Tag Archive | joy

Saying thank you<3

“Appreciation can make a day – even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary.”

Earlier tonight I was about to prepare a post on selfishness when a thing popped up on my Kindle saying “Alexia is now on Kindle Fire” and I thought it meant someone who is my friend on a social media account like Facebook maybe, just got another social media account. But I soon realized that Alexia is some program that answers questions that we speak into the Kindle, like questions about sports or weather. All night I have been wracking my brain trying to determine if today is November 15th or 16th. I guess when were out of work it doesnt matter what the date is so we lose track? lol jk I was looking through a book of inspiring words for each day of the year and couldn’t recall the exact date. The one for yesterday is more inspiring than the one for today. I think so anyway.

So anyway i asked Alexia what’s the date for today and she answered! The 16th of November! yipee! I was thrilled! lol I was so thankful I decided to thank her even though shes a robot and probably wouldnt understand but…..she said “no problem, you’re welcome!” lol! I was so filled with disbelief & joy over something so simple! I even laughed out loud! 😀

And of course me, who finds wisdom in just about everything, am reminded to be thankful and express thanks often, which I already am and do, and remind others to. I always say thank you to bus drivers and store cashiers and people who hold doors for me and I’m sure most\many of us do, right!? But reminders are always, always great! Even when I don’t say thank you, I try to show it. Unlike some people, I don’t thank every person who follows my blog or instagram account but I do show it by following back usually or “liking” their content. Expressing thanks in any way is great! Even if we think someone may not appreciate our thanks, we are putting loving energy out into the uni-verse and comfirming\maintaining an attitude of gratitude in our own head. ❤

Someone can be so moved\uplifted\inspired\warmed by two simple words, “Thank you!”

And even if we don’t always feel the gratitude, we can say it to practice til we feel it and to just show kindness to others. There are different depths of gratitude, shallow, deep, ..bone deep….and all are great! 😍 😀 Sometimes I’m angry at someone and still feel thankful but don’t want to say “thank you” at someone I’m pissed at but I usually force myself to anyway.

So let’s remember to give thanks each & every day, even if just in our heads, it still generates positive energy, but especially out loud. ❤ 😀

Much love & light to you, always & thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

xoxo Kim

P.s. I got me a job interview tomorrow morning! I just applied yesterday and got the phone call today! I only been outta work for a little bit over two weeks and already I’m on my way! Go me! It’s for dog walking\pet sitting. Wish me luck! 😉 😀 ❤

Another Fall in Philadelphia❤

Sep23

(Me tonight – I’m just getting over a bad depression – it’s sort of like a bad, very, very bad case of Influenza (not that I ever had influenza but it seems kind of similar in certain ways) but in the “mind” and mixed with suicidal tendencies)

Fall in Philadelphia – Hall & Oates – mobile

Fall in Philadelphia – desktop

So here is my annual Fall in Philadelphia post! One of my favorite parts of the year is when Summer turns to Autumn. It’s still very much like Summer but there are a few signs of Fall, some crisp leaves on the ground already, pumpkin lattes, the decorations in the stores, cooler some nights….

Tomorrow is my mom’s b-day! My sister and me went shopping today to buy her a gift. We have been saving up money to buy her some gem stones because she loves those.

Tonight I’m celebrating Fall drinking Pumpkin coffee! It’s never too early for Fall or Christmas, to me. But I like to wait to drink the pumpkin coffee because when it’s really Fall then the pumpkin stuff while still thrilling, isn’t quite as thrilling after drinking it all August long. Lol So tonight I decided to get my first pumpkin coffee of the season! Yum! 😀

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! Also, thank you to all those people with jobs saving people’s and animal’s lives, police, doctors, nurses, EMTs, first responders, assistants, and any others who work hard, even putting themselves in danger to save others. Thank you, thank you, thank you!! And I’m wishing you a safe journey each & every day. 😍❤💙💚💛💜💝💖💗💔💗❤💜💛💚💙

