Celebrate the Normal: Inside Here

Happy May!! Wednesday is a celebration day around Pars Caeli. I have so loved seeing the images of normal life in your part of the world. Admittedly I check throughout the week via Twitter and Instagram to see and giggle and gawk. Through this process, some of you have really embraced a new approach to looking at your environment; some of you have even changed your perspective on your every day life. High five on all of those!!

This week I can say that Celebrate the Normal has been a reality check for me. The normal I expect every day - from warm hugs from my kids and good morning kisses from my husband to a job that makes me laugh and work hard to a warm home and spring beauty around me - each element has become so much a part of the background of my life. I somehow wake up acting like I deserve all this goodness or rather that I have done something to deserve the normal around me.

And, fact is.

It is all a gift.

My normal is a blessed one (yours is, too).

And I'm determined to move the background into my daily perspective. It's always time to celebrate.

I hope you'll consider offering up a prayer of gratitude for the normal around you. I hope, too, you'll join the party next week. Send photo by Monday midnight via Instagram or Twitter with the hashtag #celebratethenormal.

Our new theme:

This week's theme was Inside Here, and each photo adds a different viewpoint and a spark of beauty, if I do say so.

xoxo, MJ

The Life of Chive from Jen at @jenmygatt on Instagram

 

  

          

                     Book picnic kind of day from Jill of Every Day is an Occasion

look up by Brittani

Happy note found on the Ipad today by MJ of Pars Caeli

Had a visitor during my product photoshoot today from My Little Addiction

#springhassprung from scatt85 on Instagram

Spring beauties from @teddy4775 on Instagram

        Typical Saturday: dance party at Ikea. from Erin of Such Small Steps

Ice cream for dinner tonight. Because we worked hard this weekend and we deserve it - from Rachel of Po Dunk Posh

Playing at the lake from Julia of Life on Churchill St.

Aw, enjoying some memories from last week. Have a great day! from Theresa of Inspiration Coop

Sick girls snuggling in bed like old lady friends... from Lacy of Living on Love

Enjoying the beautiful weather in a sun-filled cafe on the North Shore from Joy of Frock Files

Celebrate the Normal: A New Series

First off, my dears, thank you so much for all the insightful comments throughout the regular (sort of, right?) Tuesday/Wednesday series, Chat It Up. My intent behind the creation of Chat It Up was to have a space to listen and converse like old friends, and you all have been so gracious to engage in all sorts of different topics and posts! Now we're ready to move into something new, and I'm excited!!

Can I share something I've been trying to work around for a while?

I lead a normal life.

Alright, there. I said it.

I'm married and a mother of three children. I have a full-time job in communications. I drive (wait for it) a dark blue minivan (ahk, the horror! :)). I don't have a lot of opportunity to travel. I don't eat at amazing restaurants often or bring together meals that would amaze you. I haven't (yet) created photoready interior spaces to gawk at or crafted something that would stop you in your tracks.

But.

I have a knack for appreciating the mundane and celebrating the ordinary. Perhaps it's my Catholic faith and my love for Ordinary Time over the high points of Easter and Christmas. Or perhaps it's my desire to always support the underdog, the underappreciated around us. Or maybe it's because this is my life, the one I've been graced with, the one I've worked quite hard to create, and I love this normal.

When I began taking art lessons in high school, my first instruction was to begin really seeing and looking at everything. Noticing shadows and changes in tone. Examining the saturation of light and the details of texture once overlooked. I remember driving home that afternoon and finding the lines created by telephone wires and the pattern that emerged from the curbside rocks all freshly intriguing.

So here's where you come in.

Tell me, are you normal, too? Hipsters and desperate housewives need not apply.

Every Wednesday on Pars Caeli, I'll be celebrating the normal and ordinary through words and photographs and images. I'd love for you to join me because it's a hashtag party.

Snap away on Instagram and use this hashtag - #celebratethenormal - to capture the beauty of the ordinary around you. Images of people, places, and things are all welcome. In fact, you might be one of those 'Grammers who is more about the caption than the photo so bring that on, too!! I'll be featuring these beauties on Wednesdays (along with links to your account and/or blog if you're cool with that. If you'd prefer to submit anonymously, too, please do).

You've got the whole week, and I'll check in every Monday at midnight to pick some selections for that week's Celebrate the Normal.

What's your extraordinary normal look like? Show me. I bet we can elevate it to something pretty amazing.

xoxo, MJ

Chat It Up: Inspiration Spots

I've been slowly reconfiguring and reimagining our formal living room into an art space for the entire family. It's always had oversized, comfortable couches and a warm floor-to-ceiling window. It now has a piano, and our children's craft table, and my office armoire. Courtesy of Amazon, a wall hook arrived yesterday so that my husband's guitar can adorn the wall.

When I want to dream or write or clear my head, I find myself gravitating to this room. It's free of children's toys, dirty dishes, and unfolded laundry.

And I believe the intentionality of creating a space for a particular purpose has encouraged me to USE it for a particular purpose. My oldest, M, while practicing a new song on the piano, turned to me and said, "Mommy, I just love this room." I nodded in agreement.

With the neverending winter we've experienced in the Midwest, the art room has become my cozy haven. In warm weather, I typically perch myself on our back deck, underneath the blue umbrella that matches the skies I adore.

