THE TIME IS NOW
{please visit The Time Is Now here}
It’s become almost a cliche–the people with the most talent are usually the ones who stop, start, research, ponder, and then stop and start again before putting themselves out there. Maybe knowing your true potential stifles your ability to be recklessly creative. Maybe it’s a bad case of perfectionism. Maybe it’s as simple as time getting the best of you. Whatever the cause, it is not unusual for the most creative individuals to endure the bizarre experience of watching others less talented than themselves reach untold success and career fulfillment. It happens to all of us, really.
Naomi Shiek, a graduate in design and illustration, decided to put an end to her reticence over showing the world her artwork. She opened the appropriately named The Time Is Now shop to showcase the study of her favorite mediums: papercuts, letterpress, and cross stitching. It is the latter that has received an especially warm reception from bloggers everywhere. Not long after opening, Shiek earned features on Decor8, A Thing of Beauty, Pikaland, Mixed Plate, and others for her simple, edited style. Taking the day before she felt ready worked for Shiek–the time is now for all of us to do the same.
The Time Is Now is giving away one custom embroidered silhouette to one lucky winner. In order tow in, please answer the following question by Friday, October 30, 2009.
I have really wonderful friends of the heart who never fail to brighten my day when I’m feeling down. What do you do for your loved ones to brighten their day?
Please start checking the winner’s box on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 to see if you won. Good Luck!
Comics. I send appropriate comics to friends and family when I find onee that suits them to a T. I read quite a few quirky webcomics and have quite a few quirky friend and family, so it works well :)
A call is all it takes to make me smile. I can vent and laugh at the same time.
I show up to babysit the kids and send my friend away to relax for a few hours.
I would send over professionally made dinners so that they wouldn’t have to stress about cooking for a night.
I absolultley love baking pies, and the favorite in my house seems to be Sweet Potato Pie. so when i see that some one in my house is feeling down, i hop into that kitchen, and whip up a sweet potato pie, served along side vanilla ice cream of coarse :) the shear smell of the pie seems to cheer every one up !
Whenever my friends are feeling down, I make a pot of their favorite tea and listen for however long it takes for the conversation to turn from sad to jocular again. Even for my friend with clinical depression, this always seems to raise the spirits.
When my boyfriend is having a rough day, I like to cook his favorite meal (pesto pasta, garlic bread, greek salad, and a glass of shiraz) without him knowing. When he comes home, he always feels better! We take time to eat together and talk before we rush back to our busy schedules!
Call them in my long way home, and sometimes when I manage meet them drink some tea and talk and talk
I make killer chocolate chip cookies. Nothing can brighten your day more than divine morsels of peanut butter and chocolate.
Served with tea and a good talk (of course!)
I send little notes – words are the thing that touch me the most, and I find it easiest to express my love and appreciation for others with words, so I send messages, cards, and letters to my lovely friends.
Cry with them, realizing that ten seconds later, we’d be giggling and cracking up together and hugging each other. Life as it is– laughter is simply the ultimate cure.
I send notes (more often than not via email) or call them up to talk. :)
I send postcards to my little brother. As we all do, he loves receiving things in the mail, but he’s too young to get magazines or order things online, so getting postcards brightens his day. He keeps all the postcards I send to him, and he even has some of them memorized. Sometimes he quotes them to me when I come visit! “Hey Kelley, you know that postcard you sent me where you said…”
Give them a compliment when they’re least expecting it!
I make them a stack of coconut bluberry pancakes layered with banana and topped off with berries and mayple syrup. That with a sympathetic ear and a sunlit room never fails to lift the heart and soul.
FOOD! I try really hard to remember people’s favorite coffee drinks, desserts or meals to make it for them in order to bring a little practical satisfaction/ bright thoughtfulness to their day :)
I spend much of my workday in an online conversation with one of my best friends who lives across the country from me, who also spends her whole day at a computer. (This conversation does not interfere with our work! In fact, we often run things past each other about our jobs, or use each other to vent a little so we can handle some of the crazy personalities in our respective offices.) When she’s having a particularly hard time with something, I look up one of her favorite songs on YouTube and send her the link to watch it. The most sure-fire one is the You Can Call Me Al video. You cannot help but feel uplifted and ready to take on the world after that song!
Share time together! So often schedules are so busy and I think giving people time to just sit and enjoy a glass of wine and each other’s company is the most loving thing I can do. I know that is what I appreciate the most!
i find adorable pictures of baby animals on zooborns.com and email them to my friends when they are feeling down… they can’t resist at least a small brief smile when they see a baby pigmy hippo!
