“There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.” ~ Rumi
❤
xoxo Kim
Archives
A voice without words
“There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” ~ Rumi
❤
xoxo Kim
Caught in the rain?
Nahhhh…I decided to go out in the middle of a rainstorm! it’s raining cats & dogs out there!
Even though it’s storming, I decided to walk to get my mom, sister, and me coffee & hot chocolate.
I LOVE walking in the rain! As long as I can change my clothes and get dried off soon!
Today I soaked up the rain and let it drench me. No umbrella, no hood or raincoat or anything to shield me against the drops falling out of the sky. I felt it on the tips of my toes as I splashed thorough puddles all the way to the top of my head as it soaked my hair. Oh the joy!
My hair just got long enough to sit on last night! Lol It was always almost long enough to sit on but just last night whenever I sit down now, my hair pulls my head back because I’m sitting on it! Lol It’s so funny it just happened in one night! Long hair problems! ;-D
It was also funny walking in the rain. I had nothing but smiles and giggles! 😀 Everyone was probably thinking that poor girl, not knowing it was my choice and I love it.
The weather is perfect for walking in, not cold or hot. Just cool.
A couple people felt sorry for me thinking I got caught in it unexpectedly. Lol But I was loving every second! I received a few friendly and sympathetic and even funny comments. I guess a soaking wet girl with excessively long hair tends to attract attention while out walking!
Here are a few pics of me after getting home drenched. And some rainy songs!
Fool in the rain – Led Zeppelin – mobile
“Now my body is starting to quiver
And the palms of my hands getting wet
I’ve got no reason to doubt you baby…”
Laughter in the Rain – Neil Sedaka – mobile
“Strolling along country roads with my baby
It starts to rain, it begins to pour
Without an umbrella we’re soaked to the skin
I feel a shiver run up my spine
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine
Ooh, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love” ❤
Walking in the Rain – The Walker Brothers – mobile
“I want her and I need her
And someday, someway
I’ll meet her
She’ll be kind of shy
And real good lookin’ too
And I’ll be certain she’s the one
By the things she’ll like to do
Like walking in the rain (like walking in the rain)
And wishing on the stars up above
And being so in love”
Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – Rupert Holmes – mobile
“If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain
If you’re not into yoga, if you have half a brain
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape
I’m the love that you’ve looked for, come with me, and escape”
And here’s a beautiful song about paying attention to life and all the beauty we are blessed to know, about not taking things for granted and letting people and things and days slip away without cherishing them.
Standing Knee Deep in A River (Dying of Thirst) – Joe Cocker – mobile
Knee Deep in a River – desktop
Maybe you don’t like walking in the rain but this is a great reminder to soak up all of whatever we do love. Cherish every moment we have been given, honor each day being mindful of all the gifts it provides us.
❤
Hugs & love,
Xoxo Kim 😀
A few of my favorite things…<3
Today when I woke up I had the song “My Favorite Things” stuck in my head! Lol Whaaatt?! It was playing in my head really loudly as I was waking up. I must have been dreaming about it. I don’t believe I heard it in years or even consciously thought of it.
My Favorite Things – Julie Andrews – mobile
My Favorite Things – Mary J. Blige – mobile
It reminds me of Christmas even though it’s appropriate for all year. ❤
I realized how much I love the song after I woke up and listened to it this morning! It's full of joy, passion, and wisdom. When we are struggling or in a low mood, it really does help to remember a few of our favorite things.
Some of her favorite things are: raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles, brown paper packages tied up with strings, girls in white dresses, door bells and sleigh bells….
I love all these things too! ❤
Here are some of my favorite things:
1.) a cup of hot tea
2.) snow covered hills
3.) a cool Summer breeze
4.) the holiday season
5.) acts of kindness
6.) the scent of pine on a crisp day
7.) puppy kisses
8.) girls in stilettos
9.) soft, warm blankets at night
10.) mystery thriller books
11.) the feeling of stepping out of a cold air conditioned room into a hot, sunny afternoon
12.) beautiful dark poetry
13.) photography
14.) my long hair
15.) makeup
16.) seeing someone genuinely smiling & laughing
17.) pleasant surprises
18.) meeting people I never met before
19.) sweet conversations with friends
20.) intriguing conversations with a stranger
21.) hugs
22.) the swirling of ceiling fans on a warm day
23.) the first days of Fall
24.) the floral fragrance of Spring
25.) the sound of construction work off in the distance
26.) the sound of people laughing outside late at night
27.) the sound of cars sloshing through puddles on a rainy day
28.) kitty kats and other animals licking their paws and cleaning their faces
29.) Christmas lights and decorations
30.) the changing of the seasons
31.) Oldies songs
32.) quiet afternoons and mornings with sunlight streaming through the windows
33.) reading a thrilling book in the darkness in my room
34.) the taste of candy outside in cold weather
35.) tall city buildings
36.) a blue, blue sky speckled with fluffy white clouds
37.) used bookstores
38.) old books
39.) books that take place long ago
40.) books that take place in cold seasons
41.) love
42.) cupcakes with Buttercream frosting
43.) rainy days
44.) the sound of heavy rain pelting upon rooftops
45.) tea with friends
46.) Coca Cola
47.) Christmas
48.) Christmas songs
49.) Halloween
50.) hearing a song I haven't heard in ages (like this one!) 😀
51.) receiving packages in the mail
52.) caramel apples with nuts
53.) meditation class
54.) positive people
55.) dogs!
