I love to “give” whether it is an encouraging word, a smile or a little unexpected present for someone… I am always seeking ways to give to others. Because it is the right thing to do and brings not only joy to me… but to others.

I have the attitude that I have “more than enough” and want to share what I do have with others. Lately I have been wrapping up money as a gift…. sometimes a dollar bill… sometimes coins… and then adding glitter… or little gem stones to the gift bag… tying it with a bow… and leaving this gift somewhere in public for that “special” someone to find!

I know in my heart that this little gift of money and the pretty doo dads inside… wrapped up with a bow will make whoever finds it joyful… and in doing so… make the world a better place! Maybe the person who finds this little bundle of money…  really  is in no need or want of money… but by finding it… perhaps will change a sullen mood … into a happy day after all… or give that person a nudge to start giving more… who knows?

It is after all the spirit of giving that each one of us should aspire to do each day… making giving a practice in all that we do.

It is the small things in life… that make life worth living!

Victoria

This Mother’s Day… I want to acknowledge my two intelligent, independent and beautiful daughters, Andrea and Aurora. You both have enriched my life and also enlightened me… on what the true meaning of devotion and love really is.

Motherhood and being blessed with the two of you has made me a wealthy and successful woman and human being… life could not get any better than this!!

I thank you both… in the deepest of gratitude…. your mom

I have long held the highest of respect for Susan  at NotQuiteJuneCleaver.com. This woman makes everything homemade and has owned her own catering company and a successful venture in soap making, written cookbooks… and has six children, home schooled them all and runs a home based on love and “doing it with pride”. I admire women like her… not caught up in fast food and fast living… but values based on home and homemade… and being real and authentic.

I found her website one day, while looking for homemade soap… which I love and use here in our home. Needless to say… I got “hooked” on Susan and her daily blogs and fell in love with her passion for life and her homemade way of living. I became a fan, and I have even written about her in my free newsletters I send out and put her link on my blog page.

I usually do not go this route with women I don’t know… but you see Susan has been a life saver for me many times. I have my own company that is based on celebrations and traditions for women, and I produce my own line of organic bath products and gift line. There have been times when I have had doubts about my creative comapny… and the path I was on… you know the ones all creative women have…. and when I felt this way… I would pop over to her blog and her words and daily living that she wrote about on her blog, gave me the COURAGE to stay on course and keep going!!!

I finally wrote to her one day via email and thanked her for being such a positive mentor to me and she took the time to write me back!  How great is this!!

And now I am proud and excited to say that I won one of her handmade APRONS!!!! I will wear this apron each time I cook dinner, or when I am feeling blue… cause I know that a great lady made this… and her inspiration and devotion to being a homemaker, wife and mother…. inspires us all to be Not Quite June Cleaver… but just to be who we are… exceptional women… doing exceptional things!

Thank you Susan,

Victoria

I have reached a certain age in my life…or space in wisdom… where “getting things” really doesn’t matter any more. Instead I find myself  as of late…”giving away” items and stuff I have craved and lusted after in earlier years. My values have changed… I feel for the better.

I don’t want my life to be about what I have or don’t have… I want my life to make a statement about the kind of woman I was while walking here on Earth. Quality of life… and caring and giving from the heart… these are important to me… not what kind of car I drive… or some overpriced purse. These are “things” that other people decided would make you or me  a success or happy or even powerful!

Don’t get me wrong here… my home is filled with beauty and quality items…. but that’s just the point… I have made a home filled with beauty and quality… not consumerism or status seeking. Or openly telling someone how much money something cost… as a way to brag. What point is there to that? Or what does it matter anyway? It is not what I value… nor should it be any value at all to anyone.

A persons value should be about how much they love… and are loved… not about things they collect or how much money they make… but about who they are inside.  And family and quality, caring friends and being mindful about taking care of the Earth. These are the “things” I crave and lust for these days…. realness, authenticity, and caring, loving people in my life.

So these days… you will find me picking out a purse or a “thing” I used to value so much… cause it cost me this amount of money, and “giving it away” to someone who can use it or wants it. And in its empty space… I focus on the gratitude I feel, the awareness I now see… of all the wealth I truly have in my life…. myself, my wonderful husband, my daughters, and the most awesome friends any person could hope for.

This to me is success… and being real… and coming of age!

Victoria

My birthday was February 1st… and I really thought about what I “wanted” to do, to mark this celebration in my life.

It didn’t take me long to acknowledge that the best and most loving way for me to celebrate my birth-day was to be out in nature, with my loving family.

We spent the day walking in a wildlife center in Austin… creating a relaxed day, soaking up the Sun and sitting under huge oak trees. We talked, laughed and connected with one another.

The day was priceless… and filled with the wealth of love and family… and Mother Earth.

It got me thinking how the ‘best’ things in life are FREE.

Hearing the sound of your child’s laughter… or hearing them say “mom, I love You”. Or capturing the sweet melody of a bird out your bedroom window, first thing in the morning.

Hanging out in your back yard… sipping a cold glass of water… and seeing those first blooming roses… that you, yourself planted… is sheer bliss and pride.

Holding hands with your beloved partner… because you can trust them when you are scared or feeling blue.