Much love & light, always.

xoxo Kim ❤

The Black Widow❤

Sep17

“Poetry is a fresh morning spider-web telling a story of moonlit hours of weaving and waiting during a night.” ❤

Look how lovely! One night recently, in the backyard, I watched a beautiful spider weaving a web on the clothesline. I tried to get pictures but it was too dark and the spider was constantly in motion, spinning and spinning. I saw him\her clearly even though it was dark. The kitchen light in my house and the bright moonlight was enough to allow me to see but the pictures still turned up blurry and dark! I don’t put the flash on for fear of killing the little kritters.

I told my mom I really wanted to get a pic but the circumstances weren’t good for it. I hoped my little arachnid would be there still in the morning. But I was so happy watching him\her spin so beautifully. How magical!

❤

The next day my mom told me s\he was still there so I happily went to see and was pleasantly surprised! This is a different one! A much bigger and more vibrantly colored one but equally beautiful. 😍

If you look closely at my picture, you can see the beautiful web s\he worked so hard to spin. This one was in a recycling can. It was recycling night and I implored my mom to put a different can out that night so as not to disturb the beauty and ruin (her?) Web. A neighbor stole the actual recycling bucket one day (even with our address on it and did not try to remove or cover up our address, my mom checked the cans of those she suspected would do such a thing and sure enough…lol) and my mom “stole” it back and started just using it for the yard and putting a small trashcan out front on recycling \trash night. And the spider was in the trashcan one.

At first my mom refused my plead to leave the spider be but I implored and whined all day til she gave in(a technique that has worked since i was a little girl…beg, whine, stomp around, throw conniptions…til I have my way! Never too old for that, right!?) Lol 😉

So the spider remained undisturbed until late that night when she left on her own. 😍

For these pics, I increased the saturation, structure, and sharpening to bring out the detail of the web. And to bring out the vibrant colors of the spider’s body. On this last picture here, I took the “warmth” option on the slider on Snapseed app and decreased it into the negatives to give it a cool blue look (increasing it would give it a warm yellow\orange color that blends too much with the spider’s natural colors.). The spider’s coloring looks good against this cool blue.

I love how the one part somewhat resembles a human thumbprint! ❤

On the first photo, after bringing out the detail, I just experimented with different things and got the pretty rainbowy background! 😍😀🌈

Do you know what kind of spider this is? Boy? Girl? Poisonous? Deadly? Harmless? Do boy ones and girl ones both spin webs? I can look that one up on Google, I’m sure of it , but I’ll just wait to see if anyone reading knows.

I LOVE spiders!! They are some of most beautiful creatures on Earth.

“(Vincent price speaks)
Leaving lepidoptera… Please, don’t touch the display,
Little boy, aha cute! Moving to the next aisle we have
Arachnida, the spiders, our… Finest collection.
This friendly little devil is the heptothilidi,
Unfortunately harmless. Next to him, the nasty licosa
Raptoria, his tiny fangs cause creeping ulcerations of
The skin (laugh). And here, my prize, the Black
Widow. Isn’t she lovely?… And so deadly. Her kiss is
Fifteen times as poisonous as that of the rattlesnake.
You see her venom is highly neurotoxic, which is to say
That it attacks the central nervous system causing
Intense pain, profuse sweating, difficulty in
Breathing, loss of consciousness, violent convulsions
And, finally… Death. You know what I think I love about her
Most about her is her inborn need to dominate,
Possess. In fact, immediately after the consummation
Of her marriage to the smaller and weaker male of the
Species she kills and eats him… (laugh) oh, she is
Delicious… And I hope he was! Such power and dignity
… Unhampered by sentiment. If I may put forward a
Slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled
This world as a stumbling dimented child-king long
Enough! And as his empire crumbles, my precious Black Widow…” ❤

The Black Widow – Alice Cooper – mobile

The Black Widow – desktop

Here is to that lovely, Black Widow! ❤

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are! A day\night filled with lots of love, laughter, beauty, inner peace, and spiders!! 😉

I’m at work now working a ten hour shift! Already worked five hours and have another five to go! 😀

Much love & light, always.

