What I’m obsessed with this week: Creating Kaleidoscopes with Photoshop. And man, have I been hogging the mac this week generating loads of digital kaleidoscopic images. I’m using average (and often below average) photos I’ve taken that are far from interesting enough to show anyone on their own. But, when you crop them and set them at angles, they become magical! It’s been all I could do this week not to stop strangers on the street and show them off like a proud mama. They’re inspiring me to possibly start a daily post that will show the original boring and ugly photo and how it transforms into something beautiful. I’m thinking I could do a series of seven kaleidoscopes every week. Here are a few of my favorites as examples. I don’t want to give away any spoilers yet on the original images, so have fun guessing!

Etsy shop: With my recent foray into butterfly quotes and now these digital kaleidoscope images, my thoughts turn to my neglected Etsy store. And so, I’m researching how to offer these images as digital downloads and possibly as prints on gallery wraps, metal and wood. Again, these kaleidoscopes opened a well-spring of inspiration for me. My goal, should I choose to accept the inspirational challenge, is to have items ready on my Etsy shop by mid-October for the upcoming holiday gifting season. I’ll keep you posted!

My favorite dream interpretation this week:
School or University:
1. A very common dream is returning to school and finding oneself late for an exam. This usually signifies unresolved psycho-emotional issues from school that the dreamer should try to work through.
2. If the dreamer is starting a new course of study, new opportunities will open up for her.
3. If the dreamer is teaching, then her Higher Self will soon bring new revelations her way.

My favorite Abraham quote this week:
“The achievement of anything that you desire must be considered success, whether it is a trophy or money or relationships or things. But if you will let your standard of success be your achievement of joy—everything else will fall easily into place. For in the finding of joy, you are finding vibrational alignment with the resources of the Universe.” —Abraham
To learn more about Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks), the Law of Attraction, or to sign up for Abraham’s daily quote visit: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

My favorite writing prompt this week:
“Your friend tells you, “Pinch me, I’m dreaming.” You do as he asks. He vanishes.”

My favorite writing quote this week:
“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” –Sylvia Plath

My favorite from the inter-webs: I follow many author blogs and this is one of my favorites. Anne R. Allen’s Blog…with Ruth Davis covers topics from the craft of writing to the business of writing and everything in between. Posts occur weekly and I’m often forwarding them to someone I know because they are so very informative. I hope you find it equally valuable.
Find it at: annerallen.com/

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Good-bye: Don’t panic, I’m not going anywhere… However, my writer’s group, Writers Endeavor, is bidding Yahoo Groups farewell. Our group has been on Yahoo since October 2005 (I joined the group in July 2009). It had been our message board, our file upload area and an all-around place to share ‘stuff.’ After having trouble uploading files and receiving notifications of said files and being unable to delete files that have been in the upload area for years, we’ve decided to switch to a simpler solution of a group email. We’ll remind each other of meeting times and share files the old-fashioned way. Good-bye Yahoo Groups, we’ll miss you…

What I’m reading this week: Please Don’t Tell My Parents I’m a Super Villain, by Richard Roberts. The publisher’s summary reads: Penelope Akk wants to be a superhero. She’s got superhero parents. She’s got the ultimate mad science power, filling her life with crazy gadgets that even she doesn’t understand. She has two super-powered best friends. In middle school the line between good and evil looks clear. In real life nothing is that clear. All it takes is one hero’s sidekick picking a fight, and Penny and her friends are labeled super villains. In the process Penny learns a hard lesson about villainy: She’s good at it.
My humble opinion: It’s a charming story so far, a bit cutesy at times, but it is middle-grade fiction after all. I’m about a third of the way through. It’s told in 1st person point of view and the author is very fond of using alternatives to ‘said’ such as squealed, quipped, sighed, snarked, etc. It’s a bit distracting, especially via audiobook when the narrator has already acted the descriptive. I’m interested to see how Roberts plays out the hero/villain or good/evil aspect. He’s playing with the shades of grey here. Our MC is afraid of disappointing her parents by being a super villain/bad person, but it doesn’t seem that there are any truly evil characters. And maybe that’s the point.

