Reflections
Buttercup Princess on her Throne
November 5, 2009
Here ye! Here ye! I do declare there are many princesses living here at Buttercup Farm. This one watches over me from her throne while I tap away at my computer. From time to time, Princess Tasha will demand some attention…mostly getting exactly what she wants.
An Announcement
October 9, 2009
For the past 4 months, I have been working hard on a project that I have been looking forward to completing for the last nine years. You have all gotten to know me through the personal experiences I share on the Life at Buttercup Farm blog. You might know that I have been married for 13 years, that I have two wonderful daughters, and that I live my personal life to the fullest each and everyday. You know that I love to garden, entertain, decorate and cook. What I haven’t shared with you is that I also have a career that I love and have loved for nine+ years.
In 2000, my business partner, Aileen Herndon, and I started Avenue P Strategic Marketing. We have partnered with companies who were looking to improve their current marketing practices or who needed marketing support for a specific project. We have worked with several start-up companies who needed to create their brand from scratch and launch their business.
Aileen and I have built our business solely through word of mouth believing that doing excellent work for our clients is the best way to build our client base. We still feel this is one of the best marketing tools in business.
For a long time, we have been interested in sharing relevant, dynamic information in the areas of marketing, brand, and business topics to an audience bigger than our current client base. The last nine years of business experience has given us the opportunity to know how to help small businesses grow and we are excited to be able to share some of that knowledge with you. Announcing our new website and blog:
There are two parts of the website to note:
- The main site offers an overview of the services we provide and information about past projects and clients.
- The Perspectives blog offers pertinent information about marketing and related topics written to help small businesses grow.
I would love it if you stopped by to take a look. If you know of anyone who could benefit from the information on the Avenue Perspectives blog or our services, we would be grateful if you forwarded our link. Avenue P Strategic Marketing works with all sized companies, but have built a niche working with smaller companies (between 1-500 employees). I will be placing a link in the side bar of the Life at Buttercup Farm Blog if you ever want to link over when you are visiting here.
Teacher, Friend, Mentor
September 18, 2009
“Creating daily rituals–making daily tasks into times of enrichment through planning and special personal details–is a way to live a richer more satisfying life”. Alexandra Stoddard, Living a Beautiful Life: 500 Ways to Add Elegance, Order, Beauty and Joy to Everyday of Your Life.
Have you ever heard the saying, “The teacher will appear when the student is ready.”? My good friend and mentor, Alexandra Stoddard (author, modern day philosopher, and designer) is one of my most cherished teachers. By reading Alexandra’s writing and spending time with her, I have learned many wonderful and valuable lessons, the most important of which is to live a purposeful, beautiful, and happy life.
I can’t remember if Living a Beautiful Life was something I picked up at the bookstore or if it was given to me as a gift. What I do remember is reading the first line, of the first page, and realizing that the book was in my hands for a reason. I was ready for her.
Alexandra Stoddard found me while raising two small children, renovating my home, running a couple of businesses, and generally feeling irritated and overwhelmed by the mountain of tasks upon me each day.
One particular event occurring at the time (causing an unreasonable amount of irritation and angst) was the installation of my new solid black granite kitchen countertops. For years I dreamed about having shiny, crisp, stark, sleek, BLACK granite countertops in my kitchen. The day they were placed onto the base cabinets, I literally sat and looked at them for an hour…smitten. Then I cooked. Each meal I worked in the kitchen morphed those beautiful pieces of stone into cloudy, smeared, spotted, smudged black messes. Wiping them shiny and clean was a 15 minute CHORE that required…spray, wipe, dry…spray, wipe, dry…spray wipe dry… section by section. For a time, I thought I hated them and looked at them with disdain after every meal.
I realize now that it wasn’t the countertops I hated, but the way I thought about all of the work I was trying to manage everyday. When I first read the passage above, I was stopped in my tracks. At that moment I started to re-evaluate how I was handling ALL of my day to day tasks. The lightbulb went off and I knew I had choices in the way I managed the “what is” in everyday.
As for the countertops, I choose to fall in love with the cleaning ritual required after each meal. I take the time to breath, think, and decompress as I spray, wipe, dry…spray, wipe, dry… Cleaning the counters, is now one of the few quiet times I have each day and has become one of my daily rituals I look forward to the most.
Two years ago I attended a “writers retreat” hosted by Alexandra and Peter. It was after that event that I developed a plan for my blog…Life at Buttercup Farm. Using the opening line of Living a Beautiful Life, “Creating daily rituals–making daily tasks into times of enrichment through planning…”, I started a daily writing ritual…each day 20 minutes…no matter what. The experience of writing this blog, has been one of the best of my life so far.
Thank you, Alexandra, my teacher, friend and mentor, for inspiring me to THINK about my thinking patterns, for inspiring to push toward my dreams for writing, and for being an example of someone who lives their truth and owns their happiness.
The last time I had dinner with Alexandra and Peter, she asked me to remind her of how I found her….I laughed and told her….”It was my black granite countertops”. Really though, I found her because I was ready. Ready to think in a different way about my life, ready to stop going through the motions, and ready to take control of my happiness.
If you haven’t had the pleasure of reading any of Alexandra’s work, check out her library. I own each and every book and love them all!
Also, don’t forget…it is “A Beautiful Life” Friday over at The Inspired Room . Melissa is also a fan of Alexandra Stoddard. Click HERE to read about her experience.
Back to Work, Back to School
August 31, 2009
I am typing right now without guilt. Without calling across the house, “I’ll be right there” or “Give me 15 minutes”. I haven’t written “Life At Buttercup Farm” blog this summer with any consistency or predictability. Yes, I had dreams of writing about all of our adventures, travels, and experiences all summer long. I thought I would get up each and every morning and write until the kids got up…quietly documenting what happens here on the farm. It never happened.
This summer was filled…packed…and sometimes overwhelming. Each weekday morning, the barn renovation crew arrived by 7:30am. There were meetings, decisions, lists, and general management issues that needed to be tended to. There were four 1 week vacations. There were multiple camps. There was work.
Any extra time I had, was happily spent with the girls.
Today is the first day of school. The silence in the house……can you hear it?…..No….because it is silent…..(ha, ha).
I am looking forward to being here again. Back to my writing rituals and quiet thinking time. I do have lots to share from this summer. I will trickle the posts through the upcoming weeks. It feels good to be back!
Baby Teeth
August 25, 2009
It is a matter of fact. When kids loose their baby teeth their little faces change and many go through an awkward phase resembling Sponge Bob Square Pants until “real teeth” come in and are straightened.
In an attempt to capture and remember my children’s sweet little faces with their little chicklet teeth, I have been known to snap hundreds of pictures leading to the momentous day when their first tooth comes out. My oldest Tulip recently commented, “Mama…you take so many pictures of JJ”. “Yes, Darling…it is a tooth thing. I’ll even up the photo shoots in a few months….I promise”.
Last week, just two weeks before 1st grade, and with a little drama attached, mi bebe’s first tooth came out (was pulled out). The tooth fairy treated her well, leaving her a note, some fairy dust, and some MOOLA.
Wedding Dog Walkers
August 10, 2009
When my cousin asked the girls to be her official “Wedding Dog Walkers”, they were over the moon with excitement.
They took their job very seriously…
each holding a part of the leash…
keeping the dog steady and controlled…
…they walked Miss Lily down the isle…
And delivered her to her rightful spot.
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