p.quinn

A Good Yarn

Last night on my final post for Kathryn Antyr's Vision Journaling Workshop, I showed you my "Excitement Card".....

 

These are the things that I feel excitement and passion for deep down inside.

I mentioned something happening with my excitement for yarn shortly after I made my card.

So here is my tale....

Very early in the workshop process, I noticed that I was including a lot  of yarn on my vision pages.

 

This seemed rather unusual since I'm not what I would call a heavy knitter.

 

I pretty much knit "plain old back and forth scarves" which I donate to charity.

 

But there it was....

Yarn appearing over and over.

Here, there and everywhere.

 

Sometimes more than once on a page....

 

Yarn....

 

Yarn.....

 

And more yarn.

 

And then there is the sheep thing.

 

My constant threats to run away somewhere and raise sheep....

 

The further along in the workshop....

 

The more I became aware of my apparent need for yarn.

 

When the workshop was done, I went back and found that I had yarn, knitting or sheep on eight of the ten vision journal pages!

Besides the raising sheep thing, I have wanted to learn to spin yarn for years.  

I LOVE  hand-spun yarns!    

For me, the actual knitting takes a distant second place to the glorious skeins of hand-spun yarn.

The day after I made my Excitement Card, Roger and I went to Rapid City for the day.

Something we rarely do.

Especially not on a Saturday when there is more traffic.

We went to Borders.

Another rare activity when both of us are along.

I headed straight for the magazine racks.  {duh}

The first thing that jumped out at me was Spin-Off magazine.

Which I drooled all over and finally put back, telling myself I had no reason to buy it.

Then I searched and found what I had actually went for in the first place....

 

I scored the last  copy of each!!! 

Oh Happy Day!

As I was standing there giving Spin-Off a final longing gaze, a lady with two small children came over to the rack.  I heard her ask the bigger girl if she saw {gasp!} Spin-Off magazine anywhere....

I pointed it out right away.

We started talking.

About spinning.....

Did she spin?

Did I spin?

{about now I think I am getting dizzy from all that talk of spinning...}

She told me all about a small local yarn shop I had never heard of that is offering spinning lessons at incredibly reasonable prices!!!

Wow!

Is that funky or what???

Coincidence?

I don't think so!

I call it Divine Intervention.

I am leaving shortly to visit my Mom, but you know what I will be signing up for as soon as I get back!!!

That's right.

Can't wait!

Oh.....

The Spin-Off magazine?

 

I just had  to have it after that! 
 
  

Vision Journaling Week #6

Well, I am finally finished with Week #6 of Kathryn Antyr's Vision Journaling Workshop.

The last week.

Course completed.

It took me forever.

Especially this final week.

And I'm not really sure why that was.....

I'm always slow.  I view that as one of my major "faults".  Why I never get much accomplished.

Oooo!  I just realized.....maybe, just maybe, that is something I'm using as an excuse  for not getting the work done.  The "I'm so slow" thing-y has served me well for most of my life...why not  keep using it?

Anyway.

It also seemed like there was just kind of a let-down feeling for me with Lesson #6---like I was ready to hang up that darn glue stick and move on......

Yet I was afraid to.

Could I implement anything  I have discovered about myself?

Who I am.

What I want.

Or would I fail?

Again.

Oh, my.  I think my inner critic has come back from his vacation well rested and ready to roar!

So what was Week #6 all about?

What was it that got my inner critic all riled up?

Aaaahhhh........

Passion.

Sometimes I wonder if I have any.

You know...the stay in bed/pull covers over head thing really appeals to me.

But other times, I know I have passion.

If I could just figure out what for and then act on it.

My thoughts and ideas tend to scamper and leap about like lambs in a flowered meadow.....

{insert orchestra music here}

Actually, it is more like a pinball machine.

It is powerful.

It is loud.

And it hurts.

I think the five previous lessons in this workshop have helped lessen the ricochet a little.

I have a tad bit more focus.

