I Did It My Way... As I always Do!

This Christmas I made all but one of my gifts. A few weeks ago on Martha Stewart one of the editors from Blueprint Magazine made very cool earrings from metallic tassels she'd found at a notions store. Her idea inspired me to go check out a crafts store. I didn't find any good tassels but I found some cool pendants, leather cord, hemp cord and some very cool heart shaped toggle closures. I perused my wrapping options and I couldn't find anything that I liked at all. As I was leaving a display of wreath ribbon caught my eye. I picked up a spool of gold ribbon with cream colored poinsettia and the idea for the little envelope bags you see above just jumped into my mind. I made the grey silk bags out of a remnant I had from bridesmaids dresses of yore and the tags are made from recycled wrapping paper glued onto cardboard from a gift box. Some of the ribbon is re-used from a previous gift.

Almost everyone in my family got a necklace in a little bag. (The guys in my family are very cool.) After I finished making all of the necklaces I had laid out to do I still had some leather cord left. On a whim I strung several different colored buttons on the piece of cord. I liked it so much that I decided to make a few more for some friends. Of course I made some more bags to present them in. All in all I spent less than $50 on 14 people and everyone was very happy with their gifts!


My dad gave me a Christmas tree cake pan just before the holiday... hint much? I decided to take on the project but with a twist. Several people in my family are allergic to wheat so I got a Gluten Free Pantry ~ Angel Food Cake mix and I used brown rice flour to dust the pan. My sister Stephanie, in particular, was ecstatic. She was so happy about it that when it came time to serve the cake I cut the top off making a mini tree and gave it to her! All in all we had a superfantastic Christmas. My gifts were a hit and I got some pretty cool gifts too. We ate like kings, we exchanged great gifts and we reminisced over old photos. It was great! I am blessed with a rockin' cool family for which I am truly grateful.

Why Ask Why?

Imagine if you deliberately paused for just a moment before choosing to take action and asked yourself why? What paths would change in your life? Today I paused before choosing angry words and instead I chose to express pain. Each action becomes more deliberate and has more meaning when we pause for even a millisecond to evaluate our choice. I choose my actions and my reactions and when I remember to choose consciously I lessen the drama and heighten the quality.

Scrub Up!

One of my favorite blogs, GlamSpirit, posted a short note about hand washing advising us to lather up our hands for at least twenty seconds to effectively kill bacteria. I decided to take her advice into the shower and under my arms. I haven't used deodorant for quite sometime because the natural ones do next to nothing and the unnatural ones are toxic. I am not a very stinky person to begin with but since I've applied the twenty second rule I've had no smell at all! It makes sense... kill the bacteria, kill the smell. Thanks Rebecca!

Yikes! Just Say No To Embarrassment.

I was conversing with a younger woman at a dinner party recently and she was telling me about an embarrassing incident that she'd had. I waited for her to finish her story and then I told her something that perhaps comes with age or perhaps it only comes with certain guidance. Embarrassment is mostly useless and it can be greatly overcome. I practice by simply choosing to continue to do silly things that make me happy even while people are passing by. Like, I walk my dog with my ipod on and I sing along to the music, granted I do this on a country road where only my neighbours are subjected to my crooning but... you get the point. It started with me doing yoga in the backyard. I love doing yoga in the grass but I was feeling a little embarrassed about people watching me. At first I tried to block the view and then it occured to me that it really doesn't matter. I also realized that if I saw someone doing yoga in their backyard that I would think they were pretty darn cool. I don't know that I'll ever be immune to embarrassment but the more confidence I give to myself the less embarrassed I feel. Try it out, it's quite liberating.