Friday, January 20, 2012
Just for fun - part 7
Lit from Within: Just for Fun - Part 7
Play with sounds, stones, and flowers. Explore the fun and playfulness of them. Tap into them to enrich your life.
Sing, chant, drum, dance, listen to music. Make it part of your everyday.
Add stones to every room. Their beauty alone adds to the enjoyment of a room, but so does the very energy of each stone. Choose stones with properties you wish to have or that you need.
Flowers inspire a sense of LIFE in a space. Cut flowers, growing potted flowers. But flowers are not just visual additions. Flowers and other plants have scents. Add scents (aromas) to your life as incense or oils, as perfumes or sprays, as bath salts. Maybe even look into Bach Flower Remedies.
For those of you who know me... DUH! I do this all the time! Where do I work? My life is full of music, crystals, and smells.
And yet, my home lacks something... I keep wanting to bring in flowers for the altar... but i have this kitten... this way too curious and troublesome yet totally adorable kitten. So... how do I fix this? OH! I know, I have some lovely fresh art of flowers from my Mom and from an artist on Deviant Art. I can laminate those and put them up.
Find ways to brighten your life. Add pretty stones and fun scents to all your spaces. Life your life with music every day.
Play with sounds, stones, and flowers. Explore the fun and playfulness of them. Tap into them to enrich your life.
Sing, chant, drum, dance, listen to music. Make it part of your everyday.
Add stones to every room. Their beauty alone adds to the enjoyment of a room, but so does the very energy of each stone. Choose stones with properties you wish to have or that you need.
Flowers inspire a sense of LIFE in a space. Cut flowers, growing potted flowers. But flowers are not just visual additions. Flowers and other plants have scents. Add scents (aromas) to your life as incense or oils, as perfumes or sprays, as bath salts. Maybe even look into Bach Flower Remedies.
For those of you who know me... DUH! I do this all the time! Where do I work? My life is full of music, crystals, and smells.
And yet, my home lacks something... I keep wanting to bring in flowers for the altar... but i have this kitten... this way too curious and troublesome yet totally adorable kitten. So... how do I fix this? OH! I know, I have some lovely fresh art of flowers from my Mom and from an artist on Deviant Art. I can laminate those and put them up.
Find ways to brighten your life. Add pretty stones and fun scents to all your spaces. Life your life with music every day.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Lit from Within - Part 6
Oops, more like the 6th chapter of Part 4, really. This is all about developing your own sense of style. I never really thought I had a sense of style and have wondered often what is my "style".
Bury the myth that style is for a select few. Observe style. Build on the areas in which your sense of style is already apparent. Think about the clothes you wear. The colors, the fabrics, the accessories. What do you like and what fits your personality? Find accessories that accentuate your style, like a scarf. And have a few really good sets for when you want to really show yourself off. Incorporate your liabilities. make the cane work for your style or the shoes or the hearing air or the glasses. make them part of your 'look'. Feel free to experiment. The secret is not to fit a style, but to become a style setter.
Do what you can do well, and work to do it even better. Then you can set your own trends.
So, what I wear has come up a few times. I always come back to practical and functional. Cargo pants and safari pants and jeans. I can expand on these by expanding the colors. Usually jeans are blue or black. Usually cargo and safari pants are light tan or cacki-green. I can work with browns, burgundies, darker blues, richer greens. These make good bases along with the tans and blacks. Although I have to be careful about greens, most look awful on me.
My shirts tend to be so random... T-shirts long or short sleeved, sometimes button shirts if they are thicker. Why oh WHY are women's shirts practically fucking transparent?! I often resort to buying in the men's wear for sturdy clothes. But then I need to look less... boy. I do that with scarves. That is one of my personal trademarks. I wear scarves as belts all the time. I like vests too, but no one seems to have vests anymore. I like the brocade or rugged vests that look a bit dressy. Or even some of the more medieval bustiers. Maybe I will have to resort to getting patterns and making my own. Oh... *whimper* that would mean digging out the sewing machine and trying to learn how to use it. Mom suggested a newer machine that is less complicated. I almost want an antique Singer with the rocking pedal. Those were nice and simple. I used to sew decently with one. Ok... so I can concede making my own vests, or pleading my mom to make some for me *GRIN*
I don't do skirts often, and again mostly because I like the more rugged long ones that I don't see anywhere. I hate dresses. I can't really find any that look good with my body shape. so I think it is best to not add them to my style if I want to work with the body I have.
