What I learn during Month on Connection

I had a really hard time with the delving into connection. Connection what does it really mean. What does it mean to me. Just like the painting "to breath life into". Is what I found Connection to meant to me. I think to development connection one needs to be present... in the moment... letting everything else fall away. Let's take talking on the phone with someone. how many times do you wash the dishes or continue reading your emails while on the phone. I'm so guilty of that. But when you stop all else all that you are doing and be truly present for the person you are talking with. Suddenly you really hear them, know whats important to them and connect.

I get so busy in the doing a don't stop and really be present. Mostly I don't stop to be present for myself. There is things I found out about myself I didn't even know. Here is a funny one. I always have my fried eggs easy over. Not because I like them that way but because I like the white part totally cooked. I really prefer sunny side up, with the white part totally cooked and yellows still runny,  hard to do. Here is a hard one. By not being present for myself I don't honor myself. That one was a bit hard to swallow and face.

I haven't finished the books I've been reading "37 days" and "Madly in love with me". I am really enjoying them. I know this will cut into the books I have picked for next month. I might have to pick just one.

I did do the cleanse this past week. It was easier than I thought it would be. Shake in the morning, regular meal for lunch and a shake for dinner. I had some side effects while on the cleanse. After talking to my father about it, we both concluded that I was probably releasing toxins faster than eliminating them. I plan to go back on the elimination diet for another 3 weeks and do the cleanse again. Keep you posted how and if it goes.

Next month Spirituality...

Thanks for stopping by

Esther

XOXO

Devling into Connection

So here we are three weeks into my study of Connection. Surprising things have come my way this month.
 First... things about money kept coming my way from blogs to people talking about it. The one thing that I really got into was the "Money love challenge" from Kate Northrup 21 easy to follow steps to make you more aware about your money. Money a love story her book is on my wish list.  One of the several things I did on her challenge was change the direction of my work station in my studio. I love working in there now.

Second was another book drew my attention "Madly in love with me" by Christine Arylo. I am enjoying the book and exercises. And I love how the more love you give to yourself, the more love you can give to other people. And in the context of connection the more I love myself and therefore the more connected I am to myself. The more I know myself and the more I can stand in the space of connection with other people. I can me more solid.

Third I'm also reading the book from my list "Life is a verb" by Patti Digh. Her story telling always make me burst out laughing. She has tons of action steps and journaling suggestions that are thought provoking. I haven't done the journaling but I have done some of the action steps one of my favorites is celebrating the little things. My office mates and I are going to celebrate something once a week. Why wait to only celebrate the big things, life is to short we need to celebrate more. I also just purchased her book "Creative is a verb" I am sure I'm going to love it.

Fourth was a surprise free e-course from Brave Girls club "The thing about Love" She had this awesome project listing the little things you can do to show love and what the outcome is. Here is my project.

 I now have it beside the connection painting. It is a great little reminder of little steps I can do every day to be more connected to myself and others.

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO

Esther

February Art Piece

Every time I thought about Connection the image of Michealangelo's painting in the Sistine Chapel with the two fingers are barely touching would pop into my head. I couldn't understand why this image would pop into my head. And as I thought about creating an art piece it would not go away. When I looked it up in Wikipedia this is what it said

"The Creation of Adam is a fresco painting by Michelangelo, forming part of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted circa 1511–1512. It illustrates the Biblical creation narrative from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man.

Breathing life into... isn't that what connection is all about breathing life into your family.. partner...yourself. When you give your attention to something you are creating a connection and by default breathing life into it. Now it made total sense why this particular image keep saying use me! use me! use me!

Sorry I forgot to take pictures while I was creating. Now it sits in my living room to remind me of my month of Connection and breathing life into things. 

Thanks for stopping by

Esther

February word of the Month

February word of month is connection. Connection another loaded word, it could be a focus on…. Connection with my beloved… connection with friends and family… connection with the world… connection with spirit….what I connect with. When I thought of the word connection originally I was thinking connecting with myself, my body, my thoughts. Being present to how I connect with those around me. I think I will follow this path and see where it leads me. Again I am going to keep my action steps simple.

My first action step will be journaling. I believe most of this work will be done with writing and reflecting on my day and interactions with myself and others. And of course it will be the easiest action step since I already have the habit of journaling from last month.

My second action step will be reading. This worked so well last month that I decided to continue with this kind of action step. Plus with the added bonus of reading ...one of my favorite activities built in... happy factor. Yeah! I've chosen these two books.

Keeping my reading list shorter this month. 6 books last month there was no way. Can you say "over achiever". LOL I'm learning. I'm finishing up Revive shortly but I'm itching to jump into these books.

