Month: November 2016

Along The Way… Surprise! Another Castle!

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HilaryStyle No matter how much time we allow in a given place we always seem to run out and it was no different when we visited the Scottish Highlands, for the second time! I hope we will find our way back someday as we barely scratched the surface.  However, places to go and things to see… Scotland’s Flower The Thistle Blair Castle – Blair Atholl 126 KM from Inverness and exactly halfway to Edinburgh Driving along in what seemed like the middle of nowhere Scotland we came across what looked like a shopping mall. It was called the House of Bruar and it turned out to be just that! This seemed like a great place to get out, stretch our legs, and have a meal. Upon further inspection we discovered a really nice self-service restaurant, food markets, flower stalls, house wares, clothing and more! As we were leaving we noticed a sign for Blair Castle View original post 225 more words

How to be a Marginally Successful Freelance Writer

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Whilst we all know freelance writers exist, becoming one sounds almost impossible. Surely being paid to work from home, never having to get out of your pajamas and effectively being able to stay in bed all day is too good to be true? Note: This article refers to non-fiction writing and is for people who want to be professional journalists, bloggers etc. Fiction writing is probably similar and some of these tips will still apply, but if fiction is your thing you will have a slightly different process. This also refers quite exclusively to online writing, journalism, blogging etc. My office The bad news Becoming an online freelance writer is easier than you think, but if you’re expecting immediate riches (or any substantial money at all for the first few months) then you’ll be disappointed. Unless you are very, very lucky you won’t instantly become a respected writer for a well-known website. Don’t expect regular wages When you do start getting paid (and you will if you keep at it) it won’t be a substantial …

Salute to Pregnant Working Ladies Out there

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Originally posted on MiddleMe:
As I waddle my way into the third trimester, I really wish I can give each and every pregnant career woman a huge hug! Not that if you are pregnant and not working, you are not as important but I’m amazed how someone can be miraculously creating a baby inside her, wakes up at 6 or 7am in the morning, be immaculately dressed and dolled up, be in office on time, participants endless boring meetings and still make it home in one piece after an hour commute in the subway, under the jostling of tired folks in suits. That is one amazing feat! Not to mention if she has more than one child, she still has to juggle another hyperactive toddler while trying to put dinner together and clean up last night’s dinner. I wake up every day at 8am, sorry to correct that, I rolled off the bed at 8am in the morning to prep for breakfast for my family otherwise, I’ll get hell (of meows) from my cats. Then…

The Renaissances

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Luke Atkins The Renaissance drenched the roots of a dull Feudal Europe with magic and let it blossom into the most beautiful flower Earth had ever seen. It was man’s Yellowstone, a colossal cultural explosion that stormed the lands for thousands of miles. It catapulted art, science, literature, architecture, and philosophy far beyond their perceived boundaries. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael—three dynamic polymaths whose aggregated effect on mankind boils every century—fought to be the most perfect genius ever. Machiavelli and Thomas More resurrected Greek Thinkers, using their ideas to critique present governments. Intellectuals gradually composed modern science. Accounting was invented, and knowledge-based economics flourished. Brunelleschi—another of the many polymaths—created his Duomo. Columbus sailed West. Education poured into the masses. The Gutenberg Press started mass communication, AKA what I do.The Renaissance has stirred the world in every second of the last 600 years—especially throughout 2016. Pictured at Kauai’s northern tip, I have really soaked up… View original post 333 more words

Book Review: Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie.

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It didn’t take me too long to finish reading this strange and whimsical book here but while reading it, it did feel like it took me forever. I’m not sure if it was a psychological issue, since the title itself is all about time. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights by bestselling author, Salman Rushdie, is about the unique relationship between a female jinn, Dunia, and a human male, a philosopher by the name of Ibn Rushd, which spanned centuries, and the brood they created came into existence with a special soul. They were as normal as you and me, holding down a job, gardening, owning a home and driving a car. They were as normal as the other human beings in the story. The only difference was their inner possession of a super power and the levitation that caused an uproar among their own kind. The book wasn’t all about Dunia and Ibn Rushd, though. It was also about the rest of the jinns and jinnias in the fairy world. I was amazed that my …

Willow Gathering: The Southern Retreat

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A few days ago, before the air became too cold and the wind to fast, we gathered in a garden for a day-long Creative Retreat.   I had the honor of co-hosting this beautiful Willow Gathering event with my studio-mate, Julie Dodds (a super talented floral designer and travel enthusiast). Our vision for this retreat (and every other retreat or workshop we host) is to create an environment that is restful and nourishing; full of nature, art, peace, and time to rejuvenate. Something intangible and transformative happens when you allow your mind a moment of space to create – and the freedom to try something new.  With that quiet goal tucked in our minds, we spent the day learning new artistic kills, lingering over a French-inspired handmade-dinner, and enjoying refreshing drinks and each other’s company as the light faded over the garden and the warm bonfire took its place. ? During the afternoon Julie taught a workshop of floral arranging with a natural, modern aesthetic and I offered instruction in watercolor painting; merging art and nature within monochromatic organic paintings. The comradery…

Why I Must be a Better Citizen

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Originally posted on Travel Bugg :
? It happened. The thing we all laughed about, but no one took seriously. The thing that was too tinted by a surreal, orange haze to be considered a true threat. We elected a candidate whose rhetoric is openly misogynistic, racist and xenophobic, who is largely unfit to be president. What were we thinking? This isn’t the America we all know and love. Except it is. The current rhetoric is not new. It is not special to this election and it negatively affects millions of neighbors around the world in their day-to-day lives. We are all joking about moving to Canada to sing kumbaya with Justin Trudeau and the mounties, but the thing is, we can make those jokes. In most parts of the world, if your leader sucks, you can’t just leave. You don’t have a universal passport to get you to a safer, less stressful place. You have to go through miles of desert or years of legal paperwork. You have to get on an overcrowded boat, even…