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Wednesday Wellness::Granting yourself permission

by Filed Under: Inspiration & Education Leave a Comment

Do you really give yourself permission to do, be, feel who you are?  As I’ve been traversing the path of the Mondo Beyondo Big Dreams course I wrote myself the following permission slips…personal get out of jail free cards.  It’s liberating and maybe you would like to try it to?

I give myself permission to make mistakes.
I give myself permission to take it slow, take my time.
I give myself permission to be compassionate towards myself so I can do the same for others.
I give myself permission to accept my faults and be imperfect.
I give myself permission to be an explorer and try new things especially if I’m afraid.
I give myself permission to be sad and grieve.
I give myself permission to be self confident.
I give myself permission to be happy and silly and fun!
I give myself permission to love and be loved.
I give myself permission to listen to my intuition.
I give myself permission to follow my dreams even if they are not always clear.

“The gift of honor unwraps the gift of permission and together these two establish a place for you to stand in confidence in regards to the future unfolding before you.”- Andrea Scher and Jen Lemen (Mondo Beyondo)

Organizing a Painting Studio

by Filed Under: In the Studio, Inspiration & Education, Organizing Projects 1 Comment

It’s always a dream job to get to help with Organizing a Painting Studio. I was excited to begin working with this artist and be able to help get this beautiful new home studio space set up!

The artist was not yet using the studio space so the project began by sorting items into categories for use and designating spaces and systems for organizing and using the space and materials. I also helped with furniture placement, to make the space both comfortable and functional when in use and for relaxing and finding Inspiration. After all, when an artist isn’t working in their studio, they should still LOVE to be in their space, so creating a relaxing and inviting environment is very important to the process!

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Making room for Dreams!

by Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Photography 1 Comment

Wow, January went by fast!   Instead of setting a bunch of goals and resolutions for myself I decided to take a different approach to preparing myself for the year to come.  A big reason for our move to SC is to live the life we have DREAMED of living!  So, I’ve spent the better part of the month digging deeper, visioning, exploring the possibilities and really allowing myself to dream of what my life can be if I get out of my own way!

I love what Kahlil Gibran writes about dreams in The Garden of the Prophet; “You grow in sleep, and live your fuller life in your dreaming.”

I am exercising my ability to open to my dreams is by taking the online Mondo Beyondo Dream Big in the New Year course.  So far we are about half way through and the daily exercises have invited me to explore my hidden dreams.  What I’ve come to realize is that sometime after graduation from college I kind of forgot how to dream!   This may sound crazy but when I left school I had dreams of becoming a well known designer, designing my own line of products (or license designs) and traveling to exciting and inspiring locations.  Part of this dream came true but I also let insecurity creep in and listened to the naysayers until I eventually buried my own dreams in the daily grind.  It’s taken some coaxing but I’m slowly un burying those dreams, bringing them back to the surface, inviting the possibility of new dreams into my life and casting off the ones that I’ve decided I no longer need to hold onto.

Creating a vision board is one powerful way I’m expressing what I dream for my life.  In the past I’ve done vision boards with images but this time I decided to stick with words, which were easier to find and I added my own where I could not find them in magazines etc.  Words are very powerful and now I’ve got this vision board in a place where I can be reminded every day what I’m attracting into my life.

I am learning that allowing myself to dream involves faith and casting aside my worries.  I took this literally and wrote each worry on a shell and cast them into the ocean.  Now, each time a worry automatically creeps in and threatens those tender sprout’s of my dreams I remember that I’m no longer going to feed my worries, they are gone, out of my hands and cast to the sea.

As I’ve been exploring the possibilities of my dreams I’ve met some fantastic people including Business Coach, Mary Anna Lewis.  During a Dreams and Visions strategy session with her I wrote out “my perfect day” which was a truly powerful exercise!  I invite you go give it a try.  You can use any format you like, I used a letter as if I was writing to a dear friend who I hadn’t spoken to in awhile, telling them all about my life in general and explaining in more detail about how I spend a typical day.  I was asked to share this letter with the other participants that day and voicing it out loud gave it even more power!  Eveyone in that room said they could see me living it! 

