I Have A Dream

On a day that celebrates a great man that goes by the name of Martin Luther King Jr., I too, have a dream. A dream much like the great Dr. King. Where there are no prejudices, no prideful thinking. To love and assist others no matter where they come from, what color, race or religion they are. To live in a world of peace.
The only way to make such a dream a reality is to let go of the negative thoughts we feel towards others. To let go of the beliefs that we are in any way better than anyone else because of our financial status, the homes we live in, the neighborhoods we exist in, the color of our skin. Because we are each and every one of us special. We are all leaders in our own way.
Martin Luther King was a great leader. What does it mean to lead? The definition in the Free Dictionary by Farlex reads: "To inspire the conduct of." That is one of the many definitons of lead. Did Dr. King not inspire us? To inspire us to conduct ourselves in a better manner than we had previously? To push past our ignorance and former beliefs? God bless you Dr. King and your greatness. May we all live your dream. To watch and listen to this great mans speech, follow this link to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMXaTktUfA
Do You Have A Dream?

Have you lost your "muchness?"

In the new Disney Alice in Wonderland movie the Mad Hatter says to Alice, "you've lost your muchness." It is the beginning of a new year and a lot of us are making New Years Resolutions. Someone recently told me I have lost my muchness, but didn't use those words. As I was reflecting on that comment, I realized, yes, I truly have. What does it mean to lose your muchness? Well, to lose those spunky, lively parts of yourself that make you special and unique. To lose that inner drive, fire and passion that recently would drive you to take chances, to make things happen. For me, it was to lose the magic I had inside me. I used to be able to make amazing things happen. Like the Phoenix that rises from the ashes, I could take nothing and make it into something lively and incredible. Some of us are getting older and the thought is distressing. To see wrinkles, age lines, our bodies are not what they were in our early twenties. But do we have to give up? To go quietly into the night? I love the poem by Dylan Thomas: Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Rage against the things that bring you down, that makes us old, fat, and unhappy. We don't have to roll over and let things happen to us. It is a new year and a new beginning. If you hate your body- start simple, you don't have to join an expensive gym, or buy expensive exercise equipment. If you are in a cold weather state, the malls are open. You can walk laps for free inside them. I used to run a store in one nearby, and I was so inspired to watch all the younger and older folks making the laps to get that exercise. The T.V. has some great exercise programs. The Firm is a great workout video.
If you feel you have lost that inner drive and fire, read inspiring books, blogs, quotes or poems. Gratitude is a great way to start any goal. Be grateful for all that you have been blessed with. Even if it is small, even if things don't look promising. I do know the feeling of thinking things can't get worse, and then they do. Be humble and realize you don't know it all, let others assist and guide you to your goal. There is so much we can learn from others and their experiences.
May all of you regain your muchness or keep it strong and active!

Welcome To The Tea Party

For the first inspired idea, I decided to start off with a party to celebrate this fun new blog! I gave my friend an Alice in Wonderland adult tea party for her 35th birthday, and it was so much fun! My daughter asked for one right after her birthday last year, so a kid version of this will be posted after the party is over. So I love to create parties of all kinds. Start to finish. I know a lot of people pour over magazines,watch the t.v. for ideas etc. I don't get magazines, don't watch t.v. and have limited internet, so I imagine and dream up my ideas. I know sometimes others have come up with the idea, but on my end, I like to come up with my own fresh ideas. I love it when others tell me or show me thier fresh ideas, so I will have videos etc. from others as well with their inspiring ideas.

To do this party it is pretty easy. Decide the location first, then go from there. A lot of my decor came from the dollar store. The dollar store can be your best friend.

