I'm In!!!!!!!!

I have so much news to share but will update all that has been going on in my life this weekend but this I had to share right away. I got into Swarovski's Bright and Beautiful Design Contest 2007 as a semi-finalist. Yeah!!! I need to get it ready to mail out which will be a challenge. I won't find out if I am a finalist until the end of October. If I am Wayne has promised that we can go to Tuscon for the awards ceremony. If you want to see more photos go to my website.

Collage Therapy

I must need a lot of therapy huh? I had the other post titled scribble therapy and now one labeled Collage therapy. The process is very therapeutic because I intentionally keep it as thought free as possible, working on instinct and just having fun.

These collages are my first using fabric as a background instead of paper. It worked really well and I have a lot of fabric so it works out well. I used a box full of torn up bits of papers and just pulled a handful of papers at a time and then attached them wherever they felt right. Since I am going to cut it up into smaller pieces for cards I don't have to worry about composition or anything so it really is just having fun.




I am including photos of the first 3 of my collages doing this. I plan on making more of them. The first 2 I did were with Christmas fabrics. I will have a range of them eventually I am sure. For the first 2 I used approximately a fat quarter sized piece of fabric. I am working on tearing up more paper to add to my mix and will continue to do that as I go. I am going to work with the paper I have on hand first and see if that doesn't eat in to my huge stock of stuff.







On Wednesday I went with Colleen and her daughter (Kristine) to DC for "A Day of Art and Prayer" at the Washington Theological Union. We got to see the artwork of Brother Michael O'Neill McGrath. He discussed the symbology and how he worked through difficult times in his life during some of the pieces. He was a very engaging speaker and I found it quite interesting.

This Wednesday I head to Philly for the Bead Fest there. It will be by far the largest bead show that I will have attended. I am taking some classes and will get to spend some time with a friend from New England. Should be a great time. Can't wait.

A Winged Visitor

This photo is one of the dragonflies that visits me occasionally. He has been nice enough to let me photograph him. I find it interesting that in their adult stage dragonflies change colors as they age. I saw what I can only assume is a younger version of this species the same day. It's colors were duller and the back was more gray than white. This particular dragonfly will let me move around it as long as I don't move too quickly. Saturday morning I was out pulling weeds since it was a bit cooler and he landed on the driveway not 4 feet from me and just stayed there for a while as I pulled weeds. Your only crazy if you talk to yourself and get answered right? It is OK to talk to critters.

The physical enablement is going well. I think I may have even lost a couple of pounds but we will see. This week I tried some new things. Between the treadmill, water aerobics, weight training, basic pilates and Tai Chi it wasn't boring. I won't be doing all of them but wanted to try some things to see if I wanted to do them more. Some of the changes are incorporating into my life more readily than others but over all I am very pleased with my progress so far.

I am making good progress on my Pop-Top purse and should it finished soon. Along with a couple of other pieces I am going to enter them into The Dairy Barn's Bead International 2008. The entries are due in the first week of September so after finishing it I need to work on getting photos taken and ready and doing the entry form.

I put a little more time on my BJP page for August and have the columns almost finished. Or at least what I think what may be finished, who knows what I may decide later.

Wayne is doing fine and keeping very busy. He is running most days to keep in shape and has lost weight since he got there. Mostly by watching his serving sizes (with as much as they get served he could be gaining weight), he also says it is probably partially since he can't have beer or wine so doesn't have those calories in this diet. We are now 2 months done and hopefully the rest will go quickly. I am sure before I know it he will be back home and in my hair again.

Finding Life One Day At A Time

One of my Crystal Dragonflies is my photo for this day. I am hanging in there with my changes and trying to not push to hard to fast. I am not going to overcome years of inertia in a few months and know that I have to make changes that I am comfortable with and can maintain. It is day 9 of the month and so far mentally I am still doing good. The intent and desire to do this is there which is more than half of the battle for me.

I joined the gym for 3 months which will take me up to the point that I will be traveling over the holidays and I imagine that January could be a busy month with me coming home from a trip and hopefully my love coming home.

Yesterday Colleen and I did water aerobics and I think we will make that a regular Wednesday activity. Today we tried a weight training class and I am not sure if that will become a regular thing at this point or not, might be better to focus on cardio at first.

Although my scheduled class for today didn't hold I did get my instructions written for it. A bit of a challenge sometimes figuring out how to say something, easier to do it or show it. I had one person really interested but since she was going to be working at the store and taking the class at the same time it seemed better to just plan on rescheduling it.

I am still trying to work out a balance in my schedule but I am happy with my additions of physical enablement and getting back to writing morning pages. I just need to balance out my time working on the computer, creative time etc.

I have been working on my new website and it is coming along nicely. I still have a bit of work to do before I am ready to put it up. It will still be with dotMac but I chose different pages and am rearranging some of it. I am sure that even once I get it up I will still make plenty of changes to it.

I have added the ability for people to sign up to receive e-mails when I update my blogs so if you are interested feel free to do that. Just look on the side where it asks you to sign-up.

Physical Enablement

I have banned the words Working Out from my vocabulary. They have too many negative associations in my mind so I thought about it and created my own Buzz word. The Navy is big into buzz words so I hear about what ever the new popular buzz word is periodically from Wayne. I will use exercise but wanted something positive to go with the process so I have decided that my buzz word (s) would be Physical Enablement. As in I am physically enabling myself to be a healthier and happier person.

Had a pretty good week, 2 days at the gym and 2 days walking and Yoga for a cool down all 4. Today is a day of rest because I woke up grumpy and with a headache. Besides the exercise I have also added my morning pages back into my day. I have been doing them after the exercise while my body cools down. I am making additions to my diet so that I drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables etc. I have decided that since I tend to want to snack that I am going to go to several small meals during the day. That should help balance my blood sugar and keep me from ever feeling hungry which means my body won't go into conservation mode. I have read that this can be very effective for some people and since I want to snack anyway I just make it a mini meal of something healthy.

I spent a little time working on my pop-top purse and have added iron on crystals to the dragons for my August BJP. They now have larger crystals for the eyes and smaller ones for their teeth. I think that I will go sit down and spend some time working a bit on my page.

Dragonflies and Transformations

Dragonflies are a powerful symbol for transformation. They motivate the changes necessary for spiritual growth and the path to creative expression. Of course this is only one of the many ideas I found for what dragonflies symbolize. In East Asian and Native American cultures they generally have positive symbols while in some European myths they are seen in a more negative light.

I have been seeing more dragonflies of late and they have been popping up in my art a lot since I started beading. I currently have 2 purses, a compact and few crystal dragonflies that I have made.

As I mark the first day of August and the official beginning to the changes I am going to make in my life I have decided that the dragonfly is the perfect spirit guide to help see me through my own transformation. The photo above is one of the dragonflies that I saw in our yard. Maybe I will be lucky and more of them will pose for me.

Day one went well and mentally I am in a pretty good place about these changes being a want and not a need. If I feel I "need" to do something it is work and I don't find joy in it. Since I want this change for myself I feel more motivated to make the commitment to myself and thus the changes.

Collen and I had our first day at the gym, it is small but clean and we were the only one's there so that was actually kind of nice for us at least. Yesterday we ended up going for a walk at a local park. We saw quite a few dragonflies as we were walking around a pond.

I made a few changes to my current website but mostly it was getting rid of some old blogs and adding links to my new blogs to the main home page.

I finished my journal and card for the July BJP page. There are pictures on My BJP Blog. I have also added my first entry for my August page before I add the beads.