MomSpace Tending to Details Forum

Please visit www.momspace.com, a fabulous website and magazine for moms that I contribute to regularly. Click on Forums and search for Tending to Details. A newly created forum for Equilibrium Design was designed so that I can answer questions, offer solutions and share details with MomSpace readers and friends of EDC. Visit often where you might find some ideas of interest to inspire, or maybe win a contest! Right now if your submission is selected you can win a 30 minute consultation on a design and style topic of your choosing! Good luck! And thanks for reading! Miriam

Do you Facebook?

I have a love/hate relationship with my Facebook. How 'bout you? While I was initially introduced to it by a contemporary I thought it was merely for college kids and I was not about to entangle myself in their world trying to reclaim my youth. So I resisted. Then my teenager signed on. Hum, should I be "checking in" on him? Then more and more invitations were coming through my email account. I was spending so much time ignoring friends...wasn't this rude of me...that I thought, maybe this would be a useful networking tool for my business. I'm seeing more and more websites with those cute little blue and white "f" icons all over the place. Maybe I should give it a try? I was surprised how simple it was to create my Facebook page. Once the pertinent information was plugged in faces and names were popping up from all over! My life came flooding back in a rush of nostalgia. Friendships permeated my wall from as far back as third grade when I lived in Raleigh, five states away! How can this be? But this is supposed to be about my work, right? I found myself accepting friendships, writing notes and catching up with people I'd lost touch with and had been searching for for years. An old sorority sister, a dear friend from the ballet company. It's amazing! I'm sure most of you reading this now went through the same nostalgic journey as I when you started Facebooking. My problem is I can't stay away; thus the addictive nickname that arose referring to Facebook as "crackbook"! I want to talk to everyone! But how much do I say? How often do I post an update? Do I talk wall-to-wall or inbox? Should I say this or that or will someone read it and think I'm responding to their plight? Will I injure egos? Will I be entertaining? Should I care? My Mom Facebooks; I love it! It's comforting to know where she is and how she's doing when she's on her usual road trip. One of the drawbacks on the walls of Facebook is that people do feel free to comment openingly thinking nobody is looking. Au contraire, everyone is looking and then some, due to the "and so on, and so on, and so on", feature it enables to occur. As a plus, this feature usually enables a conversation to flow between many people who only know each other through a Six Degrees of Separation Group experiment or such. How interesting and fun to receive helpful tips on a perplexing issue when you can reach out in this manner. Facebook has connected me with friends I haven't seen in decades, people that were a big part of my life in some way years ago; old friends from childhood and cousins I missed having in my life when we moved North. Not to mention High School and College friends that slowly faded from my radar as much as we swore to each other we'd never let this happen. I think Facebook is brilliant. I am so grateful to have it in my life and I am going to continue to visit often. I don't care if people think I'm too chatty as my face pops up again and again attached to my little quips. I want my friends to know that I think of them often, value their friendship and always have. Friends are the spice of life! And now that life has gotten to a frantic pace, I'm so glad that I can share a piece of it with them, even if it is only in cyberspace here and there! If you haven't joined, I suggest you give it a try, but be prepared for your own personal blast from the past! Thanks for reading! Miriam

Mother's Theresa' Inspiration for All

A friend of mine shared this inspiration with me a while back. I know I've layed eyes on it before but it has never resonated with me quite as much as it did this time around. The verse, originally penned by Dr. Kent M. Keith, is titled "The Paradoxical Commandments". Mother Theresa's adaptation was found written on the wall in her home for children in Calcutta. She was an amazing and saintly woman that I was in awe of as I watched her selflessly work for her God and all people. I feel good sharing this with you as I believe it to be a perfect starting point for my journey forward and something my children should learn to understand early. It's taped to my kitchen cabinet and maybe you'd like to do the same. Enjoy and be inspired! The Paradoxical Commandments-Mother Theresa "People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfathful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could detroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway." Thanks for reading! Miriam

Be the best YOU you can be!

Be the best YOU you can be! Present the best you in all ways. How do we accomplish this, you ask? Many times we are rushed, we are stressed, we are tired or sick; the moon is full, the kids are angst-ridden. However, when all is parallel with the universe we can strive to be present in who we are. I was working on this task the other day, actually. With a birthday around the corner I was reassessing who it is that I want to put out there to the world. There are many versions of myself; the friend, the sister, the mother, the volunteer, the business owner. I realized that the image I had in my mind of myself was evolving as I strolled through the aisles of the department store at the mall. I think my inner eye sees a new woman with the arrival of a new decade. Ten years ago I was in a different place and the persona I was visualizing and projecting was a different woman; a younger woman. I am looking ahead to a more refined, mature image for myself without losing my jois de vivre, of course! This concept can be found to be true in every aspect of our lives; as in the business person we choose to project at our jobs; as in the homes we create and how we'd like people to feel while visiting there; as In the parents we choose to be; layed back, helicopter, best buddies, disciplinarians. Most of us do tend to fluctuate between many different versions of ourselves probably in all areas of our lives. Our moods dictate. The company we keep dictates and the phase of our lives dictates. Not to say we should be fickle but I guess what I'm trying to say is that somewhere in there is an ever changing, evolving person who usually needs some grooming and fine tuning as life changes occur. Being flexible is always key in all aspects of life experiences but a rooted identity in who we are, what we represent and how we choose to live our lives day to day should be a solid core that keeps us respectable. Take some time to discover who you put out there to the world. Would you choose yourself as a friend if you were meeting "you" for the first time? Do you act, dress and behave in a manner reflective of your responsibilities, position in your family or business? Do you need some fine tuning? Don't we all? Start on the inside and work out. From words spoken (I mess up here all the time!) to the clothes we wear, speaks volumes as a first impression and there does come a time when less is more. Although now that I've found my "voice" I really feel pretty darn confident that I'm entitled to speak it after decades of feeling stifled by fear, lack of confidence or good ole' southern manners. Manners are important, don't get me wrong! I'm working to strike a balance with the next half century and I'm giving myself permission to refine my entire being and will enjoy the process. So, back to the mall I go; I think I need a new LBD for the new, matured me! Thanks for reading! Miriam