I try to just listen without butting in or giving my opinion. Often it seems that just having a willing ear to tell all your troubles to helps immensely. I’ve also found that a big bouquet of flowers helps anyone cheer up, especially if they’re super happy like sunflowers!
when i know my freinds or faily have rough week ahead i make them dinner – i will call them on the morning of hte delvery to let them know they don’t need to prep dinner i will bring it over! someone else’s homecooking always makes me feel better so i try to spread the love!!
I love to make cards, so I send my good friends homemade cards with encouraging thoughts in them. I also am a die-hard flower gifter. I rarely go to someone’s house without flowers to give. That always makes someone’s day!
I think kind words and the way you say every day things makes all the difference.
Just a simple hug, kiss and compliment can work wonders!
write them letters…mail them, hide them, display them. I really love to put notes in weird places like inside a dvd case, under a coffee table, etc. When I’m out of town, I write them an email or send them a text to tell them where to go find the note!
It depends on the friend. My favorite way to cheer up my friend who was also my college roommate senior year was to send her fractional birthday wishes. She loved her half birthday, so I figured she would also appreciate a 322/365 birthday wish. It was humerous and fun; what better way to brighten a day. If she was down I would send a card with the right fraction to her mailbox or make her breakfast in bed with a little “birthday” note.
To cheer my fiance up I tend to do a silly dance, or say random quotes from our favorite movies or shows… basically anything I know will make him smile, because I just want him to be happy!
It seems to be a popular answer, but i love to make something sweet for my boy when he’s stressed out or upset…mint choc chip cookies or anything pumpkin usually does the trick. And of course a nice walk with our pup always puts us in a good mood!
I like the old school hand written card or note. When my loved one is down I’ll write a small love note…yes even to my girlfriends! Everyone deserves a little love note.
I send unique and special cards. It’s not often that anyone gets a handwritten note anymore, and I know that they always make me smile (especially since the mailbox is usually just filled with bills.)
I think giving time to friends is a huge gift that makes days brighter! I like to bake up some surprise treats (pumpkin bread is a big one or chips and homemade salsa, maybe a little sangria too) and bring them over to my friends place and just spend time with them talking and hanging out.
I like to send a special card or a care package to brighten someone’s day. These days with email and cell phones people rarely get anything special in the mail, and it’s a nice surprise to know that someone is thinking of you.
I send a one-month subscription to Netflix.
I like to call them and sing to them or tell them funny jokes and anecdotes. Anything to lighten their mood and load and remind them that there are bright times in the past and future. I also like to leave little notes or text messages in places they will find throughout the day with little pictures so that the smile stays on their face!
I send my best friend an inspirational quote via email every day. We live far away now and I love that this small act makes me feel connected to her each day.
It’s so simple, it’s sad. I give them their favorite piece of candy, drink from Starbucks, or a simple hug.
I cook :0)
And I am not even that good, but when I cook, it’s a miracle! So it usually brightens their day!
I like to slip notes in my husbands lunch box. I write them on a napkin or cut a heart out of paper, and slip it in whenever he isn’t looking.
I bake bread (or cornbread for my celiac friends) and mix up some homemade cocoa. Then we turn on some British sitcoms and sit back and enjoy the afternoon.
I get them over to my place and then surround them with good food and drinks, a good movie, and girl talk. I make sure they know that I’m there to listen but they don’t have to talk; I want them to let their hair down and enjoy themselves.
My sweetie calls on his breaks at work for encouragement to go walking (mood adjuster, yay! weight loss, yay!) and, he says, to hear my voice. Not to mention so he can tell me about his work day. We work very different shifts, so it’s sometimes the only time we get to talk in a day. So one of the things I can do to brighten his mood is to be present for those calls (not just answer the phone, but really *be there*). And when I can’t be available for the call (running errands or otherwise just not able to answer), I leave happy messages for him.
That, and we send LOLCats to each other. :)
A kind email or text. Sometimes I’ll send a card in the mail.
I try to think of something unique to them… not everyone goes for flowers, but there are so many etsy shops that I find unique things… I once sent a friend a cupcake and homesick friend a portion of a map from her hometown… I think little thoughtful gestures, unique to a person really mean a lot.
She calls me, or sends me fun toys in the mail…. I love her!
Often, it’s a goofy phone call in a funny voice. If the situation is more serious, I show up with their favourite take-out and a movie.
I always try and cheer my loved ones up, whether its cracking an awkward joke that always gets them laughing, or putting my heart into making them a homemade card!
I bake. It’s what I do best. So I bake something to make the house smell good for my hubby coming home from work. I bake chocolate to cheer up my friend who might have had a bad day. I make sure my sisters get the best birthday cakes ever. Food always brings a smile to people’s faces.
I usually send them a greeting card or an e-card with a really nice message. My favorite one’s are from Maya Angelou. She is such a great poet!
My friends say that I am funny so I try to tell a true, funny story to get them to laugh. This works every time!