56.) Christmas pj's
57.) trampolines!
58.) warm sunny days
59.) cold dreary gray days
60.) getting new books
61.) inspiring quotes
62.) belly laughs that hurt
63.) feeling flooded with relief & gratitude
64.) shadows & reflections
65.) a black midnight sky full of twinkling stars
66.) septa busses and trolleys
67.) iced tea
68.) old baby pictures! My mom happened to find baby pictures of me today on my first Christmas in 1986!
She was looking for something else and came across these! Which is fantastic since Christmas is a few days away!
This is me on Christmas morning, 1986, in my night clothes before I got changed into my little red dress my aunt Mariann bought me. ❤
I was kind of cute wasn't I? lol I was really big for seven months and had to wear toddler clothes already and my mom thought I was going to start needing special extra large sized diapers ordered. I needed jumbo diapers. lol Then when I got older, I slimmed down.
😀
This is a bit more than a few and I can go on & on! It's so uplifting listing nothing but happy things! And so much easier and more pleasant than listing things I don't like!
What are a few of your favorite things?
😀
I hope you're having a wonderful day/night!
❤
Xoxo Kim
For everything, there is a season
“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”~Yoko Ono
Today is the first day of Winter and I felt like posting something about Winter before I even remembered today is the first day! 😀
It’s unseasonably warm here in Philadelphia! (I just learned the word “unseasonably” [which my mom is shocked about saying how could I have never encountered that word before now…:-/ ])after reading it in a fiction book and I wanted to use it! lol And this year it’s the perfect opportunity because it IS in fact unseasonably warm! lol) ;-D
What a great quote about the beauty of each season and what it can teach us. Not everyone lives in a place where they get to experience the diversity like some of us do. But whatever it’s like where you are now, there’s something to cherish & be thankful for! ❤ 😀
This is also true not just for seasons involving weather but stages and seasons of life. There's always something unpleasant but always something beautiful too! ❤
😀
Turn! Turn! Turn! – The Byrds – mobile
“A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To everything – turn, turn, turn
There is a season – turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under heaven”
~Hugs & love~
xoxo Kim ❤
Love colored minds <3
“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love color the most.” ~John Ruskin
❤
Much love,
xoxo Kim 😀
Finding the Beauty
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
It’s not all about what we look at but how we see it, our mindset, our attitude and perspectives. There are lots of beautiful things outside of us but they will not do much for us if we don’t have beauty within.
But the good thing is, we all have the capacity to feel beauty, even when it’s hard. We just have to be receptive, open up and truly pay attention. Imagine what it would be like without the senses we have and our ability to understand and all the beauty around us. ❤
This picture is of a beautiful and very large pine tree outside a church. For years I would stop and look at it, take so many photos in all the seasons throughout each year, even collect its pinecones that would fall to the ground. I'm so sad because recently I watched as workers cut it down! I feel grief & disappointment.
But I'm thankful I got to see it for the few years I lived close to it and get all those pictures. I still carry the beauty of it within. No one else seems as sad as me about it. No one else seemed to pay much attention.
Here is a picture of the church on January 9th, 2015.
I know the date because this is the picture I chose for that day on the 365 photo project. I don’t post there everyday.
Here is what I wrote that day:
“This is a church bathing in the sun on a cold Winter day. It’s beautiful and brings me a sense of hope.”
The church is being demolished so they had to cut the tree to get to it. I will miss seeing it and the tree and those creepy black steps that are mostly encased.
This reminds me to always pay close attention to people and things and all the beauty around me. It’s still good to cherish and be mindful of everything even if we knew we would have it forever but we don’t have things forever and it’s harder to lose people and things we did not appreciate as much as we could have. There is more potential for regret when we lose things we take for granted.
So let’s cherish everything we are blessed with! And still keep the beauty within us even when it’s gone.
😀
Much love & light to you,
Xoxo Kim ❤
You nosy little pervert ;-D
Get outta here you nosy little pervert or I’m gonna slap you silly! Lol! ;-D
I took this picture of this clown May 2014 and had fun being silly with an app on my phone. I am very easily amused!
I decided to go find these pics on my Facebook account and share them here!
And here’s a great song! Lol ;-D
Cool Jerk – The Capitols – mobile
And a funny scene in the hilarious movie Home Alone 2, one of the best movies ever!
