All posts filed under: inspiration

Online Reads Worth A Click With A Good Cup of Coffee

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It’s been raining here in San Francisco, and I have to say I couldn’t be happier. Finally, we see lushness, and freshness to everything that’s been slowly deteriorating in the past decade from the drought.  I also love the fact that the rain forces me to stay indoors and focus more on my novel and all things I need to write. Class assignment, articles, and blogs. So, if the weather is bringing you down, then consider making yourself a fresh pot of coffee, and  escape for a few moments with these interesting finds online:

Lifestyle: Habits to Consider Making Your Own

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I’ve never hit the snooze button in the mornings and wake up the same time every day, even weekends. I insist on having a sit down breakfast, and I walk to the bus and climb stairs from the subway rather than opt for cars and elevators. Hot water in the morning with a slice of lemon gets me going, and listening to nature music helps give my day a calming start – even at work. Although I understand the details I mentioned above of how my life goes may not apply to those with small children or kids who live at home, but even then creating certain habits for yourself in the mornings keeps you in control (says me) and is the best way to start the day says this one article: Get Up Early: The idea of getting up early can make many of us feel tired just thinking about it, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned you should never do in the morning, it’s hit the snooze button. According to a report …

What Is Going Through My Mind Today

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I can’t recall a time where I’ve had a peaceful night’s sleep. Meaning to say that I stay up most nights pondering about everything most definitely out of my control, and then I talk myself into  just letting go. I think it’s a survival mechanism. Note to self: Perhaps I need to scale back on social media, it may help a little. But for now, I can’t help but wonder what if….  The US president’s conduct, which the majority don’t agree with is a ploy to get everyone to become more patriotic and more involved in our country? Social media were to shut down on Sundays so that everyone can do all things that make them less angry at every single word published online which has fueled such behaviors lately. Religion was more important than anything else to live a more positive life? What if compassion replaced greed? History and current event teachings in schools were not based on one-sided opinions? What if there was no bullying – ever? What if WORLD PEACE was stitched unto every flag of …

Today’s Mood – A Week In The South of France

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Happy New Year! I hope the first four days of the year has been on a positive streak for most of you and if not, then hopefully things will begin looking up for you soon. While I recover from the nasty flu going around this year, I realize that I could use a week or two or three rightttttt here – the South of France somewhere, tucked away in a villa, with no social media, television or anyone reminding me all the worries in the world. Just for a week or two, that’s all

Focus on the Good of 2016…Is All I am asking

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In the past few days with the untimely deaths of a handful of celebrity, people around the world have expressed how they can’t wait for 2016 to be over with since it’s brought nothing but heartbreak and disappointment, just to name a few. There are magazine covers depicting the death of 2016, articles equally heart-wrenching, and then there are the somber reaction tweets streaming across the globe – all of it causing me to shake my head at the mere idea of how we fixate on the negatives most. So I turned to the internet for some positives that happened in 2016 to help everyone understand that along with the bad, there is always some good. We just need to take a step back and reflect and be thankful for all the good the world and the people in it have done NO MATTER THE YEAR. Just in case we’ve forgotten what good came of 2016 this perfectly compiled list and some of my favorites will jar some memories and enlighten those focusing on only the doom …

It’s All Up To Us…

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I was fortunate enough to disappear from the US for about three weeks in October. And I say that only because I knew the emotional state I was in required for me to step away from all that is going on here – first hand, in terms of the impending election. Never mind the police shootings, clowns, and all other natural and unnatural disasters plaguing our nation. The time I spent in Europe was enough to help me compartmentalized all things causing the worst stress I have experience  in my entire lifetime.  I had a heavy workload on top of it all through the summer – covering for co-workers moving across the globe and such. I was doing fine, until I read a New York Times article someone sent me via Facebook titled Donald Trump Voters Just Hear Me Out – detailing the million and one reasons why we need to vote NOT for Trump. You see I’ve been keeping my opinions about the matter to myself and perhaps that is the reason I haven’t really …

Lake Como – In Two Days

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After my Rome-Florence-Venice portion of the perfect travel I think I have organized for my group is a stop in Como, Italy. We arrived mid-day on Saturday last, and checked into our hotel – only for a few minutes to freshen up and change into our walking shoes. We had to take the funicular up to the highest point in Como to see the spectacular views for only 5.50euro roundtrip. This can’t be missed no matter how long the lines. Dinner followed after that, along with a bottle of wine and the perfect conversations before we turned in. The next day we would spend on the lake, with an all-day pass to visit some of the small towns or villages perched along the heavenly lake. Since we were pressed for time I selected three stops. Menaggio, Varrena and Bellagio. I fell in love with Menagio and considered for the three hours I was there to live in the quant town. Varrena was a stop for lunch and a stroll through the cobblestone village and then a 15 …

Lifestyle: A Place Is Not A Place Until It’s A Seaside Cabin

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One of the benefits of being a writer is that you spend a lot of time falling in love with wonderful places, and extraordinary lifestyles, and interesting people, which and that inspire to create a story-no matter the genre-stories come from the passion writer feel about something o someone. I do a lot of research online, as you may have already noticed from this fun place called RawSilk&Saffron, and when I stumble upon something that sparks an interest or is best suited for a whole or part of my storytelling, I, Bookmark it, the old-fashioned way, right into a folder on my computer, I set up for every novel I’ve published, and the ones I plan to write. So you can imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon these amazing photographs of a Seaside Cabin-I have no clue as to where it is-adding to a folder-for a wonderful story I have thus far drafted. The Seaside cabin is surely a scene I need to add OR, simply escape to if I can only figure out …