After temperatures in the 70′s and 80′s in March hit, I was ready for some old fashioned hunkering down and hibernating.  Yeah, I know.  A person like me, who loves sunshine and hot weather?  Ready to hibernate more?  What’s going on with that?

The unseasonable weather was a boost to my mood and levels of Vitamin D, for sure.  But it was unsettling at the same time, too.

I worked in the yard, cleaned up the beds and pruned all the perrenials.  And then I sat outside and waited for it to get cold again.  I got my wish.  Cold.  Rainy.  And even a bit of snow.

I got my hibernation fix.  I’m recharged, feeling great.  And now I’m ready for more  outdoor pursuits, bike rides, walks in the park and cutting the grass.

Sometimes things are how they are.  And they stay that way.

Sometimes things change.  Sometimes the change is absolutely terrific.  You cheer it on as you see it changing.  Other times?  The change can be wrenching.

Sometimes things happen at random.  I have a beautiful necklace.  It is one of a set. So there are really two necklaces.  How delicious is it that two stunning necklaces go together?  Well, yes, of course it is delicious.  Each one, on their own is amazing.

And, I have another necklace.  This one I made all by myself.  I made it to celebrate taking my Reiki II class and receiving the attunement at that level. It’s weathered copper and garnet and citrine.  It’s really pretty amazing, if I say so myself.

The Stunning necklace of the two necklace set broke on Sunday.  Luckily it broke while I was in my car.  At a stop light.  So, I could pause, collect the pieces.  Which I did.  It’s now sitting on a dish in my studio waiting for repairs.

Then yesterday, at the grocery, the Reiki necklace broke.  Two of the links separated. So each loose end was hanging down across my neck.  Then another of the links separated and a piece of it fell to the floor.  I grabbed the errant piece, I grabbed the rest from around my neck and stuffed it all into my pocket.

Now I have two necklaces to fix.  Two stunning, marvelous sets of baubles to repair.  They’ll look pretty much the same when I’m done with the repairs.  But truly, both will be a little different than they were before.  And that’s ok.  I think that’s how it was meant to be.

I told you.  I told you.  I was a traveling juggernaut in February.  I even warned myself.  I had no idea how much fun I’d have.  Or how many times I’d get to reconnect with friends.

I also had no idea how tired it would make me by month end.  Or is that the Time Change that did me in?  Nonetheless, I’m now  re-connected with my best of bestie friends and physically played out by the process.

So there was a trip to Pittsburgh to hang out with my beach sister, Amie.  We had grand plans of going to the Warhol museum and the Phipps Conservatory all in one day.  What did we actually do?  Wait in the hotel bar for our room to be ready.  Then unpacked and went to dinner and had more drinks.  The next day we went to the spa, tried to recover and then went to dinner with a friend.  We had a marvelous time catching up and hanging out.  But we didn’t actually do much.

Then it was getaway time with DD.  We went back to our cabin in the woods.  Wow.  It is so nice there.  So quiet.  And no cell reception or 3G.  We would have had to drive 10 minutes West to make a phone call.  Luckily there was no reason to make a phone call or really even to drive 10 minutes west of our little cabin in the woods.  We ate great food, met some cool people, and disconnected from everyone but each other.

So here we are, it’s the beginning of March….wait, it’s almost the middle of March.  And I’m still thinking it’s the beginning of March.  OK, let’s go with this…it’s almost Spring.  I know because the weather seems to have turned, the time changed and it’s Equinox in a few weeks.  How did that happen so fast this year?

I dream a lot.  I’ve kept a dream journal for years and years.  I just had to share this one….

I was at a Renaissance Faire, and while I’ve never been to one in real life, I imagine my dream was fairly accurate.  I was in some sort of an open air pub, surrounded by women in corsets & skirts, men in leather tunics, people and animals of all sorts were wearing weird leather tri-corner hats.  I’m pretty sure I was quaffing an enormous beer from a leather mug.