Texture Tuesday-Kim Klassen “Confidence” texture (one of several layers)

Allowing yourself to really dream can be a scary proposition for some people.  If you haven’t actively allowed yourself to dream for awhile it might take some practice to get back into that place where you can let go of your own limitations, worries and rules.  When was the last time you sat down and wrote down some dreams?  Isn’t it time you do so?  Don’t let your life go by without really living the life you’ve dreamed of!

Unplug for wellness

by Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset 1 Comment

This post was inspired by an interview I heard yesterday on NPR. I can’t find a link to it but there’s been plenty of research about the science and befit of unplugging. Certain college professors are challenging their students to hand in their cell phones and not check email or social media for a week and even some news broadcasters have taken the challenge (for news assignments or while on vacation). All these devices are meant to make our lives easier, not to make us slaves to them. Here are a few of the benefits of the practice, on a daily, weekly or monthly (just do it sometime!) basis. Some ideas to help Unplug for wellness…

Unplug for wellness

  • Give your brain a rest.
  • Give your eyes a rest.
  • Extra time, and who couldn’t use a bit of that!
  • More productivity (less continuous distractions).
  • More relaxed (De-stress).
  • Better focus.
  • My personal favorite~MORE CREATIVITY~ideas begin to flow more freely!

I do not personally have a smart phone (in 2012 no but now, yes!).  I joke with friends and family that I have a stupid phone but secretly I’m glad to be able to have an excuse not to check social media even more frequently. There is a recent trend (2017) for phone manufactures making older models that don’t have as many “connections” (think flip phones and blackberries). It’s bad enough that society has now made it acceptable for individuals to expect to be able to reach one another instantly.

I have a pet peve; when I’m hanging out with friends or family and they instantly stop having a conversation with the people they are with to respond to someone elses text or call!  I get that sometimes your expecting a call or need to respond to something urgent, if you do, please excuse yourself, otherwise chatting over the people you are with is pretty RUDE!  Relating to the people you are with should come first, respond to others who are not physically present at a more appropriate time if possible. We need to give people our attention and be fully present, if only for a portion of our time together. If you really need to answer or respond, politely excuse yourself and return to the conversation after you are done. This goes for business situations as well as personal ones and if your company doesn’t have a policy of turning your ringers off in meetings maybe you should make it your personal policy and suggest it to co-workers. I’m not even going to mention laws about talking on the phone or texting while driving…Just. Don’t!  Okay, rant’s over…sorry!

I sometimes forget to my phone with me and there have been a few times that this mistake caused others quite a bit of worry which I am truly sorry for but just 10 years ago if someone left to run errands and it took longer than expected people didn’t rush to the worst case scenario just because they couldn’t reach them instantly.  We need to learn to trust one another’s boundaries and give people more space!

  • Here are some of the ways I personally practice being unplugged for my own wellness.
  • I try to go without news/media at least 3 days a week, that goes for radio, TV and internet.
  • I try to go without my computer (checking email and social media) at least one day a week.
  • I don’t use my phone every day for texts or calls. Some-days it can wait!  Just ask friends or family who might have tried to reach me:)
  • My cell phone is not in my bedroom at night, I have a separate battery powered (to minimize EMF’s) alarm clock.
  • No texting while driving and because I lived in a state that talking on the phone was illegal without a hands free device, I’ve adopted that habit to.

Do you unplug?  If so to what extreme, daily, weekly, part or totally unplugged?  If not, maybe you should give it a try for a day…you may love it!

Oouosji and the art of Living with Less

by Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Photography 2 Comments

Today’s post was inspired by this article I read about Oouosji, the Japanese tradition of cleaning out for the new year. The article got me up out of my chair clearing out the holiday decor and giving the house a little spiffing up!

