May this dress encourage us to break rules and have fun!

This month has been so inspiring for me, as I research my feminine words of wisdom,

 I have found  some wonderful women that I have never heard of.  

Today's featured woman, Mary Lou Cook, is one of these amazing discovery.

“My advice is to be kind, be kind, be kind,” she said in an interview earlier this year at her 95th birthday celebration. “Everyone has a choice as to what their attention is going to be, and I chose peace, harmony and helping people.”

Born in an elevator at a Chicago hospital on April 29, 1918, Cook was one of three children of James and Louise Borders, who moved to El Paso so her father could become president of a bank. He died when she was 12, and his bank soon failed, forcing her mother to scrub floors and do other menial labor to make a living during the Great Depression.

“She would tell you that art and creativity saved her life,” said her friend Leslie Nathanson.

Mary Lou Cook met her husband, Sam Cook, at the University of Kansas, where she earned a degree in fine art in 1939. Her husband’s job in management of the Gray Bar Electric Co. meant the couple and their children moved often — El Paso, Texas; Tulsa, Okla.; Kansas City, Mo.; Milwaukee and Des Moines, Iowa.

She started doing volunteer work in El Paso and Kansas City, where she studied calligraphy. In Milwaukee, Cook helped to start an arts program for children. In Des Moines, she was a recruiter for the newly formed Peace Corps in 1962. In 1966, she was sent to Omaha, Neb., to organize a Peace Corps office there.

“At first, in Iowa, she had a very hard time fitting in because women at that time were supposed to be mothers only,” said her daughter Caren Cook. “But that’s where she really blossomed. She gave me the best life a kid could ever want. We had musicians over at our house every night and folk singers and black people, for heaven’s sake. It was a very, very rich life.”

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/peace-activist-mary-lou-cook-dies-at/article_1f223a64-a66a-5e7c-aeea-0cc10e6cc182.html

Mary Lou Cook was a peace activist, artist, minister, writer, founder of the Santa Living Treasures program and beloved local icon in the City Different. Often wearing her trademark distinctive hats, she was a regular feature at peace gatherings and other places where public affairs were discussed and decided upon. She served as New Mexico campaign manager for the presidential campaign of U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio. 

https://www.abqjournal.com/277306/activist-artist-minister-mary-lou-cook-dies-in-santa-fe.html

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, 

taking risks, breaking rules, 

making mistakes and having fun” 

Mary Lou Cook

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click here to join the dailydress project group on FB 

what do you think is an excellent example of being human??

“Live life fully while you're here. 

Experience everything. 

Take care of yourself and your friends. 

Have fun, be crazy, be weird. 

Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, 

so you might as well enjoy the process. 

Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: 

find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. 

Don't try to be perfect; 

just be an excellent example of being human.” 

Anthony Robbins

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click below to join the book of motherlove group on FB https://www.facebook.com/groups/bookofmotherlove/

day63: be divine and forgive ...

p.s. happy halloween <3

I did then what I knew how to do. 

Now that I know better, I do better.

Maya Angelou

There is a  reason that there's a saying "Hindsight is 20/20", meaning that it is easy for one to be knowledgable about an event after it has happened, emphasizing the idea of learning from your mistakes/experiences, and a topic I have discussed before on this blog.  But today I also want to discuss another ideas that stem from knowing more after the fact, which is releasing yourself from self criticism, guilt or shame about your mistake or misstep.

 It is good to learn from your mistakes but that doesn't mean to keep holding onto the negative feelings that come from the mistake. There is no reason to keep beating yourself up. 

Also as you grow up your opinions will change as you learn more about yourself and the world around you.  That is ok too.  Your tastes in clothes, partners, politics and so much more will morph and alter.  That is why many adults groan when they see a picture from their past which shows them wearing the trend of the time which was a really BAD look.  This is all part of life.  You can not and should not strive to live such an exemplary life, that you will never look back and cringe about some of your choices.  

The good, the bad and the ugly are all part of this thing called life.

So remember you will mess up, but take that opportunity to learn to do better and always remember to forgive yourself because as Alexander Pope said,

"To err is human; to forgive, divine." 

love, mom

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog, blog link

or click below to visit FB daily dress inspiration group FB link

May this dress help us to just relax and enjoy the ride ...

There is no such thing as failure. 

Mistakes happen in your life 

to bring into focus more clearly 

who you really are. 

Oprah Winfrey

below is a wonderful video of Oprah explaining

 that there are no mistakes and failure,

 and to just relax!!

Not bad advise, as head into a three day weekend!!! peace

if you have received this post as an email

click below to visit the entire blog,blog link

or click below to visit FB daily dress inspiration groupFB link