I've been reading more and more from the writers and bloggers I love, and I keep hearing them tell me to   find a space to create (or make a space where I can create). For some, it's been a local coffee shop or a library. For others, it's a park or their studio/office space at home.

So let's chat it up. Where is your inspiration spot? And if you need one, what must this space have to allow you the freedom to embrace fresh ideas?

XOXO, MJ

 PS. Wanna see my gatherings for a great office space? Check this board.

You're a really special 1 in 385 million to me.

Dear Blog,

It's almost your one-year anniversary, and I have to break it to you - you've hit middle-age. You see, in the blogosphere, a meager nine months is the average active lifespan of a blog. After this period most blogs are left by the wayside, abandoned URLs with low click rates and limited posts. Fact is, dear blog, you're one in 385 million blogs already out in cyberspace. And more than 100,000 of you are started every. single. day.

But, stats aside, my beloved web home, you have become a living, breathing creative space. And most days I find myself refreshed by your clarity of focus, relaxed in your organized aesthetic, and warmed by the generosity of those who also come to visit this address.

Let me share with you a few things I've learned and loved about our near-year together.

Paint the walls orange with blue polka dots

Blogging is freedom. I can express myself and any old way I'm feeling or thinking. I can choose to be positive and upbeat, silly and childish, serious and heavy, or none of the above. I can post seven times a day or take a month off (sorry about that December to January stint). My blog can be exactly what I want it to be at any old time of the day or night - and really, there's nothing else in my life for which I can say this.

Get a plan, stick to the plan and stray from the plan

I've learned that an editorial calendar is essential to successful blogging. What's this, you ask? That rough sketch of an outline where the daily posts are mapped out and regular series return on the same days week after week. I have written it out and crossed it off, and I have stuck to the proposed plan with a soothing rhythm and joy. Readers come back to see what they want to see on a regularized basis. But also I've received those inspiring emails or the middle-of-the-shower brilliant ideas that make me crumple the schedule in the cupholder and try something totally different. And I can do that, and it's all good, all welcome here in this space.

Make holes in the walls

I feel like the couch would look better over on that wall. Oh, wait, it's a sleeper sofa, and I'm here by myself, and there's a staircase in the way. This n e v e r happens with the blog. Enter through the back door and move that widget over, convert from one to three column design, add an instagram feed. And then change it all next week when I want a look that reflects something fresh and new. In blogging, invigorating design is encouraged and rewarded. Let your readers know that you're thinking of them and switch your look around.

Be a pal

Mom was right on this one. Be a friend to the bloggers you meet. Blogging success like any other success in life is about making real connections. You have to be willing and engaged in visiting, chatting, commenting, liking, posting, and retweeting all the goodness see others doing. Oh, and you can't just be in it to up your own numbers. That's the fastest way to becoming a blog has-been. Through this writing adventure, I've connected with amazing ladies from around the world, and I've been inspired to be more and do more.

The more you, the better

What makes you stand out amongst the 384,999,999 others? The you-ness. Blogs are inversely lovely to mass consumption, eg: the more you can be authentically, uniquely you, the better your blog can be. Find and use your voice. Hone in on it. Craft photographs as only you would see them. Overlay that fantastic font you know says wow. The world needs your blog.

There are already 99,999 other copycats arriving by sundown.

So Pars Caeli, you might be middle-aged in blog years, but you're always fresh, rewarding, and a wee bit intoxicating to me. Hugs to you, interweb cozy. Can't wait to see what's cooking for the terrible twos.

xoxo, MJ

PS. What do you love mostest about your blog?

                

A tri- to try

                                                          

The first ever Pars Caeli button. Made especially for the redesign of LaidOffMom.com coming in a few days. You'll want to check it there because some of my favorite new bloggers also have their beautiful badges appearing on Louise's lovely site.

                              

We finished up a trend-setting, wonderful first week of school here. I survived! Oh, and my kiddos are all loving their new teachers, school supplies (very important), and classmates.

This weekend holds some fun celebrations at Church and a whole lot of togetherness with good people, and I'm looking forward to it! What are you up to this weekend?

Let's watch a good movie tonight (any ideas?) and thank Thomas Edison for patenting the motion picture camera on this day in 1891. On Saturday find a way to connect with someone you've hurt or left out and give them a big bear hug. You'll be in full celebration of Kiss and Make Up Day, August 25. Sunday is all about the special canines in our lives as National Dog Day is marked. Spend some special time with your dog or take some time to visit a rescue center for those dogs in need of a home.

Need some other ideas?

1. MAKE AN INSPIRATION BOARD:

Sincerely, Kinsey made this cool, rustic board to post photos, clippings, memories, and even some succulents. I have just the place where I'd love to hang one of these. Rotating display areas are so fun!

2. CRAFT A TOY FROM A TRAY:

Danyelle always amazes me with these great kiddo projects that come from handy objects that she transforms into gloriously designed goodies. She converted a serving tray into a marble maze, and it looks like the kind of present you'd be proud to give your own or someone else's eager child.

3. DO UP YOUR DO:

I am on a hair kick right now. Typically I cut my hair as the weather turns colder and let it grow in the summer (weirdo). So Camille posted a handy tutorial on volume and curls, and I had to favorite it. Camille has such style that I find myself clicking through a lot of her posts. Give yourself permission to do the same this weekend!

Let's have a bright weekend, friends!

XOXO, MJ