forturs

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011

Many of you may be familiar with Lumens Light and Living, a fantastic resource for lighting, as well as for modern furniture, accessories and area rugs. I have been lucky enough to have been working with them for many years as a resource for my design projects, and more recently they have become a design client of mine!

I have had a blast working with the team at Lumens to design and stage the sets for their ad campaigns for the last year, like the one above. The ads have been shown in Elle Decor, Dwell magazine, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, as well as local media. I couldn't ask for a better client or a more creative team to work with.

I recently sat down with Susan Purdy, who writes the blog for Lumens which is aptly named The Light Stuff. I am privileged to be in their designer spotlight this month!

I hope you have a chance to hop on over and take a peek at Susan's blog post on the Light Stuff HERE. You may just find you will want to catch up on all of The Light Stuff!

The Truth About My Wednesday's Relationship Corner - ACHTUNG!

So, I’ve been blogging about relationships and matters of the heart for almost a year now. It happened by chance when I began blogging about “The Game” and realized there was an interest in this topic. Blogging on relationships were initially not the easiest or my favourite thing to do. However, overtime I’ve grown a liking for these blogs. And for some reason they incite the most responses, emails and offline discussions.

But, what surprises me most about these Wednesday’s Relationship Corner blogs is the interest male readers have shown. As a female I'm well aware of the "girl chat" perspective of relationships; but, hearing the interest of males on my meandering thoughts, I can’t help wondering whether the true hopeless romantics are men.

Whatever the case is, at the end of the day I think the only thing that people are seeking is to love and to be loved in return. So why do people play these “games?” Part of me can’t help thinking it has to do with not feeling worthy enough.

People like what they can’t have and anything that is not a challenge seems to be undervalued. Seems strange, doesn’t it? Think about it… How many people do you know who have blown off someone who was a good person, but for whatever reason, they just weren’t "into" them, even though they were willing to give the world to that person. It's almost like they unconsciously tell themself, that something must be wrong with anyone who could TRULY like them for who they are AND not because of their job, money or success.

How many times have you done the blowing off??? We've all done it.

To quote Oprah, "there is a difference you know, between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing you are worthy of happiness." You are worthy!

The truth of the matter is we have got to start loving and treating ourselves the way we desire to be treated. And I believe when you do this, you are in the position to be receptive of the person that is willing to treat you like the King/Queen you truly are instead of settling for the dud that makes you work for their attention.

You’re worth it,

Nicole

Relationship Non-expert…. Just a girl with a blog

Round Curved Leg Coffee Table

round curved leg coffee table

Sunday, August 21, 2011

However When Our Big Screen TV

However when our big screen TV

Bitter Sweet Symphony

The beauty of children is their infinite imagination and their ability to see only the ways, instead of the obstacles. But, something funny happens as we mature and grow older we gain more life experiences, more heart aches and more obstacles that begin to cast a shadow over our once youthful imagination of possibilities. The world of conformity beckons and it is easy to see how people become caught in a rat race, as they watch time slip so rapidly through their hands. But, I believe it doesn’t have to be that way.

We are the captain of our fate and all it takes is courage to dare to be whom and what we want to be, free from the opinions and expectations of others. Sure, there are elements in life that will make our pursuits challenging but if you have the will, dedication and commitment to a goal anything is possible.

Bitter Sweet Symphony paints this melancholy picture of people caught in this mold of trying "to make ends meet , you're a slave to the money then you die" and with the added conflict of wanting to change but feeling trapped that you can’t change. I challenge you to be true to your self. Life is there for our taking.

Colouring outside the lines,

Nicole

Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve

Cause it's a bitter sweet symphony this life...
Try to make ends meet , you're a slave to the money then you die.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down...
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the things meet, yeah.

No change, I can change, I can change, I can change,
but I'm here in my mould , I am here in my mould.
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next...
I can't change my mould , no,no,no,no,no,no,no

Well I've never prayed,
But tonight I'm on my knees, yeah.
I need to hear some sounds that recognise the pain in me, yeah.
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind , I feel free now.
But the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now.

No change, I can change, I can change, I can change,
but I'm here in my mould , I am here in my mould.
And I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mould, no,no,no,no,no,no,no

Have you ever been down?
I can change, I can change...

Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life.
Trying to make ends meet, try to find somebody then you die.
You know I can change, I can change, I can change,
but I'm here in my mould, I am here in my mould.
And I'm a million different people from one day to the next.
I can't change my mould, no,no,no,no,no,no,no

We've got ya sex and violence melody and silence
(Have you ever been down)
(I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down)