Isabel Designs

Lights at Upper Canada Village

My friend Lin was stringing lights on shrubs outside her front door when she lost her footing and instinctively used her hands to break the fall. She saved herself from a face plant and broke a wrist instead! You don’t hear these stories everyday and still I didn’t heed the call of caution when stringing my lights the next day. While running an extension cord through the trees and up the hill, I slipped on a bed of dry leaves and as my feet slid back, my hands lunged forward to cushion the landing. Not a break, but a sprained wrist – self diagnosis. Treatment: ice, ibuprofen, compression wrap, rest – repeat. The lights are still sitting beside the driveway, but I’m going to postpone their hanging for a few days and give my wrist time to recover.

In the meantime, I’m a little slower at the keyboard and other right-handed tasks – which is just about everything! So my friends, if you’re out there decking the halls and making your property look festive, please do it with care. Here are a few safety tips if you’re interested.

Have a safe and happy holiday.

“I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.” Nathaniel Hawthorne

“I love the changes that fall brings.” I never thought I’d ever say those words, especially on the day that we rolled the clocks back, but this year the season has left me feeling oddly hopeful. I spent the day raking leaves, folding up lawn chairs, and winterizing the yard. Perhaps all that fresh air and physical labour went to my head. Maybe the celebratory Octoberfest when the job was done skewed my judgement. Or it just may have been the honking of Canadian geese over head that reminded me there is a path and plan for everything. At the moment, I’m content to blend into this season rather than fade out of it.

“In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowing glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil. And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November.” Rose G. KIngsley

I’ve been putting off ordering new glasses for over two years now. My eyes have changed to the point where I need bifocals – I guess it happens to most of us after we pass the forty year milestone. My eye doctor said I could wait until I just couldn’t stand it anymore before biting the bullet. In this case, the bullet could have been $650.00 worth of lenses and frames! Yikes! So I’ve held off placing the order…until now. I broke my glasses.

Duct Tape & 18 gauge wire

It’ll take two weeks for my new glasses to arrive, and in the meantime, I’ve wired and duct-taped up my old frames. Yes, they look funny, and I get a good chuckle at myself when I put them on. They’ve become a social experiment for me. I leave them on when I go into the grocery store, or gas station, or wherever. The reactions are fairly predictable: my friends laugh and jab, but strangers take one look, and never make eye contact again. I have broken glasses – not leprosy! How many people in wheelchairs or with other visible differences experience similar reactions? Though I didn’t scientifically measure the results, my two week experiment was certainly enough time to ‘experience’ the awkwardness of people I encountered.

We have the ability to touch each other with our eyes every day – every time we look someone’s way. We’re all broken in someway or another – mostly on the inside. Today my challenge to you is another social experiment – never look away. Focus your ‘kind eyes’ on friends and strangers, especially if they’re ‘different’. Don’t just look at them – ‘see’ them – and take it to heart.

(By the way – I ordered new glasses online, progressive lenses and frames for a mere $66.00. Now we’re talking!)

Read Jackson Brown’s song lyrics: Doctor My Eyes

Sorting the pieces

Some day’s life really does resemble a box of moving parts. When the lid is removed, the pieces look like they should come together to create the finished-product of your dreams, if only you had more time. But if you’re like most people, it’s a struggle to find enough hours in the day to study the instruction manual, let alone sort the pieces.

I love spending time with my sister. Last time we were together she happened to be working on a 500-piece puzzle. She set up a card table in the living room, emptied out the box, and sorted the pieces into nice neat piles according to colour and texture of the picture on the box. By the time I pulled a chair up to the table, she had the perimeter done, and was working on the interior. Each newly placed piece felt like a small victory, and as the evening went on, it was clear we were on a quest for complete and utter triumph. A few hours later, we high-fived and called it a night, satisfied and proud of our puzzle making skills.

I love looking for lessons and meaning in the activities I do, and certainly there’s one here for me. I think it’s this: I need to believe my many small efforts will yield the results I’m hoping for. I like to be organized. I need confidence and steadfastness. Sometimes it just seems like I’m spinning my wheels – or that I’m just moving pieces around. My hope is that at the end of the day I’ll be that much closer to realizing my dreams.

