loveperiodorg-blog

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Fall Decorating

Looking to spread a little autumn Love. throughout your home and hearth? Well, try this for an easy start.  Head to your local produce market (or grow your own!) and pick out some healthy-looking orange, maroon or yellow-potted mums, some eye-catching gourds and cinnamon-scented pine cones.  Head to a Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel, Pier 1 Imports or World Market to pick up some white, cream or dark red pillar candles, hurricane and lantern candle holders.


Once you have these staple pieces, they can be styled and reused in many different ways throughout your home and throughout all seasons. But for now, we'll just stick with an easy starter that says, "Hello, Autumn!" To begin with, whenever you bring any produce or greenery into your home, I recommend giving the produce a good rinse (especially if fresh from the ground). This will help get rid of bugs or gnats that tend to live on some of the vegetation and in a few days may delight in flying around your home just as much as you do! For any of the plants you bring in, you can find a produce and environmentally friendly insect spray that should do the trick.


When you have everything all nice and cleaned up, take inventory of the furniture in your home. Do you have a sideboard, console, bookshelf, table or fireplace mantel? Any, or a combination of any of these, would make a great spot to construct your fall-welcoming centerpiece. If you have a nice table runner that complements the season, go ahead and lay that down first. Then, take your flowers or plant and place it in the center of your chosen space. This will serve as the focal point of your centerpiece.


Now you can take the rest of your items and arrange them in a pattern that is not entirely symmetrical. For instance, you can use an odd number of miniature pumpkins and maybe display them in a triangular pattern versus in a line formation. Two or three on one side of your focal point and four or the rest of the pumpkins on the other. If you have a hurricane or other large candle holder, that can serve as the focal point instead of a plant. If you happen to have a space that is large enough, you can even set up two focal points for two separate centerpieces, one at either end of your space.


Play with your work and have fun. Move things around to see what works best for your space. You may be surprised by what does work and what doesn't. That's part of the fun of getting your home into the season. It's also something that can be turned into a great seasonal quality-time project for the entire family. You don't need any flashy items. The idea is less is more, simple and elegant. It's also about making your added pieces look as natural as possible, as if they are already a part of the home environment and were meant to naturally be there.


If you'd like to make your seasonal decorating even more memorable, stay tuned for chic, DIY candles and other craft project ideas to celebrate the upcoming season!

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Welcome, Autumn! (Ode to Autumn)

Autumn, autumn, autumn. How do I Love. thee? Let me count the ways... Okay, before we get to counting, let me first admit that my favorite season is actually summer. Sorry, autumn! But, please don't misunderstand. Although, you close out my lazy, hazy summer days and there's a certain sadness to that ending, I see your many beautiful qualities and I'm thrilled to revel in them! First, I overlook your cool-down tendencies (I'm a warm-weather type, after all). Why? How can I afford to overlook this? Because you offer comfort and coziness, of course! As the great Tao master, Winnie the Pooh, says, it's time for hot chocolatey mornings and toasty, marshmallow evenings! Just thinking about sipping on a cup of freshly-made apple cider that has been stirred gently with a cinnamon stick or brewing some oh-so-tasty jasmine cloud tea with a hint of lemon and honey makes me want to run and grab a toasty faux-fur throw to wrap myself up in while I sip and tune into working on one of my projects. Then, there are those awe-inspiring walks and drives to look forward to - through tree-lined lanes that bear witness to your arrival - with a gorgeous display of reds, oranges, yellows and browns mixed in among the brilliant greens of the old summer foliage. Talk about picture perfect and camera ready! And can you smell the hint of smoke drifting into the crisp air from someone's just lit fireplace nearby? You work so well with nature to offer us amazing tokens that represent and remind us of your beauty. Those walks through your fall foliage can turn into some really fun treasure hunt missions that give way to valuable family time and purposeful craft projects. Do you know how many eye-pleasing centerpieces or front-door wreaths have been created because of them? Next, let's talk about your harvest. Seriously. I mean, come on! Comfort food - good for the heart and the soul. I'm soooo ready. For breakfast, I think I'll start with some honey-sweetened cream of wheat and maybe throw in a little cinnamon, or I might take a bit of freshly-made strudel with some seasonal honey crisp apples in it. Yum. Lunch? Let's go with a rich, hearty, flavor-filled harvest soup. Lot's of fresh, seasonal carrots, zucchini, butternut squash, potatoes, tomatoes and maybe even a little bit of spice thrown in for good measure is always nice during your season. Pot pies made from scratch (okay, maybe a cheat with the pastry crust) is one of my all-time favorites for dinner. You just can't go wrong. It's got the comfort factor with its richness and flavor, all of the hearty veggies and protein, and oh - the flaky crust holding in all of the delectable gravy (sigh)! And room for dessert at the end of your cool days, warm (and fresh!) cherry, apple, pumpkin or sweet potato pie with a little whipped cream on top. Enough said. Finally, did I mention the fashion element you inspire? Wool or cable-knit sweaters with over-sized turtlenecks and extended sleeves for warming up those chilly digits. The knee-high or over-the-knee socks and stylish boots that are made for walking.....through rich soil and autumn leaves. And how about those sharp fashion trenches to top it all off? Yes, please! Autumn, my dear friend, welcome. You are truly worthy. I'm looking forward to snuggling up for your visit.