My third action step is giving a hug every day. This will be big stretch for me ... imagine this being said in the big echoy voice "Going outside my comfort zone" That is what this work is all about right? I'm already feeling the panicy tightness in my chest. LOL From what I figure, hugs release Oxytocin the bonding/feeling yummy hormone. What better way to practice connection but hugs. Yes hugging myself counts.

What have you been working on so far?

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

My Month Delving into Health

Holy Cow! You know that saying what you put your attention to grows. It totally happened that way this month. The more I studied health the more information would come my way. I really learned lot about food and how there is so much more to eating than our hunger for food.  Health has so many parts that are integrated that to be truly healthy you have to consider your mind, spirit and environment not just the physical. It's so important to become aware if your hunger is for food or are you eating to compensate for your hunger in other areas of your life. I also learned about how sugar, gluten and your mind can affect your gut. How your gut and it's health affect not only your body and diseases but also your mind/brain. That your gut has just as many nerve ending as your brain. So when you say "I just feel it in my gut". There is a reason for that. LOL I know I just scratched the surface. I have a lot more to learn. Gratefully I don't feel overwhelmed and what has opened up for me is the phrase "Well isn't that interesting" 

To wrap up for the month 

 I didn't get to do the detox I read about in the book Clean this month but I have in on my schedule for late February. I read 2 books and started a third this month. This third book Revive was not on my original list. It was mentioned in the book Clean for those who thought they might be suffering form adrenal fatigue. Really loving this book, he has some awesome yoga poses that I am in love with.

I have started to reduce my sugar load and gluten. This will really help when I do the detox at the end of February. I am feeling better for it. I also have form the habit of going to sleep at a reasonable hour every night. I've been making my water intake most days. I have to share how this is happening. I started by drinking at least 16 oz before I left for work every morning. This started the ball rolling for the day and the rest of the day I just seemed to reach for water more often. Maybe this tip will help you out if you are trying to increase your water as well.

Exercise is becoming a habit and I'm looking forward to it. About mid month I had to fight the urge to exercise harder to see results faster. I had to keep reminding myself the idea was to form a habit not to work harder. This was a victory for me. I know in my heart had I given in to this urge I would have hit it hard and been super achy. My exercise habit would have been down the tubes.

I've kept up with my journaling I love this habit. I have been trying to incorporate this habit in my life for some time now. Some days my entries are long and most days short. knowing all I have to do is write a few sentences has taken the pressure off having set amount of time to write .

Some side benefits of doing all this... I'm reading.... 2 and 1/2 books in one month, my last book took me 3 months to read. I am so loving this. Another side benefit is that I'm blogging again. Creative writing is a tank filler for me. Makes me smile.

Next month is all about Connection... wonder what will open up for me on that word of the month

Hope your first month of the year was wonderful

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

My Art Piece

It took a while to create the art piece for this month’s word. I had a hard time thinking of an image that when I looked at it would give me the feelings of health and the journey I'm on.. My first thought was to do a collage of healthy things like fruit, veggies, water and/or people exercising. But for that I could look at my vision board. Then I watched a video from Donna Downey showing how she used stencils and modeling paste to put a word on a canvas. Loved it!

Using her idea, I wrote out the word health. Added color and then I was like okay... now what. At this point the piece looked nice but there really wasn't much of the inspiration I was hoping for.

 Then I remember that my meaning for health was Vitality and Radiance. I thought of a bird flying.  I played with many different options with the birds, I ended up with just a solo bird. I also placed a rhinestone on the piece for radiance. In the picture it looks like a black dot. LOL

I really love how the piece came out. Every time I see the piece it reminds me what I really want on my journey toward being healthy.

Love to hear what you have surrounded yourself with to keep your inspiration going as you move toward your goals for 2015.

Thanks' for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

Health

So the word for January is Health. My focus has been to define what health means to me so that I'm not chasing an ideal of health that is something I won't be able to keep up with for the rest of my life or won't make me happy in the long run.

To start I've thought it best to read and educate myself a bit to see how I would achieve health once I defined it.

So far I've read the Sugar Impact diet by JJ Virgin. Interesting idea presented. It was nice to see most of the items she says you should give up, I don't even eat. Yeah ahead of the game!! She is promoting more veggies, organic of course and to be aware of how much sugar you have every day. It seems doable. I'm currently reading Clean by Dr. Alejandro Junger. He is scaring me with the amount of toxins I'm being bombarded with everyday. Makes me want to live in a bubble. I haven't finished the book. I'm looking forward to his detox regime. I've been wanting to detox but everything I've seen on the market just looked too harsh. He keeps saying his method is easier to incorporate in one's life. We shall see.