My favorite dream interpretation this week:
Stone:
1. If the dreamer is throwing stones, she is repressing anger that should be expunged.
2. Stones on a riverbank indicate a time of peace and tranquility coming up.
3. Stepping stones are a symbol for slow but sure advancement.
4. Cobblestones represent a rough road ahead.
5. Huge stones or boulders represent obstacles – and the larger the stone, the bigger the obstacle.
Astrological parallel: Saturn.
Tarot parallel: The suit of Pentacles.

My favorite Abraham quote this week:
“You’re never going to get to any final place. And so, we want to remind you to relax and start having fun on the way.” —Abraham
To learn more about Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks), the Law of Attraction, or to sign up for Abraham’s daily quote visit: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

My favorite writing prompt this week:
“Your eccentric great uncle recently died and left you his estate, which includes a rather large house filled with doors that don’t always lead where you’d expect.”

My favorite writing quote this week:
“Dialogue is not just quotation. It is grimaces, pauses, adjustments of blouse buttons, doodles on a napkin and crossings of legs.” –Jerome Stern

My favorite from the inter-webs: I found this gem researching herbal medicines to use in my writing. The link below is to the remedies list. All of the herbs are linked to their own page, with a photo and additional info on the sidebar such as how to grow the plant, recipes, and (my favorite) magic and superstition. I’m sure this will quickly become a well-visited site for my herbal magic research.
Find it at: http://www.gardensablaze.com/HerbRemedies.htm

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July Recap: Wow! July was a busy month for me, especially in the blogging world. I now have three weekly posts: 7BulletFriday, Butterfly Quote, and Butterfly of the Week. The last two were started/brought back in July. I also started posting daily on my Facebook page last month. Thank goodness for scheduling features or I’d be unable to do anything else. My work in progress hasn’t been sitting idly, I’m nearly finished with story-boarding my second draft of Tree Dragon and then it’s on to re-writing pages. When you add on dance events and traveling, July has been busy indeed!

The reunion road trip: As promised, here are a few pics from my long-weekend road trip. From the mountains of West Virginia, past the cornfields and wind farms of Indiana, a brush by Chicago, to the reunion, and a big Illinois sky shot for fun. We’re a big family and not all of us made it for the shindig. I also managed to snap some great texture and sky shots that I will post to Pixabay (my very first shares with that community).

 

My favorite dream interpretation this week:
Wheels:
1. If the wheels are on an automobile, particularly on one in which the dreamer is riding, then the dreamer will soon embark on a new journey, either literal or figurative.
2. If the wheels are on an airplane, success in the dreamer’s current enterprise is indicated.
3. Slowly moving wheels indicate slow progress and frustration, but positive results in the end, while fast-moving wheels represent rapid progress.
4. Ferris wheels, or gambling wheels in a casino, indicate sudden and unexpected events that could bring either reversals or skyrocketing success, depending on other symbols in the dream.
Astrological parallel: Uranus.
Tarot parallel: The Wheel of Fortune

My favorite Abraham quote this week:
“Make a decision and then make the decision right. Line up your Energy with it. In most cases, it doesn’t really matter what you decide. Just decide. There are endless options that would serve you enormously well, and all or any one of them is better than no decision.” —Abraham
To learn more about Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks), the Law of Attraction, or to sign up for Abraham’s daily quote visit: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

My favorite writing prompt this week:
“Suddenly, all over the world, all children start drawing the same thing over and over again.”

My favorite writing quote this week:
“Write even when the world is chaotic. You don’t need a cigarette, silence, music, a comfortable chair or inner peace to write. You just need ten minutes and a writing implement.” –Cory Doctorow

My favorite from the inter-webs: I found this one yesterday! Have you ever wondered where to break a word with a hyphen? Every now and again I come across a line of formatted text that could use a hyphen break and I need that extra assurance that I’m breaking the word correctly. In walks Hyphenation24. Just type the word your questioning in the box and you’ll get a selection of appropriate breaks for that word. For example, reasonable can be broken rea-son-able. Hope you find it useful!
Find it at: https://www.hyphenation24.com/

Road Trip: My mom’s family put down roots in Chicago in the 1920’s. And although a few branches have moved out of the city to the neighboring burbs, to other states (and even the Philippines!), they all still try to gather once of year for a reunion. I’m not always able to go, due to travel costs and timing, but this weekend my boyfriend and I are hitting the road for the nearly 13-hour journey. I’ll try to take some travel pics worth sharing for next week’s post.

