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 :: ...........

I'm a "10" for sure!

Yayyyyyy I am a 10!  I reached the milestone of 55 on April 18th and in looking at the cup half full, I recognized that I'm finally a 10.  In 1979, the movie "10" starring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore and hit the big screen, and forever after gals wanted to be scored a ten in looks.  

I may be taking liberties with my own definition of being a ten (55 years old:: 5+5=10) but there is so much to be thankful for, I reckoned why not.  My personal benchmark may be different than others, yet they are mine alone:

1. I'm happily married to a wonderful man who to this day makes me appreciate him and the life we have formed together.
2. Through blending our family, we have four awesome kids aged 21, 23, 25 and 27 where the eldest, Kyle, has been working at the same corporation for 8 years, Des is solid in her career and engaged to be married this year, Chantal is finishing up her 2nd year of university and Kelsey is off to make her fortune in Vancouver with a great job in a law firm and with the man of her dreams.
3. Ones own happiness is often defined through motherhood and my kids are happy, healthy and really great people.
4. I am working for an excellent Canadian corporation that sets the bar in many ways.
5. I have discovered my love of writing and blog as often as I can.
6. I have found balance with work, life and love.
7. I am a fashion forward fashionista where even the young gals where I work often comment on my ensembles.
8. I have my mom who is 81 years old and still there for me with love, support and an example of how healthy living can carry you to a longer life still able to travel, dance and be true to herself.
9. I have a beautiful home which I am continually redecorating and improving.
10. I have an adorable pet dog named Buddy who makes my day every day.

I guess those are pretty basic to most.  Yet, we should stop every once and a while and just appreciate what we have to be thankful for and give gratitude to those who make our lives meaningful.  I am lucky to have a few great friends whom I've known for years and years.  

Aging is all about continual improvement, seeking more knowledge, being satisfied with what we have while still stretching ourselves towards new goals.  

Material things and money are easy targets for setting goals, however, the simpler things are sometimes harder to appreciate.  Certainly, when I was in my 20s, my list was fairly long.  I've experienced great success, great disappointments, periods of sadness or melancholy, and times of money.  

At the end of the day, what makes me the most content are:

•  spending time with my kids, family dinners and playing games like "Heads Up" or having a backyard fire pit just hanging out and talking.
• sharing time with my best friend and her husband whom Rob and I really enjoy hanging out with.
• talking on the phone with my mom or sister, to discover the quick hello evolved into an hour.
• my youngest daughter calls me almost every day from Vancouver, although I miss her tremendously, I love talking with her on her updates, news, happiness.
• my stepdaughter, her fiance and my son drop in often just for a visit and sometimes a sleep over.
• My older brother Greg and I get to go have dinner when he is in Calgary on visit.
• My sister and I have been on vacations together to Mexico three times and there are wonderful memories that I would like to add to by going again.
• My husband and I have been able to travel on tropical vacations, we like just going for drives in the beautiful country surrounding us, meandering through garage sales, or me just sitting on the driveway soaking up the sun while he putters around on our "Getaway Car".
• While so many are unemployed, I have a job with a great company and have learned that my job title no longer defines me.
• I have Buddy to take me on walks with, snuggle up with and who protects me faithfully.
• We have a beautiful home that can accommodate our kids and their friends, hosting get togethers and celebrations.
• I love working on my garden and transforming it year after year into a haven of beauty to be enjoyed not only by us but those who walk back the green belt pathway that goes along our back yard.

Sure, I wouldn't be me without some things we call bucket list as we grow older, transformed from goals:

• a dream job doing marketing or maybe even dabbling in sales again
• my writing starts to generate an income, for the extras in life we want:: travel first and foremost
• I'd love it if my writing were to evolve more into reviewing items geared towards the female 50s crowd, with samples arriving from Brands who value my opinion and a following that trusts it.
• My mom and sister are always telling me to write a book.  Humbly, I think everyone wants to write a book or thinks they can.  To be any better would be egotistical.  I recognize one just has to "do it".
• I'd love a chance to go with Rob to Seattle to watch a Seattle Sea Hawks football game.  So strange for a Canadian hockey fan to put an NFL game on her list ... eh?
• It would be fun to be invited to help decorate a show home or a room to stretch the imagination and challenge myself.
• See if my painting hobby of re-purposed objects could actually be sold as art :: more designed for the garden.
• Maybe get a second dog, smaller, for a companion for Buddy, like our teacup poodle Coco was before she passed on at 13 years old and who will trot after me as I putter in the garden (Buddy is too busy running around and playing bodyguard to follow me).