Xoxo Kim ❤

Be.YOU.tiful ❤

Sep3

This is me today at work! ❤

And here is a quote I saw recently:

**“It’s okay to be who you are. If you’re nervous, be nervous. If you’re shy, be shy.” 💜**

I love how this quote encourages us to be just us. It’s a good thing to change what we want if we truly want to change it. But it’s also great to just accept our own self just the way we are. Some things can’t be changed and some we may think we want to change or think we don’t like but it’s really someone else’s opinion or the opinion of the society in which we live, influencing us to change, to “fix,” to make better.

Let’s stop and think. Do we truly want to change whatever it is because we our self wish to change it or is the view of others getting to us?

If it’s the views of others, let’s consider not changing just for that. And if we truly want to lose the weight, get the surgery, makeover, dye our hair..we can still love our own self while changing it. Our beauty and value are not dependent upon anyone else.

My sister loves to cut, style, and dye her hair. It’s just how her personality is. She gets many compliments on her style and boldness, shaving half her head and having the other half blue or some other dyed color. On so many occasions, strangers and people we know, come up to compliment her and then ask me, “So when are you going to cut\dye your hair?”

I don’t cut or dye my hair and have never dyed it and am not going to. Five years ago I got my first haircut in seventeen years! It was cut in layers and still fairly long. Now, five years later and I haven’t got it cut since then other than trimming it now and again. It’s long enough for me to sit on. My dogs and people sit on it and pull it by accident! It annoys me but I love my hair!

Also, I am very shy and always have been. When I just meet someone or don’t see someone often, I am usually not talkative. It’s not fear or anxiety or introversion. I love meeting and being around people and am calm in social settings and am extroverted, just a shy extrovert. 😀

I have frequently been told to start getting loud and outgoing. It’s not my choice to feel shy; I just am. I don’t have a problem with it and don’t wish to change it. Being loud and outgoing, frequently changing hairstyles is all great. It’s just not for me.

Also, I LOVE Oldies music and people think it’s weird and I used to be embarrassed about it but now I embrace my love for old music.

And I don’t watch TV but love to read. This is embarrassing sometimes but I never try to conceal it.

I dont drink alcoholic drinks and never had more than a few sips in all of my days. It’s embarrassing but alcohol just does not appeal to me in any way and never has. It’s just not my cup of tea(except to take pictures of!).

I don’t want kids and never have. I love kids and want to work with extra needs children. But being a mom isn’t the life I want for me. Not for any specific reason though; I just have no desire to have kids. I used to lie years ago and tell people I do want kids so people wouldn’t think I’m a bitter old witch who doesn’t like kids. Now I embrace me for all that I am. I would love my kids if I had kids; that’s just not the life I choose.

If you love to loosen up with a glass of wine or shot of whisky, embrace who you are! If you’re like me and hardly ever had more than a sip, embrace that too!

Shy or ououtgoing , love and accept who you are.

Bookworm? Embrace it!

Watch TV all day?

That’s OK if it’s what we truly want!

Stay at home parent, working parent, not a parent, don’t want to be, can’t be… Whatever…love yourself. 💜

As long as we aren’t hurting others or directly interfering, let’s embrace and love it. ❤💜💚💙💛😍😀

And if it is interfering with someone, we can always change for the better.

