Embrace the sweet art of 'doing nothing'

Lilah wasn't ashamed of the fact that she would rather sit than stand, 

would certainly rather walk than run and saw the value of long naps 

as opposed to exercise for

keeping the body and mind in tune.

Not that she wasn't ambitious. It was simply that 

her ambitions ran to the notion that

physical comfort had priority over 

physical accomplishments.

For The Love of Lilah

__________________

By Geraint Owen from Llundain/London via Bangor a Caerdydd/Kierdiff - Paradwys, CC BY 2.0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6898818

"Maybe you sit and read a book. Maybe you stare out the window or balcony and listen to your favorite musician. Maybe you learn how to whistle … What can you do today to begin doing nothing?"

Those are big, important questions worth pondering. If only you were in a pondering mood. But let's embrace la dolce far niente — and take a nap instead.

Mother Nature Network

Self-Soothing

He could hear the funeral tones of Mozart's Requiem

coming from the parlor.

If Miranda was playing that, he knew the trip hadn't gone well.

He found her curled up in a chair in front of the fire, bundled into 

her favored gray cashmere robe, sipping tea from their grandmother's

best china.

All of her comfort tools, he noted, neatly in place.

Homeport

_____________________

By Aman.the.dark - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, 
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49293460

It might not be a concept we’re familiar with nor might we know what
sorts of things might soothe us, but at times when we feel particularly anxious
or distressed, self-soothing can be a useful part of our mental health toolkit.

blurt

Cries Every Girl Knows Way Too Well

A man who had three sisters knew all about women's tears. 

There were the slow, rather lovely ones that could slide down a female

cheek like small, liquid diamonds and reduce a man to begging. 

There were hot, angry ones that spurted out of a woman's eyes like

clear fire and induced a wise man to run for cover.

And there were those that were hidden so deep in the heart that 

when they broke loose and stormed free they were a deluge of pain

beyond any man's comfort.

So he let her be, let her curl into herself on the bottom step while those 

heart-born tears raged. He knew that the hurt that spawned

such a flood closed her off. All he could do was give her privacy, and wait.

Homeport

_________________________

By Fulvio Spada from Torino, Italy - Crying tulip, CC BY-SA 2.0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40588066

The female gender, as a whole, is infamous for being overemotional, and for shedding tears when and where tears, quite frankly, need not be shed.

In fact, it seems as if nearly any single thing can trigger us, sending us into a downward emotional spiral (feminism, amiright?). Of course, not all ladies are like this; some women are stone cold walls of non-emotion, and some have their sh*t together. I envy both.

Elite Daily

"She’d come for the adventure, for the thrill. For the freedom."

“Yes, exactly. I bided my time. When I was eighteen, I left. 

There was insurance money that came to me then, and a small trust 

fund from the sale of our house in Saint Louis. I planned to go to college.

 I had no idea what I wanted to do or be, so I decided to take a year off first and 

do something my parents had always talked of doing. To tour Europe.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, alone.” She sipped her wine now, leaning back on the counter. 

Had she ever told anyone even this much before? 

Since the night everything changed for her? No, no one. What would have been the point?

“I was thrilled to be alone, to have no schedule, no one telling me what to do. 

It was both an adventure and a pilgrimage for me. 

I backpacked through Italy.”

Wolf Moon

________________________

By StockSnap - 

https://pixabay.com/en/people-woman-travel-adventure-trek-2591874/ 

archive copy at the

 Wayback Machine (archived on 19 January 2019), CC0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72553316

This Unexpected Travel Trend Is Especially Popular Among Women Right Now

Solo trips are one of 2019’s biggest travel trends, 

and women are definitely leading the charge.

Real Simple

“Does This Make Me Look Fat?”

"Well. Wow."

"Andrew, you're such a poet. Do I look fat in this?"

"There's never a correct answer to that question. Or if there is, 

no man has ever found it. Therefore..." He raised his glass in toast. 

"I abstain."

"Coward."

Homeport

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By Billie Grace Ward from New York, USA - Woman in a Red Dress, CC BY 2.0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74145300

“Does This Make Me Look Fat?” The Best Way to Respond

Picture this.  You are shopping with a girlfriend.  She comes out of the dressing room, turns to you and says, "Does this dress make me look fat?"

Your first impulse might be to immediately say, "No,"  You cringe and feel backed into a corner.  It's a no-win situation.  Before you answer, think about this advice.  Consider what she is really asking.  Don't take this question literally.

Psychology Today

______________

“I don’t go shopping, tagging along

to haul bags or getting asked if some dress makes your ass look fat.”