So let's focus on Week #6......

~~~Passion~~~

For Week #6, we were to make an "Excitement Card".

Which didn't excite me at all.

What is it with me and these cards???

But I made one anyway.

This card was to list the things that excite me so that I can look at it when I feel my passion starting to dwindle.

Here, in all of its neon glory, is my "Excitement Card"....

 

Pretty self explanatory, I think.

The "Home ????" is the only one that may not be easy to understand.  I don't quite understand it myself.  {surprise!}  I just have a strong  feeling for something related to home........

Making home decor??

Selling home furnishings??

Interior design??

Stylist??

Maybe it will become clear to me later.

Or not.

I did have a rather interesting thing happen regarding the "Excitement of Yarn" right after I made this card, but I won't get into that now---I will post about it soon---hopefully tomorrow evening.....

Next we were to make a vision journal page using images that appealed to us and we were to make it quickly.  {yeah, right}  What this revealed about our passion would possibly not even be evident at first---we were to study it for a few days and things were to start to make some sense.

Ok.

Of course I couldn't stop with just one page....

I made two.

There was a pile of images sitting on my table---some since Week #1.  They had called to me loudly throughout the entire process, but never seemed to fit in anywhere....

Now they did!

 

Some people tend to think of vanilla as boring.

About as exciting as watching paint dry.  Or grass grow.

Kinda like store-bought white bread.

But not me!  I love vanilla!

To me, vanilla is  fresh.  Exciting.  Passionate.

A wonderful taste, a beautiful color.

However, I do often wonder if people view me  as boring...my work...my blog...

Perhaps I need to let some of my passion out.

Try a tiny bit and see what happens.

And that bird image on the left side?

That crow?

That blackbird?

She symbolizes something that I'm not quite ready to let fly out into the world yet...

Soon.

 

The stairway was a picture that was sitting there from very early in the process.

I am thinking that it shows what I perceive as a long, uphill climb---this getting myself and my art out into the world.

But when I get to the top?

All the world wrapped in a bow.

Sweet.

Or else it is a tribute the the world's greatest rock and roll song of all time, "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin.

 

A warm heart and the passage of time?!

I adore images of clocks.

I love clocks and watches.

But I hate time itself.

I am not a good steward of time.

 

Ohhhhh.....

This image got cut out on day one.

But then it just sat there.

Now I can see it.....

While it might be well and good for this fine pup to lie there and look cute, it probably isn't so good for me.  I'm not sure if I qualify as cute, but I do tend to lie around.  A lot.

I have spent a large part of the last few years rather absent from my life.

~~~

"Who, even if she was here, was not." 

Taken from "The End of an Error" 

