Spring Hiatus

Hello, Friends! I have been slacking on my blogging as of late. I have had a lot going on with work, social outings, remodeling, and now running to get ready for a half marathon (yes I know I am crazy!). So until I get my office and business off the ground, Hello, Lovely! will have to be pushed to the back burner. I can't wait to get back to it, as writing this blog has brought me so much joy. Please come back again soon!!!!!

Thanks so much for all of the support, and don't worry, I will not disappoint my readers by bailing on this blog (the handful of readers that there are!). Take care and enjoy the beginning of spring!!!!!

Mari

Five Senses Friday 3/12/10

I am assuming by now everyone who reads this blog knows I am remodeling my office. It feels so official if I call it an office. Perhaps workspace would be a better way to describe it. Regardless, today I made a big step in this process---I started painting. I made quick color decisions, which I am trying now not to second guess. I have some poor color palate choices on my record, for example in college when we decided to paint our bathroom like a beach at sunset. We had these kitschy beach shower curtains, which looked like a giant photo one of us had taken on vacation. We thought they were the coolest! Using the shower curtain as our inspiration, we painted the vanity area a deep purple, and the toliet/shower areas (there were two) in a peachy orange. Well, the orange turned out to be far more neon-esque than we could have anticipated. I believe we ended up repainting our neon shower rooms a shade of tan, to represent the sand. Well since this was my first real opportunity to help pick the paint color of a room in my own "home", you can understand my fears of making a decision like this. It is like making a drastic hair change-if it goes bad, yes I can change it eventually, but I still have to live with it for a period of time!

Well once again, I have chosen paint from the orange tones section the color wheel--"Ginger Peach" with a darker "Fresh Peaches" as an accent color. I am even splitting the color up in the room. Don't ask me why....I think I am just taking a chance and waiting to see what happens. I am a little nervous, but I am anticipating a successful outcome. The color does not seem to shouting PEACH at me, so that is a good sign. I will keep everyone posted on the end result! I know you are all anxiously waiting!

Also, it is now Friday. The weeks are flying by, because here I am again, tapping into Five Senses Friday!

SMELLING: Fried Chicken. Sunday we made dinner for my family.....fried chicken was all I smelled for days.

TASTING: Crunchy peanut butter (Jiff of course!)

TOUCHING: A paint brush, I have blistering hands to prove it.

SEEING: Ginger Peach, I will be seeing peach for days.

HEARING: My iTunes collection. I made some new genius mixes and discovered some songs I had forgotten about. It was a really nice treat. I also downloaded Barenaked Ladies' Old Apartment. I thought it was appropriate seeing as one day, this place will be my old apartment. A place where so many memories were made, which I can look back on and smile. (I know the song is about a break up, but still, it has some meaning for me regardless)

Good Morning, Starshine, the Earth says HELLO!

If any of you are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fans, you will know this blog's title comes from the newer version of the classic film, where Johnny Depp is our modern day Willy Wonka. The title "Good Morning Starshine, the Earth says Hello!" is a quote from one of the more awkward moments for Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka. He puts on this amazingly kitschy puppet show to welcome his new guests to the factory, including singing and dancing dolls, cotton candy colors, fireworks, and a speech that is so uncomfortably humorous the audience does not know whether to laugh or cringe. Depp's Willy Wonka is so socially inept, but so brilliant and creative that it is hard for the outside world to comprehend his madness. This scene from the movie is not only Wonka's welcome into his factory, but also a welcome into the mad, upside down world of Willy Wonka.

You are all probably wondering why I am talking about starshines, Willy Wonka, and puppets. Well, I suppose it is because appreciate Willy Wonka and his emotionally and

socially stunted tendencies. I often feel I can relate. There are moments where I don't know what to say, stumble over my words, or I think I am saying something quite clever, and it

turns out to be a flop. The best is when I ramble on, frantic and frazzled, speaking faster and longer than I should. So just like Wonka, my verbal stumbles often offer people a glimpse

into my madness. Either people find it annoying or they find it charming....

So the question Willy Wonka's presence in this blog is meant to ask is, how do you let people into your madness? How do you let others see your quirks? Do you ease them in or do you just

lay it all out there for the world to see, with a take it or leave it attitude? I like to think that by letting people see my quirks, it is a way towards self acceptance. For a long time I was so self-

conscious about my rambling. I believed I sounded stupid, and people probably had no idea what I was saying. But now, I embrace it. I think it is apart of my charm, along with my many

other idiosyncrasies!

So on that note, enjoy this clip from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Try and reflect on your own quirky tendencies and how you would welcome us into your factory of madness!

I am sure it is simply lovely :)

H-e-l-l-o, Inspiration! Where are You?

Over the last two weeks, I have been at a loss for what to write about. Literally blank. Yesterday I was on my way out to the grocery store, and I realized I am lacking some serious inspiration. I have been so overwhelmed and preoccupied by my future plans, that I haven't taken the time to look around and find inspiration in the now. Now it is to the point where I don't where to look. I am frantic and frazzled. I also realized I have been cooped up. The winter months are beginning to get to me. Every time I look out my living room window, I see the white blanket of snow and the gray building across the yard. It is beginning to make me stir crazy. :)

All the blah-ness led me to ask myself, at what point in my life did I feel the most inspired to write? Where was I? Who was I surrounding myself with? The answer was really simple-when I was in high school. Recently, I found an old journal of poetry I had written and began to tear up. The journal itself was actually a gift from a good friend who believed in my writing abilities and wanted me to have all of my poems in one spot. After reminiscing about my old friend, I began to read. I was amazed. The words were from a teenager struggling to figure out where she belonged-her heart was bleeding onto the page. This girl was raw and emotionally flawed, but there was an odd confidence about the way she wrote. I still can't believe the girl who wrote this book of poems was me. Some of the poems were lovely, and yes some were very cheesy (I was listening to a lot of Jewel), but I truly had fueled my emotional energy onto the page to sift through my feelings. So, how do I get back there? Not that I want to be a teenager stricken angst and a broken heart again, oh how grateful I am that part of my life is over! But I want that freshness I had as a writer then-I knew where to look for inspiration. I need to find that part of myself. So in honor of that girl who wrote so freely, I will share one of her poems with you now:

Too Close

Don't come too close,

You might see right through me.

You might see the dark circles that paint themselves under my eyes,

As a result of the sleepless nights dreaming of you.

You might see my thin skin,

And tear a hole to make me cry.

You might see my divided heart,

It's part for you, it's part for emptiness.

You might see my scars,

The one of my knee from falling on the sidewalk, the one of my lip from where the dog bit me,

Or the one on my heart from where you left me broken.

Don't come too close,

You might see right through me.

Oh how I was so lovelorn! Hopefully my future writings won't be as broken hearted as this poem, but I do hope they have the same freshness and ease. I hope they are inspired, as this poem obviously was!