The meaning of life: now, that IS a beautiful thing

READ THIS FIRST

I even amazed myself ... reading this almost a year later.  Really crowning the website I did launch over a year ago [ www.graFX.online ] and left stagnant less the original gusto that comes when an idea bursts forward and fights to find solid ground.  A central repository of all my blogs, depending open my knowledge (typically business, sales or social media as @optioneerJM and its affiliate blogspot blog of the same name all under the social media persona I created in and around 2008 when a champion friend, mentor and cheerleader, Donna deMan pushed me off the cliff into the stratosphere online, starting on Linked In, then branching out to TWITTER where I was so thankfully introduced to a group of early adopters of social media with a lot of class, talent, skill and some sort of charm or charisma that people became drawn to:  those are still the forefathers.  Maybe I'll do a blog and ask people who I think impacted and guided me about remembering me (if) or what they remember most about me .... that would be fun {INSERT} imaginary virtual assistant who hussles off an email to me to serve as a reminder and then adds it to her notes to cover during our weekly phone call [not to mention quarterly luncheon to touch base personally and address anything more sensitive, needing more personal attention than day to day "STUFF".  

Well, I dreamed of writing and wishing about eventually being able to be paid for what I do, and I'm happy to say I like the direction this is going.  An assembly of blogs from an average, yet bright, confident yet sensitive business lady with a twist of this whirlpool of stuff may have some value.  Putting it under one umbrella:  www.graFX.online allows me to give it all under one setting.  

It is a hobby though.  Not an occupation, more like a preoccupation or passion that would be more inline with who I am, not who others want me to be or think they know me to be.  An honest reflection under one transparent crystal chandelier of my life.  

I think I really like the sweet spot that I may have found in THE PUBLISHER:  creative writings that would otherwise a) be lost after it was a fleeting idea or b) be stifled because they wouldn't land softly in the more tumultuous life I lead only a year later from when this blog was written.

I like to think I sounded optimistic and embracing the age on the farther side of 50 and coasting towards 60, amid big waves and whitecaps hitting us at this moment when everything is suppose to be rosy. 

 
After witnessing my own parents marriage of more than 50 years of togetherness [and other times of hellishness] and ending up with a partner in life, legally professed as husband, a father to one and a stepfather to a few, ending up after one failed marriage attempt renewed with optimism when we vowed to create a family among all four, equally treated with fairness.  Fast forward 11 years later:  it lived more like a mythical horror epic in the last 9 weeks.  We all discovered that Rob was a big piece of the glue that made us all stick.  And that is a beautiful thing. 

A do do DO

What are you doing on here?
My best friend and her hubby came over for a BBQ this evening.  The hunkster hubby is trying to get his project off the ground:  our getaway car wrapped up in a 1979 Porsche.  Sound pretty fantastic doesn't it, except when you dwell on the fact that you haven't had a spin for 4 years (at least).

Why life ain't fair
What is it that a guy can have a "project" last for eons and cost mucho moola without a poof of smoke or a vroom vroom.  I should, to be fair, state that the car was started and the cloud of smoke was worse than any carbon tax register.

The girls are gals
We did a fabulous job of hanging out on the driveway while our hunks piddle and screwed around (with screwdrivers) with tools and we were content.  Ask us 50 somethings whether we could turn back time and put the breaks on these never-ending project that suck mucho moola out of the funds.

To be fair
We may have extended ourselves beyond the requirements: do we need those many shoes or purses?    Our defense mechanism is that we need as many pairs of shoes as they need tools.  

Take that!?!!
Truth be told, we really don't need those many purses, shoes or accessories as they need tools.  But never has anyone argued with the "in case".  The tool that is bought because it is needed for the specific time is far different than the "in case' that particular tool meets a specific requirement is like that purse or pair of shoes that we buy "in case" we need it.

An explanation or evasion?
My greatest friend, who has known me since we worth both 18, starting out at college asked me what the big fuss was about social media?  She said anything she has crossed paths with is nega-tive.  She links it to negative association or being tricked into saying something or her kids being trapped into something.  Something that they should avoid at all cost.