Let's Hit the Mall....Denim Fever

The kids got back on the bus last week for yet another year of books and learnin'. The weather is still delightful but along with the sounds of the bus braking at the corner I get a sense of the pending weather change. My mind turns to the mall and shopping for some new duds! What connotes a relaxed and stressfree attitude more than some new denim for fall! Everyone loves denim. I've been a jeans gal all my life. I was built for them before they were $200 a pair custom designer duds. I was a Levis girl and today I'm an almost anything goes girl! Still love my jeans! While visiting the website of one of my favorite magazines not long ago, www.more.com, I found a great article chock full of ideas that I thought I'd pass along to you. It pertains to just this little fall project, denim shopping. There were many wonderful options for women, specifically selected for forty plus. Now, if you're not yet there, that's ok, these styles are not your grammies jeans; no offense to mailorder. These styles are to die for!My favs have to be one pair that I already own, the J. Crew Boyfriends @ $108! So comfy and cool looking. CJ by Cookie Johnson at $196 are cropped and cuffed for dressing up or down and terrific for right now. For some bargains you can't ignore in your wardrobe Old Navy offers quite a selection this fall, as does Gap, in every cut and style you can imagine. Featured in this layout were a pair of Old Navy drawstring. A little too retro for you? That's ok, but I think everyone needs one pair of "let it be" jeans for those particular days when you just can't bear to be all tucked in! Let's face it we all have them. We will at times become victims to fashion instead of succumbing to comfort. These are for those days when we just can't any longer...and so cool! Gap's Boyfriend jeans will do the same thing; relaxed, slouchy but a little more definition. I own both! Tory Burch offers a really sharp pair of wide legs for dressing it up with platform pumps and probably would meet the requirements of Friday dressdown to after hour work days. So chic! Of course, there's always the trendsetters such as David Kahn, Paige Premium Denim, 7 for All Mankind, Rock n' Republic and the like. Joe Jeans have a style and shape to fit every figure with cute sassy monikers and you can't go wrong with Not Your Mother's Jeans if you happen to be trying to widen the gap between your closet and your teenagers'! So happy shopping; just remember to take a couple things with you, a good attitude and a large bottle of water, jean shopping is a marathon when you have such vast selections! Thanks for reading! Miriam

Please vote for EDC on Divine Caroline!

Hi Friends of EDC! Thank you for visiting here at my blog, my little part of the cyberworld...and thank you for reading! I hope that what inspires me inspires you too! I am also hoping that you like what you read and that you will vote for my website, Equilibrium Design and Consulting, and this blog, for the 2009 DivineCaroline Love This Site Award. Please click on the Badge for Divine Caroline to the left and vote often! Or visit the site, vote and read about many other sites and stories! Contest ends December 4th! Thank you for helping me put my business and my thoughts out there, I love what I do! Creatively yours, Miriam

How I Got Beyond the Rain

Well, we set out once more for a last hurrah a week or so ago, a nice quiet relaxing week at the beach with family and some friends; something we always look forward to; the familiar, the rest, the reconnections. We usually want the beach experience to be perfection because if it's not, what else is there to do! I do not go to the beach to watch Netflix! Well, what happens when it's not perfection? Can we easily put aside any disruptions and missteps in our plans? Sometimes I do better than other times. I think I have finally learned to put the fluctuating weather patterns in someone else's hands, as much as I love the warmth and sunshine. I no longer look ahead to our destination for weather because there is not a darned thing I can do to change it. I pack accordingly, for all elements and hope for the best climate the surroundings can offer us on our journey. If I anticipate disaster, does it help me to accept it better? Not really! So, while I might whisper my little "come on sunshine" mantra at the start of our week, I let it be. Then I can be oh so pleased when it's a perfect sunkissed day. This said you'd think, well, what else is there then? How about Hurricane Bill with it's whipping winds and rain, two guests who had to cancel visits after I had shopped accordingly, being covered in a horrible case of poison ivy, among only a couple of unexpected setbacks. When things like this occur I try to run a loop of that sometimes annoying little jingle from Monty Python that John DiBella has adapted as his mantra, "Always look on the bright side of life!" Ba....humbug, I say. But really, once the storm passed, so to speak, I had adjusted to the demands made on me and my family due to weather, sickness, cancellations and it really wasn't that bad. After I was once again feeling more like myself after being loaded up with heavy medications, creams and potions, I was able to get over that hump in the road and the sun did shine. Beautifully! The best of the best was a phone call from a friend back home that let us know things would move ahead in a positive way! My youngest, for his last year in elementary school, got the teacher of his dreams! Nothing can spoil that! We will return home and life will be good, rain, shine, broken bones and all! Thanks for reading! Miriam