I'd rather live in a crayon box.

Did you ever think of a word, name, or place and take note of the color?  For example, when I think of Bee's Curiosity Shoppe, the words are in orange.  My name comes into my mind in red, my best friend's is delivered in a rose pink.  Baby Bee's name oddly changes back and forth from blue to yellow.  It is so interesting how color plays into moods, thoughts, and feelings.  As I was glancing around at all the bright colors of Bee's belongings and wandering, "At what age, do we switch to beige?"

I find it peculiar that we stop surrounding ourselves with the vivid hues of our childhood.  Children love color.  It stimulates them, piques their curiosity, and makes them happy.  Why is it then, as we get older, we tone down our life?  Personally, I know bright colors make me feel animated and cheerful.  Yet, we cruise the stores picking out couches the color of charcoal, carpet the color of the Sunday paper (as in the inside of the paper, not the front cover), white linens, and "cream" colored dishes.  For the sake of imagination, would you rather live in a shoebox or a crayon box?

My thoughts on color and how it effects every day life was actually aroused months ago.  After Bee was born, I found myself wearing clothes stripped of color.  White, black, gray...black, gray, white.  It was quite the anomaly to my pre-pregnancy attire.  Now that the pregnancy weight is gone and I'm not stuffing myself into clothes like a sausage link, my love for the crayon box has returned.  My insecurities had caused me to turn myself into a walking black and white photograph.  This discovery had encouraged me to evaluate the way I use color according to how I am feeling, and how I could use it to my advantage.  It also started the ball rolling that maybe Baby Bee was onto something with her attraction to dynamic, bold colors.

Since the arrival of our little Bee, our bathroom has changed from a subdued, Earth toned shower curtain with matching bronze accessories and muted rugs to vibrantly bright blue, green, orange, and red sea creatures dancing along the shower, ducky and fishy (think Nemo) rugs, and towels the color of a Cheerio box.  The shocker is, I like it better.  It is playful, happy, it makes me feel good when I walk in.  My inner child is awakened.  Even the colorful toys strewn about the house during the day doesn't bother me.  It's a sign of life.  And I want more of it.  I crave it.  I would like to re-introduce my adult self to my inner child.  They deserve to be friends.

The whole idea behind Bee's Curiosity Shoppe is to inspire people to unearth their inner child.  We want people to embrace their imagination and not shy away from their creative selves.  I survey our spare bedroom, which is adorned with all the current art for sale.  It inspires me to add even more splashes of color to the rest of the house.  I want to transition from the shoe box to the crayon box.  Writing these blogs and letting Bee's Curiosity Shoppe develop organically and creatively, as well as being present in Baby Bee's world has brought me new life and light.  A light that I want to share and spread.  I feel that the more color I bring into my own surroundings, the more I can distribute to others.  It is time to jump into action.  I will transform my home by seeing through the eyes of my inner child.

So the next time you are tempted to scoff at that tomato red couch or pumpkin colored shag rug, stop and reconsider.  Let the child in you emerge and be free to embrace the rainbow.  It really is amazing what can be life changing.

Stay tuned for part 2: my transition into the crayon box.... 

The Color of the Kitchen

The task was put to me as simply as this; upon request, dinner was to be rich, cheesy, and contain jalapenos.  I will admit, my cooking skills leave much to be desired.  I am not completely hopeless though, no where near it.  I know my way around the kitchen, I cook every night.  Living with a chef, however, lends the stakes to be very high.  There are not many dishes that come back to the kitchen with the seal of approval which is composed of an enthusiasic "it's ok, I'd eat it again."  That has been my highest praise in the way of food so far and I'm not sure how many stars that would warrant.

I love to cook.  I love being in the kitchen.  It's my favorite place in the house, in any house.  Whenever we move into a new place, the kitchen is put together first.  The kitchen is where family is taken care of.  We nourish our children, our partners; we celebrate milestones, holidays, birthdays.  We cook for pleasure, for comfort, sometimes in mourning.  Conversations around the family table are priceless.  The kitchen is the heart of the home.  It puts life into a family and I I feel alive when I am in the kitchen preparing and creating.