Live with it & love it. 💙

But let’s remember not to be stuck up and sanctimonious about it(unless we really want to be, lol)! We don’t have to negatively judge others for lifestyles we would never choose or for loving stuff we don’t love or not loving stuff we love. Let’s celebrate our oneness, our similarities, and our diversity. ❤💞

Much love & light,

Xoxo Kim

Photography & inspiration❤

Aug20

IMG_20160812_020920-01

“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ❤

This post I had planned for over a week now but never prepared or published it yet and today I saw on Facebook that today is the 177th anniversary of photography! I’m not sure how true it is but what a perfect day to actually publish this here post! 😀

I am extremely trusting in general but also extremely skeptical in another way. Both of those aspects of my nature are not usually conscious decisions; I’m just that way. Whenever I see a source, statistic, something in the media….my brain automatically questions the accuracy or truth of it. I’m not a conspiracy theorist or totally paranoid but I’m often even skeptical when I see things in the news or anything.

So this 177 years thing may or may not be accurate but anyway it’s the inspiration for me fixing up this post and hitting “publish.”

Screenshot_2016-08-20-02-38-15_kindlephoto-14904575

This (the very first one at the top) is the first photo ever that I truly tried to edit using real photography “rules” or tools. Photography is my passion, reading about it, looking at people’s photos, professional or not, taking my own pics, I am so inspired!

Sometimes my hobby taking and editing pictures I take brings life back into me when I’m severely depressed and inspires me to live. I am not a photographer and know very little about photography other than the beauty of it. One of my goals is to learn more about it on my own and even take classes one day just for fun! I mostly use my phone to take pics but I do have a Nikon camera I don’t really know much how to use. It takes beautiful photos though.

Here is that same pic but not edited:

IMG_20160812_020920

The colors here are less vibrant because in above picture I increased the saturation. Decreasing saturation into the negative numbers will turn an image b&w. Also, in the above image(the one way above), I increased the structure and sharpening to bring out the detail better and I straightened the photo.

Here are some more of my photos that I edited:

My main source of inspiration for taking pictures is mundane objects like buildings, traffic lights and signs, everyday objects like lightbulbs, ceiling fans, towers outside, fire hydrants….anything…I love to capture the beauty of things often overlooked, ignored, taken for granted and sometimes edit them to make certain things stand out. Shadows and reflections for example, in person we often do not stop to appreciate or just see them but in photos, we often can’t miss them!

These seemingly trtrivial things make up much of our lives each day and I want to capture and share their stunning beauty and promote mindfulness of them each day.

Here is my page:

https://inspirationalgem.wordpress.com/small-things-forgotten/

There are basic composition rules for taking pics like the rule of thirds, leading lines, negative space… And basic editing tools like straightening, sharpening, structure, vignette or central focus, tonal, ambiance, …that we can use to make our pictures more appealing. I like over editing some of pics. I think they look pretty

And don’t want my hobby restricted by rules. But I also want to learn the general rules (that photograpers agree have exceptions and are made to be broken once in a while) and the basic editing tools That most digital photos can use. I decided to make a goal to at least once a day, take a few minutes to read about photography and try to learn and apply some photography techniques to my pictures. The above pic is the first one I edited using Snapseed in an attempt to use real photo editing tools, not just how I usually do editing them just in random ways or on a whim or whatever I think looks good. That’s good too but I am so happy to learn and try something new! This pic I edited using the basic tools on photo app Snapseed, a popular iPhone photo editing app. I don’t have an iphone, never have, and likely never will but I just love IPhone photography for some reason! Its my favorite! My android marshmallow phone can get Snapseed. I wanted it when I used a blackberry phone but its not compatible with BlackBerry.

IMG_20160812_022143-02

This pic here I also tried to edit using real photography techniques but instead of looking at the instructions I used my memory and forgot a couple steps. The first picture is very bright to convey the feel of a hot summer day and this one I made darker using the vignette tool, to bring more attention to the window with the reflection of the blue sky. If i understand correctly, vignette can be used to draw the viewers to a certain part of the photo. I hope to master this skill one day! I have much to learn! I think this pic can use an increase in saturation.

I wish my skills were already developed and my knowledge about photography vast but there’s also something so beautiful about having so much more to learn! So much fun and possibility! One day my knowledge of and skills in photography will be increased in both breadth & depth! 😀❤💜

And here are some of my intentionally very over-edited photos!

