We were lucky to have three Christmas parties this year–on Christmas Eve we went to my in-laws’ and my grandpa’s, and on Christmas we spent the day at my mom and dad’s house. Here are some of my favorite photos as I’m editing them…

Hope you were able to spend time with your family, close friends, and those who love you during this holiday season!
xo
meg

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Merry Christmas and I hope you are enjoying the beautiful spirit of today. Christmas represents so much culturally, for our spirits, our relationships with our fellow members of this human family, and for our focus on our own little families and the most precious gifts we have. The holidays all together–between Halloween, really, and New Year’s–offer an electric joy and anticipation to the atmosphere and the ending of the year itself is rich with symbolism. It is a time for finishing business and closing doors. Chances to reset our intentions for better spiritual relationships, renewing our appreciation for family, and considering our own growth. How is your self doing?

We become ourselves moment-by-moment, and sometimes a crucial point of development can pass us by without announcing itself or even happen upon us in a startling, jarring burst of revelation and understanding. Maybe it’s reading something that becomes very emotionally significant, the meeting of a magical new person, or a lifechanging experience. Whether we are “present” in our lives or not, we react to these moments automatically–they change our trajectory and change us forever. That’s why the question of what we will become is always open-ended. The growth never ends.

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I want to tell a story about a time I felt content. A time I felt like I became someone that felt like myself.

When I was ten or eleven, my mom gave me Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s book The Little Prince. She told me that she loved the book, and she first read it when she was in French class in high school. This connection to my mother’s childhood, and her uncharacteristic enthusiasm for me to read it made me almost solemn, reverent, as I planned to experience this book. Should I read it at my desk, studiously, focused under the task light? Should I sit cross-legged in my bed, leaning comfortably against my pillows? Should I read it on the couch, where my little brother and dad and god and everybody could watch me? Should I save it in my nightstand drawer until I knew?

The Little Prince may have been my first venture into literature that struck me in a truly philosophical way, filling my soul with emotion and revelation that caused me to never look at the world the same way again. It is still the only book I have ever read that takes me back to those same emotions every time I read it–the innocence and curiosity of the traveler on his first journey–youth still on the precipice of life’s only journey. The pain of nostalgia, the possibility for all people to have a happy life if you dedicate it to questioning and openness. Enlightenment through exploration. Reading that book, that beautiful work, is what taught me that the world is the same for both children and adults. We live in the same world. One is not better. Some people just wander and are willing to engage the invisible, secret mysteries of the universe. They are there for anyone to unlock and understand.

On my second trip to Berlin in 2007, I traveled in a school group but spent my days mostly alone in the city, without my travel companions who were all following their own plans as well. I talk about this time a lot–I was 20, I was still in school, I had just moved into my own apartment, and I felt like I had everything. I had independence, I had a little bit of money, and I had the promise of any experience I could imagine in front of me. One of my favorite places to go in Berlin was a small bookstore in Oranienburg called Pro QM, and while browsing one afternoon I found a German copy of The Little Prince. This is not a really unique find–it’s an extremely popular book and it’s of course been published in every language–but picking up that book which was so significant in my life and my outlook, and in the language that represented my adult education and maintenance of a habit of inquiry and adventure, felt like a message from the universe: you are in the right place. You are doing the right things. You are becoming the woman you always wanted to be.

Now my daughter Alice has that book and we read it often. She also has postcards with scenes and quotes from the book in her room, which she scrutinizes on her bed as I read them out loud and fasten her shoes. Everyone has a different signpost or symbolic reference in their life that represents a transition for them, that becomes engrained in their identity. Consider today, in the hours after the presents are unwrapped and the children have changed into their pajamas and the wine has been finished, what are the landmarks in your life? What happened to help you become the person you are today? How can you honor that gift and share it with others?

