snickerdoodles

falling apart, so things can start falling together...

  On my birthday a mentor and stunning, wise lady stopped in and shared a book with me that I have been reading since.  I have read it slowly letting some things soak in, re-reading sections I really felt resonate in me.   I always enjoy Pema Chodrons musings, but this book was what I needed to hear.  I mentioned in my last post waaaay back when (sorry, insert embarrassed face) but today is a big day for me and I awoke to another message from this friend I felt compelled to share.

 

Oh how I love the idea of this...letting there be room.  Allowing feelings, being real.  Everything happens for a reason.   All that we go through is a lesson and makes us stronger.   I have had to say goodbye to a lot and none of it was easy or something I wanted to part with but things changed.   Life shifted and I had to protect my heart and stay on path and let go of anything that threatened that.  I had to keep looking ahead and know that every step forward would be something to empower authenticity in myself and my boys.  I have made heaps of mistakes but everything I do is for those three little men and to try and show them to follow their hearts.

Cancer is my zodiac sign and it is me through and through to a T.   If you are on Pinterest and a Cancer as well follow my Zodiac Love board and be amazed.

I LOVE being home and making a nice home for my family.  Saying goodbye to every home we moved from over the years has been difficult for me because home means so much to me.   Renting since 2014 has been hard, it makes me insecure and afraid.  The ambiguity of not having control over things makes me uneasy as a Momma Bear.   Today something very very exciting is happening after months of rather complicated arrangements...I am signing the papers to MY OWN HOME!!!!

It is tiny and old but it is surrounded by lovely trees and I knew from the first time I saw it wearing my jammies and a toque after dropping the boys at school that it was right.  Before I even stepped inside my heart started shouting out "YES".   It felt right.  Like I said, it was complicated and is definitely going to be a project fixing it up but I am beyond excited and proud.

So, off to the lawyers I go to empty my bank account and sign on the dotted line and stay tuned for the images of my new to me nest and endless DIY projects to come.

Luv ya friends, your support on this journey is something that fills me up and keeps me moving forward always.  I would love to have you all over for a house warming but it will have to be outdoors because the biggest challenge of my new abode is that it is tiny.   Full of possibility but not without entertaining challenges for sure.

oxo

 

 

 

 

 

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heART key...

   Slowly but surely I am rebranding my work life.  Snickerdoodles and Birch Hill Photography are all going to be run under the business name heART key studio.   The process has been a bit more complicated and costly than I thought it would.   It also seems life keeps me distracted,  so like most of my blog work I have been moving forward with baby steps. 

The heart key name is really special to me and it was a huge process finding something that felt just right.   It works well with everything from my photography and social media consulting to my art work and art lessons.  A while back I got an impulsive tattoo and because I have always loved skeleton keys it is a key with a heart opening.  Read about it here with the Ink Love post I did at the time.  My tattoo was done on a whim yet it still has a lot of meaning to me.  Since that time I have received a lot of special key related keepsakes.   My new little rental house also has old crystal door knobs with skeleton keys and that makes it feel like it is where I need to be right now.

So, when another business opened locally with the Birch Hill name and I was motivated to rebrand I definitely wanted to use a key as part of my logo.   I am trying to follow my heart in all I pursue from here on in, and also have an fine art degree and want to get back into making art for arts sake so heart key just came to me.  I worked in the beginning with a great local designer but unfortunately she had to leave the project so I went ahead and found my ideal font and drew up what I was thinking.   A friend and SUP amigo Kevin who happens to be a graphics whiz made it come to life in illustrator for me within an hour of our computer pow wow.

So that is the start friends.  I have yet to make a couple small colour changes or design a card but this was a huge step. 

My first photography clients to have this watermark on their images happened to be utterly adorable babies.

 

 

Oh yes...they are twins.   Daniel and Rachel were a joy to capture even though it is a tricky age with all the head bobbing and not quite being able to sit up. 

There is lots more to come with the playful new watermark and logo and I also did a soft opening of a new facebook business page under the heART key studio brand so please take a visit and join that sharing space. 