by Mameve Medwed

~~~

I think I need to make a re-entry.

Soon.

 

Here is the entire view of my first vision journal page on passion.

I'm not sure that looks very passionate....

What do you think???

Now on to bits and pieces from journal page number two....

 

Pretty easy to decipher.

 

Now while some of the other images spoke to me, this one screamed  at me!  

I want an idea board!

Perhaps that is something that can  get accomplished in the near future..... 

 

These pictures got included just because I like  them!  

The tiny little getaway shed.....

{with a chandelier!!!}

And the Hens and Chicks!

I can't wait to uncover my Hens and Chicks....see how they survived the winter.....

Soon!

 

Another rather self explanatory bit.

I like the big purple YOU.

I need to become YOU me. 

Oooooo!!!  Another important lesson learned there!

And I liked the green journal.

I love to scribble, doodle, rant and dream.

 

And here is the entire second journal page.

A bit brighter, anyway....

Perhaps a little more passion? 

While making these vision journal pages, I made sure that both pages had a pair of eye glasses so that I could see my way.

I also made sure that each page contained either a map, a globe or a compass {or more than one...} as I tend to wonder off the path from time to time.

When I was done, I noticed that each page also had at least one key......

Seems I am traveling well prepared.

While I like the two journal pages, I'm still not entirely certain what this showed me as far as my passions go.

Other than I definitely see a set of very strong threads running through the entire process from my "Happy Place" in Week #1 clear through "Passion" in Week #6.

I need to gather up those threads and weave them together even more tightly.

Use them to reinvent with.

Use them to create my new {old} soul.

But for right now, my head is starting to feel like that pinball machine.

So I'll leave you with the view of my "Happy Place" from way back in Week #1.....

 

Now that feels much better, doesn't it???

To view my entire Vision Journaling trip, click the 

"Workshops" link

on my category list above right  

 

Vision Journaling Week #4

Lesson #4 of Kathryn Antyr's Vision Journaling Workshop was more fun than I've had in a long time!

In Lesson #3, we determined Positive Intentions---goals we wanted to achieve.

Now I was to suspend reality and think about who I wanted to be....

Just what does my dream look like???

Well, well, well.

An assignment right up my alley.

You see, that is about all I do.

Dream.

My project was to send my inner critic on vacation and flesh out my dreams.

Oh, my!

I put so much flesh on my dreams that they became positively fat!

And I didn't have to tell my inner critic to take the week off...he never showed up.  He is so used to me whiling away the days dreaming that he noticed nothing out of the ordinary and was lulled to sleep.

Too bad, so sad, Bub!

He did, however, wake up and rear his ugly head today just as I was about done taking the photos of my finished collages to tell me that I had, most assuredly, done the whole thing wrong.

I told him that I was busy, not to bother me, and to take his sorry arse elsewhere.

Picturing my dreams was a very pleasant exercise for me!

To pluck some of those things out of my head that have been rolling around up there for years...to see them actually on a page...a visual picture of me.

I decided to continue on with my three Positive Intentions keys from the last lesson: What,  How,  and Where.

Once again I realized how closely entwined my three Positive Intentions keys are...overlapping again and again.  I am my work and my work is me.  No wonder I tend to hold my work close to me and take rejection so personally...

I decided to go with large vision collages instead of the smaller cards---I had way  too much to show for some little tiny card! 

Kathryn said that in design, sometimes less is more.....

Well, not this time!

I ended up with more than one journal page for several of my dreams.

Was this avoidance?

As in if I kept on cutting and gluing, I didn't have to go work on something else?

Maybe.

I don't think so though.

Perhaps it was the dam finally breaking...............

As you can tell, this is going to be a L.O.N.G post.  You better go get yourself something to drink.

And me?

I'm going to buckle my seat belt.  It is going to be a wild ride!

~~~Picturing My Dream~~~

 

This is my What  key from the last lesson. 

The often confusing goal of determining what it is that I want to make.  Or sell.  Or do.

The problem of getting the floodgate open and the work to be released.

I think I corralled some of my many fleeting thoughts quite well and now have something concrete to look at...

To see my dream on paper....

 

Of course I would like to continue making jewelry if my wrists cooperate with that plan....

Otherwise....

Knitting?

Something with fabric?

 

 

Perhaps a tiny shop full of unique goodies?

 

 

Stuff I could sew on my ancient machine?

The one that was a gift to my Mom from her parents years and years ago....

 

 

Things bright with color.

And soap.

I love luxurious European and handcrafted soaps!

I love to sell soap.  People love to buy soap.

Plus it makes a shop smell so good.....

 

 

Yes.

 

And I want to sell t-shirts with my private logo or design on them.

I don't know why this is so important to me....

It just is.

Besides, this is my dream and I can do what I want.

 

 

And depending on where my little fantasy shop was, I'd like to include magazines and used books.

Of course it sure wouldn't hurt if Mr. Hottie showed up looking for the latest thriller.....

 

 

Here is the total view of my What  dream collage.  

I did make a second What  collage.....

It is very jam-packed and not overly pleasing to look at as a whole.

But I made it just for me.

To nurture further my most private and wildest fantasies of retail adventure...

But it wouldn't be very nice of me not to give you a couple tiny  hints though, would it??

Ok.

Without comment, here's a few....

 
 
 
 
 
 

You like???

And for a little jolt to the system, here is my very bright "Al Franken"/affirmation card for my dream of What..... 

 

Now on to my next dream collage.......

For the previous lesson, I created this key for my Positive Intention of How..... 