Have a Merry Christmas today. Life is beautiful!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Are you writing your own radvent responses in your journal or blog? Share the link! They are awesome sources of inspiration for everyone! Radvent 2011 has come to a close with this final entry and I want to thank all of you who participated by writing and sharing posts, continuing discussions on Twitter, and even those of you who read silently and experienced your own reactions, or passed along a link here and there.

xo
meg

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It’s Christmas Eve! Are you loving the energy and excitement of the home stretch into Christmas weekend? Have you driven around to look at everyone’s lights? Have you counted the Christmas trees peeking through the frosty windows of the apartment buildings downtown? Have you worn thick socks and watched Christmas movies on tv while eating all the cookies you made for your friends? That’s what I’ve been doing. It’s the magic of the season, the suspense and excitement hanging in the air, the beautiful and all-too-fleeting permission to be a little happier, work a little less, and get some amazing gifts. As you take in the joy and magic this season, don’t forget to make some of your own!

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“Add magic every day.” It’s printed in my script on the backs of our business cards, it’s one of my most reliable mantras for inspiration and that exciting ass-kicking feeling I need to greet the world with every day, and it is a lot easier and less of a commitment than you might think. When you try to make the world more magical, you can’t fail. Whenever you throw positive intentions into the world, they multiply and soon come right back to you. Whether you reach your goal or not isn’t the point. The idea is to expect good things to happen and share the joy when they do. Reject the “mean world” philosophy. Say yes to the magic that greets you at the fresh, clean, blank start of every day.

Five Ways to Attract Charm for a Life With More Magic

1. Do something nice for somebody.

Extend kindness, a compliment, or a favor to somebody in your life–and I’m talking especially when you don’t feel like it. Get off your butt and lend a hand because providing service to others makes your life richer. It makes you produce more positive energy to come right back to you. When you begin to do anything, it creates an aura of action and intention that surrounds you and attracts exciting, lucky, happy things.

Things you can do to help people in ten minutes or less (set your timer!):

♥ Write a letter to somebody who recently impressed you. ♥ Clean the inside of your significant other or roommate’s windshield. Those get messy and we forget to clean them, but it’s so easy. ♥ Introduce yourself to a neighbor. ♥ Give yourself a budget of $5, $10, or $20 and buy something on Etsy. Send the seller a note about how excited you are to support them. ♥ Tis the season for the sniffles–go to your local drugstore and pick up things for a care package for someone who is under the weather. ♥ Tie a ribbon around a bottle of beer and leave it out for your roommate, significant other, or even your mom with a note saying they deserve a break. ♥ Read your favorite blogs and leave comments on their latest posts. ♥ Cut out a long rectangle from a cereal box in your recycle bin, write “Call me when you finish this!” and stick it in a book you recently enjoyed. Give it to a friend or family member. ♥ E-mail the newest worker in your office inviting them to grab coffee on Monday. Spare them the initiation process and show them the ropes. ♥ Donate to Charity:Water. ♥ Do the chore that your significant other or roommate usually does without telling them. ♥ Share your expertise by answering some questions on Yahoo! Answers. ♥ Tweet a joke. ♥ Fill up a box with things you don’t use anymore. Put it in your car to drop off at a donation center next time you go out. ♥ Buy the sandwich or coffee for the person behind you in line. ♥ Show appreciation, publicly.

2. My mom always said “Dance with anyone who asks.”

Just say yes! Respect the other person’s courage to ask you, and take the opportunity to display a little courage of your own. Show everyone else that they can be brave enough to dance and that you’re not too cool to have some fun. After all, we aren’t entitled to a dance partner, and someday the requests might stop coming, so it’s best to graciously accept and live it up. In my smug and somewhat sanctimonious younger years, I would push the polite gestures of others away, insisting that I didn’t need anyone’s gallantry. I was too cool for prom anyway, and if this was a pity dance, forget about it. The lesson here that I’ve learned as I’ve grown up is that you will find MANY people through your life who “want to dance.” You’ll get chances–personally and professionally–to risk leaving your comfort zone for an exciting but uncertain opportunity, and usually it’s just best to survey the room, tell your friend to hold your purse, and join the dance floor.

3. Start a real travel fund and don’t pick money out of it.

It’s important to know a little something about many different cultures–how to say “hello,” and “thank you” in other languages, for example–you can memorize dozens. How to pronounce the names of a culture’s most popular culinary dishes. Sensitivity to the unique experiences of others and curiosity about other world communities is a sign of respect.

