red carpet and little gold statue (or a heavily-decorated cake with candles like the one in the picture) to award, it would go to – ta-da – twitter. (i would keep the goodie basket, though.) (i’m just sayin’.)

best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge
~~~

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best gift of 2009: a new way of being

December 26, 2009 / / 29 Comments
blessings.jpg

i release my grip; i tighten my grip. like the beating of a heart: systolic, diastolic. both are necessary. both are sometimes erratic and irregular . . .

for proof that i’m releasing my grip, you’d have to look back no further than yesterday. some 12 hours after ravaging our way through enticingly-shaped packages and stories of selection criteria, the floor was still covered with spent wrapping paper and ribbons. gifts were still strewn about the house, in nomads in search of a home. back in the day, we would’ve opened packages and after a short exhale, i would’ve scooped up the paper and mainstreamed the gifts, leaving only the tree (with only a scant 12-15 hours remaining) and tablecloth as evidence that christmas was different from any other day.

in november i spent 4 days with the in-laws and prepared no script. in august we went to visit my son in colorado, and the only items on the itinerary were flight times and rental car confirmation number.

we moved into a new house, and while many of the big projects have been ticked off the list, there are switches without plate covers and marble floors in need of polishing and entire rooms that still look like attics.

i am more willing to accept without comment that some members of my family are just not likely to follow through with their commitments. that some projects may never be resoundingly finished. that some people are just more comfortable seeing the negative side.

and in the releasing, there is a tightening . . .

i tighten my grip around my writing self, living into my promise to regularly carve out time for stringing words together. i am not yet satisfied with what i am writing, finding myself still reluctant to peel back the top and release the contents of what’s in the can, but step one: thanks to gwen bell, there is a writing rhythm in the making.

i trust myself more, increasingly confident that i can and will handle whatever appears. i become more comfortable asking for help when needed without feeling faulty or indentured. i accept tears as highlighting pens instead of signs of weakness.

though i am not yet fully brave, i do speak my truth more, knowing full-well that my truth may not be your truth, but recognizing that my truth has value, too. and as i grow stronger, i learn to speak without the watering down and protective padding of tacked-on qualifiers. and even when the conversations get rough and bumpy, i stay. i stay.

i tighten my hold on patience – around these things and more – because i am not done here. these are not gifts that have been unwrapped and fully assimilated into daily life. this tightening and releasing – this shedding of layers and forming of balance – this is a gift that is still giving and still in the making.

best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge. today’s prompt: the best gift of 2009.
~~~

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throw away the red pen, i get it now

December 24, 2009 / / 6 Comments
kipponrockinfalls.jpg

it’s said that we teach to learn, and that’s true. it’s said that when the student is ready, the teacher appears, yeah, maybe so. it’s said that children are angels that teach us a lot . . . and, well, okay. i can only agree to the angel bit only on a case-by-case basis, but i can tell you that the best lesson i (re)learned in 2009 came from my son: when he says go see a movie, i go. (yes, kipp, i promise.) (really.)

he lived as an actor in los angeles and went to many a screening on account of being on some committee having to do with oscar selection, and it looks like that would have given him enough credibility for me to take his word for it. i mean, i meant to go see movies he told me to see, it’s just that, well, things kinda’ get in the way sometimes. sure, we went to see the movies he was in, but those he recommended, not so much.

a few of the movies he called about on his way out of the theater include cars, finding nemo, the up side of anger, the incredible hulk, ratatouille, juno, and whale rider. one christmas he made us go see the family stone, and today he dragged us to see avatar. so i think we can agree that he has good taste in must-see movies, that he knows what he’s talking about.

he tells me to read a book, i drop everything and go find it. he tells me to see a movie, i decide to wait till it comes out on dvd so i don’t have to deal with the kid talking and the cell phones ringing and the sticky floors and seats. “but some movies you just have to see on the big screen,” he says repeatedly. and now, today, after seeing avatar, i get it. we can go enjoy one of our post-viewing deconstructionist talks after any show, kipp and i, (and oh how i do love those and look forward to more discussion about avatar because there’s just too much for one sitting) but some movies are just too big to be seen on anything smaller than a movie screen.

why didn’t you just say so, kipp?

best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge. today’s prompt: the best lesson learned in 2009.
~~~

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#best09, #bestof2009

happy times at happy time (best business 2009)

December 23, 2009 / / 6 Comments
firehydrant.jpg

i was never going to be a poodle owner (i love you, mom, but). and i’m still not, even though i do sometimes act like one.

i don’t know when happy time boarding started, but i know when i the s-p-a as we call it, having to spell it when phoebe (our welsh corgi) is within hearing distance until i have the keys in my hand and my hand on the door.

phoebe and i love this s-p-a because everybody who works there is friendly and accommodating (in spite of the headache they must surely have working in the din of incessant barking) (and i haven’t seen the first one wearing earplugs – amazing) though they may not know my name, they all know phoebe and every single one of them sounds sincerely glad to see her when i drop her off. and when i pick her up, well you’ve never seen such a heavily decorated corgi (i can’t imagine what pam’s ribbon bill must run every month) and she smells so good it really gets in the way of her ability to effectively herd the deer, squirrels, possums, and wild turkeys that trespass on a daily basis.

(warning: here’s where i really sound like a poodle mama.) and the accommodations? well, i’ve been thinking about asking if i could board myself there for a while. maybe i could get some serious writing done while wiling the time away here:

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or here:

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or especially here:

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they’d make me take a walk and a break when needed. i could romp in the festive outdoor courtyard to meet my quota of socializing, and when time to get beautiful, they’d escort me to the grooming side where i’d get comfortable in one of the themed apartments there (no crates. no, no, no.) and relax till time to get my hair and nails done.

i could nap at will and without guilt.

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or i could do what phoebe does when she’s there – just sit and watch the world go by:

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i could be onto something here. yes, yes i could.

best09
~~~
the stories are mine, but credit for the kindling goes to gwen bell and her best of 2009 blog challenge. today’s prompt: the best startup business encountered in 2009?
~~~

Technorati Tags:
#best09, #bestof2009

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