 

Just how  am I going to sell all those delightful creations and vintage finds? 

 

Ain't that the truth?!?

There are so many options it boggles my mind...

 

 

From world wide domination.....

 

 

To flea markets and yard sales...

 

 

Or a real live brick and mortar emporium... 

 

The avenues for selling are  endless!

I need to start viewing this as having so many possibilities instead of letting it bog me down!

 

Enough said.

 

The total view of my How  vision board. 

 

Wake up call!  

Here is my neon "Al Franken" for How.......

 

 

And finally, we come to my last dream.

The one that I still am carrying around secretly and holding very close to my heart.

The search for my tribe.

My Homeland.

 

 

This is my Where  key from lesson #3.

As I started picturing this dream, it didn't take long for me to notice that I was fleshing out my Happy Place  from Week #1.

Somehow I knew that I needed to let it all flow out and it just kept coming and coming...

I ended up with three  pages of fantasy!

So, without further ado, welcome to PammyLand!

Up until sometime in the 1980s, there was a house of ill repute here in Deadwood called Pam's Purple Door. 

No, I'm not thinking about going into the business.

I just figured I needed a threshold for crossing into my dreamland.

Did you notice my nice chandelier?

  

This is very close to an iron bed my Grandma had.

As a young child, my Mom and I would share it when we went for a week long visit each summer.

I inherited the bed and used to use it.

Then on my second to the last move, the springs were lost.

How does one lose bed springs???

I don't know, but I managed to do just that.

But in PammyLand, I will again be the proud owner of bed springs and enjoy my Grandma's iron bed once more!

 

It is always time for Sonic in PammyLand.

Hazelnut Caramel Java Chiller.

Make mine a large, please!

 

Self-explanatory.

 

 

Ditto.

 

 

I will be using cloth napkins.

In PammyLand.

 

Yes, I admit it.

I am a pyro.

 

 

Lots of books.

A house full  of books.

 

 

Old rustic furniture.

 

 

Comfy furniture.

Boxes to stash my small treasures.

 

And a horse trough bath tub is a requirement...

Not  an option.

 

 

Oldies...

 

 

And goodies...

 

 

With just a touch of modern convenience.

And lastly, my fantasy just wouldn't be complete without these guys....

 

 

I'm always threatening to run off to Wyoming to herd sheep.

Or maybe Vermont...

Anyway.

I would like to raise sheep.

Learn to spin yarn.

And what sheep herder do you know that doesn't have a fine dog???

 

So there was your fast trip through PammyLand.

 

 

We barely scratched the surface.

 

 

Did you enjoy your visit?

 

 

I just wish each one of you could pull up a chair and enjoy a cup of goodie with me!

Oh, what a chat we would have!

Then I'd show you my affirmation card for Where.....

 

Whew!  What a journey!

Are ya still with me?

I've heard it said over and over that we are our own worst enemy.

I think that is probably true.

I tend to just cling to my rock whilst wringing my hands.

And let me tell you---clinging and wringing at the same time is mighty tough to do!

But I am a professional with many years of experience.

I can see now that I have those three keys all firmly within my grasp.

The problem is, I have them clutched so tightly in my hand that it is impossible for me to get them in the lock and I am left standing out on the porch in the dark.

Well, no more. 

I need to loosen those clenched fingers.

Fit those keys in some locks.

I thought picturing my dreams was pure fantasy...

Now I'm not so sure.

Making these vision journal pages has made me see that it is all doable.

It is  all attainable.

Move out of the way, self!

I'm comin' through!

By the way.....

I would really, really, really, like to have this stuff from PammyLand....

 

Do you think that could be arranged??? 

 

 

  

   
  
 
 
   

 
 

Vision Journaling Week #3

Participating in week #3 of  Kathryn Antyr's Vision Journaling Workshop felt very different to me.

Week #1 brought unexpected emotion.

Week #2 had feelings of dragging my feet and not wanting to do the work.

Week #3 came with immediate identification with the problem and knowing what I wanted to explore.