The other thing I've done is started exercising. I know right ...no brainer ...want health ...exercise. I can't even tell you how many times I started but never kept up with it.  I decided to come at it from an entirely different angle. Incorporated the habit first then work on cardio and muscle building. I'm doing 15 minutes every morning of stretches. So no pain just feeling yummy every morning. Once the habit it in place I will incorporate other exercises. Woohoo I've stayed with it for 2 straight weeks, Missed a couple of days here and there because of scheduling. But I went back to it and  I'm actually looking forward to the stretches as well. Who would have thought.

As I mentioned in my last post, I want to keep the action steps simple and to pick 3. For the last action step I picked drinking water. As of this post I haven't hit my goal of 8/8oz cups yet but overall I have increased my water intake.

Next post I hope to have the art piece complete to show you.

What action steps are you doing for your goals?

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

Picking a word for the Year.

Pick a word for the year has become a popular concept. Where you a pick word something you want to work on all year long. Say like Gratitude or Rest. Then you take the word and incorporate into your daily life, reflect on it and grow from it. I really like the idea myself. I started doing it 2 years ago myself. Last year my word was Fun. I was starting my 50 year and I wanted to celebrate all year long after all this is the BIG ONE. I figured it would be a great word to work with, do and incorporate fun into my life all year ending with my big celebration in December. I started out really well with a " Starting my 50th year birthday party", creating artwork I could look at and remind myself about my word.  But by April and May I all but forgot about my word. And the word from the year before? Well that word didn't even last to the end of January, I can't even remember what the word was.

Then I was reading a blogger Stephanie Ackerman. She was picking a word for each month and giving herself exercises to bring the word into her life for the month. Such as reflecting, doing artwork and journaling about the word. I really liked that idea. Small bite size pieces to incorporate each month.

hmmm now I have to come up with not one word but 12.... yikes... and I want them to be meaningful to me... double yikes... words to grow into... triple yikes...

Enter my vision board,

 something I created to reflect my goals for 2015. Phew!!! The light bulb went off in my head. I pick my 12 words from there. Six words popped out at me right away. Health, Connection, Reflection, Repair, Art, Spirituality. The next six took a bit. I ended up using words that complemented the words I already had. So here is my list:

January -- Health

February -- Connection

March -- Spirituality

April -- Repair

May -- Contemplation

June -- Self care

July -- Art

August -- Restore

September -- Reflection

October -- Association

November -- Style

December -- Truth

I'm keeping it simple for the exercises to incorporate these words into my life. Do an art piece that reflects the word to me, take an action step and journal about what that concept/word means to me.

Did you pick a word for the year..two.. maybe twelve?

Well I'm off to go buy a journal to use for this year just dedicated to 2015 words.

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

Happy New year

Happy New Year!

I said to myself, "Phew I made it through another Holiday season." This is something I have said to myself for a number of years now but this year it made me stop as these words flew out of my mouth. Made it through... what a obstacle course.. a battle.. bad times. Yikes I don't want to make it through anything... okay maybe hard times.... but not life, not time with family. Making it through sounds like I had to walk through the mire, muck, bullets flying through the air. Okay that might be a little dramatic but you know what I mean.  I want to enjoy every day, enjoy what the season means, what it means to me. I want to be inspired, to be filled with love and wonderment.

The season for me begins with Halloween and last until 3 Kings day (January 6th). I know that is kind of long but 3 months never seems to be long enough. I barely get out any decorations, running last minute to the stores for either candy or presents. Never mind the cooking and cleaning. And the traffic ick! Now that is a battle LOL. But really I get so busy doing that I don't stop to actually enjoy what each Holiday means to me.

Let's take Halloween.. It's all about trickery, fun, pranks and getting a little scared. How I love going to haunted houses. I haven't been to one in years. Now for those who know me, know I don't like horror movies but for the month of October I make an exception. I'll admit, I rather see the scary Halloween movies like Hocus Pocus or Halloween High to the Walking dead movies. But you gotta admit they are kinda of fun to watch sometimes, but only in October. For me I just love decorating for this season. Creating the grave yard in my front yard. The haunted mansion look inside. That part is the best for me. There has been a number of props I have been wanting to make, the man caught in the spider web, a table made form leg bones and more tombstones. That is also what makes Halloween fun, the creation of these props.