Sunshine After Rain

It’s amazing how a sunny day can lift spirits and make a person feel alive! This summer has been perhaps the most rainy on record, and on more than one occasion, it has left me feeling as sluggish as a bog. I use bad weather as an excuse not to get out for walks and fresh air, and of course, these are probably the two things that would help shift a dull mood naturally. This year, having two days of sunshine in a row is great cause for celebration, and I can’t wait to get outside and soak up some much needed vitamin D.

Thankfully there are still many ways to be productive and find inspiration on ‘house-bound’ days. Last week I decided to put together a medley of songs with a rain theme – if I can’t control the weather, I might as well find a way to embrace it. There’s an massive list of rain related songs, and I found at least a dozon that I either already know or would like to learn. Here they are:

• I Love a Rainy Night – Eddie Rabbit
• I Can See Clearly Now – Johnny Nash
• Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain – The Cascades
• Have You Ever Seen the Rain – Credence Clear Water Revival
• Fire and Rain – James Taylor
• I’m a Believer – Monkies
• My Little Runaway – Del Shannon
• It Never Rains in California – Albert Hammond
• It’s Raining Again – Supertramp
• Rainy Days and Mondays – The Carpenters
• In the Early Morning Rain – Gordon Lightfoot
• Here Comes the Rain Again – Eurythmics

An observation I’ve made about rain songs is that they also often make some reference to the sun! So most of the songs I’ve compiled could also be added to a “songs about sunshine” list. Eddie Rabbit sings, “Shadows wash all my cares away, I wake up to a sunny day”. “Rain won’t you tell her that I love her so, please ask the sun to set her heart aglow” is the plea made by the Cascades, and my favorite line from a very familiar standard, “I can see clearly now the rain has gone. I can see all obstacles in my way”.

This rainy day activity proved to be beneficial in a number of ways. First, I got to learn a few new tunes. Finding the lyrics and chords for songs is so much easier with an internet connection, but it is still an excellent way to do some ear and voice training. Secondly, I got to pull out some old songs that I hadn’t played in quite a while. It always surprises me how quickly I am able to recall lyrics and chord progressions. Thirdly, it made me sing! Singing is a fantastic way to make yourself feel better. It produces ‘feel-good’ endorphins, increases oxygen levels and can even help tone body muscles! It’s almost impossible to sing and feel stressed out at the same time. Try it! You really can ‘sing the blues away’!

What’s your favorite ‘rain’ song? Share it here!

Nancy & the High Flyer

If ever there was a guaranteed recipe for feeling like a kid again, it’s this: sunshine, wind, and a colourful piece of nylon with strings attached. If you can find a sandy beach even better, but a big green meadow will work just as well. Stir up these ingredients and you’ll find yourself flying a kite and feeling like an eight year old. That’s probably just how old I was the last time I held the reigns of a kite, and it is as amazing to me now as it was then.

It wasn’t my idea to fly the kite. I would have been content to sit on my beach chair and catch rays all afternoon. My friend Chris, on the other hand, had the kite out of the package and in the air before setting up her chair! I was simply flabbergasted at how easily the kite propelled into the sky and danced effortlessly on the wind. I certainly don’t remember it being that simple to launch a kite when I was a kid. When it was my turn to take the reigns, all of my ‘adult’ inhibitions fell to the ground and I felt like it was me up there, soaring and swaying above the clouds. Quite simply, it was fun.

Riding High

So next time you’re feeling tired after a long day, or you need to release a little stress, consider taking the kite-flying challenge. You’ll be glad you did.

If you need more details on how to fly a kite, check out this step by step on eHow.

Strings Attached!

Pat Pattison, Jonnell, Nancy Beaudette & Graham Greer in Nashville

Friend and mentor Pat Pattison is a songwriting professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. He teaches seminars on the craft of songwriting all over the world, and was recently interviewed on New Zealand television. 

Just as a skilled craftsman builds an extraordinary piece of furniture by manipulating the tools in the workshop, the songwriter must hone and refine songwriting skills too. In this interview Pat states that, “it (writing) starts to be art when it stops being arbitrary”. When done successfully, the marriage of melody and lyric leaves the listener filled with emotion. Watch the interview here

I have worked with Pat on numerous occasions and filled my ‘songwriters’ toolbox’ with many new tools. ‘Stable vs. unstable emotions’, ‘motion creates emotion’, and ‘writing from a title’ are just three of the valuable seminars he teaches, and I highly recommend any of Pat’s classes.

