Sunday's "My Life Story" entry No. 7

What do you do to relax?

Relax: (verb)

1. to spend time resting or doing things for pleasure, especially in contrast to or as a relief from the effort and stress of everyday life.

This form of relaxing doesn't happen every day like it should, but I am fairly good about indulging in some good old fashion selfish pleasure from time to time. I like to read books and get wisked away to someother place and time. I love to sleep until my body absolutely wants to get up. This may come as a surprise to some of you because I have said for years I don't like to sleep in, but it's because I feel guilty about the time wasted, but that is also why if I allow myself to sleep in it's a true pleasure. 1 I get more rest for my body and 2 I learn to let go of guilt and enjoy the moment. It's really nice if you don't have to ask for it, it's just given because your husband knows it would do you some good. I like to meander through Target with no list, kids or specified time of when must return. I like to run. This really is my drug of choice. It is one of the best ways to release tension and stress and the best part is you feel great the rest of the day. I try to run or workout 4-5 times a week. As far as finding relief from the everyday stress of life I think you just to need to simplify, simplify, simplify. Now if I could only put that into practice.

One of my favorite books.

2. to slacken something that is tensed or tight such as a muscle or a grip on something, or become looser, less tense, or less tight.

I bought myself a pilates mat workout a few months ago and wow; I love all the stretching and breathing. My muscles especially love it. They wish I would do pilates more often so they look lean and toned just like Gwyneth Paltrows muscles.

3. to make something such as a rule less strict or less severe, or become less strict.

Speaking of which, the height restriction rules at Lego Land are RIDICULOUS and does Subway really have to be so tight about how many olives go onto their sandwiches? I swear the guy counts how many he's putting on.

4. to become less anxious, hostile, defensive, or formal, or make somebody or something so

I find myself feeling anxious about things that most often out or my control. I try to remind myself to just 'let it go'. I am defensive about things I'm most often insecure about and so I try and change my focus.

5. to become less intense and concentrated, or make something less intense and concentrated

It's pretty hard sometimes to be less tense because I'm on the 'Hormonal Roller Coaster'. You know the one that has a few of highs of normal, several lows of insanity and lots of unexpected twists and turns of irritable and bloating. And the nightmare is I will have to wait years before I get off. Ahh

6. to weaken or remove the curl from hair, usually by chemical means

I realize when I speak about relaxing my hair I don't really have to 'relax' my hair like the sisters , but I do struggle with trying to weaken the frizz caused by the humidity. I happened upon a product a week ago that I am really liking. It's called Frizz Buster. I picked mine up at Walgreen's.

Wannabe Artist

This last weekend I went to a two day Anahata Katkin art workshop. I have only recently become acquainted with Anahata's work, but after meeting this amazing artist and watching her demonstrate her creative process I am a big fan. It was one of the best weekends I've had in long time. Doing any kind of art is for me uplifting and therapeutic. It was a wonderful experience for me and I loved the process. It was two full days of feeling excited, inspired, frustrated, excited, inspired, frustrated over and over, and in the end I felt proud of what I had accomplished. And although I am still a wannabe artist at heart I left with my nearly completed projects in hand with a great sense of renewal and happiness.

Anahata's finished demonstrations.



And the process begins.......



It was fun and messy; papers and paint everywhere. I couldn't keep track of my scissors. I wonder why?

"Go with the flow. Throw thinking out the door."-Anahata

And so that's what I tried to do; not think too hard. Maybe that's why I loved the process so much.



And the nearly completed pieces are ... "Lest We Forget".

And this one needs a bit more refining but I like where it's going. I'm going to title it, "Sans Puer", which means fearless in French.

Thanks Anahata for the inspiration and the free therapy.

Sunday's "My Life Story" entry No. 6

"Two Women Running on a Beach" by Pablo Picasso

Tell about a club or an organization to which you belong.