An explanation or defense?
If you find yourself fooling around on social media, we have to be prepared to defend why we do what we do do DO.    As I said to my dearest friend, or tried to explain to her, social media is not a news cast, or about what is trending in the news, or what has people all hopped up about.

Occupation or preoccupation?
To try to explain to a non-participant is a challenge.  It isn't like I get paid to tweet, blog or post.  I tried to tell her that you can be recog-nized for your efforts.  To try to explain how it can be measured is like trying to defend why smoking or drinking alcohol is okay.

About writing or expression?
My very best friend who has known me for so many years, through some challenges, and championed triumphs, asked me:  "When did you decide you liked to write?"  It was awkward.  I was reacting defensively at first.  Then I had to internalize the question and think about the answer in it's realism:  I didn't know I loved to write until I started to write and I felt this physical release.  It was like I could just write and it dissipated those worries or thoughts.  

The reaction to attraction
Whether it is from a post of words, a quote that resonates from you inner being, or an image that just seems just too cool not to share.  Writing, posting or blogging on social media is a source for saying how you really feel, what you think to be true, or what would help others.  

A piece of the peace
There is a peace that envelopes you when you can be expressive through means that are outside your own creation.  Whether it is a reaction to what is happening or a thought on what could be a reaction to what is going on around us.  Writing a blog, posting on social media, is found at the inner core of our being. 

the CLUBHOUSE project

The clubhouse project
Wooohooooo I'm on another 4-day weekend and I've been doing things that are treasured by me.  First and foremost lately it has been painting objects that turn into repurposed art.  

Repurposed art
About a year ago I started painting on objects that I'd had for a while and just goofing around painted them.  It was so fun and some of them really turned out very cool.   The homes I found for them even cooler.

A birdhouse with a purpose
As I started painting a birdhouse an idea blossomed.  What if I could use the birdhouse as a clubhouse that housed my dreams, goals, where my favorite people could either gain admittance or become members.

Membership
I holistically considered who would be allowed in my clubhouse?  It wasn't too hard to figure it out, they would be people who I wanted to be surrounded by.  They would be:

• talented
• exceptional
• smart
• creative
• caring
• motivational
• friendly
• innovative
• humble
• humanitarians
• artistic
• share positive messages
• injected with humour
• from across all walks of life
• cultivated from among the world's best
• they give, they promote, they help, without expecting anything in return.

The givers, innovators, creators

By words, art, photography, beauty they create a world worth living in.  Those would be the persons crowded into my little Clubhouse.  Lucky for us, there are foodies and entertainers and scholars and teachers and musicians and artists, curated from across many social media platforms and life.

Where would my happy place be?

As part of my clubhouse project, I would imagine the location of such a happy place.  I was divided among the options that bring me solace and peace:

• My home
• My garden
• A new surrounding:  on a beach, beside the ocean
• 
  

What would be in it?

No home, no vacation, no location would be complete without the right things in it:

• Music
• Art
• Photography
• Beautiful decor
• Family
• Friends
• Pets

6 partitions with 5 sides to life

As a form of therapy of sorts, I reflect upon the clubhouse to create the five sides of life.  I began by imagining who and what would go in it.  To be expanded upon when I'm feeling discouraged, let down or a strong passion for wanting my life to be on track in a way that I make it possible.  

What and who goes in it

Complete the options before us.  We only let the people or things that matter to us inside our Clubhouse projects.  They bring us positiveness, beauty, inspiration.  We leave out those that hurt us, lower our self-esteem, cause us harm in any way.

The outside defines what is on the inside with five sides dedicated to making it a unique piece of our mind, our hearts, and dreams.

The front door

Is welcoming and a place in which we find ourselves safe, at peace, surrounded by only the good and wonderful we imagine it to be.  We want it to be welcoming because it will attract only the best of everything anyone or anything.

My garden

What I like to do is reflected on my entrance pane to my clubhouse project:  gardening, beautiful flowers, bright colors, happy faces.  A solace for dreaming, creating, beautifying where we spend our time.  

My goals

Are the levels on which I climb to reach my ultimate destination.  Whether it be career, writing, creating or being this side defines what I think will make my life complete.  They are realistic and achievable.  

