I.AM.LIVE.

I am so excited!  I have wanted to start a blog for many months and I've finally taken the plunge.  

Hope you enjoy!

WHAT IS THIS BLOG?!?!

This blog is about creating the best you, by showing you how I’m trying to create the best me. (The operative key word here: TRYING.)

I’m not skilled in any one thing that you see in the blogosphere. (ie: see below*) Therefore, all I seek is BALANCE through CREATION.   And I’m all about how to get THAT.  When I feel my life is in balance or I’m experiencing “THE KWAN,” I feel good about myself, my family, and all the people in my life.  In short, that’s when I feel happy. And WHO DOESN’T WANT TO FEEL HAPPY?! (“The Kwan” is from a movie—can you name it?)

Balance takes work, practice, and continually being willing to change with the quickened pace of the people and environment that surround us.   I like that.  I’m comfortable with learning new things and practicing those principles.  It’s being stuck that I hate.  I think that being stuck means that we are not creating new pathways inside of us in order for us to grow.  I like knowing that I’m growing emotionally, spiritually, physically, intellectually, and that I’m deepening and strengthening my relationships.

Creating in our lives is not just having something to show or a finished product.  Creating is the process in which we grow and find new ways to experience joy.  THAT is what this blog is about.  I will focus on anything that inspires me or that just makes me happy.  I hope you will come along and enjoy those things with me.  You can take or leave what I do each day, but I just want to make you smile and influence YOU TO FIND what motivates you to have balance and joy. 

Just know that the things that inspire me may be and could be ALL OVER THE MAP.  I find that my joy grows when I’m consistent in my inconsistencies.  One day I’m on a cooking binge, other days I’m obsessed with essential oils and their origins.  Or another day I’m fascinated by a certain book my friend gave me 8 years ago and how it stirs something in me, and I sometimes will fixate on just one photo of one of my children and how I can feel 5 different emotions in one simple expression.  I also just moved into a new home and I’m planning to document the shape and personality my home decides to present to me.  Prepare to be surprised each day as I surprise myself.  

All in the name of balance and creation.

My heart is tender and it drives everything I do in my life.  This is both a blessing and a curse, but it’s who I am.  Some people are more “head and logic” driven.  I need those people in my life.  I’m married to one of those people.  He keeps me grounded.  But as I tried to come up with a name for this blog, I knew I needed the word “heart” somewhere, but didn’t want it to sound too cutesy.  Hence, the word for heart in French: Coeur (which upon further research is the root word for “courage”).  Finding balance takes both heart and courage.  I’ve been shaking in my boots even thinking about writing, let alone even starting a blog and *GASP*, posting my deepest, most inner thoughts.  But, alas, it is in me; thoughts, feelings, words must be spilled onto the virtual page.

For an additional way to describe the purpose of this blog, it almost seems easier to describe the things this blog is NOT.  (*ergo the NON skills I referred to earlier…)

This blog is not a means to rant about having 6 children and the chaos that brings.

 (But that does not mean that those rants might occur occasionally.)

This is not a design blog.

This is not a DIY blog.

This is not a crafty blog.

This is not a “my life is so perfect: ADMIRE ME” blog.

This is MOST ASSUREDLY not a fashion blog.  If you’re into that, go here to see my sister’s fun, sassy blog, and links to many others.

This is not an advice blog, a political blog, or a “mommy knows best” blog.

The people that specialize in each of those niches and who have blogged about it—are, in short, incredible.  In fact, many of these blogs I drool over, and have felt inspired to live my life differently because of them, even fashion blogs.  I’ve read fashion blogs wearing the same “mom jeans” I wore post-pregnancy 2 babies ago, and looked down at myself, and thought, “You’re in a rut, Amy.  Come on now!  Gird up!  Go buy some new jeans.”  You get the idea.

I’ve been astounded by blogs that seem to make a room magical on next to nothing and have felt motivated to improve my spaces.   

Then there ARE THOSE DAYS….when you read a blog, and they homeschool, and they have well-kempt children with matching outfits and hair-dillies, and their life looks too perfect, and you go to that dark place in your mind and heart and think…. “I AM NOTHING.  I DO NOTHING.  I AM…….BLAH.”  And then you close your laptop and go find the chocolate chips.

But then there’s always tomorrow.  A new, fresh day.  That’s where I am today.  Fresh, and ready to chronicle what creates me.  Where is your heart today?  Mine is ready to create a life of balance.  A life of beauty.  A life of learning.  A life of love and mostly joy.    

Welcome to

Coeur De Create

Heart to Create

“Life isn’t about finding yourself.  Life is about creating yourself.”

~George Bernard Shaw