January is also the official Get Organized month (Go-Month) and Organizers, magazines and media across the nation are promoting getting more organized.  The new year is a perfect time to start fresh and getting organized ranks a top resolution for many people.   I always love getting a little more organization, especially after letting a few things go over the holidays.  Since most of our belongings are in storage I’ve turned my attention towards digital and electronic organizing, including unread emails and blog posts in my RSS reader.  Here are some of the ways I’m simplifying, getting things organized and trying to live with less.

  • Whittled the blogs I subscribe to down to those I really enjoy reading and those that didn’t focus on stuff-I love the eye candy but don’t need the additional temptation! (I didn’t keep track of how many I got rid of but this is my second round of clearing out in the past month).
  • Evaluated the twitter feeds I follow and reduced them by about 15%.
  • Went through my two email accounts (one for personal use the other for newsletters, stores, coupons etc…) to delete and unsubscribe (see Unroll.me) from anything that no longer interests me.  I usually do this a couple times a year at minimum.
  • Went through all my digital photo files and deleted unwanted images and duplicates.  At the same time I’m adding tags and ratings in Lightroom and backing it all up to an external drive. (This is an ongoing project since I have Thousands of photo’s)
  • Sorted through music to delete unwanted or duplicate songs while creating playlists and rankings.  (This is an ongoing project I will finished at the end of January 2012)

Among all those emails I was clearing out there was this great article over at Becoming Minimalist.

“Owning less is far more beneficial than organizing more.“-Joshua Becker

I got to thinking about how we are currently living with all our stuff is in storage (when I wrote this in 2012-for 8 months!).  I’ve found myself craving a few of my things over the past 6 weeks, which consists mostly of clothes I wish I hadn’t packed, cooking tools and craft supplies.  Everything else I can live with out for now.  I’m sure after living without most of our possessions for months we will be much less attached and more likely to purge when we unpack.  Remind me of this will you when I get to that point?! 2017 update, Purging is a regular (weekly) practice for me but I’m as attached to my stuff as the next person and certainly don’t consider myself a minimalist but I am always looking for ways to embrace living with less!

Living with Less

I came across an article about this guys who only owns 15 items! I wouldn’t consider myself a minimalist but I constantly work to embrace a less is more philosophy and lifestyle. I am glad to say that our Christmas holiday was not “stuff” centered (true for the past 5 years or so!) and I mostly give consumables and donations (love Heiffer Intl).  I took some advice from the Joshua Becker article and grabbed one of the boxes we had gifts shipped in and filled it with stuff to give away…the process of living with less is one we have to continually re-evaluate and participate in.

Now as I take regular walks on the beach, I try keep this in mind and rather than pick up each little beautiful treasure I take a photo of it and release it (most of the time:).

Stuff comes, stuff goes and the less you let come in the less you have to let go of!

One Little Word 2012::SOAR

by Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Photography 2 Comments

I began the year up in the clouds at 3100′ elevation and I’ve been watching the birds soar at the beach so I know this is the right word for me for 2012.  I’ll share a little more about why later but for today I just wanted to stop in with this image and say Happy 2012!

This year I intend to SOAR!  What is your intention for the year?  Right Here is a fantastic comprehensive list of word ideas if you haven’t picked a word for the year yet.

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Moving Monday::New Routines

by Filed Under: Organize, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources Leave a Comment

We’ve been here for about 3 weeks now and it’s funny how some new routines have already been established and some old one’s have maintained.  One routine I’m having a hard time re-establishing here is blogging so bear with me in my absence please!

We are now officially residents of South Carolina having made multiple trips to the DMV, courthouse and Social Security administration.  You wouldn’t believe all the documentation required to prove you are who you say you are here!   Anyways, that’s behind us and I’m looking to plant my feet as firmly in the sand as I can now.  Hum, sand shifts around a lot and that’s a perfect analogy for how I’m feeling about settling in here.  I’m not quite there yet!