My dreams

What do I see when I look outside the window of my clubhouse?  What would be the most perfect world imaginable.  Certainly gut-wrenching reflection because it defines the who, the what and the where long before economic reward brings the "things".  Things don't belong in my dreams.  Things are static and stationary, never evolving.  

The where

Where do I see my dreams blossoming the most?  What would I be looking at by my surroundings?  Beauty, sunshine, tropical trees, a lake, ocean or pool with billowing white puffs of cloud that don't bring darkness, but only shed light on the brightness where my inner peace can be found.

The bottom

Is where my secrets, disappointments, hurtful memories, failure, toxic people or events remain.  I place them there, on the bottom, to let go, get over and forgive.  Once those memories go to the bottom, they become dormant and never again allow me to regret, feel hurt, or hit my confidence.  

The roof

Unadorned and plain.  A place where I sole away dreams discovered, cheques or money seep into to make the dreams happen and the goals achieved.

It's about possibilities

The Clubhouse Project is about setting about making what is possible a reality.  Not to dwell on regrets or disappointments, it is filled with optimism.  I am in control of what goes on and in my Clubhouse to arrive at utopia and happiness.

Make your own CLUBHOUSE

Find your own birdhouse:  at a store, a garage sale or a thrift shop.   Design it in a way as described above.  As you paint it, you define the four key components:

• What do you want others to see when you welcome them?
• Who would the people be that you would allow to be members?
• What will you see when you look out your window? ::  the goals, the dreams, the realization of all that can be made possible by you.
• Where would it be?  How can you create the where?  Is it where you are, is it where you will need to be, or a stop along your travels to utopia?
• What will you bury?  Who are the toxic people that you have removed because they block you from creating your intended destiny?  What are the awful memories that keep you frozen with fear, replayed over and over again.  Letting go when they go into the part of the clubhouse that is not opened again.  Who do you need to forgive?  Or, who do you need to forgive you?  They go in there, part of the past.  Let go to allow you your wonderful future.  If you replay failures, memories, hurt or heartache, they belong here.

Create your own clubhouse

Once it is created, decide all the ingredients and write them down on a piece of paper and put it through the welcoming front door.  Draw out your floor plan or surroundings as you imagine them to be.  Put in pictures of people that matter most.  Cut out images from magazines or print off photographs and insert them inside.  This is where they belong.  Write the list of people, things, memories or events you will let go of or forgive others or yourself for.

Creating the life you want

Only you can decide what it is that will bring you peace, happiness and excitement.  Nobody else.  Only you can determine your goals, decide on your dreams.  It is your own Clubhouse project.  Creating the destiny you and fate have aligned.  Understanding that you reap what you sow.  This is your CLUBHOUSE where you begin to imagine the possibilities of a life fulfilled with love, happiness and dreams come true.  

Try it.  Let me know how it goes,

 or let me know if you want to post yours on PINTEREST

I will invite you to share your post or your images!

and REMEMBER :: ...........

Tip toe thru the tulips of time

Do you just ever wonder?
What it was like waking up and finding yourself back in the glamour days.  When Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra were of this world.

You dress up
or you didn't go out!  Back in the time when ladies had to be ladies, and fellows were gentlemen around the ladies.  It is such a bygone time, don't you just wonder what it would be like?

Gloves and hats
Were just important as the gown, dress or outfit that were defined by clip on earrings, that you can't give away in garage sales now.

A pinch of this and a pinch of that
If you didn't behave in church, or were moving around restlessly, you could find yourself pinched.  The almighty pinch was worse than a dirty look or a raised voice.  Back in the time, when you didn't have the belt as much as parents of parents, today, want to think.

A generation's generation
who champion manners, a lost grace in a large part of our society.  We were suppose to be scarce between dinner and sun down.  This was the best time of the year.  Right now.

Red rover, red rover
We thought we were pretty smart then, not unlike our own children do.  The sneakiness was different in those times.  When we scattered at the last beloved 30 minutes before the sun was starting to fade.  Grabbing hands, laughing loudly, as we ran through the throng of neighbourhood kids to evade being caught and having instead to do the catching.