Receiving a homemade card from your child… that no store COULD ever produce… and then putting it away in your keepsake box… to hold the memory forever.

Seeing a beautiful sunset…. whose vivid splashes of color remind me that god must be sitting before a canvas… in this moment… paintbrush in hand… painting this masterpiece… just for me.

These are some of the things… that keep me aware… that some of the “best” things in life are FREE.

I wish you the “best”,

Victoria

I am aware that most folks are pretty much freaking out about the financial transition (some say a recession) that you are hearing and reading about each day…. and I have the utmost compassion for everyone.

I am also aware that life… including finances… goes through cycles of ups and downs…. and zig zag’s… and that given faith, resourcefulness and time… will turn around and go into a positive upswing.

I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason… and  I see such a wonderful opportunity for each one of us to return, and YES even enjoy…..  the simple life!

Living simply… means living a quality life. Quality is having the best… but not in EXCESS… something each one of us needs to come to terms with and heal within ourselves.

Here are some tips to help you save money, connect with your inner spirit and take some baby steps to live the SIMPLE life!

Relearn your own natural ability to be creative… by purchasing fresh, seasonal food… and then coming home and getting in the kitchen and making a wonderful and memorable meal either solo or with your family.

Get out your best china, light some candles and celebrate the pleasure of eating a wholesome and delicious meal… that was prepared with mindfulness and gratitude.

Teach your children to be resourceful by showing them how to make homemade cards and gifts, and stop allowing them to fill up the shopping cart with needless “things and stuff “. It is appalling how our children think happiness is “spending”…. and “getting”, because they have seen the adults in their lives value “spending and getting”.

Start a garden, growing simple herbs and veggies. This is great for the whole family to do together as an ongoing project… plus you will get physical exercise and feed your own “soul”. Another perk is that you will save money eating the food and herbs you have grown and you will be eating  quality food.

Whenever you can shop flea markets and local antique stores for furniture and pieces to decorate your homes. Some of the most beautiful homes and beautiful people buy “recycled”.

Learn how to make your own bath and body products (I teach these classes) that save you MONEY…. and are good for you and the Earth!

Most of all…. live charitably…. be mindful…. and be generous of heart… living simply is now “in”…. and my feminine heart is smiling big time!!!

To the simple life,

Victoria

My dad passed away on October 29th, a day I will always remember with sadness and happiness. Everyone in my family had similar feelings. We were saddened by the loss of such a dear, sweet man… but thankful and glad that he wasn’t suffering any more from the cancer that was eating up his body.

I am not a funeral going person,  because I believe a person never really dies… just the body… but the soul lives on… somewhere beautiful and eternal… and where like others… my dad is now healthy and having a grand time.

I wanted to give something to him, something real and living to honor his passing and his new experience… so I decided to plant him a garden. The garden seemed like the perfect gift to give him, because although he and my mom had retired to Arizona, he loved his native state of Texas with a passion. Planting him a garden was my way of him being back here in Texas,  in the state that he loved so much and that was his home. He would live on, with this small garden… forever.

I bought beautiful small trees and shrubs that will grow well here in the Texas climate and a small rose bush. I went out and planted these living gifts to him, one Sunday morning with mindfulness and love. I performed this planting act with a sacredness and deep sense of purpose, feeling all the while that he was smiling at me the whole time I was gardening.

The rose bush that I planted was bare of flowers the day I planted it for my dad, but two days later when I went out to tend to “his” garden, there were two small and perfect red roses that had bloomed. I was so delighted, yet somehow not surprised… because I believe in magic and miracles and all those things that can’t be explained, but happen anyway.

Bless you Pa Pa… where ever you are, and may you find peace and joy… here in your garden.

Love, Victoria

When I was a kid, people made time for each other. It was just the way it was… because it was the “right thing” to do. People understood then, that people needed each other and simple human contact to make life better, and more fun… and interesting.

Both of my parents worked, and there were four of us kids to look after, yet my parents always found time for us to bake cookies together quite often, and we always ate dinner together each night as a family. We played board games together on the weekends, and us kids rode our bikes all over town, spending hours exploring our small coastal city.

My favorite family outing was going to local orchards and picking apricots when they were in season. We borrowed buckets from the farmer whose orchard we were at, and ran around picking and plucking apricots till our buckets overflowed with these small round jewels. All of us kids would fall asleep in the back seat on the drive home, our hands still sticky from picking fruit. My mom would then come home and make apricot upside down cake. I can still smell the sweetness that filled up our home from those cakes, and that memory still makes me smile.

I worry sometimes how disconnected we all have become. I am not sure if it is technology or the obsession we all seem to have to succeed and chase the endless race to make money… but people just don’t seem to have the time or energy to connect with one another any more. People are too busy. Or is this an excuse?

All I know is that I don’t want to have this excuse for my life. Yes, I am busy… with Feminine Living, my family and doing the countless loads of laundry that never seem to stop. But I always want to meet people and get to know them. I want to  have meaningful conversations with them, and be able to laugh, and smile and hug them! I can’t imagine ever becoming a robot… too busy to care or give to another human being. Or to give the message to someone else that I was too busy to listen with my heart to a problem they had, or needed a shoulder to cry on.

I don’t ever want to be too busy…. to live! Do you?

Blessings,

Victoria