This week: get still

I first heard this quote when listening to a speech that Oprah gave at Stanford. I scribbled it down in my notebook and when I was searching for inspiration for today's post it struck me as perfect. Especially with the whirlwind of activity that is me and mine at the moment. Sometimes you just need to breathe.

So to quote the great lady O. 

"When you don't know what to do, get still"

She goes on to say that 'the answers will come'. Sometimes they don't, sometimes you already had them and sometimes you realise you were asking the wrong question.
 
 This week: get still

The photograph is one I took last winter and is actually of the ice on the top of my car, pretty amazing right? 

See you next time.

xx V 

Words to live by... you are never too old

"You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream" - C.S Lewis
 
Here is to all the new dreams out there. To never giving up, to always knowing that it is possible and it will happen.

photograph taken in July 2010 in Kilshannig, Co. Kerry, Ireland

Until next time.

x V

This weeks words... the burden of memory

"The camera relieves us of the burden of memory. "

John P. Berger 1978

Until next time.

xx

V

What you eat is what you are

I've been thinking about what I eat a lot recently. Mainly because when I get really busy with work one of the first things to go is proper meals. In come the chicken sandwiches or leftovers. And I am determined that this Christmas season this will not happen. It's not that I necessarily eat badly, I rarely eat junk food or take aways but more that I stop putting thought into what I am eating.

This quote is translated from the french  book by Jean A. Brillat-Savarin "The philosophy of taste" 1825


xx v

Words to live by... a sudden thought

That moment when all the parts come together and what was just an idea forms into something tangible.

"Stung by the splendour of a sudden thought"

- Robert Browning

Until next time. 

xx V

This week's words.. a snapshot from the year 1000

This week I am taking a snapshot from one of my notebooks. I fill them with anything and everything that inspires, interests or catches my eye. These two lines of poetry are from the around the year 1000 and by the poet Abu'l-'Ala   Al-Ma'arri.

"The world's best moment is a calm hour passed in listening to a friend who can talk well"

"Consider every moment past 

a thread in life's mantle cast"

xx V

This weeks words...

Sometimes the things that people say you CANNOT DO are more about THEIR limitations and fears than your own.*

Captain James Cook - explorer, adventurer and cartographer 

As always, have a great week. 

xx V

*sometimes they are your parents and they really do know best.**

** nearly always ;-) 

Words to live by. Impossible is...

Happy September everyone!

I love this quote from Muhammad Ali, someone showed it to me over the weekend and it just clicked. Instant inspiration for this weeks Words to Live By. 

photograph with thanks to wiki commons. Mount Everest

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”- Muhammad Ali 

Until next time.

Words to live by... are you a leader or a manager

"Leaders are people who do the right things. Managers are people who do things right"

- Warren G Bennis 1994 in his book Fortune

Are you a leader or a manager? 

I think the better question is Can you be both? 

Or does every great leader need an even greater manager behind them.

Have a good one. 

xx V

Words to live by... Born Crazy

"We are all born crazy. Some of us remain that way."

-Samual Beckett from his play Waiting for Godot

Until next time

xx V

Words to live by... Success

"Success never depended on pandering to the public taste. It has always been founded on simplicity" 

- Max Beaverbrook (newspaper magnate and politician. )

Sometimes it is the simplest ideas that go the furthest.

Have a great week. 

xx V

Words to live by... Imagination

"Because imagination created the world, it governs it."

1869

From the original French "Comme l'imagination a créé le monde, elle le gouverne" by French poet and critic Charles Baudelaire. Best known for his collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal.

Have a great week. 

xx V

This week "Done is better than perfect" with Sheryl Sandberg

"Done is better than perfect" 

I read this quote by Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook fame in a recent interview with her. And while I may not necessarily agree with all she has to say I like the process behind this thought. I am a perfectionist, and for a lot of what I do this is an asset but something I am striving to be  better at is letting go of an idea or a new product before it is perfectly complete. 

So this week; stop waiting for perfection and take a leap, share something unfinished, un-perfect. Take the criticism and use it. Your product, your idea and your business will be better for it.

Have a great week.

xx V

Words to...

 When I'm teaching the kids in my Craft Classes I never let them think in terms of mistakes, there is no 'wrong way' to create art only different ways and  sometimes it's the 'wrong' ones that come up with the most interesting results.

In my own designs the evolution of a product can often be the result of many false starts and all those little 'mistakes' are all part of the process.

 I think that most mistakes in life whether in work or elsewhere can be used as learning experiences. The only time a mistake is a bad thing is when you come away from it having learnt nothing. 

So this week I challenge you to leave the rule book behind and go for it. Yes, you might fail but the next time it'll be that little bit easier and you'll be that little bit better and braver for it.

Make Mistakes, Learn from them,Go Forward. 

Have a great one. 

xx Vanessa 

PS I spent most of last week in London for work, some cool photo's to share with you later this week. 

Pinky promise.

Words to live by...castles in the sky

I am revisiting an old post this week. Over the last week this quote has soared in popularity over on my Pinterest board with over 200 pins and 100+ likes. (absoloutely no idea why either!) 

It's been popping up in my inbox on a daily basis,so it's been on my mind and It fit with where I am this week. Sometimes it's good to dream big and forget the rules.

It is by by GK Chesterton, taken from his 1925 book "The Everlasting Man"

Words to Live by... go forward

This week:

 Make mistakes 

Learn from them

Go Forward 

Alexander McQueen

"Of course I make mistakes If I didnt make mistakes id never learn. You can only go forward  by making mistakes"

Have a great one. 

xx V

Words to live by... Imagine

 This quote may have become somewhat of a cliche, which comes as no fault of the words but is simply a result of its popularity and thus its over use. 

But the words still stand and they are my Words to Live By this week.

Lyrics from John Lennon's song 'Imagine'

Like this quote, want to see some more... Check out my Pinterest board Words to Live By

Or why not come say hello over on twitter or facebook 

Have a great week. 

xx V

Words to live by...potatoes

This weeks words are not exactly the most serious of quotes and I will leave it up to you if you think they are 'Words to live by' but I will say this. Douglas Adams series The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a must read. Do yourself a favour skip the film (not that it isn't good, it is) and go straight to the source. This quote is from the third book. 

So the real question is what do you solve your problems with, I find tea and chocolate always help. Not that I don't fancy a good potato every now and again.

Have a great week. 

xx V

Words to live by... who we are becoming

 

This is a quote by Keith Carradine, an American actor, taken from a book by Michael Zuckoff on the Hollywood legend that was Robert Altman entitled Robert Altman: The Oral Biography

"The great artists are the ones who see who we are becoming, more so than those who see who we are" 

For a fantastic article commemorating Altman on his death read this Time article

I also found this quote that Altman himself said and I thought I'd include it as I really loved it. 

 Image source: an online article on the avclub.com (click image for article link)

Have a great week and remember if you like these posts pop on over to Pinterest and share them.

xx V

Words to live by...showing up

This weeks Words to Live by (arriving a day late due to yesterday's bank holiday) are taken from something that Woody Allen once said.  

"Eighty percent of success is showing up"

I think that the meaning behind this quote is very dependant on how you read it. To me showing up is not synonymous with simply logging in the hours. I think it's more about being present. Showing up for the opportunities that life is going to give you. It's about being there and ready to grab them.

Have a great week people. 

xx V