*8Things I’ve Learned in the Past Little Bit

1. You Can Cook It Fast.  I’ve always been a decent cook. Not  fancy, but good. Homeskillet style, I call it. Since moving to CPH I’ve had to learn to do it every night. Not just for special occasions or when I have time. Now I can cook from scratch, healthy, fast.  Plus, I make gluten free baked goods three times a week, including bread. (Yeah. I kinda rock.)

2. Nothing is Ever Wasted. I’ve had a lot of jobs in my life, switch fields, I fall in love frequently with new things, I start and stop projects. On bad days it looks like one big meandering mess. On good days I can see a pattern in the chaos. Being distracted by sparkly things has got me here. And here is good.

3. It’s okay to Nap. In the Winter it makes perfect evolutionary sense to go back to bed for an hour after you get the kids off to school. It’s called hibernation. All the beasts are doing it. Why not you?

4. Wake to the Light. Make your Bed. Usually Karen Maezen Miller makes me want to throw Zen books at her. She’s so nice, but my not-Zeny self likes to rebel against her calm. This article really worked for me tho. (Except the go to sleep with the sun part. In the North you’d go to bed at 3pm!)

5.  Human Contact is a Must. I work at home. I live abroad. If I don’t see a real, live human grown up (who is not family) at least once a weak I go bat-shit crazy. This is a lesson I have to re-learn on a regular basis.

6. People Over 40 Need Tune Ups. My reading glasses are not strong enough. My distance vision is getting iffy. There’s now a history of skin cancer in my family and I’ve never seen a dermatologist. (Says the girl who sunburned to blistered ever Summer of her life.) And don’t even get me started on what 7 years of chronic migraines has done to my endocrine system. When I get back into the land where they actually run tests and prescribe you things, I am SO getting a full-on tune up.

7. Embrace the Crazy. I’m never going to be even-keeled. I’m not a certified Freak, but I’d fly the flag. Yet in spite of this friends say “Rachelle is the solid at the center.” (Thanks, Josh.) Some of the best art in the world is made by the mad.  The key is to learn how to harness the crazy. I’m getting the hang of it. (I even wrote a tiny bit about it here.)

8. Your Kids Grow Up. A year ago my son-adopted-by affection was making me grind my teeth at night. My eldest by birth was on my nerves. And my little one was – okay well she was peachy. Now the manchild in college; the eldest daughter is a delight and a friend; and the little one – okay now she’s crying at the drop of a hat. My point is “This Too Shall Pass.” (Put it on a sticky note on your fridge. It helps the Merlot not disappear quite as fast.) 

What *8Lessons has life been dealing you these past few months?  Contribute to the Giant Pool of Wisdom by puting your *8Things in the list together. Grab a button and play along, or put your list in the comments below.  If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

The things you keep close at hand are usually the most reliable, handy, treasured items in your stash. So I ask you, what do you keep on your bedside table? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours…

*8Things: On My Bedside Table

1. The Body Shops’ Hemp Hand Protector – smell suspiciously like a teenager’s bedroom after the parentals have been away, but it works wonders

2. Burt’s Bees – Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme -  my feet love this stuff.

3. Vintage red and gold reading glasses case from Tonya. (Occasionally, my glasses are actually in it.)

4. Divine Dreaming mp3 – a sleep/dream enhancing meditation from the beloved Leonie Allen.

5. Your Nine Year Old and Your Ten- to Fourteen-Year-Old - invaluable child development guidebooks. (All of them are great.)

6. Music & Silence by Rose Tremaine – an excellent piece of historic fiction about Denmark’s King Christian IV.

7. Sublingual Melatonin and 5-HTP - – because melatonin by itself increases depression. (Wish the sleep doc had told me that when she FIRST suggested meltaonin!)

8. A spiral note book and pen, usually with a collaged cover. The one I’m using right now I collaged with my travel art kit while in Paris.