I am hoping by the  summer all 1040 fans of the Snickerdoodles facebook page move over to the heART key page so I can wean my shares  down to one business page.   I am so grateful for the Snickerdoodles following and all the social media support I have had.  You all are the best!

 This twins image received over 1772 views on the Snickerdoodles facebook page and a recent share is almost at 11 000 views.  Being in the social media business that is not an easy task these days.  Facebook controls so much over who sees what and when.  So I am keeping my fingers crossed I can keep all my lovely loyal readers through this transition.  I will try my bestest not to nag too much.

I am TRULY grateful for you friends,

oxo

 

 

 

 

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Home to be...

Well friends,  the months of house hunting are over and I have found a little place to move to at the end of August.  

 It's been quite an adventure and not enjoyable.  I even had a rent to own contract and came very close to taking over a 1968 double wide trailer that was in serious disrepair in attempts to find a place to make a home for my boys.   It would have been a huge project and got extremely complicated but I tried to make it work.  My life coach Jodi then made a very good point about holding onto what I really wanted and how I really wanted to feel in a home and it made me doubt what I was doing but still persisted because I felt stuck.   The end of that week after I picked out many of the things to start that reno,  the property owner bailed on our contract.  I was disappointed and angry about all the time I wasted planning, but that morning when I logged onto the rental site this little home was listed.  The trailer was not meant to be.

I called right away as it was the first adorable home I saw for rent so far that was within my budget.  It was also in the area I really wanted to be.  The area I had been envisioning.  Through that week I spent hours everyday looking at other options too until the owner was able to show this one.  This week I got to see it and was completely surprised by how perfect it was for me on the inside and suitable for my boys.  The landlord was amazing and although it's a 1930's house it is in very good shape.  

Of course, because it's a full moon, immediately after the showing my truck wouldn't start yet again.  The third time that week, and Ry and I waited for two hours for a tow truck.  A gracious friend lent us a car to get home as the truck was no quick fix and that night Ted fell very ill.  The next morning he went to the vet and in for emergency surgery right away as he had ingested a bunch of thread and it was serious.  Another fellow also had first dibs on the house but I held on to the hope it would work out, and I harassed the landlord a fair bit too in hopes he would pick me.  

As the Blue Moon rose in the sky things began to feel alright and settled.  The truck was being dealt with and Honda Canada, and a customer service angel named Jane gave me wonderful help and Bannister Honda was efficient and fair.  While over at Central Animal Hospital, Ted was operated on and saved from his awful situation and out of pain.   Like most I had a really restless sleep under the Blue Moon last night and kept holding on to the hope the little green house could be mine to rent and make home for the boys in.   I pictured my furniture in it, them playing, and where I would hang special things, what I might plant in the rock garden or put up the Christmas tree.  Everything about it felt right.  It isn't fancy or luxurious it is just homey.  I can teach art there and ride my bike to the library or for work meetings, it's in town and a fresh start.

Today after getting the truck and the very drugged up cat I headed back to Lumby.  I quickly got Ted settled and reunited with his brother, then went on email and was sooooo thrilled to have a note from the landlord offering the place to rent.   It is such a huge relief as the fear of homelessness was getting near.  Now I get to stop house hunting and have more playtime with the boys while I start packing for the move and also get some really nice time with my sister who is coming with her family for a couple weeks.  It has been much too long since I got to snuggle my nephew Chase.

So many of you supported my house hunting journey and sent me good thoughts, thank you.  This week cost me a small fortune in unexpected bills but it all ended well, and I am beyond grateful.

 Like Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley) once said:

"Money is numbers and numbers never end. If it takes money to be happy. your search for happiness will never end."

oxo

 

 

 

 

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water...

  I LOVE the water...and all things to do with the water.  Part of me is definitely fish.  Being near, or in water brings me profound peace and feeds my soul.

Lakes, oceans, forest streams, warm pools, my bath obsession.  We have had an early start to summer this May and today will be the first day in almost a week I won't be paddling or boating with friends or sitting with my toes in the sand.  Ry and I even had our first storm swim of the season on Sunday, bobbing in the waves and riding the dock slide in the giant raindrops.  Spring showers are here today  and I am having a much needed house and work catch up day.   As much as I love being wet I despise being cold.

