5 Delightfully Simple Ways to Add Whimsy to Your Day

Life can feel a bit routine sometimes, but adding a sprinkle of whimsy doesn’t have to take a ton of time or effort. Here are five simple ways to turn an ordinary day into something magical:

Write a Tiny Poem on a Post-It Note

Take two minutes to jot down a silly rhyme or a heartfelt haiku.

Stick it somewhere random,

• On your bathroom mirror

• Inside a favorite book

• On a loved one’s lunchbox

Instant day-brightener!

Make Your Morning Coffee (or Tea) Feel Fancy

Pour your drink into your prettiest mug. Bonus points if it has a saucer! Add whipped cream or a sprinkle of cinnamon, just because.

Create a “Pocket Treasure”

Find a small object that makes you happy—a smooth stone, a trinket, or even a folded note. Slip it into your pocket to carry a bit of joy around all day.

I love these heart shaped rose quartz stones.

Pause for a Mini-Adventure

Even if it’s just a stroll through your backyard or a new corner of the neighborhood, treat it like an exploration. Notice tiny details: the shape of the leaves, the patterns in the sidewalk.

Add a Dash of Color to Your Outfit (or face)

Throw on a scarf, socks, or earrings in a color that makes you smile. It doesn’t need to match—mismatched whimsy is even better!

If wearing all black or a neutral color pallet is your thing. There is a red lipstick for every skin tone.

Sometimes, the tiniest shifts in perspective can bring the most joy. Whimsy isn’t about perfection; it’s about noticing the magic in the everyday.

What’s your favorite way to add a little sparkle to your day? Share your ideas in the comments!

Passover, Plagues, and Holy Communion

I was recently asked to write a post on Passover for an ecumenical Christian Facebook group I admin. I love this group and was excited to write something for them. So far, it's been well received, and I am glad. It is such a great feeling when one can string words together people can connect to. I had to omit a big chunk of who I am in writing for a broad, mixed audience, not for myself. This is normal when you're a writer; I usually leave those pieces and don't need to return to them. This week, I've been really struggling with not being able to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion. It's Holy Week, and I keenly feel Christ's absence. I began to add to this little piece and work through my feelings as part of an Examen prayer, and oddly enough, by turning what was a post for a predominantly protestant audience into a very personal and Catholic one, I am feeling much better. It's as though by writing about Christ in the sacrament of Communion, I grew close to Him again. I didn't have any intention of sharing - this was strictly a personal thing. Still, I've been absent from this blog because of the incredible blessings of my work and the opportunities to serve my community through volunteering; I haven't had time to focus on it. Considering we're all taking a break from our regular lives, it was a good time to return. So here it is, Passover, Plagues, and Holy Communion, just in case someone could use these little words I made sentences out of.

THIS PASSOVER

For the first time in recent memory, nearly every nation globally will be gathered in their own homes, sheltering from a plague, during PASSOVER. 

 "But for you, the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord; you will celebrate it as a statute forever." Exodus 12:13-14

When we receive Holy Communion, we're intimately united with Jesus Christ. He becomes part of us. When we take part in the sacrament of Holy Communion, we express our unity with Christ and our union with Catholics the world over. The last meal Jesus shared with His disciples was a Passover meal, where he specifically asked us to become one in body and spirit with Him. His greatest desire and ultimate sacrifice was to unite His body, blood, soul, and divinity to our own. This Passover, the Jewish people will celebrate God's deliverance of their ancestors from death in Egypt, and we will celebrate God's promise to deliver us from our mortal deaths. Through His sacrifice on the Holy Cross, through His blood, our world will be saved from this plague and any others to come. As we celebrate His defeat over death this Easter, we may forgo our fancy hats and Sunday best, for sweats and slippers as we sit in our homes, and not with our church families. We'll listen to homilies from a responsible, socially distant space. Still, our hearts will never be closer to Him or each other as we unite in prayer for this plague to pass over us all. Remember our unity to Him and one another as we, the faithful body of Christ, ask for His healing over the world. 

But Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." At once, the woman was made well. Matthew 9:22

God bless you, and we hope you are well.

A Week By The Sea - Lyrics 5591/Justin Furstenfeld - Blue October

Precise like a metronome, to the boneSo calm, you're a week below the seaI'm blessed like a leprechaun finding your goldTwo cheers for the low that you take up to highThey come crashing like a winter warm rainSo soft you could tremble on all of my soulChorus:Cause yeah, you show me to the open part of my soulCause yeah, you show me to the open part of my soulCause yeah, you show me to the open part of my soulSoul, my soulSo I'll rise when you ask me to, and follow throughI'll climb to the highest point blankI'll crawl just to get to you, you are my homeAnd only time will be the judge of this romantic trialWhen I'll kiss away your worries of meJust smile and believe that you live in my soulChorus:Cause yeah, you show me to the open part of my soulCause yeah, you show me to the open part of my soulCause yeah, you show me to the open part of my soulI said you show me to the open part of my soulImpressed by the who you are, shooting starBest-dressed by the fall, you are treeTwo steps to the intimate part of my soulYou show meYou show me to...my soulShow me toYou show me to***I love this song. It's not been officially released but I've got a demo of it from the band. You can Google and find videos of Justin Furstenfeld performing it. It's got a really cool electronica sort of beat.Check out Blue October online at blueoctober.com

Here I Love You, Aqui Te Amo - Pablo Neruda Poem

Being separated from my husband is not something that is unfamiliar to me. This poem expresses the longing I feel to be near his bones so perfectly. So keenly. Indeed I think what made Neruda a great romantic poet was not his ability to write about love but to express it's completeness, it's at times imperfection, or complication so truthfully.