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I wouldn’t mind it If we got lost together I’ll be home with you

Sometimes home isn’t a place, but a person (via pulsing-ink)

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Word of the day

mel·lif·lu·ous

/məˈliflo͞oəs/

adjective

(pertaining to voices or words) sweet and pleasant to hear.

[loveperiodorg-blog]

Real Relationship Stories

Do you have a personal story of Love you'd like to share?  Maybe how you met your significant other?  Maybe what you contribute your long, successful relationship to?  Share your story - love to hear from you!  Email stories to loveperiodorg@gmail.com.

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#LoveDessertBeauty

Cupcakes of the day.

For more floral buttercream art, you may visit www.instagram.com/kaydepaula/

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Love.  Period.

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Why Love. ??

Well, that would take me some 40-odd years to explain...about as many years as it took me to figure it all out. But, let's see if I can. No, that's too much. Let me just sum-up (a nod to my Princess Bride fans out there). So, here goes. I started college, had my son later in my freshman year, then went back in for my sophomore year. During these years, I worked odd jobs - a waitress, salon manager, car rental delivery person, you name it. Then, I got a temping position as a receptionist for a real estate developer and investment firm that quickly turned into a permanent property management assistant, then new development department executive assistant/project accountant. My tenure with this real estate firm spanned 17 years. The pay was wonderful and brought the only real stability in my life.

I did what was in front of me or what was handed to me for years. I know you may be thinking, “were any of these positions my passion?” No, not at all. Absolutely not. But, they brought in good, middle-class pay, so there was a sort of built-in addictive quality to them. It kept me from complaining and I was really grateful for all that they afforded me. But, here's the usual kicker. It was quietly unsettling me by slowly stifling me and deterring me from being who and what I really am, which is the same as what I am here in this world and space to offer or experience.

Now, back to my summing-up. After some time, the seven-year itch snuck up on me in my position at this firm. And while it did cause me discomfort and moved me to consider my situation more closely, it didn't cause me to reach any new conclusions about my life and where was going, so I continued along the same 'ole track. I was less happy and content because of the itch, but since I didn't know how to scratch it, I didn't change anything.

A few more years passed and the minor discomfort grew to be less and less tolerable, so I began considering options to begin taking charge of my own life by figuring out my passion, my raison d'être. The trouble was that things that did end up drawing me only kept my attention and interest initially. During the process of trying some of this and some of that to discover my passion, I only ended up discovering that I didn't know which way to turn or what I was doing. Very discouraging. A few more years go by and I'm less comfortable and less happy with each passing one. So, I went ahead and started my own business by combining all of the hobbies I enjoy and know I'm good at, just to take a step versus holding back or going around in circles and doing nothing at all. Sure, each of these hobbies held a bit of my passion, but none of them were it, even all together. None of them felt just right for me. Where was the magic passion button?

Eventually, the firm I was with for so long pushed me out and I had to get real about my direction. That's when God and I took a year-long journey of rearranging my relationship to everything and everyone. The result? I discovered the answers to "Who and what am I?", "What really nourishes me, drives me, entertains me, sustains me and my interests?", "What do I really enjoy and want to offer?" And they all converged into one answer for me: Love. Period.

It all came together and hit me with the perfect one, two (and three)-punch. First, the knowledge and understanding that I Am Love came as a visceral gut reaction to the who am I question. It was like colliding with an instinct inside of myself that had been buried under mountains of other feelings, just itching to get out. Second, I found myself truly feeling a warm, wonderful glow in myself that really felt like it was food for my soul whenever I came across a beautiful love story like I witnessed in Meghan and Prince Harry or in OWN's Black Love series. Third, and what finally brought it all together, was a certain scene in the movie, Sex and the City, that seemed to be speaking directly to me at a very specific point and time in my life.

I've heard it called perfect timing. The scene was about carrying around a token that reminds us of the love we seek. That was it. The perfect storm for me. I finally got it. All the separate little pieces came together all at once. Love isn't just my passion, evidenced by my zest for such classic films as An Affair To Remember, When Harry Met Sally, The Awful Truth, The Notebook, Sleepless In Seattle, You've Got Mail, The Best Man (really, I could go on)..., or by my unwilling to wither naïveté, or by my constant urge to see all as worthy (at least at first) and deserving of the benefit of the doubt. Love is who and what I AM.

All of that looking around for it outside of myself in its most beautiful and stirring forms is something I've been vying to express from within in the way I saw it reflected without because that is actually what I truly am and be! And what I am and be had long longed for an outlet to be seen and made use of in its proper light. It wanted to be known by its proper name and shared without restraint. Love! Its raison d'etre is expression and sharing of the very best, the very beauty of existence for no other reason than that is its purest joy.

So, here entered Love. This space is dedicated to it. My love of uncovering or developing the very best in life and sharing it with others. The hope is by sharing it with others, it will then help them to connect to the Love already inside of and surrounding them in their lives.

For me, I see Love as being witnessed or expressed in four forms, or what I like to call cornerstones: romance or personal love, kindness, beauty and happiness. And it's these cornerstones of Love that are focused on here in this space. It's an honor to be able to share them with you.  Stay tuned for Love of life, Love of self and others, Love of Spirit, Love of great experiences, Love of Love.  Period.  Come along for the ride!