😀

So these are just a few of my pictures and goals!

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever you are! 😀❤

Much love & light, always,

Xoxo Kim

Goodness <3

Aug18

(Not my photo)

So today I slept most of the day away. Lol I had a headache all day! Not just lazy! (Although I can be kind of lazy! )

😉

Not the worst of the ones I get but very painful. I have a little sinus thing going on and my chronic headache disorder acting up. But today is still a great day! It’s all about our attitude. There doesnt have to be any bad days no matter how much goes wrong.

Let’s look for the good in each day, no matter how mundane or simple. The fragrance of coffee or tea, soft blankets, raindrops on windows, pelting upon the rooftops, the sun rising and setting, watching a movie with friends or family, snuggling with furfriends,…. just being alive! 😀 ❤

There’s so much goodness each & every day! ❤

Here is some of the goodness I encountered today:

Waking up

Watching a movie with my mom

My kitty, Lacey gently hitting my face with her paw (it still hurt! Lol)

Nap with my dogs

Rain

Traffic sloshing through the rain outside

Listening to Oldies songs

Busses going by in the rain tonight

Playing a scary game i just downloded on Kindle (I got killed by a horrifying ghost girl!)

Playing a Christmas game! (I lost a sled racing game to an elf!) I don’t usually play video games but i saw a couple interesting games and decided to try them!

Playing a vegas casino game ( i had no clue what i was doing and totally lost)

Bagels at wawa with berry cream cheese

Walking to get my mom a coffee

Reading sweet comments people wrote to me

Watching a scary movie

Looking at inspiring phone wallpapers like the one above

A day off of work – I’m going to have work 12 days in a row, some of those days working ten hour shifts, starting Friday! It’s going to be busy!

Doritos! 😀

Soothing meditation

A headache, even a debilitating one, can’t make me have a bad day!

😀

Big Ass Headache – Justin Moore- mobile

Big Ass Headache – desktop
This link! Looks like it has my name in it! Lol

“https://youtu.be/P_CbtNcGKIM” 

And it’s a great Country song that makes me laugh!

“I feel like I’ve been rode hard and hung up wet
Swallowed by a mule and crapped off a cliff
I drank enough whiskey to fill up a lake
Woke up this morning with a big ass headache

Y’all I ain’t kidding this son of a bitch hurts
Where the hell are my pants must be with my shirt
I still got my boots on but make no mistake
They can’t help me kick this big ass headache”

I hope you are having a beautiful day or night wherever in the world you are!
Much love & light,

Xoxo Kim

Live Now

Aug8

“While there is time, let’s go out and feel everything, if you hold me, I will let you into my dream, for time is a river rolling into nowhere, we must live while we can and we’ll drink our cup of laughter.” ~Steve Winwood -The Finer Things

“Let today be mine, for I might not see tomorrow. May I take time to live before time takes me. The silver thread of life is too fragile to forfeit today for tomorrow. No one knows how much of his life is spent; but this he knows: each day there is a little less.
As Longfellow said, ‘The young may die, but the old must.’ Thus the wisest program for living and dying is to make your plans as if you would trod the earth for a thousand years and so walk as if you would take the last step today.”

Isn’t this beautiful? It’s out of an old book called Today is Mine by Leroy Brownlow. It’s a book of words of wisdom for each day of the year. This is for July 2nd.

The book has a religious tinge to it and is probably intended mostly for those of Christian/Catholic faith. At the end of each page there is a biblical verse or something.

I’m not religious but find inspiration everywhere I am. As you can see above, this applies to everyone. We don’t have to be religious or a theist to live fully.

Living to the fullest is different for each one of us. It doesn’t just mean wild things like skydiving, traveling the world, going on all kinds of adventures. Those are great things and some people’s idea of living truly or living to the fullest. But truly living for others may just be having a day or few hours just reading a fun book, spending a day or portion of the day with the kids doing a fun activity or going out for lunch, a staycation, just soaking in all the surrounding beauty in all its forms, even a long midday nap, especially for those who have general busy lives….

