“do not look for healing at the feet of those who broke you” ― Rupi Kaur, milk and honey
“The human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it’s been broken into a million pieces.” ― Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
“Don’t be ashamed to weep; ’tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.” ― Brian Jacques, Taggerung
“I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.” ― Frida Kahlo
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”― Albert Einstein
“I spent most of my youth hauling sides of beef and pork to my father’s shop. Carrying you is far more enjoyable.” “How sweet,” Annabelle mumbled sickly, her eyes closed. “Every woman dreams of being told that she’s preferable to a dead cow.” ― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night
“People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”-Isaac Asimov
“Well, you know what they say: If you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me.” —Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias
“The intelligence of the creature known as a crowd, is the square root of the number of people in it.”-Terry Pratchett
“Composers shouldn’t think too much – it interferes with their plagiarism.”-Howard Dietz
“I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.”― Duke Ellington
“If you talk bad about country music, it’s like saying bad things about my momma. Them’s fightin’ words.”-Dolly Parton
“Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.”― Igor Stravinsky
“Beethoven tells you what it’s like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe.”― Douglas Adams
“I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.”— Ella Fitzgerald
“People don’t understand that when you come into any theatrical experience, you’ve got to come locked and loaded, that you’re a part of the experience, too. You can’t come with your arms crossed. Be open to it.”-Viola Davis
“All the best performers bring to their role something more, something different than what the author put on paper. That’s what makes theatre live. That’s why it persists.”-Stephen Sondheim
“In our own, theatre can be the place where we come together, reaching with and through stories, to who we are and to who we can be.”-Juliet Stevenson
“Youth theatre isn’t just about a precocious child that wants to sing and dance in front of people. It’s for everyone; it’s about a community, it’s about being supported by your peer group. You learn skills – not just acting but all the other sides – working in the TV, film, and theatre industry.”-Sam Heughan
“I remember a conversation with my parents about who the people on the TV were, and learning they were actors and they acted out this story and just thinking that was the most fantastic notion, and that’s what I want to do.”-David Tennant
“Don’t be ashamed to weep; ’tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.” ― Brian Jacques, Taggerung
“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” ― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed
“Stop punishing yourself for being someone with a heart. You cannot protect yourself from suffering. To live is to grieve. You are not protecting yourself by shutting yourself off from the world. You are limiting yourself.” ― Leigh Bardugo, King of Scars
“Everyone grieves in different ways. For some, it could take longer or shorter. I do know it never disappears. An ember still smolders inside me. Most days, I don’t notice it, but, out of the blue, it’ll flare to life.” ― Maria V. Snyder, Storm Glass
“She heard him mutter, ‘Can you take away this grief?’ ‘I’m sorry,’ she replied. ‘Everyone asks me. And I would not do so even if I knew how. It belongs to you. Only time and tears take away grief; that is what they are for.” ― Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight
“I believe in fiction and the power of stories because that way we speak in tongues. We are not silenced. All of us, when in deep trauma, find we hesitate, we stammer; there are long pauses in our speech. The thing is stuck. We get our language back through the language of others. We can turn to the poem. We can open the book. Somebody has been there for us and deep-dived the words.” ― Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
“Libraries are places where the damaged go to find friends” ― Tamora Pierce
“I never feel lonely if I’ve got a book – they’re like old friends. Even if you’re not reading them over and over again, you know they are there. And they’re part of your history. They sort of tell a story about your journey through life.” Emilia Fox
“It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that story books had been written by people, that books were not natural wonders, coming of themselves like grass.’-Eudora Welty
Look, I have no excuses for the growing (pun intended) collection of office plants except that they make me super happy and proud that I’ve kept them alive. They give me oxygen, clean the air, and also provide dopamine. There are three plant ladies in my office and I gave some spiderwort to one of them so now both of our offices are exploding with them. She gives them away to people who even look remotely interested.
Heart Philodendron- this one started, if you can believe it, as a few struggling cuttings from my buy nothing group, as well as a very overgrown clearance plant from the fancy plant store. It’s doing really well at the office, as you can see! The cup was given to me last spring by a dear friend and it now stands as a memorial to her, as she passed away from unexpected health complications. It reminds me when I see both the mug and the new growth, to stop and appreciate my friends, family, and other blessings.
Shark Pot- Variegated, Hoya Spiderwort/Inch plant variety for the other two. I’ve killed two hoyas by not enough light and overwatering, so this is my last attempt at it, I think. This one seems hardier than the other two though, so I have high hopes for it. The big spiderwort was given to me by a coworker, who had a client come in with a cup full of water and these giant vines. My coworker said they wouldn’t grow well in her office because of the light, but knew I had other varieties of them. Who am I to refuse free plants?! Spiderworts are fascinating because they really follow the light and are very agile. They do eventually die out along the bottom of the plant and you have to keep cutting them to keep them under control so you just have a continuous stream of new plants.
Garden pot- Spiderwort variety (seriously, this thing will not quit, even though it looks a little sad. Be-leafing pot- Swiss Cheese Plant (mini Monestera): I’m surprised this one likes me! Nerve plant in the polka dot plant. These are so dramatic and I love them for it. They are actually pretty hardy as long as you water them when they start to droop. You can also see my accidental adventuring group, my fidget shark, a snail made from a shell, and a tiny clay fairy made by a friend on the side.
Ignore the messy shelf. It’s been a terrible month and I did just reorganize after taking the picture. The spider plant on the left has two babies! It also got some babies from a friend, so it’s got a stolen baby from my Mom’s plant, two from my friend’s plant, and then the rest is the original plant. You can’t see it well, but in the flamingo planter, there’s a zebra haworthia, which seems to be doing well. the Aloe plants are from a friend and I think I maybe overwatered it by accident, so it’s feeling a little rough. There’s a kalanchoe from a former intern in the blue patterned pot. More spiderwort in the grounded pot and in the rooting vase. A string of hearts that I haven’t killed yet (it’s maybe not so happy with me though,) and the original green variety of spider plant. I used to not like them, but as it turns out, I’m good with them, so I decided to try my hand at keeping a few. All the ones I stole from my mother (yes, she knows now, but I was sneaky at the time) are growing really well, so… I guess I like them now.
Once I rearrange my home houseplants, I’ll have to give you a tour of those as well. I think they have all adjusted to living in my house and I’ve got a reminder set to check if they need water twice a week. My office plants bring a lot of connection with clients, I’ve found, and they make my office seem more comfortable and homey as well. Most of the ones there haven’t done well at home, so I’m glad I’m able to bring them in and give them more space. I hope they bring you a little joy too!
As a bonus picture, this is what my coffee table looked like the day I had a few unexpected cancellations and decided to repot my spiderworts. You can see what they do in the white pot when the bottom leaves start to die off. Don’t worry, I did clean it all up and my table looks good as new. Lol.