Change of scene….to a circus.  I was under a circus tent, reminiscent of Tim Burton’s movie “Big Fish”.  I was surrounded by circus magicians, fortune tellers, motor cycle madmen, elephants and girls from the flying trapeze.  Then all the people surrounding me started doing magic tricks.  Then the tricks turned to real magic tricks.

Magical Dreams make me happy.

February is a flurry of fun, social engagements and new endeavors.  As I mentioned, I started taking a hula hoop dance class.  And I tend to hoop, as practice, nearly every night.  It’s an excellent core workout.  And fun?  Hell to the yeah!  I’m finding that I absolutely love dancing around my living room with my hoop.  That’s my warm up.  Then I hoop and attempt to do some dance-y tricks without dropping the hoop.  By the time I’m done with a 30 minute workout I’m a little sore, happy as hell and my blood is pumping.

Groundhog day has officially come and gone.  However, there’s more celebrating to be done.  That’s the 50 percent part, if you’re listening.  I’m on my way to Columbus to hang with Juan.  [insert sarcasm font] And we know that’s never fun.  Because I never did like him. [remove sarcasm font]

Whether you like Punxatawney Phil’s prediction or not, you have to agree that Groundhog Day is fun.  Especially if you can celebrate it for almost an entire month.  I’m going to get mileage out of this one!

image from fireperformers.co.uk

And don’t forget that next weekend is Fire Weekend.  It’s going to be my virgin burn.  I’m only a little bit excited about that!!

They’re brewing everywhere.  My dear, dear friends are in the midst of a fabulous Renaissance.  They’re dreaming big, being super creative, plotting, planning and realizing.  That’s right, this isn’t mindless dreaming going on here.  This is planning and manifesting.

I’m beyond thrilled to see this burst of creativity.  This inspiration.  It is truly beautiful and very inspiring to me.

Angelia’s Art

My dear friend Angelia is an amazing, inspired artist.  She started blogging a couple of years ago and is now a blogging juggernaut.  She posts quite often, runs art journal classes and is constantly creating beautiful pieces for clients and filling multiple journals to the brim.

Here’s a small taste of her work.  She has a series of posts titled Monday’s Mandala.  She is creating a mandala every Monday for 24 weeks.

Creativity and Movement?

The fabulous Renee all about this.  She runs a hula hoop dance troop called Little Wing Dance Company and dances at events (Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland’s Walk Rock & Run, Spirit in Motion etc.)  throughout Northeastern Ohio.

She also teaches beginner and advanced hoop classes two days a week during most of the year.  If this doesn’t keep her busy enough, she’s constantly creating original art for her home and her friends and family.

Take a look at Heart Magick:

The Art and Artistry of ArieMoon by the deliciously talented Valarie.  Valarie is an incredible artist who finds nearly a bazillion ways to create, tell stories, inspire and open hearts.

What medium does she use?  So, so many.  She crafts beautiful jewelry, spirit dolls, totem animals, collages etc. etc.

She also writes, creates music with her husband, Jeff, and is an amazing designer.  She designs commissioned pieces and also creates for specific shows throughout the year.  Her home contains so many beautiful things, amazing creations and is full of love, magic and quite a bit of whimsy.

I started spinning poi almost 3 years ago.  I caught it right away and quickly sewed up a pair of practice poi.  A year into my poi fascination, I attended a Solstice Celebration in Southern Ohio.  They had people that spun and twirled things that were on fire.

I knew I had to spin fire poi.

Fire Spinning from Poi Pixies

Well, it’s almost here.  My fire poi are being shipped from New Zealand right now. I should have them in about a week.

I’d like to be able to complete some of these tricks…soon.

One thing I never really “picked up”???  Hoop.  Yes, hula hoop.  I’m taking a Hula Hoop Dance class right now.  I still don’t quite have the hips right and I drop the hoop more than I spin it.  But it’s fun and I’m learning.  To hoop.  I’m learning to hoop. Finally…….

Hopefully fire hoop is next.