I miss my three times a week yoga class, my monthly meetings for volunteering and organizing, my regular client appointments and visits with friends and my local food/farm sources.  I’m loving my new routine of going to the beach in the morning to watch the sunrise, write in my journal and walk.  I’m not doing this daily but a few times a week so far.  I also love going to watch the sunset on the Waccamaw river.

I’ve scouted out a few sources for locally grown food, one road side stand is just a few minutes from our house.  I’ve already got my local library card and checked out a stack of books.  I’ve made contact with the local NAPO Charleston chapter and plan to attend my first meeting next week.  I’m also currently working on getting involved with the local Master Gardener program.

I think it’s funny how easy it is for some routines to follow you wherever you go and other routines are more difficult to re-establish.  I’m looking forward to both establishing new routines and carrying on with the best of the old ones.

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Moving Monday::Landed and Nesting

by Filed Under: Organize, Wellness & Mindset Leave a Comment

So here we are in South Carolina!!  It’s been 2 weeks since I posted last on Moving Monday because last Monday we were right in the midst of the move and well, I just didn’t have the time to write something up before hand!  Things got a little crazy as would be expected the weekend of the move.  Leave it to me to make it even crazier by having a Moving PARTY on 11:11:11 the night before we got and loaded the truck.  We did it though and it was worth it to say goodbye to friends and family who made it over to our box filled home.  And at 11:11 we did make a toast of farewell to our friends and a wish for happy new beginnings.

Saturday started out quite well with the expected friends showing up to help us all through the day.  About mid-day though we began to realize there was a strong possibility, not everything would fit on the truck! AHHH  My husband had spent some time the previous week taking measurements of boxes and furniture and drawing up a rough schematic but despite all that it seemed clear it wasn’t going to work!  The BIG problem was that the truck was about 1′ shorter than expected.  That might not seem like much but over a 26′ truck length it adds up and most packing boxes are made to fit in certain size trucks a specific way.  If we had that extra space we could have packed the truck a bit more efficiently but trust me, they packed the truck without an inch to spare.  FYI, this truck said it would hold a 5 BR capacity which is nonsense!  Our house was approximately 1600 sq. feet and three BR’s but only one BR worth of BR furniture (office, tools, art studio and other normal household furniture).

In the midst of my almost moving meltdown I had to run out to a eye Dr. apt and thank god for my friends and mom who stayed behind diligently packing and cleaning at the house.

It was actually very good for me to step away for a bit to put things in perspective.  My mom gave me some great advice that day and as simple as it is it’s worth remembering.  Everything takes time!  So I just tried to remember that for the remainder of the time it took to load what we could.  Sunday AM we had planned to leave around 9 but because not everything fit we had to make some last minute trips to drop stuff off to be donated and stored.  We threw out and gave things away that we hadn’t originally planned to but nothing that we can’t live without after all, it’s just stuff!

With the house empty and cleaned we finally hit the road for our 8+ hour drive at 4:30PM.  The drive was slow with my husband driving the big truck and me in my car.  It ended up taking us 11 hours but we made it safely and boy was I happy to see palm tree’s and Spanish moss!  Somehow after only 4 hours of sleep we got up and unloaded the truck into our storage bin with the help of my husband’s parents and one kind neighbor friend.  It took 5 hours to pack with 10 people helping and only 1.5 hours to unpack with 5 people.

Moving Monday

What a relief to have it all unloaded and in storage now.  The next phase of our life involves living in a furnished home for about 3 months with a minimum of our belongings.  We can run down to our storage unit and get things as we need them but when we packed we selected the items we would need for about 6 months and made them mostly accessible from the time we arrived.  We are on our own now and are nesting in our new, temporary home.  I’ve spent the last several days cleaning because, despite the fact that this is a clean house, I guess I just need to put my own mark on it.  I’m also feeling a little lost since we are not in our final destination so this is my way of making it feel like our home.  We re-arranged furniture and have cleaned, unpacked and even done some cooking here.  As you can see by this post, I’m also starting to get back into the swing of my old routines…integrating the old with the new.

One new routine I’m loving so far is walks on the beach every day!

