Elin Stebbins Waldal's Blog, page 2

The Act of Noticing

For years I had been in the habit of carrying a notebook. A catch-all where I collected bits and pieces of things that interested me — quotes, observations, facts — all notations that begged me to return to them. Then I read, The Memoir Project, A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life, written by Marion Roach Smith. […]

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When Failure is the Solution

It’s been a long 5 weeks. Now, with the clarity that only comes from getting through a tough patch, I feel relieved to be in a quiet room alone with my thoughts and my computer. Had you asked me on December 1, 2014 if some of the goals I set for myself for the final month […]

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Books and Memories

Books and memories…for me they go together in a way that elicits feelings of love. When I look back as far as my minds eye will take me, I can’t see a period of time that didn’t include books. According to my mother my first favorite was Pat the Bunny. Mom had a story, which by all appearances was […]

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Walk with Me

December in California is beautiful. The air turns crisp and the light is beautiful. One of my favorite places to walk is a lagoon near our home…perhaps you will see why…    

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Time Out

If you are feeling like me then maybe you need a mind cleanse. So here is a brief time out with photos and a song by José González called Teardrop. Enjoy…

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4 Ways to Shift Internal Chatter

I have found 4 ways to shift, what I think of as my internal chatter, for the better. In keeping with the theme of “joy” in this months NaBloPoMo challenge, I thought I would share them with you today. Because sharing stuff that works brings me joy. We all have it — that little voice inside our head — […]

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Staycation 2, Biergarden

On November 23, I shared with you the trip we took to Julian, it was the first of three things we did during our “staycation” aka, weekend at home. I have been lagging in my follow up so today I thought I’d share the second excursion — a trip to downtown Encinitas for a late lunch. […]

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The Joy of Rain

It’s no secret that California has been suffering from drought. In case you aren’t sure what that looks like…here’s a visual from Central Valley.     Living further south than the image above, I have often felt starved for weather. Come fall, without fail, I threaten to move. Given we have lived in SoCal for 18 […]

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Home is My Church

Reflection: something that shows the effect, existence, or character of something else.”–Merriam Webster Dictionary By the time I was born my family had all but given up church. My memories of going are more like snapshots, the first of which is of leaving. It was winter in Connecticut, I was probably three years old. All […]

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R.I.S.E. to Empower

Thanks in large part to the blog post that Ruth over at Cranium Crunches wrote, my attention was directed to the work of two remarkable women, Amy Wise and Jennifer Meyers, Co-Founders of R.I.S.E. to Empower, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Diego, California. R.I.S.E. to Empower is a passionate leadership team helping teenage girls to Reflect […]

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