Skip to content

Month: July 2015

Worst Blogger Ever

Published by Autumn Brooke on July 31, 2015

Yup, that’s me!  I spend so much of my day writing and even promoting my blog, but forget to actually write on the actual page.   And to think that when I started the blog I was afraid that I would write too often and bombard the internet world with all of my thoughts and feelings.  Honestly I believe that has been such a fear for me that it is why I avoid the site.  I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve and I don’t assume that many want to hear about the in’s and out’s of my day.  Like at this moment my oldest child, who will be turning 13 in a month, is currently standing in my kitchen making toast with his little brother’s Mickey Mouse mask over his face, simply because he found it on the floor.  Or why the next in line, the 10 year old used hair gel as shower gel in the shower because he didn’t bother to read the bottle and I simply said there was new body wash on the counter.  Yes, that really happened!  The two youngest age 8 and 6 are this minute arguing over butter for their toast.  How do you argue over butter, you wonder, well let me tell you.  The 8 year old, can’t find butter, the 6 year old pulls the Brummel & Brown butter container out of the fridge.  The 8 year old says, “No, that’s yogurt.” The 12 year old chimes in, “It is made with  yogurt.” The 8 year old, “Really, they do that?  Gross!”  Leave it the 6 year old, “If it looks like butter, tastes like butter, It’s Butter!”  All of this within the first 15 minutes of them being awake this morning, and this is how my day will continue.  If I just wrote about the conversations I overhear between these four boys, I probably could feel an entire blog, my mother used to encourage me to do that from the time they were small.  Maybe one day, I will do it, I imagine that it will be a lot more interesting as they get into their teenage years.  For now I will just designate an actual writing day and time to keep up with my blog, unless I am suddenly hit with creative inspiration.  Otherwise I will entertain you with another antidote from my life of living with 4 boys, but I promise, I will try not to do that to you!

Leave a Comment

Keeping History Alive….

Published by Autumn Brooke on July 8, 2015

QM LEGO

Commodore Everette Hoard, Queen Mary LEGO Model

Photo Credit: Stephen Russo

It is apparent that I have a passion for History and strongly believe in educating our younger generations on the importance of recognizing that where we come from has an influence on where we are going, and the historic landmarks of our great nation have so many stories to tell.  I love British Literature from the Victorian and Romantic era so it is no wonder that I was fascinated by the Queen Mary, ultimately falling in love with her on my first visit.  Her history is vitally important to the rebuilding of America after WWII and amazingly many do not know her story, many do not even know she exists.  I have written a Children’s Picture Book on the Queen Mary, that led to a series, History Comes Alive,  where I plan to continue to write on iconic California landmarks, using a child’s perspective in giving a brief history behind these treasured places or venues.  My goal is to not only educate but inspire an interest to continue learning, and delving further into the history.  This is why I am so happy with the opening of the Shipyard on the Queen Mary.  A space dedicated to Historic and Archival photos and antique tools.  It is impossible to walk the ship without learning of her history, but the Shipyard has the history right at your fingertips, you can’t help but not learn a little bit by just spending time in this space.  What really draws the crowd is the LEGO model of the Queen Mary built by four certified master LEGO builders, of Britain’s Bright Bricks, that spent four months, 600 man hours, to recreate the Queen Mary with 250,00 LEGO bricks, weighing in at 604 lbs, and 26 feet.  An incredible feat that draws the attention of all, but especially children.  In the last two years, there have been a lot of changes aboard the Queen Mary and my favorite is their focus in drawing the attention of children.  They are in the process of building an interactive children’s museum that will be open in the near future and I cannot wait to see how much fun it will be, because Learning is Fun when given to our younger generations with their thought process in mind.  Our future needs to learn from our past, and it is our responsibility to teach them!

History_Comes_Alive__Cover_for_Kindle

Leave a Comment

Our emotions are but a storm

Published by Autumn Brooke on July 3, 2015

lightning_last_year_by_oompa123

 

Life has been a serious of up and down complications the past two weeks that have had me on an emotional roller coaster.  I haven’t posted  because I didn’t want to write about my feelings, but yesterday I remembered that my tag line is “Words of Heart, Mind, & Soul” so if I wrote I would not only be honest with my readers, but honest with myself.  That one thought gave me an epiphany that has given me a new perspective and I wanted to share it with you, because the one thing I know for a fact is that we all have good and bad days.  The weather has been just as tumultuous with this heat wave sending lightening storms throughout the valley, which is what led me to the recognition that I was having the same type of storms in my life.  Calm, blue, and peaceful one moment but dark, grey, clouds, the next, and during bursts of extreme chaos there can be thunder and lightening.  These chaotic storms that are so beautiful outside, are not so beautiful within a person.   I understand now that both are releases of energy and pressure, but can leave a trail of destruction in its wake if aimed at an object.  I ultimately never felt better after an outburst, and was falling in to a deeper level of sadness until the wind blew and changed my emotional state once again to feeling joy. I am only now coming to realize that I cannot always control my feelings, just as not every situation is controllable, but I can control my reaction to said situation.  The new kid’s movie out right now, Inside Out, sums up my blog exactly.  Not to give anything away, if you have yet to see it, but the premise is that our feelings cannot go exist, but throughout the movie, in order to be fully whole, that is exactly what has to happen…..  we must accept our sadness in order to feel true joy.  So, the next time that you feel mad, or sad, take a moment and work through your thoughts instead of trying to deny them or push them to the side, and maybe, just maybe, you will avoid that tumultuous storm!

(Picture Credit: http://www.preparemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/lightning_last_year_by_oompa123.jpg )

Leave a Comment
FOLLOW Brooke's Blog

Brooke's Blog