5 Days into New Life, must rest and shop

I am 5 full days into my new life. At the end of day 4 I was feeling it! I over slept by almost an hour so I didn't have my quiet time to read, drink coffee and bask in my quiet time. Instead, I gulped down one cup of coffee (barely), then ran out the door for a stretch and strength class. I felt fatigued and didn't perform as well as I had in previous days (all 3 of them); but, I made it through the class (reminding myself to be gentle and breathe through as much as I could). Don't get me wrong, in spite of today's fatigue, it really was a good week... really! With the weekend here it is time to recoup so I can do it again and be stronger next week. I have my 1st official weigh in and eval on Mon. Woo Hoo!

After class I rushed through some errands (here I am rushing, again) so I could go home to prepare for my daughter's travel volleyball tournament. I was skeptical that we would be heading out, after all, a full blown winter storm was heading our way and the tournament was scheduled for a city in the foothills of the mountains (they were expecting 5-8" of snow). But, I was hopeful.

Finding out (before noon) that the tournament was, indeed, cancelled, I decided to make the rest of the day a ME day. I walked around a couple of stores (and found a fabulously comfortable pair of not-too-high gladiator sandals - I can see wearing them with one of my recently purchased shorter skirts or my perfectly worn-in pair of boyfriend jeans). Then, I took myself out to lunch. It was then that I lost myself in the books and magazines at Barnes and Nobles. Man, that is sooo easy to do! I purchased a couple of jewelry and design mags, but my big score was a gorgeous coffee table book entitled Flower by Christopher Beane. This bold and colorful book is full of tightly cropped photos of flowers in full, vivid color and stimulating black and whites. The best part is, it was bargain priced at $12.98! WOW! Shopping can be such good therapy. With that out of the way, I could spend the rest of the day with my family, preparing to hunker down and enjoy the beauty of a cold, wintry weekend. Note the photos of glistening ice crystals backed by one of the brightest blue skies I've seen in a while. Gifts... from this winter storm.

Balance, breathe, family, giving & getting love... mantras of gifts from my new life!

Memory Jewelry with Stephanie

My son Justin, his lovely wife Stephanie, and my beautiful grand baby Willow, were visiting last week. During their stay Stephanie and I got to spent some bonding time my art studio. We created memory pieces out of sterling silver, PMC, copper and crystals.

Stephanie made a gorgeous bracelet with several charms that represent special dates in her marriage to Justin. One PMC charm is stamped with a stylized chrysanthemum texture on one side and the date of her marriage to Justin stamped on the other. We made another PMC charm with Willow's thumb print on one side and her birth date on the other. This was so much fun we did it twice, one for Stephanie and one for me... actually we did it several times (we had a little trouble getting a good impression of Miss Willow's tiny little thumb, she wasn't so sure she wanted us holding her thumb down). Stephanie used some of my scrap silver to make a tag stamped "wedded" and a tag stamped "birth" (as their family grows we will be making more charms to add to this side of the bracelet). Centered is a copper bird stamped with "joy", a charm left over from a project I did last year.

My memory project is a necklace. I used my PMC Willow thumb print charm, a scrap piece of sterling silver stamped with "Willow", and a topaz crystal (Willow's birthstone). I love my necklace. Because I am so sentimental I gravitate toward making pieces that evoke closeness of heart and memory. One day I'll share more of my memory or sentiment pieces.

I hope this inspires a desire to honor an event or person(s), immortalizing them as a treasure that can be passed on with love and memories held close to the heart.

Now, I am off to the gym with my mother... we have a Hatha yoga class to attend.

Day One, Who am I?

Today is the first day in my new life. Often over the last several months I've pondered the much asked question "Who am I?". My previous life had gotten away from me, much like one of those little pebbles that starts down a tranquil, snowy trail; building momentum and size, eventually sucking up everything in it's path... AVALANCHE! I felt it, but I didn't know what to do to stop it. I felt trapped in the center with no way out. Fortunately, God throws us life lines. But, these life lines can be a little tricky.

Trick #1. One must be able to recognize a life line.
Trick #2. One must find the strength to grab said life line realizing that...
Trick #3. Requires that one must let go of whatever it is that one is holding on to... maybe not everything, but you have to have at least one hand free... and open.

My life line gift came at the misfortune of another. No fault of mine, but still a very sad event. Her life line was a strong husband who knows her well. With one phone call her salvation and mine were recognized.

Now I have the time to ponder my future... ponder hell! (pardon my French), I am making a plan! A plan to create the life I've been dreaming about for a very long time. I started this blog months ago with the intentions of talking about jewelry, art, creating, whimsy, girlfriends and fun. Well, if you've read my first entry, I didn't exactly start out on that path. The way I see it, last year was the year of family. This will be my year of artfully whimsical jewelry and bodaciously fun adventures with my girlfriends and family.

To begin, I must first get my "affairs" in order. So today I will talk about my "affair" with myself. This is multi-fold, so I will only address one fold at a time... the fold over the waistband of my jeans (ugh!). I have chosen to address this first because it is the most bothersome to me. I, fortunately, have never been a big person, but I am heavier now than I have ever been (sans pregnancy). So I thought that the best place to start would be to get myself back into shape. I hear getting in shape helps with improved self esteem, energy, stamina and sex!

Day one of my new life started out early, as usual. I left for the gym at 5:30 a.m. (you have to know that in my previous life I didn't like to work out... didn't have time for it anyway - didn't have time for ME!) First, I took a 45 min. pilates class. It felt great! We worked with the exercise ball and my gluteus maximus is feeling it! I then worked for 30 min. on the free weights doing some upper body work. That, too, is being felt as tiny "pings" in my triceps brachil and deltoids. I then spent 10 min. in the whirlpool and 10 min. in the wet sauna - love the wet heat. (I was born on a tropical island you know.) I then invested in a yummy smoothie that had all the nutrients needed for a person that didn't get to have breakfast, plus fresh strawberries, blueberries and non-fat yogurt. Man, I was feeling good! Note to self: As good as that smoothie was, I can't afford to do that daily so I will have to start planning a healthy morning meal at home.

It's 5:00 p.m. and I am still feeling pretty energetic. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds. More unfolding and "affairs" to be disclosed. Stay in touch! Woo Hoo!