You see, Kathryn began the lesson with this question:

"Have you ever been asked what you wanted in your life and you didn't know?"

Oh my.

Has this woman been listening in on my conversations?

Both those I have out loud and  those that go on inside my head?

"I don't know!" is probably the most frequent answer I give for just about any question, big or small.

It is a very truthful answer.

All I know, is  that I don't know.

I am so tired of it.

And if I am tired of it, I can only imagine what those around me {who have to listen to it all the time} are feeling.....

A double oh my.

Something has to give.

This week's topic?

You guessed it.

~~~Positive Intentions~~~

After following some exercises and thought processes, I was to determine some goals and make intention cards for as many of them as I liked.  Each needed to feature my goal clearly stated in simple terms that would be easy to remember---a key to change my life. 

Last week I had such trouble using just one word for many of my core values, but I had no problem this week coming up with short and sweet statements for my goals.

Is that because I have battled with them for so long?

I decided to make my intention cards on manila shipping tags so that I can hang them up and look at them often. 

On the front of each tag is a door or gate.

On the back of each tag is what would be behind that door or gate.

And although Kathryn provided us with scans of keys to use in this project, I hung an actual key on each tag....

All the better to open up those stubborn doors.

I was beginning to feel like Monty Hall on "Let's Make A Deal"....................

 

This is the front of my "Where" tag.

This is the card that I hold closest to my chest.

The card that I didn't really want to share.

That being said, I'm not going to elaborate on it much.

Sorry.

 

This is the back of my "Where" tag.

Where in the world do I belong???

I have yet to find my tribe.

 

 

I gave the "Where" tag the "Master" key.

I have often thought if I could open this door, figure out this question, everything else just might fall in place by itself.....

However, after all my contemplation this week while making my intention cards, I'm not so sure this is true any longer.

Maybe it really is like that age old saying---"Which comes first?  The chicken or the egg?"

Irregardless, this card plays very big in the goals for my life.

 

This is the front of the "What" tag.

I have no idea what a flood gate looks like.

I don't imagine that they are very pretty.

So I used this garden gate instead.

But what does a flood gate have to do with anything, you ask?

 

 

Remember this little screamer from my Core Values collage last week?

That is what I feel like inside my head most of the time.

I have so many ideas rolling around.

What  I want to make.

What  I want to do.

But nothing comes out.

Hence, I need to open the proverbial flood gate....

 

This is the back of my "What" tag.

All the possibilities that rattle around in my dreams.

Will my wrists stand up to much more jewelry making??

Or should I be focusing on fabric??

Knit more?

Start selling vintage items?

Again.

 

I gave the "What" tag my Mom's old roller skate key.

Because I figured flood gates had very large keys........  

 

This is the front of the "How" tag. 

I wonder if it is a good sign that the door says "vacancy"???

 

This is the back of the "How" tag.

Such a wide range of selling options open to me...

Etsy, craft shows and vendor nights.

Web sites, flea markets and occasional sales.

Brick and mortar.

Just how should I market myself?

I feel an ache deep inside me when I enter a shop I like.

Does that mean it is time for me to go back to retail?

Is that because I would really enjoy it, or is that just because it is what I have done in the past....

Something a tiny bit less frightening because I have done it before. 

I do know one thing {surprise!}.

It cannot be retail like I have done before---the six days a week/10-6 {or later...} thing.

No way.

 

 

I gave the "How" tag a funky key.

Notice it says "Presto".

Like in magic.

And those are my three magic words.

My Positive Intentions.

~~~"Where"~~~"What"~~~"How"~~~

One thing this lesson did, was make it painfully obvious to me as to just how long I have been battling with these three doors.

 

I mean, I knew  how long they have been hounding me, but, as I said before, I tend to bury my head in the sand.

 

I'm tired.

Tired of not knowing anything.

Of indecision.

Of standing still.

 

I need to use some of those keys.

Open some doors.

 

Vision Journaling Week #2

Time for my weekly installment of the fun I've been having with scissors and magazines while participating in Kathryn Antyr's on-line Vision Journaling Workshop.

