Old habits die hard

I had a wonderful week-end! And you? 
I went to the theatre to watch Michael Douglas in his last film "Wall street" very good. He's still though  ageing an handsome man and one of my favorite actors along with Di caprio. A very thoughtful film about greed, money, betrayal. passion, loose and win....with a very moral and hollywood happy end that i doubt could be reality, but who cares that's the fun of it....and i do love happy ends (don't we all? )
We have a dear friend who's taking some vacation from husband and her 3 kids at my mom's for a few days and that was fun too as we had intuition and tarot session. We choose at least ten questions that we withhold and then the other answer for us without knowing what is our question so the mental is put aside and the intuition can flow. For years now i have been practicing the tarot and love it, whenever a question arises i lay out my cards and my husband who is very intuitive as join "the club". If we don't know what is the question then we are not influence by it and we can speak with our hearts/intuition and the results are absolutely overwhelming. Nowadays hearing our inner voice is ok and there are tons of books to teach us how to developp it when we just have to listen and to trust her. Intuition is our more reliable master, always acurate. I have fail her for many years not believing, wanting to prove that she was wrong but as my creativity starts to blossom i follow her and am much steadier and confident now. I gain confidence in my judgements because i TRUST her not always though it's an ongoing process. 
Old habits die hard!

As you can see i  return to the beiges! Just finished it and is one of my favorites . The old clock comes from Portugal and the music box and little bottles from Artfest, port towsend US that i bought last april to this adorable man at vendor night (for those interested he is in the left corner at the back ....) the door knock came from Paris ....A very traveled album...  hope you like it.
Now heading to the gym as my butt weighs tons after eating so much chocolate over the week end.
Have a nive week, fill with joy, laughter and share.
Xo

on sheer pleasure

Wake up this saturday morning at 6am... to go shopping! Direction the oldest flea market in Lisbon. Nothing except vintage stuff could make me wake up so early on a saturday morning...i do love the feeling though, the excitement of searching, the anticipation of the cool object i'm going to find and...ta da....

Look what i ve found, a very old sewing box wow! then old spoons, old buttons, this beautiful little  french tin, old photographs, old books............ I was so excited, when i'm in the flow only my empty wallet can and do stop me, fortunately otherwise i recognize being a vintage book-addict.

Tomorrow, cross my fingers full day in the studio creating youpiiiii.......
Have a cool week-end 
xo

On Marriage...

And what of Marriage, master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of LIfe can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.


THE PROPHET KHALIL GIBRAN

Who am I ?

Am I in the good track?

What is my purpose in life?

Where do I belong?

Do I make the right decisions?

How can I improve myself?

How can I stop repetitive patterns?

How can I be more confident?

What is there for me?

Do I give enough?

Do I receive enough?

Who I am?

On love

I had this red cover for ages and as you know i'm more into beige. One thing leads to another, i get to be very adaptable last week everything seemed to broke and it did! So i have a new cell phone and had to run to Mac to understand how i could use bluetooth and recover my photos. So this unsettling changes were very positive as i decided to challenge myself in my studio, trying to create new albums with different covers. I was stuck at first, as i usually create something that i would put in my home but not everyone is in the whites and beige...which is ok of course. Being adaptable is one of my motus in life has everything changes and evolves, so it is a good thing to try new paths. Hope you'll like it!
This album is like a fairy tale, love the couple i imagined.
 This handsome man with his moustache, looking very serious is very sensitive and profound and was in advance in his own time, deeply believing that the woman he loved was his equal and they lead a very secrete and creative life. Their love was one that we all want based on trust, friendship, tenderness, respect. I had fun this week end as you can see!
"Love is the answer" Einstein
xo