Same goes with heels. My various injuries and weakness of ankles makes me unstable in heels unless that are blocky and can fit my orthotics. Usually I wear dock-like shoes. I suppose I can make them part of my style and seek out some nice ones. I also like desert boots (those are like suede hi-cut rugged sneakers with treds). Shoe shopping is a personal nightmare since I have the orthotics and a foot a 1/2 size larger than the other. Shoes are just such an expensive accessory.
I like cute and patterned socks. No one really ever sees the socks, but they make me happy if I can find ones I like. Otherwise I am boring with my cotton black ones.
Overall, I tend to work best with fall colors or tans and creams with color accents. Most purples are vile on me so I stay away from them, same for yellows and most oranges. Something about orange hair and blue eyes and fair skin that makes many colors not work. Of light colors, I can do white. cream, light blue, sea-foam green, sometimes a blue-turquoise, peach, and even a particular shade of light bubble-gum pink. Ok, I generally detest pink, but that one I actually like.
As for my hair... I usually wear chopsticks or a large Celtic clip. With my hair short now, I often do pony-tails. Who cares if i am almost 40. I like pony-tails and they keep my hair out of my face and away from my ears and neck. Oh... I think the bits of military in me just crept to the surface.
So I guess I have a style if I think about it. I can work with this and clean up what I have and get clothing that is actually in this plan rather than trying to dress in styles that are not me. I can do classy as a style sometimes too, but rugged and adventurous is way more me. If it can survive me running through the woods, then it is perfect!
Bury the myth that style is for a select few. Observe style. Build on the areas in which your sense of style is already apparent. Think about the clothes you wear. The colors, the fabrics, the accessories. What do you like and what fits your personality? Find accessories that accentuate your style, like a scarf. And have a few really good sets for when you want to really show yourself off. Incorporate your liabilities. make the cane work for your style or the shoes or the hearing air or the glasses. make them part of your 'look'. Feel free to experiment. The secret is not to fit a style, but to become a style setter.
Do what you can do well, and work to do it even better. Then you can set your own trends.
So, what I wear has come up a few times. I always come back to practical and functional. Cargo pants and safari pants and jeans. I can expand on these by expanding the colors. Usually jeans are blue or black. Usually cargo and safari pants are light tan or cacki-green. I can work with browns, burgundies, darker blues, richer greens. These make good bases along with the tans and blacks. Although I have to be careful about greens, most look awful on me.
My shirts tend to be so random... T-shirts long or short sleeved, sometimes button shirts if they are thicker. Why oh WHY are women's shirts practically fucking transparent?! I often resort to buying in the men's wear for sturdy clothes. But then I need to look less... boy. I do that with scarves. That is one of my personal trademarks. I wear scarves as belts all the time. I like vests too, but no one seems to have vests anymore. I like the brocade or rugged vests that look a bit dressy. Or even some of the more medieval bustiers. Maybe I will have to resort to getting patterns and making my own. Oh... *whimper* that would mean digging out the sewing machine and trying to learn how to use it. Mom suggested a newer machine that is less complicated. I almost want an antique Singer with the rocking pedal. Those were nice and simple. I used to sew decently with one. Ok... so I can concede making my own vests, or pleading my mom to make some for me *GRIN*
I don't do skirts often, and again mostly because I like the more rugged long ones that I don't see anywhere. I hate dresses. I can't really find any that look good with my body shape. so I think it is best to not add them to my style if I want to work with the body I have.
Same goes with heels. My various injuries and weakness of ankles makes me unstable in heels unless that are blocky and can fit my orthotics. Usually I wear dock-like shoes. I suppose I can make them part of my style and seek out some nice ones. I also like desert boots (those are like suede hi-cut rugged sneakers with treds). Shoe shopping is a personal nightmare since I have the orthotics and a foot a 1/2 size larger than the other. Shoes are just such an expensive accessory.
I like cute and patterned socks. No one really ever sees the socks, but they make me happy if I can find ones I like. Otherwise I am boring with my cotton black ones.
Overall, I tend to work best with fall colors or tans and creams with color accents. Most purples are vile on me so I stay away from them, same for yellows and most oranges. Something about orange hair and blue eyes and fair skin that makes many colors not work. Of light colors, I can do white. cream, light blue, sea-foam green, sometimes a blue-turquoise, peach, and even a particular shade of light bubble-gum pink. Ok, I generally detest pink, but that one I actually like.
As for my hair... I usually wear chopsticks or a large Celtic clip. With my hair short now, I often do pony-tails. Who cares if i am almost 40. I like pony-tails and they keep my hair out of my face and away from my ears and neck. Oh... I think the bits of military in me just crept to the surface.
So I guess I have a style if I think about it. I can work with this and clean up what I have and get clothing that is actually in this plan rather than trying to dress in styles that are not me. I can do classy as a style sometimes too, but rugged and adventurous is way more me. If it can survive me running through the woods, then it is perfect!
