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 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 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 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.

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!!

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 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.

Plans.  And a little bit of whimsy thrown in.  But lots of cleaning.  Sorting.  Deciding.  Purging.  Donating.  (None of which was a “resolution”)

I cleaned the spare bedroom which was full of piles of my stuff, Christmas presents (!), empty Christmas boxes and miscellaneous unused items.  It’s always good to have that room in relative order in case an overnight guest should pop in.

from http://mysocalledjunkylife.blogspot.com

And then there’s my studio.  I’ve started calling it my studio rather than my office.  I’m almost done with it!  95% done and a few tweaks will make it 100%.  I’ve taken pictures along the way because it’s going to look nice when it’s done.  I promise to share.

These images are of other creative people’s studios.  I guess mine wasn’t that far off the mark. (Hah, it was.  Far off the mark…)

Studio Space of Artisan Originals

Christmas is done and the decorations are down and stowed.  Catalogs are sorted and recycled.  Next is the kitchen.

Cue horror movie music.  It’s the kitchen.  I’m sensing a major purge and reorganization…..

Someone hold me.  Or pass me a glass of wine and a Xanax.

They decorate for holidays that are only a mention on an Elementary School calendar.  President’s Day?  Yep, they have a bust of George Washington.  They do Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day.  And then they really hit their stride.  Because they can decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas in rapid, rapid succession.

And let me tell you, it is rapid and very, very timely.  Friday morning after Thanksgiving, they are full-on, completely decorated for Christmas.  I’ve never watched them tear down and put up decorations but I imagine they hit the front lawn at midnight to do all of the tedious, extension cord running work.

We live in an old neighborhood with postage stamp size lawns.  The patches of front lawns are approximately 15 feet deep by 25 feet wide.  Not a whole lot of room for “The Plastic Light Up Lawn Ornaments” you’d think.  But then you’d be wrong.

They have so many of “The Plastic Light Up Lawn Ornaments” that they have to hang some out of the 2nd floor and attic windows of their home.  Yes, they do.

So, here’s where it gets good.  Two years ago,  across the street and two doors down, two very nice gentlemen moved in.  They decorate like it’s their job and they are the President of the United States of Christmas Ornaments and Decorations.

In their first year of decorating, they eclipsed “The Plastic Light Up Lawn Ornaments” people by a factor of four.  Seriously, they rocked the ridiculous Christmas Light, Light Up Fan Driven Lawn Ornament contest.  Except there was no contest.  I think their light display was so bright and ridiculously flashing that the neighbors may have told them to turn it down.  It was that crazy.

It’s only gotten more crazy and ornate over the remaining years.  They not only decorate the front of their home, they decorate their fence and gate and their detached garage.  Next year they may even try to decorate the air space above their home.  Too bad for them that we’re in the landing pattern for the airport, they could add lights up to the outer layers of the atmosphere.

BETTER

So, the rest of the houses on this end of the street have really amped up their displays.  And the “The Plastic Light Up Lawn Ornaments” are now in 3rd place.  3rd Place, at best.  I kind of feel sorry for them.  They win though, the rest of the year.  Because really, except them, who has Plastic Light Up Lawn Ornaments for Arbor Day?

BEST