Sharing a sumptuous Margaret Atwood passage today that I adore...

Sigh...be like water friends.

oxo

 

 

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Delilah...

   

Florence + The Machine has always been powerful audio art for me.    This song, Delilah, has been played over and over since it was released days ago in my nest.  Loudly, so it resonates deeply.   Dancing alone around my house has always been healing, I find myself falling into mini yoga flows when I feel stuck...her work is a gift.

 

 

 

 There are things in life that awaken your soul and raise your vibration...they are precious, and I am so devoted to finding mine and honouring them.  When you find those things you can open up and everything feels lighter.   This winter was long and often dark...I am so happy to welcome spring and the early summer weather we are blessed with now. I have been spending as much time outdoors as I can.

Now you all know I have had a love affair with the work of Danielle LaPorte since I started writing Snicks many years ago, and worked with her in Vancouver on Lifestyle Mapping.   Today on Facebook she shared another song by Florence + The Machine and some amazing words to introduce it as well as Delilah!   We are on the same wavelength but she speaks from a place of confidence and raw beauty I am not capable of so I will share her words and introduction to the song she shared as well as my theme song of the moment.

Happy Weekend Friends!

 I will let the magnificent Danielle sign off...

 

from Danielle LaPorte

So far, the new Florence + The Machine album punches pulls and elevates. She is art. 2 tracks are perfect for this week of Mercury Retrograde in Spring. Letting go and then dance, leap, break a sweat into The NEW. Get there with the joy showing on your face.

So let's do some music-plation today. My kind of meditation. This takes 2 tracks.

1st: Listen to ST. JUDE. "The Patron Saint of Lost Causes" And you know, just let go of what's never going to work. Because if it were going to work, it would have worked by now. Stop dragging 'round that rock of a dead dream. Put the rock down (it'll hurt your back. It will be disorienting. Put.it.down.)

And then...listen to DELILAH. (It's an audio-video only. The music video hasn't released yet.) And see how you can move without the rock 'n chains. "It's a different kind of danger." Joy. Freedom. Freedom is the ultimate risk. Get risky.

Step 1: ST. JUDE (Let go.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEMSJf723BI

Step 2: DELILAH (Dance into your Spring.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ50rvySDCk

Remember: We are dancers.
xo
D

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something about M words...

Yet another M word I am utterly smitten for...

Sigh.  This word is like a deep breath, a long hug, a kiss that washes through you.

Can you remember the other M words I have fallen head over heels for this past year?

Likely not, so here are a few...

Meraki (n.) the soul, creativity, or love put into something; the essence of yourself that is put into your work

Maitri or Metta  :  Metta (Pali) or Maitri (Sanskrit) means unconditional and unattached loving kindness. It is one of the ten paramitas of the Theravada school of Buddhism, and the first of the four Brahmaviharas. The metta bhavana (cultivation of metta) is a popular form of meditation in Buddhism.

Mesmerize : this word just feels good to say

Maven : someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field

Manifest:  readily perceived by the senses and especially by the sense of sight : 

easily understood or recognized by the mind 

 

Have a magically marvelous day friends,

 

oxo

 

 

 

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Snickerdoodles hit 1000 facebook likes tonight thanks to a lovely new friend in Florida.  Facebook has a magical way of connecting kindred spirits sometimes and she responded to my Nashville obsession status which sparked a nice chat.  She also sent me one of her cover songs which was amazing.  I will share that at a later date with her permission.

In honour of this little personal milestone I created a simple image quote for you all to use as you like.   Please don't remove the watermark as it is my photograph.

I know I am a mess of ideas and inspirations and swirling goals right now and I am truly thankful to all of you for hanging in there as everything slowly falls into place.

night friends,

oxo

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my lucid life & other women who inspire me...

 

Ahhh, Danielle LaPorte...she's been a biggie my inspiration department since 2008.   The first year of Snicks I had the privilege of working with her in Vancouver and have followed her work since.  Style Statement, Firestarter, Spark, White Hot Truth, I am passionate about it all.  In 2009 I hosted a Firestarter Session at my place even in Whistler.  She has a beautiful power about her and speaks my language...her words resonate deeply within me.