What  *8Things are on your bedside table? Grab a button and play along, or put your list in the comments below.  If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

This week for *8Things I’ve been thinking about the go-to websites that I keep at the top of my favorites. List. These aren’t blogs, mind you. Rather, a list of non-blog websites that really help a person out. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours…

*8Things: Highly Handy Websites

1. Bing Translate- an expat’s best friends. Good for translating hotel vacancy inquires too! Better than Google’s.
2. PhotoJoj0 — cheers me up with their twice-a-month time capsule.
3. Gluten Free Baking – terrible design but lots of good recipes.
4. Epicurious – I prop the laptop up in the kitchen out of the spill zone and cook with site.
5. Rejseplanen – Copenhagen’s excellent public transport trip planner. All cities should be so lucky.
6. Ravelry – search for free knitting patterns based on what kind of yarn you have.
7. Hulu- TV on demand. Gets me through the days I have to do book keeping. Also, laundry.
8. Digital Photography School and Pioneer Woman- teaching me how to use that fancy schmancy camera.
8.5 (I get one extra b/c one of those was in Danish) Free Will Astrology – cheeky and insightful. I love it!

What are are your *8Things: Highly Handy Websites? Grab a button and play along, or put your list in the comments below.  If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

This past week I’ve been deeply nurtured by a handful of artists and performers. They’ve inspired me to think in new ways, to explore new options, and perhaps most importantly, to laugh at life a little. (Why so serious?) So for this week’s *8Things, here are *8Artists Who Inspire Me Everyday.

1. Orien Lavie: Jen Lemen introduced me to this beautiful musician through the Her Morning Elegance video. If you like poetry set to music, this man is for you. And if you like cheeky, clever commentary, read the diary of  The Opposite Side of the Sea here. (Also, he is very pretty.)

 
2. Peter Callesen: I love the thought that this much beauty can come out of one piece of paper. Also, he inspires my 11 year old, which makes me happy.

3. Simon Evans: Margeretha and I stumbled upon Simon Evans in a group show at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art outside of Copenhagen. His tendency to collect and categorize items — often with random-seeming documentation — appeals to the naturalist in me. Order from chaos. Meaning in the everyday. It’s ever so do-able. He makes me believe I can be an artist — it’s all in the way you learn to see.

4. Phillp “Pacman” Chbeeb (you tube :  myspace): I’ve been on a bit of a Phillip Chbeeb tear since the girls and I watched Season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance. I’m not sure 40-year-old mothers are big popping and tutting fans, in general. Nonetheless, I was immediately captured Phillip’s otherworldly style. Since then I’ve been learning-up and discovering a whole new dance vocabulary. I’m impressed at how this particular flowing/popping style is a new evolution of street/hip-hop/bboy dance. This piece  in particular makes me think about boundaries and limits — especially our physical limits — in new and wider ways.
Okay Dear Readers, with all those links and pics, 4 is all I have time for today. Plus, that’s already a full plate of artistic goodness. If you eat any more you’ll get a belly ache. (Hmmm….no women artists tho. Maybe y’all can help me make up for that.)

THIS JUST IN: Phillip just emailed me and agreed to do a One Q Interview for Magpie Girl readers! How great is he? (Answer: So great.)

What are are your *8Things: Artists Who Inspire? Grab a button and play along, or put your list in the comments below.  If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalink in the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

Since reading Style Statement: Live by your own design, I’ve begun following author Danielle LaPorte’s kick-butt blog White Hot Truth. For the start of the new year Danielle had a couple of great posts in which she asked “What are you going to STOP doing in 2010?”

 Being a big proponent of the Do Less Revolution, I thought Danielle’s idea was fan-damn-tastic. So for this week’s *8Things let’s list *8Things To STOP Doing in 2010. I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours….