How do you get settled into a new place?  What is nesting like for you?

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Moving Monday::1 Week to Go!

by Filed Under: Uncategorized 3 Comments

We are really in the final days before moving now!  I can’t believe I began writing about this move 6 weeks ago (or maybe a bit more?).  This has been a really bittersweet time with the prospects of the future ahead and making our dreams come true but also saying goodbye to two members of our family household that we will miss more than we can say.  Both Tai and Leo were our kitties for 17 and 16yrs (respectively) and they were both Maryland kitties with us from the beginning of my husband and I’s relationship.  Maybe it is fitting that we have left them here but they will always be in our hearts and their sweet spirits will live on with us forever.  We are working through some health problems with our youngest kitty, Sachi but she will be coming with us and she is our Savannah kitty so she’s going back to her low country roots.  Thank you  everyone who has offered kind and supportive words of love in this difficult past couple weeks!

We are ready to move forward and we are buckling down to the tasks ahead for the week.  We will pack the remaining items that we will not need in the next few months into boxes and have sorted out those things we will need to come with us in luggage and bins for short term use while we are in our temporary housing for a few months.  Since we will be in this transitional period packing has been that much more challenging, trying to figure out what we will over a 3-4 month period!

This week our agenda includes canceling our utilities, notifying important people and companies of our address change, packing, cleaning and saying goodbyes to friends and family!

It has been a truly spectacular fall here in Maryland and I will miss the rolling hills, fall color and yes I will even miss the snow a little, but it made a sneak appearance for us last weekend as we were packing.  I can say I’m truly getting excited now!  This year began with a focus on finding Clarity and I’ve truly found it by allowing myself to try new things, face my fears and live more boldly.  We created this change in our lives by setting our intentions to live a more fulfilling life and the challenges that have been thrown at us will make us that much stronger! These words by Mary Anne Radmacher sum up how I am living life going forward.

It has been a truly spectacular fall here in Maryland and I will miss the rolling hills, fall color and yes I will even miss the snow a little, but it made a sneak appearance for us last week.

One week from today we will be in South Carolina, just a few minute drive from the beach!  We will be unpacking all our belongings into storage and settling in to a new routine.

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Moving Monday::2 Week Countdown

by Filed Under: Inspiration & Education 2 Comments

Wow, it’s really only two weeks away now.  The last week my head has been in a fog from grief, stress and a cold!  We are closely watching our eldest cat to see what the fate of her coming with us will be.  She was diagnosed with both cancer and kidney failure early last week and we just don’t know how long she will be with us.  It’s a matter of time and we are just trying to enjoy each day we have with her.  It feels as though all the world is conspiring to make sure this move is bittersweet!  Although so many wonderful things have fallen into place there have also been challenges.  That is life though and I’m trying to embrace the process.

This week we have had some help packing, made sure the storage unit is reserved and are starting to say our goodbyes to people we love here.  We have also submitted our change of address with the USPS (recommended 2 weeks ahead of time).   We’ve begun to line up our moving help, this time enlisting the help of lucky friends and family:)  On Friday before the bad weather I went to my community garden plot and pulled out most of the plants that were done producing:(  I had a pretty great yield from a 10’x20′ plot!  Saturday was a great day for packing since we experienced the freak snow storm that hit the DC metro area (all of the north east).  I thought surely we would be out of here before we saw snow but I guess not!

Next up we will begin to pack clothes, toiletries, staple food items and small furniture.  We will also begin to notify our utility companies.  I’ve only gone to buy groceries one time in the past three weeks since we are trying very hard to use up what we have on hand.  If the weather cooperates this week I will also dig up a few special plants from the yard to take.  In the past I’ve taken far more garden plants but I’ve found that as a Master Gardener, plants tend to find their way to me through other generous gardeners.  So far over 40 boxes have been packed.  My mom gave me a good push and a reality check, she seemed to think we have a lot to do and I thought we were doing pretty well.  Either way, we will get it all done by the 12th but I feel like we are pretty close to being on schedule.

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