It is safe to say I am able to stop and be grateful for what I have and yet energetic enough to want to stretch farther and reach higher.  I am content for the most part yet still have a restlessness to want to do more.  The next decade is going to be interesting to see what unfolds.

The one that got away ....

I was having this conversation with my sister the other day.  Heaven help me if I even remember what our train of thought may have been... do you have a sister that you really relate to even though your worlds may seem so far apart?  

                 STOP and have a listen, or play while you read on through 

My sister is as opposite of me as the world could even imagine:

• she was born in the autumn and I in the Spring
• we saw our growing up differently: she full of pain; me full of belief
• while I can come across gregarious she could come across as calm and reasoning
• our relationships, kids, friends are friends of each other too - they find it easier to like the other
• you enjoy shopping together and would never imagine skydiving - although one would have if she thought about it while the other wouldn't have dared (me).
• you both reach for the same things even if our home, our taste, would seemingly be different

Sidetracked again.  Apologies ... then what the heck do you expect of me by now?   It appears as though I have writing AHSD.  Thank goodness not in real life:  I can be excruciatingly organized and detailed while consciously trying not to be so the opposite is perceived.

This is what the conversation was about: the one that got away.  How bizarre eh?

Two sisters of 18 months apart in their fifties having an absurd reminiscence.  Opposite memories, no doubt.  She talked and I listened for a change.  Yeh, not a regular occurrence by any means.

My conscious memory a week later pops this into my head as I'm driving home.  I know I listened carefully.  I am really trying to be a better listener, which is not a natural state.  

She talked about this boy that she really liked when she had run away from home.  As much as she seemed like a radical from candy-coated pink 15-year-old eyes, I seem more like a rebel now that I've hit my 50s.

The memory went on in the manner that this sort does:  what would have or could have happened if she had not broken his heart and stayed with him.  

Astonishing!  The responsible, loving, caring mother, daughter, sister or aunt, was actually rewinding life to check back and check in to what she thought she'd be doing once she hit her 50s.  

STOP and have a listen, or play while you read on through 

So many wondrous movies are about going back in time, less about heading into the future.  It must be a creative dream, to take a situation and from the current state, to what had happened, and how things may have gone differently.  I now realize that the surprise in store for the reader or viewer, is will the hero or heroine return to the current state much differently or very much the same with differences.

That is such  a creative morsel of temptation.  Take a situation or moment in your life, and fast rewind and slowly play forward.  Taking the audience on a ride that even you may not predict.  Will you return differently or much the same with differences ...

What do I mean?  My sister  ... was doing that in a sense.  She was wondering if she had stayed with that very nice boy, not broken his heart, and stayed together.  She wasn't evaluating it, nor was she suggesting that she was disatisfied with how things turned out.

 It was a simple, honest meandering .... My sister  was highlighting what we go through when we hit or 40s and 50s.  We really aren't all that different than we were in our teens.  The ride we'd be on at the time would result in whether we are currently on the ride of our lives, or too conservative.  Or, some of us would recall that maybe they could have been a little bit braver or self-confident at our teens.  Others of us blossom as life and the years make us milder, more content.  While others of us become restless and want to step out.

What would your comfort zone and would you have done things differently then and end up different somehow? 

I am torn between staying the same or being more carefree.  How does one's homelife be the same and yet be reacted far apart?  

I couldn't have imagined things getting any worse so I would madly try to be an over-achiever.  Perhaps some experts would say that was because I was a fighter and did whatever it would take to have a life that would erase anything.  My sister may say that she was acting it out.  

Deal with it now is what most would applaud.  Get it out of your system so you can grow up and get on with life.  In a measured, grounded, spiritual way.  

If you bottle it up you may never know when it will sprout. Maybe that is what they mean by mid-life crisis?  When it hits or skips over anyone, would be a multi-zillion market.  

Many marketers, services or products  are divided into two groups:

ONE:  Going through mid-life crisis.

TWO:  Not.

Are you meandering about the one who got away?  Examine whether you think things would have turned out differently, or would have it made a difference.

Create a balance between the two:  Don't pine for what may have been.  Instead, create the life now that would be a different you .... or the same you with a little change.

Now this is how I really feel: