I am not creative. I have heard this so many times and every time it makes me feel sad. Why do we all grow up to think of ourselves as not creative. At what moment do we loose our innate drive to create, make, experiment and enjoy. I was one of those non believers too until my house started filling with little ones and my soul ached for a creative outlet. I picked up needles, brushes, paper and eventually a camera. Still I didn’t think of myself as creative but everyday I trust myself a little more. The subject fascinates me and by creating this series I hope to foster the spirit of creativity and make you realize that we are all creative.

Today I welcome my friend Angela. She shares her daily life and artistic musings on her blog Peach Coglo and today she was kind enough to share with us what creativity is….

Creativity is . . .

listening to that creative voice inside of you  . . . you know the one , your authentic voice, the voice that speaks to all of your dreams

recognizing that you are a creative being even no matter what, whether it’s putting pen to paper, paint to brush, palms on clay, your finger on that shutter – or not

taking “I can’t” out of your vocabulary

realizing that you can always start over and that’s okay

finally accepting that you have so much to offer to others, and to yourself; you are enough – just as you are

Everyday i can choose to see the limitations imposed on me or the opportunities around me.

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I’m sure you have met him at least once in your life. I know I met him many times.

Our first encounter was on the school playground. He pushed me off the swing and told me I needed to go play somewhere else. Yes him the bully. That’s when we first met and he seems to resurrect at different stages of my life.

Later  he morphed into a pimple ridden hormonal teenager. The god of coolness. The one who judged who belonged and who was cool and in. The “right” clothes, the “right” shoes, the right way to wear your backpack. The dictator was back and this time he had a bit more vocabulary albeit niceties and kindness were not part of them.

After high school I can’t remember seeing him much. I was too busy geecking out on my math books to be very social anyway so I had a couple of years of respite . That is until I had children…

Yes he came back this time as the self-righteous mother. The one with very strong ideas on parenting. The one who was happy to share them with the world or shove it down its throat. Depending on who you ask.

It didn’t matter if she ferberized or co-slept, ate organic or luncheables was her definition of a nutritious meal. She could have one kid or many more. She could be staying home or working. It didn’t really matter. Her way was the only way! again she decided what was good and bad parenting. She could stare you down from the other side of the park if she thought you lacked in parenting skills.

The truth is at first she scared me, really who wants to deal with her. I couldn’t stand up to the bullying no more than I did when I was 6 or 16. I am scared of bullies, i just can’t deal with them.  I wanted to fit in, I longed to belong to the inner circle. So I became that person for a little while. The one that judges other moms performances. Her child was whining, well she wasn’t firm enough. She handed her son a bag of Cheetos, oohhh! she works full-time, who is with the kids? she is home and hired a helper, really what did she do with her days. Ugly, plain ugly!

I never said anything but I judged a lot. I did that until I realized my insecurities were making me behave that way. I was seeking validation  so I judged. How could my decisions be the right ones if they were different from others. I have become wiser since, I have a different view now. If you love your kids and tell them I am on your side.

Deciding to be part of the generous hearts was much more fun .The one that helps you wipe the sand of your shirt after you were pushed from the swing. The one that smiles at you in high school and with whom you share laughs and jokes. The one that smiles when your child throws a tantrum at the cash register and tells you mine did just the same. I am part of the sisterhood and I stay away from the bullies. They have too much negative juju around them.

Peace lasted a little time until I started hanging out in photography forums. This time the bully came back with a vengeance because now he/she could hide behind a screen. At the drum of “faux-tographers” and “MWAC” (mother with a camera in plain english) and other names. Yes he was back. The skin color patrol, the exposure patrol, the blown highlight patrol, the I know better and I will beat you down to submission team. This bully’s natural habitat is the photography forums and he feasts on newbies. He will even start a public flocking on Facebook or Twitter. Bully on steroid.

Life is full of choices. some are trivial: blue or black shirt. Some are more important.This time I had to choose on what side of the fence I wanted to be as a budding photographer. Be generous and kind or morph into the bully. the decision came in stages because when you are insecure about life or your work it can be hard.

Then I met (virtually or in person) extremely talented and generous people in the business. People who despite their fame or success took the time to talk to the freshmen not cut their teeth on them. They answered questions with generosity of heart. I think of people like Matthew Jordan Smith or Zack Arias, Rachel Devine, Becky Earl or Jonathan Canlas…just to name a few. the beauty of their work is only surpassed by their generosity.

This time again I choose the nice kids and shame on the bullies.

joining Amanda in weekending. my favorite part of the week. a time to relax, live, love, just be.

++++++

this weekend was icy and cold. really cold.

my big plans of spending saturday in NYC were changed. my artist date was postponed and instead i had a date with my life.

three great kids, a man i would marry again and again and a pile of laundry. i could do without the laundry but there is a price to pay for everything.

there was much reading and my book was befitting  the weather. still reading Russian tzar’s biographies and Catherine II is fascinating in her own right.i wish princess stories were more about strong women figures instead of wimpy maidens waiting for prince charming. oops i will get off the soap box.

i decided to say yes a little bit more and that led us to a favorite turkish restaurant and chucky e.cheese. and before anyone reminds me i had sworn never to take my kids there, let me just say i am a weak mother ;o)

my kids had so much fun and after all that matters more than anything.

the mr. and I started watching the wire. it’s been on my watch list since the creator was on charlie rose…about 3 years.

sunday nap was followed by some swimming and then we all got ready for the week to come. some with reading, others with listening and again others with packing.

how was your weekend?

If would like to start a series on the blog.

My goal is to have creative women and to be more precise mothers to talk to us about what creativity means to them. I personally have a deep interest in the subject and I always wonder how one can be creative in the busy and demanding child rearing years.

The assignement is fairly simple: Creativity is…and you can let your imagination do the rest. You can contribute a post, a picture, a piece of art. There are no limits and no boundaries.

So if you would like to participate or think of a blogger/artist/painter or photographer you want to see featured please leave a comment or email me.

please help me spread the word!

A quiet afternoon. People dream of exotic destinations and fancy places, I only dream of being home and having nothing to do.

A house, three children, meals and boat loads of laundry don’t account for much leisure time. So everytime it happens I savor it.  This afternoon was one of these magic moments. The boys were playing chess with a friend, I was reading to Layla then we made cake. How I love those quiet afternoons.

There is a circle of amazing ladies joining to celebrate the things we Love. i hope you will check them all out. next up…Kerry || Young Ones

I embarked on a journey to simplify our lives and around the time I went back to work it has fallen by the wayside. Stuff started creeping up back again in our home, on our calendar and in my mind.

I crave simplicity in my daily life, in my home decor, my kitchen counter…yet with all my yearning for simplicity, it was getting so elusive. I was feeling frustrated. Life goes so fast and I am aching for more simplicity. I decided last week to go back to my old habits and embracing simplicity again in our lives.

One of the blogs I find very interesting on the subject is Simple Mom. I find Tsh’s approach very similar to mine and I love reading her posts. I had her latest book One bite at a Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Easier. I read it cover to cover in an evening and I think that is what I need right now, simple steps to getting back to a simpler life.

Some projects won’t apply to me like starting a garden or finding a hobby, while others are already part of my daily life still I will enjoy the process.

Today marks week one and my very first project will be to streamline my e-mail. The ever demanding beast!

Some simple rules I will follow:

• i will check email twice a day
• i will reply right away even with two sentences
• unsubscribe, unsubscribe from all the email lists unless I read them…which I hardly ever do

the hardest part will probably be checking my emails only twice a day. You see my name is Imene and I am a compulsive email checker. The first thing I did is that I disable email notifications on my computer, phone and tablet. Maybe if I don’t see it I will not be tempted…

What would you like to simplify in your life?

The next project update will be next monday. Now if you will excuse me I just noticed my screen needs a good dusting ;o)

A quiet weekend and an empty calendar
Best combination to keep everyone in a good mood
An unplugged weekend. No email checking, facebook posting or tweeting.
I curled up in bed with the littlest, played games with the boys, smelled my children hair while i read to them.
Allowed myself to just be.
I loaded film in my Hasselblad an vanquished my fear of using it.
Watched a movie with my husband. It was really hard to watch and i hid my face in the pillow many times.
Did you watch it? I am not sure i would have picked it if i had read the synopsis. It is still a beautiful story of hope.
I read the last pages of  Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov. Six hundred pages in four days, i am glad that my passion for history is still there. I have read many accounts of the last Romanov but ths one was by far the best.
Sunday afternoon was as quiet. Some swimming, a bit of Super Bowl and quiet reading for me.

How was your weekend?

A suburban mother’s role is to deliver her children obstetrically once, and by car for ever after.

Peter De Vries

waiting in the car. driving from one activity to the other.

not the style of the house so we (I) decided long ago that my children would only be involved in one sport and one cultural activity at a time. Which meant until now the saturday morning swim class.

now that Samy is 7 we changed our routine a little bit. this little boy has such a good musical ear and can pick a tune so we started piano lessons. 30 minutes a week, too short to go anywhere so we stay in the car. we read, i knit and sometime i call upon the DS to give me a little break.

i love to make him practice even if i had to re-learn reading notes. in europe and algeria we learn that the musical notes are do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si-do and here it’s ABCDEFG. so i am readjusting my skills to being the mother of a little american boy.

yes i have crossed to the dark side. the rage against the minivan has taken over.

May the force be with you!

P.S: you will excuse the phone camera shot but i still have to find a way to haul three kids, a handbag, a tote filled with toys snacks and my DSLR. i was thinking of getting a small camera i could keep in my bag. what do you think?

not me exactly but Imene Photography first ever public appearance. I set up a table at Mommy and Me vendors fair at Imagine That museum. i can’t begin to tell how stressed I was about participating in a local event and having to talk to total strangers about my photography. well my husband can maybe because poor soul he had to spend the evening before with me.

it was really really fun. i didn’t know i would be so comfortable talking to strangers but i think what really helped was the fact that i am so passionate about my work. being located near the firemen truck and the cool beetle made me a big hit with both parents and kiddos.

i had grand plans to take pictures but i ended up only snapping this before it all started and at the end i was just too tired to even bother.

tonight i am pretty proud of myself and so ready to relax while watching Downton Abbey.

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