Whatever our idea of living truly, deeply, to the fullest, this author encourages us to do just that before it’s all over for us.

My idea of living fully and deeply is being mindful of the goodness in each moment or at least many moments we live whether it’s a sweet day on the beach, a walk through the woods, a climb up a mountain, a stressful, hectic day at work, a boring wait in traffic or a waiting room, a mundane day at home, a struggle with pain, illness, depression, a walk to a store…..wherever we are, whatever we’re doing…and if we see no goodness, no beauty, look harder, and if we still see none, think of what it is teaching us, how we can become, wiser, stronger, and inspire others. Create beauty where there seems to be none.

Cherish each sip of tea, coffee, water, energy drink or whatever it is. If it’s delicious, savor the taste, if it’s healthy or energizing let us give thanks for the nourishment,….

Cherish each sunrise and each sunset, each cool breeze that caresses our skin, the fragrances of the seasons, the sounds of traffic, the song of the birds and crickets, the softness of blankets at night, the vibrant and pastel colors in the wind, the flowers, the buildings, the people, all living beings. ❤

Let’s take these words to heart. Allow them to inspire us to the deepest depths within, caress our essence. Let us live. ❤

Here are two quotes at the end of the page:

“Live now, believe me, wait not till tomorrow; Gather the roses of life today.” ~Pierre de Ronsard

“There is but a step between me and death.” ~I Samuel 20:3

The Finer Things – Steve Winwood – mobile

The Finer Things – desktop

“The finer things keep shining through, the way my soul gets lost in you, the finer things I feel in me, The golden dance life could be.”

I hope you are having a beautiful day/night and I’m wishing you inner peace, love, happiness….
Much love & light to you, always!

😀

Xoxo Kim ❤

Listen to the Buddha ❤

Aug2

received_10202147838573673

(Not my photo but I’m going to make one like it with a pic of the adorable Buddha amulet I recently got in the mail! 😀 )

If you need a reminder to let go whether it’s something trivial like being looked at the wrong way, an annoying person you must deal with, … Or something a bit more serious seeming like unrequited love, traumatic past, loss, anything at all, here it is! Envision yourself breathing in the bright white light of the Buddha, all his unconditional love, indestructible compassion, and deep wisdom and exhaling all of your struggles, pain, fear, anxieties,… In the form of dark smoke leaving your body. This is what we do in meditation class. ❤

Buddha is a very wise man! 😄 😀

Much love & light & inner peace now & forever! 💙

Xoxo Kim 💝

Road to nowhere

Aug2

photostudio_1469906016830

“We’re on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Taking that ride to nowhere
We’ll take that ride
I’m feeling okay this morning
And you know
We’re on the road to paradise
Here we go, here we go”

Road to nowhere – Talking Heads – mobile

Road to nowhere – desktop

This is a photo I made using an app on Kindle Fire. The bridge is mine. Well, not the bridge itself. That’s the Ben F. Bridge here in Philadelphia! It’s the photo that is mine and it’s blended into a background of a beautiful photo of a city, which is not mine (the city or the photo…at least I don’t think it’s my city…). The app can do some amazing things! I’m so thankful! 😍

And also, I love the song! And the interpretation I have of it. I love how they seem so happy and simple with not a care in the world. I can relate. They don’t mind that they’re going nowhere. Lol

It’s OK to not always have some big plans for the day or for life in general. Just sit back and take pleasure in the beauty all around each moment! ❤

Much love,

Xoxo Kim

Once in your life you find her…❤

Jul30

photostudio_1469905890451

Someone who turns your heart around…❤

Best that you can do *Arthur’s Theme* – mobile

Arthur’s Theme – desktop

Recently I watched the movie, Arthur, with my dad, mom, and sister. My dad loves the movie and I have never seen it before recently, though I have always loved the theme song and wanted to see the movie.
It’s a beautiful movie.
Arthur is a man who lives a life of folly and fun, entertained by prostitutes, almost constantly drunk, he never worked a day in his life, his family is financially rich beyond belief. Arthur is to inherit over 8 million dollars!! Eight million! Whoaa!