Queen Redds Dinner

I decided I would hold dinner in my dining room. I photoshopped and printed at Sams Club different characters from the story and placed characters related to Redd in that area. I got the playing cards from The Dollar store to make the centerpiece and the hanging banner. Flowers came from Sams Club. I love to do flower arranging, so I did the flowers myself. Redds Tablecloths came from the Dollar Store as well. I saved Heartbreaker candy from Valentines day for the favors, and had different quotes from the new Disney Alice in Wonderland movie rolled up inside. We read the quote and had to guess who said it. I used other Valenties Day parafanalia to decorate the room. Disney.com had the cute pictures of the new Alice in Wonderland characters you can print out for free. I printed them on cardstock and used them for the favors, flowers, and food.
For dinner we had Hatter bowtie pasta, with Redd sauce, twisted breadsticks, caterpillar green salad with sauted mushrooms, and Queen Redds fake red wine. After dinner, before we went out. I made up Alice in Wonderland Pictionary. I made up different characters etc. from the movie and everyone had fun with that. We played on my kids art easel. It worked great!




Tea Party

I Love Winegars in Roy. They made the cupcakes and eat me cookies. I told them how to make them with all the different colors and styles and they created exactly what I wanted. Plus their pastrys are so yummy.
I found some cute holders for the goodies at Michaels to match the plates and napkins.
I knew I wanted "eat me" cookies, and "drink me" drinks. I found these colorful drinks with no labels which I loved to add pop to the table. I used my Cricket to cut out the tags, and found the Alice in Wonderland font online for free and used that for all the writing. I cut out colorful cardstock for the tops to coordinate with the tags.
I bought 3 pieces of material and colorful ribbon was placed between the colors to create the look of 3 different tables in the tea party room.
I bought the flowering tea on ebay for a very affordable rate.
My grandma gave me a old punch bowl set and I used those for the tea cups, and different tea pots to put the flowering tea in. Since it is supposed to be all crazy, you can go to the D.I. or borrow whatever you need to create this look.
I made the Happy Birthday sign with my Cricket. I used old colorful scrapbook paper and ribbon to attach it and put it all together. I loved how it came out.
The paper lanterns were bought at the dollar store, so were the butterflies and dragonflies. I got the cool flamingo lights at Michaels with a 50% off coupon. They were 5.99.
The darling suckers came from Walmart at only $1 a piece. I saw these later at a high end boutique/pastery shopw for over $2 a piece. I loved the quirky look of them.

I told everyone to come as their favorite Alice in Wonderland character, and it was so much fun to see what everyone came up with.
For a party favor, I bought the Almost Alice soundtrack on Itunes, and made a c.d. for everyone with a photoshopped picture of the Cheshire Cat with a cute quote on front with turquoise tulle to attach it. My friend loves the color turquoise, so I wanted to incorporate it. I played the song Welcome To The Tea Pary as Karie walked outside to the gazebo where I had the Tea Party set up for dessert and to open gifts. Then I played the rest of the album while we were out there. Everybody loved the fun music. While we were out there we had herbal tea, "eat me" cookies, sugar cubes, my famous fruit tarts I created that are Karies favorite thing I make, and her cake was a topsy, turvy cupcake stand with the whimsical cupcakes I created, that Winegars in Roy made for me. I put twisty candles on top which made it perfect. I photoshopped a picture of the Cheshire cat with a saying of "Happy Unbirthday Karie" for her gift bag. She got a kick out of that. It was a magical evening! Happy Unbirthday to all of you! Enjoy!!

A New Beginning

This is beginning of the golden nuggets of thought that have been creeping around in my head for sometime now. I had a hard time naming this blog. Especially since everything I liked or thought of was taken, but the name "Inspire Me Alice", came and I knew it was the perfect name, and guess what? It was available! Why the name? Well, I love Alice in Wonderland, and I have read or seen every movie,book, etc. I can get my hands on. My 3 year old loves the whole Alice idea as well. She asked me for a rabbit hole she can fall down for Christmas:) I have been reading the Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, and I am now on the last book. It is another take on Alice in Wonderland, and the idea is that the ideas and imagination of Wonderlanders, come to earth and inspire us here. The great artists, musicians, etc. get the inspiration from what is passed through the Heart Crystal. Alice Heart is the queen of Wonderland and has the greatest imagination. She rules Wonderland with her white imagination of purity and goodness. That is what I want this blog to entail. Inspiration and creative ideas of all kinds to be passed to all of you through the internet which is my Heart Crystal.