Rituals

I have just read the post of Nina Bagley about the importance in her life of rituals. She travels all over the year teaching her wonderful and so inspiring workshops and when back at home she lives in a remote and beautiful  place in the mountains. She leads the kind of life i long for...let's see what HE has in mind for me? I do travel a lot has my first job is being a flight attendant, now up to twenty one years still a lot to go! I do have a lot of rituals too first thing in the morning when at home is scratching my husband back... and hugging him then the attention goes to the  cat Frimousse who litterally runs towards the kitchen as if he hasn't eat in years while giving him his favorite dish "sardines" i prepare a french coffee that is an enormous bowl of strong coffee (my portuguese friends fail to understand how we french can drink so much coffee in a row, they are more into several italians coffees during the day ) while sipping my flavored and delicious coffee i talk to my mom. First thing in the morning i need to get connected with my mom, some say that i do need to cut the umbilical row now i reply why? everything in a way or the other will lead us to our moms if she was to present or absent or too authoritative or too permissive etc... My mom is and will be my best friend forever, one that stand by me no matter why aren't we all searching for that kind of relationship in our lives? Anyway, after sometimes two strong bowls of coffee when the jet lag sinks in i start to be more awake and i'm ready for the gym. I've restarted exercising after a hibernating period due to  my hormonals treatments and i feel so good with it. Exercising do gives me punch, i feel more alive after classes like being in my studio in the afternoon creating gives me balance, strengh, and most of all awareness. We do need to have our rituals in this frantic world otherwise we would run out of our bodies. 
I would love though to be a full time artist, traveling once in a while with my husband, having a regular timetable not starting to work for 12 hours of flight at 23h20pm to ......distant lands
 That's the thing about humans we have this constant insatisfaction or is it just me? Don't get me wrong i do love my job but now after so many years and the constant increasing of activities my body feels more reluctant to adjust and recover and i have discovered my passion so creating is like a legal drug to me, i need to create or i start to lose my balance.
As always my dear and talented teacher Nina is an inspiration for me, look below at her beautiful Home
Have a good sunday......I will

xo  

Vataça de Lascaris

Remember I told about this extraordinary woman who lived back in the 13 century? She was the maid of honour of our much Queen Saint Isabel. They were both in the giving. Saint Isabel is known for her Roses miracle and her grand devotion and kindness.
Vataça de Lascaris whose grandfather was the imperor of Byzance was married at thirteen to a much older man who happens to die 10 years later, living her with great wealth. She never remarried which at the time was very rare and she managed to remain very powerful and indispensable at the court.
She was a woman ahead of her time, speaking latin, portuguese, spanish, french. She was a traveler, a business woman with a kind heart and completely devoted to her beloved queen.
I had this request from Miguel Vilhena, film maker, who developed a passion about Vataça, to create an album related in some ways to our grand woman. It was a challenging and most interesting work. Let's see what happens now... check his website www.fosforo-acv.blogspot.com 
Enjoy your week end
Be happy

Find the balance

I have just made this album...and sold it right away which is ok but i like to have them a little with me.
My inspiration came back so let's take the ride while is flowing! I'm debating as always with my sense of time flying and not knowing how to manage day to day life. One of my favorite artists Sally Jean retires for 6 months in her studio warning her friends that she will be unreachable and it seems to work for her.
 It would be a complicated thing to accomplish for me as i sense that i need to be present and available all time! Feeling guilty and restarting biting my nails when not responding to their needs when all i want to do is hiding in my studio and create. Know the feeling...assertiveness is definitely awckard to me but is what life defies me to do  almost every day. How i love to be in my studio, time stands still, i feel creative, alive, whole. There's a inside struggle in my need for others and my urgent need to remain alone. Advises are most welcome....

 Have fun 
xo

Friend forever

Bom regresso ao Porto amiga. My friend is a rare and beautiful soul, one that we feel blessed to have for friend. She was my beautiful godmother at my wedding. I always carry her in my heart as we don't get to see each other very often due to us living in diferent towns.
She is not only beautiful from the outside but her inside is one that we all long to have; a generous and kind heart, a friend that i can call at 3 am in distress knowing that she will come to help me no matter how long it will take her to drive to Lisbon, a friend who knows it all, who understands everything, a friend who never judges others only herself, sometimes i sense she's too hard on her, pushes her body to the limit. 
She's the mother of all of us
She's in the unconditional giving...her task would be each single day to have more time for herself 
She's an ancient soul with a thousand lives behind
She's a shining and remarkable soul
I love you my friend xo

Friendship....

My session to the dentist was terrible (i'm not exagerating...or just a bit) have to return on thursday. No comments! I've got friends popping in from Paris and Porto which is great has there's nothing like being with friends chatting for hours, laughing, eating, drinking even dancing and doing it all over again the next day. It fill one's soul to connect with the ones we love and don't see as often as we would want. 

  The Prophet

  Khalil Gibran

Speak to us of Friendship

 And he answered, saying:

  Your friend is your needs answered.

   He is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

  When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay".

 And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;

 For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations 

    are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.

  When you part from your friend, you grieve not;

   For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence,

   as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

  And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

   For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own

   mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

    And let best be for your friend.

     If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.

     For what is your friend that you seek him with hours to kill?

        Seek him always with hours to live.

       For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.

      And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

      For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed

it's one of my favorites author, one that as his place by my bedside
xo