What I’m re-reading this week: I’m smitten with Lev Grossman and his Magicians trilogy. My goal is get my boyfriend hooked on them as well by having them as our diving entertainment. If you’ve not had the pleasure, here is the back cover blurb: “A thrilling and original coming-of-age novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world. Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.At once psychologically piercing and magnificently absorbing, The Magicians boldly moves into uncharted literary territory, imagining magic as practiced by real people, with their capricious desires and volatile emotions. Lev Grossman creates an utterly original world in which good and evil aren’t black and white, love and sex aren’t simple or innocent, and power comes at a terrible price.”

My favorite dream interpretation this week:
Cars
1. Motion, movement away from one thing and towards another.
2. Speed, acceleration.
3. Freedom.
Astrological parallel: Sagittarius.
Tarot parallel: The Chariot

My favorite Abraham quote this week:
“It usually takes about 30 days to change a habit. Not because you need 30 days. You could do it in 68 seconds if you could once you did it hold your vibration there, but you have to consciously make that decision.” —Abraham
To learn more about Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks), the Law of Attraction, or to sign up for Abraham’s daily quote visit: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

My favorite writing prompt this week:
“You are the person responsible for making all those magical/cursed items that people are always stumbling across.”

My favorite writing quote this week:
“As a writer you try to listen to what others aren’t saying… and write about the silence.” –N.R. Hart

My favorite from the inter-webs: Actually, this favorite is a free phone app called “Wayz.” This little wonder not only gives you turn by turn directions based on other users’ insights and shortcut knowledge, but you also get real-time warnings of traffic accidents, delays and whether there is a cop lurking in a blind spot up ahead. You can also add your own insights and warnings for other users, but I’m not quite savvy enough for that myself. I’m also trying to get in the habit of checking traffic every morning (I’ve been burned a few times.) And, needless to say, this app will be running throughout our road trip.
Find it in the App Store: WAYZ

Blogging Update: I now have three regular posts on this blog. Monday – Butterfly of the Week, Friday – 7 Bullet Friday, and now Wednesday – Quote of the Day. In addition to posting a Pinterest pin daily on the My Dreaming Butterfly Facebook page, I’m also creating an original “pinnable” quote using my own digital butterfly art and quotes that I’ve scavenged from reference books and websites (I discuss my favorite resource in today’s last bullet). Of course, I’ll still post updates on the progress of my first novel in the Dragon World series and short stories as they come. But, I’m getting myself in the habit of regular posts, and like any regimen, it’s starting to feel natural. Joy!

What I’m obsessed with this week: Quotes, quotes, quotes… I’m surrounded by books of quotes marked by post-it flags and spending countless hours pouring over websites. The hardest part is choosing which quotes to use first.

My favorite dream interpretation this week:
Butterfly
1. Because of its mysterious transmogrification from a caterpillar, the butterfly is a universal symbol for intense transformation, usually for the better.
2. If the butterfly is in the egg stage, the coming change is still but an idea.
3. In the larva stage, a decision needs to be made.
4. In the cocoon stage, you are working to make your dreams a reality.
5. An adult butterfly flying in the air indicates sharing, or the need to share, your ideas with the world.

My favorite Abraham quote this week:
“We want to speak about freedom: This is a Vibrational Universe. The only Source that flows is the Source of Well-Being. And, physical and Nonphysical, we are all free to allow that Well-Being to flow to us and through us or we can pinch it off. It is our call — every time…” —Abraham
To learn more about Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks), the Law of Attraction, or to sign up for Abraham’s daily quote visit: http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

My favorite writing prompt this week:
“Drunkenly, you accidentally pour vodka into your pet’s water bowl. As a result, your pet breaks the number one rule: do not speak to your owner… Ever.”

My favorite writing quote this week:
“There’s always something to write about. If there’s not, then you need to live life more aggressively.” –Min Kim

My favorite from the inter-webs: GoodReads isn’t just a good starting point to find the most-loved books in any particular genre, but it’s a great source for quotes from famous authors on any number of subjects: art, love, fear, inspiration, dreams, purpose, wisdom, passion, and more. It’s soon to become my go-to research for the butterfly illustrated quotes I’m posting on this blog weekly.
Check it out at: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes