Tag Archives: love

Here’s to new beginnings.

Tulips

Tulips. They don't bloom every year but when they do, well, there you go.

I think most people who are reading this can read between the lines and know exactly what I’m thinking. I may be wrong on that I may be right but generally speaking I think people are smart enough to tell if I’m being a true person over here expressing what my heart feels or if I’m trying to make it all look lovely with a bunch of pretty pictures and smiles.

I think you know. Then sometimes I think you know but then how could you know if I don’t tell you what is going on in my life? How could you know? Tell me. Use your words.

Words. Here they are. Ready? In the last year and a half since starting my blog I’ve had a lot of fun with it. I’ve learnt that the most rewarding parts are when you receive compliments that turn into long conversations of people actually helping each other. I’ve met people I didn’t expect to meet. Hello. Nice to see you.

I’ve also learned that if I don’t say how I’m feeling you aren’t going to know. So I’ll tell you.

I’m doing well, and you? How are you?

All things considered. I’m making a decision now in this moment to be nice, to be kind, to have integrity, to be a whole person and hopefully to have a cheerful disposition.

Love you mom. ♡

Love you mom. ♡

I’m choosing to publish this article and then spend some time around the house that desperately is calling for love and attention. It’s a lot to handle. It’s a lot to balance.

Life is just an act, isn’t it, an act of balance, give and take. Who would have ever imagined that by publishing a blog I would have heard some of the comments I have heard, met the people I’ve met.

I miss my family. I miss my friends.

I feel connected with them here on facebook and over the internet but this year we aren’t going back to California for vacation. This is due to financial reasons and work struggles. I don’t know why I feel like I have to explain it though but for some reason I feel like I do.

The four of us to travel to California costs about $4000, then we usually get a rent a car and you know the rest. This year, we have some lovely other holidays planned.

I love my house though so call me a pentofola if you will. A pentofola is a house shoe or slipper generally regarded as something you wouldn’t go out in. It’s not a compliment. It’s just me being lazy and enjoying my garden.

How are your summers passing? I’m working on spiritual and physical health by exercising, reading but more than anything trying to put into practice the ideas of love and forgiveness.

Each day I lose my patience again and I fall short of God’s wonderful mercy and love but I pray and I start again. For the most part, it seems to be working.

As always friends, I hope this post finds you lovely, lucky and in love.

God bless. Thanks for visiting.

Julie

Building a Better Blog – You guys rock.

I’m so proud of my readers I’m turning the spotlight on you.

My heart is bursting with joy as I welcome you again to another pot of blog copy at jbulie’s blog. I have to share today how proud I am of my readers. They are all taking HUGE leaps and bounds towards their personal goals. It’s such a wonderful feeling to be part of that.

What I didn’t expect when I started this blog is the many thanks I am getting.

Choose HappinessWho would have known?

So much news to report all about you guys, my readers. I don’t even know where to start. Yesterday I had a chat with a friend of mine that I have known since I was a young kid. We were literally cracking each other up talking about our lives, our families and our progress on our blogs.

We pitched each other ideas and we got to the point of intense laughter. My idea was the hand in the video with the Mtv microphone interviewing myself about the success of my ebook Zero to Blog. I had the microphone decorated like a real mtv mic with lights, bells and whistles on it. And a puffy something or another.

Only problem was working out logistics since I make my own videos, I have to be the hand and the voice. We were laughing thinking how we are going to manage this on line from a distance. Maybe we can use a fake hand?

I’ll get my cat to prop it up on a pillow. Too bad the cat can’t talk.

Everyone’s starting to write, express themselves and make blogs.

It started with a friend of mine who is a runner. She sent me her article and asked me what I thought. I thought it was out of this world. She made a step of sharing. If you knew this girl and her story you would see what a big personal step that was for her. She’s a mom of five. Her running is her time for herself. She runs marathons. When I went on a diet, she’s the one who filled my inbox with health and fitness information. I love this girl. She is working on her personal growth and I am so very proud of her.

Then the blogs.

At LEAST four of my good friends who have read my book have talked about it and made positive steps on make their blogs more reader friendly and interactive, by asking for comments, by interacting with their visitors, by adding music, but adding of themselves. It’s a wonderful feeling to know I am somehow part of their process. We encourage each other. It’s like a fire under your buns. :)

OK, I have more and more and more to tell you about but life is calling me. I feel like I’m living life at the top of my game. I have my work, my family, video, my book, my blog, my friends, my mom’s new website and my clothes line going on.

OH AND two of my readers have a date this Saturday. Ah ah ah, life is good.

jb

Hey guys. I’m happy to announce the opening of my little teeny tiny shop where I’m selling one of my paintings. I hope you like it.

I have ONLY one piece of news and it’s little big news is that

I have officially opened up my ETSY shop

online to sell my art work. I’ve only uploaded one piece so far. I’m going to have to pry it out of someone’s hands to sell it but we believe in this so we are going for it.

Have a look and let me know what you think.

Julie

Here’s the link:

My Etsy Shop ~ Paintings for Sale ~ by jbulie’s blog.

Through God All Things Are Possible

Through God All Things Are Possible

She Started in October

VanGogh Bedroom

Van Gogh Bedroom ♡

Last year, Halloween to be exact, was slash is my one year blog anniversary.

Why Halloween?

Why start a blog?

Anyone?

Beuller?

I still don’t know what actually triggered me to start sharing my life or bits of it with the world. I do know I was trying to make a decision and I had come across a blog post on how to make a decision. I had to write a hundred things. I enjoyed it. In fact, I do think it helped making my decision.

Then it was a rolling stone that gathered no moss. I became a blogging fool. I just kept tapping and tapping away at the keyboard and before you knew it, I had READERS! Yes actual REAL life people who would stop by my blog, read it, and sometimes leave a comment.

Then came the friend requests on facebook. I’m sure some of them were people who have come across my blog. I have completely lost track. In my book that I put out in the first months of blogging I talked about what Elizabeth Gilbert talks about in her book Eat, Pray, Love. She said to pretend you are writing to a small group of friends. I suppose that is what I do.

For the most part, most of you who know me, know I like to pretend I am writing to my sister since she lives so far away. The idea I suppose would be letters from abroad. But of course, this blog post is not directed just for her, it is also for myself, my family, my friends and my dear readers who send endless means of support.

What I love is when I am able to motivate someone to get something done just by doing what I love, writing. I just write. And then, suddenly, someone writes me and says things like, you totally motivated me to do this or that. Wow. I have NO idea how I managed that one. I’m just rambling on random thoughts.

Random Thoughts for the Day

It seems like my creative ideas just keep coming and coming. I think I get most of my ideas while I’m out on my walks in the country. I’ll think, hey I better go share that. It’s as if I get an idea and I can’t rest until I share it with the world. Or who ever you are. Who ever you are reading this, HELLO! I can see you.

You know how I know? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I have a stats feature where I can see where you are coming from. It’s super cool. I just can’t get over the fact that my words are hitting the entire world. I mean it. I have visitors from all corners of our glorious planet.

Welcome! Enjoy!

I wish I knew how they came across my blog or how they decided they wanted to read it. I have one curious visitor from southern USA who has been following my blog since day one and has never left a comment. I wish I knew who you were out there. It’s okay though if you don’t want to comment. That’s part of the game.

I am currently in the midst of having getting back to school with great effort. Mostly trying to FIND the classes, books and information I need in order to be an effective teacher. There are a lot of reports I need to prepare and papers I’m currently reading. I like what I see.

I also have offered to paint our little league’s mural. I don’t know why in the world I came up with that idea. I have NO experience what so ever as a muralist. Sure, I can paint, but a wall?! My entire community is going to laugh at me. What was I thinking?

Finally, I’m working on my husband’s website for his Day Spa. I love the end result although the site still needs a little bit of tweaking. I still want to put up a few more pix of what it’s like but at least we have a good base. He has been in business for over 15 years but here in Italy we use a network of friends to pass information, not the internet. So this is new for us. We figure it’s a good thing to have on hand. I hope you like it.

In the mean time, I hope this post finds you smiling, lovely, lucky, thankful and in love.

Julie

Life is participation.

♥Take me out to the ballgame♥

I don’t know about you but I keep coming across one crazier story than the next. Humanity always seems to surprise me. For example, I’m reading stories about real stalkers, robbers, ATM blow ups, unfortunate home violence, earthquakes, and flying machines. Yeah right.

I started this blog four months ago and either I think I’m Crazy News Central or my readers do. Welcome. You might be new here, so please make sure to add a bookmark above, follow me on facebook or follow me on twitter.

I KEEP getting some fairly random messages and emails, one more surprising than the last. It must be me. I attract the nutters? Not you, obviously, them. Let’s try to get it on the page and make some sense of it all.

How are you? How are you doing these days? You look great. Really. Strong and Lovely.

So wonderful to see you. Thank you for dropping in for some blog copycoffee. Happy? Well fed? Smiling? Living, loving? Being a good person? Aiming at being a better person?

♥Without my readers I'd only be writing to my cat.♥

I had a talk yesterday with one of my best friends about having over 300 friends on facebook. She said I think you should just stick to a core group of friends.

Hmmm. Made me think.

When I started this blog I had 200 friends, now I have over 300. I’m still the same person sitting at my macbook type typing away. When I started this blog I was writing to my cat. I now have 6,000+ visitors.

After I thought about it I got back to her and told her, Yes, you’re right, you must know who your true friends are. However, I do believe that with internet our lives have become more global. We have to now think in new shiny ways. We are no longer limited to our direct surroundings.

The world is getting smaller. Heck, you can book your own travel. Now THAT’S what I call progress.

What really amazes me is how these names and profile pictures are ACTUALLY real truly wonderful people who have taken a minute out of their day to read my blog. I thank you for that.

You meet them, you share part of your life with them, and believe it or not, you both influence each other and the lives of people around you. Are our comments just random thoughts in each other’s lives? Or, do you think about them, mull them over in your head during the day or before going to sleep?

Making any sense?

As my mom friend put it, Julie, you really are busy. :)

Well, I meet wonderful people in my circle of friends.

Team Update ~ ♥l i t t l e p u n e y♥ ideas ~ BIG results.

Keep hitting the clear history option in my internet browser, but my history is still there. ;) Anyone have a quick fix, life hack?

By the way, we are doing really well on promoting our little event in our little town. So far we have organized a little stand with coffee, water, drinks, ice cream, and a little bbq with hamburgers and hotdogs. That’s it. That’s the big plan.

The parents have offered to man the booth if I can figure out how to set up the gazebo thing~a~ma~jig. One sweet grandpa in particular is bringing an air popper for popcorn.

Another has offered to donate a coffee machine. My friend and I are painting park benches the worst color or rust I have ever seen.* The mayor of our little town is going to throw the first pitch of the season. He’s hot a handsome gentleman by the way, in case you haven’t noticed.

We’ve organized the event for May 1st, 4:00 p.m. Come!

Now that it’s all organized and going well, I can’t help but think, was it worth all of the trouble? Many words, hours, meetings, fun, ideas, new jackets, pictures and press are all flying about. But seriously, folks, haven’t we got better things to do? Apparently not.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think?

Do you agree with me that life is participation and it is better to be involved and make things a little bit better? Or, do you think life is strictly a spectators sport? Should we just go, grab a drink, have a laugh, watch and cheer as the others run about? Or maybe it’s better to come up with a good idea and try to implement it? Hmmm.

Let me know. Leave a comment.

I hope this message finds you happy and well where ever you are. Be a leader. Change by doing. Smile. Enjoy life. Laugh a little, for goodness sakes. Muah.

You’re gorgeous.

Julie

* It was in my garage for three years. Wrong choice of colors. Don’t ask.