The rules relaxed
When there was fun to be had.  The parents slowly stepping off stoops, starting out to call their children indoors.  Instead, assembling, smiling at each other, parents in the Good Parent Club as we bought a few extra minutes of outside time because no one parent would want to be the first to disrupt such a marvelous coming together of children, kids, having fun.

 A tide or an era 

We weren't sure, nor did we care.  We were so caught up in the moment, of laughing, running, catching those last glimpse of the sun.




  






_________________________________________                                                                            ~..~ 

When a neighbourhood BBQ or a gathering of friends and family, usually meant, we could be out playing in the street lights, with the hustle of dancing, by parents, with neighbours, friends, sisters.  

The spirit of the moment
Where being together was the most important event of the day.  Often happening.  Looking back I never thought we took anything for granted.

A harmony of spirit
A collection of the brave, who faced challenges but never beating down us.  We were outside, we celebrated summer like a gift that would never be returned.  Because it was the thought, the caring, that was the biggest present of all.  

The expectation of a gathering
was never far, always dear.  Not unusual.  Often ever near.  After church, long weekends, or simply a mere assembly of those that live near.  

Hats and gloves
I would squirm through just to return to those bygone days.  Take the time to embrace it.  Hold it even more dear.  

A one day and only day
You never really knew.  Until you grew older, the magic that you lived through.  Blessed and remarkable, even though challenges were plowed through.

Creating a memory
that you would love to return to.  Accompanied by your children and loved ones to know what you knew.  Experience the wonder of feeling special to tip toe the tulips of time.

"Simplicity is never simple." 

~Jeannette Marshall

Two Cheery Cherries by Andes Design #bestofeverything 

"Cream always rise to the surface. 

 Except cherries, 

of course." 

Jeannette Marshall #quote

 ~..~ 

Drifting away :: imagination information innovation inspiration

Let me know if you're the artist and I'll link your site here ::) 

Why log on
Or why not is more like it.  The world is becoming two sides no matter how you look at it:

* white or colored
* black or white
* christian versus islam, or vice versa
* the east and the west (unlike Game of Thrones slant 
       that it's a conflict between the North :: soon to be 
       South)
* in any category, there is an either or an or that also 
       applies
           * the good and the bad
           * the kind and the evil

* you're either home or at work
           * which one defines you

* you're either goofing off or getting things done
            * which one defines you
            * which one do you lean towards

I love this site
This site is magnificent.  It has a lot going on.  It responded to my query with this incredible escape.  Why so fantastic.  Well, firstly it was all in the name

Trendy
You can't even determine what's trendy unless you are on the pulse.  These tricksters are sending a beat out to the ones, regardless of age, what to be considered the hipsters not the hippies.  Where a gang of like minded gravitate toward it and bounce back to their following.  The site probably has what is the definition of the

Hipsters
Depending on what era you're from, you're like a crew out of 
* Happy Days :: a show that is fun, light-hearted and Family Approved, or First Date Recommended.  
* 90210 :: I really never watched it.  I don't even think I've really thought about it.  This show was really explosive around GENxers.  The first bubble of hipsters.  Hipsters times a poof of popularity.

Believable
That's why some shows or movies really resonate among us.  Who do you think should be considered the #bestofeverything most popular?  Well if it is not filtered paid for media, what else can be the voice but a hashtage of merit #bestofeverything :: to be tapped on a clicked out :: setting the benchmarks by the people.

#bestofeverything
Is a pulse, whether echoing or with force.  Triumph over paid media.  Hahahaha where the Neilson's Ratings become instinct?  

Why not?
The best example in humbleness was a young lobby barman/server at the Hilton's Lobby Bar named Oscar.  I will have to scrounge around and see if I have any pictures of him.

The problem with pictures
I find it really difficult to attribute | credit | most if not all of them.  The artists, whether by stroke of a brush or click of a photo.  They deserve to be 



Noted
For their brilliant vision :: captured.  Spurning the vibration across all nations.  

