playful.productive.present

Time Tested Beauty Tips

For attractive lips,
Speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes,
Seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure,
Share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair,
Let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.

For poise,
Walk with the knowledge that you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed,
revived, reclaimed and redeemed,
Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,
You'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands;
One for helping yourself,
The other for helping others.

***
Sam Levenson

NOTE: This poem was one of Audrey Hepburn's favorites and has been erroneously attributed to her. It was read by Miss Hepburn to her sons, Sean and Luca on Christmas Eve, 1992 and also on occasion when she was asked for beauty tips.

I've been invited to help present an evening of Inner Beauty to a group of Young Women (girls 12 to 18) in a neighboring ward (LDS congregation.) I have 5 minutes to shed some light on the second line about lovely eyes. I take these things very seriously and always get so nervous. I finished my preparations early this morning and thought I'd share this poem with you because thinking about it and the theme of inner beauty has caused me to think about our children and especially our teenagers. As they head back to school and face the peer pressure and popularity contest that is an ever present thing in their classrooms and hallways, I think we should remind them that it is what is on the inside that matters and that what is on the inside will be seen in their eyes!

I absolutely believe that our eyes are our most important feature. Beautiful lips, shiny hair, a svelte body and all the poise in the world cannot make up for empty, sad or shifty eyes. Eyes are the windows to the soul.

My message (in short) will be that there is a difference between seeing and seeking and that they very best way to seek the best in others is to seek the light of Christ in our lives.

I love this quote that I found:

"A sacred light comes to our eyes and countenances when we have
a personal bond with our loving Heavenly Father and His Son."

James E. Faust

Watch This.

It's day one of my version of The Creativity Project and I found the perfect "Sunday" thing to kick off my month-long commitment.

I have long felt that creating is an extension of my spirituality. I'm not saying that every time I make a scrapbook page I experience unspeakable emotion, but I do believe that when I get caught up in the "FLOW" of the creative process and lose track of time, I become aware on a new level. I get lost in thoughts that for me are only accessed during sustained creativity and I experience a deeper connection to my true self -- my soul.

Every year the women in my church gather to hear council and encouragement from our leaders. Last September, I sat with several of my friends listening and was surprised and delighted to hear Elder Uchtdorf talk about creativity. I was so touched by his words and I have thought several times that I should share them on my blog ... well, I just came across these cool YouTube videos, designed to share uplifting gospel messages. These are relatively new and guess which talk has already been featured? The ONE I loved so much last fall ...

Do me a favor, whether you consider yourself spiritually inclined or not, or creative or not ... Watch This!

 

I get chills every time. I know we all create for different reasons, but I do believe that creating is a part of our spiritual makeup. It is our privilege (and perhaps even duty) as human beings to leave our mark, to ...

pretty, pretty Jenna and the flower girl

I'm long overdue on the "i do" report. Jenna and Deric were married on Friday, September 26th in the Spokane, Washington Temple and as far as I could tell, the day came off without a hitch. Jenna was nothing short of gorgeous and Deric is very easy on the eyes, so they made a lovely couple. The cool thing is of course the fact that they have a love built on friendship that has developed over years (first kiss was shared on the Jr. High bus) and that they were married in the temple with an eternal covenant that includes God as a partner and protector. They can look forward to a lifetime and beyond receiving promised blessings as they build an eternal family. Marriage is generally not celebrated much in our culture these days (at least not beyond the initial fanfare and expense) and I'm just really happy (and proud) of Jenna, for approaching this day with the respect it deserves.

How special is this? This is one of my 'present' pictures and it reminds me of this wonderful girl, the time she spent with my family and the way she loved my daughter. We were so blessed to have her in our home. This one for some reason is my favorite photo of Jenna and Deric together. I was of course on Addie duty and was not able to take very many photos, but I like the sense of them at the center of the wedding party, looking off -- plus, hello ... Jenna has a movie star profile!

Here comes the bride (and groom) -- shutters were flying as Jenna and Deric stepped outside the temple. I had the opportunity of helping dress the bride (with her mother and two sisters in law) and it was such a special experience -- especially for a mother of boys. I won't get to do this again for a long time, so I savored it!!