I've been slowly reconfiguring and reimagining our formal living room into an art space for the entire family. It's always had oversized, comfortable couches and a warm floor-to-ceiling window. It now has a piano, and our children's craft table, and my office armoire. Courtesy of Amazon, a wall hook arrived yesterday so that my husband's guitar can adorn the wall.

When I want to dream or write or clear my head, I find myself gravitating to this room. It's free of children's toys, dirty dishes, and unfolded laundry.

And I believe the intentionality of creating a space for a particular purpose has encouraged me to USE it for a particular purpose. My oldest, M, while practicing a new song on the piano, turned to me and said, "Mommy, I just love this room." I nodded in agreement.

With the neverending winter we've experienced in the Midwest, the art room has become my cozy haven. In warm weather, I typically perch myself on our back deck, underneath the blue umbrella that matches the skies I adore.

I've been reading more and more from the writers and bloggers I love, and I keep hearing them tell me to   find a space to create (or make a space where I can create). For some, it's been a local coffee shop or a library. For others, it's a park or their studio/office space at home.

So let's chat it up. Where is your inspiration spot? And if you need one, what must this space have to allow you the freedom to embrace fresh ideas?

XOXO, MJ

 PS. Wanna see my gatherings for a great office space? Check this board.

Did you know that New York Fashion Week is happening as we speak? I would know nothing about this grand happening if it weren't for my dedication to the reality show, Project Runway. Since I began blogging a few months ago, I've found new fashion blogs and bloggers that know how to put together amazing styles. Many of those bloggers are in the prime seats this week in NYC.

I'm following Erin from Apartment 34 on Instagram (you should see the shots she's getting), and I have the inside track on great shows thanks to my buddy, Paige, who is making dreams come true with her own tour of fashion week. Thanks to one of Paige's sponsors, the Moxy Ox, the rest of us can have a free lookbook of Paige's photographs from the shows. Check out that happy link to see how to get yours.

I've been thinking a lot about Paige's journey from Northwest Arkansas to the Big Apple... and thinking about my own dreams for this blog and my career and my family.

Sometimes those big hurdles in front of us can be knocked over by own gust of wind.

Sometimes the giant dream you thought would never come to fruition comes packaged as your own determination.

Sometimes you don't even realize how tall you are until you're in over your head.

Feeling like this today. Thanks T.S. for the great articulation.

XOXO, MJ

I woke up yesterday singing the Electric Slide. What on earth was I dreaming about the night before?

I've been thinking about dreams quite a bit lately. Not really the kind that have you gliding to silly group dance songs, but more those that ignite the engines and cause real change.

My children are really inquisitive, downright nosey, (where did they get that from, seriously? :) ), and M has taken note that I've been toting around a little blue journal lately with one word on the cover - dream. "What's that for, Mommy?" Excited me, hoping to give a meaningful mom response: "It's a notebook I keep with me to capture all my great ideas before I lose them." M: "Yeah, you do forget a lot." She's always honest.

In my life I've been a journal person and then not a journal person and then back to one again.

Sometimes I expect my journals to be sketchbooks, well designed and interesting to the eye.

I allowed myself to choose only from the dollar bins at the art store because I didn't want the kind of journal that looks pretty with a layer of dust. My dream journal is low stakes. So far it's captured books to read, lists of blog ideas, projects I want to take on, and little inspires. I've given myself permission to let it look uninteresting to the unsuspecting onlooker.

But for you, dear reader, here are two memorables that made it into the pages this week.
Thoreau is so good.
And another that I'm blowing your way on a great dandelion fluff...

I will not die an unlived life. 

I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. 

I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.
-Dawna Markova

Happy Tuesday, friends! Are you catching your great ideas? You have so many - I promise - don't let them pass you by. 

Meet 'ya back here tomorrow. Thanks for coming over!

XOXO, MJ