Rae's Craft

A Rose Is a Rose Is a Rose "People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us." - Iris Murdoch A small bouquet of wild violets picked by a five-year-old, a bride's bouquet of daisies because he gave her one daisy on their first date, a spray of mixed garden flowers decorating the dining room table because it's their 14th anniversary- flowers do make us mad with joy. Flowers can linger in our hearts long after

The Ride of Your Life "No, you never get any fun out of the things you haven't done." - Thomas Nash I've had a lot of fun in my life. I've gone on a cruise, and ridden on a hot air balloon and on top of an elephant. I've enjoyed sleds, saucers, toboggans, snowmobiles, ice skates, and downhill and cross-country skis. I've in-line skated and tried out a go-kart, a surfboard, a wave runner, a water slide, and numerous amusement park rides. There's a lot I still haven't done,

Talent Show "A genuine talent finds its way." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe A genuine talent cannot be stifled for long. Think of the individuals who had limited formal training but nonetheless found their niche and managed to shine: Paul Gauguin, Dorothy West, James Dean, and Mike Royko, for instance. Talent is part of an individual's very being. If we ignore or try to stifle our talent, it will keep rising up until it gets out in some form, whether we become a star in our

The Meaning of Success "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." - Henry David Thoreau Most people who end up being successful weren't looking for success, per se. Take Bill Gates. He is now one of the most powerful people in the world. In the beginning, he was just a kid fascinated by computers. Success is fleeting; the important thing is to immerse yourself in work that you love. TODAY I WILL FOCUS ON MY WORK AND ON MY PASSIONS. I WILL NOT

Falling Off the Bike "You always pass failure on the way to success." - Mickey Rooney Who among us learned to ride a bike without falling off at least once or twice? Who among us learned to parallel park without scraping the back tires on the curb? I cooked the paper bag of giblets inside the bird before I ever cooked a perfect turkey. I also tortured my folks with a thousand renditions of mindless one-finger songs before I could really play the piano. Success takes work.

Bending Gracefully "In flood time, you can see how some trees bend, and because they bend, even their twigs are safe, while stubborn trees are torn up, toots and all." - Sophocles In life, we have to choose our battles-we need to be able to distinguish the significant from the trivial. That idea you threw out at last weeks meeting? Maybe the idea the next person threw out was indeed stronger or timelier. Let it go, and work to incorporate your associate's idea. Next time,

Growing Older with Grace "When young, rejoice in the tranquility of the old." - Nagarjuna One of my favorite things to do is organize a gathering of all my favorite elders and go out for Chinese food. I can usually come up with eight or ten oldsters and a few " youngsters " to do the driving. Most of the oldsters are in their late 70s or 80s, and a few have entered their 90s. We giggle, gab, and eat with gusto, and then we take turns reading our fortune-cookie messages. Q

Albertini International Warm Love Pumpkin Exfoliating Mask I received this product in one of my Ipsy Glam Bags so I've had it for a little while. I don't care for anything pumpkin so I wasn't going to use it, until today. I was going through my makeup bags and saw it and wanted to see what it felt like. Pumpkin Lovers This is For YOU!! This mask isn't what I thought it was going to be. I was all wrong. I don't like the smell ( I don't care for pumpkin anything). The te

Light Up the World "We may divide thinkers into those who think for themselves and those who think through others; the latter are the rule, the former the exception. Only the light which we have kindled in ourselves can illuminate others." Arthur Schopenhauer The light we have inside ourselves is our own talent, our own strength-the element that sets us apart from everyone else. We must find that element and set it afire; this is how our world lights up with energy, action,

Walking the Walk "I love friendly deeds better than fair words." - Sir Walter Scott Fair words are lovely to hear, but after a while we want action, don't we? At first we'll marvel at a good speaker and feel inspired, but if a speaker rambles on too long, we find ourselves annoyed. Not everyone can give a fair speech, but the speech is certainly easier than the hard work it takes to put our ideals into action and achieve concrete realities. TODAY I RESOLVE TO DO MORE WALKIN