The creators
Who are the creators, innovators, imagineers, informative, inspirations?  The are the instigators.  Of an idea, a positive movement.  To outcast the evil to ban it from our world.

The ones who are digital orators
You know it is really tempting to want to approach a publishing machine like The New Yorker to give a Canadian viewpoint of the great metropolitan center of the universe.  It used to be The London Post wasn't it that used to define London, England and now called the UK?

Why for?
I mean seriously.  They take my content (after a bazillion attempts) and completely implode it across the universe.  To be translated.

Nobody thinks like me
At least I haven't found any.  Sure I know of quite a few I would absolutely look up to.  They could be even contributors in the expression that envelopes me so closely, then sends it out like shooting stars across the universe.

#bestofeverything
Was hatched here on this blog.  Date stamped if you will.  With multiple references on the seeds that were sprinkled around the best social media giants glued on two, allowing it to rise even more as an upside down pyramid.  Only the best float to the bottom because only the very best of #everything had to start at the bottom at some point.

Reminisce
The first published site(s) for the #bestofeverything was under the author, Jeannette Marshall.  Creating a link back back back back.  Hoping for a demand for a spot on that ever-present voice.  What are folks doing, how are they using such a powerful tool like #bestofeverything :: racism, violent tendencies, mean vibes, bullies, cheaters, haters :: are kept between those two sets of dots.  Never permitted to escape, confined by the borders.  So that only truly great stuff emerges at the top of the pyramid upside down.

A release
This blog has given me such a release on ideas, creativity, imagineering like a puff of misty dust.  A writing language often experimented with.   Forming foundations for ideas like #bestofeverything :: which will be the main #hashtag that will define everything. 

For sale
From the beginning the soul purpose of creating #bestofeverything I kept returning to the dream of just writing.  Helping people.  Making them more fashionable, respectful, creative souls.

A matter of commerce
Taking it to be a major brand.  Nothing skewed.  No recounts.  The social media brands will shout the statistics :: what is the 

* best brand 
           * where the best things are branded by the                              people

We know about the left and the right #brain but this explains/shows example. #bestofeverything 

Welcome 
if this is your first visit to my brain implosion.  Where nothing is kept in and the more I exercise it, the more it allows to filter in. 

The new Hipsters
Recognizing something neat or instinctively thinking it will go to the stratosphere.  Assemble, follow each other and beginning #bestofeverything in only positive observance.  

The uncommon
Where the unknown or unaware had not hit a radar.
The blast they creating by their repetition of that hashtag.  To be officially credited by stats on where the viewers are i.e. The United States being 80%.

Top 20 percent
Earn the recognition for 80 percent of making our world a better place, solving a great problem, like global warming.  The top 20 percent of anything great, nice, kind, creative where :: violence, hatred, radicalism, racist, corrupt unhealthy :: stay outside the confines of this trend.  Where the super Socialmediameisters like Google, Twitter, Facebook stand against the other traditional media brands liked

* Magazines (established first in print and not online) which exclude Socialmediameisters who they follow.

* Radio going from station signal to digital access driving listeners to traffic to their site where they are still, but more subtly now, attracting very instinctive and savvy advertisers.  

*Buyers so focussed on the bottom line without creating masterpiece marketing success.  They will have website stats, from the start, like me.  To the finishers who set the high bar as the great :: as in MASHABLE.  

Mashable
Just pow!  (What was that movie or TV show that used that term? SNL perhaps.)  But that is what and how Mashable makes me feel.  They are so intune with the nuances of my moods, curiosities, and unfound treasures amongst the noise of constant chatter.

A one woman show
Well, this my honeys, is a one lady goal.  To be full of optimism as I face challenges of growing older.  Wanting to fight it with a awesome attitude, gregarious personality that is turned to low audio compared to this voice I get to show.

Who can question
Whether she is right or wrong.  Well you can't.  Because you see.  We are a one person opinion.

An open opinion
Used faithfully, positively and openly to look at the bright side of most everything.  Turning the knob face down at anything negative :: abuse, bias, hatred, rants :: are kept aside.

Strength in number
Firmly, optimistically am convinced will unfold.  I mean, really.  Do you want to only hear about things that are geared towards your explosive in numbers Millennials to drown you out?  