Naming my Core Desire Feelings is what I want and need right now.  Inside I know how they feel, I have felt them, they have moved me,  but naming them is what I need to help manifest them. I am not able to do that alone, I have tried and tried.   Goals, hopes and dreams float around and will pass you by unless you do the work.   

Today I am so proud to introduce you to a writer and friend Alana, who finally took the leap and started her blog called My Lucid Life.   For years we have talked about it and she expressed an interest and I saw a little spark every time.  Over coffee a couple of weeks ago she made a commitment and I could feel her creative energy and excitement as we sat there and had the most amazing conversation.

  Well the time was finally right and she has launched and lucky for me she agreed to work with Jodi Scott and write about one of my most beloved mentors.   No one I have sent to Jodi has ever been disappointed and I was thrilled for Alana to have that gift.    Sharing words from Alana and then Jodi now and I hope to see some of your shining faces at one of Jodi's upcoming Desire Map workshops.

Enjoy friends...

 

 

LIFE COACH OR LIFE SAVER?

Like a good little yogi, I’ve worked hard to clean the cobwebs out of my psyche, to express the best possible version of myself, to be happy. Yet cobwebs remain in those hard-to-reach places—self-doubt, people-pleasing and a little bit of free-floating worry thrown in for good measure. I read my Pema Chodron, meditate, burn incense like it’s going out of style, and practise yoga every day, but few experiences have knocked me off my feet as swiftly and as profoundly as my recent coaching call with life coach extraordinaire, Jodi Scott.

(keep reading on friends, there is gold to be found up ahead in their words)

the delayed gratification affliction...

  Working from home the days can pass by quickly, and it is difficult to stay on track.   I practice the fine art of self bribery at many levels to stay on track.  I am not at all morning person in the winter, so today after a light meditation buried safely in my mountain of pillows and duvets I set a goal for the day and myself a reward for achieving it.  

It's regarding a file I have neglected for months and months, a tedious amount of paperwork that has been shifted from place to place on my desk but never tackled.  I made doing that research and sending off the file my project for the day and my reward was going to be to book a massage or see a film once it was complete.  When my boys are with their Dad I have the luxury of full days to fill however I please if my work is done.

Sipping my coffee and going through email I was happy to see a new newsletter from Jodi Scott my life coach who has grown into a trusted friend.  It happened to be related to what I just did bribing myself but blew the subject wide open.  

Coincidence?  

In the past I would have thought so but this happens all the time since I stepped out of my comfort zone.   I am seeing more and more the synchronicities in life everywhere around me and I find it so inspiring.  Like all things that get me excited I started a Pinterest board to gather everything I can about the concept, synchronicities love board on Pinterest .  

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance, yet are experienced as occurring together in a meaningful manner. The concept of synchronicity was first described in this terminology by Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s. See how everything is connected.  - from http://www.sincronico.it/

Now back to the glorious Jodi and her wisdom.  Sorry I am such a scatterbrain!  As usual my curiosity has taken the idea of a quick share and got me wondering on so many levels.  For now I encourage you to think about the question below Jodi poses and click on the continue reading highlight to be redirected to her web page and benefit from the full piece.  You will not be disappointed and will learn a great deal about yourself and some of your patterns.

enjoy friends, 

oxo

 

Are You Cheating Yourself of Happiness? There is healthy self-control and then there is taking Delayed Gratification too far...to the point of cheating ourselves of happiness. We all learned Delayed Gratification from an early age. We couldn’t have the cookie until we put away our toys. We couldn’t go out to play until we finished our dinner. We couldn’t go swimming until we waited a half-hour after eating. Delayed gratification makes sense in that sometimes we do need to complete one thing before moving onto the next...healing from one relationship before beginning another. And sometimes we need to accomplish one thing before receiving another...forgiving ourselves before being able to forgive another...making the money then buying the Louboutins. But then there is another kind of Delayed Gratification that doesn’t make sense. CONTINUE READING...