Glorious Miracles "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." - Albert Einstein Pull one small flower off a bush. Look at it closely and notice the veins. Touch it gently. Smell it. Close your eyes. Try to imagine how you'd go about creating that flower. That one small flower is a miracle. So are mountains and winding rivers. When you live as if every single thing is a miracle, yo

Building Wings "The man who has no imagination has no wings." - Muhammad Ali When I was a child, my dad helped me build a kite that was more than six feet wide at the crossbow. It was more than six feet wide at the crossbow. It was magnificent. We bought turquoise and white material and stapled it to the frame. We made a tail from an old bed-sheet. I fully expected the kite to sail to the moon, but we could barely get it off the ground. We figured out that the weight of

The Royal Flush "Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well." - Josh Billings Some of us are born into wealth, some into poverty. Some of us are born with amazing talents or intellect; or others of us have average talents or intellect. The trick is to take inventory of what we have, and then make the most of it. Who's to say where our abilities and intellect can take us? TODAY I WILL MAKE THE MOST OF THE HAND I'VE BEEN DEALT. I WILL WORK HA

The Excitement of Life "Every great and commanding moment in the annals of the world is the triumph of some enthusiasm." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Think of some great moments in history: the American Revolution, the abolishment of slavery, the Berlin Wall coming down, the overthrow of apartheid. None of these things would have come about if people didn't have high ideas and fights for them. TODAY I AM GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME TO REFLECT ON THE ISSUES OF THE DAY. I WILL CHOOSE O

The Big Vote "He who would leap high must take a long run." - Danish Proverb Aiming for anything worthwhile takes preparation, planning, stamina, and persistence. Take the child whose dream is to be an Olympian one day. This is not a simple dream to achieve, but if an individual is blessed with the right dose of talent, he or she can get there through focused training. TODAY I WILL NOT GIVE IN TO DISCOURAGEMENT ON MY WAY TO ACHIEVING MY DREAM. #RaesBlog #PositiveQuotesforEv

A Work of Art "The world is but a canvas to our imaginations." - Henry David Thoreau The world is our canvas, and my small part of the world is my canvas. Put all of our ideas and projects together, and it is an amazing masterpiece. TODAY I WILL PLANT SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, AND I WILL NOURISH IT. FLOWERS WILL BE MY CONTRIBUTION TO OUR CANVAS. #RaesCraft #RaesBlog #quotes #Blog #PositiveQuotesforEveryDay #encourage #Blogging #PatriciaLorenz #Life #book

Follow the Muse "Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly." Robert F. Kennedy Greatness takes daring. Take Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, the Wright brothers, and Martin Luther King Jr. Many of the people of their eras probably thought they were crazy, dedicating all their time and efforts toward things that existed only in their dreams. But today we know better- we know they were brilliant. TODAY I WILL BE DARING. #RaesCraft #RaesBlog #Readings #book #PositiveQuot

Just Take It All In "The only means of strengthening ones's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing -to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - Jonh keats From time to time, it is good for us to just explore, isn't it? Not to analyze every little thing, just wander and take it all in. It is the same with our brains. If we feed our brains the same general information all the time, they will grow lazy. We exercise our brains by picking up books on topic

Be a Dreamer and a Doer "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." - Eleanor Roosevelt Who built the marvelous world of today, with its machines and amazing capabilities? The people who just took life as it came to them with no thought to dream or goals? No, for the most part, it was built by the people who noticed problems, came up with solutions, and worked until their goals were realized. It will be the same with the future-it will be forme

Now We're Cookin' "It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." - Herman Melville It is tempting to imitate, isn't it? It is easy. But if we lead our lives in imitation of others, we are not being true to our own destiny. We need to heed those urges to try something new or take a different path. TODAY I WILL LISTEN TO MY INNER VOICE. #RaesBlog #RaesCraft #Readings #book #PositiveQuotesforEveryDay #PatriciaLorenz #encourage #Life #blog #Blogging #Blo