STOP:

1. Talking Myself Out of Exercise. It’s not longer a conversation. It happens every day. Period.
2. Trying to Get to Know Danes/New Expats. We’re used to big circle, but our tiny circle is lovely.
3. Reducing My Prices/Waiving My Fees. I charge a fair fee. Full stop.
4. Taking Sleep Meds. They don’t work. Why do I keep trying?
5. Feeling Guilty. Chronic pain is chronic pain. Sometimes you have to lie down.
6. Watching Hulu:I just found out I can access it again from abroad. Yipes! Lalalala. I can’t hear you Hulu.
7. Leaving Facebook Open: Time to just check it once and shut it down.
8. Deflecting Compliments. Send ‘em my way — this year I’ll accept them graciously. Try me!

What are are your *8Things to Stop Doing in 2010? Grab a button and play along, or put your list in the comments below.  If you post on your list on your blog, please give us the permalinkin the Mr. Linky below so we can come say hi! Thanks for being here.

To hang out a little more with Danielle LaPorte’s way of thinking, join us in the Flock in February when we’ll be doing Style Statement: Live by your own design as our first ever Read-a-Long.

What *8Things did you fall in love with in 2009? Let us know in the comments below, or grab a button and play along.
Happy New Year from Magpie Girl!

1. A much younger man.
2. A much older man.
3. A clever artist.
4. A rebel.
5. A bird or two.
6. An entire graduating class.
7. A body of water.
8. A joyful noise.

Here in Copenhagen, at roughly the same latitude as Anchorage, Alaska, the days are dark in Winter. The sun makes her weakened appearance slowly around 9:30am and leaves us a mere 7 hours later around 4pm. During the time the skies tend to be grey, the cloud cover low, and the mood somber. Thankfully, Winter Solstice is just around the corner. But there are still plenty of dark days to come before Spring burst through our doors.

What do you do during this season to make it through the darkness? How do you fight S.A.D.? What parts of the season can you embrace with honesty? What *8Things  do you enjoy in the dark? (Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.) I’ll tell you mine, if you’ll tell me yours…

1. Sleep: We turn into bears around here and hibernate, hibernate, hibernate. Studies show that you can “catch up” on lost sleep, and accumulate the rest you need. Why not stockpile some snoozing while the days are dark?
2. Read: I love curling up in my bed on a winter’s night, or on the couch during a slow grew weekend – if I have a good book.  It’s also a great time for creative journaling and working through things like Keri Smith’s How to Be An Explorer of the World: A Portable Life Museum, or Carrie McCarthy’s  Style Statement: Live by your own Design. What are you reading these days?
3. Knit: Now is the time for hand crafts. I learned how from Stitch and Bitch, and with the help of one yarn-shop class. Now I’m working on this and this, and have made all of this.
4. Bake:Now this one is a little dangerous, because all that sleeping and reading, plus the baking can make me a little rolly polly. But I do love to bake muffins and cookies in the winter time. You can find some of my favorites here. This year I’m learning to cook gluten free. Hopefully I’ll find some new favorites soon.
5. Board Games: We keep trying to institute a family game night. But who wants to play Risk when the sun is shining? But in the dark evenings it’s nice to turn on some tunes, get out a bowl of nuts, and play a few rounds of something. This year the girls are becoming card sharks: Rook, Flinch, Gin Rummy and Texas Hold ‘Em are all getting practiced ‘round here.
6. Walk in the Dark: My city is very safe, and I love walking in the pre-dawn hours. Let’s face it, if dawn was earlier than 8am, I’d never get up early enough to see the light grow. So this time of year is special, private treat of walking the lake alone in the dim.
7. Bundle Up: I love scarves and hats, so this time of year is fun for me. I like picking the right combo and layering away. And with my pledge to go A Year Without Clothes, I’m also layering my regular clothes more to make my Winter wardrobe stretch.
8. Oatmeal: I adore hot cereals, and in the winter they seem like a must. Oatmeal, varmt museli, risengrol, and cream of wheat are my cold season favs for stick-to-you-ribs warmth. (Have you tried it baked? Yum!)

