Sunday, January 30, 2011

Weekend Inspiration


How was your weekend?  I hope it was either entirely relaxing or entirely exhilarating--or something equally wonderful.  Mine was filled with good things like a meal shared with friends, a morning of watching my nephews play basketball, and a long hike through the snow in a beautiful forest near the ocean.  It was also a weekend of some serious face time with the two beasties you see in the photo above.  If you are new to The Magpie's Fancy, please allow me to introduce Scout and Dill.  As I sit on the sofa typing this post, they are asleep--Dill on the cushion beside me, snoring slightly, and Scout on the coffee table.  They may be sleeping now, but often when I am writing they are wide awake, staring at me just like you see them in the photograph.  Sometimes it seems they are willing me to write more, or maybe just to write better.  It can be unnerving, but mostly I appreciate the support.  


Speaking of writing and support, I have been loving all the emails I've been getting from folks who are playing along with the Freewrite Friday exercises.  Your feedback is incredibly inspiring.  The photo of the notebook above and the map below were sent to me by Jenner.  She has promised to send her color exercise along, too.  I can't wait to read it!  I love that her map has no words, but does have lovely paws and feet and hearts.    


Oh, and I was so excited to receive a color exercise from the amazing and talented Vicki Archer of French Essence.  Vicki's blog and her books, My French Life and French Essence, are sources of great inspiration for me, and it's a joy to share her writing exercise with you.  If you haven't tried this one yet, perhaps Vicki will inspire you:


Colour

If my colour had a mood it would be a happy one. If my colour had a face it would be smiling, it would be a bright shiny smile that would light up the darkest of glooms. My colour is the hue of my childhood and the tone of my adolescence.

Memories bounce back to life - people, places and objects come quickly to mind when I imagine my colour. My childhood bedroom was a little girl's dream to wake up in; nasty nightmares and grizzly thoughts would banish as soon as my eyes opened. My spirits would lift as the familiar came into focus.

Milestones were marked by my colour - my first and only role on the stage, my first kiss, my first valentine... my first child. My colour is as soft as a newborn's cheek and as strong as an evening sunset. My colour is as sweet as candy and as bitter as cough elixir. My colour is as loud and sharp as the flash of fireworks that light up the night sky. My colour is as long as a bolt of silk and as smooth as a reel of thread. My colour is as fragrant as the rose that flowers and perfumes my springtime.

You already know...my colour is pink.

Vicki Archer
January 2011



Wishing you a week of inspiration and adventure.  xo Gigi

24 comments:

  1. beautiful exercises

    the weekend was good - uneventful but full of things i love like my nephews, cooking, driving, shopping, photography and a bit of reading.

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  2. Oh, Char, those photos you took of your nephews are just beautiful. Sounds like a perfect weekend.

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  3. awww ... vicki's color is definitely the color of love ...
    wonderfully tender ...xo

    and jenner's notebook and map just makes me smile! : )

    so happy you had such a great weekend, gigi ...
    hello sweet scout and dill ... you purrrrfect pair!
    xo
    pg

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  4. Hi! The sweeties are so beautiful and so serious! We had a weekend with some highs (the little grandboys) and some lows (some medical stuff) and we are waiting for a monster storm that is coming our way tomorrow. I'd say our weekend was "interesting"!

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  5. This week-end, I finally made some serious progress into the colour writing exercise. Thank you, Gigi for your words of encouragement ;-)

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  6. I feel so proud that you shared my photos! I really am in love with these exercises, they get my creative juices flowing and shift my brain into writing gear. Thanks so much, Gigi!

    Your kitties are so lovely. I have five, as well as a few local barn cats that come around whom I take of. They remind me of your Scout and Dill as they are piebald beauties, too.

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  7. I had a very relaxing weekend - time with my daughter, bike rides, walks with my girlfriend and alot of reading time. Love Vicki's exercise. I am loving your exercises, they really have me thinking about what I'd like to write about. Have a fabulous week! xxoo :)

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  8. Dear Gigi, I have been away from blogging for many months but now I am back (at least for some time)... It is great to discover my favorite blogs again (among them are yours). I have startet to read my way backwards to be updated on what have happended for the last months, and I love to get a small glimpse into your life again.

    Your cats are adoring, and your freewrite fridays are of great inspiration, even if I do not have time to do the excercise right now. I look forward to follow your blog again. Thank you so much for your nice comment that you postet on my last entry before I had a blogbreake. It was really sweet, and was a reminder of how great the community of bloggers are and this is one of the big reasons I wanted to start blogging again. Have a great week. Hugs from a friend in Norway.

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  9. How sweet is Vicki's color write... Pink is my color too! ;o) Dill & Scout are such beauties...*sigh*... We had some cat-cozy time here too this weekend. Though the weekend en general was more errands & practical matters than anticipated... I hope next weekend will be of the more exhilarating kind! Happy Days, Gigi ((HUGS))

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  10. Hi Gigi,
    What a wonderful photograph of Scout and Dill......I can't believe that you ever get any writing done with those two in the room. When we had our cats, they would sit on anything that we were doing !!!!
    I had just been reading Vicki's post before I came over to you. Her colour description was brillianr wasn't it ?
    Glad that you had a wonderful weekend and I hopt that this new week brings you as much joy. XXXX

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  11. Um, so I just randomly stumbled upon your blog because the photo of your cats caught my eye. Basically they look exactly like my two cats! And that isn't much of an exaggeration. Really the only difference is that my boy (who looks like the one on the left in your photo) has a small patch of white below his nose, otherwise they are pretty much identical. Haha you probably don't really care, but I was like holey moley!

    ps. the rest of your blog is lovely too!

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  12. i have come by the way of vickie's french essence.

    this was a great read.
    i wonder if i could do that?

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  13. Thanks for the great comments, everyone. Renee, you could most definitely do that! I hope you'll give it a whirl. :) Thank you for visiting.

    xo Gigi

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  14. Your cats are the cutest! I would love to have a pet cat, but I have a pet parrot, and I don't think the two would go together very well! So now I live vicariously through other people's cats! x

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  15. gigi and vicki... two greeat ones... xx

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  16. Vicki's words on color - loved. Sweet kitties too.

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  17. I love this portrait of Dill and Scout! So sweet!

    Our weekend was full of friends and food and one walk in the snow.

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  18. Dear Gigi,
    I've come to you by way of Vicki's blog and I am keen to try your Freewrite Friday exercises. What a wonderful idea.

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  19. We have so many stories of our kitty over here. How cute to hear this one. I have a short article that I need to post and this reminds me of it. Your blog site is wonderful. I can't wait to read more here!

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  20. Love those cats! If only my boy-cat was a cuddly fellow....I'm really looking forward to reading back through your blogs now I've come across it, thanks to French Essence. Looks like lots to learn and practice.

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  21. I wanted to let you know that I wrote a brief article about your "Freewrite Fridays" exercise and posted it for today. I also included my own "color" description. Have a wonderful Thursday!

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  22. We all love pink! I love the picture of your cats. That is so cute as that is what our cats do and our westie. It's like they are reading your thoughts intently.

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  23. Love this. Just love it. Am now off to visit Vicky. You do have the greatest friends. You know?

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  24. Scout and Dill...so adorable they are. I love that they stay close to you and quietly offer their support.
    What a beautiful piece of writing about colour!

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