A little something new

Just a quick Happy Friday note here to let you know that new postcards were added to the shop this week! They are printed by MOO, my all time favorite place to get cards! Which means they are suburb quality and ready to be mailed or framed.

Also, this is the last week for my super secret blog only sale for 40% off the remaining stock of my necklaces on Etsy. Use the code: SUMMERSALE at checkout to receive the discount.

Enjoy your weekend!

Re-picturing Women

I'm visiting and sharing at Sarah's lovely home today on The Re-Picturing Women Project. Sarah's project challenges ways we can re-picture ourselves as women with a strong voice. Plus she asks some pretty tough questions. Click on over and share your thoughts.

Seeking Medicine

I have been sick with a cold the past few days and last week was a challenge with very little self love and kindness. So today I sought out Mother Nature to be my healer. I needed medicine and not the kind you get in the pharmacy. I needed to be away from the confines of my home. To hear the rustle of leaves and to smell the fresh air. So we got in the car and drove. We found a quiet pull off along the creek and I was left alone as my husband and daughter continued on. I steadily made my way to the center of the creek hopping from one rock to another until I came to a perfectly formed square rock. I listened to the water surround me on all sides. I watched a moth flutter around like a hummingbird. I heard a rustle in the trees. I dug my hands in the bed of the creek and pulled out a slimy yellow quartz rock. Most of all I breathed.

On the way back to the car it started raining. It felt cleansing and refreshing. I relished it. I stuck my hand out the window on the drive home and felt the cool breeze and the bite of the raindrops on my fingers.

This was the medicine I needed today.

Pssst...

I wanted to share a little secret with you here. I'm clearing out the necklaces in my shop in a BIG end of summer sale!

Use the code: SUMMERSALE to save 40% off on all jewelry in my Etsy shop. I'm posting this here on the blog first and nowhere else.

My hands and heart adore the metal working part of the jewelry process. The beading however they do not. So I've decided to start making pendants only from here on out. Or until I change my mind again. I am woman you know. Totally my prerogative.

In Remembrance

Little Gifts

 

 

Fellow Tribe member and wonderful photog, Rebecca gave me the gift of a photo shoot earlier this summer and I just had to share a few of my favorites. She is such a gift and so are these photos.

Reaching out

Polaroid SX-70/Impossible PX680 Film

I've been thinking a lot lately about isolation and how much misery I tend to put myself through. This especially struck home on my birthday this year. I did not receive a single card in the mail. No lunches with friends. Nothing. Sure there were the countless wishes on my Facebook wall but as we all know social media can very easily feel very connected yet disconnected all at once. I sulked through my day the best I could and finished it with dinner with my family. Trying very hard to feel blessed and not sorry for myself. The funny thing with hurts is if you try to bury them they always surface again.

This week it all seems to be stirring up inside of me again. The loneliness. The ache. The fear. There are some fundamentals in life we all need. Connection, bonding, shared laughter on the front porch. The depth of my sorrow this week is bottoming out. I am realizing how much I pull back in situations that could be the very opportunity I need for friendship and connection. I love my blogging community and online Tribe with all my heart but the need is still there for that special tribe I can connect with right here in my own city.

So I am going to start reaching out. I'm going to start inviting those people who I genuinely want to connect with to lunch. I'm going to stop putting up the walls. I am going to start living again out in the open away from my rock. I'm going to find a way through this all to start expressing my true self again. I often sit in the shadows hoping for that hand to come reaching through the darkness to me. Yet it never occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, I need to first extend out my hand into the light. The nature of my personality often pegs me as uptight and self conscious. Maybe I am, maybe not. Either way I have to heal this ache by finding connection right here in my own town. "We should get together sometime" are empty words. Real plans must be made. I must do this for myself because the bleakness of winter is coming and I will need all of this to get me through.

I'm writing this post today with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart. This is my way of holding myself accountable. I'm opening up the wound and letting it breathe. Sitting with the wholehearted sadness that comes with it. Acknowledging that the time for reaching out is now. One step, then another, then another....

Believe Nothing

Wahkeena Falls, Oregon

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” ~ Buddha