What is your list of *8Things: To Enjoy in the Dark? Tell us in the comments or grab a button and play long by putting your permalink in the list below.

Today we found out some long-time friends of ours may have to leave their dream jobs in Thailand because the NPO they work for is out of funds. Their salary has been reduced by half these past few months, and with their savings depleted their only hope is to return to the States and look for work. Another friend is living with her in-laws, while a third has had to relying on his to help make ends meet. Still another had to take her child out of his beloved preschool because of financial strain.

Even when times are tight, there is part deep within us that longs to give presents to our loved ones. Not just because it is “the thing to do,” but because generosity is an impulse that cannot be denied – a part of our deep humanity. If we are made “in the image of God,” then perhaps generosity is a Divine attribute which longs to shine out from our core. If we are followers of the Light, then we can see this impulse as something which contributes to the glow we want to nurture in ourselves and others.

Even when times are trying, we want to give. So here are *8Things you can offer to someone you love. Many take little more than a piece of paper and postage stamp. All of them are simple enough that you can accomplish them without elaborate plans or loads of time. May one of these allow you to bless someone with your generous heart this season, and may abundance ride besides you every step of your journey.

Much Warmth,

Rachelle

1. Sing me Song, Piano Man: Can you croon, strum, tap the keys? Give your loved ones the gift of a candle lit song this season.
2. *8 Days A Week: Got 12 favorite quotes that inspire and sustain you? Write them on some nice paper and give someone as a year’s worth of encouragement.
3. Stuck on You: Need a gift for a child? Got stickers floating around in your craft gear? Little one’s don’t mind if you snip off the used bits and give them an envelope full of extras. In fact, the LOVE it.
4. I Hope You Don’t Mind, That I Put Down in Words: I have an envelope full of notes and printed-off emails from people who took the time to tell me true things about my life, my character, and my work. I need them to carry me through the dark. Give the gift of a letter. You never know how deeply it may matter.
5. Brand New Day: Do you have some favorite tunes that help your day get off to a good start? Make a list (or a CD) for someone with all your favorite morning songs.
6. No More Bread and Butter: I love discovering a new recipe! Write down a few of your specialties for your friends, or create a list of your favorite food blogs.
7. Workin’ for a Living: Do you know someone who has a dreaded chore?  Maybe they hate washing their car, or don’t know a thing about mulching the garden. Personally, I hate polishing shoes.  Taking a chore off their to-do list would be a lovely gift.
8. All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue: Are the same cheesy Christmas songs driving you batty? Maybe they’re making your friend’s nuts too. Make ‘em a mixed tape of some not-so-traditional tunes. (Songs from Over the Rhine and Harp 46 are a nice start.)

What are your ideas for *8Things: Generous Gifts for Trying Times? Put on your thinking cap and give us your tips in the comments below, or grab a button and play along by putting your permalink in the list below.

It the Christian tradition, the season before Christmas is called “Advent,” meaning “to come.” It is season of preparation, and a time to wait.

Regardless of your spiritual tradition, this time of year is indeed a time of waiting. Waiting for the Light, for presents, for the arrival of loved ones. Waiting to see the smile on your child’s face when gifts are opened. Waiting to kindle the candles of Hanukkah, or for the return of the Light at Solstice. Waiting to pass on traditions at Kwanzaa, or for the arrival of baby at Christmas.

But all too often this Advent season turns into a season not of waiting, but of rushing. Rushing to the store, to make cookies, to clean house, to wrap, to rehearse,  to dress-up, to attend.

I love a little hustle and bustle. It’s fun!  But a little holiday bustle can go a long way.  Over all, I like the holiday season to be peaceful and intentional. I want it to be ripe with meaning and lush with memories. 