Thanksgiving is all about the leaves, crispness in the morning air, hot apple cider. For years I've been wanting to  drive further north to see the wonderful changing of the leaves.  That is still on my list of to do's. One of the best things I love is driving through a leaf covered road and looking at my rear mirror and watching the leaves swirling in the air. Baking yeah that is also fun to do during the month of November. Apple pies, Pumpkin pies. My very first pumpkin pie I ever made at least that I can remember was with my father. We made the whole thing from scratch. From cooking the pumpkin to making the crust. It was the best damn pumpkin pie I ever had. And dad if you are reading this and if my memory is wrong don't correct me. I love this memory as is. A matter of fact if I'm wrong just tell me I'm right cause I really love this memory LOL.

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. The smell of pine, fireplaces, twinkling lights, the first Christmas song and the first snow flake. hmmm this is making me feel like a repeat please. I love the first night, after decorating the tree, to sit in the dark with only the tree lights on. It is so magical. Listening to carolers singing. I had the experience of having Caroler come to the door once. It was at the house of a dog I was taking care of. The dog went nuts and then I heard the music coming from the outside. When I opened the door to see all these people burst into song made my heart skip a beat. Wish I had cookies to give them. Decorating for this holiday is also fun. I think is all that pine smell that I love best like being outdoors without freezing. The thing on my list for Christmas is cutting down my own tree. I'll have to look into this.

Looking over this, these things look doable. The one thing that comes to mind is pause. Pausing to smell, pausing to look, pausing to enjoy, pausing to breathe it all in. The other thing that comes to mind is setting aside time...hmm other way to say pausing... but this time to make as in props, baking, and to have quite time and setting time aside to reflect. To do this next year I will have to plan not planning as in doing but planning as is what will make it memorable for me. So I pulled out my agenda and on the month of September I wrote down. Holidays are coming What can I do each month to make it tremendous, fun and joyous.

So tell me did you make it through the holidays this year or were they tremendous, fun and joyous?

Lots of love and thanks for stopping by

XOXOXO

Esther

PS I always wanted to draw in my agenda. Pretty cool

Cowboy boots

I bought these boots for a steal at DSW. If I'm remembering correctly I couldn't have paid more than $30.00 for them. I knew at the time they were not leather but I thought they were fun. I made the mistake this past Christmas of scooting over while on my knees over a rug. As you can see the tops got worn away.

I was going to get rid of them but I thought maybe I'd paint over the tips.

These are a few ideas I got off the Internet. I decided to go with a simple design on my first try at painting shoes. 

I tried using fabric paint with my first layer. The paint was too transparent, I didn't think multiple coats would help either. I moved on to acrylic paint.  I got the coverage I wanted. Now I can wear the boots again. I don't know if the paint will last. If it doesn't I can always pull out the paint brush and do go to town again. 

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

Baked French Toast

I was looking for a recipe on line for a brunch get together I was hosting. I ran across this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. I have seen her show on the Food Network. Her recipes are not by any means low fat. She cooks for her family that work on a ranch ...yeah I don't think low fat low calorie foods would keep them going long. I had a feeling this recipe was going to be super yummy.
I read the ingredients and I could just taste the yummies.
Now you see I wrote "I read the ingredients" which is exactly what I meant I read only the ingredients went shopping got what I needed and the day of brunch I read the recipe.

To my surprise the bread was suppose to soak for several hours to overnight. My family was coming in two hours. I almost changed my mind and not make it. But I figured I would soak the bread in the egg mixture as long as possible before I popped it in the oven.

The recipe says you can either cut up the bread in cubes or tear it into pieces. I went for the tearing.
I thought it would give the final look a bit more texture. But I don't think it would make a difference either way. If you are preparing the dish the night before like I was suppose to I guess the tearing of the bread can be rather Zen like.

After the bread soaks for a while in the egg and cream mixture, you add the crumble top.

The whole this gets baked for 45 mins to an hour. The crumble top gets a little crunchy. Just spoon it out and top with powered sugar and a side of fruit.

You don't even need syrup with it. The recipe says you can add fruit just before the crumbles. I might just have to do this recipe again with peaches or apples. YUM

Here is a link to the recipe http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/cinnamon-baked-french-toast-recipe/index.html

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

Potato Leek Soup

One of my go to cook books is the Joy of Cooking. I have used it so much that I had to buy a new copy since my first copy kind of fell apart from so much use. Their version of Potato Leek Soup is very simple. I decided to make the soup while I was grocery shopping and didn't actually read the recipe before I went. The recipe calls for 8 leeks whites only. But I only came home with 3.

 I decided to make the soup anyway. The recipe is quite simple 8 leeks, butter, 3 potatoes, 5 cups of broth. My favorite broth is Progresso. But I will use any that is on sale. I also tend to not buy the low sodium because it tend to forget to salt my cooking. That save me from having bland food. LOL

Saute leeks until soft.