Uncle Frank shower scene – mobile
Uncle Frank shower scene – desktop
lol! ;-D
~Hugs & love~ & lots of giggles! ;-D ❤
xoxo Kim 😀
Hope <3
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~ Desmond Tutu
This is a picture I took one recent afternoon. I love how some of the sunbeams are rainbow. It’s the only one I took that showed up with a rainbow in it. It reminds me of hope and how there’s always little gems of goodness scattered throughout each day even if the day is full of darkness.
Here is the original picture:
And here is one with an effect to make the rainbow stand out.
And here is one without the rainbow:
But look at that little speck of gold that showed up on the branch! 😀 ❤
(this one isn’t mine)
Last night a deep kind of darkness washed over me for no specific reason. A violent, vicious darkness that got worse and worse. I became hopeless to the point of despair and filled with deep pain. I saw no hope for anything, no future, no reason for me to go on living. I very strongly considered ending it all. This happens now and again. I can be very happy all day then this. It can last minutes to months. The worst of this one is over now.
Last night I was looking through my pictures and saw these ones and remembered the rainbow and the speck of gold and the pink circles, the sunlight streaming through the bare tree branches and am reminded that there is hope as long as we live. Always little blessings & beauty even in the dark. And I decided to hold on at least a little bit longer.
This is me today:
Also! Look at this!
A powered vanilla cream donut and they put little Christmas colored sprinkles on the cream that dripped out through the donut! lol My sister said it’s stupid but I just had to have it when I saw it!
It’s the little simple things that often bring much joy! ❤
😀
If you are like me and struggle with depression and suicidal inclination or have any pain or problem, please keep holding on, I’m sending you my love. ❤ <33
"Don't lose hope. When the sun goes down, the stars come out."
Much love & light to you!
xoxo Kim ❤
P.s.
I clicked on the Santa link under the Google search box and this appeared! I love it! ;-D ❤
Beauty Abound <3
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” ~ Camille Pissarro
There is beauty to be found, felt in all kinds of places even places we would never expect it, even in mundane, places, everyday situations. We often overlook things in our own city or place we live everyday. If we make it a point to look for beautiful things, we are likely to find them.
For as long as I can remember I have been aware of the beauty surrounding me, experienced with all my senses. Cool Summer breezes, frosty windows in Winter, the taste of candy in cold air, the seasons changing, the sound of traffic outside, the feel of soft fleece and blankets, the city buildings….I wasn’t making it a point to appreciate these things. It just has always come naturally to me but as I grew up I have come to know it as mindfulness & gratitude and realized that those are habits we can develop if we don’t have them already and strengthen to greater extents if we already do experience them.
It’s a beautiful way to live and I think that’s what it is to truly live to the fullest. Living fully just means making the most of each breath we take, each moment we live, even the monotonous.
I often feel like I’m in another world when I see everything with wonder and I point out something amazing to someone and the person isn’t even fazed by the incredible beauty I see. I often look around me and see people just going on and on with walking and working and living, not even stopping to take in the wonders around us. Sometimes it amuses me and I probably seem like the biggest idiot sometimes.
One night it was a full moon somewhat recently and I couldn’t take my eyes off it and I felt immense joy running rampant inside me and I looked to see evidence of others experiencing the same thing. I was hoping to jump for joy together. lol But no one even seemed to care. People were walking lost in conversation, packing trucks, getting into cars…no one was stopping to bask in the great beauty of the brilliant moonlit night. I was perplexed.
Recently I was in Center City, Philadelphia one morning and I just love the buildings there and the air. My eyes just drink in the incredible views and my skin dances with glee in the warm December air. And still, everyone was just going on their way not giving an ounce of attention to the beauty around us.
On vacation we often stop to appreciate the scenes and take pictures but there’s just as much beauty and novelty in our own city or wherever we live! It never gets old to me. ❤
This picture above is one I took a few days ago while waiting for a bus. The view is incredible.
I love that building in the sunlight with the reflections & bare trees.
Pure love. ❤ 😀
My former coworker was recently telling me she loves this Philadelphia December weather this year. It's extremely hot. At some points it seriously feels like a heatwave! In Philadelphia! In December! For real!
I'm not exaggerating! It's nearly 80 degrees everyday.
She said she loves it so much and people here pay to go on vacation to tropical places for this warmth and now we have it right here everyday!
I'm not as thrilled as my coworker (or former coworker, but I still think of her as my coworker) about this freaky weather in December but I love how she put it. We all have somethimng amazing that someone else would give just about anything to have. Let's appreciate our blessings now.
Sometimes we don't realize how amazing something is until we no longer have it.
You have something that someone else would kill (hopefully not really!) for. Whatever it may be. I'm not thankful at someone else's expense. I'm not thankful it's me alive and not someone else or that I get to live in a house instead of others. But we so often are so used to what we have we don't realize how valuable it is until we lose it or hear/know of someone who would love to have it.
If you are reading this you have a life, you can probably see or hear or at least comprehend. How often do we stop to give thanks for our cognitive abilities?! Probably very rarely, if even ever!
Let's all stop once in a while and appreciate what we have right here, right now.
Much love & ligt to you!
xoxo Kim ❤