 Here I Love You

Here I love you.In the dark pines the wind disentangles itself.The moon glows like phosphorous on the vagrant waters.Days, all one kind, go chasing each other.The snow unfurls in dancing figures.A silver gull slips down from the west.Sometimes a sail. High, high stars.Oh the black cross of a ship.Alone.Sometimes I get up early and even my soul is wet.Far away the sea sounds and resounds.This is a port.Here I love you.Here I love you and the horizon hides you in vain.I love you still among these cold things.Sometimes my kisses go on those heavy vesselsthat cross the sea towards no arrival.I see myself forgotten like those old anchors.The piers sadden when the afternoon moors there.My life grows tired, hungry to no purpose.I love what I do not have. You are so far.My loathing wrestles with the slow twilights.But night comes and starts to sing to me.The moon turns its clockwork dream.The biggest stars look at me with your eyes.And as I love you, the pines in the windwant to sing your name with their leaves of wire.

 *****

Aquí Te Amo

En los oscuros pinos se desenreda el viento.Fosforece la luna sobre las aguas errantes.Andan días iguales persiguiéndose.Se desciñe la niebla en danzantes figuras.Una gaviota de plata se descuelga del ocaso.A veces una vela. Altas, altas estrellas.O la cruz negra de un barco.Solo.A veces amanezco, y hasta mi alma está húmeda.Suena, resuena el mar lejano.Este es un puerto.Aquí te amo.Aquí te amo y en vano te oculta el horizonte.Te estoy amando aún entre estas frías cosas.A veces van mis besos en esos barcos graves,que corren por el mar hacia donde no llegan.Ya me veo olvidado como estas viejas anclas.Son más tristes los muelles cuando atraca la tarde.Se fatiga mi vida inútilmente hambrienta.Amo lo que no tengo. Estás tú tan distante.Mi hastío forcejea con los lentos crepúsculos.Pero la noche llega y comienza a cantarme.La luna hace girar su rodaje de sueño.Me miran con tus ojos las estrellas más grandes.Y como yo te amo, los pinos en el viento,quieren cantar tu nombre con sus hojas de alambre

Pablo Neruda

I shall not live in vain - Emily Dickinson

VIIF I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again,I shall not live in vain~Emily Dickinson

Mouthful of Forevers

I think my heart stopped when I read this. xo n.

I am not the first person you loved.You are not the first person I looked atwith a mouthful of forevers. Wehave both known loss like the sharp edgesof a knife. We have both lived with lipsmore scar tissue than skin. Our love cameunannounced in the middle of the night.Our love came when we’d given upon asking love to come. I thinkthat has to be partof its miracle.This is how we heal.I will kiss you like forgiveness. Youwill hold me like I’m hope. Our armswill bandage and we will press promisesbetween us like flowers in a book.I will write sonnets to the salt of sweaton your skin. I will write novels to the scarof your nose. I will write a dictionaryof all the words I have used tryingto describe the way it feels to have finally,finally found you.And I will not be afraidof your scars.I know sometimesit’s still hard to let me see youin all your cracked perfection,but please know:whether it’s the days you burnmore brilliant than the sunor the nights you collapse into my lapyour body broken into a thousand questions,you are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.I will love you when you are a still day.I will love you when you are a hurricane.

— Clementine von Radics, “Mouthful of Forevers”

I've been feeling creative and inspired...

Here's what my Muse has found pleasing...I made this little graphic so I could print out and tape into my journal - but quickly discovered that my printer is out of ink. Grrr, I purchased those before I left Miami, but I guess not using them for nearly six months can make them feel all ignored and decide their not in a printerly mood.I so do love Shakespeare's Sonnet 43... The way it speaks of yearning is so poignant. I'm totally channeling this feeling for one of my characters.The photo I used I found via Tumblr.  Apparently it's a statue located in Rome. So it's on my list of things to see when we visit. I just have to figure out where.Music definitely helps rev up my creativity. I recently discovered The National, I've had their album High Violet on near constant replay. They're heading straight toward being one of my favorite bands.

Florence + the Machine ...  Two songs specifically I've found to be quite thematic, for my writing these days, Cosmic Love and Blinding off of the Lungs album.Le Sigh. Love those. Here are a few links to the two albums I referenced. These links are affiliate codes...