Last night I was in the kitchen, preparing dinner.  Baby Bee was at my feet, the sound of the children playing football in the yard took the place of my usual choice of reggae music.  Yellow rice the color of sunshine was boiling, I was slicing into the most vibrantly red peppers that were so deliciously sweet I couldn't stop eating them raw.  The house was soon filled by the delightful aroma of spices, fresh food, love.  All five senses were ignited and I was feeling the light of happiness.  I thought to myself, as I glanced around at the array of colors, inhaled the fresh scents, the sounds of the sauteing onions and the soft slicing of those peppers, if this isn't art I don't know what is.  Just as in our art in Bee's Curiosity Shoppe, this food was sparking my imagination as well as soothing my soul.  Art is everywhere.  Creativity is everywhere, begging to be provoked.  The world is full of wonder and even the simplest of tasks can be surrendered to and evolve into an adventure.

As my business evolves, it has always been in the back of my mind to invoke wonder and amazement and creativity through our artwork.  The hope is that when our art is hung in a living room, a hospital room, a kitchen, or wherever its journey takes it, it sparks the imagination that is so prevalent among children.  Just because you have to grow up, it doesn't mean you have to leave a colorful world of curiosity behind.  I am blessed to have my daughter to remind me everyday how amazing everything is around us and each day is what we make of it.  Cooking can be made to be a hurried chore, or it can be given the chance to blossom into an animated show of the senses.  Happiness is free for the taking.

Oh, and the dinner was not rich, not cheesy, and did not contain jalapenos.  BUT, afterwards I heard, "this is pretty good."  Wow!     

A new beginning...time for change.

Time has never been on my side.  That's the version in my head.  In reality, it goes more like this; I have poor time management skills and I often find myself meandering down a path of daydreams and/or delving deep into the information superhighway...looking at useless information.  Now that I have made the decision to start my own business, a change is in order.

I often asked myself how mothers have managed to start their own business, make it a success, run this booming business, and all while raising children.  They do it though.  They make it work.  What do I have to be afraid of? I have a child, not children.  And, bless her heart, she's an angel.  I am fortunate enough to stay home with her, I am an intelligent human being (never mind the fact that "intelligent" was just auto-corrected), I am creative, motivated, independent.  I can do this!  Now, to find the time.

Where do you look for time?  Does it magically appear, as if lowered from the battens, thrust on stage?  Ta-da!!  Time has arrived!  No, that can't be it.  Oooooohhhhh, I have to MAKE time.  I'm looking for something that cannot be found.  No one is going to knock on my door and hand me an envelope with two hours of complete, uninterrupted silence so that I may fulfill my wishes of an independent, ever growing business.  Huh, imagine that.  I guess this is where the change has to come in.

Today, I woke up at 5am...on my own....no alarm.  I admit, I did lay awake next to my little girl and watch her sleep for 50 minutes.  No one said change can happen over night.  At least not in my book it won't.  Coffee was already brewed, thanks to the man in my life, so "officially" up at 6am and ready to get rockin.  Feed dogs, coffee, cereal.... Oh wait; take dogs out first, feed dogs, coffee, cereal, set the computer up....I'm ready to go.  Blog or logo, blog or logo?  Getting the logo up is probably most important.  The blog won out in attempt to start off my first day at my new job with minimal stress.  Ha.  Ha.  Ha.  Gadgets, widgets, wadgets....I should have known better.  I am quite the old soul when it comes to technology.  I've got mailing a letter down to a science however.  Time to get my feet wet.  My business is not going to sprout up merely on the coat tails of daydreams.

Here I am.  It's begun.  The business logo is still tucked away, but I've written my first words.  I am starting to introduce myself.  I am putting myself out there.  One thing I am proud of is that I have always been my biggest cheerleader.  It's the naysayers that always seem to beat me down.  Not this time though.  I am armed and ready.  New baby, new state, new city, new business, even a new car.  I have a fresh start and I love anything fresh.  I. AM. MOTIVATED.  And just like my daughter is learning to walk, my steps will become less shaky.  I will find my balance.  Maybe a change is not in order after all.  My time has come and the Lioness that I have been putting in the corner is ready to shine.  I am a fierce warrior.  I can do this.