Plus some of the insights that I have realized.

The topic for week #2 was "Core Values", and I will say that right from the start, this seemed to give me trouble.

I did a lot of fussing and fuming......

Kept wondering if I was doing things "right"......

Didn't really want to do the activities......

I'm not really sure what all that meant, but I kept at it.

When I was done with the project, I was surprised to find myself having another emotional day as I went over in my mind all the things I had pondered while I was busy creating my journal page.

So maybe I did find a few answers after all.....

Here are a few thoughts on the topic and a peek at my completed journal page.....

~~~Core Values~~~

To begin this lesson, I was to come up with a list of people that I admire.

This put me in a funk right off the bat.

I've just never been one to admire too many people or be able to rattle off a list of personal heroes.

"Oooo!!!  That Jackie O!!!" 

Insert any name you like---Oprah, Martha or Ronald Reagan---sorry, I just don't get it.

I admire tiny little bits and pieces of many people, but it was very hard for me to come up with a list of people that I felt I truly  admire a lot.

I won't say who made my list.

Some were actually fictional characters from books that I have read, because let's face it, for me, they are as real as actual people from past history or modern day celebrities.

And my list was mostly women.

Anyway.

From this list, I was to follow an exercise to determine ten keywords that would form my core values.

There were several values that I couldn't sum up in just a single word---I felt they needed a bigger definition.

And I realized that some of my words/definitions overlapped.  Did that make them more important?

Here is my Core Value word list:

1)  Quiet soul

2)  Entrepreneurial spirit

3)  Creative

4)  Tenacious/enduring/stick-to-itiveness/sand/grit/pluck

5)  The ability to accept oneself; good stuff and faults

6)  Loyal

7)  Organized

8)  The ability to stay cool, calm and collected

9)  Not afraid to try/start over/re-invent oneself

10) To be able to speak and not be tongue tied/to be comfortable with others

I decided to make a journal page for this project instead of vision cards because it just seemed that I could more easily convey with pictures the thoughts I was having.

Plus I thought I would actually look at it more often than the cards.

When I was finished with my page, I noticed that some of my words appeared much more frequently or that the pictures for certain words were larger.

Again, did that mean those particular words were somehow more important to me?

Were they more on my mind?

Or was that just what I happened to find for pictures?

And were the words that didn't appear very often things that I view as already having more "under control"? 

Here are some close ups from my journal page......

 

The one brief appearance for the word "organized" as symbolized by the day planner, a touch of creativity, some quiet soul thoughts.

And that poor, poor little girl, who, for sure, lacks  the ability to stay cool, calm and collected.

 

More quiet soul with the X-ed out BlackBerry, some entrepreneurial spirit, and lavender for calmness.

The funky tennis shoes and glasses stand for accepting myself as I am and the dog is for loyalty.

That big door?

Not being afraid to open  that big door and try/start over/re-invent myself.

 

 

The chair is more entrepreneurial spirit---probably one of those pictures that maybe only I will understand...

Frog Tape and Gorilla Glue for being tenacious and having stick-to-itiveness.

Another loyal dog.

And the happy, chatting people are for being able to speak and be comfortable with others.

I realized as I went along, that perhaps what I was really after here was actually self-confidence.

Something very illusive for me. 

Something stolen from me during my childhood.

Something I chose to continue to allow to happen as an adult.

And I just accepted it....

 

Here is a bit more creativity.

Plus a whole lotta entrepreneurial spirit!

Full blown, in-your-face entrepreneurial spirit.

 

The full-view of my entire journal page.

 

 

And a close-up view of "Mr. Loyalty" just because he is so darn cute!

I have been trying to remember my "Happy Place" this week when I am distressed and I think it is coming to mind a little more easily when needed.  

Not so much with the "Al Frankens" yet, but I am hopeful and will keep working with them.

To help along all those feelings of relaxation, I was enjoying this while working on my "Core Values" journal page.........

 

Kinda made up for all my ineptness with a glue stick....

So there you have Week #2.