“Take my word as gospel on this point. You’re the last person I’d want 

as a shopping

buddy. And my ass isn’t going to look fat in any dress. 

Write that down, etch it in your

memory.”

“I got it.”

The Perfect Hope

Celebrating the Autumn Equinox

“It’s a fine day, isn’t it? Bright and cool. The harvest is nearly done, and we’ll have our

celebration soon,” he continued as he walked with the hawk on his arm. “The equinox, as

you know, when night conquers day as Gronw Pebr conquered Lleu Llaw Gyffes. We’ll

celebrate the birth of Mabon, son of Mordon the guardian of the earth. Sure there’ll be

honey cakes for certain. I’ll see you have a bit.”

Shadow Spell

_________________

It’s easy to let time slip away, but even a long-overdue gathering can be special.

Traditional Home

_________________

“Keeps us balanced.”

“Seems it does, and I’m thinking balance might be the thing.”

“Ostara, the equinox, the balance of day to night? Rather than the solstice?”

Dark Witch

Here we go... again 😉

Or why NETFILX would like to have a word with Nora Roberts 😉

During vacations  we enjoyed leisure time watching Netflix Series and Movies.

The past weekend we went to a Fair and they had Nora's books for sale in a stall. I picked this one as it is one of my favorite and I thought DH would like to return to his nightly chapter read of a Nora book when Autumn arrived.

First wrong move was to put the book on his night stand. He's a guy right? It's not like he is one of those I-can't-wait-to-read-this-book Nora gals 😉 (or wasn't...)

On Monday he humored me and we watched "The Intern". I've seen it lots of times but wanted him to watch it too. He did. He enjoyed but before going to sleep he read a bit (which was weird per se as my husband is a guy who if he's watching a movie he's watching a movie, he can :gasp: read a chapter every night and close the book and go to sleep after)...
On Tuesday and everyday after he told me he'd rather read the book, and maybe on weekends we could continue the Netflix binge 😉

He's moving through HIGH NOON (titled "Refém do Amor" in the Portuguese edition)
like a seasoned Nora Roberts' fan 💓

"Do not forsake me, oh, my darlin'." 

Brad Pitt ‘Removed’ His ‘Drinking Privileges’

"It's easy to delude yourself that you're entitled, that you're just fine when you're in a haze most of the time. Easy to ignore the fact that you're letting your wife and child down in a dozen ways, every single day. Forgetting dinner parties or birthdays, slipping out of bed-where you are useless to her in any case- to have just one more drink, dozing off when you're supposed to be watching your own baby. Just not being there, not completely there. Ever."

"It's a hard thing to go through, I imagine. For everyone involved."

"Harder for the ones you shipwreck with you, believe me. I wouldn't go to counseling with her, refused to attend meetings, to talk to anyone about what she saw as my problem. Even when she told me she was leaving me, when she packed her things, and Josh's

things, and walked out. I barely noticed they were gone."

Black Rose

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By SpreePiX from Budapest, HU - IMG_8724_1 Brad Pitt, CC BY 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10776545

Brad Pitt is known to be one of the most dedicated actors in Hollywood — 

and he used that quality to get sober following his split from ex-wife Angelina Jolie.

The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star detailed his journey in a new profile 

The New York Times published on Wednesday, September 4.

MSN

______________________

"That was tremendously brave of her."

"Yes, it was." His gaze sharpened on Roz's face. 

"Yes, it was, and I suppose a woman like you would understand just how brave it

was. It took me another full year to hit the bottom, to look around at my life and see nothing. 

To realize I'd lost what was most precious,

and that it was too late to ever get it back. I went to meetings."

"That takes courage, too."

"My first meeting?" He took another bite of his sandwich. "Scared to death. 

I sat in the back of the room, in the basement of this tiny

church, and shook like a child."

"A lot of courage."

Black Rose

Halloween Costumes For Couples

“Perfect. I dressed up as Han Solo for Halloween.”

“How old were you?”

“Twenty-seven.”

The Next Always

_______________________

By Jeremy Keith - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3187803

Totally Genius Halloween Costumes For Couples

Because it takes two to win Halloween.

YAHOO!

_______________________

He saw Avery, long blond wig tied back, tossing dough to the delight

of her audience of pint-sized superheroes, fairy princesses, and ghouls.

“Hannah Montana?” he called out.

She tapped the plastic wood-grained stake in her belt before she caught the dough.

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

“Cute.”

“Not if you’re a vampire.”

Amused, he walked over to the booth of superheroes, checked out Clare. She made one

hell of a Storm of the X-Men, he decided, in a white punk-style wig and snug black skirt

and thigh-high boots.

The Next Always