4. Memorize your favorite quotes.

When you memorize your favorite quotes, passages, phrases, or even a poem or work of prose, you can always have them with you. It’s great to inject the wisdom of an astute quote or observation into a dinner conversation and be able to quote the author.

5. Flaunt your favorite pieces and source them from unique places.

This is your only life, and it’s your only chance to dye your hair pink or wear a dress to work or try out that purse you love but think everyone else will hate. I talk a lot about fashion and style as it’s a big interest of mine and also an important tool you can use to tell the world who you are and how you want to be treated. It may sound superficial or unimportant, but appreciating the objects and adornments that you accumulate over your years. Whether we’re talking about vintage hand-me-downs from your aunts and grandparents, treasures plucked from a thrift store, or pieces picked up at Target or Forever 21, the way you want to look right now will become a chapter in your life, a part of your history and identity. Have fun and take your place in pop culture! Take risks. Love the way you look, cultivate your identity, and appreciate the different and unique identities of others.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Are you writing your own radvent responses in your journal or blog? Share the link! They are awesome sources of inspiration for everyone!

xo
meg

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An interview on Marketplace yesterday talked about how going over the top with your gift wrapping raises expectations about the gift inside. A Yale University study about how the wrapping of gifts influences the reactions of recipients showed that less is more when it comes to gift wrapping, and that the receivers of presents presented more simply were happier than those who got the same gift in more fancy packaging.

Brown kraft paper is my signature gift wrap–I use it for birthdays, for my Make it Pretty Monthly club (join! join!), and of course for Christmas! I think the message of Yale’s study about brown paper packages is completely true–give a great gift in a humble package. Being me, though, I still have to elevate the prettiness of the wrapping from the expected. Here’s how I make my brown paper gift bags in the same amount of time it takes to wrap a box:

Materials needed

♥ A roll of brown kraft paper–you can find this stuff in the mailing supply section of any big-box store. My 15-foot roll of paper was less than $3.
♥ A sewing machine
♥ Scissors

Step 1: Cut out a big rectangle of kraft paper. My standard size is about 30” x 15”, or the width of the roll by about half that length. As you make these and start wrapping gifts up, you will figure out which other sizes you need. I don’t measure, I just eyeball it. You just need lots of big rectangles of paper.

Step 2: Fold the paper in half loosely–don’t crease it at all–and sew the edge opposite the fold with a simple straight stitch. Long stitches are good. Just run it through the machine.

Step 3: Now you have a roll of paper with a sewn seam. Position the seam in the center and flatten the roll of paper into a rectangle, centering the seam. Fold up the bottom edge one inch, and one inch again. Sew that edge shut.

Step 4: Now you have a bag! Put a gift inside and sew the top closed.

Tips and Tricks:

♥ I like to cut up a roll of paper in one sitting into rectangles of various sizes and sew all of the bags assembly-line style. It’s just a little cutting and sewing two seams per bag over and over, and you’ll save a ton of time.
♥ These sewn packages are SO fun to open. Consider leaving a tail of thread on the top seam that the recipient can rip open!
♥ It’s easy to get creative when you start with a brown paper package. Tie twine or cord around the center.
♥ Let your kids draw on the packages or cover them in stickers.
♥ Create another thick paper band to go around the middle where you can slip in a card.
♥ Upload finished pictures of your embroidery projects to Princess Lasertron’s Flickr stream, Make it Pretty!

xo
meg

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This was once my regular cycle:
Fear => Panic => Delusion => Destruction

Now it looks a little more like:
Fear => Presence => Perspective => Openness => Clarity => Kindness => Happiness

A little more each day.
via Tiny Truths

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Instead of looking for magic around you, what if you bring it with you everywhere you go?

When I was younger–like in my teens–I was not doing a very good job of understanding my talents and gifts, or my value to the world. I was mad all the time. I was disappointed by everything that I felt “happened” to me. I was confused about how to impress people–is it cool to be smart? Make people laugh? Were there people I should or shouldn’t be friends with? Some people put others down and made friends by just being kinda mean–is that what I should do? Was my makeup right? There was an endless list of questions and insecurities that led me to treat others and myself with less dignity than I should have. But I also always knew that I had a formidable and interesting presence. Everyone does, but I was lucky to realize that early in a time so fraught with uncertainty. I knew that I would be okay and I knew I had all the ingredients, all the materials to be my best self. I knew I would figure it out. During the holiday season I’ve spent some time mentoring students, and around my own younger cousins and family members, and the memory of still learning who I was, and feeling comfortable standing in my own presence, has come to mind as I watch them struggle with the same thing. I wish I could tell them something reassuring about coming out of that scary place into adulthood. There are so many hard lessons to learn.