A meeting of minds
Where the need for optimism matters.  For with optimism drives making our world a better place.  Not any borders.  No areas to :: discriminate, violate ::  human rights take command.

Where the artistic or creative
Assemble when they see themselves or their mentor rise to the top.  Because their image, cartoon, art, photograph, illustration, musical will be celebrated.  The rise to the top determined by #bestofeverything

People will speak
Where only the people who are beyond the :: bracketed :: words will join.  Give opinions.  I'm just the narrator, instigator, navigator, orator, communicator for everyone agreeing on who they really think is

#bestofeverything
As the originator, proven by datestamp originated in this blog.  Only the best in categories I can extrapolate, eventually with the help of the social media platform, springboard to real information on what matters.  Because if you ban those :: bracketed :: words.  Then only the very best can float to the bottom, peacefully.  Focus on keeping that up in both your life and your work.

A prediction 
I made a year ago.  A blog on how I was going to be able to predict the next groovy trend, whether it be by fashion or beauty or smarts.  A little sophisticated in the approach.

Released
No creative imagination parts were ever left off nor unexplored.  Just scan across your information zone on here.  But you can certainly can establish it on here and then I'll ReTweet, Post and share.  

At the top of what's trending
Or maybe at the bottom with the seed being scattered.  To folks that are the Hipsters.

* THANK YOU IF YOU SHARE :: Tweet, Like, Post, Pin, + let me know if I missed your point of view because as far as I'm concerned @Vine hasn't made it on the register of the great innovators

* LINKED IN 
was my first approach to socializing through media more like wirelined and now wireless. I rarely admit this but years ago, like 10, I had hit on Yahoo chatting.  It must have been the infancy of professional bloggers abound.  We could chat, emote through typed word, and it was not refining egos but defining quality.  

Survival of the fittest
That's what life's all about.  The survivors, the champions, the leaders, the gifted, the talented, the musical, the creative mingle.  Inspiring, constructively criticing each other, push the other to move higher.  

Egotists
Will continue upwards, as my described upside down pyramid.  Floating before dispersing after their mad energy to stay at the top, exhausted the natural talent and burnt out the best.  Those that worship what others think are the egotists.

Emoters
The strongest philosophies will traverse across written spheres, mostly on computers, rarely on television unless a savvy Millennial producer catches the positive vibe surfing across the waves, both wired and wireless.  

Captured
Where comments will be where the commentary is gathered, willingly while captured by the creativity and fellowship that spreads farther and father.  To drown out the fear mongers, violators, terrorists to a faint whisper.

Resonation Nation
Is established its home on this blog.  Because that is the only banner over our heads, faceless, only identified by its shear exuberant positiveness.

Thank you for visiting again.  You thought I forgot you?  Heck, golly, jeepers be gone.  That idea.  No.  A special shout out to the earliest readers.  Then there are the sharers.  Maybe once in a very long while.  I know there are only a few who read this.  

My mother
Marie probably reads this.  At 81, she has to do click exercises and since she can always nag me, reads this. I'd love to be a fly on the wall if we could do a seniors jinx trick, capture it on video and make it go viral under #bestofeverything :: where people share their greatest stories.  

Y'all comment
My favorite champion I've ever met was my "sister from another mother" down in the US who did our introductions to the tools at HP.  Training?  You can't be serious.  Only the smartest assemble to say that they have worked or work at the greatest corporation of all time:  HP.  

Theatrics
Became more of the norm at HP.  It completed moved the spindle from one side to the left.  As in the creative side set aside for the more practical.  Showing you that only the best, most enduring and endearing companies are those ones that had a lot of moving parts in our world :: think Disney and that Graphic Interface fueled completely by the strength of HP.  When fools that think stock price is more important than human innovation :: be gone.

BIGGEST SHOUT OUT TO DONNA IN MARYLAND with LOVE and AFFECTION #RT #bestofeverything
Your CANADIAN Ginny Pig.
Or is that spelt Ginnie Pig?  Help!  Ah, thank you Chrome spell check.  How do you do that?