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Just for Fun - Part 5
Lit from Within - "Take Yourself Lingerie Shopping"
You have got to be kidding! The title alone instill nightmares and personal self-loathing and an absolute hatred that I almost did not read the chapter. But I did.
A woman may dress well because she is secure or because she is not. What is underneath tells the tale.
And what is that supposed to mean / imply? Personally, I think what can be said about the clothes you put on the outside is no different than those underneath. What matters is that you feel comfortable, comfortable with what you are wearing and with who you are.
I hate bra shopping. I equally hate lingerie shopping. Yes, I consider them different. Bras can be lingerie or they can be practical underthings. I am a sports bra kinda practical girl. With now something like 5 good/practical/semi-fancy bras that I almost NEVER wear, I ask that no one please think that I need to go bra shopping ever again, thanks.
Lingerie, on the other hand is the fancy fun things you wear to show off to someone special or to feel sexy and slinky to yourself.
If you feel beautiful to yourself, then you will be beautiful to your husband.
Yes, I have a few fun things. No, I will not share. So... if you have been dying to see some pic with me... use your imagination.
Toss the old, holey, torn, worn, stained, threadbare underthings and get new ones.
This means bras, undies, AND socks. This I can do. It is not lingerie/bra shopping. It is fresh and new and comfortable. Practical. I like soft cotton. I hate itchy lace. Sometimes silky is nice. bottom line, practical and comfortable equals confident. There is nothing more awkward than watching a well dressed woman fidget because her undies are riding or her bra lace itches her. There is nothing graceful about trying to fix those things. If you are comfortable then you do not have those intimate things as a personal distraction. If lace and g-strings are comfy to you, go for it. I would rather be comfy than sexy any day. sexy can wait for special occasions in private.
Well, I think that is enough of an expose... hope you find something useful from this chapter. Go have fun and buy fun new underthings.
You have got to be kidding! The title alone instill nightmares and personal self-loathing and an absolute hatred that I almost did not read the chapter. But I did.
A woman may dress well because she is secure or because she is not. What is underneath tells the tale.
And what is that supposed to mean / imply? Personally, I think what can be said about the clothes you put on the outside is no different than those underneath. What matters is that you feel comfortable, comfortable with what you are wearing and with who you are.
I hate bra shopping. I equally hate lingerie shopping. Yes, I consider them different. Bras can be lingerie or they can be practical underthings. I am a sports bra kinda practical girl. With now something like 5 good/practical/semi-fancy bras that I almost NEVER wear, I ask that no one please think that I need to go bra shopping ever again, thanks.
Lingerie, on the other hand is the fancy fun things you wear to show off to someone special or to feel sexy and slinky to yourself.
If you feel beautiful to yourself, then you will be beautiful to your husband.
Yes, I have a few fun things. No, I will not share. So... if you have been dying to see some pic with me... use your imagination.
Toss the old, holey, torn, worn, stained, threadbare underthings and get new ones.
This means bras, undies, AND socks. This I can do. It is not lingerie/bra shopping. It is fresh and new and comfortable. Practical. I like soft cotton. I hate itchy lace. Sometimes silky is nice. bottom line, practical and comfortable equals confident. There is nothing more awkward than watching a well dressed woman fidget because her undies are riding or her bra lace itches her. There is nothing graceful about trying to fix those things. If you are comfortable then you do not have those intimate things as a personal distraction. If lace and g-strings are comfy to you, go for it. I would rather be comfy than sexy any day. sexy can wait for special occasions in private.
Well, I think that is enough of an expose... hope you find something useful from this chapter. Go have fun and buy fun new underthings.
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Just for Fun - part 4
Just for Fun is still a great part of Lit from Within. This next chapter is about "Establishing a Self-Care Fund" that has nothing to do with basic needs and everything to do with FUN!
As was mentioned, having fun is important for the soul too. My mother reminds us to stay real, but I remind you that in the hustle and bustle of staying real (doing with work thing and living thing)... remember to have some fun and do something that makes you happy or makes your soul sing!
The self-care fund is just that.
Do not underestimate the power of treating yourself to what you believe is important.
Feeling good about myself is important. Books are important. Seeing places (ROAD TRIP) is also important. I started with home. Feeling good about where I live inspires me to want to come home and love the home I have. So I am doing little redecorating projects. bathroom, bedroom, living room, office will all get small changes over the coming month. Feeling good about me started with a few new clothes that reflected my personality more. Clothes that were fresh and new and comfortable. I have new books arriving because they feel my soul.