I currently belong to one club and one organization although there are many clubs and organizations I would like to belong; there's just not enough days in a week. The club I currently belong to is a group called the Racy Ladies, which by name alone sounds like something mildly indecent, but it's actually a running group. Racy Ladies was founded in 1974 by Sally Montruccio and is still going strong. It's made up of all different kinds of ladies who are committed to fitness and the well being of their children. (No scary gym care providers here.) The women are at all levels of ability. Some women have or are training for marathons, triathlons or other races and others are just trying to get in their workout for the day. We run anywhere from 5 to 8 hard horse trail miles. It's a sweaty workout! We run the horse tails along the exclusive Rancho Santa Fe golf course or around and through the sprawling estates of Rancho Santa Re and Olivenhain. I am so covetous of how big their lots are and how custom their houses appear. Ohhh... maybe one day.



The organization I belong to is one of I believe, the greatest organizations any women can belong to. That organization is the Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Relief Society is the women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and it is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world. Its purpose is to bring women and their families to Christ and to help them become their best selves.The motto of this organization is “Charity never faileth.” Its goal is to celebrate the very best that is womanhood and it honors homemaking, marriage and motherhood as divinely important roles for women at a time when most women who choose these roles find themselves devalued. Bonnie D. Parkin, a former Relief Society general president said, “We have been given an organization to build our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, to feel his love, and to extend that love to all. The Relief Society is that organization”. I am grateful to be apart of the Relief Society and grateful to how it has blessed my life.

Sunday's "My Life Story" entry No. 5

What activities, besides eating, went on at the kitchen table in the home in which you grew up?

I had a large family -10 in all! Big family = big kitchen table. We must have had a few different tables but the one we had the longest and the one I remember was the big farmhouse style blond oak table with matching chairs. We ate dinner almost every night around that table. My mom wasn't a gourmet cook by any means, but I still have fond memories of the meals she made for us. Something that always accompanied most dinners was a tall stack of sliced bread, homemade grape juice and a dish full of canned vegetables. (Unless is was summer and then we had sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden.) Our meals were simple but balanced. And what was passed along to me was not a recipe box full of fabulous meals, but rather the sense of obligation to gather together the family to eat, play, pray, study, and grow!

Our kitchen table really was the nucleus of our home and it endured many activities over the years: crafts, homework, Sunday journals, family night, boardgames, birthday parties, family celebrations, holiday gatherings, community and church meetings, dad's PPIs, and of course breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's amazing to think of all the many memories that take place centered around one piece of furniture-the kitchen table.


Lesson learned....It's the gathering not the meal that's most important and enduring.

Sunday's "My Life Story" entry No. 4

What is one of your favorite colors? Why?

I believe that there are no ugly colors, just ugly combinations. And where most people get it wrong is in the proportions and the mixing of warm and cool colors. There is a lot to consider when choosing colors and it can at times be a little tricky getting it right. I remember one of my first experiences choosing a bold color for a project I was working on. The color was cantaloupe orange and it was going on a partial wall behind a reception desk. I was really nervous because it was a bold color. When I got my first look at the wall painted I thought maybe I had made a wrong choice. But as everything came together the project was finished it turned out to be the perfect color.

Lesson learned...trust your first instinct, it's usually right; and follow your design vision through to the end.

Here are a couple of color combinations I currently dig! Check out others at COLOURlovers.com

First Day Of School

OK, so I love my kids but I have to say Hallelujah to school being back in session. I wish I could say I am a mother who cries as her child enters the school doors for the first time but over the summer my kids perfected the sibling fighting thing and it pushed my patience to the very edge. Some days I wanted to voluntarily jump over that edge and leave to someplace happy where no one was hitting, tattling, whining or crying. Although as long as I am a mother of young children I'm not sure a place like that exists.(If there is such a place, please fill me in because locking myself in the bathroom is not cutting it.) Lately it's love or hate with Thomas and Kate and finally September 3rd was not only the first day of kindergarten for Kate and second grade for Thomas but it brought a much needed 6 hour break from each other. Can I just say it again... HALLELUJAH!

Any suggestions to creating "love at home" in the real world?