So Radvent 2011 has been going amazingly. When I started talking about it in November, I was so excited that many of you remembered last year’s series and were looking forward to participating this year. There are no rules, or right or wrong way to play along. You can just read and comment, you can respond by writing your own blog posts on each daily theme and linking them below, or you can just write in your own personal diary. However Radvent works for you is exactly what you should do. I started Radvent and curate it each year because I love challenging myself to write creatively. Blogging is not necessarily writing–most of the blogs I read are just posts of products or photos, or even just a lot of sponsored posts, and don’t contain a lot of original content. And I’ve found that if you don’t keep practicing writing–if you stop challenging yourself to put your thoughts, ideas, and creativity into words–it gets harder and harder to begin. December is my slowest work month–few people place bridal orders around the holidays–so I use my time to strategize for 2012, organize my life, and write.

There are so many things to distract me from the gifts that surround me at every moment. Today, I’m distracted by work…I wanted to get a whole bunch of extra things made to load up in the shop on Monday, and I’m working on blog posts for the next few days. Sometimes it seems funny that I write to capture and preserve memories from this exciting time in my life, but in the process of sitting down to focus on tapping out some words about it, I put pressure on myself and miss all kinds of things.

What singluar, unique moments
are happening right now? What is all of this for?

♥ ♥ ♥

Alice is in the living room singing into her little microphone and playing a keyboard. “Meow meow meow meow.” She doesn’t talk yet, but she can make every animal sound. She communicates with animal sounds and pointing. THAT girl has presence. When you are a child you don’t know yet that maybe you should hide it. That’s the gift of parenthood–watching that beautiful time of life, your first child completely uninfluenced by outside expectations.

My grandma folded all of our laundry when she babysat last night. It was my dad’s company christmas party and Alice stayed home this year so we could have a break. My grandma took care of me all the time when I was growing up, and I love seeing her with Alice because it reminds me of my own childhood. I’m glad Alice will have memories of being loved and cared for by other family members. The neat piles of Alice’s folded leggings and balled-up socks on the table behind my couch remind me of the support I have from my family too–they really help make my life easier.

I made lunch for us both and we ate it on our dining room table, finally made visible by our new housekeeper Mallory. I love being able to use more space in my house, to walk around without stepping over things. I’m not a neat person. I’m a slob. I’m too busy doing things I’d rather do to carve out time to clean. But I love having it clean and I’m so grateful to Mallory for giving me a relaxing place to come home to. (Alice ate broccoli, pears, pineapple, and a quesedilla. I had a waffle.)

I got our Christmas tree put up in time and it’s beautiful. A few years ago, my mom made dozens of garlands with felt and fleece squares, jingle bells, glass ornaments and feathers. She gave them to me this year to decorate our tree because we don’t have any ornaments or anything…can you believe that? I’ve never been a big holiday decorator. Yesterday when I was Christmas shopping I ran into my friend Peter who gave me three black resin star ornaments he made in his studio. So right now I can see my pretty tree, covered in lights, garlands, and ornaments that remind me of the people who love me.

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My simple goal for the rest of the month is be mindful of my surroundings. The people I’m with. The excitment and energy in my city. The calm in my house, made a home with care and help from my family members who visit and lend a hand, and my friends who fill it with laughter and joy. The peacefulness in my office where I’m surrounded by objects and materials, inert, waiting to be given purpose and new beauty with a few snips and stitches. During the
holidays with the special opportunity to be around so many of my family members at once, my hope is to be a positive example to my younger cousins and encourage them to stand in their own presence, confident that they, too, have the intuition they need to show love and magic to the world.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Are you writing your own radvent responses in your journal or blog? Share the link! They are awesome sources of inspiration for everyone!

xo
meg

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