I am already very busy on Week #3....................... 

 

 

Vision Journaling Week #1

I met Kathryn Antyr while participating in Art Every Day Month last November.

I loved her blog immediately.

Her collage work.

Her photography.

And the music!

Oh, that music!

I knew I wanted to sign up for her Vision Journaling Workshop, but the dates fell right while I was going to be gone visiting my Mom.........

I would be without a computer.

As soon as Mom and I decided to postpone my visit until closer to spring, I quickly signed up for the workshop..........

I would only be a week behind!

........Here is a peek at my first lesson........

The topic?

"Relaxation"

Oh, boy.

That's a good one.

I don't think I have been fully relaxed since 1961 when I toddled off to kindergarten.

I was a tense and anxious child.

I grew into a tense and anxious adult.

Last year I read this pamphlet from 1953....

 

It helped some.

It was a tiny step, but I need strides.

Leaps, even.....

Anyway.

I read Kathryn's lesson on relaxation before I went to bed and just kinda went "hmmmm".....

The next morning, I was still in that thought mode until I started really  thinking about relaxation.

How badly I want it.

And why I don't have it.

At which point I promptly burst into tears.

That's just how relaxed I am.

That first morning continued to be very emotional for me with several more bouts of sobbing.

I remember how I had a similar reaction the first time I worked through "The Artist's Way"  by Julia Cameron in 2004..... 

My mind was like a constantly changing slide show of my life and all kinds of stuff that I had forgotten (or buried?).

It was impossible to shut off.

I hardly slept for days.....

I do tend to bury things.

Especially my head in the sand.

{Or under the covers as the case may be....}

Stuff builds up.

So I must learn to relax and let it go!

Anyway.

Part of this lesson was to make affirmation cards.

I have real trouble hearing "affirmation" and keeping a straight face.

All I can think of is Al Franken's character on SNL saying "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and damn it, people like me!"

None the less, I made two affirmation cards and here they are:

  

It was a blast to make these cards!

I don't think I have colored and doodled like that since junior high!

And I kept going because stuff just kept pouring out of me.

Like a few of those reasons that I don't have relaxation.....

 

I am sure that most of these cards would make no sense at all to anyone but me, but that is ok.

These are my two favorites...

 

 It sure felt good to get all that out!

I also was to create a collage of "My Happy Place" using pictures from magazines.

Another super fun activity!

I remembered making posters {again way back in junior high} to decorate our basement for my first "boy/girl party".......whee......

Cutting up my Mom's magazines and pasting all kinds of crazy sayings and funny pictures to huge pieces of poster board.

Well, it was fun then and it was fun now!

I think that I created a very calming "Happy Place" for myself!

I wish I could actually go there.

Physically.

One thing I noticed is that I didn't paste any words in my "Happy Place". 

I think this is because I pretty much spend most of my time as quiet as possible.

Hence my blog's name.... "A Quiet Life"......

I am not one for blaring televisions, cell phones plastered to the ear, or constant bombardment from radio, cd player or ipod.

But my "Happy Place" is  filled with words in another way---books!

I took some close-up photos of "My Happy Place" in sections so you could see it better....

 

The necessity of nature and the calming elements of knitting and a cat.

 

 

More nature....perhaps a place to escape to?

Roger thought it looked like Greece.

I thought it was more like Vermont.........

 

Very comfortable seating is required.

The pile of old books in the front symbolizes a stack of magazines.

Apparently when they photograph homes for publications, the stylists hide everyone's stash of magazines considering them clutter.....

{Oh, say it isn't so!}

Anyway, I couldn't find a single picture of magazines in my huge stack of magazines.

Isn't there something wrong there?!?

 

More seating.

Books, books, books.

A mountain of cookies.

Coffee.

Ahhhh........

 

The entire view of "My Happy Place".

Pretty comfy, huh?

I tried to bring this place to mind during the week when I was feeling stressed or hurried.

I attempted to think my "Al Frankens" when I was getting frazzled.

And I think I am feeling ever-so-slightly relaxed.

Hurray!

So there you have week #1.

Now I am off to work on week#2................