The road trip thing is the only challenge. That requires more careful budgeting. Ideally, I would do a small road trip once a month. Budget is not that open. Maybe once every few months. The hard part is doing a road trip that is just for me, just for fun. All my "vacations" have been work-related.
I want to have a weekend away, a romantic kind, alone with the husband in February. A cabin somewhere with a fire place.
Budget for what you want to treat yourself to.
January's treat is a new computer. Monthly treat is books.
I will start budgeting for a road trip for my own personal sanity and need to "be somewhere else" for a little while.
As was mentioned, having fun is important for the soul too. My mother reminds us to stay real, but I remind you that in the hustle and bustle of staying real (doing with work thing and living thing)... remember to have some fun and do something that makes you happy or makes your soul sing!
The self-care fund is just that.
Do not underestimate the power of treating yourself to what you believe is important.
Feeling good about myself is important. Books are important. Seeing places (ROAD TRIP) is also important. I started with home. Feeling good about where I live inspires me to want to come home and love the home I have. So I am doing little redecorating projects. bathroom, bedroom, living room, office will all get small changes over the coming month. Feeling good about me started with a few new clothes that reflected my personality more. Clothes that were fresh and new and comfortable. I have new books arriving because they feel my soul.
The road trip thing is the only challenge. That requires more careful budgeting. Ideally, I would do a small road trip once a month. Budget is not that open. Maybe once every few months. The hard part is doing a road trip that is just for me, just for fun. All my "vacations" have been work-related.
I want to have a weekend away, a romantic kind, alone with the husband in February. A cabin somewhere with a fire place.
Budget for what you want to treat yourself to.
January's treat is a new computer. Monthly treat is books.
I will start budgeting for a road trip for my own personal sanity and need to "be somewhere else" for a little while.
Just for Fun - path 3
This next chapter from Lit from Within is about "Selecting a Symbol".
Whatever symbol speaks to your soul, put representations of it around you. Let these remind you that you can take on qualities of these symbols you have selected.
I have pondered this at length. The first symbol that comes to mind is the Scarlet Cougar. This is a large North American cat that I have as my spirit animal. The Scarlet Cougar or Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) is a more reddish colored puma/cougar/mountain-lion. It is highly endangered. There are less than 70 left in the world, mostly in reserves and zoos with limited success with captive breeding. Their habitats are shrinking faster than the animal can be saved.
http://www.panthersociety.org/faq.html for more information.
The cougar spiritually is a leader, amicable, confident, and yet very independent. The Cougar is also a strong teacher. I would like to think that this represents me well.
Other animals that symbolically impact my life are: the wolf, the raven, the dear, the horse.
I also thought about pictorial symbols and written symbols. Among these are the triskele, the moon, the Asian symbols for HONOR & LOVE as well as SERENITY. The moon is important for my connection to lunar cycles and my concept of the divine associated with the Gnostic Goddess Sophia (Wisdom). The triskele is for my Celtic roots and represents the Celtic cosmology of land, sea, and sky with a sacred inner fire in the center. HONOR and LOVE are for my clergy vows to live with honor and love in all things for "Honor is the law & Love is the bond." Serenity... This is something (I hope to also have moments of in my life, to live with serenity in my heart.
What symbols do you select for your life?
Whatever symbol speaks to your soul, put representations of it around you. Let these remind you that you can take on qualities of these symbols you have selected.
I have pondered this at length. The first symbol that comes to mind is the Scarlet Cougar. This is a large North American cat that I have as my spirit animal. The Scarlet Cougar or Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) is a more reddish colored puma/cougar/mountain-lion. It is highly endangered. There are less than 70 left in the world, mostly in reserves and zoos with limited success with captive breeding. Their habitats are shrinking faster than the animal can be saved.
http://www.panthersociety.org/faq.html for more information.
The cougar spiritually is a leader, amicable, confident, and yet very independent. The Cougar is also a strong teacher. I would like to think that this represents me well.
Other animals that symbolically impact my life are: the wolf, the raven, the dear, the horse.
I also thought about pictorial symbols and written symbols. Among these are the triskele, the moon, the Asian symbols for HONOR & LOVE as well as SERENITY. The moon is important for my connection to lunar cycles and my concept of the divine associated with the Gnostic Goddess Sophia (Wisdom). The triskele is for my Celtic roots and represents the Celtic cosmology of land, sea, and sky with a sacred inner fire in the center. HONOR and LOVE are for my clergy vows to live with honor and love in all things for "Honor is the law & Love is the bond." Serenity... This is something (I hope to also have moments of in my life, to live with serenity in my heart.
What symbols do you select for your life?