Add rest of ingredient and boil for about 1/2 hour or until potatoes are soft and puree.

I got this hand held blender for my birthday. I couldn't wait to try it out. One of the reasons for making this soup. Once you puree, you can add a cup of cream if you want a creamier soup or thin with broth if you want a thinner soup. Guess which way I went...

Yup with the cream. It was so yummy. Try the soup it so fast to make, unless you taking photos of the process. wink wink You will be eating in less than a hour.

Thanks for stopping by
XOXO
Esther

Charm Bracelet

Last year I had bought a kit to make a charm bracelet. I learned so much from the kit. How to put together beads with bead caps and spacers. Who would have thought there were so many pieces to put together to make one item to put on the bracelet.

Early last fall I decided to try to make one on my own. Looking for all the components in the local craft stores was a challenge. Not every store carried what I needed and I was trying to make it pretty similar to the kit. In the end I had to change things around. I should have looked on the internet. I didn't think of it at the time. 

I was very happy to find these smokey colored tear drop glass beads. With the bead spacers and tiny pearls they really dressed up the bead and made it look to romantic. I learned how to make rosary chain since I couldn't find any pre-made. It turned out easier than I thought and I was able to put a strand together in no time.

Here is a look at one of the bracelets I finished.

Thanks for stopping by

XOXO

Esther

Ribbon Bookmarks

I learned how do to this ribbon bookmarks

They were simple to make once I decide on the ribbon size. 

I really wanted velvet ribbon for the book marks. I didn't realize how hard it was going to be to find velvet ribbon. I did find some in a some in a sewing store but the color selection was quite limited. To expand my options I bought some trim ribbon. The one ribbon color I couldn't find was purple. At least nothing I really liked. The next thing was the ribbon clamps. The clamps are sized in millimeters verse inches. For the measuring challenged person like me, I had to keep it simple. Luckily for me the spools had both the inch and millimeter sizes on them and I didn't have to convert the measurements myself.

There were a few suppliers on Esty I wanted to buy from but because I waited to long to buy I ended up buying them from Amazon. Cuddos to Amazon prime I had my clamps in two days. Yep that meant the Friday before Christmas. Nothing like waiting till the last minute. 

The side benefit of this project I organized my beads. It sure made things much easier. There is more to get organized but I'm off to a great start. 

Thanks for stopping by.

XOXO

Esther

Saying Good-bye To My Little Man

Today I said goodbye to my buddy Gus. Of the three ferrets that shared their lives with me he was the sweetest. He was so gentle, sweet and easy going.

He loved going outside. I remember trying to put this harness on him. The second I got the last buckle fastened he was out of it. Once he understood that the harness meant it was time to explore he never fought me again to keep it on.
 

 He loved digging I had a tub full of shredded paper for him to play in. He would bury himself deep in the bin sometimes and go to sleep. Another of his favorite things to do was to play in his tunnel system. I would hide some food in the tunnels and he run to find his treasures.

One of his favorite places to sleep was his carrying case and the alligator bed. It was funny to watch him get comfy in the bed. It always looked like the alligator was chewing him

 



 Another of his favorite places to sleep was on my bed. Now I have a super high bed and it was a climb for him but he always found a way up.

Another favorite toy of his was this mouse he loved chasing it and chomping down on it. He would also try carrying it away to a hiding place.

One of his favorite pass time was trying to get to the basement. Watch this funny video showing how determined he was. Believe me he would work that door until it would pop open.

I remember the time he made snow. Take a look you see what I mean. The look on his face of pure joy. I couldn't be mad at him for getting into so much mischief.

I was cleaning up Styrofoam pieces for weeks after that.  This gave me an idea, I gave him a box of dirt to dig into. He loved it. But he came out black and cleaning him up wasn't all that fun for him or me. So we didn't do that again.

Here is another funny video of him.

We had so much fun that night. When he learned how to get out from under the box he won't stay under for long.

This last couple of months have been super tough for my sweet boy. He had a tumor removed back in June. From that operation he got a blood clot that infected his fat tissue. They had to go in and remove a large portion of his skin by his hind legs. He really never recovered from that operation. Once thing led to another. He had been in and out of the vets nearly weekly since September. I couldn't see him suffer any more. Looking at all his photos reminded me of all the fun things we did and his spark he had. I'm so glad I took so many pictures of him and his antics. My last memories of him and his suffering were so over whelming. I glad I had time this afternoon to go over all of his pictures. To realize  he did live a good full life. Take pictures my friends to remind you of your loves after they are gone. They are precious!!!

His in peace my sweet little man. Thanks for bringing such much joy into my life. You will be missed and you were so dearly loved.