Over the years I’ve developed a trick to help keep our holidays happy, but not hustling; joyful and peaceful. You guessed it, it’s a list! Each year I write out the *8Things we must do this holiday season. Writing a list of the most important moments empowers me to say “NO” to the rest. Every time my eager-beaver mind draws me to another craft project or an additional adorable downtown Christmas event, I return to my list. If that new thing threatens my ability to make one of my essentials happen, I say goodbye. I wait for another year. After the season is over, I tack my list to my calendar for the next December — when we’ll keep some items, and trade out some others — adapting our traditions each year as our household alters.

Here’s my *8Things for a Peaceful Holiday  list for this year. 

1. Make a meaningful gift for the immediate family members. (Hello Burb.com!)
2. Bake Paul’s favorite Christmas cookie.
3. Sing with the Copenhagen Gospel Singers, and the Jr. Gospel Singers.
4. Bake muffins once a week to get Catie out of bed through the dark season.
5. Light the Advent wreath. Pass on the story.
6. Dole out the Christmas picture books at the breakfast table, one each day through Advent.
7. Show my parents the hyggliet bits of a Danish Jule.
8. Decorate the tree and set a pretty table Christmas Eve.

What’s NOT on the list:stay up too late making a zillion kinds of cookies; attend every cool event in town; make an elaborate meal and collapse with a migraine before I can eat it; stress out trying to finish handmade gifts at the last minute (tho I will buy handmade as much as possible!); spend more than I can afford on presents; stress out trying to get everyone dressed and out the door to a zillion church services.

What’s on your *8Things for a Peaceful Holiday list? What do you need to do to make your holiday season meaningful? What would make it something to savor? And just as importantly, what can you leave off the list? Do tell us in the comments, or grab a button and play along by leaving your permalink in the list below. Thanks for being here, and Happy Advent!

One of the more challenging parts of living a creative life is discovering your best working rhythm. We all have a work pattern that suits our energy levels and nurtures us with alternating periods of work and rest, gathering and creating.

I have spent plenty of time trying to force myself into a “productive” work routine that ended up being anything butproductive, simply because it didn’t match my natural habits. Like lifecoach Jena Strong always says, ”It’s all about function.”  That’s why this week’s  *8Things is all about uncovering your creative patterns. The rhythm is already there, you just have to pull off the blanket and see what is there waiting for you.

How do you like to work? When do you like to start, how long it takes for you to get into the flow, do you like to work in silence or with music? Your intuitive voice will help access the information you need to uncover a work rhythm that supports your creative pursuits. Write down *8Things you know about Your Creative Rhythm and put them in the comments below or grab a button and play along by putting a permalink to your post in the list below.

Special thanks to this week to Sarah and at Creative Lessons who gave me the idea for this *8Things list; to Jen Lee for her excellent “Making Soup” metaphor about the ebb and flow of the creating process; and to Dee Wilcox at the Creative Perch for sharing this *8Things list with a wider audience. Thanks for being here!

Rachelle’s *8Things: Creative Rhythm

1. Embrace Your BioRhythm: There is no point in me trying to write before noon. I do administrative work in the morning in my PJ’s, shower after lunch, the get to writing.
2. Manage Your Downloads:  Just because I have a huge download of creative ideas doesn’t mean I have to do them all at once. I can suppress the hyper-mania if I remember they’ll keep.
3. Know Your Tender Spots:After announcing a project or sending it out to the world I’m virtually guaranteed to have a bout of self-doubt and insecurity. I enlist help.
4. Trouble Shoot Your Wheel of Work Weak Spots:  I like generating ideas and starting things. I’ m not so good with the middle and the finish. During that part of the a project I have to write out an hour by hour daily schedule to get it DONE.
5. Don’t Isolate:  I live abroad and work at home — so seeing another adult IN REAL LIFE at least once a week is imperative!
6. Know What You Need:  It’s true, I’m a feedback whore. I like immediate reaction to what I’m working on. Thus, I blog.
7. What’s Your Addiction of Choice?: Facebook and Twitter I can manage, YouTube and Hulu suck me in like a black hole
8. Your Nutrional Needs. Must. Have. Input. Artists dates are a must. I try to go to a gallery, garden, or performance once a month.