Archive for category Inspiration
Cultural Creatives, Are you one?-Part 1
Posted by Irene Turner in Inspiration, Product/Trend Alert! on February 2, 2012
Have you heard about the Cultural Creatives?
All my life I have felt a bit out of place, like the shoe doesn’t totally fit, and lately (really, over the last several years) added to that I’ve been feeling a bit of malaise where my creative spark used to be, a lack of inspiration. It feels like a rub, a chafing, a bit of discomfort. A perfect time to contemplate some of the larger questions in my life. Chafing is perfect for that, isn’t it?
Don’t get me wrong, I will always LOVE creating a home, for others and for myself. I love being of service in my business and in my personal life. But in the big picture, something feels like it’s missing!
In this period of transition that our world is in I feel that there needs to be something more, something bigger then ourselves to contribute, provide, give back. Something beyond what I’ve always done… something…just…more. AND, I’ve felt an internal pressure that it needs to be done NOW!
The one feeling I’ve been able to identify is a deep need to “use less, give more” in all aspects of life. A need for sustainability on every level, from health, to money, to food, to our homes. I’ve been feeling an inner need to “step up to the plate” so to speak, yet I’m not completely sure what that plate looks like.
Recently, through a friend on Facebook I came across the movie, Cultural Creatives. Initially published as a book in 2000, The Cultural Creatives is written by by sociologist Paul H. Ray and psychologist Sherry Ruth Anderson.
Frigyes Fogel, is the project founder for the movie, with interviews of the authors of the book as well as groups all over the world who are deeply involved in this movement! Fogel writes that making the movie changed his life, and I can tell you that watching it has changed mine! Here are some of the premises of a Cultural Creative person as defined on Wikipedia and in the movie:
Continue reading “Cultural Creatives, Are you one?-Part 1” »
2012-Cultivating Gratitude
Posted by Irene Turner in Inspiration on January 3, 2012
I ended 2011 with a bang…literally.
On December 28th I found myself driving down to Palm Springs for an early delivery of some carpeting to update a project for a long standing client. I was T-boned in my car at a Cal Trans construction site at the Kettleman City exit off of hwy. 5. I am quite fine except for the normal aches, pains and tension that accompany such a high impact accident. My car is not! AND, I am incredibly grateful to have walked away alive, as did the other driver.
This has caused me to reflect on gratitude in general, and all the things I am grateful for in my life. So much so, that gratitude tops my list of activities to consciously part take in this year of 2012. Continue reading “2012-Cultivating Gratitude” »
Why Beauty Matters
Posted by Irene Turner in Inspiration on December 15, 2011

Pluto and Proserpina marble statue:1622 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini-image courtesy of Healthy is the New Skinny
Through Beauty we are brought into the sacred. E.Kant
I LOVE beauty…just in case you weren’t sure.
I truly believes that beauty uplifts us and brings us great joy. Recently I found this BBC documentary by Robert Scruton on YouTube that speaks to why beauty matters in our lives. It is a must see documentary. Continue reading “Why Beauty Matters” »
Apple Arrives at Grand Central
Posted by Irene Turner in Inspiration, Product/Trend Alert! on December 13, 2011
Yes, I’ll admit it, at heart I’m still a New York Girl. I LOVE that city. I think what I love the most about it is that it’s constantly changing. Never more apparent then with the advent of an Apple store in the historic Grand Central Station!
Opening to the public this past Friday, December 9, 2011, this mega-apple-store is located behind the east and northeast balconies, overlooking the main concourse. It offers three Genius bars, 15 minute express workshops, and dedicated rooms where people can set up new devices and learn how to operate them. Continue reading “Apple Arrives at Grand Central” »
Shop Locally…Please!
Posted by Irene Turner in Holidays, Inspiration on December 1, 2011
The “Shop Locally” campaigns cropping up nationally are an effort to build awareness of the importance of supporting your community through the loyalty you display to your locally owned businesses. It is also a grassroots effort to help re-build our economy, beginning in your own back yard, which will in turn, spread and help the economy nationally.
Why? When you shop locally, you invest in your community, in your neighbors and therefore in yourself. Continue reading “Shop Locally…Please!” »









