Noury's Creative World…

Don’t intend to promote any products here, but this perfume which I just love, love, comes from Jo Malone.  It was the perfume my daughter wore on her wedding day.  I loved it so much, just as the photographer and everyone else in the room, that I decided to get my own.  I just promise to my daughter, I will not wear it when I am in her town.

The lady at the counter did such a beautiful job with the packaging, that it made it feel more special.  So is everything else in life.  You put an extra little effort, and there you have it, something very special.  This perfume was on my Bucket List and today it has been crossed out.

This was one of the scenes at the shopping mall where I purchased my treasured perfume, and it was all very enticing for all of us there, to depart with our money.  I used that plastic rectangle three times while there.  All in the name of the holidays and of course, being happy.

It was a beautiful morning…good hair weather, with no humidity, and I am happy with my newly found treasures.  It doesn’t take much to make me happy.

Another day of sharing the wonderful opportunity of being an angel on earth having a human experience.

The muses must be somewhere close by.  They have been absent since July 2011.  I am sure you have noticed this.  The inspiration well has been dry for a while now, but we must carry on.

Thanks for reading…hopefully it will get better one of these days.

Happy Contessa

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.”  From The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French writer, poet and pioneering aviator.  29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944.

This was not the original picture for this posting, but it will have to do for now.  My apologies.

When I receive this piece of mail from a very dear friend, my stress level reaches an all time high.  Hers is always the first season’s greetings card that I have received for as long as I can remember.

So, when I see this in my mail, that means again, that the stress has just begun.  I don’t even want to open it, because it means I have to get my derriere in high gear.

I think this dear friend sits down and on the Friday after Thanksgiving, she is just waiting for 12:01 am to release all of her cards.  I love her dearly and would love for her to get me going in a sort of another way, but life is just that, life.  I already have my two little Christmas trees all decked up and the condo looks like I am all ready and set to go.  Yeah…don’t I wish.  I really don’t want to go into the stores, but I know I have to…or a thought just occurred…maybe I don’t have to go at all, and wait and see reactions.  But knowing how my self-confidence level is always on a variant…I know I will go like the rest of us, and break down and use that plastic rectangle.

Caramba!  Something nice in Spanish…just a phrase to release some steam.  I wish I could go into space until January 2nd and meditate in a bubble all the time.  I will be so melted and peaced out when I return, that maybe no one will recognize me.  Probably all my wrinkles will be gone (Yes!), and my nerves will be non-existent.  Hey Santa, are you listening?

Until next time, I will share a view of my small Christmas vision.

Happy Contessa

“It’s that wonderful time of the year…”  Ding, dong, ding, dong.

Checking on my blog, noticed it was snowing!  So had to change theme of the main page in a big hurry…

This is my grand-doggie’s gift.  His name is Baxter Brown, who has his own page on Facebook.  He was number one on my list.  So easy to please and I know how excited he gets when he gets a little present.

There is no wisdom right now, or maybe yes…start getting your presents (or not) pretty soon, because there are only so many shopping days left, sort of to drain your wallet and your checking account.

Sorry, but for me, this is what the holidays have become, trying to give to people who need your present like they need a hole in their brain.

I am positive I am not alone on this.  What’s wrong with giving love, compassion, caring, and empathy all throughout the year, instead of buying something that probably the provenance is from….China and they do not need anyways.  With my utmost respect to the Chinese people.

There I am, and I thought I had nothing to say…oh yes…college football is keeping me on the edge of my seat.  Love it!

Promise next posting will be more profound and maybe entertaining.

Happy Contessa

“Sometimes silence better serves the purpose of trying to say anything at all.”  Me

This is what greets me when I come into my kingdom…some of my books, a picture of my lovely daughter and her husband, and a sense of gratitude because I made it back home safe and happy to be in this place, and at this time in my life.

I am such a fortunate woman…the good Lord has always been by my side, to guide, protect, and encourage me when I need it most.

I am in a priceless place in my life and my heart just swells with gratitude and happiness.

Life is ultra good!

Wish all of you my friends wherever you may be today…a very Happy Thanksgiving Day and may your journey continue to be one of joy, gratitude and happiness.  Of course there will be some bumps on the road of our lives, but those are minor things compared to the bigger picture.  It is all about the bigger picture.

Love,

Your Happy Contessa

While visiting with family in South Florida, we made a stop along the way back, and when I saw this sign, it reminded me that in our family of three we used to always say, “follow the signs, the signs are your friend.”  That was also what Milagros told me when we visited Paris, and we were at Charles de Gaulle Airport… just landed, and I was obviously anxious, because we did not know a soul in Paris, and our francais was comme ci comme ca (so so).

She said this immortal words to me “mami, let’s follow the signs, they are your friend.”  That’s what we did, even when we did have my Google-printed instructions to go to the places we went.  Of course, Milagros, being young and very confident, sometimes defied the instructions.  Me? melting inside with the fear of getting lost, but she aced it all the time, and that’s how we found some places we would have missed had we followed Mrs. Google’s instructions.

Life is full of signs…invisible signs, intuitive signs, on-your-face signs, very loud signs and little signs that are like a knock on your mind and heart.   I live trying to figure out what’s their meaning, and that’s when I get all tangled up.  My patience is very limited and I want to know things pronto and with meaning very well spelled out.

Life is bigger, stronger and smarter than I am, so usually after wrestling for a while with “my signs,” I usually let go.  Do I have a choice?  Of course not!

Well…just wanted to share with all of you my wonderful readers, that the universe is always talking to us, even if we decide to listen or not.  I am still learning to listen very quietly.  Sometimes is in a language I totally do not recognize.

Another day in my beautiful, mysterious, wonderful life.

Happy Contessa

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious…”  Albert Einstein, German theoretical physicist.  14 March, 1879 – 18 April, 1955.

One of the definitions of crush is…”short-lived infatuation.”  Yep, it happened already.  No longer infatuated…I have recovered my common sense, the peace and freedom of my mindset.  I feel like a new woman…again.

“We” were like two ships that crossed their paths in the middle of the night…and we sailed away from each other without knowing we almost touched our lives.  Sounds poetic, and yes, there’s poetry in romance.

But…it’s over!  I am feeling  totally recovered…no more butterflies in my stomach.  That’s a good thing.  I am leaving the romantic stuff at the moment to the characters in my soap operas, and watch all the drama from far away.  Do not need or want unnecessary drama in my wonderful life.

To all the fans of my humble blog, I am sorry that the news is not that exciting, like the news of my infatuation with Mr. Wonderful…but all things always come to an end…even the good and exciting stuff in life.

Having said all of that…I saw this morning on my way to the supermarket, the cutest guy on earth.  From my car window.  And that’s the way it will stay.  What?  I did not say I will stop looking and entertaining another little crush.  It is fun and it keeps my neurons trying to figure out what’s going on with my mind.  Love this!

Well…another day in my ever exciting life of… to crush or not to crush.  🙂

Your Happy Contessa

“Learning to live is learning to let go.”  Sogyal Rinpoche, a Tibetan Dzogchen lama.  Author of  “Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.”  Born in 1947.

My life…fall is here…needed to change the decor…light up the fireplace…wait a moment…I don’t have a fireplace.  Maybe it is in my far, far distant future…like when I go to visit heaven and come back as the most beautiful baby girl ever!  Yes, girls have more fun.

What about the title?  Yes, I must confess, I have fallen deeply in love.  Not telling who the lucky guy is.  He does not have the foggiest idea what’s going on.  Neither do I.  Am I infatuated?  Who knows.  This have never happened to me before.  I always had the guys eating out of my hand…but no…this little guy came and I am letting my saliva out of my mouth without any control whatsoever.  Man…this is very hard for me to have to confess all of this.  But…who do I tell?  My friends…don’t think so.  They would not believe that the self-confident, arrogant and so “my life is perfect as it is” has fallen for a difficult to describe guy.  C’est la vie!

There it is…I have managed to spill the beans without a warning whatsoever.  But…I must admit, I feel lighter, butterflies in my stomach every time I think of …him…boy, this is getting harder as it goes.  Love is a beautiful and wonderful thing.

Now, the question that I have…knowing myself…how long is this going to last?  I am very impatient and I must admit, I love, love, and again, love my life as it is.  There’s no room, or space to accommodate anybody else in my wonderful life.  So…by deduction and logic, which by the way, I love logic…this is on the way out already.  It felt good while I was typing it…but as one of my favorite phrases goes…next!  Thing in my agenda, I should have added.

I had fun typing this…hope you had a good laugh…I surely did!

Your Happy Contessa

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow.”  Saint Isidore of Seville, Born in Cartagena, Spain.    c 560 – 4 April, 636.

What a good life I have…this is my breathtaking-so-Southern- view when I go for my daily walk around 7:30 am every day…well…except Sundays.

Today was laundry, languages, and then I decided to learn how to make a movie with pictures in my files.  The movie so far is only around 17 seconds…with music added, yes, music…I remember my precious daughter made a movie with some pictures and then she spend a few good hours adding music to it, to have it ready for me before I went back home, then North Carolina.   The movie was about our visit to  Paris a few years ago, so I decided that we somehow share our DNA, so if she can do this kind of things, so can I.  The roles have somehow reversed on some things.  Now I look up to her.  If she can do it…so can I.  Cool!

After a while, I put the whole project in the circular file until I feel aggressive enough to tackle the beast again.  It has not hit the recycle bin, as of right now.

Other than that nothing much to report, except that I already prep my cantaloupe, lettuce, apple, etc for my ever healthy lunch.

Some of you probably are thinking…really, are you thinking?  Just a joke!

Have a happy day!

Your Happy Contessa

“Finding what degree of happiness is enough for oneself is an exhilarating experience.”  La Contessa

Talking with one of my best friends recently,  we were conversing, again, about becoming Medicare babes. For those of you that are not inhabitants of the United States, the Medicare word is associated with having reached the tender, lovely and mature age of 65.  There is plenty to talk about, analyze, etc.  You get the drift.

I was telling her about my new beautiful pink shoes. Loved these shoes, but after I purchased them and brought them home, I tried to walk with them on, to have a better feel and to get used to this new daring and darling pair of high heel pumps. After a few steps,  I started to question my mindset when I purchased these beautiful shoes. Loved them…but I pictured that around  the end of the evening, someone will have to pick me up me with a spatula from the dancing floor.

Yes, I do dance and did the wobble at my daughter’s wedding. I am worthy of dancing with the smallest shinning speck in the sky.  But, after my first attempt at being a celebrity in the Randy to the Rescue, Washington, D.C. episode, I really don’t want to deal with paparazzi. Go figure.

As a Medicare-Babe-to-be, my mind thinks mid-thirties, my body acts anyway it feels like, but not necessarily in agreement with my mind.

Getting in the vintage stage of our lives can be fun, interesting and a royal pain on my feet. Loved those pink pumps, but…they went back to the store to torture another pair of feet. I must clarify that they were half a size too big, otherwise they would be torturing mine, with controlled pleasure.

With that very profound pondering, I must leave now.

Your Happy Contessa

“It is not how old you are, but how young you think.” …yeah, right…tell it to the Marines.

This morning while taking my now sweaty-and warm-walk, I met a neighbor who happened to be taking her morning walk also.

Inevitably, we started talking about our issues and challenges…and then at the end of our casual meeting, she said…”I feel better about my life after having met you.”

Wow! You pray for moments like this, and then bang! it happens. I never know what the Lord has in mind for my days, but I am finding out that if I let my Creator take over, my life becomes peaceful, joyful and meaningful. Very meaningful.

I guess I am in one of those days that I am in alignment with my Creator…feeling very good about my journey.

I read recently somewhere that when I focus on the goodness of situations and people, everything looks and feels better.

With that profound wisdom…I wish you all a beautiful continuation in your journey.

Your Happy Contessa

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.” George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and co-founder of the London School of Economics. 26 July, 1856 – 2 November, 1950.