Solution Focused Coaching for:    Married & Coupled Individuals Wanting Relationship Clarity Single Individuals Ready to Heal the Past to Love Again Divorced Individuals Ready to Rebuild Their Life & Happiness Discontented Individuals Wanting MORE for Themselves in Love & Life

for more I have written regarding work with Jodi  and her juicy wisdom see these links...

(don't ask me why they aren't showing up in the related articles box in a pretty and clean way like they should.  I find it super frustrating but I am letting that go for today...if I don't I am never going to make it for a massage!)

 

http://www.snickerdoodles.ca/snickerdoodle_life/2014/11/jodi-scott-reflections.html

http://www.snickerdoodles.ca/snickerdoodle_life/2014/07/how-to-get-unstuck.html

http://www.snickerdoodles.ca/snickerdoodle_life/2014/09/one-day-seven-things-i-am-grateful-for.html

http://www.snickerdoodles.ca/snickerdoodle_life/2013/08/when-life-gives-you-lemons.html

 

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simple reminders...

  Simple Reminders, simplereminders.com, is a page that often presents quotes that address the questions in my head and struggles in my heart.   

There are so many simplified catchy quotes that are popular now and I like them, I actually use them lots in my art and life even... It is what it is.   Let it Go.  Just Be, etc.     No one seems to have time to delve into the emotions involved in loss or pain, it's a culture of walking away.  Writing things off and jumping into the next thing, moving on without looking back.

  I thought I could do that...I thought I had been doing that just fine the past forty years.  

Boy was I wrong.

 

As I work through my third week of Power In Training Level 1, I feel almost paralysed by all the stuff I am working on.  I get frustrated meditating as my focus is often broken by imagery and from my mind that hurts and sets me off track.

 Memories are coming out and startling me awake at night and feel so real I have felt I am in that moment and have had to get up and check the doors and my boys if they are with me,  and worked hard to come back to the present.  I have woken up sobbing or shivering and fallen into the deepest sleeps I have ever experienced.  

It all sounds horrible and you might wonder why I would do this work at all by choice.   Everyone brings something different to the table and has a different journey and experience in learning to live from their heart.   For me I am so excited and grateful for this experience.

  I want to live from my heart, my heart choices are the ones I never regret and that feel good.  My heart knows all about the perfect adventure, having fun, creating freely  and being present and pouring love into someone and feeling completely fulfilled what flows out of them in response.  

My head holds a lot of knowledge, I am not a ignorant woman, but it also holds me back greatly from how I want to live this life.   I know the emotional upsets I am wrestling with now are from the years and years I have been tucking away feelings and giving away all my power to try and keep everyone around me happy.   I am a people pleaser and a giver, and a master at saying YES and smiling through things that did not honour my heart.  Running from drama and doing just about anything to avoid angering others.   Lately I have used the tools I am learning to say no and stand my ground for me and others being manipulated and often just not to engage in things I know really aren't about me at all.  

There have been no big work deals or pay cheques this month, no awards or magazine write ups, no pats on the back, no proclamations of love making me feel needed or other gauges of success that would have made me feel worthy in the past.   I have done very little to be honest and been a rather lackadaisical Mom and friend and family member in general.   I have been selfish.  I have been working on getting me good and strong and been brutally honest in my heart work.  

My first class my teacher used the old airline breathing mask example I had heard many times over the years, and it dug deep this time.

You need to put on your own oxygen mask first or you will be of no help to others...you will be dead.

How can I possibly be the Mother, family member, friend or lover I want to be if I am not in a good place?

 This is our life work above all else, living from our hearts.  I don't think it is ever easy getting there but I have the deepest most profound sense that once you get that dialled in everything else falls into place how it is meant to be, nothing needs to be as difficult and complicated as our heads tell us.

 Not to say life is always easy.  It can be quite cruel indeed,  but there is a lesson to be learned every step along the way.  Those lessons can teach us more than any university or guru or book can offer. I might be very wrong but I think those lessons are in us all along...we just have to take the time and find the power to feel them so they can teach us what they are meant to.

oxo

 

 

 

 

 

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