Visit Pat Pattison’s website for more information about seminars and online songwriting classes at Berklee.

A number of years ago, I was introduced to the “auction” when a neighbouring craft and gift shop went out of business and sold all of it’s contents. I still remember the excitement of winning the bid on a ‘job lot’ (which is auction lingo for a box filled with miscellaneous stuff, kind of like an adult surprise bag ). With a friend, we quickly decided that this was an experience we wanted to repeat. That summer we found a few auctions to attend and enjoy together. There was one particularly disappointing day, where after waiting for hours and hours, the items we were interested in sold to a bidder willing to pay more than we were. On our way home, we noticed a sign for a yard sale and stopped in. It was the end of the afternoon, and I now know (being more yard-sale savvy) that the owner was tired and didn’t want to have to put his things back away. As we poked around at the contents on the tables, I found some cute wicker baskets and when I asked how much he was selling them for, he replied $.25 cents. I felt like the lady in the Ikea commercial… “Start the car!!” I thought for sure his wife would come out to yell at him and correct him on the price. 

Each yard sale morning is spent wondering around the country side discovering unexpected treasures. Each experience has found one of us particularly excited about something we have found for an unbelievable price. I have honed my bartering skills, something I learned watching my Dad when I was little. Lately, I’ve been searching for old jewelry beads or parts that I can use in my creations. 

I was bitten that afternoon by the yard sale bug. I have never since waited through a day at an auction. I have however, willingly and eagerly gotten up extra early on Saturday morning to venture into the thrill of the hunt.

A recent yard sale find!

I stumbled upon Hugh MacLeod’s business card art on the internet a few years back. His loose, sketchy drawings reminded me of my own love for doodling. His unorthodox quotes, mostly risqué and/or satirical, made me laugh or ponder the whacky truth of his observations. Hugh is a cartoonist, copywriter, and advertising guy who’s been able to turn his art into a brand, and then share his passion and insight for marketing it with the rest of the world. If you haven’t heard of gapingvoid.com, I’d invite you to take a look now and dive into the ‘crazy, deranged’ world of Hugh MacLeod.

Hugh’s new marketing book, “Ignore Everybody” is due to be released in June 2009. You can also download a couple of Hugh’s manefestos at ChangeThis.com.  (The HughTrain) (How to Be Creative)

Share your impressions of Hugh MacLeod with us in the comment area. If you know other people who’ve been able to take a crazy idea like business card art doodling and turn it into a worldwide brand, please let us know that too. Enjoy.

  

 

 

Be Yourself - Click here for necklace details

Over the past couple of weeks I have chosen to embrace this word, and own it just like Maria did in The Sound of Music when she sings, “I have confidence in confidence alone”. Remarkably, as I claim this word, it pops up in conversation, in random thoughts, and yesterday it was the title of the chapter I was reading in Rhonda Britten’s book, “Change Your Life in 30 Days”. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I’ve expressed this need and desire to myself, and the universe is sending in reinforcements. Cool, eh?

Confidence is about being self-assured and having faith in ones abilities and it comes with some elements of risk. Because it is acquired through experience, you actually have to step out and practice doing the thing you’re afraid of in order to get confidence in the first place. If you’ve ever performed or made a presentation in front of an audience, you’ll probably agree that your first effort was accompanied by butterflies. But the second time you took the stage it was less frightening, and each time after that, the limelight felt more and more comfortable.

I am learning that confidence brings about empowerment; as I gain more experience, the fear and mystic that once confounded the activity is removed and I am free to express and explore with more autonomy. Today I found out that I was not selected for a festival I had applied to perform in. I am disappointed, and it’s funny how quick the old inner voice kicks in with vindication saying, “Well what did you expect? You’re just not good enough for this gig”. The good news is I caught myself in time to dodge the ‘bad language’ bullet and get back on track. I reminded myself of the many successes I’ve had in submitting for gigs and performances, and that many more opportunities await. Sometimes it’s about taking baby steps; every booking I get this year will lead to bigger and better gigs next year. Little by little, as I do the work, I am confident that my efforts will be rewarded.

I’ll leave you with more of Maria’s lyrics, and invite you to claim the word that will help you gain momentum in your life.

“And mind me with each step I am more certain
Everything will turn out fine
I have confidence the world can all be mine
They’ll have to agree I have confidence in me”