But he only gets the money if he marries a girl who is a member of another financially rich family. If he refuses, he doesn’t get the money.
He is not in love with the beautiful woman his family demands that he marry so he refuses to marry her. But his dad tells him to kiss his inheritance goodbye and when Arthur finds out just how much money he would have gotten, he decides that he will marry the woman his family insists he marry. It can be kind of hard to resist 8 million dollars! Lol

Then Arthur sees her. Her. The woman of his dreams. A thief and dirt poor who lives at home with her daddy who is very good to her.

Linda is a cutie and full of life. She dresses in vibrant colors and isn’t afraid to speak up. She has a bright light around her.

Arthur sees her in a store where she is caught stealing a gift for her dad. He comes to her rescue and they have an automatic and beautiful connection.

Unfortunately Arthur is already engaged to a woman he is not in love with.

He keeps meeting up with Linda and realizes it’s her he loves and wants to spend forever with.

Now Arthur is faced with a difficult dilemma. Does he disappoint his family and give up over 8 million dollars or does he choose true love?

I love the messages in the movie. One of them being that love is more valuable than money.

And another that money does not necessarily bring happiness but doesn’t prevent it either.

We can be happy being financially rich or poor.

One of my favorite scenes is when Arthur, his grandma, and Linda are all standing together outside and Arthur says he has always been rich but not really happy. Linda says she has always been poor and happy. And Arthur’s grandma says she has always been rich and happy.

I love the deep wisdom the movie conveys here, that money doesn’t make us truly happy but doesn’t prevent it either. And that being poor doesn’t prevent happiness necessarily. It’s about our attitude and choices, not money or material wealth itself.

Here will be a spoiler if you haven’t seen the movie.

Arthur chooses love and gives up his inheritance.

But…..

His grandma decides he can have the money anyway!

But…

He decides to refuse it and plans to get a job!
This doesn’t influence Linda to leave him because it’s love she’s committed to, not his money.

But…

Grandma insists he take the money. She won’t have a member of their family be working class.

So he takes the money and they all win!

I love the message that it’s not bad or wrong in any way to be financially rich or to desire material things as long as we don’t mistake them for definite channels to true happiness and love.

They can surely bring us a kind of joy we wouldn’t have without them. Of course we’re going to be happy having over 8 million dollars in a way we won’t be happy without it but we can still be just as happy without it.

Various people and things can bring out different kinds and depths of joy and happiness in us that we wouldn’t know without them. But we don’t need them to be happy. They complement us, not complete us.

I noticed that while this movie is full of love & beauty, it’s not a very sappy movie, at least in my opinion. I love sappy movies, songs, and books (but not usually poetry) and wouldn’t have minded it being sappier but it’s not so if you aren’t a fan of sap, you may appreciate it! Some people like love, romance and all but without the lovey dovey cheesy stuff!

And the theme song is one of my favorite songs ever! I love the songs Christopher Cross sings. They are beautiful and often with a tinge of melancholy or a kind of sadness or somewhat dark beauty. There often seems to me, to be a hint of longing or allusion to some kind of pain or struggle blended in with the stunning beauty.

“Wake up and she’s still with you
Even though you left her way across town
You’re wonderin’ to yourself
Hey what’ve I found” ❤

His singing voice itself, soft but profound, echoes a kind of melancholy, a haunting beauty, a subtle yearning for something deep, quiet and unspoken, a gentle but passionate quest for something always just out of reach. I feel that beneath the music notes and tender lilt is something, some kind of delicate daydream with the potential to unfold and become reality. It’s inspiring.

Always one of my favorite singers. I am so thankful he sings the theme song for Arthur. ❤

Much love,
Xoxo Kim